Anothai Wettayakorn considers himself an adventurous eater, though he was originally a beef lover. Thanks to a job that has allowed him to visit many countries, the 52-year-old executive has learned about different cultures to help him manage in a diverse market landscape, partly through exploring the local food.
"Food means culture. You can more easily understand the culture after you explore the local food," says Mr Anothai, vice-president for Asian emerging markets of US-based Dell Technologies. "Luckily for me, I find it easy trying new things. I love to explore, so I try."
In his current position, Mr Anothai is responsible for 28 markets, from Indochina to Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia for consumer business, along with Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan and Mongolia, to countries in the Pacific region including Fiji, Tonga, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.
His territory is the largest in Asia for Dell. "Altogether there is a combined population of 1.1 billion and the maturity level in terms of technology consumption has been emerging, developing and growing very fast for many years," he tells Asia Focus.
"What inspires me the most is travelling," he says, though there has been a lot less of that in the past two years because of the pandemic.
Wherever possible when he travels, Mr Anothai tries to take time away from business to expand his horizons. "On a weekend, if I'm staying over in a country, I will explore and try different kinds of food in the country I'm visiting.
"Vietnam is the biggest country in my territory, meaning that I have been spending most of my time in Vietnam in recent years," he explains. "I try to understand the people and culture there. On a weekend, I use local buses by using a local map and try local food. I travel around not only in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City but in other provinces as well during weekends."
Local food, says Mr Anothai, sometimes gives him an experience he never expected. In Mongolia, for example, the head of the goat is considered the best part of the animal and it's what people serve their guest.
"When people in another country want to host you for dinner, they will try to bring their best delicacy for you," he says. "Sometimes, you have to taste it even though you don't like it to show respect and appreciation to the host.
He recalls relaxing after a dinner in another country "when I suddenly saw somebody carrying a cage containing a bat into the kitchen. Later, I was told that the restaurant served a black bat in alcohol as an appetiser". Horse meat is something else he tried when visited a customer in another country where horses are raised for food.
"To be fair, you can politely decline the food if you don't eat it," he says. "But I've come to realise that after you eat the same food as the locals, you gain trust and can develop a relationship faster."
Food is just part of the diverse culture he experiences at work. "You know, on my team I have members from different countries speaking 18 different languages, different cultures and different diversity.
"Managing customers in Mongolia is totally different from dealing with customers and building relationships in Pakistan or Vietnam. But they all share the same norm which is technology and we are selling the same thing, which is technology, to them."
"Each country has a different maturity level," he adds. "Some countries are very advanced in using technologies while some countries are just getting started. I think the beauty or fascination of managing this region comes from that diversity."
EVOLVING & EXCITING
A veteran of three decades in the technology industry, Mr Anothai has been with Dell for 18 years. Prior to that, he worked at SVOA Group of Companies, a Thai computer distributor, before moving to Compaq and then Hewlett Packard (HP) when it acquired the business.
After leaving HP, he joined Dell in 2004 as managing director for Thailand. Five years later, he took over the Indochina region including Thailand. And after Dell completed its acquisition of EMC, he became vice-president for Asian emerging markets in 2018.
While his original academic interest was marketing, Mr Anothai says he has always been fascinated by technology. "Even though I didn't graduate with an IT-related degree, I took elective courses on computers and programming and started my first career in the computer industry 30 years ago. I've never changed to other industry since then.
"The IT industry has been changing very fast, especially in the past two years after the pandemic started. It means that I myself cannot stop learning," he points out.
"The more I understand technology, the more I can help the customers to better use technology to solve their business problems. That keeps me excited every day. The pace of the IT industry is so fast. I don't think I could work in an industry where the pace is slower."
One thing that never stops is learning, because as the saying goes, what got you here, won't take you there. "If you enjoy the success you have had for many years and you don't develop yourself further or change or challenge the status quo, it is certain that you can't get to future success," he says.
"That's why you have to be a good learner and constantly adopt new things. You have to be dynamic and continue to evolve your skills so you will have a bright future."
Dell offers courses for its sales representatives every quarter as learning is in the corporate DNA, he says. "They have to develop and evolve their skills because there are always new things coming in the IT industry.
"We have to make sure that our team members and salespersons are up to date in terms of the technology. It's not just knowing about the hardware -- we also have a lot of soft skills to learn. Every year, we have ethics and compliance courses, for example.
"They have to complete these courses and so be entitled to a merit adjustment or promotion," he says, noting that Dell has been won the Most Ethical Company Award from Ethisphere for seven consecutive years.
SERVICE MODEL
In the 37 years since it was founded, Dell has evolved with the technology industry. Starting out as a maker and seller of computer hardware, the Texas-based company has transformed itself and is well on its way to becoming an end-to-end technology service provider.
"The whole world is now shifting towards a service kind of model. Instead of buying software, consumers buy a service," says Mr Anothai.
In mature markets like the US, Europe or Australia, services now make up a major share of corporate IT spending. "Corporate customers, enterprise customers or even governments want to spend time managing their core business and applications to create more value," he says.
"They don't want to manage the hardware infrastructure. So, infrastructure will be our job. They want to get the support from experts like us … and they can spend for the services."
