Airtel Business launches advisory board to guide enterprise product innovation

In a move that underscores its commitment to collaborative digital transformation, Airtel Business, the enterprise arm of Bharti Airtel Limited (NSE: BHARTIARTL), has announced the formation of a customer advisory board comprising key clients from across Indian industry. The initiative, unveiled on December 27, 2020, marks a strategic pivot toward customer co-creation as Airtel Business aims to position itself as a technology partner rather than just a telecom provider.

According to Bharti Airtel, the board will include senior leaders from some of its largest enterprise customers, representing a cross-section of sectors including manufacturing, IT services, financial services, retail, and logistics. The goal is to foster closer collaboration, allowing clients to actively shape the company’s innovation roadmap and gain early access to the next generation of digital infrastructure solutions.

The newly formed board is expected to meet periodically to discuss enterprise pain points, upcoming technology trends, and sector-specific needs. Airtel Business said this feedback loop will directly influence product strategy and help the company tailor its offerings for the rapidly evolving B2B landscape in India.

Why is Airtel Business forming a customer advisory board now?

The timing of the announcement reflects broader shifts in the Indian enterprise technology market. As digital transformation accelerates across industries, traditional telecom services are no longer enough to sustain long-term partnerships. Enterprises are looking for integrated solutions that combine secure connectivity, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and collaboration tools—all of which are areas Airtel Business has invested in aggressively over the past two years.

Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO of Airtel Business, emphasized the strategic intent behind the move, stating that the initiative is meant to deepen engagement with enterprise clients and build a shared vision for the future.

Chitkara said that co-creating products alongside India’s top industry leaders is both a responsibility and a privilege. He described the board as a critical feedback channel that will help Airtel fine-tune its digital offerings and ensure they meet the evolving needs of India Inc.

Airtel Business is already among the top B2B connectivity providers in India, serving more than one million businesses. Its portfolio spans multiple verticals including MPLS and Internet leased lines, cloud and edge solutions, cybersecurity services, unified collaboration tools, and data center infrastructure. However, with competition intensifying from players like Tata Communications, Jio Business, and global cloud providers entering the Indian market, the advisory board could act as a differentiator by offering customers a direct voice in Airtel’s product pipeline.

How the customer advisory board will influence Airtel’s B2B roadmap

The formation of the customer advisory board is intended to create a two-way channel between Airtel Business and its most strategic enterprise customers. By drawing on this group’s collective experience and domain expertise, Airtel expects to better anticipate enterprise needs in an increasingly hybrid and digital-first economy.

The telecom major also plans to use this advisory structure to provide early visibility into its product development cycle. Airtel’s clients will get first-hand exposure to technologies under development, ranging from advanced cloud deployments and SD-WAN solutions to emerging innovations in 5G-based enterprise networking. In turn, customers will be encouraged to provide feedback and guide enhancements before commercial rollout.

Airtel Business confirmed that insights and trends emerging from these closed-door meetings will be synthesized into its Airtel Business Insights reports—thought leadership content intended for broader industry consumption. These reports will offer anonymized case studies, vertical trends, and benchmarks to help Indian enterprises stay ahead of the curve.

This approach is also aligned with Airtel’s broader digital ethos. In recent quarters, the telecom provider has aggressively positioned itself as a “digital experience enabler” for enterprises, leveraging its investments in Nxtra by Airtel data centers, its CloudEdge platform, and partnerships with hyperscalers like Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud.

What sectors are represented on the Airtel advisory board?

While the full list of participating companies remains undisclosed, Airtel has indicated that the board includes representatives from sectors most active in digital transformation—banking, IT/ITeS, e-commerce, logistics, and large-scale manufacturing. These are segments where enterprise-grade connectivity and low-latency, high-availability infrastructure are considered mission-critical.

India’s top conglomerates and IT service providers have been ramping up their spending on hybrid cloud, secure SD-WAN, zero trust architectures, and AI-powered analytics platforms. Airtel’s ability to serve these needs has been a key part of its B2B growth. The advisory board will likely deepen these ties and cement Airtel’s place in their longer-term digital procurement strategies.

The company has also suggested that future iterations of the board may include representation from fast-growing mid-sized firms and startups, thereby creating a multi-tiered innovation ecosystem that reflects India’s varied enterprise base.

Institutional and analyst sentiment on Airtel Business’s enterprise strategy

Market watchers have generally viewed Airtel’s B2B push as a long-term value creation lever, particularly amid spectrum-related CAPEX cycles in its consumer mobile business. The enterprise segment contributes significantly to Bharti Airtel’s EBITDA and offers higher margins than its consumer counterpart.

Analysts at major brokerage firms have noted that Airtel Business’s integrated platform strategy—spanning connectivity, cloud, security, and data center services—gives it a competitive advantage over single-service providers. The formation of the customer advisory board further signals Airtel’s intent to move up the value chain and become a digital transformation partner, not merely a telecom vendor.

While exact financial contributions from the advisory initiative are not immediately quantifiable, institutional investors are likely to interpret the move as a marker of strategic maturity. In a market where client stickiness and product differentiation are key, turning customers into co-creators could reduce churn and raise average revenue per enterprise customer (ARPC).

What does this mean for the future of enterprise telecom services in India?

The launch of a customer advisory board may appear symbolic at first glance, but it speaks to a broader industry trend where telecom operators are becoming digital infrastructure orchestrators. As Indian enterprises increasingly adopt hybrid work models and cloud-native architectures, the role of B2B service providers is becoming more consultative and embedded.

Airtel Business is betting that offering its top clients a stake in innovation will create deeper relationships, smarter products, and faster time-to-market for emerging technologies. Over time, this may influence how telecom providers across Asia structure their enterprise offerings—potentially reshaping the vendor-client dynamic in the enterprise IT space.

Looking ahead, Airtel Business is likely to evolve its advisory mechanism further, potentially integrating vertical-specific boards, partner-led sessions, and even innovation sandboxes. These could help speed up development cycles and de-risk product launches in high-value segments such as Industry 4.0, smart city infrastructure, and AI-powered analytics platforms.