S. K. Goel
S. K. Goel (full name Sanjay K. Goel) is an Indian information
technology professional who held senior IT leadership positions at Om
Logistics Limited (OLL), a subsidiary of Om Auto and one of India's
largest logistics companies. He is noted for directing one of the earliest
large-scale Linux and open-source software deployments in Indian
enterprise logistics, beginning in 2001, and for overseeing the
development of a homegrown enterprise resource planning (ERP)
system that supported Om Logistics' expansion from two computerised
branches to more than 450 locations across India.[1][2][3]
Education
Goel completed a Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) in Electronics and Telecommunications from Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, graduating in 1987.
Career
Om Logistics Limited
Goel joined Om Logistics Limited around 2000, initially serving as Head of IT. He subsequently held the titles of Associate Vice President (IT), Vice President (IT), and eventually Chief Information Officer (CIO) during his tenure at the company.[2][4][5]
State of IT infrastructure at Om Logistics (1999–2000)
When Om Logistics began its rapid expansion in 1999, its IT infrastructure presented a significant constraint on growth. The company had only 20 computers in total, with just two of its 65 branches computerised. The existing software, developed by an external provider on a proprietary platform, supported only consignment note preparation and invoice preparation, while customers increasingly demanded more advanced functionality such as online consignment tracking and e-mail alerts. Data security was also a critical concern, as Om Logistics served companies that were competitors with each other.[1] System stability was a recurring problem, with data loss occurring regularly due to viruses, disk corruptions, and operating system failures, requiring IT staff to work extended hours on data recovery.[1]
Linux and open-source migration (2001)
In January 2001, Goel led a decision to migrate Om Logistics' server infrastructure from Microsoft Windows to Red Hat Linux 7.0—at a time when Linux had only recently begun to gain commercial traction in India.[2] The decision was driven primarily by requirements for stability, security, low bandwidth consumption, and a lower total cost of ownership, rather than cost savings alone.[4]
Following a marked reduction in server downtime on the Linux platform, Goel extended the migration to desktop systems in April 2001.[2] By 2009, the company operated 3,500 desktops running Linux, and all 400 branch offices were connected through the ERP system, while the IT support team size remained comparable to the original four-member team from the Windows era.[3] The ratio of Linux to Windows computers in the organisation had reached 99:1 by 2004.[2]
- Linux For You* magazine reported in its July 2004 cover story that
two IT personnel were managing approximately 550 computers, and estimated one-time cost savings of approximately ₹8 million, with additional annual savings of approximately ₹3 million from reduced bandwidth consumption alone.[2] *The CTO Forum* calculated total annual savings of ₹56.07 million when staffing and licensing costs were included, noting that annual maintenance contract costs had fallen by more than 60 per cent following the migration.[4] Intel Corporation's case study of the deployment estimated one-time cost savings of approximately US$720,000 and recurring annual savings of approximately US$580,000.[1]
When a Microsoft representative approached Om Logistics with case studies of organisations that had returned to Windows, Goel declined to revert, explaining that he prioritised an operating system that did not require repeated overnight reinstallation and allowed the IT team to maintain normal working hours—contrasting this with conditions under the previous Windows environment.[2]
ERP system development
A four-member development team led by Goel designed and built an end-to-end ERP system from scratch, completing the initial application within two months of beginning development.[1][6] The system was built using the Open COBOL programming language integrated with Perl and deployed on [[Red Hat Enterprise Linux]], using an online transaction processing architecture that allowed all branch offices to connect to and update a central server in real time.[2][4]
COBOL was selected after a one-month user acceptance test demonstrated that it required low bandwidth, was stable, low on maintenance cost, and functioned reliably even over dial-up and mobile phone connections—a critical requirement given the variable connectivity across Om Logistics' branch network.[6][7]
The ERP encompassed modules for consignment tracking, online warehouse management, customer relationship management (CRM), contracts management, cost analysis, sales analysis, human resource management, financial accounting, and GPS-based vehicle tracking.[2][4] An online consignment tracking system enabled customers to query shipment status via SMS, e-mail, or the company website. Company-owned trucks transmitted their locations automatically every 15 minutes via GPRS-enabled mobile phones deployed across a fleet of 2,000 vehicles, while trucks from external agencies used manual or interactive voice response methods.[1][2] Goel noted that competitors at the time were typically able to provide location updates only once every six hours, giving Om Logistics a material competitive advantage in tracking capability.[1]
