CIOIN

Interview Questions

Full Interview with Suvamoy Saha

Suvamoy Saha:

We see Africa as the land of opportunity. Africa is where India was a number of years ago. The Chinese have gone in and taken over a large part of the business but there is still scope because providing quality service and products are our forte. We have no clear plans but that is definitely an interest area.

The other area which attracts our attention is a group of people who-with the current economic conditions-have been recently released from poverty and live semi-urban areas. One has to track changes to their lifestyle to cater to their needs. This is another area where we expect tremendous growth.

Suvamoy Saha:

It is the role of senior management to identify opportunities. One has to be clear about the growth that can be expected out of one's current business and geographies. If those rates of growth are satisfactory then all is good but if it's not then you have to think of ways of expanding.

The rural growth will not be hampered in the midst of global expansion because we have separate teams working on these geographies. And it is important that in this day and age, where companies do not want to be restricted to one geography, that management has to bring in checks and balances.

Suvamoy Saha:

Our entire distribution network is connected with a centralized ERP. And this is where our IT team has contributed very significantly and has been able to tie up loose ends. Earlier, we did face problems of information islands. But those days are behind us. Today, with every bit of information being available near real-time, things are a lot easier to manage. And it is clearly technology that has helped us reach this stage.

Suvamoy Saha:

Our sales network is far-flung yet well-connected. Earlier, someone in sales would have to return to the district offices, immaterial of how far, to report their day's work. But now, a sales officer can be connected by mobiles. We have introduced systems which allow sales people to login their day's work even through an SMS.

Now we don't have to wait for a month to get updates on a sales officer. This will get even more structured as technology grows.

Suvamoy Saha:

Growth can come from any quarter. In an organic approach, we add new products to our distribution channel that-not only fit the supply and distribution chains but-are sellable at the same outlets that we are already present in like chemist shops and grocery stores. Unless there is a very compulsive case, I can't suddenly start thinking of selling something that moves out of consumer durables outlets because we don't have a footprint in these areas.

And this is how we diversified into other products like mosquito repellent and packet tea and lanterns. Some of these did not click so we shelved them while others that were performing at par with our expectations have been retained. In order to upscale you need to take on other products.

We have been doing this for the last three-four years but aren't looking at anything in this direction now. Where inorganic growth is concerned, we will keep looking for affordable opportunities. We find that the valuations for companies in India are very high. So it becomes difficult for an organization to aspire to buy out companies here unless you have strong strategic reasons. This prompted us to look at other geographies like Africa and South East Asia. Scaling up is one of the top priorities at the board level for Eveready.

Suvamoy Saha:

IT is in our blood. Once we have decided that a particular acquisition makes sense, then processes start coming in. We would also do due diligence around the company's standing with respect to processes, and understand whether its culture and ethical standards match ours. Once that is sorted, comes in the job of integration. So, I'd say that a CIO, like any other leader in the organization, would come in as soon as the initial business hurdles are cleared.

Suvamoy Saha:

This is a critical problem that we face especially in the flashlight segment. For every flashlight we sell in the organized sector, there are at least two look-alikes sold in the unorganized market. We do the research, make the design using sophisticated CAD machines, and finally bring out a product which a local guy-operating perhaps out of a garage-imitates. This guy saves between 20 and 30 percent in taxes he doesn't pay. He also doesn't incur the kind of overheads that large organizations have.

With the help of the CIO, we could try to use IT to protect the consumer from buying a fake product. But that is not the issue. He buys it because it's cheaper. We would like IT to help us bring down costs at levels comparable to the unorganized sector.

Suvamoy Saha:

Material costs definitely have a huge impact on our operations. This makes it necessary for us to tightly control inventory. All this is aided by the advanced supply chain management software that we have sitting on top of our ERP.

Suvamoy Saha:

IT is all about continuous improvement. By its very nature, IT doesn't have the luxury of claiming that it's reached a pinnacle and can relax. The CIO, being a business leader, has to constantly innovate because the rest are not really aware of how things can be improved. People do not have the inclination or the time to think of better ways of doing business. It's the CIO who has to step in and show a better way of doing it.

Apart from participating in the routine work of providing a technology backbone, the CIO should also be a strategist. It is then that IT will partner with any business initiative that the organization takes.