The Challenge: The lockdown was tough on many fronts. Fewer orders, stock pile ups, and slower schedules impacted the business. The management decided to cut down on human resources. We were at about 75% completion on a ‘Move to Cloud’ project. I didn’t want to give up on this project.
Story:
When I joined this organization, I had an IT Roadmap carved out. A very clear 1 / 2 / 5-year plan on how IT would drive the organization forward. This roadmap was presented to the Board. We started with a few small projects and were faced with some resistance. This happens when you try to institute any manner of change. But when I joined the company, I had conducted a study of the process at our manufacturing plants and this helped immensely. I used that knowledge to convince Operation Heads of the demonstrable value of the proposed changes.
I’m a strong advocate of digitalization. I believe it’s the only way by which a company can accelerate its growth, manufacturing, and process excellence and add value to the business in the shortest possible time.
At the start of the pandemic, we were at about 75% completion on a ‘Move to Cloud’ project. This involved moving our ERP and critical applications to the Cloud. Being so close to the finish line, I didn’t want to give up on the project. Again, pushing through resistance, we were able to complete the project and go live on the date and time we had announced.
Once changes were implemented in a few processes, the benefits of time and dollars saved were obvious. From being a push process, where IT had to convince Functional Heads, now it became a pull process with Operation Heads actively approaching IT with ideas for automation and digitalization. In the last financial year, we have successfully implemented 354 digitalization projects.
Learning is a continuous process and never stops or ends. I have vast work experience and I’m proud to say that whatever I am today is because of the grassroot level work that I have done.
The lockdown was tough on many fronts. Fewer orders, stockpile ups due to supply chain issues and slower schedules impacted the business. The management came up with various initiatives to conserve cash. Out of which one was to let go our certain colleagues. This exercise was painful, but I had to do in my professional capacity. Later, wearing my ‘human hat’ I reached out to my team with help, support, and advice. I gave them direction and sent them job opportunities to minimize the brunt and to ensure that they were not unemployed for too long.
I’m a spiritual person and I’m always conscious to keep my energy and quality of thoughts positive. This gets into your subconscious, and it reverts with the same positive energy. I think this also translates into the energy I put into my team and in turn, their energy. This results in tremendous benefits.