Seminar on
CEOs!
You can Create an Agile Organization
By Prem Kamble
About the Seminar
It is
a proven fact that Companies which succeed today are companies that
have the agility to change.
Here
are two simple questions: First, what is the greatest driver of change
today? No prizes for guessing, it is Information Technology.
Second,
what is the biggest hindrance to change? No prizes for guessing again -
it's people, more significantly, people's attitude.
You want to be tech-savvy, but do not know where to start. There is good news! As a top executive, you need not know complex technology, but something very simple.
So far your emphasis on training has been very lop-sided - while you
know the need for honing the technical skills of the IT people, have
you ever thought of building your own skills to handle IT driven change
and its impact on people? Have you ever thought that your leadership
team too (which is the other strong partner in the IT game) too needs
to enhance its skills to be able to imbibe and handle the change
brought about by IT?
While IT drives the change, people naturally and strongly resist
change. Change is unsettling. The problem is compounded by peoples's
fear of technology. Most managers are not comfortable with IT. "I just
don't understand this technology" is a very common phrase heard in
offices.
If people's fear of IT and their attitude towards IT is the deterrent
for agility and change, there is every reason to focus on efforts to
overcome this fear of IT, reduce the stress of people by comforting
them and addressing the attitude issue.
The CEO is most suited to drive change in an organization and create an
agile organization. Driving any change needs authority, and a CEO
is the person who wields that authority on each and every
person in the organization. Paradoxically, IT department, who are the
drivers of change, have no authority over any of those who have to
imbibe the change if IT has to be successful.
In such a situation, the IT department looks upon the CEOs to assist in
bringing about a change and wielding the authority which can make their
lives simpler. But the CEOs have been avoiding it and at best
delegating IT to more junior officers because of lack of comfort
feeling with IT.
The CEO has a role cut out in this path towards driving change and
agility. But the CEOs have been avoiding it because of want of the
right skills, and to some extent their own fear of technology. There is
good news. There is no need to know technology to be a good CEO. But at
the same time there are some other very simple things to know, which
unfortunately are not taught in any schools nor are being talked about
in any forums.
Why this Seminar?
Benefits for You
There is a very subtle difference in the way we should look at computers. When we realize this distinction, there will be a marked difference in our comprehension of computers.
Prem Kamble, through his close observations and analysis has discovered
that we managers still operate with an industrial age mindset and need
to change to a information age perspective. The seminar uses a unique
method called the "Time Swing Analysis" Method to analyse industrial
age psychology and identify the mindset change required to be a
successful manager of the information age.
The seminar helps CEOs to stop perceiving their lack of IT specific knowledge as being a barrier to the effective use of technology in their organizations.
What will
Change for You
Computerization has been a pain
in the neck for most CEOs. A lot of it has to do with their ignorance - "I just don't
understand
anything of this. I don't know what to do when there is a problem, so I
just
leave it to my managers."
Imagine you are the CEO overseeing say a
Financial System implementation
in your company. The system implementation is in shambles. The IT Head
thinks Finance
department is not doing its job and Finance department thinks IT is not
doing
its job. Things just aren't working out. You know that as a CEO you
must take
it head on and call for a meeting, but sub-consciously, you keep
postponing
this meeting because you just do not know what to do after you call for
a
meeting. After all this technology stuff doesn't make sense to you.
Finally,
you call them for a meeting and listen to both, but all this sounds so
complicated. You sense the strange pain in the belly because you just
don't
know what to do. You don't at all feel that you are in control since it
is all
so confusing. Finally, you say, "You are both senior managers, I leave
it to
you to sort out the problem, but I don't want it escalated to me. You
do
whatever you want, but I don't want to see any conflict there." You
feel the
pain and frustration because you are not in control.
You might as well have come on
heavily on one or both of them. Either
way, your inaction or your over reaction can cause havoc. It may be a
good
approach sometimes to delegate and let the managers sort out the issue.
But not
so in this case.
Do you want to change this? Do
you want
to be in control? Do you want to know what is causing the problem? Do
you want
to know what should be your action in such a situation? Do you want to
be clear
as to what actions on your part can make or mar the situation? Do you
want to
clearly see the possible causes of the confusion so that you can more
confidently address the issue and not feel frustrated about your
helplessness?
Or do you just want to leave it saying, "I just don't understand this
IT stuff.
It is too technical"?.
You will learn in this seminar
that after all it is not so technical,
and all within your purview.
What will change for you is the
following:
 you
have been consciously or
subconsciously avoiding to address the problem head on. After the
seminar you
will feel confident to address it head-on.
there
will be a marked change
in the way you see the problem, leave alone address this problem
you
will be more clear in your
mind and will have no hesitation, or goose bumps in your belly.
you
will not avoid but make
positive contribution - just the right one - not too less to let it
drift nor
too much to interfere and de-motivate the team
you
will be able to direct the
project with a purpose.
you
will be able to
intelligently look at your team and
make the right choices of people with the right frame of mind to make
the
project a success.
