After Bangalore, Pune and Kolkata we touched down in Delhi to talk about digital disruption.
Digital disruption helped me in my travel as well, since my flight from Mumbai to Delhi was delayed by 2 hours owing to fog. While sitting in the plane on the Mumbai tarmac, I saw a tweet from Indigo Airlines saying that flights had started taking off from Delhi, and then in under 5 minutes the captain came on the PA system and announced that we would finally be taking off. This is a small example, but this could be a great opportunity for Makemytrip.com or similar companies or even a new start up to develop a business around providing travel updates- flights or trains delays, road traffic jams, etc - pan india.
Anyway, back to the symposium, the keynote speaker for the evening was the former President of NASSCOM ( the premier body for the indian IT industry) Mr. Som Mittal.
He spoke about how Voice as an activation tool is coming up and will make a marked difference in the way ahead. He also pointed out that the customer is no longer at the centre of things, but it is the consumer - the final user, the one who eventually consumes the product/service. Especially in B2B businesses, the customer/client might not be the final user; it is about ensuring how your product or service can help your client make things better for their customer - the final consumer.
He concluded with some thought provoking statements, the most profound of them being, "The only wrong move is to not make a move"
The keynote address was followed by N Srinath, Managing Director of Tata Teleservices Ltd. sharing with the audience TTSL's outlook for the digital age. He spoke about the ability of businesses to understand customers at an individual level with digital has changed segmentation. He also spoke about the need of businesses to be alert and flexible since in the digital age it is not just change, but rapid change that is the only constant.
This was followed by an interactive panel discussion moderated by me on the theme "Digital Disruption: The CEO's Agenda".
Joining me on the panel were-
Varun Sood, CEO, Healthfore Technologies. He is also the Former CIO of Fortis Healthcare
Vijay Sethi, CIO, Hero Motocorp
Abhinav Sinha, COO, Oyo Rooms &
N Srinath, Managing Director, Tata Teleservices
Varun Sood, CEO, Healthfore Technologies:
Varun spoke about the need for businesses to fail quick which would allow them to fail small. He observed that technology has drastically cut down the barriers of entry into any sector thus bringing about larger disruption. Talking about healthcare, he shared his hopes that very soon hospitals will be able to share the medical history of patients amongst themselves thus enabling a patient to visit any hospital and having all his medical history available to the doctor who is seeing him. In reply to a question from an audience member about security issues while going digital, Varun pointed out that nothing is 100% secure in the online world as well as the offline world. Businesses have to compare the quantum of loss of not going digital as opposed to the loss of implementing it and being affected by digital fraud.
Vijay Sethi, CIO, Hero Motocorp:
Vijay set the tone of the panel, when he answered my 1st question to him by stating that businesses don't need to go digital just because their competitor has gone digital. Businesses need to dig deep to figure out what is the driver for them to go digital. Talking about planning, he said gone are the days when companies could set a roadmap for 2-3 years and sit back; today the roadmap needs to be made for 3 months and management still needs to be cognizant that there could be a need to alter it. As his closing comments he told the audience that 3D printing would be the biggest disruptor for the manufacturing business in 2016 & that mass production has been replaced by mass customisation.
Abhinav Sinha, COO, Oyo Rooms:
As COO of the less than 3 year old start up that is shaking up the hospitality industry in India, Abhinav spoke about the need of businesses to analyse the data that they collect from customers and use it to improve the company's communication with its target group and also to customise its offerings for the consumers. He reiterated Vijay's point that organisations need to focus on their core and then see how technology can help them in that space.
When I asked him about the growth of the sharing economy in the country, he pointed out that a lack of resources in India is seeing the move towards a sharing economy that will continue to grow in the years to come.
N Srinath, Managing Director, Tata Teleservices
When talking about how businesses are afraid to adopt technology as it gets outdated quickly, Srinath said that its a positive quality of technology and businesses need to keep in mind their requirements before adopting technology, thus the need for customisation rather than a copy cat solution. He also spoke about platform providers having the opportunity to evolve into enablers of digital transformation, thus making a huge difference in growth.
As I wound up the evening with my vote of thanks, I left the audience with one thought that an increasing number of people have started donning running shoes and fitness attire and have started paying attention to their health by exercising. Similarly it is necessary for businesses also to put on their running shoes so that they can be nimble and open to change.
Do visit the website www.dobigsymposium.com for more information about the series.
