Industrial Automation Magazine India

The key is to bring everyone on the same platform

Published on : Friday 25-10-2019

Digitalisation is imperative but enterprises are still struggling with implementation. How can begin the process?
Digitalisation is imperative as the models of consumption are changing all around, and everyone is realising the same, the OLA, Amazon, Flipkart, Netflix and ZOMATO are examples of a new models of pay as you consume and this change is ushering newer way to reach out to same set of consumers with better and more convenient products and services and it is totally democratic, i.e., open to all.

Having said that, realising the value for consumer and creating a revenue model in passing on that value to consumer is what is leading to digitalisation and transforming everything. The brutal truth, if we do not innovate, we would be so behind in the race for the next decade. Key is the balance, knowing our customers and what they value, else either we would over or under sell the propositions and miss the very thing for which we want to digitalise. To begin, we need to map our existing processes and consumer propositions, and list down all the assumptions we have made to deliver values to our customers currently as this is our bed rock and then build upwards from here, there are no shortcuts to this.

For many organisations, the stumbling block is the silos, which ironically, digitalisation seeks to break. Is this a classic chicken and egg story?
Ironically, during this transformation the traditional departmental siloes would have to be broken down as the consumer is unforgiving, and now with the new sole purpose of serving and delivering value to consumer, all functions much change and adapt. The key is to bring everyone on the same platform where free flow of ideas can happen under the umbrella of “why are we doing this”, this breaks the soils and fosters bonds that shape things to happen.

Is joining one of the digital platforms the only way for an average enterprise?
The fastest way is to hop on an existing developed digital platform, adapt and fit it to take on the early gains, but by no means the journey is over, it has just begun. There is a lot more to come, critical at this juncture to have ears on the ground, and quickly make more changes to what the consumers are asking and then there will always be speed vs accuracy dogma, if you ask me today Speed wins! I would not recommend an average enterprise of reinvent the wheel to start from a scratch, let us put those energies in adapting to meeting consumers needs and at making their experience better by adopting a developed digital platform.

Often, companies get bogged down in discussing technologies rather than outcomes. How should an effective CTO deal with this?
Experience is universal and transcends everything, and it is a really tough call to make all the legacy systems talk to one another and later converge into one digital platform for a seamless experience. This transition is heavy and a painful process, however if the gains of doing this outweighs the pains, go for integration or convergence to the tech stack that is able to deliver for tomorrow, as this transformation journey is all about tomorrow.

Finally, is multiplicity of vendors creating conflict in the process?
Lastly the vendors and teams who raise and drop the curtains for this show, have to be motivated and managed, during this journey some will have heartburns and some will turn non responsive and some will become overbearing, again a clear handshake and purpose should be our guiding light to emerge at the other side of the tunnel, though it helps lowering the complexity if the number of vendors are lower.

In summation, realise the model, select the right tech stack, motivated, aligned teams and vendors with constant reminders of why we are doing this make all the difference .

(The views expressed here are the personal views of the author and not that of any organisation past or present that he is associated with.)

Siddharth Bhardwaj has 17 years of experience spanning over high-impact professional marketing in paints, lubricants, luxury bath fittings, auto and auto ancillaries, e-commerce and online sales, digitisation and change management in B2B and B2C spaces. A business professional with track record in managing business growth through product launches and implementation of strategy, his forte is in kick starting new concepts to life and scaling them up. Analytical approach: excellence in analysing market trends, competitor positions and economic factors to develop plans to put strategy into motion.

An ambassador of process innovation and excellence with proven track record in optimising and implementing strategies that lead to costs savings, increased campaign efficiency and RoI improvement. Proven skills in recruiting, supervising and training resources as well as tracking performance to achieve defined KPIs across domains like Sales, Marketing, Operations, SCM, IT and digital spaces, Team-based management style coupled with the zeal to drive visions into reality.