Print

Comment

Email

Digg

Del.icio.us

Reddit

Twitter

A literature graduate and an IIM-A alumnus, ask Bora why politics and he is quick to answer: I have always wanted to be a change-agent, and politics gave me a much larger platform. Bora says he felt like Alice in Wonderful when he was first introduced to technology (as VP at Digital Talkies). The fascination still continues as he endeavors to build an IT infrastructure totally based upon open-source for a party with over 2 crore members. He knows that the task is not without hurdles.

Prodyut Bora,Convener, It Cell, Bjp

Deewana Bana Diya
Only 14 months into his first job as CIO and Ajay Meher is being credited with introducing processes in Sony. Meher has big plans drawn up for Sony and is currently drafting an IT roadmap for organizational growth.

For managing large volume of content, Meher has introduced automation and digitization. Dealing with content rights also is high on his agenda as he tests proof of concept for digital assets management. This project will prevent content piracy internally, he adds. On a roll after successfully implementing SAP in 2007-end including finance, control and sales and distribution; he has his eyes set on completing ECM by the end of this fiscal.

Ajay Meher, VP, IT, Sony TV

Tailoring IT
If Globus gives you tailored solutions for your wardrobe, Meheriar Patel gives Globus the IT infrastructure to design these solutions. Patels adaptability quotient to various industries remains his strongest point. He has worked with various industries like banking and aviation before taking up retail.

IT implementations are specific to businesses, and thus a thorough understanding of the business is must, says Patel. And one question that every CIO should be asking is: How can I add value to the bottom-line? Ask him what motivates him to go that extra mile for his organization and he says, Knowledge, innovation and passion.

Meheriar Patel, GM & head, IT, Globus Stores

Mass Entertainer
Its rare to see a long queue in front of a PVR counter. No, it is not about recession, it is about online ticketing. And the brain behind that is Atul Luthra. An engineer and an MBA from IIM Kolkata, Luthra has been the backbone of IT implementations at PVR. He has linked all the twenty five cinemas to a single server, launched mobile apps, made e-ticketing more convenient, and earn himself a place in the prestigious CIO 100 list.

Luthras long stint with IT has made him acknowedge that people never accept new technology at once and that it takes a blend of persuasion, education and results. He has also learnt that outsourcing works fine if theres a good process in place. But, most importantly, he has proved that IT is a constant challenge and if pursued with vigor, it can prove to be an excellent experience, as it has been for him.

Atul Luthra, head, It, Pvr Cinemas

CIO, Professor, Author and More
At a time when EDP and enterprise IT planning was gaining importance in the early nineties, Pradeep Pendse was a step ahead, playing the role of an outsourced CIO to some prominent companies in India. Having more than two decades of experience as a lecturer in reputed engineering and management colleges in Mumbai, he took on the role of the dean, IT and CIO at Welingkar in 2000 and went on to transform the institute to one of the most technologically advanced in the education sector. He played the role of a catalyst in embedding IT as an integral part of the curriculum at the institute having introduced new courses on e-business and business analysis. He recently donned a new hat having authored a book on business analysis and has been honoured with the Best IT Teacher award among B-Schools.

Pradeep Pendse, dean, IT, LN Wellingkar Institute of Management

From Finance to IT
Although Shah started as an internal auditor with the Lalbhai Group, 32 years later now he not just handles their financials but is also the core IT person for Arvind Mills. A CA by qualification, Shah says never thought he would end up being a CIO.

In his 15 years of IT, Shah has given Arvind Mills a few technology turnsfrom implementing SAP ERP to introducing videoconferencing. Shah has played the role of a change agent in the company.

Bhupendra Shah, Cio, Arvind Mills

Angel Hands
Born into a community that dominates the stock markets in India, Shah was a natural for the job at Angel Broking. After dabbling into the profession and understanding the nitty-gritty of it, he started to look for bigger challenges. IT attracted him and after a few certified courses, he joined the then fledgling broking firm, Angel Broking.

Today the company is regarded as a premier broking firm. The online platform that he put in place has won Shah a lot of accolades. Hes now trying to bring in newer technologies like mobile platform, etc. Today, Shah is helping the company gain prominence and garner investor confidence through the use of IT.

Ketan Shah, associate director, IT, Angel Broking

She Tried, Tested and Proved
Sona Saha started a career in IT at Weston Electronics when she was merely 23 years old and the youngest member in a male dominated team. Since then she has achieved many milestones and worked across various industries.

According to Saha, her first major achievement was when she built and implemented an end-to-end ERP in Weston Electronics. I felt really proud then, she recalls. Another highlight of her career is her stint with Pizza Hut. Saha says she joined Pizza Hut when it was in a very virgin state of technology. When she moved out, Pizza Hut had a developed ERP across all its facilities (65-70), a fully functional point of sales system and a three-tier connectivity infrastructure. Saha says that one of the most daring things she has done is the testing of a Taiwanese brand, called Posiflex, for a retail solution at the Bangalore branch of KFC. Fortunately the decision turned out to be so productive that Its something I have never regretted, she says.

Sona Saha Das, head, IT, Infostar Business Solution

Manufacturing Tech Success
With 23 years of experience in the industry, Saxena has been the brain behind the creation of the IT roadmap for IFB. In a very short time he has managed to implement and successfully initiate a CRM module very effectively, thereby adding more value to the business. He is also responsible for the implementation of SAP across all plantsBangalore, Goa, Kolkata and Bhopal, along with regional offices, branches offices and stock points. Prior to IFB, Saxena worked with Krishna Group where he implemented customized ERP in Oracle/Developer 2000, on Windows NT in a record time of eight months, and also implemented bar coding with multiple items in a single invoice for Maruti Udyog.

Sanjeev Saxena, GM, IT, IFB

The Rural Pull
CN Ram joined HDFC Bank in July 1994, after 12 years of experience with the Bank of America. This experience bore testimony to his IT capabilities. At BoA he managed to completely automate the banks India operations.

Ram had a small team of four people when he joined HDFC. This number had escalated to 172 by the time he quit in June this year. Ram was responsible for strategic IT planning, alignment of IT with business and new implementations that have helped HDFC attain new shores in e-banking.

Over the years Ram took over responsibilities of managing the data center operations from the Operations department. He was also in-charge of the Business Solutions Groupthe group that interfaces between the business groups and IT in the bank.

After his departure from HDFC in June 2008, Ram joined Rural Shores Business Services, a company that helps rural entrepreneurs to set up BPOs in villages. He is currently the director of the company.

CN Ram

Trading with IT
A year before Patankar joined BSE, the exchange commenced BOLT or BSE Online Trading making it the worlds second exchange to have totally automated, screen-based trading. He took this to a new level by setting up state-of-the technologies from front-end to back-end, making it comparable to any stock exchange in the world. Sample this: every transaction on the main system gets replicated online into its disaster site located in Navi Mumbai. He also set up a robust back-up infrastructure with three back upsone at the site, the other in a bank locker within a fireproof vault and the third at the disaster back-up site. Patankar was also instrumental in kick-starting Directors Database and ICERS (Indian Corporate Electronic Reporting System) to facilitate information flow and increase transparency in the Indian capital market.

SB Patankar

ImPRESSive Tenure
When Dr Sai joined Thompson Press in 1999, the level of IT implementation there was not exactly healthy. But in a span of nine years, he managed to design and implement a number of IT processes and operations. The result is glaring: interaction through hard copies has been reduced to a mere 6% from 99% when he joined.

Page(s)   1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8