Management Motivations is a new series of articles by Quectel’s senior executives that explores their management styles, approaches to the challenges of further developing the company and what drives them to lead and succeed.

Doron Zhang, COO:

Number 3: Keep focused on end users, customers and real-world deployments

We’re a technology company so innovation is never far from our hearts but we are not an academic research organization, we are commercialized and need to turn our innovations into profits. This means we have to understand our customers’ businesses and know where the next big market opportunities are coming from. We can’t do this reactively, we have to make substantial commitments in advance of the market arriving. Naturally, this is a risk but it’s also an interesting and stimulating challenge to engage with.

I think our position today demonstrates that Quectel has been able to make accurate calls about which future opportunities will take off. Our position in 5G modules, for example, is exceptionally strong. In the next five years cellular technology will be at the core of IoT and other applications. 5G radically improves what can be achieved so we keep looking for new and scalable applications for 5G. I’d say 5G is certainly driving the market at the moment and we’re seeing our customers embrace it fully.

In terms of the individual markets and their adoption and deployment in addition to smart cities, I’d single out automotive as an area in which high growth is starting to accumulate. Quectel has a very strong portfolio here and we’re able to offer an excellent support process in the automotive sector. I think this gives us a real advantage as car-makers and others fully engage with the complexities of enabling automotive apps and connectivity.

Finally, another area that I see as being especially attractive for Quectel are the emerging markets. We have the portfolio and footprint to enable these effectively, taking into account regional and national differences in regulations. We can easily help organizations enable new services and apps. This area is where our strength can provide real benefits to the world.

Look out for my next blog in this series: “Don’t get distracted by sophisticated technologies, harness them to drive your career and business forward”.