Enterprise Connect Awards: The CIO Empowered

The night was tense and the air crackled with excitement as the 250-strongÂ
audience awaited the announcement of the winners. The EnterpriseConnect
Awards, a CyberMedia India Online Limited (CIOL) and Dataquest initiative to
recognize excellence among CIOs was started in the year 1994. A huge success
even then, the participation increased to over 250 this year. However, only
eleven companies and their CIOs had the privilege to take home the trophy.

The awards were divided into two categories based on the organization's
turnover: over Rs 1,000 crore and under Rs 1,000 crore.

Automobile major Tata Motors' general manager, IT, Probir Mitra, bagged the
Champion CIO award, while Ashishkumar Chauhan, president & CIO, Reliance
Industries and Subrato Das, CIO, CESC won the Gold and Silver awards,
respectively in the above Rs 1,000 crore category.

In the under Rs 1,000 crore category the Champion CIO award went to Subhash S
Patil, CIO, Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation, while Mankikar Ravikiran, DGM-IT,
Shamarao Vithal Co-operative and KT Rajan, director, Operations IS &
Projects, Allergan India, bagged the Gold and Silver awards respectively.

The EnterpriseConnect Awards also emphasize some of the key qualities that
CIOs must possess, judging them on the categories of:Â
Pioneer, Innovator, Advocate, Extended Manager, and Process.

M Thyagaraj, CIO of ONGC bagged the Pioneer award, Venkata S Srinivas of WeP
Peripherals got the Innovator award, Syed Shahabuddin, CGM (IT), State Bank of
India won the Advocate trophy, JB Bhaskar, head, IT, Bajaj Allianz Life
Insurance won the Extended Manager award and the Process CIO award went to
Arindam Sinha, GM (IT) of Rajasthan Spinning & Weaving Mills.

The winners were selected by a six-member jury comprising Anand Sudarshan,
group president, Manipal Universal Learning as the Jury Chairman; Sudin Apte of
Forrester Research; Pravir Vohra, GM, IT, ICICI Bank (Champion CIO awardee of
EnterpriseConnect Awards '05 in the over Rs 1000 Cr category); Ravi Kumar,
CIO, Gati (Champion CIO awardee of EnterpriseConnect Awards '05 in the below
Rs 1000 Cr category); Shyam Malhotra, editor-in-chief, CyberMedia Publications;
and  Abraham Mathew, president,
CIOL.

The Jury
Abraham Mathew, president, CIOL	Â	Shyam Malhotra editor-in-chief CyberMedia
Anand Sudarshan, group president, Manipal Universal Learning	      Â	Pravir K Vohra CIO, ICICI Bank
GS Ravi Kumar CIO, Gati	Â	Sudin Apte, Forrester Research

 

Winners at Enterprise Connect Awards 2006
Category	CIO	Companies
Large Enterprise Category (>Rs 1000 crore)
Champion CIO	Probir Mitra	Tata Motors Limited
Gold CIO	Ashishkumar Chauhan	Reliance Industries
Silver CIO	Subrato Das	CESC Limited
Mid-sized Enterprise Category (
Champion CIO	Subhash S Patil	Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation
Gold CIO	Mankikar Ravikiran	Shamrao Vithal Co-operative Bank
Silver CIO	K T Rajan	Allergan India
Individual Category Awards
Pioneer	M Thyagaraj	ONGC
Innovator	Venkata Ramanan P	Wipro e Peripherals Limited
Advocate	Syed Shahabuddin	State Bank of India
Extended Manager	J B Bhaskar	Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance
Process	Arindam Sinha	Rajasthan Spinning & Weaving Mills

Six nominees were finalized under each category based on their responses to a
comprehensive questionnaire detailing their recent IT projects and the business
benefits derived from each of them. The winners were picked based on the
following parameters: leadership, vision & mission (including risk taking
ability), strategic deployment of IT, business benefits and value, pioneering
use of technology, innovative use of technology, process improvements, internal
and external customer orientation (understanding business needs) and people
orientation.

The awards were announced at a gala function at Mumbai in the presence of an
impressive gathering of CIOs of the country's leading enterprises.

The welcome note was presented by R Anil Kumar, vice president, CIOL , who
gave details of the elaborate selection process:Â
“We spent over 500 man hours short listing and selecting the winners.
The chief criteria included the pioneering, and leadership qualities of the
CIO”.

Awards Methodology

The participants were divided into two categories-Large enterprises with a turnover of over Rs 1,000 crore, and Mid-sized enterprises with a turnover of under Rs 1,000 crore. The jury selected three companies from the shortlisted contestants in both the categories-one as Champion CIO and two runners-up for Gold and Silver Awards. In the Individual Awards category, those scoring highest in each of the individual categories in the second part of the questionnaire, were selected to participate in the Individual Awards category comprising Pioneer CIO, Innovator CIO, Advocate CIO, Extended Manager CIO and Process CIO. As per the norm, two awards are not conferred on a single company. The Jury was presented with the final shortlist of candidates in the two main categories and the individual categories, without revealing the internal scores assigned by the research team. The Jury assigned scores individually based on fixed parameters, which were then tallied, to arrive at the winners.

