How PPG’s CIO Turned IT into a Competitive Advantage

**Bhaskar Ramachandran** (0:00)
As much as we talk about IT and technology, it really is a people business. It's the people that make the decision, it's the people that needs to change their day-to-day, what they do, their behaviors, if you may.
And it starts with people.

**Peter High** (0:17)
Welcome to Technovation. I'm Peter High, president of Metis Strategy. My guest today is Bhaskar Ramachandran. Bhaskar is the vice president and global chief information officer of PPG, a global leader in paints, coatings and specialty materials serving customers in construction, consumer products, industrial manufacturing, transportation and numerous other industries. Founded more than 140 years ago, PPG operates in over 50 countries and generated approximately $15.9 billion in revenue in 2025
As CIO, Bhaskar leads PPG's global technology organization, overseeing information technology, digital transformation, cybersecurity, enterprise applications, data and emerging technologies. Since joining the company five and a half years ago, he spearheaded a broad modernization effort, including the company's transition from a cloud first to a cloud only strategy, helping reshape how technology supports innovation, operational excellence and business growth across a highly complex enterprise, and supporting numerous acquisitions and divestitures along the way.
Prior to PPG, Bhaskar held senior technology leadership roles at Java and at Textron Systems. I look forward to speaking with Bhaskar about how technology is becoming a competitive differentiator in industrial businesses, how AI and data are transferring manufacturing and product innovation, and what it takes to lead enterprise transformation in an era of accelerating technological change. Bhaskar, welcome to Technovation. It's great to speak with you today.

**Bhaskar Ramachandran** (1:39)
Thank you, Peter. Thanks for the invitation. I appreciate it.

**Peter High** (1:42)
I'm looking forward to our conversation. So thank you again.
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Now on to the interview. Maybe you can provide a bit more context as to the business you're in than what I've just provided, Bhaskar. I'd love to have you describe PPG in your own words.

**Bhaskar Ramachandran** (2:41)
Yeah. I think Peter, you did a really good job. Just to extend on, you talked about a lot of the industries we work in.
What is unique about and what I love about the business is, we go to market on B2B, B2C, and B2B2C, so all three channels depending on what the industry is. On one end, we have aerospace, where you see coatings that go on airplanes, and in some cases, we actually do the glass in the airplane too, the windows and the windshields for airplanes, and in some cases, the canopies for some of the defense applications, and on the other end, you have paints that go into protective coatings, whether it's stadiums and buildings and bridges, etc.
Everything in between, the cans through which we drink our sodas, to automotives and even motorcycles, etc. Or even bathtubs and cookware that you can buy at your local store. So it's an amazing breadth of applications. As one of our ex-CEOs used to say, if it moves, we code it. If it doesn't move, we still code it.
That's the breadth of what we do, and that's pretty exciting.

**Peter High** (4:01)
Very well articulated. Thank you for that. Talk a bit more about your role as Global Chief Information Officer. What's within your purview, please?

**Bhaskar Ramachandran** (4:08)
I'm responsible for anything that's technology, whether it's technology related to all of the back office functions, as you would expect, the ERPs and the MES systems and the like, finance systems, etc.
All of our digital efforts, our e-commerce efforts, all of our AI efforts and cybersecurity. So all of that is part of my remit globally.

**Peter High** (4:35)
Fantastic.
I want to talk a bit about the role that IT plays, your organization plays within the broader organization. I know from our past recent conversations that you've put a lot of thought into evolving technology from a board organization to one that is a shaper of competitive advantage. Talk a little bit about your orientation as to IT's place within the corporate structure.

**Bhaskar Ramachandran** (5:01)
Yeah. So IT for us is more than just a back office function, right? And one of the things that attracted me to this role is how our executive leaderships looks at technology.