By 2009, the ERP system handled approximately 10,000 consignment bookings per day, with more than 3,500 vehicles moving daily, and had grown to approximately 300,000 lines of COBOL code supporting over one million transactions per day.[3][6] The system handled up to 700 concurrent users spread across 220 locations, with up to 400 external customer users tracking consignments daily.[1]
Business impact
Om Logistics' revenue grew from approximately US$4.5 million in 1999 to approximately US$38 million in 2004 and a projected US$58 million in 2005, without a corresponding increase in IT headcount.[1] In rupee terms, the company grew from ₹35 crore in 2001 to ₹500 crore in 2008, expanding from 60 to more than 450 automated locations in the same period.[6][7] *The CTO Forum* reported an annual growth rate of between 100 and 110 per cent in the years following the Linux migration.[4]
HP server infrastructure upgrade
As data volumes at Om Logistics continued to grow, the ERP system's existing IBM server infrastructure began generating large operational reports that could take up to 32 hours to complete—reports containing critical information on cargo movements and vehicle locations needed for daily logistics planning.[5] In his capacity as CIO, Goel directed a competitive evaluation in which multiple vendors submitted proposals and conducted proofs of concept for an upgraded integrated server and storage platform.[5]
The company selected a solution comprising two HP ProLiant DL980 rack-mounted servers paired with Violin Memory Array (VMA) technology, deployed on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1.[5] According to HP's customer case study published in June 2012, the deployment increased ERP application performance by 525 per cent and reduced report generation times from 32 hours to fewer than five hours, while data storage capacity increased by 10 per cent. Om Logistics was reported to be the first customer in the region to implement a high-availability cluster configuration using Violin Storage technology.[5]
Vedic Tarika
Following the conclusion of his corporate IT career, Goel founded Vedic Tarika, an initiative focused on sharing knowledge of Vedic practices and providing spiritual guidance through digital platforms.
Media coverage
Om Logistics' open-source and ERP deployment under Goel's leadership was independently documented across multiple Indian technology publications over more than a decade:
- In July 2004, Linux For You (EFY Group) featured Om Logistics
as its cover story in a piece bylined by Rahul Chopra and Akansha Pradhan, accompanied by an interview with Goel titled "The Man Who Saw Tomorrow".[2]
- In July 2004, CXO Today reported on the cost savings achieved
through the Red Hat Linux migration.[8]
- In October 2005, The CTO Forum published a feature article by
Sujay Nair, examining Om Logistics as a case study in enterprise-wide Linux deployment, with extended technical commentary from Goel.[4]
- In May 2009, BenefIT magazine (Cyber Media) published a feature
by Piyali Guha on the company's Micro Focus COBOL-based ERP platform and its role in Om Logistics' growth to ₹500 crore.[7]
- In October 2009, Dataquest magazine (Cyber Media), India's
leading IT industry publication, covered Om Logistics' IT infrastructure in a logistics sector feature, with Goel quoted as VP–IT.[3]
Intel Corporation also published a case study on Om Logistics' deployment of Intel Xeon processor-based servers running Linux as part of its enterprise computing documentation.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 Intel Corporation (2005). Advanced Functionality Increases Om Logistics' Ability to Meet Customer Demands with Reliability and Security (Report). Intel Corporation. 310173-001US.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 Chopra, Rahul; Pradhan, Akansha (July 2004). "Why OM Logistics Loves Linux? It Helped Them Save A Crore!". Linux For You. Vol. 2 no. 5. EFY Group. pp. 38–43.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "IT Steers A Logistics Firm Onto The Road To Success". Dataquest. Cyber Media India. 31 October 2009.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Nair, Sujay (1 October 2005). "Linux and Enterprise Deployments". The CTO Forum. pp. 76–80.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Hewlett-Packard (June 2012). Om Logistics boosts ERP performance five-fold with new server and Violin Memory Array (VMA) technologies (Report). Hewlett-Packard Development Company. 4AA4-2062EEW.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Micro Focus. Om Logistics: Integrating systems allowed real-time access to data and increased productivity (Report). Micro Focus. CSAPDV0109-US.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Guha, Piyali (May 2009). "Back to the Future: An integrated application — built over Micro Focus COBOL platform — has enabled Om Logistics to become a Rs 500 crore organization in less than a decade". BenefIT. Cyber Media India. pp. 40–43.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedCXO
External links
Category:Linux people Category:Living people Category:People from Faridabad Category:Indian engineers Category:21st-century Indian businesspeople
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