Intelligent Enterprise Awards 2004

Recognition for the innovators

The Indian enterprise is at par with the best of businesses out there. Thanks to our ability to create innovative solutions to enable the business and take it to the next level. This is the story of organizations that dared to dream. And this is our endeavor to honor them—this is the Computer Associates Intelligent Enterprise Awards 2004. by Anil Patrick R

Innovation is a term that has dictated the way ahead for human endeavor for ages. Without it, there would have been no progress, even if there was business or its enabler, the technology, powering it. This is where the Intelligent Enterprise concept inevitably assumes center stage position in today's highly competitive business conditions.

An Intelligent Enterprise is the measure of achievement in enterprise technology, and defines the road ahead.

So, what is an Intelligent Enterprise all about?

The Intelligent Enterprise

We at Network Magazine believe that while IT is central to the modern organization. IT by itself no longer provides a competitive advantage. The reason: IT is a great leveler, so your competition is likely and in fact does have access to the same technologies that you have.

In order for IT to provide a distinct competitive advantage, CIOs need to innovate with IT. This innovation is what an Intelligent Enterprise is all about. An Intelligent Enterprise is one that has developed and applied IT solutions related to its business in an innovative manner to have a significant impact on cost, time, and quality. These organizations are the pioneers who chart the way their industry moves ahead.

Here innovation is clearly of two types: either a company is an early adopter of a new or upcoming technology, or existing technology/technologies have been implemented in an innovative manner to gain significant benefits.

Innovation has special relevance in the Indian context since our organizations are almost at par with the rest of the world when it comes to IT. A case in point is that India has some of the best enterprise automation implementations worldwide—be it ERP, SCM, or CRM.

This is visible in first of its kind initiatives (globally) like Hero Honda's Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) using mySAP's Supplier Self Service (SuS) sub-module. Such efforts have helped these organizations gain a competitive edge over their competitors on the local scale as well as bridge the technology gap on a global level.

Next come homegrown innovations of international standards. Indian organizations are able to blend

technologies (both existing and emerging) with their business processes innovatively to develop unique IT solutions that add business value. A good case to illustrate this point is ITC's e-Choupal initiative (winner of the Intelligent Enterprise Awards 2003 for The Most Innovative Enterprise).

e-Choupal brings technology to whom it is required the most—the Indian farmer. At present, this Web-based e-procurement initiative makes it possible for villagers from 25,000 villages across seven Indian states to trade directly with ITC for their agricultural produce. In addition, the initiative provides farmers with information, services, and retail products. ITC has also gained business benefits by way of an improved and a more optimized supplier chain with lesser operational costs.

Projects like these have inspired the definition of the term Intelligent Enterprise. Initiatives like these have accorded top-notch rankings for the Indian enterprise on the global map mainly due to the following focus areas.

A CTQ focus

The CTQ (Cost, Time, Quality) factor is of paramount importance in the Intelligent Enterprise concept. Projects can be competitive in an environment like the Indian enterprise only if they are economically viable and provide maximum ROI at the least possible TCO and time.

At the same time, a stringent quality focus has to be maintained to ensure that it's among the global best. These objectives are not easily achieved. This is why the Indian enterprise has not bowed down in front of adverse conditions. Instead, it has focused more on making the best out of available resources.

Network Magazine realized the need to recognize these outstanding leaders as well as provide awareness to the Indian enterprise of the need to innovate. As a result the Intelligent Enterprise Awards were conceptualized.

Recognizing innovation

The Awards, now in their second year, aim to honor Indian organizations that have:

• Successfully conceptualized a 'ground-breaking' and innovative information technology initiative
• Used/implemented the above initiative in an innovative manner within the organization, or
• Built a solution using a concept/technology that is emerging and is considered a leading practice amongst the industry

Divided into seven categories to encompass all the industry verticals, the Computer Associates Intelligent Enterprise Awards 2004 provides positive feedback to the enterprise and motivates industry peers to develop intelligent solutions. See Box: Intelligent Enterprise verticals for more details on the Award categorization.

The Awards celebrate IT's potential to fundamentally transform how business is done. This is why the success of these awards has been the manner in which Indian organizations have given acceptance to the awards. Today, the Intelligent Enterprise awards are widely recognized as an industrial standard for innovation in enterprise technology implementations. The Awards’ popularity is obvious from the 110 applications received from Indian organizations.

