IT Custodian

width="284" height="213">SR Balasubramanian, 47, has spent nearly half of his

lifetime in the IT planning and strategy at various leading user groups including IOC, AF

Ferguson, Hero Honda Motors, and GHCL. So his latest assignment as the Corporate Director,

Information Systems at GKN Invel Transmissions Ltd, actually seems to be a culmination of

Balasubramanian's 22 years experience in IT. This certainly would be a blessing for the

ongoing planning to transform the organization with reengineering. However, it is

interesting to know that Balasubramanian actually started his career in accounting and

within two years shifted his forte exclusively to IT. Balasubramanian gave an insight on

the IT functionings at GKN Invel in an interview with Sharmila Chand.

Excerpts:

What progress has GKN Invel made so

far on the IT front?



GKN Invel has been in business for about nine years and is therefore, relatively young.
The first few years went in ensuring regular production and quality so that our customers

were never let down on supply and quality, an objective which has been admirably held

forth so far. As a result of the above factors, the work processes and systems could not

be given adequate focus and IT really did not start till about a year ago. Now there is a

considerable attention on IT/IS solutions, primarily due to the initiative of the parent

organization after they took over controlling interest through 51 percent shareholding.

How do you find your current

assignment with GKN Invel?



As the senior IT person, I find the job rich and challenging. There is considerable scope
for bringing about a change and make the organization effective to develop capability to

challenge competition. The position is one of prime responsibility since the organization

has reposed their confidence on me to carry out this exercise.

What is your contribution to the

strategic IT planning of your company? face="Arial">



I do most of the planning, though it has to be endorsed by GKN, our holding company.
Dealing with principals who are in another part of the world operating in a different

environment, is not easy. Decisions often take time.

How critical is IT to the business

of GKN Invel?



GKN Invel realizes that a successful implementation of information systems alongwith
appropriate changes in the organizational processes could really turn around the company.

Though other factors like quality, productivity etc. are equally important a good IS/IT

could be the main differentiator.

What kind of hardware and software

solutions are you using?



We will be using BPCS (from SSA Inc.) as the ERP solution and this will run on the AS/400
platform. This has been standardized by GKN globally for all their offices. Similarly,

Novell Groupwise is our email and groupware solution. For our office automation we have

standardized on Lotus SmartSuite.

What are your future plans as far

as IT is concerned?



I see 'IT' helping in the organization turnaround in two distinct areas: First, building
up a strong basic infrastructure which includes LAN, inter-office connectivity,

connectivity with our offices worldwide and networking with our main customers and

dealers. This will speed up our communication and information access and information

exchange. And second, implementation of key application systems with suitable business

process re-orientation. This is not easy as it may involve restructuring the organization

as also retraining people or their relocation.