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External IT works, but not always, not everywhere.

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CIOL Bureau
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Has the job of CIO got a little ahead when it comes to sitting with the top management? Has it moved beyond the ‘convincing’ and ‘marketing’ part?
Yes, it has. The convincing dialogue with the management is always there though. One has to always substantiate a new idea with figures. The argument that ‘this can be done manually also’, has to be refuted with solid proofs.
 
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How different is it for your industry?
Ours is a manufacturing intensive company. Right now, it’s ERP but we are considering many new areas for the future. Integrating all plants, as well as corporate office, reduction of inventory, streamlining of finished goods, MIS reporting etc are all potentially exciting.
 
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Any recent success area you can share?
We recently implemented Unified Communication and that was a very helpful for top management, in terms of travel expenses, data sharing and regular meetings across 15 locations.
 
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Do the available solutions address your industry’s unique requirements?
Online connectivity is a major need, be it organization-wise, business-wise. MIS consolidation should happen every day at the close of business so that day’s input can be connected to day’s output. Having all the inflow-outflow snapshot at a glance is a big help.
 
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Something like a dashboard?
Yes, it should be like that. So that they can do fund management for the next day and can plan accordingly for the next level.
 
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So do you apply technology at a full scale, across all your branches, or do it one department/region at a time?
IT spread differs from a SMB to a large-scale company. Finance and Accounts is our backbone. It has to be implemented here first before we can take it to production department after a review.
 
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How interesting is the idea of outsourcing your IT needs?
To some extent, it can be useful, but not on a full scale. This is because time is of utmost importance and productivity is very crucial. For instance the system of income tax in case of our industry. In our line of business, an in-built department or team is useful to deliver immediate solutions, and that too at par with global standards.