Succession Planning should be a Selfish Motive for CIOs (2 Nov 2012)

Succession planning has been talked a lot as a subject of importance in companies and technology departments for many years. Though it is a fundamental activity within every corporate function, there have not been many instances where CIOs have made efforts to prepare a well chartered succession plan. 

It really comes as a surprise, especially in these times when CIOs are moving into business and strategy roles. The pitfalls of not having a succession plan in place can have a major impact on business continuity as IT today has become a critical part for most of our businesses.

At Mahindra Finance, we have ensured through our various initiatives to nurture our IT workforce and make them ready for the next level.

For example, we have divided our IT division into various zones within the country, and appointed zonal IT heads to carry out various IT initiatives. For example, the IT head in one zone can carry out the execution of a document management system; another IT leader can handle information security in a different region, and so on. However, for strategic decision making, the team can seek my opinion.

Earlier, our head office in Mumbai would conduct all these activities. By dividing our IT team into regions, we have given our team members the responsibility to handle multiple projects with confidence. My purpose has been to create many CIOs within the company, and make myself available for other roles. Such initiatives also provide immense confidence to the management.

Among other things, I personally feel there are two very important qualities that one should look for in these future leaders. One is the personal effectiveness of the person you wish to groom, and second is the ability of the individual to take up transformational roles outside their typical comfort zones. 

Succession planning becomes a selfish motive for CIOs because if they intend to play a larger role in the organizational dynamics at the board level etc., they need to be fully assured that the people working under them are equipped, and can stand in for them when the need arises.

Technology Means Business at Mahindra Finance(23 Oct 2012)

How many organizations today believe technology is the biggest differentiator in their business. At Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services I don't need to reiterate this fact again and again. Being one of India's premier non-banking finance companies (NBFC) and the largest NBFC operating in rural India, we hold a lot of proud in saying that we are because our technology delivers. To engage with and cater to the countless customers, the 8,000 employees are technology by the technology and that's what makes us the numaro uno!

To you, all this must be appearing very fabricated. Isn't it? But the reality is that the IT organization and our farsightedness has made it appear so simple and doable. I will tell you how.

To meet our business demands, the IT team worked on a radically different approach. Having understood the needs, we came out with a concept of 'Enterprise Architecture and Technology Solution', now popular known as EAATS.

Initially, we were running different pools of data. With EAATS, we were able to club all these data pools into a single entity, and integrate the entire data architecture of the company. 

The architecture will have one common platform, while the technology software solutions can be of any type and from any service provider. It will provide analytics and secured interface access, and is a good mix of Big Data and media transformation concept. There will be no duplication of data entry or maintenance. If a data has been entered once, it will reflect in EAATS. There will be a common entry point for users coming in through various channels.

The solution is dynamic in every sense. If we configure something in the database, the same configuration will be available on the Web, end-point devices and all other interface areas. For any maintenance, version controls, implementations etc. there will be no downtime, and operations are carried out in a seamless manner. 

For example, if the marketing / HR department needs to carry out a survey. All they need to do is put the questions in EAATS. This, in turn, will ensure that the target audience gets the questions. At the back-end, we have already defined the pages accordingly. The relevant information is pushed once and used across for multiple purposes. 

Previously, we had multiple applications running. For any deployment we had to rely on a lot of manpower. Once the deployment was over we had to conduct training for the employees. Each application looked different, and our workforce found it difficult to utilize them. 

In addition, we had only two or three products earlier, but now we have a wide range of products. Being part of NBFC financial services, each time we launched a product, we had to make changes within our system. We now wanted to give the power to the users to define what they want from the services. EAATS is like a tap; you open it and decide whether you want cold water or hot water.

With this solution, we are meeting the demands of our workforce on a continuous basis. The entire solution is based on Open Source, and is used by around 96 percent of the user community. The head office consolidation database is on Oracle, while the remaining process users use Microsoft SQL database for reports. 

In a way, we have created a demand for the business users to use IT solutions and applications. The architecture has helped us gain reach and speed when application deployment really matters.

Managing Business is Tougher than IT (5 Sep 2012)

This is certainly not a time when CIOs can be at peace. The business environment is so dynamic that the IT department is unsure whether a decision taken will be right or wrong. Even if it clicks, how long can the decision be sustained, and what will be the next strategy that has to be embraced for business.

These factors have emerged largely due to the uncertainty prevailing in the domestic and global markets.

I think CIOs find it more challenging to deal with the business than managing  IT. Internal IT challenges are limited in terms of doing more with less, looking for business solutions, employee grooming and retention. So it is a bigger challenge to deal with the rest of the company.

For example, take the case of our initiative to empower customers and give them direct access to the company. We created numerous touch points for them in the form of Internet, kiosks, provided mobile devices and applications. Our idea was to make them independent, and at the same time acquire new customers within the company's fold. The challenge that emerged was not technology but resistance internally.

This initiative witnessed a high resistance from our sales executives spread across locations. The creation of new channels meant a reduction in their incentive programs. It took us some time to convince them, and use their time and efforts to strengthen other areas of the business.

So gone are the days when CIOs were only responsible for delivering reliable tech solutions to the business. Today's CIOs have to take a much broader role in the business, driving business transformation, innovating for competitive advantage and acting as key strategic partners to the organization.

To quote analyst firm PwC, "Today, the best CIOs not only keep the electronic plumbing in good repair, but also help define and execute forward-looking business strategies."

As CIOs, we have a bird's-eye view of the organization and its processes. We can see the challenges and opportunities of new business models in a way that other heads may not.

'CIOs should not make themselves irreplaceable' (June 30, 2011) Interview By Ashwani Mishra

Q] How important is it for CIOs to ensure that the leadership pipeline is properly developed as the impact of technology grows, and as IT effectiveness becomes a competitive weapon?

