CIOInsider India Magazine
Technology in Today's Business World - A Leader's Perspective
Holding an MBA in Business Management from the University of Wales, Govind has over three decades of experience in RPA, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and many other cutting-edge technologies across manufacturing and wholesale & retail apparel industries. Prior to Dalmia Bharat, he was associated with a wide array of companies that include Eicher Tractors, Gillette India, Metro Cash & Carry India and Levi Strauss & Co.
CIO Insider recently got a chance to interact with Govind, wherein he shared his insights about the current business landscape and various other aspects pertaining to the industry. Below are the excerpts from the exclusive interview.
What are some of the factors to keep in mind while selecting an application development & maintenance outsourcing model?
The agency with whom you are working must have strong SLAs in place and possess the necessary understanding & knowledge of the various intricacies involved in the business. They must be agile enough to be able to make different adaptations according to the business requirements. Also, they must be progressive to indulge in any new tech related discussions.
Tell us about the various technologies you are currently leveraging.
We select each technology depending upon the future roadmap that we have planned for our business. SAP is one of the most standard ERP that is being extensively used by organizations in recent times. Scalability, the quality of their support services & their availability in the region, and the ease of finding manpower that possesses the necessary skills pertaining to that platform are
some of the major factors to consider while choosing an ERP solution.
Briefly explain us the importance of technology in a business’ success in today’s context.
In today’s dynamic business landscape, no business will survive without leveraging technology as an enabler. This hold good for every industry – be it manufacturing, retail, FMCG, or any other. Thus, it is imperative for every CIO to first clearly understand the nature of their business prior to implementing any new technology into the business operations.
How do you correlate between business strategy and technology?
For an organization to run smoothly, it is imperative that business strategy and technology go hand in hand. Any technology that is being implemented to fulfill a business strategy should be able to work in accordance with the strategy. For instance, if a company is opening a new office overseas, they must first ensure that whatever technology is being used here is available in those new regions as well. Thus, selecting a solution that is easily available across the world is one of the main things to keep in mind while formulating a business strategy.
If a company is opening a new office overseas, they must first ensure that whatever technology is being used here is available in those new regions as well.
Tell us about a few significant achievements in your career so far.
I have been a part of numerous ERP rollouts and implementation of various cutting technologies like AI/ML, data lakes, and many other digital transformation technologies that have enabled our organization to have an efficient sales and logistics transformation. However, successfully taking care of my organization’s IT security has been one of the most significant milestone for me in my journey so far.
According to you, how difficult is it to get approval for a project from the board/management?
This completely depends on business requirement, nature of the project, associated risks, and the advantages that it might bring into the business functions. While some projects costing crores of rupees might get approved 30 min, a project costing just Rs.20 lakh might take a month or two to go through the approval process. Thus, you must ensure to do a thorough study and make notes of every aspect pertaining to that particular project such as the advantages it brings-in, future opportunities that might be created, and many others – and present the same in front of the board. Also, one must always keep in mind the amount of budget allocated by the organization for that particular process where the project is being proposed to be implemented. This aspect also plays a significant role in a project being approved or rejected by the management.
