NGOs must use enterprise software: Infy's Murthy

There is a need for developers to design solutions to enable non-government organisations (NGOs) to function better, Infosys  Executive Chairman N R Narayana Murthy said here on Friday. He added NGOs should use enterprise resource planning solutions to become more efficient and effective.

“Technology is about reducing costs, cutting cycle time, and improving productivity. The power of algorithm is extraordinary. It can make the society a better place,” Murthy said, delivering the keynote address at the opening ceremony of a global hackathon by Code for India, an NGO.

“Today, we have in India about half-a-million NGOs, and most of them are very small. They don’t have an ERP solution that combines financial systems, human resource systems, systems to handle their target audience. And with the result, I have found time and again that these NGOs get into somewhat uncomfortable situations either with tax authorities or other stake holders,” he added.

The 24-hour hackathon is the first of its kinds as it is held at Google campuses in Bangalore and at Mountain View, US at the same time. The hackathon, which is in its second edition this year, focuses on creating technology-based applications that empower the poor to address specific public service delivery problems.

“India has made significant development in certain areas over the past 65 years since Independence, but it also remains a country with perhaps more serious problems in areas like education, healthcare, nutrition and shelter,” said Murthy. “In every one of these, we still have a long way to go before we call ourselves an accomplished society.”

Murthy added that developers must look at designing solutions that would enable handling natural calamities better. Citing the example of resource mismanagement during the Tsunami relief activity in 2004, he said: “My wife tells me that the biggest problem in India in handling calamities is not the lack of resources but it is the lack of management.”

Code for India has seen participation from several volunteer engineers from Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, VMware, Oracle, Cisco, Visa, and Infosys. The event is co-sponsored by the World Bank Institute, the World Bank Group’s Open Finances team and Code For Resilience, a project of the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, Amazon, Cisco, Google, TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs), Nasscom Foundation and AFI (Action for India)