Justin A Kershaw, SVP & CIO, industrial sector, Eaton Corporation

of industrial sector is primarily focused on the business development, engineering, manufacturing, and distribution of leading edge power management applications for hydraulics, aerospace, automotive, and truck businesses. In his role as the CIO of the sector, he is responsible for all aspects of IT. He has held this position since February 2009. Prior to that, he was VP, IT, fluid power group, a $4 bn business unit of Eaton. In a conversation with Dataquest, Kershaw shares his set of challenges in implementing innovation in IT and also his visions for this field. Excerpts-

How would you describe 2011 in terms of IT implementation? What are your plans as the CIO?

In 2011, we were able to do more new things around building capabilities and enhancing our business processes. This was the result of our focus on bringing innovation to business processes. For example, PowerSource, which is a mobile application platform for our sales channels.

And, we implemented real-time business process monitors which allowed us to further deploy lean continuous improvement efforts. In 2012, we will continue the strategy that we had followed in 2011. The newer capabilities that were implemented in 2011 will continue to be fully deployed around the world.

Any learnings from 2011 that you would like to mention?

 

In 2008-09 and in 2011, we learned that the profitability of a business can be increased without implementing new things but by improving the business systems and capabilities that are already in place. Prior to recession, we more often implemented new initiatives or changed new business processes with new systems. But now, we are looking for ways to improve the processes we have in place and will continue to do that going forward.

How would you describe the challenges that you faced as a CIO during the 2008-09 crisis?

Eatons integrated diversification strategy has helped us and is helping us to deliver good results during troubled times and has paid off. We are proud of the accomplishment, especially given the challenges of a business environment in which financial and economic volatility have become household words.

How would you describe the change in scope of the role of the CIO?

Today, the role of a CIO demands a greater understanding of the business functions. Over the past few years, the business processes have evolved with time. Significant expertise in change management is required not only in the IT function but primarily in the business functions driving change. Every system we introduce is a change to the existing set-up aimed at increasing efficiency. To streamline the adoption of this change, proper guidance on its implementation has to be provided to the users.

Now, our responsibility is to drive the change and make sure the change is happening. In the past, we implemented something and then moved on to the next thing. Now, we stay around for the full cycle of change to ensure it happens.

How would you rate the fervor for initiatives around green IT?

Eaton is a power management company committed to help customers use power more efficiently, effectively, and safely.

We have been successfully running one of the most efficient data centers in the world and electrical systems for the residential sector. Simultaneously, we are building 2 new world-class data centers in Kentucky. From the power management standpoint, these data centers will be state-of-the-art allowing us to build our cloud, virtualize our environment, and manage everything in the world (from the IT point of view) more efficiently than what we do currently. We will be fully operational this year on those data centers.