Moneycontrol and Accenture Come Together For The Digital Transformation Symposium : Heavy Industry & Manufacturing

Much like machines revolutionized manufacturing processes in the 18^th century, digital adoption is changing the way industries operate today. To delve deeper into the digital transformation journey of enterprises, CNBC TV18 in collaboration with Moneycontrol, hosted the ‘Masters of Change- Digital Transformation Symposium’. The symposium focused on how digitisation can change the relationship between producers and consumers and herald a new era for businesses.

To set the context of digital transformation and its impact, the symposium began with an address by Mr. Manish Chandra, Managing Director & Lead - Supply Chain & Operations Strategy and Zero-Based Transformation, APAC & Latin America, Accenture. He quoted a recent report by Accenture, which revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a 23% increase in the digital transformation index, and widened the gap between digital pioneers and laggards. It flagged the need to re-skill nearly 25% of the workforce in new domains to sustain the digital transformation journey. Citing the report, he further added, “In terms of value tracking, the leaders of digital transformation have relentless focus and 15% of the companies surveyed were tracking value realization, leveraging standard metrics across the three elements of revenue, working capital and business model.”

Scaling Digital Transformation in Industry and Mobility

Up next was an insightful panel discussion with industry experts such as Mr. S.C. Srinivasan, Joint MD and CFO, Bosch; Mr. Vinod Khode, Group CIO, Varroc; Mr. Gaurav Gulati, Group CIO, Motherson Group; Mr. Samip Mutha, VP and Group Head, Digital Innovation, RPG Group; Mr. Manish Chandra, Managing Director & Lead - Supply Chain & Operations Strategy and Zero-Based Transformation, APAC & Latin America, Accenture; and Mr. Ankur Aggarwal, Managing Director- Technology, Accenture, India, focusing on the latest trends in digital transformation.

Talking about how the Motherson group navigated the disruption and managed risks during the pandemic, Mr. Gulati said; “The key was that companies that were at an advanced stage of maturity in terms of digital adoption and in terms of people skills helped a lot.”

Mr. Samip spoke about the need for digital fluency and re-skilling the workforce and said, “Only the people on ground can make digital adoption happen. There is therefore a large focus in the RPG Group on improving capabilities of the workforce and taking their digital quotient to the next level.”

Speaking about Industry 4.0, Mr. Aggarwal opined; “Results have already shown that Industry 4.0 is not just about the resilient operation but also about balancing long term sustainability and overall productivity.”

Talking about the need for more efficient supply chains and the need for blockchain in the automotive sector, Mr Vinod said, “With EVs coming in place there is a need for good traceability and blockchain is going to catch-up very fast and we should make a consortium and start working towards it.”

The evolution of digital technologies has also brought about a tremendous change in the automotive business, attested to by Mr. Srinivasan. “Converting the perfect storm into an opportunity was a key element for us and our transformation was based on three pillars namely: digital mindset and skills, digital processes, and a digital business model.” 

In Conclusion

The rapidly changing business environment and need to stay competitive requires organisations to constantly adapt and evolve. Thus, industries need to rethink their value chains and transform their core processes to emerge on top. In the words of Mr. Aggarwal, “When the winds of change blow, some people build walls, others build windmills.” It’s upon organisations to leverage the opportunity and make the most of the digital transformation wave.