[CIO Interview] Mr. Jayanta Bhowmik, SVP (IT) and Group CIO, Usha Martin Ltd.

Note: This interview is re-produced from Dell EMC CIO Club — Supported by CIO Association of India. Dell EMC CIO Club retains the rights on this exclusive content. For more information write to: amarinder@cioindia.org

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Q1. You have worked across industries. How do you go about learning a new domain quickly?

As opposed to our technology habits, I think the best way to learn a new domain is by interacting with the business teams rather than my good old tech friends. The business teams which include customers, suppliers, peers, and key stakeholders would help you understand the business processes and its nuances on a first-hand basis. This will also eventually help well in connecting the right technology solutions to their process challenges and pain areas.

Q2. You have recently led an ambitious business process transformation exercise within your company. How was the experience and what are your key learnings?

Unlike my past experiences with MNCs, working with Usha Martin which is a traditional Indian manufacturing business, has been somewhat different. It is in a conservative yet challenging Iron & Steel sector. The organization was using legacy ERP Baan system for about 20 years, thus both internal business processes and ERP system were of old-school practices with no changes at all for more than a decade. Aimed at taking Usha Martin a step ahead, our transformation exercise was not limited to migration to SAP HANA but prior to that bringing in a change of work style, expectation of a better user experience and new way of doing things — were driven for a large population soaked in legacy habits. Hence it was an organization wide change management exercise and the thumb rule for success was to address all apprehensions and win the confidence of the leaders and end users. This involved educating and handholding them, creating comfort that this is not to take away their job or make their day to day operations difficult rather it’s a change for better. Only after winning their confidence can you go through all the project stages towards go live and this can’t happen without the support of senior management and leadership team of the company. In short, for me, this was not a technology migration but a business process migration — chasing a business success and not merely an IT success.

Q3. How can CIOs transition into Chief Digital Officers?

I see this jargon going around for quite some time — it’s just a change of terminology as CIOs have always been the CDO for all these years. Actually, there is a need to involve other functions of the business into the complete digital journey of the organization. I would like to see Marketing and Finance teams to take a lead for their respective CDO roles. Rather than having one CDO, it will be great to enable all CXOs into their digital leaders. Only then will the real thinking would start happening towards complete digital transformation. The other school of thought would be to have only one CDO and who is better equipped to lead that role than the CIO himself. As both these roles have to work very closely, it will be difficult to do one role without the empowerment of other and hence they will eventually get merged into one role.

Q4. Which is your favorite book and why?

Very difficult to narrow down on one. I am very fond of ‘Codename God’ by Dr. Mani Lal Bhaumik, a pioneer in Excimer laser research and its application in LASIK eye surgery. I connect with this because it talks about the spiritual enlightenment journey for a man of science, something similar to how Albert Einstein dwelled into the depths of philosophy and its possibilities in his later years. I also follow the publications of Mr. Vineet Nayar (Former Vice Chairman of HCL Technologies) including that on Blue Ocean Strategy.

Q5. How has your experience been with Dell EMC?

So far, I have experienced Dell and EMC as separate brands. EMC is a leader in its space and speaking from my experience: EMC products just don’t know how to fail. Dell is an acclaimed PC and Server brand that I wholeheartedly admire. I find their customer support to be unmatched and unparalleled. You can be anywhere in the world and can rely on Dell support. For my personal computing needs, I trust on Dell. For me, Dell EMC together can potentially be a great merger of a very good technology & research company EMC with a very good customer-centric company Dell.

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