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An IT expert!
It has been an enjoyable journey for Ajay Kumar Dhir,
Executive Director & Group CIO, Lanco Infratech Limited, creating world-class
IT infrastructure and spearheading pioneering initiatives in many areas. By
Manjari Juneja
 With
29 years of distinguished experience as a CIO with blue chip corporates in India
and abroad, Ajay Dhir is currently working as the Group CIO with Lanco Infratech
Ltd. The Lanco Group has subsidiaries and divisions across verticals including
Construction, Power, EPC, Infrastructure, Property Development and renewables.
Having completed his graduation in B.Sc (Hons.) Chemistry in 1980 from the University
of Delhi, he followed that up with an M.Sc (Hons.) Chemistry in 1982 from the
same University. He also completed his PGD in Cyber Security from Institute
of Management Technology, Ghaziabad in 2009.
Dhir has worked in organizations as diverse as NIIT, JK Synthetics, Fedders
Corporation, GATI, Hero Motors, GHCL, Jindal Stainless etc. He started his career
in 1982 when Computer Programming was a nascent area. He was also an entrepreneur
for four years in the US and one of the pioneers in the Healthcare KPO industry.
He said, “I opted for IT by design; my brother encouraged me to enter this
field. He is a CA and, in those early days, had the foresight and vision to
imagine what IT could turn into. I always worked in India and maybe if I had
gone abroad in the early days, may not have returned. But, I have no regrets
whatsoever.”
Previous jobs
He started his career with NIIT Ltd. in 1982. He was one of the initial team
members of NIIT and was responsible for corporate training and systems development
for clients. In 1985, he joined JK Synthetics Ltd. as a Sr. Systems Analyst.
He handled software development, implementation and training for users at the
Nylon, Tire Cord, Acrylic and Staple Fiber Plants. He implemented many systems
in strategic areas and was also the moderator of the in house IT Journal, Support.
In 1989, he moved to Fedders Corporation as Manager - IS. He was responsible
for handling internal software development and IT operations for 26 locations
nationally. He joined GATI Ltd as Sr. Manager – IS in 1992, based at their
Corporate Office in Secunderabad. He was responsible for software development,
networking, training and systems deployment at eight Hub Centers and 200 locations
nationally. He also handled business development and corporate communications
as an additional functional responsibility.
He joined, Hero Motors as General Manager - IT in 1994 and handled application
development for Hero Motors Manufacturing and Sales Distribution Centers. He
was later designated as the CIO for the Hero-BMW JV for high performance motorcycles
and luxury cars and was trained at BMW Munich, Neufarhn & Dingolfing and
Rover – Solihull, on SAP implementation, warehousing and dealer management
systems of BMW. He also initiated software development activities between Hero
Motors and Softlab (a BMW company).
Later in 1998, he moved on to GHCL as General Manager - IT and was responsible
for systems implementation, strategy formulation and technology upgradation
for GHCL. He implemented ERP at the manufacturing plant in Saurashtra and streamlined
operations in a cohesive manner.
In 2000, he started his own consulting firm for IT outsourcing, SAP implementation
and healthcare KPO for clients in the US and India. He worked on major projects
on IT consulting and SAP for clients in the liquor, healthcare and telecom sector.
However, he decided to move on to join JSL Limited in 2004 as Group CIO. At
JSL, he was responsible for information technology, systems and security; IT
strategy; SAP implementation and IT risk management; as well as governance &
compliance for JSL and its group companies globally. He was based at the corporate
office in New Delhi. He joined Lanco Infratech Ltd. as the Group CIO in 2011.
He added, “A change of jobs in the early days was sometimes because of
monetary factors and sometimes because of career growth but it was always enjoyable
to work and create something world-class. I have been a pioneer in many areas,
whether it was delivering quality education to corporates in NIIT, writing sophisticated
integrated packages in JK, implementing MRP – II systems at Fedders, Track
and Trace systems at GATI, Shop floor production and bar coding at Hero Motors,
implementing ERP at GHCL or working at Jindal Stainless—it was a privilege.”
Current job profile
As the Group Chief Information Officer of Lanco Infratech, Dhir is responsible
for IT, information security, IT strategy, SAP implementation and IT Risk management,
governance and compliance for the Lanco Group globally.
He said, “My team has delivered a lot, whether it is creating our Infosec
‘Blue Book’, or extending SAP rollouts and new implementations, building
world class infrastructure like our ‘intelligent’ EPC HQ, etc.”
They currently have many initiatives running including an online plant performance
dashboard, intelligent infrastructure, agile deployment and taking the implementation
of SAP forward, both domestic as well as international. The team is also actively
working on the Cloud as well as Virtualization. There is a lot of scope for
Green IT and he is also working on the same.
Dhir believes that his career has been very satisfying professionally,
considering that he started at the entry level and could rise to the highest
position.
He added, “This has come about with a lot of hard work
and perspiration and support from my family. I have been fortunate enough to
have great mentors and owe my learning and skills to them as well. My biggest
challenge was to manage my work and family, my work always involved my staying
for long durations away from my family and this did take a toll in a way that
my wife had to manage the home and the children most of the time, especially
when they were growing up. Otherwise, it was cultural integration, implementing
new technologies and mostly not having the luxury of time as I had to hit the
ground running.”
Awards & recognition
An expert in IT strategy, consulting, IT services, enterprise wide applications
(SAP, Baan, Oracle), spend management, strategic cost reduction, sustainability
& Green IT, system audits, IT security, supply chain & logistics and
human capital management, he has received many accolades from the industry.
He is the member of the Advisory Board of The CTO Forum, The CIO Institute,
CIO Association of India, ARC Advisory Group – MIT Forum, The Data Warehousing
Institute, President - CIO KLUB, North, Chairman (North) for INDUS - SAP User
Group for India and SE Asia, and Member of Industry Advisory committee on CIO
Education and Certification for ISB, Hyderabad
In-person
In his free time, he likes reading (fiction as well as non-fiction), writing,
listening to music, travelling, gardening, and maintaining an aquarium. Dhir
said that his priorities going forward were to create a world class IT organization
and to be the trusted partner for the business.
Sharing his message to the aspiring leaders, he said, “Those who win dare
to dream, all success comes from daring to begin. Be adventurous! A boat that’s
always in the harbor never sails, unless with time its bottom rots off. Success
is a choice! The man at the top of the mountain didn’t fall there by chance.
Work hard, play fair and win trust and respect of the people you work with.”
manjari.juneja@expressindia.com
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