MindSet
Over the course of my career I have witnessed many firsts. I have had the good fortune of playing an instrumental role in each of them. Many of these innovations took place in the field of computer solutions, computer education and empowerment, software product implementations and Solar Applications.
We’re all aware that start-ups have a hard time finding resources. In the second year of operations in a IT company, especially during the FY closing time, my organizations were to meet a certain turnover for survival. As the head of planning, I was certain that the required material was available at the factory. But with each visit the factory constantly claimed material shortages at the production meeting. I would go out of my way to indicate the availability of materials and help the organisation to realise the turnover.
Whenever the CEO asked us how many machines can be shipped. I used to concisely present the status of material and funds required, at even the component level with a status of Purchase orders and the payables status. It helped the CEO make a timely decision and meet monthly billing targets. (PS: In the late 1980’s, there was no software to do this!)
In the 1990s, sanctions were imposed on India making it difficult for Indian IT companies to import certain items, specifically for defence organizations. My organization struggled to complete the order, the respective account manager and sales manager voiced their inability to manage the account. As head of the marketing support function at HQ for sales, I took the initiative and maintained open and transparent communications with the client over the next two years. Sales In-charge refused to handle the account and follow up on collection. I took the initiative and stayed at the client’s place, organised the process by coordinating with the client’s stores, user department, purchase and accounts departments and collected 95% of payment within 15 days of delivery.
On one occasion, the company was launched for the first time V 20 – Mainframes for Banking Industry. The complete production, quality, system testing, and the R&D technical team had difficulty bringing the system into operation. I, out of curiosity, read the complete the V20 manual and realized that the main V2O CHIP was not shipped along with the components and discovered the source of the problem.
We helped introduce computer education to scheduled caste students as part of the state’s social welfare programs. This was the first time that the decision, to select the companies empanelled to provide computer education, was left to the students.
We also aided in the training of the entire State government’s staff in computer basics. This also took place through the empanelment of companies. Which were selected by departments at the district level. We developed a LAB guide, designed with daily tasks in mind and thus incorporated the process documents of daily usage. We also developed courseware in the native languages of the area to facilitate learning and comprehension.
We also were amongst the first people to introduce the concept of training students from Social welfare schools across the state with the same faculty who train students at company institutes.
We also collaborated with a competitor, something that had not been done before, to bid for a state tender where we submitted each other’s financial bid just to ensure quality delivery to the students. (Nearly 10 companies were participating in the tender at that time).
This was the first time where computer education was selected based on quality and content rather than price, and then introduced in all government schools.
We entered the e-governance application space through a sub-contract to install e-governance applications and train staff across districts on the applications. Subsequently when the government was once again tendered as per world bank norms, We bid directly and won 5/6 zones to install the e-governance applications and train the staff across 90% of the districts with the involvement of partners.
I conceived and designed a sales and incentive plan for a leading software product company and implemented the same for a quarter, rewarding the winners. This was acknowledged by none other than the owner (a Padma Shri recipient) that I “made the difference”.
We implemented the first decentralized software application for TTD, this was done across TTD’s 98 offices in the country. TTD were able to update their daily transactions at HO by the end of every day.
I worked with the regulatory commission and ensured an order was released overnight so that the solar developers from the state could participate in the federal government tender before the deadline.
I supported the development of the first single-window application for enabling the solar power plant approval process online for the state government.
I introduced a Cost-plus process and enabled the Solar developers to bid competitive rates and retain the margins without compromising on quality.