The crisis has served as a catalyst for digital business transformation by highlighting the link between technology and business continuity on the one hand, and resilience on the other. But, while the pandemic effects will certainly decline, the technology factors that are driving the digital transformation in organizations remain at work. 5G, AI and ML, as well as various technology trends such as edge computing, automation and collaboration, present new challenges to companies' ability to adapt and change.
Organizations will need talents and specialists in these fields to develop future processes and products. In this context, the Indian subcontinent holds enormous technological and human potential. Capgemini has a long history of capitalizing on the talent and vitality of the technology ecosystem, relying on highly trained, multi-disciplinary teams. Through research and design-thinking based collaboration with partners, experts from Capgemini are the perfect partners to help transform the client’s vision into a reality.
In the following interview, Fransisco Bermudez, COO Capgemini Southern and Central Europe and Non-Executive Chairman of the Board Capgemini Spain, and Harinder Chatrath Singh, Vice President, South and Central Europe SBU India Leader and France BU India Leader at Capgemini, give us their views and expectations regarding the Connect With India 2021 event (June 1, 2021)
Mourad Krim : What are the reasons for Capgemini to organize this event?
Answer : Francisco Bermudez
First of all, we have to admit that we are all in a different context after the pandemic. We have all started working in different modes, more digital, more remote… It’s a different world. The pandemic has showed our clients that the digital transformation is key, so the event is a mix between helping our clients on how to approach the digital transformation strategy and how to use our capabilities in India. We have a lot of talents in India. It’s an event that comes in the right time. The clients need end to end partners, the market is requesting more and more talented people, we have a high pool of talented people in India who help us approach projects at scale.
Answer : Harinder Chatrath Singh
I think that the value at scale and the industry expertise which we carry in India means that we can support everything from strategy to operations. We are able to help our clients in their strategies to move into new normal very easily and effectively.
What are the expectations of your customers from this event?
Francisco Bermudez
It is a sharing event. The beauty of this event is not having Capgemini pitching about what we are doing in India for our clients. It is a sharing event where our clients share their experience and hear from the other clients on what they have achieved. It’s the opportunity to interact between themselves to understand what has been done, and what are the capabilities and the tools at their disposal in order to be more competitive and to engage in their digital transformation strategy.
We have been working for more than twenty years from India for France. We have proven track record. We’ve learned a lot. So, we can bring a very long experience helping clients to walk the path. In India, it’s a different way of working. Some of the clients are used to it, some are interested but don’t know where to start, what works well and what works less. We have a really proven track record with a distributed delivery model, that we have used for many years all across the Globe.
India is not only about cost-effective delivery, like a lot of people think. It’s also the access to a huge talent pool of resources. Today a lot of companies embark in the digital transformation journey. They need talented people with extended skills, and there is a shortage in skills elsewhere, mainly in Europe. India is where innovation happens, so the clients will be able to see how we manage and foster innovation all across the companies and especially in India.
Harinder Chatrath Singh
This event is made to inspire the customers and connect them to their immediate, mid-term and long-term goals. So you can see how the journey starts and evolves over a period of time. I think that the timing is very good to have these discussions, because there are complexities and opportunities, both exist at that point in time. Transformation will definitely help the value and the scale for our clients.
Covid Pandemic has disrupted all aspects of life and businesses, how Capgemini helps to prepare a future-ready organization?
Francisco Bermudez
The pandemic was obviously unexpected, but we’ve been working for years on our distributed model, which helped us to move all our people to remote working, in a very short time, without any disruption for the clients. More than 97 % of our people were working remotely two weeks after the pandemic has broken out. We where prepared, and we have a proven experience that we can work in this kind of new world. I think it’s also a benefit for the clients, because we can help them to understand how technology is a support in times of disruption and helps them to be prepared to the unexpected.
