Indian IT’s finest

Intelligent enterprise awards

As Indian enterprises mature and compete against the best worldwide, the Intelligent Enterprise Awards honour the best usage of technology by enterprises in critical industry verticals, says Venkatesh Ganesh

Indian businesses are undergoing a transition at breakneck pace. In the 21st century, managing a global business is just too complex: there are international currency risks, intellectual property rights, environmental and technology issues, and regulations that change from one market to another. There is also an inherent need to transform and adapt global practices to suit business needs.

During the late 70s and early 80s, ‘third world’ development scholars had foreseen that the smarter developing countries would eschew the road taken by industrialised western nations that involved huge capital investment in technological infrastructure. Taking a different route would enable them to leapfrog over the costly intermediate phases into relatively low-cost modern technologies. This has become most apparent in the Indian IT industry, and it is now spreading to other sectors.

Intelligent Enterprise

The necessity for an intelligent enterprise is fuelled by the need to utilise resources (which are usually limited) in the best manner especially in a developing country like India. Till a few years back, we neither had the strength to take risks nor the willingness to invest time (which is required for large projects). In this context Indian businesses have decided to innovate, not merely service, but to add value to their clients by using technology. The Intelligent Enterprise Awards were instituted last year to honour intelligent enterprises. This year the awards moved to the shores of Pearl of the Orient —Sri Lanka.

Gracing the awards were the minister of tourism for Sri Lanka, and N P Singh, VP, Indian Express. Addressing the gathering, NP Singh said, “This is the birth centenary of Shri Ramnath Goenka, founder of the Indian Express Group, who always believed in upholding and rewarding the cause of entrepreneurship, which in turn helps society. This vision was close to his heart, and the ideals that he pursued are cherished to this day.” Also present on the occasion was Lakshman Kadirgamar, minister of foreign affairs,

Sri Lanka, who felt that the two countries could work together for mutual progress. With India now becoming a synonym for IT, the minister believed that India was in a perfect position to guide Sri Lanka on the way ahead.

Truly ground-breaking

Explaining the method behind nominating enterprises, Sunil Chandiramani, partner, Ernst & Young, said, “We looked at organisations that successfully conceptualised a ground-breaking and innovative IT initiative. We also looked at companies which built the solution using a concept or technology that is emerging, and could be considered as a leading practice in the industry within the country. Additionally, we considered companies which used IT in an innovative manner within the organisation.” For the awards, their were submissions from 110 companies—almost double last year’s figure—which is also an indicator of the deployment maturity levels in Indian industry.

The winners

The awards ceremony began with the traditional beating of drums, and it was music to the ears of Sony Entertainment Television which won in the Information Communication Entertainment category for designing a System for the Automated Management of Broadcast Activities (SAMBA). SAMBA is an ERP application with various modules to manage all key business processes. More significantly, the application was developed in-house. In the BFSI category, NSE took the honours. To keep the flame of curiosity alive, there was a live performance by a fire-eater, who enthralled the guests with his gutsy act.

In the manufacturing segment, Hero Honda grabbed the honours for successfully implementing a Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) system using mySAP’s SuS (Supplier Self Service) sub module. This was followed by the retail and consumer products segment, which Marico won for implementing SAP R/3, APO & BIW in a record nine months. The government and utilities section saw North Delhi Power Limited (NDPL) walk away with the honours for innovatively developing a billing system to mitigate manipulation and improve efficiencies. Considering that power theft is a major issue in most parts of India, NDPL’s solution could streamline the inefficient power distribution system and thereby reduce losses. In the ‘Others’ segment (infrastructure, retail and consumer products), the winner was SUMUL (Surat Milk Producers Union Limited) which won the award for building an online integrated computerised system (OICS) that covered all aspects of a dairy right from cattle feed management and milk procurement to human resources and financial accounting.

Rewarding companies for innovation triggers a chain process since other companies are motivated to better their peers. This initiative by Express Computer, Network Magazine and the Indian Express Group salutes our IT pioneers.

	1. S R Balasubramanium, Hero Honda, accepting the award from Lakshman Kadirgamar
2. Satish Naralkar, NSE iT, being awarded in the BFSI category
	3. Sunil Garg from SET awarded in the ICE segment
4. Akhil Pandey, North Delhi Power, accepting his award from Ninad Karpe, CA
	5. N P Singh, director, corporate, Indian Express Group, addresses the IEA audience
6. The winners and sponsors of IEA

venkatesh@expresscomputeronline.com