Newsletter Signup:

Girish Rao
Head -IT
Marico



InformationWeek 11/8/2011 5:18:04 PM
    

In 2002, Girish Rao experienced a moment of pride, exhilaration, and triumph as Marico went live with its SAP implementation. It was the first implementation of Advanced Planner and Optimizer (APO) and BIW in the country. It gave him immense satisfaction to lead a SAP technical team through this successful implementation. And as Marico expanded globally, Girish replicated that success in other markets such as South Africa, Bangladesh, Egypt, the Middle East, Vietnam, and the U.S. Truly, he qualifies as a ‘Global CIO.’ Today, Rao is doing something rather unique by way of Operation Pearl Necklace (more
on this later). Girish Rao was another unanimous choice of the jury.

One jury member said, “Girish is the practical CIO, working up the ladder into an IT leader in his company. Over the years he has delivered and aligned well with the business. His current span of control across geographies that he is managing gives him the global exposure that makes him a candidate for the Global CIO list.” For Operation Pearl Necklace — which comprises
eight sub-projects (or ‘pearls’) aimed at enabling the organization to combat the downturn and enable it to take advantage of the upturn — Rao and his team deployed GPS tracking and mobile technologies to help increase collaboration with vendors, and drive down costs of procurement to increase purchase efficiencies. Notable among these projects was the contract farming
management system for increasing the contract farming acreage and productivity and the Kardi Buying Cockpit system for getting real-time information of Kardi seeds market across 300 mandis.

Oil from Kardi seeds is used to make Marico’s flagship product, Saffola Oil. And Marico, in its bid to increase the Kardi Crop acreage, started contract farming, the largest of its kind in the country. It appointed agricultural representatives to visit the contracted farms to get updates on the status of the crops. These representatives also give farmers advice on farming inputs and remedies for crop damage.

A jury member was all praise for Rao’s contribution to these projects and said, “Most IT savvy companies are seen in the metros and highly organized areas. But a company like Marico needs to go back to the rural areas because the sourcing happens there; the supply chain has to be created there. I really like what Girish is trying to do with mobile technology in the rural areas — and mobility has a huge potential. Girish has also done major implementations of SAP in Marico India and South Africa. He has also created a very able supply chain. So clearly, Girish has a touch with the semi-urban and the rural, and this is rare among CIOs.”

Rao has a track record of 22 years, including a total of 18 at Marico. Apart from spearheading all the aforementioned IT initiatives, he plays numerous roles at the company. For instance, he is a part of the Mergers and Acquisition task force responsible for due diligence; plays an active role in the business task force responsible for streaming the global supply chain that’s spread across countries. He also contributes to the business task force for the new product development process and to the innovation task force that evaluates and assesses innovations within the organization. He’s responsible for the Green task force for the conceptualization and implementation of the Go Green Project; and championing the HR process of member development, assessment and appraisal systems.

Apart from all this, Rao helps initiate business process changes along with the best business practices and the standardization of these within the group. He is also on the Management Committee, which drives strategic business plans and strategies for Marico.

In a tele-interview with a jury member, Rao said, “IT is for the business, so you work with business as a pivot and not IT as the pivot. You don’t do anything for the sake of IT. In order for the business to grow, IT needs to align to the criterias and goals. You are there because of the business and business is the prime driver.”

•     Educational DNA   
• Career Achievements
•          Interests          

InformationWeek India on Facebook