Evaluate The Technology, Not The Vendor

The oil and petroleum industry is in the spotlight nowadays with the sharp rise in crude oil process. M.V. Sreeram, GM IT for HPCL, talks about the most mission critical applications in this industry and the challenges that he faces in these tough times as a CIO.

What are some of the most mission critical applications at HPCL?

In the past, we were concentrating primarily on financial and commercial applications. In the current scenario, we can’t afford to do so. Most of the mission critical applications that we used previously, have now become core IT enabled systems, which are basically embedded systems. Some of our embedded systems include the digital control system that actually runs a refinery, a retail automation system, which is an end-to-end solution at the retail outlet farm. We also have a vehicle management system, which enables us to keep track of all the vehicles.

How do you evaluate a vendor while opting for a particular solution?

We first evaluate the technology and not a vendor. First, we figure out a business solution, which has its own set of goals, as well as an approach to achieve them. Following this, we evaluate the various technologies that are available, which also involves an in-depth study of the market. Once this is done, we are able to determine the pros and cons of each technology and also its OEMs. This is followed by deciding upon the business partner. In the event of not getting into a partnership with a company, we put in place qualifying criteria and whoever matches the criteria and has a favourable option for us is finalised upon.

What are some of the challenges that you face as a CIO?

In a public sector company like Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), the biggest challenge is to ensure that any technology that is used in the corporation is current and the latest. As the company is process based, we have to keep in mind that by the time the technology is evaluated and customised, it should not become outdated. Secondly, a major challenge that I face as a CIO is change management. People like to handle processes in their own way, but when you deploy a new technology and tell them to use it, they are reluctant as they have to change how they have been dealing with that process. Also, when we talk about integration, there are systems that are being developed that are business specific as well as those that are being developed as per the requirements of the IT department and these systems need to talk to each other. For this very prupose, we need Enterprise Application Integration and Service Orientated Archietecture (SOA) to make the process of integration smooth. Integrating these systems is a big challenge that I see looming ahead.