Weather Does Not Wither the Mumbai CXO
By CXOtoday Staff
Mumbai, Jul 28, 2008

As heavy showers continued to flood Mumbai, the spirited CXOs of Mumbai braved the heavy downfall, even traveled in big cars, sacrificed their wish to stay at home with a hot cuppa and were in office; working as usual.

For Sumit Chowdhury, Reliance Communications CIO, the scenario might just have been a bit different, if given a choice. "Well, I would like to be at home with hot piping bhajias, working simultaneously on my laptop."

He however, took his big car for the commute between his home and his office at DAKC in Navi Mumbai. "We have a broadband connection, and most of our work gets done through video conferencing, but we need to come to office on such days for critical meetings."

RCOM suffered losses due to the downpour on July 26, three years ago. "We have learnt a lesson from that. Our systems are more secure. If something happens beyond, we cannot do anything, but we are prepared for the worse."

Also, at ease is Shankarson Banerjee, CEO, Future Bazaar who said from his office, "My IT architecture is safe, as it is locked in our data centers."

For Arun Gupta, CIO, Shoppers Stop, it was the day as usual. "I am in office and have checked my IT architecture. Touch wood, the IT infrastructure is safe."

And so is business as usual for MAIA CEO Sanjay Mehta, who took his car for the commute between Ghatkopar to Sanpada in Navi Mumbai.

For Praveen Kumar, CEO and CIO of Titan International - a KPO company, "Rains do affect business, essentially because of the time it takes to commute between home and office. I have cancelled meetings with clients as I am in the middle of heavy traffic."

Kumar stays close to the CST International Airport and commutes by road to his office at Nariman Point.

On the situation today, he said, "The top executives and the staff work from home. But physical presence for important meetings is a must, and hence this commute."


Related links:
The Metamorphosis of the CIO