Last Man Standing

Hailing from Allahabad, Manoj Srivastava stands apart from his
other industry colleagues. In the era of job-hopping at every second day,
Srivastava has managed to stick on to his parent organization for 15 long years.

Quiz him about his decision and says, "I think there are
two basic reasons for anyone looking out for a new job. The first is better
opportunity and the second, a better environment. Luckily for me, I was able to
get both the things in the Sahara Group. Also, the recognition and trust I have
earned from the management and colleagues."

Personal Front

After doing his schooling from Pune (as his father was in the Army, the
family was on the move all the while), Srivastava completed his graduation from
Allahabad University after which he did a course in computer science from the
Indian Engineering Rural Technology Institute.

He started his career by doing odd jobs until May 1991 when he
bagged a job with the Sahara Group as a senior executive in Lucknow, where he
worked for two and half years. After that, he was transferred to Sahara India
Mass Communication where he worked for one and a half years as an EDP engineer.
Srivastava found his calling when the Sahara Group launched their Airlines, Air
Sahara, and he was transferred to the airlines division in 1994 as an EDP head.
He has graduated since from being the EDP head to heading the IT department at
Air Sahara and en route introduced innovative IT processes for benefiting
customers.

Tight Ropewalk

Even as Srivastava admits to being a workaholic his family always comes
first. And he's always trying to achieve the unattainable "work life
balance." Owing to a hectic work schedule, this doting father finds it
difficult to give quality time to his two daughters-Shruti and Shrishti-but
he does manage to squeeze time for them and drops them to school every morning.
He depends on his wife, Meenu, for taking care of his home, so that he can
devote more time to his work. "Thankfully I have a non-interfering wife but
I do take advice from her for arriving at unbiased decisions," says
Srivastava.

And in his priority list, family holidays top. "It is now
mandatory for us to go to one international and domestic destination every year.
Recently, we had gone to Ooty and Singapore," he says. In whatever free
time he manages to take out, Srivastava loves net surfing, reading computer
magazines, looking for innovations, and listening to instrumental music and old
songs. "I also have a collection of CDs of old songs which I listen to on
and off," he says.

Work Front

IT in Air Sahara helps in servicing internal customers including various
departments and employees, and external customers, who include passengers.
"Technology is used to provide a direct touch to our customers. For
instance, our website is used to sell tickets online, thereby lowering costs by
doing away with travel agents," Srivastava says.

"It is really a challenging job for anyone to work in such
a dynamically changing environment which is very competitive. But I have
accepted the challenge and incorporated all possible technology in my Airlines.
And, today I can say that IT is not just the facilitator but it also
participates in business in a much bigger way," he says, talking about the
importance of IT in Air Sahara.

Srivastava has played a key role during the time of branch
computerization in Sahara India Financial Corporation in 1992-93 when he visited
almost 200 cities including small towns in Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh,
Uttar Pradesh and even some parts of Southern India.

Passionate about IT, Srivastava has been the pioneer in
introducing e-commerce project in the airlines business. Air Sahara was the
pioneer in introducing e-commerce in the market when it decided to sell tickets
online way back in 2001. "Over a period of time, more functions have been
added to the website which include creating customer profile, flight schedule,
availability of seats, and registering complaints as well as a separate section
for frequent fliers. What's important to note is that no outside agency was
involved in the development," he says.

Another project close to his heart is the SMS-based service
wherein personalized messages about the delay or arrival status are sent to
frequent fliers on entering the airport. Significantly, all this is system
driven with no human intervention whatsoever. "Anyone with a GPRS phone can
track his frequent flier mileage, schedule, fares, etc and plan for a journey,
all in real time," Srivastava says.

Future Plans

"My wish is to develop a computer reservation system (CRS) application
for domestic airline operators. This will help the airlines industry, since
airlines are presently using CRS/GDS applications from international vendors
and, therefore, are forced to share a big part of their revenue with as 'per
passenger booking cost'," says Srivastava, "Keeping in mind the
current competitive fare structure and operating cost, no airline is interested
to pay per booking charge but is helpless." Srivastava laments the absence
of a locally developed CRS, even though India has the best telecom and software
companies.

Srivastava's dream of developing the CRS stems from his
expertise in airlines, as he has spent 13 years in this domain. "I now
strongly feel like an airlines domain person rather than an IT professional but
since IT is my bread and butter, I want to use IT for enhancing the customer
experience." he says.

Stuti Das

stutid@cybermedia.co.in