For Sakthi Finance Ltd, using cloud means better collaboration between branch users and head office, though concerns about data security remain.
What started in 1995 as a non-banking finance company (NBFC) that catered to the hire and purchase financial requirements of TELCO’s dealership units is today a leading NBFC with over 38 branches in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It has carved a niche for itself by introducing refinancing for commercial vehicles and construction equipment and offers various financing schemes to cater to the funding requirements of commercial vehicle operators. In an interview, N Raveendran, Senior General Manager- Enterprise Wide Solutions (CIO), Sakthi Finance Limited, talks about how cloud features into the scheme of things for the company and also has a word of advice for those looking for a cloud service provider. Edited excerpts:
Could you give us a brief lowdown of IT infrastructure at Sakthi Finance? Any milestones you would like to mention specifically?
A well-established and Centralized-application-centric IT infrastructure is in place at Sakthi Finance Ltd. About 55 branches are deploying the core business applications and other facilities by connecting to this central setup at our head office through internet.
We have an established and standardized IP-based secured connectivity setup instead of an open one. This is a notable milestone achieved during last year.
For a company like yours, what are some of the biggest challenges when it comes to IT and how do you take care of the same?
Change management while adapting new application/technology is the major challenge being faced. We manage this with close interactions with the end users and imparting detailed training, prior to/during/after implementation of new IT initiatives.
How does cloud feature in Sakthi's IT infrastructure of things? How did the company adapt to the technology?
Our basic branches-head office setup itself is over cloud. That is, all branches are deploying our centralized application over internet. We are practicing this for more than five years under the “private cloud” concept.
Our email setup is also over private cloud and we have started using a CRM application through pay-per-usage model under a public cloud engagement.
Our touring marketing officers are using hand-held devices for providing instant-receipts to our customers after collecting payments. These devices are GPRS enabled and are connected to our HO server over cloud for instant updation of data.
What kind of advantages has cloud meant for Sakthi in terms of time, deliverability, customer satisfaction, costs and so on?
We have immensely benefitted with cloud deployment. Online access, minimized cost for connectivity, collaboration among the branch users and head office, employee/manager self-service [without IT team’s dependability], enhanced customer service with their entire data in the handheld devices and so on are the benefits being reaped.
In your opinion, what are the limitations of the technology?
Maturity of the service provider with respect to the technology, SLAs, assurance on the data security, adherence of non-disclosure norms and so on are some of the major concerns under the public cloud deployment.
Convincing the management for moving the data sources over cloud is an important challenge/limitation, which is being faced by CIOs. Improving the stability of internet band-width is also a limitation.
Does the company plan on going to the next phase of cloud and if yes, by when? What will that entail?
Yes, we do have plans. To provide 24X7 and anywhere access, we intend to move the applications over public cloud through the opex model. As maintaining an internal data center is cumbersome and costly, this migration is eminent and would happen soon.
As an expert in the field, what pointers would you like to give to someone who is looking at a service provider for cloud?
Cloud computing is the positive/ultimate technology or platform, which cannot be ignored by magnifying the limitations or bottlenecks.
We also have to try adapting private cloud and move towards public gradually.
Don’t compromise the service level of your proposed cloud partner due to the cost factor. Try selecting a cloud partner by reviewing and ensuring the value-added services being offered by them.
Verify the “contract breach” clause carefully towards getting and moving your data from one cloud source to another, without much difficulties or break in deployment.
