iWorld
Jio Haptik brings in Prashant Rao as SVP – customer value & experience
Mumbai: Jio Haptik Technologies, a conversational AI company and a subsidiary of Reliance Jio Platforms, has brought Prashant Rao on board as senior vice president of customer value and experience. He will serve as the leader for the pre-sales/sales engineering, professional services, and customer success groups to drive consistent, frictionless value-driven outcomes in the customer journey.
In this role, Rao will spearhead the newly formed customer value and experience business unit, a cohesive organisation responsible for end-to-end customer onboarding and experience with a singular focus on maximising success, said the statement.
Rao comes with over 20 years of technology experience and has served with several prominent organisations across B2B SaaS, AI/ML, conversational AI, speech technologies, and GRC. Prior to Haptik, he was the leader for global services and customer success at Uniphore and also at MetricStream, working in multiple leadership roles and scaling the company’s business for close to a decade.
Leveraging his sharp technical skills and extensive experience, Rao made his way up the corporate ladder and even served with tech giants like Microsoft, Intel, and ANSR Consulting during the early part of his career, said the statement.
“Haptik’s customer value and experience function has been set up with a key element of our mission to become even more customer-centric than ever. Prashant has a proven record of success in both startups and large tech companies and his arrival marks a critical moment in Haptik’s growth journey,” said Haptik co-founder and CEO Aakrit Vaish. “I am confident that under his leadership, this group will be instrumental in driving customer delight across the depth and breadth of Haptik’s product portfolio to steer us towards becoming a global leader in the conversational AI economy.”
Over the years, Rao has played the role of a trusted advisor to customers and scaled high-performance teams to drive phenomenal business outcomes of SaaS product-led businesses. Being a startup champion and advisor, he is a known leader in the startup ecosystem of India and is well-revered in the digital transformation technology industry, which has helped him earn valuable experiences during his time in the field collaborating with customers and partners globally.
Speaking on the appointment, Prashant Rao said, “What co-founders Aakrit and Swapan have created in Haptik is truly special, embracing a growth-oriented work culture at the organization supported by the fueling energy of the team. I would look forward to building on this momentum and bolstering the vision of being the global category leader in the conversational economy and AI/ML technology.”
iWorld
Anirudh Ravichander and Universal Music India join forces to take South India’s sound to the world
The composer behind 13 billion streams launches Albuquerque Records with UMI as its exclusive global partner
MUMBAI: Universal Music India has struck an exclusive partnership with Albuquerque Records, the freshly minted independent label of singer-composer Anirudh Ravichander, in a deal that bets big on South India’s booming pop and hip-hop scene going global.
The arrangement, announced on 17 March, will see Universal Music India handle future pop and hip-hop releases by Anirudh himself, as well as artists signed to the new label. A first release is already in the pipeline for April, featuring Anirudh.
The numbers behind the man are hard to ignore. Debuting in 2012 with the viral sensation “Why This Kolaveri Di”, Anirudh has since clocked over 13 billion audio streams across more than 770 tracks, cementing his position as the No.1 South Indian artist on Spotify by total streams. His fingerprints are all over some of the Tamil film industry’s biggest musical moments, from Hukum and Vaathi Coming to Arabic Kuthu and the A23 Theme.
But Albuquerque Records is a different beast. Built for the non-film space, it is designed to nurture independent talent and champion the next wave of Indian pop voices. “Universal Music India’s leadership in pop and hip-hop made them the natural partner,” said Anirudh. “I’m excited to take independent voices to audiences around the world.”
Universal Music India’s chairman and CEO Devraj Sanyal was equally effusive. “Anirudh represents the future of Indian music, bold, original, and with enormous potential,” he said. “Identifying transformative talent is our superpower, and this partnership reflects that belief.”
Sanujeet Bhujabal, managing director of Universal Music India, framed the deal as more than a distribution play. “Albuquerque Records represents Anirudh’s bold artistic vision in the world of pop and hip-hop,” he said. “True to his legacy of innovation, this partnership is set to establish yet another landmark creative space, this time for the emerging world of iPop and beyond.”
For Universal Music India, the deal deepens a long-running push into South India’s four key language markets: Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu. The label already has regional imprints, film partnerships with Maddock Films and Excel Entertainment, and a growing non-film roster. Landing Anirudh, arguably the south’s most bankable music brand, is a statement of intent. South Indian music has the streams. Now it is coming for the world.
