Management and innovation are important drivers of success in in the present day’s enterprise world. Leaders who possess a deep understanding of their business, together with the power to implement revolutionary methods and drive change, are those who can information their organizations in the direction of development and success. On the forefront of such management is Sumesh Menon.

Sumesh’s intensive expertise in IT and provide chain administration, mixed along with his experience in digital transformation, technology-focused options, and revolutionary methods, make him a thought chief in his discipline. With a confirmed observe document of designing, managing, and main digital transformations utilizing the Oracle Suite of merchandise, Sumesh has the power to supply advanced enterprise requirement options inside provide chain nodes, from procurement to manufacturing to distribution inside the Oracle stack.

Sumesh’s academic background from high establishments comparable to Harvard Enterprise Faculty, Michigan State College, and Symbiosis, alongside along with his expertise in strategic planning and visioning, make him an skilled in implementing and consulting on agile scrum, lean, TQM, and statistical evaluation, in addition to lean six sigma for purchasers throughout numerous business verticals.

His proficiency in descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics, knowledge evaluation, and enterprise reporting, alongside along with his skill to assist outline enterprise options utilizing Oracle expertise, are key elements contributing to his success.

Sumesh has a confirmed observe document in aligning a corporation’s platform wants with distinctive worth propositions, matched with core competencies based mostly on buyer segments and markets. Sumesh’s deal with disruptive innovation fashions that stand out from present processes, resulting in design course of considering and course of enhancements, has helped purchasers obtain breakthrough options.

On this interview, we had the chance to talk with Sumesh Menon to study extra concerning the significance of management, staying forward of the sport, and embracing creativity to drive success.

It’s very thrilling to have you ever right here, Sumesh! Are you able to describe your expertise in driving digital transformation inside organizations, and the way have you ever ensured that technology-focused options align with the distinctive worth proposition of every group?

Thanks a lot. Driving a digital transformation journey comes with its personal set of challenges, significantly when the change is cross-functional. As digital transformation drives change throughout numerous capabilities, effectively planning and executing stakeholder alignment, strategic motives, and curiosity alignment is essential.

The method begins by figuring out and diagnosing why the change is required, whether or not it’s resulting from a efficiency hole or a possibility hole. This evaluation ought to align with the corporate’s worth proposition for its prospects and its imaginative and prescient for transferring ahead.

Subsequent comes the design section, the place the scope of the transformation have to be decided. Selections have to be made relating to whether or not the change ought to be incremental or radical, and if it ought to originate from a bottom-up or top-down strategy.

Throughout the supply section, the rollout plan is formulated. Elements to contemplate embody whether or not the change ought to be localized or system-wide, and the tempo of the change – gradual or quick.

All through the method, it’s important to establish the talents required for profitable transformation. Daring strokes and lengthy marches have to be taken to maintain the change transferring ahead and overcome any obstacles.

By fastidiously planning and executing every stage of the digital transformation journey, organizations can guarantee they successfully navigate the challenges of cross-functional change and obtain their strategic objectives.

How do you strategy designing and implementing revolutionary methods, and might you share an instance of a breakthrough resolution that you simply delivered for a shopper?

Innovation can thrive solely when a corporation embraces an agile tradition that helps digital transformation. Innovation can take numerous varieties, comparable to radical, next-gen platform, enhancement, or disruptive. One instance price discussing is the novel change we applied for one among our purchasers.

The method started with a enterprise case introduced to the related stakeholders, showcasing the advantages that might yield higher ROI by way of money and time whereas enabling extra productive use of their time for different important day-to-day actions.

We developed a system that utilized a carousel for put-away and selecting operations inside the warehouse. The receiving dock might put away objects within the carousel by invoking a synchronous name to the carousel system, querying for rack bin availability, after which performing put-away operations within the respective rack and bin. Equally, when an order picker wanted to choose objects, they had been directed to the suitable rack bin within the carousel system. Because the picker entered the order for pickup, the carousel system would rotate and produce down the rack bin, permitting the picker to finish the selecting course of. This setup concerned two methods, the Oracle Warehouse Administration System and the Carousel System, speaking with one another to carry out warehouse operations.

With the appearance of AI, this course of might be additional enhanced, permitting for much more seamless integration and improved effectivity in warehouse operations. By fostering an agile tradition that embraces digital transformation, organizations can unlock new and revolutionary options to optimize their processes and drive development.

How do you stability the wants of various stakeholders, comparable to prospects, shareholders, and workers, when implementing change inside a corporation?

Acquiring buy-in from numerous stakeholders is a difficult activity, however it’s essential for implementing change inside a corporation. The method begins with figuring out whether or not there is a chance or efficiency hole, and the way addressing these gaps will yield a return on funding (ROI) for every stakeholder. With a view to carry stakeholders on board from the outset, it’s important to ascertain a way of urgency and create a guiding coalition. On this context, I needed to perform each as a beacon and as an architect.

The group’s parts – individuals, tradition, and formal methods – have to be introduced collectively to make sure that worth creation actions deal with effectiveness and align with the imaginative and prescient and technique supported by high administration. The final word purpose is to ship worth and align the motives of all concerned events in the direction of a single course.

Communication is the important thing to profitable change administration. Over-communicating with stakeholders helps preserve them knowledgeable, engaged, and conscious of their expectations. By addressing the considerations of stakeholders and clearly speaking the advantages of the proposed modifications, organizations can extra successfully implement transformative initiatives and drive development.

Are you able to describe a time while you led a crew by way of a difficult venture, and what steps did you’re taking to make sure the success of the venture?

