SVP – Digital Platforms — Water And Utilities Business

The mandate

A water-and-utilities business operates separate platforms for customer onboarding, meter data, billing, field work, asset maintenance and employee service. Local solutions have filled gaps but created inconsistent identities, manual reconciliation and controls that potential investors cannot easily diligence. The owner plans balance-sheet rotation across selected assets and has created an SVP role to simplify digital operations without interrupting essential service.

The remit covers approximately ₹22,550 crore in projects and operating assets and 475 employees and material partners. The SVP owns platform strategy, architecture, customer and employee journeys, integration, data foundations, service reliability, vendor governance and digital talent. Operational technology and plant control retain dedicated safety authority. The SVP owns enterprise and customer platforms and their controlled interfaces to physical operations.

Platform design will follow journeys and authoritative data. A customer move, meter exception, leak report, field repair or bill dispute crosses systems and teams. Each journey will identify identity, consent, decision, evidence and closure. Consolidation is successful only when it reduces customer effort and reconciliation while preserving required local and concession rules.

Balance-sheet rotation adds a separability test. An asset may depend on shared billing, identity, cloud or service-desk capability that cannot be transferred immediately. The SVP will map data, licences, people and interfaces required for stand-alone operation, then define permanent services, transitional agreements or local capability. Shared-platform efficiency will not be overstated where separation cost remains.

Why this seat is open

This planned new role was approved for the future platform model; no incumbent is being replaced. The four-to-six-month search permits appointment before transaction and investment decisions. Current technology leaders retain their existing accountabilities during selection.

What you will own

• Define target platforms for customer, revenue, field work, assets and employees.
• Establish authoritative identity, meter, contract, asset and work-order data.
• Sequence migration, reconciliation, dual running and legacy retirement.
• Build transaction-ready separability and transitional-service options.
• Govern vendors, cloud, licences, security interfaces and run economics.
• Develop platform, product and service leaders with succession.

The portfolio will use retain, converge, replace and retire decisions. Each requires business capability, control, data and lifecycle evidence. Local variation must have statutory, customer or operating rationale and a review date. New projects duplicating funded capabilities will pause unless they solve an urgent service risk.

Migration will be rehearsed through business events. Billing cycle, meter ingestion, customer payment, field dispatch and incident response must work under peak and failure conditions. Dual running will specify source of truth and expiry. Legacy retirement includes interfaces, vendor contracts, access and archived records, not only user cutover.

Transaction readiness will include day-one tests. A separated asset must bill, collect, dispatch, report and respond to incidents with agreed access and data. Transitional services need volumes, service levels, information controls, pricing and exit milestones. The SVP will expose stranded technology cost on both retained and transferred sides.

Digital investment will be measured through adoption, service, control and cash. Self-service that increases unresolved complaints is not value; automation that relies on poor meter or asset data will not scale. Finance will verify licence, vendor, infrastructure and labour benefits after migration.

Cyber and fraud controls will follow the utility journey. Meter manipulation, account takeover, payment diversion and unauthorised work-order change create financial and service consequences. The SVP will work with independent security and control leaders to define identity, monitoring, response and customer remedy. Connected field devices will be inventoried by ownership, support and network path; unsupported devices cannot remain invisible simply because they sit outside enterprise IT. Recovery tests will include loss of billing access and corrupt meter data.

The first 12 months

During the first 90 days, the SVP will map the 20 most material platforms and five critical journeys, assess leadership and contain risky migrations. The sponsor will receive target architecture, separability gaps and investment choices.

By month eight, two platform domains should enter controlled convergence, three journeys should use authoritative data and one asset should pass a stand-alone digital operations rehearsal. An obsolete integration family will be retired.

At year-end, run cost in selected domains should fall 12%, severe service incidents decrease 25% and customer effort improve 15% across target journeys. Ninety per cent of migrations must meet reconciliation and recovery criteria, while priority transaction assets carry costed digital separation plans.

What the board will measure

• Simpler platforms improving customer and employee journeys.
• Trustworthy operational and revenue data.
• Asset separability visible before transaction.
• Verified run-cost and service improvement.
• Strong platform leadership and succession.

The person

You are an SVP Digital Platforms, utility CIO or enterprise-product executive with 18–22 years of experience. You have governed at least ₹13,100 crore and 350 employees. Evidence must include a utility or infrastructure platform convergence, an asset separation and a migration completed without material billing or service failure.

This onsite Bengaluru role requires operating-asset, customer and transaction travel. You understand enterprise technology without intruding on safety-critical operational control.

Compensation and terms

Fixed compensation is ₹2.2–3.0 crore plus performance variable. Measures include service, customer effort, separability, cost, control, legacy exit and succession. Package design will follow the confirmed platform and transaction scope.

Confidentiality

The business, platforms, customers, assets and transaction plans remain confidential. Further information follows qualification and an undertaking. Bengaluru and approximate figures are non-identifying.