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How can Indian companies thrive in a disruption-fueled world?

By 2013 or so, it was clear to business visionaries that every business would be a digital business.

Stock photo ID:1066422156
Stock photo ID:1066422156

*This is in partnership with BloombergQuint Brand Studio

For the first time in the history of the Academy Awards, aka the Oscars, the studio bagging the maximum nominations is a streaming service. This would be considered unimaginable even a few years ago, but it is a great example of how digital disruption is upending the world as we know it. Nimble, digital start-ups are challenging traditional businesses and disrupting industries.

By 2013 or so, it was clear to business visionaries that every business would be a digital business, making technology a key driver of growth, innovation and disruption, as against the earlier perception of being a mere support function.

Today, that vision has taken a concrete shape. Take taxicabs. Over 3.65 million Indians use a mobile app to book a cab every day—something that many cab drivers who were used to high demand and setting their own price, never saw coming. Now, Indian customers can rate their drivers, the terrible ones are weeded out, and price is set by an algorithm, based on demand and supply. But it’s not just individual cabbies who’ve seen their business model completely upended by digital disruption. India had radio taxi operators, who provided a better quality of service than regular cabs but were expensive and witnessed huge demand a few years ago. Given the demand, they believed the good times would last forever. When the app-based services came in with dynamic pricing models, their business model sunk like a rock, and most have shut shop.

From buying a mobile phone to a large TV, ordering a biryani or even groceries, looking for a plumber or handyman, a wave of digital transformation has changed the way Indians do things. And businesses are seeing the writing on the wall. Leading carmakers are making feverish moves to get on the electric bandwagon as battery technology comes of age and electric cars rapidly become affordable. Whether today’s market leaders will continue to be leaders 15 years from now is something that will be decided by the way these companies pivot today in response to the changing trends in auto. Disruption has not left any sector untouched—from the creative arts where streaming services are becoming more important than traditional movie studios, to banking where customer service is increasingly automated.

It’s obvious that businesses need to prepare to pivot so they can get on the right side of digital disruption. But most companies are hesitant to take the needed steps. Some are inhibited by their inability to raise or replenish capital, while others are simply fearful of failure. Intensely focused on their core business—their bread and butter—they find it difficult to make the bold moves required to capture new opportunities. The apprehension is understandable, and caution is crucial, yet inaction is not an option. Companies need to pivot to the future, without further delay. Industry estimates suggest that about $1.8 trillion worth of enterprise value in India is faced with a risk of displacement due to disruption.

Accenture Business Journal for India is a leading chronicler of business and technology insights gained from years of experience in helping companies in India achieve their business outcomes with pace and certainty across sectors. In its 5th edition now, Accenture Business Journal for India focuses on how Indian companies can thrive in their digital journey in a disruption-fueled world. There’s a wealth of insights and expert opinions on these digital journeys—on how to move fast, drive performance and, most importantly, bring more of your value to light.

For instance, the Wise Pivot strategy can help you reinvent your business, embrace a change-oriented mindset and use disruption to your advantage. The journal’s cover story, Pivot Wisely, explains the Wise Pivot, a unique, game-changing strategy, and how you can use it to reinvent your business and stay successful in a disrupted world.

Peppered with success stories of organizations that have embraced digital and witnessed a sea change in business returns, the journal is a compelling read. A pertinent case in point is that of the tea and coffee vending machines of one of India’s largest FMCG giants, which harnessed the power of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) to accelerate growth in their business.

Another great example of an effective pivot explained in detail is that of a manufacturing major and how it has ruled the Indian paint industry for seven decades through constant reinvention by keeping technology at the heart of its business. The company’s aggressive approach to scaling its business has culminated into the launch of 23 new products in fiscal 2018.

From technologies such as AI, analytics and automation and the bold vision necessary to apply these technologies at scale; to industries such as OTT, financial services, oil and gas., as well as insights for the coming decade on critical issues like business resiliency or the changing roles of CXOs, the Accenture Business Journal for India has it all, and more.

Download the Accenture Business Journal for India 2019 to discover how your business can revitalize its core to thrive in disruption.