He calls himself a non-resident Bengali. "The reason why I call myself a non-resident Bengali is that even though I was born in Kolkata, my family has been a resident of Delhi for the last 50 years and I find myself more at home here than any other place," says Anand Sengupta, CIO, Carrier Airconditioning.

After passing out from St Stephens, Delhi, Sengupta enrolled himself for a postgraduate diploma in business administration from IMT Ghaziabad. "After my diploma from IMT, I joined VAM Organic Chemicals (now known as Jubilant Organosys) as a programmer, but I left the company after four-and-a-half years as a programmer analyst," he says. Before joining Daikin as CIO, Sengupta worked as assistant manager (IT) at Mark Auto Industries for four-and-a-half years.

"Daikin was a turning point in my career because during my stint, I learned to judiciously mix business processes into technology and also saw how technology could be used for growth. Moreover, I was transformed from being simply an operations guy to one actively involved in business processes," he says.

Projects Close to Heart
Perhaps, it was the realization of deploying technology in business processes for growth that led to SAP implementation at Daikin Shriramcounted by Sengupta as the project which gave him immense satisfaction as an IT professional.

"Even though we were using ERP as part of the basic infrastructure, we had no legacy system in place since we were a new company incorporated in 2000," Sengupta says. Not only were operation processes unproductive, communication between marketing operations in different locations was a major problem, as the systems were not connected to one another. All these factors led to delay in the companys sales order cycle, thereby resulting in high inventory levels, and in turn delaying the decision-making process.

It was to address these problems that the company implemented SAP solutions at more than twelve locations across India. The SAP solutions led to significant improvement in the companys material management process. They also smoothened the flow of information, improved business visibility and reduced inventory to a more optimal level.

Homes Where the Heart is
Theirs is an unlikely match. The wife is a Punjabi while the husband is a true-blue Bengali, but Senguptas wife has made a special place in the hearts of all his family members. "We met during a course at NIIT where she was my classmate and once cupid struck, we decided to get married in 1993," he says.

A great pillar of support and most importantly a motivating spirit, Parinita, a computer teacher at Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan, has always spurred Sengupta to achieve goals he has set for himself.

A firm believer in doing all things in moderation Sengupta does manage to take out quality time for his family and takes them out on a vacation twice a year. Sengupta is not adventurous and would rather stick to a well-planned vacation. Among all the destinations visited by him, Sengupta counts his Canada trip as the most memorable one.

In the true spirit of a Bengali, Sengupta is fond of food and loves to experiment with different cuisines, his all time favorites being Thai and Italian cuisines. Not one to simply contend with having good food, Sengupta also likes to cook himself. He was an active sportsperson in his school days, but Sengupta laments the lack of time for playing and has to content himself by watching cricket on television or seeing his 13-year old son, Shubhankar, play and occasionally, play with him on weekends. Daughter Shubhangi, though, is the real stress buster for this always on-the-go CIO.

A Born Leader
One of the factors that distinguish a leader from a follower is his ability to lead by example and Sengupta follows this completely. "I believe that for anyone to become successful, it is essential to be able to manage people and lead by delegation. And, since every person is unique from the other, one cannot generalize methods and ideas to inspire and motivate people," says Sengupta.

Also, Sengupta realized early in his career that technical knowledge would only make him a sound techie. However, for being a good manager, he would need to learn to manage people and delegate responsibility.

Stuti Das
stutid@cybermedia.co.in

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