The at the beginning step in any venture or change is correct planning, which begins with figuring out the venture’s scope. An in depth requirement evaluation is carried out and documented utilizing the Utility Implementation Methodology (AIM) strategy, which gives customary course of documentation and deliverables for every venture section.

This ensures that deliverables from the earlier section are frozen and signed off earlier than work begins on the following section. The method might be damaged down as follows:

1. Requirement Identification and Evaluation
2. Purposeful Documentation Preparation
3. Detailed Technical Design Documentation
4. Technical Growth
5. Inner IT Testing
6. Purposeful Integration Testing
7. Enterprise Testing
8. Log out for Manufacturing

Deviations from the venture scope at any section will not be thought of until there’s a real want for the venture deliverable. This ensures that scope modifications are restricted and every section adheres to the established timelines and targets, permitting for the profitable completion of Agile story deliverables inside the set timeframe.

By following the AIM strategy, organizations can successfully plan and implement tasks, minimizing scope modifications and maintaining timelines on observe to realize their objectives.

How do you keep up-to-date with the newest applied sciences and tendencies in your discipline, and the way do you incorporate this information into your work?

Remaining up-to-date with the newest developments and tendencies has all the time been my ardour. I observe just a few easy guidelines to remain knowledgeable and engaged:

• Obtain each day and weekly newsletters from the Harvard Enterprise Faculty neighborhood and MSU boards, as an alumnus
• Learn tech blogs and articles
• Be part of tech boards
• Attend tech occasions

I firmly imagine in attempting new issues and studying from the expertise, whether or not it succeeds or fails. This strategy permits me to check new concepts on the ground, bringing recent views to the crew and gathering their views and opinions. This collaborative course of helps uncover extra concepts to implement and discover.

Embracing change as a routine a part of venture execution fosters a constructive mindset inside the crew. By securing buy-in from my crew and enterprise leaders, I guarantee their assist when exploring and implementing new methods earlier than committing to full-scale supply. This steady studying journey not solely retains me present but in addition drives innovation and development inside the group.

What’s your expertise in managing cross-functional groups, and the way have you ever ensured that totally different groups are aligned in the direction of attaining the identical objectives?

In a cross-functional setting, it’s important to align group parts with group situations, which embody motivation, competence/talent, and coordination and collaboration. Group parts consist of individuals, group construction, and methods that allow people to work in the direction of particular objectives or instructions.

How do you make sure that options that you simply present are scalable and adaptable to altering enterprise wants, and might you share an instance of an answer that you’ve scaled efficiently?

As an IT skilled with intensive expertise in implementing and designing options inside the Oracle Suite, I’ve all the time targeted on creating options which can be scalable throughout totally different organizational items and simply adaptable. I want to share an instance of an answer supplied to one among our purchasers that demonstrates this strategy.

The answer was already functioning successfully for a distinct working unit inside the group. Nonetheless, we couldn’t use the answer as is for the brand new unit, because it required sure modifications to accommodate the brand new necessities. This necessitated tweaking the present code repository to make sure that the answer may very well be scaled with new configurations and allow the unit to perform seamlessly with the up to date performance.

By contemplating scalability and flexibility throughout the resolution design and implementation course of, organizations can leverage present options throughout a number of items, saving each time and assets. This strategy additionally permits for extra environment friendly integration of recent functionalities, making certain that the IT infrastructure stays agile and conscious of the group’s evolving wants.

Cycle Rely Approval Extension for Different Orgs – Handbook Paper Cycle Rely Approval Course of

Scenario:

• To remove guide paperwork and approval course of
• To remove human errors in course of
• Effectivity in course of execution

Decision: Motion

1. Approval Course of by way of Customized Kind in-built Oracle ERP for Cycle Rely Approvals
2. Permit the approval to be despatched based mostly on the Share of Adjustment
3. Lower than 5% – Routinely Permitted
4. Between 5% and 20% – Despatched to Level1 Approvers Outlined
5. Better than 20% – Despatched to Level1 and Level2 Approvers Outlined Sequentially

Worth: Consequence

• Customers will get automated approval notification on their dashboard that wants an motion.
• As soon as rejected the counter shall be notified for automated recount.
• No human errors and wish for guide paperwork signatures.
• Man hours saved in the entire course of from distribution personnel to SCM managers.
• Rather more environment friendly course of.

Are you able to describe a time while you needed to navigate conflicting priorities and opinions from totally different stakeholders, and the way did you attain a decision that glad everybody?

Whereas planning is essential, unexpected conditions inevitably come up throughout venture execution. It’s throughout these instances that agility and adaptability are important to assist cross-functional groups navigate challenges.

We skilled an analogous scenario when a enterprise crew from a distinct division encountered unplanned emergencies, inflicting disruptions to our deliberate timeline. Listed here are just a few methods I employed to handle this case:

1. Collaborate: Step one was to carry everybody on board, perceive the scenario, and plan a workaround for a direct resolution till the urgent challenge was resolved. We then communicated these modifications to the shopper crew, adjusting their expectations by way of timeline and supply.
2. Schedule work successfully: We examined the workaround as a short-term resolution and adjusted our timelines accordingly to accommodate the deliverable.
3. Handle expectations: We set acceptable expectations for each the shopper and the crew, making certain that dangers had been calculated and mitigation measures had been in place.
4. Embrace agility and adaptability: Adaptive management was essential in responding to the scenario, fostering an agile tradition that might readily adapt to alter.

By using these methods, venture groups can successfully handle unexpected challenges, making certain that tasks proceed to progress in the direction of profitable completion.