The Jury

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Everybody's using IT today, be it for personal gain, for a social cause, or for business benefit. But there are some who use it in such a way that others can't help but to stand up and notice. That's one of the key things that our esteemed jury looked for in all the IT projects this time. “What's different about it?” were the two most common words that resounded during the jury meeting. There has to be something about a project that sets it apart from the rest.

The jury meet is the last step in deciding the winners of the Best IT Implementation Awards. Our jury comprises of eminent personalities from the IT industry. They are well known in their fields, and have sufficient experience in the IT industry to catch the pulse of any IT project. This meeting is always very interesting, because as we said, the jury members have sufficient experience to catch each project's pulse. They take half a day, during which the project champions present their cases and provide all the facts and figures they've been able to collate about the shortlisted projects. Detailed audit forms for each project are also provided to all jury members for their reference. The selection criteria followed by previous years' jury members is also suggested to them, and the jury is free to decide whether to use it or follow a completely different criteria.

Another thing we ensure every time during the jury deliberations is to avoid any conflict of interest. In case a jury member is involved in any of the projects, then that person is requested to withdraw from that discussion.

The jury finally decides the winners.

Sunil Rawlani, CIO, HDFC Standard Life Insurance Sunil's IT career spans 22 years across insurance, cards, telecom, banking and manufacturing - in roles including IT leadership, client relationship management, business development and offshore project management. He has a MBA and BS Comp Sc. From Kent State University, USA. Sunil also headed the project that won the Best ITImplementation Award last year for Overall Best Project.	Shyam Malhotra, Executive Director and Editor in Chief, Cyber Media An engineer and business administrator by training, Shyam began his career in marketing, working for Siemens, Tata Exports and Eicher Goodearth. He's been associated with CyberMedia since 1985 in varied capacities and has over 28 years of experience in the IT industry.	Dr. G D Gautama, Principal Secretary of Dept. of Micro, Small Scale Enterprises and Textiles, Govt of WB Dr. Gautama was the chairperson of this year's jury. He joined Indian Administrative Service in 1977 and has held many state and central govt. posts since then. He has 20 years experience working in Industry and Industrial Infrastructure. He's also coach in a cricket coaching center for the past 15 years.

Akhilesh Tuteja, Executive Director, KPMG Akhilesh is with the IT Advisory practice of KPMG in India. He has advised over 100 clients on matters relating to IT strategy, IT planning, information management lifecycle, information risk assessment, design of information security architectures, development of business continuity plans and Sarbanes Oxley Act advisory. He has also helped many clients achieve compliance to ISO27001 standard and has conducted numerous SAS70 examinations.	Vinnie Mehta, Executive Director, MAIT Vinnie has been involved in promotion of the IT Industry in India since 1992. An Electrical Engineer from IT-BHU, an MBA from FMS, University of Delhi and a Masters in International Trade from the prestigious Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT). Vinnie is an expert on policies and procedures for the IT Industry in India.He has worked extensively with most state governments in formulating their IT Policies as well.	Prasanto K Roy, President (ICT Publishing), Cyber Media Prasanto has been with Cyber Media for 18 years in various capacities. he's launched many new activities and projects for the group, including Computers@Home magazine, DQWeeks, and the DQ Channels. He's one of the finest technology writers who is equally at ease with technology and business.

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