Hermoine Granger
Imagine a single, progressive platform that brings together the brightest minds across industries and backgrounds to discuss the infinite possibilities of tomorrow. This idea was brought to life with the inception of SAP Industry Knowledge Exchange.
Commenting on the initiative, Subramanian Ananthapadmanabhan, SVP, MidMarket, SAP APJ worded it best: “The systems of innovation, the people that matter, they’re not situated in just one organization. How can we get all of them together in a single room under the umbrella of an industry council to discuss, debate, analyze and come up with solutions for the problems we can’t see today, problems that could come a few years later? If we can have those answers, we can be ready to take on the future. That was the genesis of the SAP Industry Knowledge Exchange.”
When the most innovative minds across industries come together to discuss a brighter tomorrow, nothing is truly impossible. Understanding the need for such eye-opening conversations between our leaders, SAP Industry Knowledge Exchange (IKEX) serves as a powerful, collaborative platform that enables the exchange of knowledge and futuristic ideas.
The recent SAP IKEX Summit saw leaders and innovators from digital natives and unicorns, manufacturing, CPG and life sciences congregate to share, learn and grow. Much of these discussions were centered around India’s ‘Amrit Kaal’ and the collective efforts we can make to shape the India of tomorrow. Topics such as accelerated digitization across industries, the need for sustainable approaches, managing supply chain disruptions and adopting customer-centricity were highlights of the summit.
Let’s dive in and take a closer look at all the interesting details of this incredible summit.
The Age of Digitally Native Hypergrowth Unicorns
As we completely immerse ourselves into a new digital world, modern tech-savvy startups are promptly becoming enormously successful enterprises with their ability to identify and quickly act upon game-changing ideas. This capacity for constant innovation is helping startups create massive opportunities and disruptions in the industry. Fitting to the status quo, the first topic of discussion was on unlocking the secrets of building a unicorn startup.
What does it take to build a unicorn? While many answers came to the fore, the panel agreed that if it’s a big problem and one can solve it in a way that has not been done by anyone else, you have the genesis of building a great company. Everything is about solving a significant enough problem.
Key Takeaways
- Sumeet Mehta, Co-Founder & CEO of Lead School, discussed the ability to find simple solutions for complex problems by giving an example of his disruptive edtech solution.
- Naiyya Saggi, Co-Founder of Good Glamm Group, explained the necessity of communicating a strong value proposition through a digital ecosystem.
- The critical necessity of a robust and scalable technological platform to engage customers and generate leads was highlighted by Pankaj Bansal, Chief Business Officer of BankBazaar.
- Suraj Shetty, Head Of Customer Experience, Kissht, emphasized on the necessity of adopting modern technological tools to empower employees.
- The roles and duties of the modern CFO were extensively discussed with industry leaders all agreeing that CFOs must play a pivotal role in the success of digital natives.
- The final discussion was centered around the critical necessity of a winning company culture to drive the success of startups. Sheetal Bhanot, CHRO of Inframarket, talked about the infinite potential that startups can reach by just embracing the right vision.
Driving Growth in CPG and Retail
The CPG and retail industry has been constantly evolving after the COVID-19 pandemic as global trends in customer behavior radically shift. This has opened the doors to a highly customer-centric approach for businesses looking to nurture a loyal following in the face of uncertainty. The future of CPG revolves around a number of prominent topics. The objective here was to talk about the future of the retail industry. So panelists, speakers, and delegates went through a host of topics relevant to our future. For example, they identified the modernization of routes to market in a true omnichannel world, how to enhance resilience and agility of the supply chain given the uncertainty of the overall geopolitical situation, and the uncertainty of demand as critical points.
Our panel of industry experts started the discussions by explaining how brands can drive customer loyalty in an omnichannel world. This conversation revolved around
