'Web 2.0 Technologies Facilitate People Integration'

Bajaj Auto has always tried to remain on top with continuous product and market innovation. Last year, the group went through a major de-merger scheme, which split it into three separate entities with the creation of two new companies. The restructuring of business led to redesigning of IT infrastructure as well. Anil Khopkar, VP, Management Information Services, Bajaj Auto, speaks to Biztech2.0 about the group’s latest IT initiatives.

What are some of the current business challenges that Bajaj Auto is facing?

Earlier, the company was focused on manufacturing specific and few products. However, to keep pace with changing times, we have now diversified our product range. We are experiencing diversified growth at this stage. We have plans to enter the four- wheeler commercial as well as passenger car market along with high-end motor cycles.

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Till date, we have been largely dependent on dealers and distributors for making our products available in the market. Now we ourselves are planning to get into the retail segment and thus, extend our presence right up to the last link of the customer. We also wish to enhance our customer service. This means that business complexity will grow manifold and we would need an IT set up, which can cater to our diversified growth.

Describe the latest IT initiatives at Bajaj Auto.

Recently, we went through a de-merger process and we have restructured Bajaj Auto into different business units. In order to take care of this de-merger and restructuring of business units, we had to completely restructure our IT system. We have implemented CRM for ‘Pro-biking’ showrooms to strengthen our relationship with customers. We also recently implemented a SAP spare plant planning process, which will allow us to deliver automobile parts to our customers in the shortest possible time and with lowest inventory.

On the HR front, we have implemented employee self service, which empowers our employees to handle their own information and transactions. We have also implemented a warranty management system for customers. It allows customers to directly buy extended warranty online. In the future, we are looking forward to launching a portal, which will allow customers to buy motorcycles online.

Recently, we have done some proof-of-concept projects for testing RFID technology. They were quite successful. We are planning to use this technology in material supply and in vehicle production system.
Which vendors have you been associated with for these initiatives?

Essentially, we have stopped in-house development. We totally depend on external software suppliers. We are largely using software from SAP. Almost 90 percent implementations are based on the SAP platform. Even for implementation of SAP solutions, we depend on partners like HP.

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

One of the most important challenges is to find the right people and retain them. You will get sufficient number of good technology providers; however, you may not get enough people who can efficiently run these technologies while not losing a focus on the business. It is really difficult to have people, who not only understand the business better, but also get involved in process improvement activities. Retention of such people is an even bigger challenge.

What are some of the major technology challenges that the auto industry is facing?

One of the major challenges that the auto industry is facing from an IT perspective involves the integration of suppliers and dealers. Even at the automotive association level, the IT initiatives which we are focussing on include the integration of suppliers and dealers.

We have taken several initiatives to educate our suppliers and offer them our knowledge and experience so that they can improve their systems for better business management.

At Bajaj, we have been using SAP’s mySAP Enterprise Portal to connect our suppliers and dealers. With this we have been successful in achieving tight integration with our suppliers. One of our very recent initiatives includes the dealership management system. With this, integration of dealers has been accomplished. We will be providing dealers with more information on Bajaj Auto and thus, enabling better service to customers.
What kind of future technology trends do you see in this space?

I see Web 2.0 as one of the major trends in this space as it facilitates people integration. Today, all technologies are centred on people. The aim being how more and more people can be integrated, involving even those who do not belong to the English speaking class.

What kind of transformation have you experienced in the role of a CIO?

We should move beyond our role as technology people as much as possible and should behave more as business people. It would allow us to come closer to the business functions and create the understanding about how technology will really benefit the business. If we remain in our shell of technology, then we are likely to create what you could call a ‘digital divide’.