Convergence in ICT is a boon for all industries

Coca-Cola is serving the global community with the world's largest selling
soft drink concentrates since 1886. Through the world's largest distribution
system, consumers in more than 195 countries enjoy the company's beverages.
Coca-Cola India has made significant investments to build and continually
consolidate its business in the country, including new production facilities,
wastewater treatment plants, distribution systems and marketing channels. In an
interaction with Voice&Data, Sanjay Rawal, VP, IT, Coca-Cola India shares the
company's vision on technology and telecommunication needs.

What is the role of the Internet and telecom in your business? Do you face
any key issues in your communications and network infrastructure?

As all critical business applications like SAP and BI that reside outside
India, telecom is extremely important and critical for business continuity.
There are various key issues which are imperative to our business. They include
stability, quality, speed and response time from service providers.

What is the company's security strategy? And what security standards does
it follow?

At Coca-Cola we have strong global security policies and framework. We also
have a strong focus on user awareness in terms of security policies. We are
committed to keep our business secured. For example, we have various security
management tools like Qualys for server security; Secure Access Zone for
Internet and third party accessibility; IPS Tipping Point for network security;
and Symantec monitoring. There are a number of other tools implemented to ensure
data encryption at various levels (including laptops/mail). All websites are
hosted on a central secure platform post internal/external security assessment.

Which technology would be the primary driver for the FMCG industry in the
coming days?

We are looking forward to how 3G shapes up in India. We do expect that
availability of 3G services will be a key tool for our industry in terms of
enhanced mobile data and application services. This will greatly help in sales
force/distributor automation efforts and will give rise to enhanced mobile
accessibility.

How are Coca-Cola's offices in India and other countries connected?

Coca-Cola and its offices are connected via WAN. The technology used is MPLS,
having redundancy both at the hardware as well as at circuit end. Furthermore,
we are currently in the process of implementing VoIP which will enhance
collaborative communications across the globe.

ERP implementation is important for any FMCG company. What matters the
most to you in such implementations?

ERP implementation is very critical for any organization. ERP is an
opportunity to implement best practices and re-engineer processes in a
standardized way across various business units. It is important to maintain
single instance of the ERP across locations and business units.

What should a CIO keep in mind while dealing with a service provider?

There are various points that should be kept in mind while working with a
service provider. The main points include single point of contact, clearly
defined service matrix and Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and track record of
the service provider with other clients, especially in the same segment. Orange
is our service provider and we are very much satisfied with its services.

How much would you say is the yearly investment on the IT/telecom
infrastructure?

Technology is the backbone for any industry, and choosing and investing in
the best technology is a big challenge for any enterprise. At Coca-Cola, the
total investment is more than $100,000 for telecom (on the company side).
Additional investments are made by our bottlers across the country.

Coca-Cola has drawn up a fresh strategy to tap the growth potential in the
rural markets. What kind of technologies and innovations are you planning to
deploy?

We are looking at IT solutions to support Sales Force Automation (SFA) for
our bottlers which facilitate better reporting/analytical solutions. We are also
looking at GIS based solutions to tap into various markets and to help our
bottlers with better route planning.

How important is convergence in ICT for the FMCG sector?

Convergence in ICT is a boon for all industries. As far as the FMCG sector
is concerned, it will not only help us save costs and enhance productivity
within the organization with technologies like VoIP/unified communications, but
will also allow us to enhance our business by providing faster and low cost
access to our business partners and consumers. It will help us reach out to our
distributors/customers/consumers in a much faster and economical way.
Opportunities are immense as and when the costs come down.

How do you cope with the changing scenario of the telecom networking
industry? What challenges does 2009 hold for you as a CIO?

The telecom industry is changing for the better and is re-defining the way
business is done. We need to pick up the right technology at the right time that
makes business sense. 2009 will be quite a challenging year. While on one side
we need to control costs and manage initiatives with challenging budgets, on the
other we also need to support the business and meet growth targets. I do hope
telecom costs will continue to decline and provide us with more bandwidth at
lower costs.

Is Coke planning to opt for mobility based applications and solutions in
the days to come? What are your demands regarding this?

We are currently working on mobility based solutions. While at the executive
level we plan to provide more and more information on their BlackBerry devices,
we are also working on various solutions for our mobile associates who interact
with various business partners. The major issue is the speed of connectivity.
Most of these users use CDMA/VPN to connect to the office network to access
various applications. Currently, there are technological limitations with the
speed they can connect, causing response time delays. I do expect things to
change with 3G and WiMax coming in the near future. The other important area we
are currently working on is automating the sales force of our bottling partners.

Arpita Prem

arpitap@cybermedia.co.in