"Communicate, Communicate, Communicate. Think Business. Be Networked"

Subramanian Chittur
Head – IT
Metro Cash and Carry

Subramanian or Subra as he is known in the industry has been an information technology vetera with vast experience in industries of pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, technology & retail. His expertise and domains of knowledge include infrastructure management, vendor and service management, project management, ERP implementation, risk management, process diagnosis & advisory. He has been heading the IT devisions in various companies since last 20 years as he is even today, at METRO Cash & carry India pvt ltd. Basically having higher qualifications in finance, he selected IT for his career path ever since and witnessed the sea change of technology in the different dimensions during last decades. He has been an achiever in every assignment that he delivered and won many awards during the long tenure of his career.

In addition to being the technology wizard, he has been known for his great people skills, mentoring, networking & innovation. At personal front, he hails from mumbai, married and has two sons. He has been an active member of CIO klub chapters & a regular speaker and panelist in different IT conclaves.

Challenges in technology to meet enterprise needs in 2013 and expectations

Wish list from solution providers for the enterprise would be promotion campaign management and its effectiveness, ecommerce and self billing. These help build the topline growth.

The areas in business environment where solutions do not yet exist or not up to the mark, and which if existed, would've made job easier

Data consistency, support in terms of hardware and applications and faster error redressals.

Technology trends impacting Enterprise Business Environment

Customer order and delivery solutions, predictive analytics and data analytics of customer behaviors.

My roles and responsibilities as a CIO

From an operational CIO to a business evangelist who thinks business and process in automation. This change is bound to happen in evolving businesses like modern trade.

Lessons learned and advice for fellow CIOs

Communicate, communicate, communicate. Think business. Be networked. Keep in mind the dynamics of business and predict the maturity scenario in terms of processes and expansion. Only then you will be able to predict the solution life cycle and be cost effective.