New appointment at ITAO

Bhubaneshwar: During its annual elections for 2009-10, the IT Association of Orissa
(ITAO) elected Manoj Lalani of Lalani Computech as its new President.
The elections were preceded by the AGM of the IT association. Besides
appointing the new President, ITAO also elected Manoj Kumar Mahapatra of
Expro Computers as the VP. Dayananda Ratho of Cyber Software and
Services, and N Bothra of Lalani Infotech have been elected for a second
term as the Secretary and Treasurer, respectively.

Following its norms of opting for an election rather than a selection,
the VP portfolio was also contested by Vasant Mohanty of Compact
Systems; however, the portfolios of Secretary and Treasurer went
uncontested.

Also, a 17-member Executive Committee has been appointed. This included
four 'life members', since the association is keen on having 'active'
members in the committee who can dedicate time to the association
activities for its welfare. The committee has also been entrusted with
the responsibility of organizing the next IT expo in the state.

Discussing the primary agenda of ITAO for this term, Bothra said,
“Lalani has been one of the founding members of ITAO and has also
shouldered the responsibilities of a President in the past. Numerous
issues related to payments, vendor deals and credit policies are
cropping up now. Hence, our primary agenda for this year is to settle
disputes and claims, and resolve conflicts with vendors and distributors
in the region.”

Apart from this, ITAO is also keen on expansion and is framing a policy
for a consolidated confederation of IT associations across the state.
The association has successfully tied-up with the local IT association
in Cuttack for claims, dispute and cooperation, and is planning to
expand its reach across the state while collaborating with the
district-level associations. “Presently, we have
75 members and intend to take it to 200 by the next term,” said
Dayananda Ratho, Secretary, ITAO.

In this move of increasing its membership, the association has decided
to follow the annual membership norm, replacing the 'life member'
policy. Henceforth, membership in ITAO will be on an annual basis,
subject to participation in the association. However, 'life membership'
of the senior members has not been encroached upon.

With members keen on having an IT expo in December this year, ITAO will
be finalizing the dates by Oct 15. “Our members want the expo to take
place by end of this year, after seeing the amazing success of the
previous one. We are sure that the expo will boost the IT buying pattern
in the state, especially after the slowdown, and we think that it will
benefit the market scenario in the state too. The new Executive
Committee (EC) will be meeting soon to decide the dates,” Ratho added.

However, there seems to a difference of opinion about the expo. When
contacted Manoj Lalani, President, ITAO said the association in fact was
first going to evaluate if the expo should be held or not. “Having the
expo is still undecided as our core team is evaluating whether doing an
expo makes any business sense. IT products are now available off the
shelf with channel partners in their showrooms. The complete agenda will
be passed in the next EC meeting expected in middle of next month,”
Lalani added.

Besides deliberating on the agenda and concluding the elections after
declaring the AGM results, ITAO members have decided to take up rigorous
activities related to awareness of IT in Orissa. This will be done on
the hardware, software, communication and networking front across
various areas of usage. The association is keen on doing its bit for a
charitable cause. In this effort, some of the senior members have been
entrusted with the responsibility of coordinating the association
activities for its CSR program, and government activities with active
participation from all members. Already, the association has donated Rs
10,000 to an orphanage, called Jiban Jyoti Ashram in Bhubaneswar for
construction work of two lavatory facilities and uplifting the living
conditions.