PIC had the privilege of hosting Dr. Ganesh Natarajan, Chairman, 5F World and Trustee, PIC, Dr. Uma Ganesh, Chairperson and Founder, Global Talent Track and Member, National Council (CII) and Ms. Lavanya Jayaram, Executive Director, AVPN, Singapore – for a conversation with Dr. Ajit Ranade, President and Chief Economist, Aditya Birla Group and Member, PIC on their book “Accelerating Digital Success: Reimagining Organisations for a Post COVID-19 World.” Held on 5th July, 2021, this event was chaired by Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, President, PIC. Mr. Abhay Vaidya, Associate Director, PIC welcomed everyone in attendance and introduced the authors.

Dr. Ranade provided a brief background of the broad topics of digital technology and the digital economy. Dr. Natarajan explained that the book explored the combination of the COVID push and the digital pull, and the current exploitative as well as explorative phase that businesses and organisations have been pushed into as a result. Ms. Jayaram highlighted that her background in communications was crucial to understanding that design thinking depended on beginning with empathy and diagnosing the problem to be addressed correctly. She noted that despite a lack of pure technical knowledge, her experience with communication being at the centre of the customer experience in technology and business processes formed the core of her contribution to the book. Dr. Uma emphasised that for most businesses digital transformation was focused on the front-end and not enough on the employee journey or the employee experience. Right from recruitment and training to working, skilling, and even exiting the organisation, employees’ experiences and opinions seemed to be left out. The organisation’s responsibility to develop tools, contents, and experiences for their employees, – she noted, was the focus of her contribution to the book.

The conversation was followed by a round of questions and answers.