In an interview with Biztech2.0, former CIO, Autozone, Ken Brame talks about the various aspects of outsourcing.

What do you think is the level of IT adoption in the Indian retail market?

India is a hub of innovation as far as IT is concerned. In order for Indian companies to grow, they must have good systems in place and adequate knowledge. Indian companies are just starting out and they have a lot to learn. They have recognised very quickly that they need to adopt more technology. The good news is that because they are new, they don’t have many years of legacy systems and can start with the best solutions available now, without having to worry about what they had in place previously.

Your take on the trend of outsourcing…

With the softening of the US economy, there may be some delays in some projects that were scheduled to be complete this year, but now have been pushed on to next year. What I believe is that demand doesn’t go away, it might get delayed though, and it will only be bigger in the future. The softening of the US economy is also going to force many companies in the US to become more efficient.

The key for CIOs in the retail space is to have an alignment of IT and the business, to make sure that every dollar spent on IT is supporting the business and helping it to grow and become more competitive.

On outsourcing of services and innovation…

I look at outsourcing in three different categories. The first category includes basic services such as call centres, help desks, monitoring of networks and basic infrastructure. The second category deals with staff augmentation. In the US, we’re facing a significant labour shortage in the IT field. This forces American companies to seek the help of IT outsourcing partners to run basic operations smoothly. The third category comprises specialised services, which would involve bringing on board those people who have expertise in a particular area.

What are the challenges of outsourcing?

There are always challenges that arise while outsourcing. The main challenge is communication when dealing with people from another country. At times, we might have to help the outsourced partner develop domain knowledge, we have to understand the cultural differences and put into place reward systems to encourage them.

Your message to budding CIOs...

The one thing that I would like to tell new CIOs in young companies is that they should make sure that they align IT with the business, make sure that every decision that is taken is in line with the business strategy and objectives. You have to communicate with the business and focus on what the business needs. If you focus on technology, that’s not going to make you a successful CIO.