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Techie At Heart

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DQI Bureau
New Update

“I can't imagine life without
my three crutches: the PDA, mobile phone and laptop because I depend on them
heavily for communication,” quips Vikram R Srihari, currently working as Vice
President  (Enterprises), Asia
Pacific, Opelin Labs. Vikram, a veteran of the IT field can easily boast of
'one who's been there, done that' and prior to his current stint, he
worked as CIO for Coca Cola India, Singapore-based Scott Holdings and for the
Singapore Government. Commenting on his previous stints Vikram said “in each
of these roles I have always attempted to bring business benefits to the
organization through technology enablement and aligning the IT strategy with the
corporate goals and objectives.”

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Vikram firmly believes that technology makes you productive and, in the
present times, it is impossible for any CIO to succeed in his position without
the use of IT. “He would not be able to see the financial statements without
the electronic spreadsheets and, therefore, would not be able to do marketing
and cost management for the product.” Gone are the days when any CIO would be
involved in only the technical aspect of any organization, in the present times
it is imperative that he be business aligned and well versed with the demands of
his organization.

Vikram R Srihari

VP (Enterprises), Asia Pacific, Opelin Labs

“Today, it is fairly clear that for any organization to survive the cut
throat competition, the key issue is to align corporate strategy with market
forces, and create competitive space through effective use of technology,” he
says.

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Tackling Security

Owing to a higher dependency on IT by most organizations, the threat to the
internal network and database has gone up a few notches. “The fear is not
about malicious attacks but about the ability of people to snoop in and access
data. The challenge for any organization is to protect its data from unwanted
elements.” Even while it is important for any organization to safeguard its
data, it is also binding upon them to do so without any “disruption to the
user.” And for a seamless integration, it is essential that “we go back a
couple of layers to install and put in the measures, which is an expensive
proposition.”

The four key investment areas in the development of an effective IT strategy
plan for any organization include IT infrastructure investments, transactional
IT investments and strategic IT investments, he explained.

And it is to address the security and database management related issues that
one is seeing outsourcing of these services to outside vendors, these vendors
are  no longer confined to the
periphery of the organization but occupy a preferred status as a technology
partner with more and more providing smart solutions.

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These vendors, or partners, help to successfully manage the enterprise. Often
the hurdles and obstacles for successful implementation are awesome and would
alarm the staunchest of professionals. Therefore, choosing the right partner is
similar to hiring a new employee and an intelligent CIO has to maintain cordial
relations with all his potential vendors, because, at any moment, the vendor of
yesterday becomes the partner of tomorrow.

Inside
Out
Name
and Designation

Vikram R Srihari, VP (Enterprises), Asia Pacific, Opelin Labs 

Experience

Worked as CIO in Coca Cola India, Singapore-based Scott
International and the Singapore Government.     

Education

Bachelors in Science from St Stephens College, Delhi; Masters
in Economics and Operations from IISC, Bangalore.

Belongs to Hyderabad, but grew up in Delhi and did his education in Delhi
and Bangalore. He has spent half of his life overseas. 

Interests

Plays golf and tennis, reads a lot and likes to spend time with
his two sons aged 18 and 15. He also teaches English to underprivileged
children.

Partnering with Vendors

As a veteran CIO who's been in the business for long, Srihari lists out
the guidelines for successful vendor management. “As an ex-IBM-er I can safely
quote an old saying that prevailed during the era of DP centres-that one never
got fired for choosing IBM. The substance behind that statement stems from the
tremendous value addition that IBM brought to its customers in helping them
choose the right technology solution. But there was a price, and that was the
price tag. Today all vendors aspire to provide value addition for their would-be
customers or prospects. And at times, the gulf between promise and delivery
translates to a graveyard for the IT staff,” he said.

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Underlining the importance of IT Srihari says: “Information Technology is
critical for making the right decision at the right time as it provides with the
relevant information and data required to compare and take decisions.”

Defining the role of a good CIO, Vikram elaborates that the responsibility
for success lies with the CIO. “Rather than take an adversarial role it is
incumbent on the CIO to foster good relations, manage the process, and also to
choose wisely based on his knowledge and experience.”

On a lighter note he adds that no CIO can make an omelette without breaking
the eggs, and aside from technical competence, good business sense and the
ability to manage the vendor/partner relationship; the two vital ingredients
that distinguish success from failure are vision and courage.

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“Technology is the key in any operation and it is only good as long it's
aligned with key business growth. It should be used to see how it can be used to
bring business benefit,” Vikram signs off.

Team DQ

maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in

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