As a CIO, I constantly align the 4 main pillars of the organization-people, processes , business, technology to work in the best interest of the company.'

The limelight has finally fallen on Lanco Infratech which has been successful in beating companies like Tata Power, Reliance Power, and Adani Group in becoming the biggest private sector power generator in the country. The company is being handled by veteran CIO Ajay Kumar Dhir, who before his stint in the company, was the group CIO for OP Jindal Group. Known for his 'out-of-the-box' thinking, Ajay Dhir is a man of vision who is spearheading the company to take it to the next level of growth. He is someone who clearly believes in the philosophy of 'walking the talk'. Full of new ideas, he can be easily perceived as someone who has evolved from being a pure technocrat to a business enabler. In an exclusive interview with VOICE&DATA, Ajay Kumar Dhir talks about the ICT deployments , communication strategies, CIO concerns etc.

-Ajay Kumar Dhir, executive director and Group CIO, Lanco Infratech

Being among the top 3 private sector power developers in India, how does Lanco Infratech align its ICT infrastructure?

Lanco is the #1 amongst Independent Power Producers (IPP) in India as of now, and has invested heavily in ICT. This infrastructure is aligned very closely with the business and operational objectives of the organization and is reviewed continuously. The core areas of the organization are EPC, power, energy, natural resources & infrastructure, and IT plays a very important role in supporting the rapid growth of the organization and making it agile.

CIOs are always under pressure to get the best out of their partners and also reduce the IT and telecom budget. How do you keep a balance between the two? How easy or difficult is it for you to manage connectivity solutions and other communications' aspects?

While negotiating for the 'best' deal, we have to see that it is a win-win for both-the customer as well as the provider. The relationship should not be just a commercial one, but more on a 'Partnership' mode with mutual 'Risk and Reward' sharing. Our sites are in remote areas and we need to have very reliable and committed partners to support our ICT requirements, on a 24×7 basis. This is a tough and challenging job and needs a lot of careful planning and monitoring. Needless to say, only time tested and committed partners can support such a demanding environment.

Which vendors have you tied up with for hardware and software requirements?

Lanco Infratech for its hardware and software requirements deals with the best names and brands in the industry eg, IBM, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Cisco, Fortinet, Polycom, Avaya, SAP, Microsoft, Symantec etc.

What are your key network challenges? How do you plan to address them?

As mentioned above, our key network challenges are the remote locations that we operate in, stable and reliable services, robust last mile connectivity, and most important-committed service providers. We have tied up with multiple service providers to build in redundancy and provide robust connectivity. Similar challenges are with our overseas locations, especially in remote areas.

What are your top concerns as a CIO of one of the major private groups?

As a CIO, it is very tough to single out one concern. There are many priorities that I have to keep in mind while discharging my duties. However if you ask me to share some of them then they are to keep doing more with less. To innovate, I keep urging teams to think out-of-the-box and like a fish out of water. Performance of the team translates into the performance of the company, therefore I keep motivating the team to perform well and better. It is also imperative for me to connect with the business and the people, equally. In my role I have to see that I help the organizations be more agile and nimble. I keep constant check on myself to align the 4 main pillars-people, processes, business, technology to work in the best interst of the company and of course to create a Risk Assured Framework.

What all should a CIO keep in mind while dealing with service providers? What do you think are the key elements of a good SLA?

I have personally always believed that mutual respect, trust, and integrity are the main pillars of a good relationship. An SLA is only as good as the value that it delivers to the organization and can sustain the relationship. Therefore, my advice is to walk the talk and make a genuine effort in building and maintaining the relationship, other things will follow naturally.

How do you ensure that your company deploys not just the latest, but something that adds value to the business?

Innovation is something that should come naturally to the CIO; the fundamental role is to add value to the business. Every IT initiative is carefully analyzed by the team in an inclusive manner, with TCO, RoI, and IT EVA being the core focus. Obviously, with such care and attention to every miniscule detail, the results will be astounding.

With the networks becoming cumbersome, do you think that outsourcing is the need of the hour? Has Lanco outsourced any services?

Right now, we have not outsourced any service or area of IT operation, it is internally driven and managed as of now. The internal team is very well capable and eager to learn as well as deploy cutting edge technology. I have full faith in my team who are a curious set of people and are ready to learn the latest and the best in the industry.

Which are the processes and innovations that you have deployed in your organization to make it more effective?

Innovation is a continuous journey, one has to start somewhere and explore. We are using industry standard processes for managing our core initiatives in IT & SAP. There is a framework for fostering, recognizing, and rewarding innovation and there are many noteworthy initiatives that have been deployed across the organization.

Security is very crucial for a company. How do you manage the security and reliability concerns?

Security is very imperative for a company. So, we have a well defined policy for Information Security and IT Governance, this is our IT/IS Blue Book called ISPP. This is being implemented across the organization in a phased manner, with proper communication, and in an inclusive manner.

What were the key green initiatives, from an IT perspective, that were undertaken by the company during the last 1 year?

Implementation of group policies for servers/desktops/laptops, implementing policies for monitoring of energy usage, calculation of energy savings, Green data center, going 'Green' across the organization, implementation of IBMS (Intelligent Building Management System) etc are some of our green initiatives.

Archana Singh
archanasi@cybermedia.co.in