Can you tell us about your most significant IT initiatives
and how these have impacted the business?
Maruti Suzuki has 1,200 dealer locations. From our data center, we
run a Dealer Management System (DMS) application that all our
dealers can use. At any point of time we have 9,000 to 10,000 users
on this DMS application, which is accessed via leased lines. The
expense for running this application is shared by the dealers on a
pay-per-use basis. So a dealer can run his business, using this
application.
This application standardizes the way our dealers sell to
customers, and that makes for improved and consistent service
levels across the country. It has also helped us consolidate our
customer information from dealers (earlier it was stored in silos).
Since we now have all the customer data in one database, we can
have a complete view about the customer behavior, preferences and
buying patterns. And this information is available almost in real
time. So, with a better understanding of customers and markets, we
can customize an offering for customers in a particular city or
region. Further, we can react to market changes quickly.
We were one of the first manufacturing companies in the country to
implement an application of this scale and nature. Since there was
no ready solution available at that time, we had to do a lot of
work at the initial stages, and develop this from scratch.
How do you track the business-IT alignment? Do you have any
metrics in place for this?
IT is not an isolated service department anymore and it is very
much an intricate part of the business. So IT is there while the
strategies are being made in the boardroom. I am on the executive
management committee, so I make sure that IT supports the business
strategies from the beginning.
What are the things required to make a good decision as a
CIO?
It is critical for every CIO to have an indepth understanding of
the business. He needs to understand the market, industry trends,
the competition and global trends. The second requirement is a good
set of people armed with the right technology to support your
projects. A CIO could also seek external counsel and consult
industry analysts.
What must a CIO do to evolve to a business strategist? How do they
learn about the business side?
They must have a strong connect or build personal rapport with all
the business heads.
I became CIO in 1998 and a few years ago I told the MD that I need
to have a feel of running the business. Fortunately, there was an
opportunity in one of the business units. So I ran this, along with
IT for three years or so. This gave me tremendous exposure to the
business side, which I never could have gained as a pure IT person.
But I have now come back to the IT side full time, since it needs
my full attention. I also focus on the business strategy on the
company and how IT can drive this.
If you were not an IT manager…
Coming to IT was accidental for me. After my mechanical
engineering, I wanted to be a shop floor person. My dream was to
work on machines. But I could not get this opportunity in my first
job at a PSU, and so I veered towards IT.
Can you comment on CIO-CEO and CIOCFO
relationships?
The matured CIO is not merely a cost cutter who looks at the bottom
line. Rather they have a good understanding of the business and are
business enablers who support growth. The role of the CFO has also
undergone a huge change like that of a CIO. So the CIO and CFO are
not just cost focused; they now have entrepreneurial focus. They
look at both the top and bottom lines and also at all the business
targets.
The CEO has to ensure that any decision taken by the board is
implemented, following a timeline.