India's oldest paint company enhanced its community relationships and implemented new processes, rendering itself a digitally savvy organisation
ASHOK JADE
SHALIMAR PAINTS
We have changed our process of taking decisions through Biz Intelligence system which is been implemented by the IT department. It gives around 40-plus different KPIs through which we review and analyse our business.
Digital transformation can change business processes and revenue streams by a great deal, irrespective of the industry. Speaking about which, Ashok Jade, CIO, Shalimar Paints, shares his thoughts on how he wants to remain a leader in their own business segment through digital transformation.
To commence its digitisation journey, the company made some fundamental changes in its infrastructure, IT services, platform and most importantly, culture within the IT team. They migrated their Infra on Cloud and did a lot of work on framing application strategy and transitioned IT from the back-office to frontrunners.
The establishment started off with Influencer Relationship Management a community of “influencers” who play a crucial role in shaping mindsets and generating demands. These are painters, contractors, architects and consultants. For a company, it is important to have a direct connect with this community as in the past, there had been some challenges on this front. Through Influencer Relationship Management, the organisation brought about 20,000-plus painters, contractors and architects on the IT system and now have direct connect with them. All rewards, product updates and feedback are getting exchanged with them on a one-on-one basis.
Other digitisation initiatives undertaken by Shalimar Paints are Fleet Monitoring System, Quotation Management System and Process Optimisation along with the IT security and compliance. At Shalimar Paints, IT is well-engaged with all functional teams. They have a unique programme known as TT-20 (Touch Time 20). Through this, every IT team member needs to speak to 20 people within the organisation in a month and understand their expectations and problems as well as their existing business processes. IT then proposes appropriate solutions. “I have monthly meetings and regular dialogues with all key stakeholders personally for better engagement,” shares Jade.
“Start-ups are our favourites. As a CIO, I always follow the principle of ‘Start Early – Learn Early – Fail Early – Correct Early’,” says Jade as he shares his thoughts on how the CIO’s role is evolving. “If you look at any other CXO role in any of the businesses, you will notice that the respective person is known for his knowledge in a particular role. For example, a CPO will be good in procurement, CHRO will be in HR functions, CMO in marketing and so on. However, CIO is an entity who needs to be an expert in all functions and this is the reason that this role is so challenging and interesting,” he says.
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