Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Paul Stamas, VP of IT, Mohawk Fine Papers (Part 2)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

SM: And how do you select vendors for cloud solutions?

PS: In certain cases, we have vendors we already know because we are moving from an on-premise hosting to a hosted environment, so the selection of the vendors has already been made.

SM: So, all the vendors you are working with have already been working with you in an on-floor premises capacity before? >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Rajan Nagarajan, CIO, Mahindra Satyam (Part 7)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

SM: The idea of a private cloud within a public cloud is a good one, actually; somebody should start and do it. Do you have any more ideas to share about entrepreneurship in the cloud?

RN: Well, I have to think of something more before retirement. I have to start doing that now, and I have been thinking about such initiatives. For example, take travel, business travel, I mean. When I travel, I am out on the road for two or three weeks at a stretch. I get all these receipts, and I go nuts because I don’t even remember what I did to get them. It’s not an easy task to remember whom I had dinner with and so on. Now, let’s imagine I am able to tap into my camera or the BlackBerry with a camera and keep track of receipts that way >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Paul Stamas, VP of IT, Mohawk Fine Papers (Part 1)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

In this interview, Sramana and Paul Stamas, VP of IT at Mohawk Fine Papers, discuss how cloud computing has helped Mohawk compete with larger players without having to grow its data center and staffing. Paul believes that cloud computing is an essential element of IT for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in manufacturing because survival for them is dependent on enterprise agility, adaptability, and developing highly differentiated products and services in a global value chain.

Paul Stamas is vice president of information technology at Mohawk Fine Papers, the largest premium paper manufacturer in North America.  Prior to Mohawk, he held executive IT management positions at Sprint PCS; Phillips Medical Systems; GM-Hughes, and the Department of Defense.  He received BA in applied statistics from the State University of New York (SUNY); a BS in industrial and systems engineering from (SUNY); an executive MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and he is currently pursuing a doctorate from the Syracuse University School of Information Studies (iSchool). >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Rajan Nagarajan, CIO, Mahindra Satyam (Part 6)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

SM: In the remaining time, I would like to explore the topic of entrepreneurship in the clouds. From your vantage point, what are the entrepreneurial opportunities that are best addressed through the cloud paradigm? I run a program called 1 Million by 1 Million. We are trying to help a million entrepreneurs reach a million dollars in revenue. What I’m trying to gain from you is a set of pointers, for the benefit of entrepreneurs, on domains and customer pain points where you see open problems, open opportunities where entrepreneurs should think about building startups. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Rajan Nagarajan, CIO, Mahindra Satyam (Part 5)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

SM: Your point regarding the uncertainty associated with integration cost savings in the cloud is well taken. I just wanted to make sure that you are not biased by the fact that integration is Mahindra Satyam’s bread and butter and you do not want to see that costs go down with the cloud. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Rajan Nagarajan, CIO, Mahindra Satyam (Part 4)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

SM: Whichever ERP system you are considering, what is their response to this?

RN: I think the response is positive because it makes sense for us to look at such an approach. I will answer your question in just a minute, but I do want to give my perspective here. For us, we separate the cloud into three buckets; from Mahindra Satyam’s perspective, we say there are advisory services, provider services, and brokerage services. We believe that now because of our acquisition by Tech Mahindra and because of Tech Mahindra’s customers in the telecom space, we are extremely well positioned to play a role in all three of those buckets. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Rajan Nagarajan, CIO, Mahindra Satyam (Part 3)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

SM: Let me go back to how Mahindra Satyam deals with CRM today. It sounds like you are seriously considering moving the entire system to salesforce.com. So, how is CRM managed today inside of Mahindra Satyam? >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Rajan Nagarajan, CIO, Mahindra Satyam (Part 2)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

SM: Here is a slightly tricky question but let me ask you anyway. In Indian IT services companies, there is a huge “not invented here” syndrome. I’m encouraged to hear that you are evaluating off-the-shelf CRM solutions from companies like Oracle, Siebel, and salesforce.com, which is a product from a different vendor. You are not building an entire CRM system internally for yourself. Can you comment on what is going on in the Indian industry, in general, along those lines, because I get the sense that everybody is re-inventing everything! >>>