Anil Yadav, Group Head – IT, Prem Motors Pvt. Ltd
In an interaction with CIOTechOutlook, Anil Yadav, Group Head – IT, Prem Motors Pvt. Ltd., shared his views and thoughts on how operations leaders can redesign their strategies to ensure business agility without compromising on cost efficiency, as well as how operations leaders are using automation and data analytics to simultaneously drive agility and lower operational costs.
Anil yadav is a seasoned Group Head of IT with over 15 years experience, drives digital transformation across multi-location auto dealerships. He excels in DMS and ERP optimization, cybersecurity, and tech-driven innovation to boost business performance and customer experience, shaping the future of automotive technology operations.
In a rapidly shifting business environment, how are operations leaders aligning operational strategies with agile business goals to enhance responsiveness and market adaptability?
In today's dynamic business environment, the traditional, long-term operational plan is obsolete. As operations leaders, our primary role is to embed agility directly into the foundational processes of the organization, and technology is the critical enabler for this alignment.
We are moving away from rigid, siloed systems towards an integrated digital ecosystem. For us in the automotive dealership space, this means leveraging cloud-based Dealer Management Systems (DMS) and CRM&Nexgen ERP platforms that provide a single source of truth. This allows us to harness real-time data analytics to monitor everything from inventory velocity to customer service trends. Instead of relying on historical reports, we make informed decisions on the fly, allowing our operational strategy to pivot in days, not months.
Furthermore, we are heavily investing in automation for routine tasks in areas like after-sales and inventory management. This frees up our human capital to focus on more complex, value-added activities that require adaptability and strategic thinking. By creating a tech-enabled, data-driven framework, we ensure that our operations are not just supporting the business goals but are actively accelerating our ability to respond to market shifts and stay ahead of the curve.
In the context of increasing market volatility and supply chain disruptions, how can operations leaders redesign their strategies to ensure business agility without compromising on cost efficiency?
The traditional playbook of running lean with just-in-time inventory has shown its fragility. In response, the modern operational strategy isn't a crude choice between agility and cost; it's about achieving both through digital intelligence. As IT leaders, we are redesigning the operational backbone to trade expensive physical buffers, like excess inventory, for smarter, more cost-effective digital ones.
Our primary focus is on building a transparent and predictive supply chain. We are heavily investing in creating a "single pane of glass" by integrating real-time data from our logistics partners, suppliers, and internal ERP systems. This visibility allows us to see a potential disruption as it forms, not after it hits, giving us the agility to reroute or reallocate resources instantly.
Simultaneously, we leverage predictive analytics and AI to enhance cost efficiency. Instead of blindly increasing stock levels, our systems forecast demand with greater accuracy by analyzing market trends and historical data. This allows us to optimize inventory, reducing carrying costs while still protecting against stockouts.
This strategy fundamentally redefines cost management. We invest in the data infrastructure that provides the foresight to remain lean, rather than in the excess physical inventory that only serves as a costly insurance policy. This data-driven resilience is how we deliver both hyper-responsiveness and financial prudence in an unpredictable world.
Given the growing importance of lean and resilient operations, what role do operations heads play in balancing just-in-time efficiencies with just-in-case contingencies?
The role of the modern operations head has fundamentally shifted from being a guardian of pure 'just-in-time' efficiency to becoming a sophisticated risk strategist. Our job in IT is to arm them with the intelligence to navigate this balance, replacing guesswork with data-driven precision. We no longer see JIT and 'just-in-case' as opposing forces; instead, we use technology to create a dynamic, hybrid model.
For high-volume, predictable items—like common service parts—we maintain lean, JIT principles, enabled by our integrated Dealer Management System (DMS) & Microsoft D365 F&O NexGen ERP that provides real-time consumption data. However, for critical, high-value components or vehicles with volatile supply chains, we employ a 'strategic just-in-case' approach. This is where data analytics becomes crucial. We build predictive models that analyze supplier risk, logistics lead times, and historical demand to identify which specific items require a buffer stock.
