Unplug-and-Play?

To start with, can you share how the group's overall IT strategy and spends have got redefined between 2009 and 2010?

Well, every company had to do it. In 2009, the focus was on cost control, savings while new projects were being kept on hold. Spends if any, were only to keep the lights on. This year does mark a change as we are looking at new initiatives. Things are looking up and we have decided to implement a group-wise Business Analytics project with BusinessObjects.

Are CRM and SCM changing its contours in your industry as per the market dynamics?

These packages that connect to suppliers are becoming relevant all the more now. Four to five years back, the focus was on integrating functions within an organization. With dramatic improvements in connectivity and improvements in IT infrastructure, it’s not difficult to connect to our external partners and it gives immense benefits. So, yes, CRM, SCM etc have changed as the planning process has become more robust and has allowed SCM to become better and efficient. It has given visibility beyond the organization

Are vendors offering push-solutions, reactive solutions rather than proactive answers to IT needs?

That’s a vendor’s job. They will always do that for obvious reasons. It’s the CIO who has to be aware and should not go for a product just for the sake of it. It should be relevant and with a vision. More so, because a CIO’s success is judged by business outcomes rather than his technological prowess. He should have knowledge of business operations so that he can marry both business and technology together rather than pushing a technology on to business.

But is there a dire need of proactive efforts from the vendors’ side?

Vendors should at least have consistency of versions. Of course, they can’t offer a 100 per cent fit with a business but they should be adaptive and keep evolving.

What's the recipe of making the next generation of outsourcing work? Don’t you wish there was as easy a ‘unplug’ side to the ‘plug-and-play’ ease that industry is gravitating towards?

When you plug in something, it’s easy but unplugging definitely takes a lot of effort. It should be highlighted to the management at the right time. So it’s better to ensure that when you plug in, it’s in the right socket and will be supported for years. Be careful when you plug rather than worrying about the ‘unplug’. As to the next level of outsourcing, flexibility is the key. In the previous mode, outsourcing was driven more by SLAs and scope of work, as one used to offload a part of work to the vendor. But when the overall flavour changes to more of a strategic alliance, there comes a culture of innovation, as well as accommodating white spots (i.e. the uncertain parts). The second generation is more of a relationship.

Is there enough best-practice sharing happening in the industry?

There are a lot of forums around but I don’t think there’s a formal forum for this part. I am sure more can be done on this area. For example- sharing blind-spot challenges and unforeseen problems during an ERP implementation.

Do you go by the barometers that analysts and consultant firms sketch when it comes to technology trends, top market players or IT projections?

We do take some help but it’s not the only driver of our decisions. Example- we would check Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for short listing but from there on, it’s a different process. To some extent, the influence works, but not the whole way.