Choosing the leaders

When it is the Indian enterprise's elite that are competing with their best projects, it is not easy for a single entity to decide the best. This is why the Computer Associates Intelligent Enterprise 2004 Awards selection process involved a jury panel consisting of industry experts, a business process advisor, and a research agency.

The jury panel consisted of five eminent personalities from the Indian corporate arena.

In the enterprise, there's no better person than a CEO to judge the effectiveness of an innovative project. This expertise was brought to the jury table by H. M. Bharuka, MD, Goodlass Nerolac Paints.

Anjani Agrawal, Partner, Ernst & Young, provided the consulting expertise . The CIO's evaluation was given by L Sundarrajan, Senior VP, Corporate IT, Aditya Birla Management Corporation and Sunil Mehta, Senior VP & Area Systems Director-Central Asia, J Walter Thompson. On the other hand, Gopal Jain, MD, Gaja Capital Partners examined the projects from a venture capitalist's point of view.

See Box: The Intelligent Enterprise Awards Selection Process to get a glimpse of the process followed by Network Magazine to determine the winners.

Applications collected by IMRB were then tested for accuracy by Ernst & Young. Shortlisted nominees were forwarded to the jury panel for the final score tally. The final scores were then tabulated by Ernst & Young and the Computer Associates Intelligent Enterprise Awards 2004 winners were chosen for the different verticals.

And the winners are...

It is now time to move the spotlight to the Intelligent Enterprises of 2004. The seven industry verticals of the Computer Associates Intelligent Enterprise Awards 2004 witnessed tight competition and the winning implementations among them are the following in their respective categories.

Information, Communication and Entertainment (ICE): Building an in-house ERP for the broadcasting industry with just a small team and minimal investments is no easy task. This achievement helped Sony Entertainment Television (SET) India win the Computer Associates Intelligent Enterprise Awards 2004 in the ICE segment. SET India's SAMBA (System for Automated Management of Broadcast Activities) is a modular ERP application to manage key processes in the broadcasting industry.

BFSI: NSE emerged victorious in the closely-contested BFSI segment battle. NSE's Straight Through Processing (STP) initiative is intended to help achieve a T+1 settlement cycle and make the capital markets at par with global trading practices.

Manufacturing: Hero Honda Motors Limited's Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) system using MySAP's SuS (Supplier Self Service) sub-module emerged as the winner in the manufacturing segment. This initiative helps

connect suppliers electronically to the company for faster information exchange and more streamlined operations for Just In Time (JIT) deliveries.

Retail & Consumer Products: Marico Industries Limited's implementation of SAP R/3, APO, and BIW won top honors in this industry segment. The implementation was done in a record time of nine months and all the locations and modules went live at the same time.

Government & Utilities: North Delhi Power Limited (NDPL)'s innovative billing solution to thwart power theft is the Computer Associates Intelligent Enterprise Awards 2004 winner in the Government & Utilities segment. The solution has helped NDPL optimize its processes and reduce losses.

Others: Technology adoption in the rural cooperative segment is not widespread. So, when the hottest technologies are innovatively employed in this segment, a noteworthy initiative needs to be appreciated.

The SUMUL (Surat Milk Producers Union Limited) Dairy's OICS (Online Integrated Computerized System) initiative covers all aspects of a diary's functions like milk procurement, cattle feed management, materials management, human resource, and financial accounting. This innovation has helped SUMUL win the Intelligent Enterprise 2004 Award in the Others category.

Special Award for best CA Unicenter implementation: The Computer Associates Intelligent Enterprise 2004 award in this segment was given to Syntel India.

The Winner Zone

	Sony Entertainment Television (SET) India Information, Communication and Entertainment (ICE)
	National Stock Exchange (NSE) Banking, Finance & Insurance (BFSI)
	Hero Honda Motors Ltd Manufacturing
	Marico Industries Limited Retail & Consumer Products
	New Delhi Power Limited (NDPL) Government & Utilities
	SUMUL Dairy Others

Anil Patrick R can be reached at: anilpatrick@networkmagazineindia.com