Using IT to carve market niche

Their warning on the use of technology including IT came at the Caribbean Executive Round Table Conference last Thursday at the Hilton Trinidad.

The event was hosted by Satyam Computer Services Limited of India, a leading global consulting and IT services provider, in collaboration with MBM.

Petrotrin corporate planning manager, Roger Bertrand, recalled his days in IT, lamenting that there was too much focus on the technology, rather than the business objectives.

He was supported by Ram Mynampati, president of the commercial and health care division of Satyam. He said that any transformation of a company using technology, should only be done in line with what that business actually required.

TSTT chief operating officer, Bernard Mitchell, felt that in contrast to all the emphasis on technology itself, the real question for companies is how do they provide leadership to transform the culture of an organisation.

SM Jaleel chief operating officer, Martin Battersby, said his company used both technology and talent to be competitive. "We can’t stick with the same old things or same old techniques in Trinidad and Tobago, but have to look abroad. We are constantly scanning the world to make our products available and affordable."

The businessmen then gave examples of how technology was being used to transform their companies.

RBTT’s group technology director, Philip Marshall, said financial services companies like his bank, faced with customers who required a variety of financial products, now needed to form partnerships with other firms, and technology was very important for this.

Satyam’s Ram Mynampati endorsed this, saying, "Finance service companies are the first to adopt new technologies. They lead the pack, to the benefit of business. Financial companies are the most aggressive."

Petrotrin’s Roger Bertrand said oil and gas companies were investing heavily in information technology.

"The oil and gas industry is very seriously challenged to replace its reserves," he noted. He said it is getting harder to find oil, the oil fields are getting smaller and it is getting harder to extract the oil. "It is only through significant investment in technology that they can keep pace with the demands."

Satyam’s Ram Mynampati said developing countries were less aware than developed countries of the potentials of technology. While Satyam could make assumptions about the profile of a company operating in New York, in developing countries Satyam may have to initially bring their clients up to a certain point before the client could properly make use of the value offered by Satyam.

The executives debated whether a firm’s intellectual capital could keep pace with the globalisation of technology.

UWI lecturer, Dr Manfred Jantzen warned of a brain-drain, saying: "Intellectual capital is mobile. The moment you train them, the leave". As if in reply, Martin Battersby suggested his company was a global player, noting that SM Jaleel had just put up a plant half-way across the world, and said one day they would erect a plant in India.

Bertrand said leaders may not be committed to facing the pain of the long haul required to achieve the benefits of new technological products.

"There’s tremendous resistance to change. People don’t like change.

"Eighty percent of IT projects fail, and the main reason is the lack of managerial commitment."

And even employees may have a resistance to technology that brings about company transformation, warned Philip Marshall. He said: "Don’t expect people to transform themselves out of a job."

Satyam’s Ram Mynampati urged companies however small to use new technology to help create and develop their own market niche.

He recalled a small insurance company that decided to use IT to better take it services directly to their customers, but only after charging higher premiums.

"Technology helped to define, implement and measure the customer service. The transformation needs were driven by the market forces, and technology became subservient and management was committed."