Asian Business School (ABS) in collaboration with The Institute of Management Consultants of India (IMCI) organized a very well received Management Development Programme on Saturday, 3rd August, 2019. The MDP focused on an important topic, i.e., “Consulting in Modern Digital Times”.
The eminent speakers for the MDP included Dr. Anubhuti Dwivedi, Associate Dean, ABS; Dr. Amit Pareenja, Associate Director, TATA Communications; Mr. Vikrant Bhatnagar, Head – T & D, Vistara; Mr. Jagmohan Rawat, Freelance Management & IT Consultant; and Mr. Tarun Mudgal, Director – Sales, Skillsoft.
Dr. Anubhuti Dwivedi, Associate Dean, ABS set the theme of the program by introducing the topic for the day, i.e. “Consulting in Modern Digital Times” and accordingly invited the eminent speakers to shed their light of wisdom and experience on this important aspect of modern business scenario.
Mr. Vikrant Bhatnagar, Head – T & D, Vistara was the first to speak. He began his talk by complimenting the institute, Asian Business School, for this creative step of bringing up this important topic for discussion. Defining consultancy as “nothing but structured problem solving”, he suggested that actually “everybody is a consultant in some way or the other” and that “everybody working in the corporate is surely a consultant because they have been basically solving problems in a planned and structured manner.” He then went on to define “Digital” as “disruptive problem solving” and opined that “Consulting & Digital are in fact synonyms because they are both solving a problem, but Digital has the capability to solve problems in a much comprehensive way”. He also talked about the concept of “shared economy” and cited the examples of several modern businesses like Zomato and Swiggy run on those principles. But, he warned that “Digital has its challenges and it is very important that businesses should build their very own core capability to stay in the reckoning for a longer period of time.”
Mr. Tarun Mudgal, Director – Sales, Skillsoft, who spoke next talked about “Digital transformation being the 4th Industrial Revolution in the history of mankind that was either adding or augmenting business models by creating newer platforms like in the case of Apple, Amazon, E-Banking, and music apps like Wync, JioSaavan, etc.” Deliberating upon why consultants are needed, Mr. Mudgal stated that “they provide validation and offer third-party perspective which is gainful for any business venture.” He then spoke about speed & agility, customer centricity, data centricity, and platformisation or creating synergies through innovation as some of the key elements of the modern digital businesses.
Mr. Jagmohan Rawat, Freelance Management & IT Consultant opened his talk with the question “What is Modern about the topic Consulting in Modern Digital Times?” He suggested that “there has been a sea change in the factors of production in modern times with newer aspects of digitization replacing the traditional ones. How did this happen? Mr. Rawat suggested that “technology made it possible in a big way.” He also spoke about a “Copernicus Revolution in Management” whereby “Customer is at the centre in the virtual space of social media way of marketing in modern times.”
Dr. Amit Pareenja, Associate Director, TATA Communications defined consultant as a “subject-matter expert” who effectively harnessed the phenomenal pace of change in all aspects of life and business effected by the huge developments in the digital technologies in modern times towards fruition.
The highly knowledgeable session came to an end with the customary vote of thanks. And, the ABS PGDM students could not have asked for more!