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Availing the optimum

While talking about new and advanced IT solutions, it is all the more important to discuss issues like ease of use and adaptability of a solution from the user perspective. CIOs like to address this issue even before a deployment takes place. By Faiz Askari

The management of every company dreams of getting the maximum output from any investment made by it. The same applies in the case of any IT deployment CIOs and top management always try to get the optimum benefits from any IT application that has been implemented in the infrastructure. For most CIOs this is one issue where they always want to win the top management’s approval for their recommendations.

Avnesh Jain, CIO Hero Honda says, “Computing should be as simple as any other utility. Just as people do not need to understand hydrodynamics to get water out of a tap so we should not need to be experts in computers to deploy and use them.”

Highlighting the importance of the outsourcing model for any enterprise, Jain adds, “Today, we use many things for our operations on a ‘on demand’ basis and we only pay for what we use. In the same way, computers also provide a certain amount of utility to the enterprise, so why not treat them in a similar fashion. We have an electricity grid, why not a computer grid, a reservoir of power that we tap into as required.” Pointing out the utility of such a model, Jain adds, “Now, utility computing can transform the way in which the organization uses and buys technology. Instead of buying a lump of computing capacity upfront and accepting the consequences in terms of risk and cost, a CIO can reallocate some of those costs and risks to the vendor.”

Anand Sengupta, CIO of Daikin India says, “A couple of things are crucial in making any deployment successful. Among them is educating the users. However a CIO has to ensure the ease of use factor before actually implementing any specific solution.”

Optimizing usage

Under the utility computing model, instead of offering IT resources at a fixed cost, the IT vendor and service provider act more like a utility. Just like a local electricity supplier, companies are connected to a reservoir of computing resources that they can call on to supplement their existing services as needed.

Raising a point regarding one of the successful mechanisms for making sure that an enterprise gets the most from any deployment, Sengupta adds, “It is very important to involve the functional employees while selecting a solution for any specific department. For example, an ERP solution basically includes heavy involvement of finance, purchase and accounts. So while selecting an ERP solution, a CIO must think of having their active participation in the process of pre deployment for that ERP system. Similarly, any solution for the administration department needs to have the administration people’s clear understanding of that solution. This is because of one simple reason because if domain knowledge is mixed with any new IT solution it can give great results.”

Most IT systems are built to cater to peaks in demand which can be cyclical and unpredictable in scale. Jain of Hero Honda adds, “Under the utility model, the CIO scales his investment to meet the average level of demand. At peak time he can choose to top up that service, taking that capacity on demand. Potentially, this gives the CIO greater flexibility and helps reduce cost.”

Jain adds, “Utility computing enables the CIO to get greater utilization of data center resources at lower operating cost. The major factor making utility computing happen is the development of systems that are self configuring, self monitoring and even self healing.”

Justifying ROI

The role of IT applications has shifted from mere automation to IT acting as a business enabler and becoming a part of organizational strategy. Justification of ROI from IT expenditure is usually in the form of intangible returns such as increased market share, customer loyalty, better supply chain management, job satisfaction, innovation etc.

Anand Sengupta CIO of Daikin India cited the RoI factor saying, “It is difficult to analyze the actual RoI because an organization is growing. One thing that is sure is that one should have to identify the relevance of an IT solution with regard to an enterprise’s existing infrastructure.”

Believing in the statement that IT helps in improving performance, productivity, customer satisfaction and value to the customers, Jain adds, “All these benefits are difficult to quantify. Sometimes the IT investment is made in one department, while the benefits of the same are seen in another business function. So it is difficult for an organization to calculate or keep track of ROI.”

Convincing top management

As business requirements change faster than ever, companies need to adapt and change before they realize their return on investment (RoI). These changes are triggered by factors such as shrinking business cycles, commoditization of products and services, cost pressures, knowledge-based services, e-business, globalization, consolidation, extended value-chain, extended enterprise and external stakeholders.

There are some of critical issues that management usually wants some clear cut and concrete answers for while selecting any technology. Throwing some light on these specific issues, Sengupta adds, “Today, management looks after two basic issues to be addressed carefully while selecting any new technology, these are scalability and usability. The second factor of usability is extremely critical as it can directly result in the success of an implementation. However, it is also the CIO’s prime concern that any technology or application that he is referring for his organization has to be user friendly in terms of its use.”

Suggesting some possible ways to cope with these challenges, which can automatically solve the question of convincing or justifying things to the top management, Jain suggests, “Businesses try every means to optimize their processes, implement automation, and run radical management theories as increasing costs put businesses at risk. This leads to a tidal wave of change involving downsizing, rightsizing, outsourcing and restructuring.”

While getting successful results after any deployment it is a must for a CIO to identify expansion plans if there is a requirement. “It all depends of the kind of feedback that we get on the actual hands on experience from the users. I personally give huge importance towards getting proper and regular feedback regarding any deployment. By doing this, we can identify easily what exactly we as an organization are actually looking for.”