Technology is an ever-changing and always evolving thing. With a new range of technologies rolling out each year, there is always something on the brink of becoming mainstream. Today, technology not only supports businesses, but also propels innovation, strategy and decision-making. While it drives new innovation in an organization, it also brings along new products and solutions for today's industry.

CIO Insider is one such unique platform that connects the top-notch technology product and solution providers to the senior technology and business decision-makers and key influencers for enterprise software-related information, resources and best practices. It’s not surprising that Satyajit Sarker, a veteran technology leader and the EVP & CIO of OmniActive Health Technologies, have been under our radar, thanks to his envious career profile.

OmniActive Health Technologies is one of the leaders in the nutraceutical industry, offering a range of quality ingredients that are innovative and scientifically validated. OmniActive leverages international R&D strengths to deploy an array of state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies in extraction, purification, isolation and delivery of nutritional actives. CIO Insider engages an exclusive interaction with Satyajit Sarker, a certified global CIO with over 20 years of experience in Information Technology and Digital Business Transformation.

In conversation with Satyajit Sarker, EVP & CIO, OmniActive Health Technologies

The role of a CIO has changed in multifarious ways over the past few years. Beyond being a technology facilitator, a modern CIO contributes

directly to the growth of the organization. How do you perceive this change and how do you respond to the new challenges?
In the current world, technical knowledge and expertise are given, and this area has transformed into a service-oriented model. This has enabled the CIOs with time and opportunity to focus on the business and by realigning and balancing between outsourcing vs in-house or cloud vs on-prem structure.

A CIO has an uncut role, which can vertically cross all other functions and departments. The right kind of balance & understanding of every single functional process and their current state of challenges is the key priority area of an effective CIO. Based on this, a CIO can take a holistic approach to unlock business values with untapped opportunities in the form of designing delivery platforms and business solutions.

This is how I see the role of the CIO shaping up; an advantageous position to contribute to the organisational growth journey in line with the corporate aspiration and strategic thrust.

would you describe your role in OmniActive Health Technologies?
When I started working at OmniActive, I started building IT infrastructure from scratch, which gave me the opportunity to orchestrate an expert technology team; in sync with the company’s vision and strategy.

I have three core IT principles that I follow: the first is compliance and processes, the second is a strong delivery platform, the third, and the most important, is business excellence. This allows the exploration of different possibilities and brings a fresh perspective and an advantage to a business. I followed these principles throughout my CIO career.

As a CIO with over 20 years of experience, I have developed a fair amount of business acumen which transcends specific industries. I have built systems and processes from the ground up and given shape to companies. My aspiration has always been to be a part of an organisation where I have a significant opportunity to contribute to its growth rather than an incremental one.

The elements which inspired me to join OmniActive was the management as well as its vision, history, and the legacy which is very impressive. OmniActive is a leader in supplying the nutraceutical industry with natural ingredients through science and technology, and I wanted to be a part of growing that leadership position.

In your journey over the past two decades, which are the milestones that bestowed your utmost satisfaction as a professional and a technology leader?
I strongly believe that each and every business is unique, and I have never used the same model for two businesses. Each and every problem has its own distinctive solution. There are many attributes that help a company to grow, and technology is one such important secret sauce for success, during my tenure at a company I have even witnessed a growth up to 8 folds.

I have had many achievements during the 20-years of my professional journey. Still, the most satisfying milestone for me, is to see the company reach its aspirations and knowing I played a role in that. These are the things which give me true satisfaction and a good night sleep!