We provide our operations leaders with end-to-end supply chain visibility platforms that track shipments from the OEM factory to our dealership in real-time. This allows them to dynamically adjust inventory levels based on live data, not static plans.
Ultimately, the operations head today is a data architect, using the digital tools we provide to build a resilient, yet cost-effective, operational framework that can withstand market shocks without being burdened by the costs of excessive inventory.
As digital transformation accelerates across industries, how are operations leaders using automation and data analytics to simultaneously drive agility and lower operational costs?
In today's landscape, we view automation and data analytics not as separate initiatives, but as a single, symbiotic engine driving our operations. They are the foundational tools we use to achieve the once-conflicting goals of becoming more agile while simultaneously reducing costs.
On one hand, we deploy Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to handle routine, high-volume tasks like Extracting data for reconciliation or generating scheduled daily business reports. This directly slashes operational costs by minimizing manual errors and freeing our talented teams to focus on customer-facing, strategic activities instead of repetitive back-office work. It’s about doing more with less, but also doing it faster and more accurately.
On the other hand, data analytics is our crystal ball. We've moved beyond simple historical reporting to predictive analytics. As we depend upon integration so data accuracy is key important for us. This allows us to optimize our digital costs and reliable.
The real magic happens when they work together. Analytics identifies a market shift, and automation executes the response in near real-time. This closed-loop system allows us to adapt instantly without the high overheads of traditional models, making our operations both lean and incredibly responsive.
In what ways are operations leaders reshaping supplier and partner ecosystems to boost responsiveness and reduce cost volatility?
In today's market, we're fundamentally re-architecting our supplier and partner relationships from a linear, transactional chain into a dynamic, intelligent ecosystem. As an IT leader, my role is to provide the digital foundation that makes this collaboration possible, focusing on data-driven strategies that enhance both responsiveness and cost stability.
Our first priority is creating a "single pane of glass" for our core operations. We've moved beyond emails and phone calls to deep integration between our Dealer Management System (DMS) and the systems of our key partners—especially OEMs and Partners. This provides real-time visibility into Finance Data.
Secondly, we leverage data analytics to transform supplier management from a cost-based negotiation into a performance-based partnership. We've automated many part of data reconciliation and pushing invoice accuracy. This data allows us to collaboratively identify and resolve bottlenecks with our partners, rewarding reliability which, in turn, reduces cost volatility associated with disruptions and errors.
Finally, we are automating the procure-to-pay lifecycle through shared portals. OEM purchase orders can be triggered automatically based on Integration data. This not only accelerates the entire procurement cycle but also significantly cuts down on delays in response.
Ultimately, by building an ecosystem on a platform of shared data and automated workflows, we create a more resilient network where we and our partners can adapt to market shifts together, ensuring both agility and predictable costs.
In the push towards sustainability, how can operations leaders manage green initiatives without escalating costs and slowing down responsiveness?
The prevailing myth is that green initiatives are a cost burden that slows down operations. From an IT leadership perspective, we see the opposite: strategic sustainability, enabled by technology, is a direct path to greater efficiency and responsiveness. It’s not about adding cost; it’s about eliminating waste.
Our first step is to make our operations transparent through data. We cutting our electricity costs and carbon footprint simultaneously without impacting business hours.
Secondly, we are aggressively pursuing paperless operations. Transitioning to digital job cards, customer approvals, and invoicing has an obvious environmental benefit. More importantly, it dramatically accelerates our service process. Service Advisors can access a vehicle’s entire service history instantly on a tablet, and customers can approve or watch vehicle servicing work with a single click. This reduces service turnaround time, directly enhancing responsiveness while cutting costs on printing and storage.
Ultimately, we don’t treat sustainability as a separate, expensive project. Instead, we integrate it into our digital transformation roadmap. We leverage data and automation to build leaner, more intelligent processes where the most efficient and responsive path is also the most sustainable one.
