CEO Insights India

Because of many regulations and compliance standards, every organization confronts some level of risk and a company must follow the rules to the letter. Compliance officers fill this position, and the chief compliance officer oversees them all. The position and responsibilities of the chief compliance officer vary by industry and company.

Saravanan Manoharan is the Chief Information and Compliance Officer at Revanza Leasing India Private Limited, where he is responsible for both Information Security and Compliance, a rare combination in the industry. Saravanan Manoharan shares his path and experiences as CICO at Revanza Leasing, where he plays a critical role in ensuring the company’s regulatory compliance is matched appropriately to accomplish the objectives in an exclusive interview with CEO Insights.

What were the initial challenges that taught you the basic lessons of developing, implementing and managing the compliance issues for organizations? How did that help you achieve the success that you had in the later phase?
The amount of data streaming through the business was making it impossible to establish checks and controls at each stage. With years of expertise, we recognized that 'meticulous auditing is the need of the hour' and ensured that sufficient time was spent on auditing, allowing us to implement vital checks and balances in the long term. We were able to save time and complete projects on schedule, thanks to these timely internal audits.

As the CICO of Revanza Leasing,

what are the key drivers that you deploy to ensure that the company’s regulatory compliance is used appropriately to meet its short/long term needs?
Work flows were developed for each procedure, ensuring that all relevant dependencies between departments were captured. These procedures allowed us to predict hazards, and as a result, devise mitigation solutions. Our staff has also begun working aggressively on these to guarantee that the data is recorded promptly. We ensure that the company's regulatory compliance is met by capturing data on time.

Can you describe how you identify, assess, and determine how to manage those uncertainties?
We assess any delays or deviations in the process and alter our workflow as needed to guarantee that similar events do not occur in the future. Using our technology, we can also find comparable instances across workflow, which helps us manage future risks. We intend to apply Artificial Intelligence (AI) to make our systems smart enough to operate on auto pilot.

What methods/strategies that you laid have transformed Revanza Leasing's entire workculture and client relationships?
For a long time, our philosophy in client interactions has been transparency, this has pervaded our entire workplace culture. On our premises, we have placed a number of high end cameras to which all of our clients have access.Our clients appreciate this gesture since they have never seen a corporation be so open in all their years of conducting business, and it's unusual in our line of work.

Since things have been changing dramatically, what are your strategies to add for the next year's role as the CICO?

We intend to make our current system more robust and intelligent, allowing any procedure to be run from any location without the need for user involvement. Because most of our resources began working from home during the pandemic, our challenge for the coming year is to guarantee that Information Security is not compromised as a result of these system modifications.

In your journey so far, which are the milestones that bestowed you with utmost satisfaction both as an individual and a CICO?
On a personal level, getting an MBA changed the way Ithought about business dramatically. It provided me with a comprehensive understanding of how a business should and should not be conducted. It was extremely beneficial to me in all of my past jobs when I eventually aligned my objectives with the objectives of the organization. Joining Revanza Leasing as Chief Information & Compliance Officer was a significant career milestone for me because it is both tough and unique in our business to have a dedicated team for Information Security, so there are high expectations of me and my team.

Overseeing and managing compliance issues within an organization brings a lot of stress and implies rich skills & time. How do you manage to balance your personal & professional life?
Well, I attempt to maintain a strict balance between my personal and professional lives by employing strategies such as establishing conventional work hours, prioritizing tasks, identifying particular'Me Time' and being resourceful. I attempt to follow the adage, 'If you can manage your time, you can man-age anything'. I always make time for my hobbies, which keeps me stress-free and gives me a more open mind, allowing me to be more creative.

Saravanan Manoharan, Chief Information & Compliance Officer, Revanza Leasing India
Saravanan is a Chief Information & Compliance Officer(CICO), experienced in IT Security, Compliance Content Marketing, SEO/SEM, Data and Web Analytics with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry.