Chandan Kumar has travelled the world during his career. But it was his move from Dubai to New Zealand in 2020 that the Digital Architect for Fisher & Paykel Appliances said was a defining moment.
Fisher & Paykel Appliances Holdings Ltd is a major appliance manufacturer and a subsidiary of Chinese multinational home appliance manufacturer Haier. The 80-year old company is best known for its award winning home appliances, which are now sold in over 50 countries around the world.
It’s here, at Fisher & Paykel, that Chandan said he’s really been able to pursue his career goals as a digital architect and to put his years of experience to work.
“I got started in 2007 as a software engineer, and from there moved from tech to a management position. As I moved back and forth between technical and management roles, I realized tech was where I could add the most value.”
As a digital architect, Chandan emphasized that he looks after people, process and technology. When addressing the challenges of dealing with legacy technology, he did so through that lens. As he put it:
“For people, if you have legacy technology, you’re likely doubling-up efforts. People are doing duplicative work often without even knowing it.
For process, if there’s no automation in the flow of data, a communication gap tends to arise. That also often leads to a lack of ownership.
And for technology, changes are difficult to make and visibility is low. Legacy systems are also usually hard to scale and monitor, which leads to a domino effect of other issues.”
Chandan went on to liken releases performed on legacy systems to a festival rather than a rhythm.
“Rather than a steady drumbeat, you’re dealing with these big events that take a lot of time and planning, and you can never be sure how it’s going to play out.”
But with the right instruments and people in place, that creation of a rhythm can be within reach. Again looking at his role as an architect through the lens of people, process and technology, Chandan highlighted the benefits of MACH principles and technology as follows:
“For people, MACH technologies help address the skills gap because you have an option to build in any programming language that best suits the skillset of your team.
For process, the communication gap goes away because data is flowing readily. When you add a new technology into your system, you define ownership and improve your processes. That all gets improved when you adopt MACH.
And for technology, since MACH promotes composability, automation is more easily done and again, data flows seamlessly. Changes can be made more quickly and visibility is better.
Chandan also emphasized the benefit of scalability, noting that MACH has the powerful ability to get a company’s IT set-up, and its corresponding upgrades, on that rhythm – or steady drumbeat – that companies need to thrive, especially during such volatile times.
When addressing the considerations business leaders should bear in mind when thinking about transitioning their enterprise architecture – in part or whole – to MACH, Chandan noted that tech is the easy part of a transition in enterprise architecture.
“The harder part is focusing on the business process as part of the transition, and that’s a step that cannot be missed,” he said. “If you shift the focus from the tech to the business process, that gives you more value out of the transition and you can be more specific about what you want to achieve.”
So once that’s mapped out, what does an ideal IT architecture set-up look like?
“There’s no perfect,” Chandan said. “Flexibility should be the goal, not perfection. Things should always be evolving, and your business should be suited to handle those changes. Your architecture should be less coupled and more composable. That’s your path to success.”
But companies with legacy systems in place fear change, according to Chandan, and that fear makes it hard to convince the right people to take the leap.
“Executive sign off is hard. You need to explicitly demonstrate that the change will bring value, and that isn’t easy to do. We’ve seen time and again that technical transformation brings long- and short-term value. A good approach for demonstrating this to leadership is to showcase the shorter-term anticipated ROI (think: 6-9 months), as well as the longer term value. There are benefits to gain from each iteration and the c-suite should see that those short term gains play into the bigger picture value proposition.”
With businesses grappling with an ever-evolving economic climate and the many challenges that come along with it, Chandan emphasized the benefits of MACH when it comes to managing through tough times.
“We watched so many companies make budget cuts and layoffs throughout 2022, but technology can give you options to reduce the impacts of those events or to avoid them altogether. For example, layoffs are more likely if you invest significantly in heavy, complex systems that drain your budget and resources. It doesn’t have to be that way.”
And when thinking about putting systems in place now to help position a company for future success, Chandan referenced Generation Alpha, the demographic cohort succeeding Gen Z.
“You have to always be thinking about the generation ahead. Generation Alpha is more tech savvy than any group before them. They are digital natives with a deep understanding and curiosity about technology, so when you’re designing systems that are going to have longevity, your thinking should be guided toward what will suit the next generation. MACH helps you prepare now for the future, and that’s a powerful thing.”
The MACH Alliance is very excited to welcome Chandan as an Ambassador. Our Ambassadors are a carefully selected group of business and technology experts with a wide range of experience across industries and backgrounds. Passionate about the benefits a modern architecture can bring to an enterprise, our Ambassadors have graciously committed their time to support the mission of the MACH Alliance by writing, speaking, and serving as subject matter experts to help empower companies to go MACH.
If you’re interested in learning more about a MACH approach and understanding if it’s right for your business, we welcome you to get in touch at info@machalliance.org to be matched with the MACH Alliance Ambassador most relevant to you.