Confidential

Updated 15th August 2012

MAHINDRA GROUP CORPORATE IT

GROUP-WIDE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CASELET #1
BACKGROUND:
Group IT formulates the Group IT strategy aligned with the business strategy & initiatives. The
team ensures group-wide synergy through shared resources, shared services and group
negotiations for IT assets. Group IT provides and effectively manages the in-house Data Center
with DR (for business continuity planning); wide area network connecting all offices,
manufacturing plants, stock yards & area offices; intranet & internet; e-mail, collaboration &
KM platforms, central global ERP instance & central support. The experienced team is tasked
with bringing the best in information technology to the group advantage. The team also
facilitates corporate governance in the autonomous federation of Mahindra Group Companies by advocating, implementing and managing harmonized processes on group-wide systems
running in its Data Center. Mahindra Group has been early adopter in many areas of
information technology, a fact reflected by the use of systems across the group in the areas of
ERP, SRM, CRM, PLM, SCM, etc. and the many awards and accolades the Group has received in
the field of Information Technology.
While traditionally the focus was more on doing things centrally & sustaining them, the team is
now gearing up to focus more on contributing business value and enabling transformation
through use of technology innovation. The team has set its Group IT Vision (2017) as -We will
be key partners to our businesses, delivering significant value through innovative application of
technology, agile & robust processes and enriched capabilities.Clearly, the focus is more on coconceiving & co-creating value by partnering with the group businesses and to use technology
for business transformation.

DELIVERABLES:
Till date, IT was measured on provision of hardware, shared services (email, internet, antivirus,
etc.), selection and implementation of software to enable business processes, integrating
systems, sustaining the IT landscape and continually enhancing the business performance by
facilitating decision making through analytics & business intelligence. Now CEOs take these for
granted. Also, public cloud technologies have enabled IT vendors to offer infrastructure,
platforms and even software as service on a pay per user model. With this, e-mails,
collaboration tools & office productivity solutions have no more remained the core
competencies of internal IT teams.

Mahindra War Room 2012

Group-wide Information Technology Caselet #1

Confidential

Updated 15th August 2012

In order to continue to provide business value, what should IT be doing now? What should we
do to differentiate ourselves from other service providers? How to leverage innovation as a tool
to drive business transformation? How can they rapidly incubate & deploy the innovation and
prove its transformational value to business?
Explore the areas that IT could add value by providing innovative applications of technology for
serial or radical transformation in business models, manufacturing efficiencies, supply chain
optimization, delivery channels and enhancing customer experience.
Define the new role of IT and ways in which IT can co-conceive, co-create business value with
its business colleagues. Envision a new business case that will define how IT can engender
business (directly influence revenue generation) and also mention metrics that will
transparently measure the value add and benefits realized.
In order to crystallize your thought you may use one or more of the following opportunities
and elaborate how innovations in this space can be used for transforming business. You may
choose one or more representative business sectors / verticals within Mahindra Group to
build your business case.
Innovation for Business Transformation - Some opportunities:
To raise new questions, a new possibility, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires
creative imagination and marks real advance in science - Albert Einstein
1. Public Cloud
Cloud computing has already started transforming our way of thinking as now the technology is
available on demand. Users can now have choice of device, location, and time at an affordable
cost. The new information workers prefer to use their own device to transact official business
and would embrace cloud more than ever. Elaborate the ways in which the group can use
public cloud to its advantage. What opportunities and challenges will we have to move our
current business applications or DR on cloud? Are there any threats of moving on cloud? Also
think whether this will create any new business opportunities, models or channels for our
existing business verticals? How should we quickly evolve our options and deploy this rapidly?

2. Mobile world (Smart Phones / Tablets)

According to a recent study, 35% of global workforce will be using mobile technology by 2013.
Mobility solutions will not only increase productivity and efficiency on the go, but will also
make it possible to make real-time informed decisions. Apple has pioneered the user
experience and Android is making it even spicier. The consumer will be the ultimate winner in
Mahindra War Room 2012

Group-wide Information Technology Caselet #1

Confidential

Updated 15th August 2012

this war and employees will demand business applications to be made available on tablets and
smart phones. Companies will have to embrace these as the consumer would demand for
similar user experience before buying any product or service from any corporate. Envision the
various customer-facing as well as internal business applications that can go on the mobile
devices for Mahindra Group companies. Explore interesting opportunities of mashing up
internal & external information to the advantage of consumer and decision maker.
3. Social media
Social media, once the domain of younger, tech-savvy consumers, has gradually entered the
mainstream and covers a broader spectrum. Social media continues to grow in popularity and
importance in the organizational world. Social media could be a game changer in the next
decade and will be exploited by companies across the globe. Define the social media strategy
that we can adopt for Mahindra group companies. Explain how IT can enable this for our
various business units to harness positive benefits while controlling the downsides, if any.
Explore how at the Group level, social media can be leveraged for brand building and engaging
customers for a mutually win-win scenario. The group already has a Common Customer
Database across the various B2C businesses. Explore how social media can be used to leverage
the knowledge base of existing customers to design, build, and market new products &
services.
4. Embedded sensors
Availability of sensors in a various shapes, sizes and affordable price range has opened an
altogether new opportunity defined as internet of things. Imagine if objects are equipped
with miniscule identifying devices and hence are connected using an internet-like structure.
Mapping and locating these on a virtual world is opening a new opportunity in many fields
including supply chain management. Some experts are already working on using these to
machines to machines and machine to human to expedite decisions, optimize throughput
or to enhance consumer experience. Thinks on ways in which such sensors can be used in
various Mahindra Group companies to achieve these objectives. Create a business case in the
areas of design collaboration, supply chain, manufacturing, customer service, customer
experience enhancement or any other for specific business verticals.

Mahindra War Room 2012

Group-wide Information Technology Caselet #1