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Tech People Have to Become Salespeople: Manoj Tripathi

Kamla Bhatt in Cupertino

"Do you want to run out of milk?" will get you a better response when compared to "Do you want this kind of supply chain software?" according to Manoj Tripathi, chief information officer of the San Francisco-based Jamba Juice.

Tripathi said it was tough to get funding for technical projects in the retailing and manufacturing sector. "We have to talk in the customer-consumer language. There are too many competing priorities and technology people have to become sales and marketing people and talk their talk. Technical lingo does not make it."

Tripathi was the guest speaker at the monthly SIPA meeting held on July 24 at the Oak Room Auditorium at the HP Campus in Cupertino.

Tripathi has been associated with the retail and manufacturing sectors for the past 15 years and has seen how technology is most of the time relegated to the back seat in these sectors. "Technology is a given in the (Silicon) Valley, but outside the Valley technology is not given," he remarked.

"Using technology to make some money in retailing is tough," he continued. "Very often chief technology officers do not sit in the decision-makers' table and this is especially true in the manufacturing and retailing industry.

"Having said [that], I want to point out that things are improving and IT people are moving into the inner circle," he added.

Commenting on the challenges for the IT people in this sector, Tripathi said, "Putting the front-end is not a big deal. It is the supply-chain that needs to be in place." He added that technology should help in cost containment.

There was a lively discussion on the advantages and disadvantages in a brick-and-mortar company when compared to a Web-based company. The bottom line, according to him, is that the supply chain should be in place.

SIPA is a grassroots organisation, founded in 1987 by a small group of Indian professionals. The intent was to promote co-operation between the US and India in hi-tech areas. In the last nine years, SIPA's membership has grown to over 1,000 and more than 90 speakers have addressed it.

The key to SIPA's success lies in the spirit and commitment of its volunteers, according to its leaders. SIPA has the unique distinction of not having had a single employee in over nine years of its existence.

For more information about SIPA, visit www.sipa.org.

(Kamla Bhatt is currently working in sales and marketing at a software solutions provider company in Menlo Park. She is a regular contributor to Silicon India and has written for a prominent power industry website.)

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