INTERVIEW OF THE MONTH
INTERVIEW WITH MR. VINOD BHAT,
CIO,
Vistara (Tata SIA Airlines LTD)
The term digital transformation has different connotations for different enterprises. What is your view of digital transformation? Do you believe that the term ‘digital’ itself has evolved in the past few years, and if so, how?
In my opinion, Digital Transformation is to reimagine business processes through the lens of new-age digital technologies. Many of these digital transformations are driven by market conditions, technology advancements, competition strategy, regulatory compliance and so on.
The last 18 months, especially, have seen accelerated digital transformation across industries because of the pandemic and the journey continues. Almost every industry vertical got impacted by the digital transformation and benefitted from it. A new operating model has emerged which is going to be the new normal and is going to stay for long.
The term ‘digital’, too, has definitely evolved over years, and the transition has been:
- From Point solutions To Full value chain solutions
- From On-premises solutions To Cloud/Hybrid model
- From Single channel To Multi-channel customer engagement model
- From Siloed supply chain To End-to-end integrated supply chain
- From 1: Many marketing to Personalized 1:1 marketing
- From Siloed Sales processes to customer & data-driven Sales processes
- From Legacy Manufacturing to Connected Manufacturing
- From Re-active To Pro-active to Predictive Analytics & Insights
- From Offline to online services To Everything-as-a-Service (EaaS)
- From human-centric To Touch-less services – especially during Pandemic
- From traditional data & cyber-security To Enhanced Security Controls
How have enterprises leveraged digital for business performance?
With the advent of new-age technologies, enterprises got the opportunity to evaluate the impact of digital on business processes. The goal was to identify technology interventions by analyzing each business process across the value chain and assess the impact it may have on the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of these processes. Some of the examples are –
- Cash flow improvement and cost optimization through better inventory optimization and visibility
- Revenue uplift by improving order fulfillment rate. Digital interventions help build end-to-end visibility across the supply chain for managing better demand and supply scenarios
- Reduction in cost of operations by moving towards automation and machine first approach
- Improvement in customer experiences by better understanding and using customer data through data analytics, insights, and personalized offers.
- Reduction in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of infrastructure operations by moving towards ‘As-a-Service model’ based on consumption
- Improvement in security controls for data, information, and cybersecurity.
There are several KPI examples, across industries, which have got positively impacted through digital interventions.
There are several examples of lots of digital transformation initiatives failing. Is there any ‘rule book’ or equivalent that when followed increases the chances of success?
Although there is no silver bullet for the success of Digital Transformation programs, there are certainly best practices, which if followed, can increase chances of success. A few of them are listed below:
- Shortlist a program, which has strong ROI from a business or technology perspective. The program should have the sponsorship of the senior leadership. Communication about the program should be handled well so that employees are excited about it and not scared about their future roles.
- Follow a phased approach, with a short cycle of deliverables, with definite quick wins. It builds confidence in the program and many change agents or digital ambassadors are created within the organization to spread the word and encourage digital adoption.
- Strong governance with full representation from IT, business, and other stakeholders can be helpful too. Many of the decisions are taken during these meetings, which helps the team to move forward.
A lot has been said about why digital projects fail or succeed. In your view, what are the top 3 factors that never fail to contribute to the success of such initiatives?
The top 3 factors, which contribute to the success of digital projects are:
- Senior Leadership Mandate with a strong hunger for digital adoption. Ability to take quick decisions, to address any roadblocks.
- Organization Change Management (OCM) – taking every employee along and communicating on how positively it will impact his/her role and responsibility.
- Right, Technology / Platform selection with the right implementation partner. There is no scope to venture into technologies that are not proven or pick a partner, who has no experience.
Have you read or experienced any unique ways to incentivize people towards faster adoption of digital solutions within enterprises?
For any digital transformation program, there is a core team setup, which comprises leaders and SMEs from business, technology, and other stakeholders. As the program progresses and starts meeting the milestones, it is imperative, we celebrate the success and more importantly identify those digital ambassadors, who can drive this digital adoption forward and become the change agents. To improve the adoption, enterprises can reward employees on the following lines:
- Recognize and reward the digital ambassadors/change agents in Open houses/Townhalls and other forums. Award-specific certificates signed by senior management.
- Contribution for the faster digital adoption, by the employees, to be considered for performance management and promotion.