We do not know what can happen in the future, there can be another disruption. It is now proven that the more you use technology, the better you are prepared to react with agility to what is unexpected. The pandemic has shown that some prerequisites have to be considered. The first one is to be agile and resilient. The second one is related to cyber security. Having a lot of people working from outside, you need to strengthen your cyber security. We at Capgemini invested for years in cyber security and data privacy in India, so working from India is safe.
The pandemic has also shown us to work in a different way. In the past when we wanted to show our Indian activities to our clients, we used to travel to India and visit. But now we do it virtually, and it works, because we have proven that we can start new projects 100 % remotely.
Do you consider that Covid Pandemic is the biggest catalyst of digital transformation?
Harinder Chatrath Singh
It is. We see that with the new normal, the priorities of our clients have changed. For example, online commerce has become more widespread, similarly the user experience can be created digitally. As we see that the overall market is evolving and has new needs, we are geared up and committed to support our customers. We are used to work in a distributed delivery model with almost 270 000 people. So we have that experience and in the new scheme we are able to bring that experience to our clients, and enable them for their needs of going digital.
What are your recommendations to accelerate digital transformation @scale adoption?
Francisco Bermudez
I would recommend to all our clients to look backwards and see what happened. The pandemic has revealed the strengths and weaknesses of organizations and we should all learn from it. I truly believe that technology helped to cope with such a situation, so I would recommend our clients continue investing in technology. I don’t say that because I work for a technology company, but because I strongly believe that technology make you more agile and more resilient.
When I look at ourselves, what we bring is a true end to end solution. We can help our clients from the strategy definition stage, with our consulting branch, to the deployment stage and the support in change management. We have been investing for years in the robustness of our tools and the distributed delivery model for the benefits of our clients. We also invested a lot in technology and innovation. So, for our clients it’s key to have a partner that can help you all along your journey to the end-to-end services. Don’t forget that IT is here to make business better.
We are in the forefront of a disrupted market, with evolving new technologies. We can help the client to understand the complexity of this new world and make it simple for them. Obviously, the clients need to invest but at the best cost, and it is one of the dimensions India brings. It is always helpful to have good talents, good solutions at the best cost. It is the best of breed for the best cost.
Is the Rightshore of Capgemini one of the levers to prepare for a “never-normal” world?
Harinder Chatrath Singh
In the Capgemini Group, India used to work with almost forty-four countries. The distributed delivery model mindset allowed us to crate that experience of collaboration. And that will really help us to be the epicenter of delivering innovations for our clients, it helps us understand their demands and requirements for the new normal. We are uniquely positioned, because of our experience of 20 plus years working with more than forty countries to face the challenges of the new normal.
Francisco Bermudez
No matter where you work, India, France or Morocco, the methodologies and tools are the same in our distributed collaboration model. It's a proven model. I'm not saying Rightshore is the only solution, but it's a huge asset that helps us work differently, uniting talent no matter where they work from. It is not about the people working remotely, but it’s all about working as a team, collaborating from different sites.
Harinder Chatrath Singh
Thanks to our network of delivery centers, our collaborative experience is seamless, because it is standardized.
What is the key message for all your customers?
Come to the event, listen, share and build your own opinion. What we want is to be highly transparent, show you how it works and bring other client’s testimonies. We have almost one hundred clients working from India for France. And we are not talking only about large companies: you don’t need to be a large company to work with India. We have a full breed of clients from small to very large companies. Our model is adaptable to clients' needs. India and Rightshore is a lever you should consider, at least understand it and look if it fits your needs, then go for it. More and more companies are working from India, and if you don’t take this lever as a possibility, you are missing a competitive advantage compared to your peers. I truly believe that Capgemini is the right partner.
Register to Connect with India 2021 event
Fransisco Bermudez, COO Capgemini Southern and Central Europe and Non Executive Chairman of the Board Capgemini Spain.
Harinder Chatrath Singh, Vice President, South and Central Europe SBU India Leader and France BU India Leader at Capgemini.
