Prabhakar Rao
CIO
K. Mohan and Co. Exports
Insight of My Company and its IT Strategies
K. Mohan & Co. Exports is a 2 decade company who are into Garment
manufacturing business. We mainly export to US & UK. We started up
with 40 systems and now grown up to couple of hundred systems with 5
factory location all connected through RF-Links. We use Debian Linux OS
with Postfix for our Mail server and an HP server running with 2007 for
loading other, applications. Fast React is our Planning Tool that is
used for planning our orders. Gerbers Accu Mark, CM200MT & Cut works
are the softwares that are being used for Marker making and Cutting.
Around 25% of our machines r deployed as Thin Clients by using Terminal
services and the rest r working with Windows XP/Win 7 OS. The main part
of our data is shared through our Windows based server & as well as
couple of NAS deployed over the network.
Views on new technologies
As of now, "anywhere at any time" is the mantra & the same can be
obtained by using Cloud technology which not only increases the
productivity but also helps to deploy systems as and when required, no
need of going in for longtime investment and then look for benefits
instead use this technology and reap the benefits immediately in the
same way Virtualization of server, network or storage could help us to
increase the performance.
Keeping up with Technology
I keep myself updated by attending seminars and reading few of the subscribed mails over the internet.
Team Size
Following are my team details:
IT-Hardware consisting of 6 People.
IT-Software – Consisting of 2 people.
IT-Admin 1 Person & EDP – 15 people.
Biggest Pain Point
Managing the network, Securities and added to that monitoring the network is our biggest pain.
Technology to Address Pain Points
Yes, technology would surely be helpful in addressing the above mentioned Pain Points.
Slowdown Impact on IT Innovation
In our case it was not much, as many things are yet to be deployed.
Challenges Faced
Presently, most of our database is on DOS (FoxPro). Hence, database
getting corrupted & backing up online data has become a challenge.
Role of Cloud
As an individual, it is not possible to constantly monitor our security
threats which are increasingly on a daily basis. If we get on to cloud,
this would be taken care.
Expenses on IT Systems
Being in garment manufacturing business where IT being only a support
hence we don’t have any fixed budget moreover will spend only when it is
the last resource of overcoming the problem.
IT Leader – Manager First or Technologist First
In our kind of industry you need both. Manager as well as a technologist as both go hand in hand.
ROI on the Technology
Not much of deployments have been made. Hence, may not able to quote anything in specific.
Eye on Latest Technology
As of now, I am looking to move my mailing system on to the cloud.
Relationship between CIO and CEO
My CEO is aware of little bit of technology. Hence, more & more work
needs to be done to create a collaborative working relationship.
Moreover, in our kind of industry where IT is just a support base which
takes more effort in terms of bringing new technologies.
Advice/Suggestion
Studying and knowing to make the right decision to implement continues
to be the key role of CIOs however the way the technology is changing
we should always update ourselves this is the only way to keep ourselves
in demand.
