Niraj Jetly is the Senior Vice President,  COO and CIO of Edenred USA. Edenred USA provides organizations with solutions to help engage and motivate people to achieve enhanced performance.  Niraj has over 17 years of experience working in different industries building innovative solutions to address complex business problems. Niraj has been with Edenred since 2008 leading product management and technology operations. In 2011 he took over the responsibility of fulfillment operations. In his current role he focuses on overall service deliverability to clients.

Prior to joining Edenred, Niraj was CEO for MednetSystem, a clinical and disease management product company. He helped the company launch new products. Under his leadership, the company client base grew nationally and won the most prestigious Safe-Rx Award in 2008. Prior to Mednet System, Niraj was Director – Telematics for Cross Country Automotive Services. He helped launch of several telematics initiatives and won Industry Innovation Award in 2004.

Niraj’s work has been cited in several trade publications and he has spoken at several business events. In past Niraj has worked as advisory board member of several start-up companies. Niraj was enrolled in CSS program from Harvard and is an engineering graduate from PEC, India. He won the 2013 CIO 100 award. 

Congratulations on winning the 2013 CIO 100 award. What does 

getting the award mean to you? 

Thanks for your wishes Ranjani.  Winning the 2013 CIO 100 award provides an industry endorsement about the business value that we have been creating using technology. 

About 5 years ago I took over the CIO role at Edenred to steer the organization through challenging times. During that time, I spearheaded several initiatives to put new IT governance in place. The success of these governance principles was evident from the fact that Edenred US operations were chosen as a role model for several other countries to adopt. This award solidifies our position nationally about the efficacy of our IT governance principles. 

Could you tell us a little about Edenred?

Edenred is the world leader in prepaid corporate services. Edenred designs and delivers solutions that make employees’ lives easier and improves the efficiency of organizations. Edenred solutions ensure that funds allocated by companies are used as intended. These solutions help to manage: 

• Employee benefits 
• Expense management process 
• Incentive and rewards programs 

The Group also supports public institutions in managing their social programs. Listed on the NYSE Euronext Paris stock exchange, Edenred operates in 40 countries, with nearly 6,000 employees, nearly 610,000 companies and public sector customers, 1.3 million affiliated merchants and 38 million beneficiaries. In 2012, total issue volume amounted to 

€16.7 billion. 

CIO 100 recognizes innovation. What was the core technology innovation that was being recognized? 

In the United States, Edenred provides commuter benefits to over 12,000 employers ranging from Fortune 500 to Small and Medium sized businesses. Our clients represent about 7 million beneficiaries. The project was to build FCN-3.0 (Flex Commute Network), industry’s first total self service, private labeled, IRS section 132(f) compliant commuter benefits portal. The project was kicked-off with an aim of servicing three constituents:

A – Affiliates -- Affiliates represent 300+ public transit agencies and integration with their fare and ticketing systems, 5000+ parking locations and integration with their accounting systems and 1000+ bicycle shops to enable a voucher acceptance network based on IRS regulation. 

B – Beneficiaries --  Allow employees to access platform using single elastic layout using web, mobile and tablets, using self guided ordering process supporting over 1600 different ticket types used by all transit agencies and integrate with address verification and state-of-the-art “track my mail” offering to track that actual mailer using first class USPS

C – Client -- Integrate seamlessly with employer’s HR benefits portal, and with all leading payroll systems for pre-tax deductions with an ability to customize for each employer branding guidelines and business needs.

You have served as CEO of a Medical company a clinical and disease management company prior to coming to Edenred. What motivated you to move to Edenred? What learning’s did you carry over from Mednet? 

I have been very fortunate to experience a wide array of industries in various executive positions. My move to Edenred was motivated to learn more about pre-paid and incentives industry and try to figure out a way to apply these principles within healthcare industry. 

 

What new innovations is expected from Edenred? 

Next innovation that is being worked on is in health and wellness space, called “NutriSavings”. NutriSavings helps employers and healthcare companies educate employees on healthy eating and rewards good food choices with savings at the grocery store or farmers market. A practical, preventative wellness solution, NutriSavings:

* Educate program participants on nutritious eating through online videos, articles, recipes and quizzes

* Incentivize participants to buy healthy foods

* Helps at-risk individuals get healthy  and healthy individuals stay that way

What opportunities do you see in your space for entrepreneurs?

Edenred’s core competencies are – pre-paid payments and loyalty/rewards solution. Both of these segments are ripe for innovation and I have experienced many young entrepreneurs making strides.  

Within the employee wellness space, were we are positioning NutriSavings, I am seeing several new opportunities in next 12 – 18 months. Employers are coming up with innovative ways on how to keep their employees healthy and productive. Attempts are being made to offer “healthy cafeteria”, just like Google did recently. States like New York are making attempts to incentivize people to eat fresh fruits and vegetables by having physicians prescribe eating fruits instead of prescribing medications. 

There are several opportunities for entrepreneurs to come up with a solution that tangibly measures the effectiveness of these wellness programs in reducing overall healthcare cost.

You have worked as CEO and CIO in a diverse set of companies and even co-founded an after school program (ATFS). What core strengths have helped you succeed?

Besides having played CEO and CIO roles, my wife and I, Gauri have co-founded several ventures together, ATFS Learning center, Green Subzee and the most recent one being TheFoundationsTv. 

There has been one person (my wife) and two core values that have been foundation stone for my journey - “growth” and “risk taking ability”. 

• Growth comes from a persistent desire to pro-actively seek out new streams of learning and consistently making an attempt to apply those learning’s in a business setting. 
• Risk taking ability comes from a constant desire to try out innovative ideas in while array of industries ranging from education, retail and more recently media and entertainment

One person who has always stood by me is my wife, Gauri. She has been a pillar of strength throughout. She has been coach, my guide, and my sounding board. 

Any advice to young entrepreneurs? 

My advice to young entrepreneurs is very simple -- life is too short. Take calculated risks, but do make attempts to follow your passion.

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