The Organization: Established in 1988, Hikal manufactures and markets fine chemicals for the pharmaceutical sector. The company has production units in six locations. Over the last three years Hikal has grown 15 percent year-on-year. 

The Business Case: Growing at that rate, it was natural for Hikal to embark on several simultaneous business projects. This meant that senior management had to travel a lot—which was both expensive and time consuming. 

Falgun Shukla, senior GM-IT, Hikal, knew that the time was ripe to go back to a technology that had failed him in 2008: Videoconferencing (VC). 

Though the technology held the promise of lowering travel costs, it hadn't really worked for Hikal. Back then, Shukla says, VC had linked only three sites and used a data line (wireless channel used solely for high speed data communications) that didn't efficiently play videos. “The system never took off,” Shukla admits. That experience made him wiser. He knew that if he could fix data quality issues—like using a separate video line—he would get buy-in for a technology he knew his company needed. 

But after having burnt its fingers with VC, would senior management feel the same? 

The First Steps: Quick calculations showed Shukla that the project would pay for itself over period of three years.  But Hikal would have to invest Rs 75 lakh for the initiative.  His first move was to get his Deputy MD Sameer Hiremath on his side. And fortunately for Shukla, an opportunity to impress Hiremath fell into his lap. Hikal was conducting interviews for a new plant it had set up near Bangalore and Shukla suggested they do the interviews over VC.

He started by conducting interviews using Reliance Web World and asked Hiremath to be a part of the session. Hiremath was thrilled with the results, 

says Shukla. 

But that was just half the battle. Shukla knew he now had to conquer a more treacherous terrain: Skeptical business heads. 

“They were averse to VC because it lacked a personal touch. They thought they would lose their persuasive edge,” he says. But Shukla wasn’t going to give up. He made Hiremath the project champion. It's a strategy that worked. And that’s a lesson for CIOs planning a VC project : Rope in an influential project champion. 

The Solution: Shukla had put his neck on the line a for the second time and there was no room for error. He quickly deployed VC units (dedicated rooms for VC) and created a separate line for video packets.  “As a first and immediate phase, we have provided all eight sites with Polycom Video Conference HD units and plasma screens.  We’ve used Reliance’s video network for commuting video packets,” he says.

Benefits: The initiative, which went live in July 2011 has brought in a bunch of benefits. It has optimized costs, shrunk the corporate travel budget significantly and resulted in a savings of Rs 8 lakh in three months. It has also increased productivity by 25 percent. “It's savings all the way,” says Shukla.