‘Embrace Disruption’, Top Executives Tell 1 Year MBA (EPGP) Students At IIM

The two-day IIMB Business Conclave, hosted by the students of the Class of 2019 of the one-year Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management (EPGP) at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore on September 29-30 drew more than 150 professionals from various sectors.

The conclave on ‘Embracing Disruption’ featured high-powered panel discussions, networking sessions and talks by industry experts, CXOs, entrepreneurs and IIMB faculty.

At the outset, IIMB Director Prof G Raghuram stressed the imperative need for future managers to think ahead as the industry was disrupting not only technologically but also socially.

T Krishnakumar, President of Coca-Cola Company India and Southwest Asia and IIMB alumnus, said, “Big players are struggling today. They have a paradox of expertise and they think that they are too big to face any trouble from competitors! And because of this, they are often too slow to respond to disruptions in their industries.

“Most businesses like to play on averages. But the world has changed. Millennials are now playing on the edge and carving out niches for themselves and achieving great success. So, one needs to develop powerful consumer listening mechanisms to disrupt effectively,” he pointed out.

Supply Chain Management

Mukesh Kothari, Director, Deloitte Consulting, spoke about Disruption in Supply Chain Management. He quoted examples from companies like Amazon and Walmart. In the Merchant Navy, blockchain was being extensively used by shipping companies like Maersk.

“Supply chain is not going to remain a ‘chain’ anymore but will transform into a predictive network. The rise of exponential technologies had created a burning platform – disrupt or be disrupted! Data is enabling the transformation from traditional supply chain to digital supply network,” he added.

He listed the characteristics of a digital supply chain as Always-on Agility, Connected Community, Intelligent Optimization, End-to-End Transparency and Holistic Decision Making. “Don’t assume anything, challenge everything – science fiction is now science fact! Think big, start small, act fast, build your ecosystem, and market your own success,” he said.

The first networking session was followed by a panel discussion on ‘Future of Supply Chain’ moderated by Prof Anshuman Tripathy, IIMB faculty in the Production & Operations Management area.

Referring to various aspects including last-mile connectivity, scalability, reach, and role of government for a strong supply chain, the panellists Manoj Rajan, Managing Director and CEO, Rashtriya e-Market Services (ReMS), Neeraj Verma, Global Supply Chain Manager, Caterpillar, Prashant Kondle, Vice President, GoCoop – Global Marketplace, and Jayaram Kasi, Vice President, Pikkol, pointed out that trade agreements between countries were putting a significant amount of pressure leading to devise new strategies on how to design a supply chain network.

“Innovative ideas are not limited to big cities. Our response to failure is also changing as the cost of making failure is going down. Yet, the gap between human adaptability and technology keeps widening in this age of acceleration.”

“Drone technology can be very effective in inventory management. We simply need to embrace the latest technology and understand how best to apply it to make your supply chain very efficient,” Verma said. Kasi emphasized the need to build an open network where information gets to the customer with the least hops.

Kondle said GoCoop Global Marketplace was essentially a weaver-centric supply chain business, with the man as the machine. “Our organization is responsible for closing the gaps in the supply chain to ensure agility and quality,” he pointed out.

Manoj Rajan said 38,000 licensed traders and 58 lakh farmers were part of the Rashtriya eMarket Services. “There are enormous entrepreneurial opportunities in the agricultural supply chain. From standalone enterprises, like quality assessment labs, to complete supply chain aggregation, this industry needs the next big disruption if we are to ensure future food security,” he added.

Derick Jose, Co-founder, Flutura, said, “Innovative ideas are not limited to big cities. Our response to failure is also changing as the cost of making failure is going down. Yet, the gap between human adaptability and technology keeps widening in this age of acceleration.”

Piyush Kumar Chowhan, Senior Vice President and CIO at Arvind Lifestyle Brands, focused on the importance of mental peace and work-life balance. “Physical vitality, mental clarity and social connections are the pillars of human wellbeing. It is important that we all take some time out every day for emotional wellness,” he added.

