When IT is 70 mm wide

PUNE, INDIA: IT can be entertaining too, as we find out in the interesting and imaginative ways it is being applied at movie rental major Seventymm's screens. Think of Bollywood flanked with two million lines of code, Box Office cheek-in-jowl with Tally, celebrity charisma standing tall with Talisma.

Pratima Harigunani of CyberMedia News chats with Subhanker Sarker, COO, Seventymm and unfolds the script. Read on…"

How's Seventymm using technology within the core product, logistics model, front-end, back-end and other areas around the rental business to sustain its cutting-edge forte?

We have developed in-house software to automate operations, logistics and inventory management. We have written over two million lines of codes so far. Also, we have bought off-the-shelf products and implemented them in our customer service, finance and marketing functions.

What are the specific enterprise applications being used at Seventymm India? What are the future plans?

We use Tally for our accounting needs, Talisma for customer support and sales, and Microsoft Office for office productivity. For our business needs, we have developed the software in-house using latest technologies such as ASP.NET and SQL Server.

What's the company's take on outsourcing as productivity and IT strategy? Any latest action on that front?

We favor outsourcing in cases where the software that needs to be developed or modified is modular and does not require business expertise. Outsourcing not only saves time, but also provides us access to special skill sets that we do not need on a permanent basis.

Any momentum on Green IT?

At Seventymm, we are conscious on usage of papers, electricity and space. We avoid using paper copies where possible and also encourage the users to turn off their computers at the end of the day.

Is IT an imperative or an added advantage? Could you elaborate on how deeply and differently has it been applied for productivity, efficiency, cost control, streamlining of operations, globalized control and new product pipeline?

IT is an integral part of our service offering. IT has enabled us to render service in multiple locations seamlessly and manage the entire operations from a central location. At Seventymm, we have automated the process of assigning DVDs to customers, creating shipment lists, assigning delivery personnel to a route and providing them instructions on what tasks needs to be done for the day. Due to the workflow automations, we are able to provide consistent service to the customers and maintain high availability.

Also, we are able to keep control on inventory, shipment and customer records (electronically). Needless to say, IT helps Seventymm with extensive reports and data mining ability. IT is truly the backbone and heart of Seventymm's business.

What's the role of IT in specific areas like product design, delivery/distribution, research, archival, operations, CRM, market trend mapping or inventory control?

IT has helped Seventymm automate and streamline operations and manage inventory. Also, we use third party solution to streamline our customer support modules.