Who's Who

A Pioneer: Adopts cutting edge/emerging technologies ahead of time

An Innovator:  Innovates on a existing technology/application for use originally not intended for

An Advocate: Contributes towards acceptance of IT within the organization-top management and end users

An Extended Manager: Creates value for the business by connecting strategic external stakeholders

A Processer CIO: Positively impacts business processes through successful use of IT

Ibrahim Ahmad, group editor, Dataquest and VOICE&DATA, shared a few
statistics on the important role played by CIOs in setting the course for future
growth. For instance, according to Dataquest figures for the year 2005-06,
Indian enterprises purchased hardware ranging from PCs to notebooks to
mainframes, worth Rs 17,600 crore. They also purchased peripherals worth Rs
5,200 crore in addition to purchasing packaged software worth Rs 6,000 crore.
Altogether, the large, medium and emerging enterprises in India, were
responsible for an IT spend of around Rs 52,000 crore on products, equipment and
software.

Anirudh P, chief operating officer, 3i Infotech, was of the view that today
organizations are trying to foster innovation as a measurable business value:
“The CIO has become more attuned to business needs. The emphasis has shifted
from doing more to doing much better”.

Chairman of the Jury and the Chief Guest for the evening, Anand Sudarshan,
group president, Manipal Universal Learning, touched upon the need for closer
connection between technology and business and the emergence of
'contextualized IT'. “Change is not as rapid and unpredictable as many
pronounce. There is an overall standardization in the way things are done. The
CIO of today needs to do things not only differently but also more efficiently
and in an innovative manner,” he said.

     Probir Mitra

GM, IT, Tata Motors CHAMPION CIO AWARD

Large Enterprise Category "This award is for team
achievement of the entire IT team of Tata Motors and Tata Technologies to
whom our IT services are outsourced. We feel proud to have our efforts
recognized by the IT industry. This recognition will make us aware of the
higher expectations from us and motivate us to strive for new
heights." Being one of India's
largest and oldest business houses has not stopped this automotive giant
to automate most of its critical business processes. Tata Motors has
pioneered the implementation of digital manufacturing in India by using
Delmia to integrate CAD and ERP systems. The company has also reaped the
benefits of Knowledge Based Engineering (KBE). Tata Motors has integrated
some of the critical business processes with TATA Daewoo and has also
implemented a B2B/B2C Internet based system. Having operations worldwide
and the backing of top management, the IT department has brought business
value to help achieve the global aspirations of the company.

Ashish kumar Chauhan

President & CIO, Reliance Industries

GOLD AWARD

Large Enterprise Category "I am happy to receive
this award on behalf of the 75,000 employees of the Reliance Group. It is
an honor and a privilege to be recognized by your peers" Reliance
Industries Limited (RIL) has automated all key processes of its business
resulting in optimal resource utilization. The company introduced mobile
wireless point of sale (PoS) in petrol and retail outlets to effectively
reduce billing time. The B2B e-commerce portal addresses key concerns of
customers while the introduction of the GIS-based truck tracking system
has reduced delays and pilferages. Recently, the Reliance Group-wide
Knowledge Management Portal was launched to provide state-of-the-art
internal communications and knowledge management framework. Subrato Das

CIO, CESC SILVER AWARD

Large Enterprise Category "Receiving the
prestigious 'CIOL-Dataquest' award, recognized by all the top
corporate participants of India Inc, brings glory to our
organization/group. We get further motivated to continue extending more
customer-intimate offerings to our valued customers with a single
touch-point for a pleasant experience" ESC Limited
(Calcutta Electric Supply), an RPG Group company, is a hundred-year-old
company engaged in generating and distributing electricity in and around
Kolkata. The company has introduced IT-enabled services such as
supervisory control and data acquisition, GIS and computerized billing to
improve its profitability. CESC has undertaken data mining for knowledge
discovery to identify target segments and has reduced losses by 16%, a
benchmark for the Indian utility services. IT has enabled the organization
to reduce Transmission & Distribution losses, the cost on personnel,
and to enhance operational efficiency.

Subhash S Patil

CIO, Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation CHAMPION AWARD

Mid-sized Enterprise Category "This award shall serve
as a great motivation to the IT team at KDMC in its continuous effort to
enhance the corporation functioning by effective use of ICT" This local,
self-government body has implemented some key e-Governance initiatives
such as automating registrations and certificates of births/deaths, water
connections, business licenses and building permission-streamlining an
otherwise cumbersome process. By doing so, it has brought about
transparency, accountability and reduced corruption at various levels. The
citizen-centric projects have resulted in effective file management and
transparent tender processing of the city's development projects, in
turn increasing its tax revenue. The corporation has kept a step ahead of
many privately-owned companies by implementing a disaster recovery server.

Ravikiran Mankikar

CIO, Shamrao Vithal Co-operative Bank GOLD AWARD

Mid-sized Enterprise Category "It is gratifying that
our IT implementation was considered and acknowledged to be on par with
the best in the industry. It also supports our philosophy that one need
not have big budgets and big implementations to be recognized."

