'We are planning to spend `5 crore in FY13'

Kamal Sharma has been associated with Mindlance since August 2009 as a group CIO and ITIM SBU head. He handles legacy systems at Mindlance. For effective and better utilization of resources, he initiated the transition of the entire infrastructure in order to manage the same centrally from the CIO's office. To stay ahead in the competition, Sharma insisted on implementing cloud technology. He was instrumental in elevating Mindlance to be on par with ITIL compliance.
In a conversation with VOICE&DATA, Sharma discusses how technology enabled Mindlance to reduce cost and to provide qualitative and differentiated services to its clients.

-Kamal Sharma
group CIO and ITIM SBU head, Mindlance

What are the key information and communication technologies which facilitate Mindlance to deliver onsite, offsite, and offshore development process to its customers?

Mindlance is a global IT Infrastructure provider which manages, optimizes, and automates IT operation for over 300 Fortune 500 clients in the US and nearly 400 plus clients in India. When we work with large enterprises, their expectations are immense. Availability, delivery, and meeting the deadlines are very crucial for us to sustain in the business. Mobility has been the key for our success. We have deployed robust solutions for voice, security, and data management. We have upgraded our legacy systems to newer technologies and applications. For effective and better utilization of resources the entire infrastructure was altered in order to manage the same centrally from the CIOs office.

Mindlance has recently surpassed 350 customers-wins in the last couple of years and has achieved 75% retention rate. What are the ICT solutions/technologies that have contributed to this success alongside your business and value proposition?

Technology is undoubtedly a business enabler. Indeed, 60% of the success has been facilitated by technologies. The prominent among has been the upgradation of legacy systems, centralization of ICT infrastructure, cloud adoption, automation of applications, and a focus on enterprise communication projects.

Have these ICT solutions helped you to reduce cost?

Certainly! 8% of our IT budget was spent on storage while with the implementation of data de-duplication technology on back of our storage but now this budget has been reduced to 4%. With the adoption of cloud technology, our mailing solutions were transitioned to cloud platform and thus it resulted in the reduction of 36% on our total operational cost.

We have nearly 14 offices in the US and 13 offices in India, we had no communicative platform place. One and a half years back, we integrated and centralized our voice, mailing, and unified communications solutions. This initiative helped us to reduce travel cost by 70% and telephone cost by about 65%.

With an alliance with Smoothwall in 2009, the company's security offerings have been enhanced. What is your own security policy and how do you see it unveiling over the years?

Security is a major concern for us. We had invested fair amount of our IT budget on security last year. We have standardized our security solutions in all our offices. With the help of our security partner, Fortinet, security solutions have been deployed on all platforms ranging from end-user, cloud to data center applications.

What is your IT budget?

Around 4-5% of our revenue is being spent on information and communication technologies every year.

What is the IT/telecom infrastructure spend of your company in FY12 and what are the investments planned for the on-going financial year?

In the previous financial year, we spent over `3.6 crore on technology. We have set aside `5 crore for FY13.

What are the areas you are planning to invest in ICT?

At present, 15% of our IT environment has been virtualized. And this year we intend to virtualize 40% of our data. We will have a centralized corporate storage which will be managed centrally but connected to all our remote offices. We have gone in for BYOD model but by end of this year or by the first quarter of 2013, we will standardize BYOD. Nearly 2.5% of our IT budget would be spent on BYOD and mobile devices management. We will also enhance our security and cloud solutions.

What are the challenges faced in your ICT capabilities?

ICT has outgrown all aspects of our life whether it is health, education, travel, socializing, entertainment, etc. Some of the biggest challenges faced by the multi-dimensional ICT technologies are credibility and security while connecting on these platforms. Being vigilant and adopting an intelligent approach is the need of the hour. Technology is a boon but surely comes with its own set of challenges.

Have you outsourced any ICT activity for internal purposes? If yes, what is your outsourcing approach?

Yes, we have outsourced some part of our ICT for internal purposes and our outsourcing approach entails security and genuinety as our top concerns.