Neighbor's envy, Owner's pride

Being on the other side of fence of a digital world, what’s your practical take on the digital world, when we extend it from the consumer world and apply it on to an enterprise?

I am a process change expert so I like the concept of digital enterprise. Be it workflow, middleware, connectivity or anything, change in the status quo has its advantages and challenges. For example, technology can make a lot of difference with reducing the decision-making or speed of collections when applied to money clearance, settlement of dues or dealer related issues.

Have things changed between the boss’s corner-room and IT cubicle over these years? In the strategic sense?

Management knows IT influence areas. Whenever they ask anything, they would demand profits. As long as returns happen, they would never say ‘no’.

So no issues?

There are only few challenges. Like you can not design a system for exceptions. Change management is also an issue. These can not be managed without management’s support.

How do you plan to redefine any other business functions with IT next?

We are trying to automate the sales processes and affect a time advantage from three-and-a-half months to three days, wherein the credit note can be passed at the push of a button. Similarly, for incentive to push sales, in-shop demos areas, and processing of salesmen claimed numbers there; we have managed remarkable improvements with technology.

So, it’s not about what you buy, but what you do with it, right?

Yes. Many people put SAP as a basic necessity, but not many leverage all that is possible out of it. Nobody has leveraged it the way we have. All the difference is between information and real-time information, which is where digital enterprise is based around. Information should be accurate, reliable and actionable. Systems can go wrong too. And small inaccuracy can mess up a lot. Overcoming that challenge is the first step. There is a lot of technology and lot of vendors around to choose from, but it has to make sense for you.

Any area that is still untouched with the digital wand?

Human element is a must and you can not remove it all. Decision-making can not be digital. For example – Business transactions with dealers in our industry need to have judgments and decisions around credit-worthiness of a dealer. Now that’s why you can not automate everything.

Don’t you face user issues? If yes, how do you tackle them?

Yes, at times. It’s the good-old Indian ‘Saam-Daam-Dand-Bhed’ recipe. First and foremost, address the psychological blocks. Next give them practical comfort to use a new technology. Make sure there is as fewer disturbances from the system as possible, i.e. do not extrapolate trivial issues. Give credits for small success stories, with bonus etc. Implementing a solution is not as simple as a vendor plug-in. There are possible process deviations and people issues to be handled. The IT function has to deal with the inside part deftly.