VC Bank has added on
various modules such as online data mining, cache token and other
process-oriented enhancements to its core banking System. Apart from
streamlining processes such as clearing operations, financial accounting
and tax planning, the enhancements have helped the bank in making faster
business decisions and rolling out new products quickly. Its innovative
Cache Token module, which facilitated retail cash payments across ATMs has
been effectively used to encourage senior citizens to use ATMs. It has
also implemented a data replication solution for business continuity.

The enhancements not only improved
customer service and experience, but also resulted in the bank achieving a
business growth of Rs 830 crore, the highest in the Bank's 100-year
history.

KT Rajan

CIO, Allergan India SILVER AWARD

Mid-sized Enterprise Category "From time to time we
receive accolades from various stake-holders, but I consider it a
tremendous honor to be recognized by fellow professionals and the
Industry"

This Rs 200-crore
specialty pharmaceutical company spends Rs 2 crore on IT implementation. A
market leader in the Indian Ophthalmology business, the company has a
real-time supply chain management system in place with the help of a
PDA/Internet-based sales force automation solution. Computerization of
some of the critical areas has helped the company adhere to compliance and
regulatory policies. By quick adaptation of new technology, the company
looks to improving the efficiency of its employees and reducing their
unproductive time.

 

M Thyagaraj, CIO, ONGC

Pioneer AWARD Mr Srinivas of SAP presents
the Pioneer Award trophy to Mr M Thyagaraj, CIO, Oil and Natural Gas
Corporation (ONGC) With an IT spend
of Rs 200 crore, the Rs 48,000-crore Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has
deployed a 3-D model visualization to help reduce the cost of drilling.
The virtual reality center helps the teams to collaborate from different
locations. Some of the IT solution implemented by the corporation helps to
bring synergy among the teams. ONGC has been pioneering a lot of IT
initiatives and is constantly engaged in standardization of processes
across the company.       Â

JB Bhaskar, Bajaj Allianz
Life Insurance Company

Extended Manager Award Mr Shyam Malhotra, Director
& Chief Editor, CyberMedia hands over the Extended Award trophy to Mr
Sam Ghosh, CEO, and Mr JB Bhaskar, CIO, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance In order to meet
the challenge of providing standardized training to over 120,000 agents
spread across the country, the Rs 3,250 crore Life & General Insurance
company deployed a learning management portal called Project Bimal Jyoti.
The project has enabled all its agents to get certified through the
Internet at their own convenience. The IT implementation has helped the
company introduce new products and achieve operational excellence.

Venkata Ramanan P

Deputy CIO, WeP Peripherals

Innovator Award Mr P Anirudh of 3i Infotech
hands over the Innovator Award trophy in the individual category awards to
Mr Thomas Suresh Anand, Chief Strategy Officer, WeP Peripherals WeP Peripherals is
one of the largest employee owned company in the country, providing IT
peripherals products, solutions and printing services. The company
integrated with a large private bank to reduce the payments cycle time for
its tier-2 partners. BizTalk is one of the major initiatives taken up by
the company covering dealer operations, authorized service partners,
vendors, and employees on multiple portals, and was the backbone for data
integration.

Syed Shahabuddin

CGM (IT), State Bank of India

Advocate AWARD Mr P Anirudh of 3i Infotech
hands over the Advocate Award trophy in the individual category awards to
Mr Ravi Kaul, General Manager, State Bank of India SBI has used
technology to catch up with its nimble multinational counterparts and
brought about process efficiency, enhanced customer service and rolled out
new products. With a Core Banking Solution in place, it has networked
8,000 branches, and rolled out 5,571 ATMs. Considering its vast employee
base, the transition to automation required a lot of evangelizing as the
staff had to adjust to new work processes, adopt new skills and bear with
teething troubles of transitioning from a branch database to a centralized
one. One of the largest deployments of CBS in the country, it has resulted
in customer accounts increasing to over 85 mn, with peak transaction load
of over one mn a day in SBI alone.       Â

Arindam
Sinha, GM (IT),
Rajasthan Spinning & Weaving Mills

Process AWARD






It is among the
few companies that have implemented an extensive ERP in the textile
industry segment. The company has integrated its manufacturing, business
planning and management information system by using SOA. A satellite-
based communication system reaching remote areas has reduced cost on voice
communication by 30%. It has also implemented an e-procurement solution
and achieved cost reduction of 20%. RSWM has replicated its ERP in two
acquired plants in a process-oriented manner, having undergone a change
management exercise to overcome stiff resistance from the users. This has
enhanced its productivity from 89% to 96%.

The evening also served as an occasion for CyberMedia India Online Limited
(CIOL), to celebrate its tenth anniversary. CyberMedia's Shyam Malhotra traced
the history of CIOL and elaborated on how the technology portal continued to
break new grounds. “CIOL is one of the very few Internet ventures to have
survived the boom and the bust that followed. We spanned the whole spectrum from
irrational exuberance to irrational pessimism,” he said.

CIOL Bureau

maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in