Collaboration To Address Mid-Size Co Woes

Today the mid-size companies are geared to grow at a faster pace than their larger counterparts. But, while the economists and analysts alike have predicted a strong growth momentum for the mid-size sector, success is not achieved easily and there are various constraints that come along with bigger dreams and aspirations.

‘Biztech2 Emerging Giants: Enabling Growth and Beyond’, powered by Microsoft, brought to light the market dynamics that impact mid-size enterprises and sought answers to the ensuing challenges thrown by the volatile market environment. The road to becoming tomorrow’s giants requires a well-defined business strategy, and technology is at the heart of this strategy.

A power panel comprising of CIOs and industry experts led the discussion and debate around how technology tools can help mid-size organisations collaborate more effectively, driving productivity and innovation. The panel comprising of Anil M. Kamble, Vice President, Technology Sushil Finance, Arun Gupta, Customer Care Associate & Group Chief Technology Officer, Shoppers Stop, Nilesh Sangoi, CTO, Meru Cab Company and Aviraj Ajgekar, Technology Evangelist, Microsoft was moderated by Ivor Soans, Managing Editor, Biztech2.com.

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As the panel discussed the latest technology tools, they agreed in unison that mid-size companies that drive productivity smartly and make the right productivity technology investment decisions today can deliver product and services innovation, ensure unmatched quality and cut the flab to build operational efficiencies that competitors cannot match.

Among the latest technologies that mid-size companies need to leverage, the panelists highlighted cloud computing through which these enterprises can leverage the benefits of low CapEx spends and also deliver Web Apps anywhere, anytime, and ensure high levels of scalability. This ensures these enterprises to retain the flexibility to keep costs under control through use of operational expenditure to fund growth as opposed to capital expenditure.

But, security and other challenges that come in tow with greater collaboration will need adequate addressal for technology-driven collaboration to be successful.

Business Pressure Driving Collaboration

India is growing at a scorching rate and keeping pace with this growth is a big challenge for mid-size companies. “Currently the main concern for mid-size companies is to grow and become large companies. Keeping that concern in mind the biggest challenge for them is growth, followed by building their systems, business processes and improving the productivity of their work force,” said Nilesh Sangoi, CTO, Meru Cab Company. “In order to maintain high level of productivity, companies need to implement technology-driven collaboration and when productivity is achieved companies can use this to drive business innovation,” said Arun Gupta, Customer Care Associate & Group Chief Technology Officer, Shoppers Stop.

According to Gupta, organisations should willingly participate in collaboration, and once that participation is felt the organisation then needs to find enablers for that collaboration. Technology is playing a major role in enabling healthy collaboration as technology-driven collaboration evolves to the next level. Earlier, it was just about voice mails, voice conferencing, then it moved on to video conferencing and now it has landed on to the desktops and even on the phone.

For more effective collaboration, Gupta suggested that collaboration enablers be aware of what information needs to be shared and the time value of that information to the organisation. If information is stale, collaboration tends to lose its essence.

Strategic Approach

Defining the strategic approach to driving collaboration and productivity is critical. The panelists discussed relative advantages and disadvantages of the top-down and bottom-up approaches. According to Anil M. Kamble, Vice President, Technology Sushil Finance, “In top-down approach, employees are forced to work according to the top management decision. As far as bottom-up approach is concerned it gives the freedom to every team member in taking decision. In short, every one is appreciated in the bottom-up approach.” Even as Kamble rallies for the bottom-up approach, he concludes that there is a need to maintain the right balance between the two. Dedication from the employees is the most critical factor as far as productivity is concerned, the panelists agreed.

Taking Collaboration Inside And Outside

The panelists were of the opinion that collaboration should be used wherever and whenever it is possible. According to Aviraj Ajgekar, Technology Evangelist, Microsoft, the idea of collaboration within the organisation or outside depends upon how organisations do it. “In the mid-size sector office level collaboration is being leveraged rapidly. With the boom in mobility and mobile driven applications, the level of collaboration has helped in increasing productivity, as employees can work from anywhere they want to,” he added.

Cloud Security Concerns

With cloud computing being the most hyped topic of discussion in enterprise technology, the panelists chose not to hype it further as they discussed the on-ground challenges that need to be overcome. According to Sangoi, cloud by its inherent nature is very fussy and being a shared infrastructure it becomes a federated system, and, hence concerns around security are quite wide. However, he added that cloud security should not be looked at any differently from the way one looks at any other Information Security concerns for the enterprise.

Sangoi also suggested conducting risk assessment of the hosted applications in order to know the cause, effects and severity of that risk, and according to the risk, organisations can overcome tricky situations in the near future.

CIO Role In Driving Productivity

The role of the CIO is constantly evolving. And, the growing focus on productivity is one of the key factors determining the direction of this evolution.

According to Arun Gupta, ultimately it is the CIO who is responsible for his role in the enterprise. “It is his call if he wants to be the change agent within the organisation. And, if the CIO has decided to become one, he needs to leave IT behind and understand the business very well. After understanding the business well, the CIO needs to implement the required business processes within the different segments of the organisation.”

Touching upon the key issues that concern mid-size enterprises, ‘Biztech2.com Emerging Giants: Enabling Growth and Beyond’ sought to address some of these challenges and how technology can be the panacea to their collaboration and productivity woes.