Data-driven Transformation

In the panel discussion on ‘Data-driven transformation’, moderated by Prof. U Dinesh Kumar, IIMB faculty in the

Decision Sciences & Information Systems area and Chair of the Data Centre & Analytics Lab at IIMB, panellists Akhil Vishwanatham, Senior Director, Walmart Labs, Sunil Prasad, Delivery Head, Adobe, Srinivas Pradeep, Lead Data Scientist, Daimler AG, and Sanjay Kharb, Vice President – Engineering, Ola, spoke on how their respective organizations were using data to grow business.

While Prasad said that understanding the right data to target the right customer was what it takes to close a deal, Kharb shared  Ola’s focus on meeting the needs of both drivers and customers through data-driven decision making.

“When we provide the solutions to problems using data, businesses are inclined to shift from the traditional business model to a data-driven business model.”

Vishwanatham said, “We are trying to achieve an amalgamation of the digital and physical world through data sciences at Wal-Mart. Srinivas Pratap echoed the sentiment with, “When we provide the solutions to problems using data, businesses are inclined to shift from the traditional business model to a data-driven business model.”

Prof Dinesh Kumar pointed out that when there is very high competition in an industry, organizations cannot survive without analytics.

Disruption in Airline & Healthcare

The second day of the Conclave began with a talk by Willy Boulter, Chief Commercial Officer at IndiGo (InterGlobe Aviation Ltd), on disruption and the airline industry. “Any player who doesn’t have the advantage of scale in this industry is bound to fall by the wayside,” he pointed out.

Ganesh Prasad, Founder, MD and CEO, GenWorks, highlighted the key problems with the current healthcare industry of India – affordability, accessibility and incorrect diagnostics and how they can be addressed using technology. “Healthcare is a personal experience for everyone. Enabled by disruptive technologies such as digitization and AI, healthcare can be truly democratized and made more efficient to serve an even larger base of people,” he added.

Bitcoin & Blockchain

The panel discussion on ‘Out of the Blocks’, moderated by Prof A Damodaran, IIMB faculty in the Economics & Social Sciences area and IPR Chair on IP Management (MHRD), focused on the blockchain, cryptocurrency IOT and their applications in the current market scenario.

The panellists Sunil Krishnan, Blockchain Lead, Accenture and IIMB alumnus, Selvam VMS, Co-founder & CEO, DiscoveryIOT, Gokul Alex, Associate Director, PwC, and Anuj Trehan, Principal – Accenture Ventures and IIMB alumnus, said by 2027, at least 10% of global GDP would rest on the blockchain.

“It’s not a fad anymore but is being recognized as a true game-changer, especially if your business is ready to embrace it,” Trehan said while Selvam pointed out that bitcoin was just one application of blockchain.

“In fact, bitcoin is to blockchain what Google is to the internet. Blockchain is not going to change the world tomorrow as it faces some key challenges: energy consumption, issue of privacy, criminal activities in a crypto world, scalability, cost of legacy integration, and technology design of applications. Blockchain is not going to change the world alone. It is the convergence of blockchain with other technologies like IoT and Analytics that will be pathbreaking for the future,” he added.

In her address, Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO, YourStory, urged the participants “to develop their own story and not follow the herd.”

Kishan Ananthram, CEO, IonIdea, spoke about how technology can be used for safety. “Disruption is approaching us from all directions, be it technology, business, economy, society or politics. Each wave of disruption is coming at a faster pace than its predecessor,” he said.

Disruptive Non-Tech Start-ups

The panel discussion on ‘Disruptive Non-Tech Start-ups’, moderated by Prof. K. Kumar, Dean, Alumni Relations & Development, and  faculty in the Entrepreneurship area at IIMB, featured K Chandrashekhar, Founder & CEO, Forus Health, Amuleek Singh, Founder & CEO, Chai Point, and Suhas Misra, Founder Hector Beverages and Tardigrade Healthcare.

Misra argued that disruption and technology were interconnected. “For start-ups, especially, being disruptive is what creates value, and it is the use of technology which actually leads to the disruption,” he pointed out.