[A] Succession planning has been greatly debated; especially in the realm of IT leaders. Though it is a fundamental activity within every corporate function, there have not been many instances where a CIO or an IT head has made efforts to structurally prepare the succession plan.

For IT, it is especially important as technology’s role as a business enabler continues to grow. The IT department needs to be divided into multiple silos like project management, IT operations, business process, infrastructure, change management, application support etc, each having a functional head who reports to the CIO.

[Q] What are the pitfalls of not having a succession planning in place?

[A] The major impact would be on business continuity as IT today has become a critical part for most of the businesses. The other concern is to find someone outside the organisation with the same domain expertise.

[Q] What have been your initiatives within the company to ensure that the IT team is nurtured and made ready for the next level?

[A] Succession motive becomes a selfish motive for a good executive or CIO because if they intend to play a larger role in the organisation dynamics at the board level etc., they need to be fully assured that the people working under them are equipped and can stand in for them when the need arises.

I have made my zonal IT heads to carry out various IT initiatives. For example, the southern zone has been asked to make a document management system; the northern region will handle information security. The lead in the north eastern part of the country has been asked to collect the data and store it in a centralized environment. However, for strategic decision making, the team seeks my judgment.

Earlier all these activities were conducted from our head office in Mumbai. These tasks will help each one to take responsibilities and handle multiple projects with confidence. I want to create 100 CIOs within the company and not make my self irreplaceable. Such initiatives also give a confidence to the management

[Q] What qualities and capabilities should one look at for preparing the leaders of tomorrow?

[A] Among many things, I personally feel there are two very important things we should look for in the future leaders. One is personal effectiveness of the person you wish to groom and second, is the ability to take up transformational roles outside typical comfort zones.

BITS MISSION:-

• To deploy Robust Scalable customer centric solutions at affordable cost.
• Driving business agility in turbulent all times.
Team Leadership
• To ensure the roles on leadership, as per corporate and competitive strategy of Mahindra Finance to research & serve technology to rural India and to get the best practice through globalization.
• Use Respect in Interactions with Others. (service)
• Be Direct and Clear In Communication. Make yourself available. (awareness and clear communication)
• Challenge Convention. Use Wisdom In Thought.  (listen, apply yourself)
• Question Proactively.  (redundancy and recovery)
• Simplify and Eliminate Waste. (take it easy & remove the unwanted)
• Express Quality in All Deeds.  (passion)
• Act on Purpose.  (defined execution)
• Be Efficient and Timely.  ( accurate and duration derived deliverables)
Keep commitments. (goals)

Being Collaborative business leader and inspiring BITS manager while partnering closely with the business is vital, high growth bits realize the importance of honing and applying BITS expertise jot just their own but that of the entire BITS management.

Inspiring BITS staffs create a work setting that enables the professional growth of BITS staff. Where they can demonstrate high technical literacy that earns the respect of their technical thought leaders. Strong Hardware networking provides learning opportunities that also meet the needs of the business and technology.

Traditionally BITS personnel’s made it a priority to build only for BITS system skills many now see the need for increase businesses acumen as well. We have already initiated BITS staff to the business units to develop their skills to deploy and organize it in a systematic way to solve business technology
(BIZ Techno) problems.

 BITS Strategy is a tough nut to crack. But seamless demand based BITS strategies change the value potential of the organization. And the perceptions of BITS held by the rest of the business. BITS strategy is one of our key responsibilities.
We would like to thank many of our other functions and departments in specific the individual’s interest towards technology usage, which generously contributed their insights and experiences to the value of the right purpose and demand to ensure the empowerment of latest BITS automation using the available infrastructure through affordable latest technology solutions. Strategy sets the potential business value of our BITS, Strategy is both much simpler and much harder than most all people realize by the time impact is huge. It is simply about achieving clarity on how our enterprise will win and what capabilities it needs or requires at all areas to achieve such competitive task, it is about achieving our goals. BITS strategy is about how BITS will help guide our financial enterprise at rural to win.

This breaks down into BITS guiding the business strategy, and BITS delivering on the business strategy. Although some or all tasks involved in creating the BITS strategy may be separate, and there are normally separate documents, BITS strategy it is an integral part of the business strategy—not something separate that is “aligned” with business strategy to create brief, business-success-focused documents, that are later leveraged into specific communications for different take over to ensure the responsibility to deliver the best results focused on only business success.

On demand, better controls and timely delivery enable business capabilities through BITS with fixed principles governance and financial management and metrics to support our organization to migrate to support the business capabilities and rural impact of speed and reach empowering the executives at last mile to meet the business needs and strategic approach to sourcing. Using strategic models we can activate the projects and performance programs on the other side using the operating model the other elements like financial, technical and people resources train, educate and empower to achieve our results timely.

Initially such originated domain specific to our process and procedures focus on providing efficient and effective BITS services, when you focus more towards competitiveness then it will guide and help the untapped business to attach to our prospective. We didn’t complicate our BITS strategies more conventional and boring to read and follow, using simple practical tested possible inspiring the demand business model.
It won’t perform as episodic program with more papers as outcomes, but as improvising and enduring conversation with frequent communications and awareness within our organization. One of our communications such as video and animation, which made easy to approach sound more light to share the concepts which was used in the strategy, which got the enterprise to act strategically.   

            

IT Leadership and Career Development

Corporate Customer Care=Solutions Support Service provide high quality deliverables at affordable time that aims to "enhance the competitiveness"

Technology is another key differentiator at MMFSL. Our alliances with best-of-breed technology partners ensure proactive, on demand support to meet our growth in rural, environmental challenge as well as the continuous development of our systems infrastructure and delivery channels to achieve superior standards of customer service.