Leaders Who Are Helping India Transform Digitally
At par with global trends, especially in a post-pandemic world, India has seen a massive surge in the growth of digital transformation across industries. This growth has been fuelled by the increasing acceptance of technology and digitisation by transformational leaders across various corporates, banking, and finance sectors. According to a survey, 1 in 2 corporates in India has a digital transformation plan in place.
As part of their transformation leadership model, many top leaders have led their organisations to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) to simplify processes, automate manual tasks and increase productivity. On the consumer front, this also enables them to offer more consumer centricity by seamlessly making digital solutions and services available, from chatbots to digital onboarding to real-time and personalised offers.
A case in point is the finance sector, where financial leaders in India have played a central role in answering the needs of an increasingly digitised economy – right from digital payments and UPIs to app-based loan processing, virtual banks, and robo advisory!
So, what is the approach that visionaries like Sanjiv Bajaj, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, and Mukesh Ambani have taken to kick-start this new digital era and help pave the way for a digitised India? And who are the top digital pioneers in India doing so? Let’s take a look.
The Digital Transformation Framework
Transformational leaders understand that digitisation is necessary for both operational agility and connecting with consumers at a deeper level. Using this understanding, they have developed the following framework for implementing digital transformation in one’s business:
- Take customer experience to the next level with digital
The first step is to connect with your customers beyond the usual brick-and-mortar channel. A major chunk of India today is digitally connected to the world, thanks to rampant smartphone penetration and cheaper internet. Leaders can open new channels of communication with their audiences on digital, thus establishing a wider brand presence. Focusing on social media, integrating chatbots, upgrading the website, and developing a user-friendly app are some obvious steps that leaders are taking in this regard.
- Offer personalised, digital products and services
Next in line is using technology to create digital versions of your product and service portfolio. The most significant advantage that this brings to the table is giving consumers ease of access and the power of customisation. An excellent example in this regard is how digital wallets took the country by storm post demonetisation. By 2025, Indian digital payments will account for 71.5% of all payments in the country. In lieu of this, banks and fintechs have come up with a slew of products that cater to evolving expectations of an increasingly digitally savvy consumer.
- Build your business with digitisation of operations
Next in the digital transformational leadership model is the digitisation of the business from within. Improving the scale, speed, agility, and reliability of operations is a prerogative of any company. This is why leaders are turning to AI, machine learning, and other smart Industry 4.0 solutions like big data and robotics to streamline their processes and leap into the future.
- Enhance digital employee collaboration in the remote work era
Lastly, leaders must implement digital measures that bolster employee communication, collaboration, and workability. With remote work becoming the norm, leaders are adopting robust platforms to ensure that the flow of work remains smooth, without any issues of speed, connectivity, storage, cyber security, and real-time networking.
The role of Leadership in Digital Transformation
Many of India’s visionary entrepreneurs and business people have shown their mettle by following the above framework and implementing digital solutions. Through their contributions, India has fast-tracked to digital adoption in various spheres of life.
We have Mukesh Ambani, the Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Ltd., whose Reliance Jio telecom company amassed a huge subscriber base in India. By introducing low-cost 4G internet and smartphones, Mukesh Ambani’s vision has almost single-handedly led to the rise of digitally-empowered citizens, especially in rural India.
Then we have one of the best financial leaders, Sanjiv Bajaj, the leader of Bajaj Finserv, who has played a pivotal role in digitising financial services and making them accessible to the underserved segments. His focus on intercepting customer needs before time and offering personalised digital products like loans and insurance to the masses has earned him standing amongst the most respected financial leaders in India.
Speaking of famous personalities in finance in India, we also have Paytm’s Founder, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, who helped popularise Indian digital payments through his digital wallet technology. The shift in consumer behaviour it has caused is unprecedented. Another digital transformation leader is Byju Raveendran, the Co-Founder of Byju, who has engendered digitisation in the education sector by making learning accessible through smart devices.
What’s common in all these leaders is the hunger and drive to take India to the next level by making digital technologies an integral part of our lives. They have laid down the marker for future leaders to innovate relentlessly by taking their steps towards digital transformation.
