Advertisment

A Peoples'' Person

author-image
CIOL Bureau
Updated On
New Update

Minu Sirsalewala

minuvs@cybermedia.co.in

Advertisment

Rajiv Gerela started his early days at NELCO as a technical support specialist for Unix Bull Systems and Oracle databases. He also did technical evaluation and marketing of 486 systems. From the Unix Bull Systems to currently setting up offices in Romania for Wipro BPO, a career spanning over two decades, Gerela has come a long way to be at his current position. A popular speaker at CIO summits and events and widely quoted across the CIO/CTO industry, he enjoys dappling in technology and often with his sleeves rolled up.

Looking back, there are a number of projects that are still very close to Gerela's heart-planning and implementation of fiber connectivity from the node to MTNL exchange using 34MB and 140MB MUX equipment; migration of backbone from IP to ATM using CISCO IGX Stratacom platform at Satyam Infoway, where the services went live within 15 days of receipt of the ISP license. Yet another favorite project is the relatively small but highly significant networking project at Mahindra & Mahindra, aimed at setting up a seamless connectivity of the heterogeneous environment running SUN, IBM, HP, all in one environment.

Name:

publive-imageQualifications: BE (Computers) Year: June 1989, Kolhapur University

Previous Assignments

General Manager, Technology, Wipro BPO (A Divison of Wipro)

Manager, Networks, Broadband Solutions (An Enron Company)

Vice President, Network, Refco-Sify Securities India

Regional Manager, Network Client Support, Satyam Infoway

System Support Specialist, Tata Elxsi (India)

Systems Executive, Nelco

Technical Achievements in Wipro BPO

  • Involved in implementation of BS7799

  • Network planning, deployment and designed the DS3 (45MB) backbone setup on Cisco MGX platform

  • Handled ramp-up requirements of 30 existing processes for technology operations.

  • Vendor management for procurement of various items like LAN/WAN equipment, IPLCs, NLD/local leased lines, ISP connections, servers, PC's, etc

  • Involved in build out from ground up of the 2 new setups in West namely Belapur and Pune

  • Involved in the new center planning and build out at Romania and Hyderabad

Hobbies:

Watching cartoons, listening to old Hindi movie songs, ghazals, karate, cricket, swimming, table tennisRajiv Gerela, general manager, Technology, Wipro BPO Solutions (2002 to date)
Advertisment

The Big Learning

From his long stint at Nelco to Tata Elxsi, Satyam Infoway and Refco Sify Securities, came the assignment at Broadband Solutions (an Enron company). As a network manager in the company, he handled the network setup for the international hosting center at Mumbai. This was when the Enron controversy peaked in India.

Gerela is the kind who takes the day as it comes. A stark contrast to the industry he belongs to where every step is cautiously evaluated and a back up and contingency put in place. According to Gerela himself, the period at Broadband was not only enriching on the work front but also helped him get closer to family, friends and colleagues.

Attribute it to luck or sheer positive attitude, when all his colleagues were scouting for alternate jobs and taking heavy cuts in their packages, he continued to buy time and make the most of the learnings on offer, shrouded in uncertainty. This period at Broadband was the first time that he had a true international exposure and million dollars to spend on hardware. Having worked in a truly global environment, Gerela left in early 2002 to join the then Wipro Spectramind. 

Advertisment

One thing Gerela takes pride in is his contacts and the way he is in touch with his ex-bosses and clients who still look for opportunities to work with him. A complete peoples person, Gerela is interactive both with his seniors and juniors, mostly trouble shooting for both as a businessperson and as a team leader.

With Peers

His first boss at Wipro was a person who Gerela held in high esteem for his knowledge and peoples management quality. His boss had complete trust in Gerela and allowed him a free hand to test and turn projects for better efficiency. Call center especially voice was a completely new area for Gerela and this trust aided him to strive for the best and increase confidence.

Gerela does not have an answer to “where do you see yourself in another 2-3 years?” However, he does know that he would like to spend more constructive time serving the society and charity.

Advertisment

With Family

A doting husband and father, Gerela likes to take every opportunity to be with his two kids and spend time playing and looking at their academic progress.

Rajiv Gerela, What are you at when not in office?

In office what takes most of your time?

How do you handle and interact with your team?

What is the biggest challenge as the CIO?

What has been the high point in your life?

What's your success mantra?

Must have gadgets... 

Currently I'm scouting for information on a good camera. I recently picked up a gadget that can plug into a car cigarette lighter point and can playback MP3 songs from a plain memory stick. The gadget also helps me play (on a pre-set frequency) songs through the existing car audio system on FM frequency. 

The other big challenge, which again is across all industries, now is attrition. Getting new people, training them and ensuring ongoing sustenance is a high-pressure affair. 

Laptop, mobile and camera... although I love experimenting and trying out new gadgets, I'm not a gadget freak who would pay big amount of money to get the latest ones at fancy.

Keep attempting without the pressure of trying to succeed every time. Even failures add to your final success.
That would be way too many to count and I believe if you wait to remember one you may actually miss out on a few better ones. I consider every moment as a cherished one. It has its own flavor (you may have guessed I also love food), it leaves its impression on your mind.Handling the dynamic nature of the business. New client requirements and under pressure deliveries are always the order of the day. Regular fixed team meetings, periodic one-on-one calls, site visits and making sure they all get enough time out from the office madness to de-stress. E-mail. It is a sinister virtue, which most of my peers in the industry would agree and dealing with it daily is a big time consumer and definitely an energy sapper. Apart from that, client and internal calls. Sticking to a set routine can never be possible in an IT environment as things are always dynamic. You never can predict when a good, bad or ugly incident may happen.I'm a family man. If I'm not at office, I'm with my family. I try to take time out to read as often as possible-mostly business magazines and fiction. I enjoy both film music and ghazals and love to travel. I always look forward to regular holidays.

The family indulges in games like cricket and table tennis, which is a great stress buster. Pune is the family destination for all occasions, be it a weekend or long vacations or time out from work. Gerela is also an ardent cartoon watcher and likes listening to old Hindi movie songs and ghazals. Tom & Jerry is his all time favorite and he relates it to life and believes 'life is Tom & Jerry' (either you are after a client or a client is after you). During his stint at Broadband, Gerela had the time to pursue some of his interests and the entire family took up Karate classes, which he would love to rejoin today, if he has time. He strongly believes in sharing and learning and the activities he indulges in with his family clearly indicates that.

© Dataquest

tech-news