What a CIO ASKS?

BANGALORE, INDIA: Godwin Fernandes, Chief Technology Officer, ASK Investment Holdings Pvt Ltd tells what is it like equipping a financial horse with the reins of IT in this chat with CyberMedia News

CyberMedia News: What is the scenario of IT solutions from the perspective of the vertical you represent?

Godwin Fernandes: Solutions are around but there is still a monopolistic approach. There are not many players in this space.

CMN: As a CIO, what do you at the end of the day look for, is it software or services?

G.D: It is services. Some products are available out-of-the-box but generally it is the deliverables that become an issue in light of lack of adequate expertise. From a product point of view, maturity has come for both IT and business areas but on the front of services, issues like scaling etc are still a gap.

CMN: How much of IT at financial specialist organizations is driven by compliance?

G.D: All of it actually, as a financial organization there are direct data implications and areas like storage, audit etc need to be dealt with effectively.

CMN: What IT impact can possibly the slew of new regulations cause on the industry?

G.D: As of now we have all the requisite investments in place for existing requirements. The future depends on the agility for us to grow faster.

CMN: Are you looking at spurting fresh investments now?

G.D: Yes, we are in the growth stage now with new branches and services like wealth advisory happening. From 45 to 50 experts we are a 200 people team now. Exact expansions would depend on infrastructure, connectivity and software needs accordingly. This financial year we did about Rs. Three crore and might grow by 100 percent next.

CMN: What are the accompanying challenges of scaling up?

G.D: Security is a major concern and so is control of data. The basic policies are in place but now we have to move beyond and with increased mobility come new data protection concerns.

CMN: The success or failure of an IT deployment should be attributed to whom, the CIO or the vendor, or is it a collaborative accountability?

G.D: CIOs are responsible for choosing the right vendor. Vendor shares a larger part of the pressure that comes on CIO.

CMN: So what are your main challenges?

G.D: We hail from an inherent partnership culture to start with and to change to a corporate set is quiet a transition. IT is an important criterion in business implementations and for the change within. Also, on the side of hardware and legacy systems, there is lack of formal structures in place. So to bring in some organization and structure, to segregate networks within the groups as separate business units is a task.