Back of the Book

Conversation with functional head

Shiv Kumar Goel Founder Director, Bonanza Portfolio

Shiv Kumar Goel, Founder Director of Bonanza Portfolio is one of those rare functional heads who like to dabble in the IT affairs of his company. So much so that in addition to his regular job, he also handles the IT and risk initiatives at the broking services firm. A staunch supporter of technology, Goel believed that IT has played a crucial role in the success of his company.

In many organizations, management tends to view IT as a cost center when really it should be treated as a catalyst for growth. What’s it like at Bonanza Portfolio?

IT has been one of the driving forces behind our success and we have never considered it as a cost center. In fact, for us it’s a tool that allows us to consistently upgrade ourselves and bring in the best for our clients, associates and partners. IT allowed us to stay connected with stock exchanges and clients all the time which in turn results in seamless trading. This is particularly important considering our pan India presence. I think IT has been instrumental in shaping up our industry in many ways.

Can you give us some examples of how IT has contributed to your success?

In today’s globalized economy, technology is the backbone of any business. This is particularly true of the business that we are in. In order to be the best, we have to keep pace with the latest in technology. Our IT efforts have helped us to offer online trading facility to our customers and also extend our reach and increase our customer base. Further, IT has enabled mobile trading facility and empowered the investors with the ability to trade from anywhere, at anytime. Our systems are tightly integrated with an automatic risk management system that lets us control the overall operations in much more efficient manner. IT has and will keep on playing a major role in helping our business grow beyond traditional boundaries.

Can you recall some of the major IT projects that have had a considerable impact on your business?

We recently implemented an online trading platform that lets users trade at their own convenience time. It has an integrated token based security mechanism wherein the security password keeps changing every 30 seconds. This provides an additional layer of security and ensures safe online trading for the benefit of our clients as well as our company. As I mentioned earlier, mobile trading with automatic risk management system has been revolutionary in improving our operations. We have put in place a system which sends instant SMS to confirm the trade executions and also summary of the trades along with client’s position at the end of the day. We’ve also introduced Bonanza’s Internal Chat software which has allowed us to get closer to our franchisees through a quick and easy communication tool.

What’s the sort of executive involvement that exists in IT affairs as far as your organization is concerned? Does your involvement extend beyond supporting or subverting IT projects?

Since, we need to keep pace with the latest technologies, management evaluates their need and feasibility along with IT team regularly. The initiative to bring the new technology can come either from management or the IT team. Once the project is finalized, IT team takes the responsibility of implementing it successfully. The success of the IT projects taken up in the past shows the proficiency and skill of our IT team to adapt to the dynamic business environment.

rajendra.c@expressindia.com