Bhatia wins Retail CIO of the Year for Ryvuss search engine

Carsales chief information officer Ajay Bhatia has taken out his first Benchmark award in the retail category for his decision to take a gamble and build his own search engine.

Bhatia's team was increasingly finding that their incumbent licensed search engine was struggling to keep up with their requirements. They embarked on a search for one that would, but failed to find exactly what they needed.

Given search functionality was so integral to Carsales' business - 80 percent of visitors to its group of sites make extensive use of search - Bhatia at that point made the decision to develop a prototype in-house that could provide exactly what the company needed.

His 18-month push for perfection paid off - the company is now scrambling to sign up a bevy of retailers the world over keen to take up the Carsales offering.

Bhatia credited his team with his one - in particular one staff member who came up with Ryvuss while on a sick day.

"This is for Michael [Ridgway] .. somehow when you are sick it allows you to be more strategic. And I wish in a positive way he gets sick again," Bhatia said.

Bhatia fought off strong competition from finalists in Dick Smith - its second nomination in three years - and Tennis Australia, both presented strong projects worthy of commendation.

The Benchmark awards ceremony was held at the 7th CIO Strategy Summit.