Shrivastava created a Web-based portal of IT partners to enable just-in-time sourcing to cater to the peak but temporary demands. The portal provides access to progress on selection, feedback, provision to redress HR concerns of augmented resources and extension of contract to all stakeholders involved.

But, since each group company is an independent entity and many of them are publicly listed, each company has a different commercial and legal process. The challenge was to arrive at a common agreement, which was simple and manageable for all stakeholders. Shrivastava enabled this by seeking buy-in from all stakeholders.

"To the empanelled IT partner, the initiative provides a single view of IT resource requirements of the entire group and helps align its business development team to increase its productivity," he says.

The initiative reduced the cycle time for sourcing from 20 working days to five working days. Furthermore, there has been a 15 percent reduction in resource rates due to better negotiation resulting from the centralized process.