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Passionate About IT

author-image
DQI Bureau
New Update

A voracious reader and an equally avid traveler is how Meheriar
Patel, head, IT, Globus Retail can be best described. Patel's reading
interests are not run-of-the mill fiction, instead he prefers books related to
motivation and leadership which, according to him, "Provide great knowledge
in improving oneself and also help in retrospection in these challenging
times".

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Born and brought up in Mumbai, Patel did his initial schooling
from Mumbai and then a Bachelor of Arts, specializing in political science and
sociology. "After my graduation, I did my Masters in Business
Administration during which my specialization was information technology,"
says Patel.

The Initial Years

An industry veteran with more than 20 years of experience, his first job was
at a computer training institute. According to Patel, "Those were the days
of Pascal, Cobol and Lotus 123, and I worked as an instructor and trainer for 2
years."

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Meheriar
Patel,
DGM and head, IT, Globus Stores

"Having a passion for information technology, I have 15
years of experience in IT with hands on experience in programming, design and
business analysis which has contributed in building a level of understanding
about the minor details of project management. Additionally, working on the IT
project life cycle and various projects in software services, infrastructure,
communication services and information services has also contributed greatly in
this understanding," he adds.

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Keen Interests

"My favorite author is our president, APJ Abdul Kalam. His books are
inspiring and talk of innovative practices which makes me feel that mankind is
progressing in the right direction with the use of technology. His books like
India 2020: A Vision For The New Millennium, Ignited Minds and Wings of Fire
have given great insights of India and beyond," Patel says.

Patel's other favorites include leadership reading. "This
enthralls me to a new direction and its contents make me feel stronge with
conviction," he says.

In avid traveler, Patel has traveled to almost all parts of the
country except the Eastern region. His favorite destinations include Goa,
Rajasthan and Kerala. Fondly reminiscing his trip to Rajasthan, he says,
"My trip to Jaipur and Jodhpur two years back, still fills me with the
aroma of camels, palaces, people and of course, food." Internationally, he
has traveled to the UK, Europe, the Middle East and the Far East. "My
recent trips to Singapore and Dubai were memorable since both the cities have a
unique aura of presence." As a seasoned traveler, Patel never misses taking
a guided city tour of the palaces and is fond of visiting museums, man made old
architecture, gardens and shopping malls.

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Devoted Husband

"I met my wife through a common friend. Soon, the cupid struck and we
fell head over heels in love and got married," he says fondly. A hotel
management graduate, Patel's wife works as a part-time teacher and also
doubles up as an insurance advisor. "Being a working-woman, she knows the
value of sincerity and integrity." For Patel, his wife is a pillar of
strength and has played an important role in his life. Patels also mentions that
his wife is a silent admirer of his work. "My wife supports all my
endeavors and she is my strength in the path to success."

The other person in Patel's life is his eight-year old son
who, like him, is a computer and video games geek and is passionate about
technology.

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But like any other professional, Patel realizes that for moving
up the corporate ladder, sacrificing family life is common and required. Even as
he tries to maintain the delicate balance between work and home, he admits that
to achieve things in life, sacrifices in one's personal life have to be made.

Personal
File

Meheriar
Patel
,


DGM and head, IT, Globus Stores.


Loves:
Reading leadership and
motivational books, and traveling to exotic destinations. Spending time
with son and family.


First Job:
As an instructor and
trainer in a computer training institute.


Motto in Life:
Make sure you live
every second of your life with passion and conviction.

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The Work Front

Globus has implemented large projects in areas like software, infrastructure and
information data services. Talking about a Globus project implemented recently,
he says, "We have deployed an RF VPN through Sify which helped us achieve
efficiency in terms of uptime, latency and availability." This enabled the
company to save on precious bandwidth costs which were around 40% of what the
expenditure was earlier. Significantly the solution was deployed in a short span
of only 20 days.

Realizing that security plays an important role in the
enterprise environment, Patel has also deployed Sonicwall 4060, a UTM box having
all the integrated features of firewall, anti-virus, content filtering, anti-spam,
and is IPS enabled.

RFID is another area that Globus is venturing into and is
already thinking of deploying RFID, first in CRM, and then in SCM and store
operations. Patel's other priorities on the work front include identifying and
deploying a new generation POS set up.

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Patel informs that the company is giving a lot of importance to
business intelligence and he believes that BI will help in enabling company wide
reporting and decision making capability.

Globus's vision is to encourage e-commerce and m-commerce for
increasing the company's presence online, for connecting to the customers
anywhere, anytime. "Document Management System is another project we are
looking at closely for implementation," adds Patel.

Team Issues

Apart from the core five-team members in-house, other team members are
project based, and on Facility Management Services. The various heads including
software, infrastructure and communication, information services have their own
teams outsourced purely on the requirement of the business project.

Like any other true leader, Patel treats his colleagues in a
professional and friendly manner, as both these attributes are required for them
to excel. He believes in giving complete freedom to do things differently in
order to make business users comfortable with technology.

Patel reveals, "The secret lies in addressing each
individual differently as each has unique characteristics, skills and
features."

Patel finally lets in on the secret of his excellent team
management skills. "By motivating my team, keeping them abreast with latest
technology and business, treating them with respect, making them feel
comfortable, accountable and building an entrepreneurship culture."

Stuti Das

stutid@cybermedia.co.in

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