You will know what to monitor,
what actually causes problems (as against
what appears to cause problems) and how to address these problems. In
short,
you will know what are the right strings to pull.
What Do You Gain as a Participant
You will know
People and
how they behave
under the impact of changes taking place in your organization due to
automation
The
characteristics of
information technology itself, some inherent flaws and pitfalls which
makes it
so painful to implement it
How to
safeguard against these
pitfalls
Major
misconceptions which are
the root cause of employee stress, friction between peers and
frustration in
companies.
Benefits for your Company
This seminar will help improve Organizational
Readiness to IT-Diven Change.
Corporates are incurring heavy
losses on account of failed
implementations - leave alone the opportunity cost and the impact of
friction
and frustration among senior managers.
Statistics place implementation
failures to anything between 60% and
80%. The cost of ERP implementation is not the software cost alone, it
includes
hardware cost, training cost, cost of senior people's time and most
important
the consultant fees, which are very high.
The cost of
average ERP implementation for a medium to large enterprise
with 100 to 250 users is about Rs. 25 million and the total cost of
ownership
around Rs. 45 million (Source: Aberdeen Group, August 2006). With cost
of
services having shot up, the cost will be higher.
With average 70% failure rate,
you know what to expect. Would you like
to only blame it on the IT folks for this failure and wash your hands
off or
contribute actively and effectively to make it a success? After all
computerization success would impact your success more than it would
affect the
IT folks. After all success in your field depends on how you can
effectively
use cutting edge technology to your advantage.
Who Should Participate?
This
seminar is exclusively for CEOs of any business who want to make a
difference by succefully bringing about rapid and smooth changes to
meet the business requirements.
Why Us
Prem Kamble is a Computer
Professional with MBA from IIM Calcutta and B.Tech. from IIT Bombay. He
has
passed Advanced Management course called "Energo Cybernetic Strategy"
with
flying colors from Germany. He has also attended self-development
programs like
Est, Forum, Advanced Course, SELP (Self Expression & Leadership
Program),
etc. organized by Landmark Education Foundation, USA (earlier Centers
Network)
which have helped him to develop a broader outlook and a different way
of
thinking.
He has
successfully
overseen
technology transitions for over 25 years. During his
career, he has been a keen student of IT Management, Change Management,
particularly the people and psychological issues of IT transformation.
Here he
shares his rich experience and learning with Top Professionals like
you.
He has very closely
interacted with people and lived with them during
the struggle of
technological changes. He, therefore, knows their fears,
discomforts, anxieties
and frustrations as they go through the implementations. He also knows
what
exactly they think they need to know of this technology, and what they
should
actually know.
He has worked both as Software
Delivery head in SEI Level 5 companies and as Head of Technology in
manufacturing
companies. As Software Delivery Head in SEI Level 5 company,
he created records
of
Delivering all
projects on time
Highest Repeat Orders
Highest Resource Utilization
As Head of IT in
companies like Essar, Sutherland, Pidilite, Modi Rubber, etc. he has
been
extremely successful in conceptualizing and implementing computerized
systems in the
toughest of situations. He has expertise right from high-level IT
Strategies
and Management of IT-Driven-Change to down-to-earth software delivery.
He started his career as an analyst/ programmer and
in less
than five years was heading the IT function for a group of companies.
He has
major contribution in introducing computers for business applications
in
reputed companies. His areas of interest are business orientation and
human
orientation in Information Technology, study of the psychology of
evolution
from industrial era to information age, etc.
With a right mix of
People, Process and
Technology (PPT) expertise, he specializes in Business Process
Automation
focused on business objectives and people. Having managed IT on behalf
of both
IT user companies and SEI CMM Level 5 software manufacturing companies,
he has
expertise right from high level IT Strategies, Change Management,
Strategies
for IT implementations, upto down to earth system architecture and
software
delivery. With his close study of the businesses and people, he brings
the
insight to develop business solutions that work for businesses and
people.
He has published
articles on InfoTech
management in the country's leading magazines. Most of the articles
display an
'out-of-the-box' thinking and a knack to see what is not so obvious. He
has
also written on an objective analysis of God and Religion. Though these two areas of IT
Management
and Religion may seem to be poles apart, Prem believes that they are
actually
very closely related - both are a study into the human psychology of
change.
Credentials
Success Stories/ Real Life Case Studies
-
On Business Orientation in IT
-
Prem Kamble's IT Strategy to get maximum Business Benefit was published in Times of India. This is an excellent real life case study of ways to maximize your business benefits in IT. Click here to Read
-
On People Orientation in IT
-
Prem Kamble created a record in a SEI Level 5 company by delivering all projects on time and to specs, to the utmost delight of his overseas customers. He penned down the success factors in an article. Click here to Read.
-
On Successful IT Implementation Strategy
-
His Implementation Strategy and People orientation which led to the success was published as a cover article in Computers Today. This makes a good case study in key success factors of IT Implementations in companies. Click here to Read.
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