Hi-tech Makeover

A lot has been happening at Godrej over the past one year. Whether it is
revisiting the cause of dwindling fortunes, an image makeover or strategy
rethinking. And well, restructuring their IT function has been a part of the
overall new-look process.

A lot has happened in the IT department since the last one year, and if close
to 80% of the IT team of Godrej, is now on the payrolls of HP, it is part of the
well thought out transformation plan. It is this change wave that Godrej is
riding on at the moment, and they are seeing IT as an important element to usher
in this change.

Served Ready

That is how Mani Mulki, EVP, corporate IT for Godrej Industries is right now
savoring his IT infrastructure. As a part of an outsourcing deal in September
2008, Godrejs end-to-end IT infrastructure was given over to HP for maintenance
and upkeep.

More than a year later, Mulki thinks that things are finally settling in for
them. He says that though such big decisions as outsourcing have always been in
the hands of the top management in the company, but this one was something that
he proposed, and luckily, management approved! Mulki says that the deal has been
beneficial to the company in ways more than one. With growing dependence on IT,
the tolerance to downtime has become very low. And, according to Mulki, the most
crucial part of a CIOs job is to keep the lights on.

My first choice is to go for DR on a cloud	Mani Mulki, EVP, corporate IT, Godrej Industries

However, "If we do only that, there are a lot of other things that dont get
their due attention, and that is why I decided to give the job to HP," he adds.
And therefore unplanned downtime has come down considerably, he says.

Apart from achieving stability with the outsourced set-up, Mulki is involved
with the companywide implementation of business intelligence and the development
of their online initiative Samparkthat he calls their big effort to connect
every link in the chain. "We have also signed with SAP for a groupwise
implementation of Business Objects," he says. However, if there is one thing
that he is clear about is that within the organization he doesnt want to
restrict BI to the top management alone. "You can never decide the actual scope
of BI until it has been implemented," he explains.

The Cloud Confusion

A parallel project for Godrej Consumer Products is putting up a consolidated
disaster recovery solution. And Mulki is very keen to do this on a cloud: "My
first choice is to go for DR on a cloud since that will bring down my cost," he
says.

However, the trouble is that he hasnt been able to find a suitable solution
or a viable vendor. He says he has been on the lookout for several months but
hasnt found any success. "I have always believed that you should never have
homegrown solutions for business applications in large enterprises. Let the
leaders bring in the best of breed."

Mulki expects the packaged stuff to meet around 70-80% of his requirements.
Rest, he says, is the CIOs job and his biggest challenge as well to think,
innovate and constantly deliver value.

Mehak Chawla

mehakc@cybermedia.co.in