JK Industries has its operations spread all over India. Sharma discusses the challenges he faces in providing an effective, good-quality communications network between various factories, procurement centers, and distributors. He explains why he would take some more time to deploy wireless applications throughout his organization. Excerpts:

As an enterprise user, do you see the integrated telecom operators providing one-stop, cost-effective solutions as a good thing for your business? 
Couple of years back there was no company giving all services on its own; there was nothing as single-window shopping. For enterprises like us it made sense to buy services from different vendors and negotiate accordingly.

Now we have an infrastructure in place, the backhaul is there, and a lot of investment has been made in all this. The concept of integrated players is good news but it doesn't make sense for us to knock down the existing infrastructure and put in money for services from one vendor. For those who are renovating or starting afresh, buying services from one operator across India would ensure consistency in services.

Do you see any regulatory issues hampering your communication network planning?
Directly, there is no regulatory roadblock. But as regulatory constraints affect the operator's offerings, it is reflected in our planning too.

What role does wireless play within your enterprise? What kind of benefits has it brought to you? Has there been any move to integrate any mobile application within your organization?
Wireless is an integral part of any communication network. Though we have lots of plans to implement wireless applications across our organization, it would take a couple of years before they are fully deployed.

We have implemented an SMS-based application with which our field employees know what product has left the factory, at what time, and also determine when it would reach the destination.

There is one application through which we push similar information to the target audience. We are also trying put e-mail on the mobile devices.

Wireless access technologies like Wi-Fi hold good promise. I am trying to introduce wireless access in the office premises but the process would take time. Already all our laptops are Wi-Fi enabled. If wireless gives us the desired bandwidth then connecting our wide area network over it would be possible and easy.

Are you open to sharing your company network with your partners and suppliers? What are the concerns while doing so?
We are contemplating giving restricted access to our suppliers. They would be able to logon to our network and vice versa. This would give information such as dispatch and delivery schedules. On the sales side, our dealers would be able to share information on money outstanding, delivery status, and inventory.

The main concern here is security. We would have a network on which client software would reside and give access to outsiders who can retrieve what they want. The entry would be restricted.

What all should a CIO keep in mind while dealing with a service provider? What do you think are the key elements of a good SLA?
Branding and past record of the service provider matters a lot. The history of services and the market feedback gives an insight into the level of offerings. Based on these, one can at least evaluate the various service providers.

Having technological know-how and support systems for these technologies is also important. A small company might have good offerings but if it cannot give support, the whole exercise falls flat.

Couple of years back, service level agreements (SLA) were absent. There was a contract where we had uptime guarantees, there were penalty clauses, and all the other obligations. This contract has been given a name-SLA. But the clauses have become more stringent.

We are contemplating SLAs but have not singed one yet as it puts many obligations on both the parties and it is not always possible to fulfill them.

What challenges do you foresee in the coming days?
The main challenge for me is to ensure dedicated bandwidth across my wide area network connecting all my centers. Not only in the last mile, I would like similar bandwidth across my network so that there are no bottlenecks and data does not get lost in between. At the moment I get around 48 kbps on my VPN, which has a combination of dial up and leased line. With this speed I cannot even send reports. Couple of months back we tested bandwidth over wireless networks. The test was successful but till now no service provider has been able to guarantee dedicated bandwidth and that project is still hanging on fire.

The fast changing technologies are another problem. It is difficult to keep pace and by the time one decides on one technology, it changes and something better comes out. It is a viscous cycle and if I am spending money then would like the best in breed for myself.

Reining in cost of service is another challenge. Things like shortage of funds have delayed the Wi-Fi deployment. And, more importantly, management wants any technology to be weighed in terms of

return on investment and total cost of ownership.

Anurag Prasad