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Murali Natarajan
Murali Natarajan

Murali Natarajan

Director

Grove Limited

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Describe your struggle of achieving success
Going up the corporate ladder is like going up the ‘down’ escalator. You rest a while, you will be pushed down and thrown out! Also while you might be working hard to go up the ‘down’ escalator, your colleagues could be playing dirty politics to push you down. So I came up with a simple formula or a Mantra to go up:
a) Be Innovative and try to do things in a different way. This will catch the attention of your colleagues & Bosses.
b) Keep updating your skills and have the correct attitude. Remember the saying ‘your attitude determines your altitude’.
c) Be visible (by participating in meetings & activities) and take up additional responsibilities while ensuring your role is being done effectively (or Multi Task effectively).
d)Most importantly, never play the blame game. I realized that It is better to resolve the crisis instead and this will win the hearts of the co-workers. I shared a good rapport with my boss and team mates and I could enthuse my team with the work on hand.
Concept of BI
Concept of BI is not new to our Humanity. Since ancient times, Kingdoms have developed processes, techniques and tools for collecting & analyzing intelligence to support decision making, and to rule effectively. However in recent times, even in the corporate world, we are moving away from Intuitive driven management approach to a Data driven management approach. Many factors have contributed to this modern management phenomenon. Mainly it can be attributed to the emergence of ERP, CRM etc. With access to the host of data pertaining to Sales, demographics, customers, economic trends and competitors, the management team is very well geared up to take informed 'data driven' decisions. This is where the capability of BI has played a crucial role through the development of methods, systems and tools to collect, store, and analyse vast quantity of data. In short BI is data-driven analysis - a process of gathering, storing, and analyzing data through the use of different technology.
Important Decisions
I started my career selling Industrial Gaskets. I was barely 23 years old but developed an uncanny knack of being able to deduce what my customers needed. I realized that I am selling "what I have" rather than selling "what the customer needs" - To become competitive & to grow in a healthy way! I spent the next few years studying every department of the company – Production, Inventory, Finance, Stores, etc. only to be struck by one conclusion – nothing is integrated. And IT/MIS can do this (BI was not known to me then)! Fortunately for me, Data Processing and EDP were coming into Corporate India at that time and I could switch over to EDP Department, after successfully completing few programming course at Madras University and CEG, Chennai. Once into Computers, I took a conscious decision that I will not confine myself to any one location, or any one technology or any one country and with this mind set, I set out on the career-long journey of Integration of people and processes.
Recommending Specialization
BI has 3 distinct phases. Data gathering & storing, Data processing & analysis, and finally the Output, based on which decisions are taken. This is termed as Data Driven approach. However its the organization which decides what data should be gathered & stored, how the data should be processed and analysed, and how it should be presented! The results are then filtered, aggregated and provided to the managers and decision-makers, in the form that they understand. Hence a lot of it still depends on how organizations treat BI initiatives within their organization as well as how they go about with the implementation. Companies who are at lower level of maturity in their BI journey will continue to use BI for their Operations, while those that have been able to successfully implement their BI foundation will try to move toward the next level of maturity - Business or Predictive analytics to determine the probable future outcome of an event or the likelihood of a situation happening.
Comparison of current work from previous one
I have been in the corporate ('rat race’) for the last 3 decades and I have been very successful in my corporate journey. Several IT majors have benefited from my vision of streamlining and integration. I have been an accomplished management executive and a 'doer' of all things that needed doing! Now I am wearing a different hat – that of a facilitator, trainer, speaker, and strategic planning consultant. I train and mentor CEOs and start-ups. I encourage, train and help manage their idea to become a reality. And why this transformation? Because I realized that it gives more satisfaction in making others successful instead of being successful ourselves.
Decision taken
As a leader I had to take firm & bold decisions with incomplete information & uncertain future many times in my professional life. Once I was asked to identify non performers in my team and when I gave the list to my management, they were not happy as the list had fewer numbers than they wanted. Hence they suggested that I add at least one more name to the list as a proof that I have re-evaluated my list. I added my name to the list and re-submitted. On another occasion, India Hub of one of our major client proposed a model wherein they wanted us to do business with the India Hub in ‘I to I’ (India to India) model instead of doing business directly with their company abroad. There were threats that we will loose business if we don’t agree for 'I to I' model. I rejected as I did not see 'Eye to Eye' with this 'I to I' model! Contrary to expectation, I could grow the business. Bottom Line: Give more priority to the long term interests instead of short term benefits.
After few years
I see myself as a well known facilitator, mentor and a management Guru in a couple of years from now.
Measures to be taken
I always keep taking about 4 quadrants: C,D,E,F. 'C'stands for customers, 'D' for delivery or Production, 'E' for Employees, and 'F'for Finance. All these 4 quadrants are important and only when all the 4 or monitored and are in control, the company shall grow in a healthy way. Hence I would keep harping on the fact that BI should be used to monitor all these 4 quadrants. As said earlier I am not directly responsible for revenue generation in any company right now.
Role of BI
Goal-oriented and metric-driven methods have started to dominate the decision making process in the corporate world. Hence the role of BI is very important in any organization. These methods support managers in collecting and analyzing data and information that is relevant to their strategic goals. and for controlling the performance of an organization. I am convinced that if BI methods are in place and used to analyze data, it will improve decision making process. However to derive the real value of BI, organizations should look into how to integrate BI into their management processes.
Tools of BI
I have not worked with any standard BI tools present in the market. However I have read & learnt about SAP Business Objects, IBM Cognos Series, and few others. During my 33 years long career, I have worked with and have developed many softwares that provided complete Business Intelligence that we or our client required.
New trend
Three important things will come together. They are 1. Mobile or smart machines, 2. Internet and and 3. Cloud architecture. Every decision maker will carry a smart machine through which (using the internet) he or she will be able to access the BI data real time and decide faster than others to his or her company's advantage. Companies on the other hand will start to rely on the power of cloud computing rather than investing in IT infrastructure. Hence I feel the servers will be somewhere else, the client will be a smart machine in the hands of everyone.
Learnings
An ordinary team (with low ego and high energy) can do extra ordinary things. Make sure you recruit people who are driven by values, bond with them and lead them as their servant. A sense of ownership will come among employees and they will build a long term future for the organization. Its tough to be decisive & honest, however it pays at the end and gives you satisfaction.
Your Role
My role is to mentor the CEO, help him strategise and grow the business.
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