A lot of infrastructure is now in the cloud, and people can tap into it whenever they need it rather than investing in expensive hardware and software installations. "The more you use technology, the more you spend. You don't have to invest upfront (in infrastructure) like in the traditional IT consumption model," he explains.
"At Dell, we call this an APEX (business) model that converts everything into an 'as a service' model. For example, if you want to buy a data centre, you don't need to pay for the whole data centre setup. You just pay for the technology monthly, quarterly, annually based on the contract that we have."
Such arrangements are now becoming well established in Dell's more mature markets, and Mr Anothai expects they will gain ground in emerging markets over the next few years.
Traditional services have also expanded substantially as the pandemic has accelerated digital transformation.
"Work from home is the starting point," he says. "Work from home has actually changed the way we consume personal computers. In the past, the norm was one PC for one family but because of the pandemic, work from home or study from home, now it's one PC for one person. That has driven PC demand to rise consistently in the last two years."
Another strong trend, he says, is the desire for greater business resilience. Operators now realise that they need the resources to continue in any circumstance that may come in the future. Having a work-from-home plan is just a small part of the bigger picture which includes having a digital platform that drive a new business model.
"Some companies in the past didn't care much about technology but now they are forced to care more about it," says Mr Anothai. "If they don't adopt digital technology, they may be outdated or face a big problem operating in a lockdown or remote environment.
"I think two years is long enough for changing consumer behaviours. I don't think that after the pandemic, we will go back to use the same tool that we had in the past."
MUSIC IN HIS DNA
Working in the dynamic, high-pressure tech industry, Mr Anothai appreciates the value of being able to unwind. For him, music is a big help. "Music -- playing guitar or just listening to music -- is good for cooling down your brain. It helps a lot."
A guitar collector, Mr Anothai got his first one from his father, who served in the air force, as a gift for his 11th birthday.
"When I was young, we were living in Chiang Mai," he recalls. "My dad took me to Siam Kolakarn Music School and I studied the Electone (keyboard) for just a few lessons and I loved it.
"My dad saw that I loved it and at that time folk music was very popular in the northern town. He and I loved that music so he bought a guitar for me to play folk songs. I learned to play songs like Pee Sao Krub (Hello, Sister) and Sao Motorbike (Motorcycle Girl)."
"I never studied how to play but learned from books and practised. I didn't know that I had this kind of skill," he says, adding that he dabbled in piano as well.
"When I was in secondary school and university, I played guitar with my friends and we'd sing together," he recalls.
"Back then, we didn't have the technology you see today. We didn't have mobile phones. For me, the guitar was the only way to make music with my friends. That kind of culture seems to be gone nowadays as people have technology -- if they want to listen to music, they just turn on a mobile phone and link it with a Bluetooth speaker, that's it.
"I hardly see people playing guitar surrounded by others singing along (in Thailand) nowadays. (But) when I travel to places like Vietnam or Myanmar, I still see people taking part in that kind of music culture."
Having 15 guitars at home, the Dell executive says he plays guitar when he's stressed from work or whenever he has time. "In my work-from-home setup, I have a few guitars hanging behind me. So, after work, I just pull one of them down and play," he says, followed by a big laugh.
"I think I have music in my DNA, I can say that. I used to have a band when I was young but now I just play by myself. The songs that I play -- More Than Words is a very old song I like -- but I practise new Thai songs as well, like the songs from Potato."
Asked about his favourite bands, Coldplay tops the list, followed by the Eagles. "I love bands that use guitars. It's unique. Hotel California, Love Will Keep Us Alive are my favourite songs."
Mr Anothai also loves playing golf, which he says often has a business purpose these days. "Golf can teach us a lot about being patient," he says. "You have to be very strategic, pick the right equipment. You also have to trust and respect others as well. This is a gentlemen's sport.
"Golf is the only sport that you can play with everyone. You might be better than another player but golf has a handicap system. You know you can play with beginners or you can play with very experienced people. You can play with people of different ages as well."
A lot of top executives nowadays play golf, he says. "You can spend five hours with them on the golf course rather than in a small meeting room. We're now in the era of doing anything from anywhere kind of business, and the golf course can be a place that you can do business as well."
Mr Anothai's favourite book is Think Again: The Power of Doing What you Don't Know by Adam Grant. "It talks about the wrong assumptions," he says. "People always make decisions based on their familiarity with certain kinds of experiences. We don't think out of the box.
"Whenever you only use the assumptions based on your experience and not on adopting a new methodology, you might make the wrong decision, especially in the new world context. The book has taught me to think twice, stop and think again before making a decision to make sure I don't make the wrong one.
Autographies of successful businesspeople also draw Mr Anothai's intention. Among them is Play Nice but Win by Michael Dell. The founder of Dell Technologies likes to stress that people should not be afraid of making mistakes. "It's kind of a risk-taking culture," says Mr Anothai. "When you make a mistake, you learn from that mistake and don't repeat it again."
Asked about his management style, Mr Anothai says he focuses on a people-oriented approach.
"I believe in the value of people. A business can only run because of the people," he says. "That's why I always spend my time having one-on-one meetings with my team or connecting with my customers and partners.
"When I understand people much better, I can make the right decision about those individuals. That is particularly important when managing a business where there are many different cultures."
