In recognition of her unwavering dedication and contribution to the technology sphere in Sri Lanka, Anoja Basnayake, the Director of Information Technology at A. Baur & Co. (Pvt) Ltd, also known as Baurs, one of the leading conglomerates with diversified business interests, was recently featured on the inaugural National CIO List 2023 of Computer Society of Sri Lanka
Initiated by the apex professional body for ICT practitioners, Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL) for the first time and launching the National CIO list, the event was held on 12 December 2023 at the BMICH, recognizing some of the industry’s leading and renowned personalities. The role of a CIO is becoming very important and its changing from a supporting role to a strategic role as the digital transformation journey happing across in all industries and the globe. This was reflected in their measurement criteria of evaluation when selecting the national CIO’s
Anoja began her career at Baurs as Manager IT in 2008, having previously worked at blue chips such as Brandix, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Hayleys. She has led many strategic digital transformation initiatives. She played a pivotal role as project director at Baurs overseeing the implementation and migration of SAP S/4 HANA 2020 on cloud deployment with SAP Analytics Cloud Live reporting, making it the first company in Sri Lanka to do so at that time.
This paved way to initiate project RISE ABC to expand the company’s digital footprint and overall value proposition through optimizing its operational processes and deploying timely innovative solutions, and also going onto establishing the digital core with S/4 HANA which has inbuilt AI, ML capabilities, enriched with a vast solution stack with latest technological disruptions.
Backed by over 25 years of experience across a multitude of managerial and technical aspects, she brings expertise in driving change and modernization, promoting the adaptation of cutting-edge technologies. Anoja is the Vice President, Professional Development at the Project Management Institute, USA Colombo Chapter and a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). She is also a Member of the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors (SLID) and also serves as a member of the Innovation and Technology committee of SLID.
She pursued her professional development studies with the General Management programme at the National University of Singapore and holds a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science Special from the University of Colombo.
The list was compiled based on the CSSL CIO Model which includes twelve elements such as strategic IT acumen, transformation management, business mindset, digital advocate, operational excellence, performance orientation, financial discipline, risk management, talent management, leadership and professional excellence, global exposure, and legal compliance.
Baurs pioneered digital transition back in 1982, following IBM’s entry into Sri Lanka. Since then, it has continued to adapt to the evolving technological changes, embracing cyber security and disaster recovery measures, ML, AI, IoT among others. The company also took the lead in sales force automation which goes beyond than mere mobility, data and analytics, to comprehensively integrate the various businesses and channels, and continues to forge partnerships with various global technology providers in this regard.
