Author– Ganesh Natarajan, Uma Ganesh, Lavanya Jayaram
Book– Accelerating Digital Success
Previous Works– From Start-Up to Global Success: The Zensar Story, What we really want?
Blurb-
Worldwide business transformation is taking place across multiple industries as organisations are trying to gain a competitive advantage by launching new digital journeys quickly, rapidly and in an agile manner. The COVID-19 transformation and the inexorable push towards a ‘new normal’ for all processes and businesses will definitely see a complete reimagination of work. Digital reengineering will be the new imperative as technologies swarm into the extended workplace, processes get reengineered, design thinking enables a complete rearchitecting of the customer and other stakeholder journeys and touchpoints, and new skills and cultural change become the new imperative for human resource functions as well as the C-suite of all corporations.
Through this book, CEOs, CFOs, CIOs and CDOs of organisations, who have embarked on the journey of digital transformation but have not been able to fully realise the benefits, will gain insights on aligning their existing investment with newer initiatives, as well as develop a proper roadmap for their digital future. Through the plans and deeds of real-life examples of those who have attempted and achieved digital acceleration on their own or in client organisations, readers will learn the proper methods of creating multiple digital accelerators, how to culturally align to new agile ways of delivering rapid solutions and become aware of new mantras of the API economy which can out digital success on steroids!
Review-
Accelerating Digital Success by Ganesh Natarajan, Uma Ganesh, and, Lavanya Jayaram, is a take on the digital advancement of Indian brands, post the COVID era.
The book has chapters dedicated to explaining the state of digital affairs in India when in-person work was largely valued. Even though digital marketing had sowed its seeds, other sections of the business were yet to follow. The descent of Coronavirus, and the succeeding lockdown, forced the companies into a frenzy of digitization. The more service a brand had to offer, for the customer on the couch, the more advantage they had. About numerous years of digital advancement, happened in 2020, in India, compared to what had been achieved prior to that. As the result, not only were brands providing better service to their customers, they also were able to get the attention of new potential customers.
The book can sure come in handy, while designing your business strategy, or simply gaining a better perspective on the evolution of consumer requirements in the pre-COVID period and the ongoing post-COVID era.
One might assume that the book speaks only of the digital counterparts of a business, but thankfully, the authors did not limit it to that. The reader can get insights on how to expand their business on the digital grounds, and also go beyond that. As the impact of digitization has opened new opportunities for brands, it has also increased the competition for them. For brands to survive and flourish in such an environment, they need to better themselves, and this book sure does provide the help. It encourages the readers to brainstorm on what their next step could be, to make their consumers get the most of their service. The book does it quite subtly as well. In a way that provides motivation, but without spelling it out in clear sentences.
The authors have tried to focus on the different components of a business. From business infrastructure, investment in digitization, service enhancement, all the way to suggestions on employee productivity. They have added those, and much more.
Each chapter has been divided into sections, which just made the reading more informative, as I knew the subject being dealt with, and could come back to topics I could not understand in the first try.
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Another remarkable part of the book that I would like to focus on, it provides the answer to the question, “Will digitization and RPA replace human necessity in jobs?”. The answer is a straight yes, the book explains how the requirement of upgrading the industry, would require humans to upgrade their own skillset. With the rise of technology, the demands and the qualifications in need would also rise, which is a perfect opportunity for people to prepare and educate to be in demand in the future.
Ratings- 4.5 stars out of 5
From the point of view of someone who hasn’t studied Business Administration, I did feel left out in certain areas. But from the perspective of someone who has read research articles and reviews, the book has had its material well-presented, with advice, case studies, and conclusions to derive in the end. So, feel free to Google certain things that you were not able to grasp, no shame in that. For the students who are pursuing any degree in Business Administration, I think this book would be of great help to your curriculum. It provides sufficient content for a good seminar or mid-semester project submission.
Reviewed by- Banaja Prakashini
Buy the book-
Reviewer’s interest-
About Ganesh Natarajan-
Ganesh Natarajan is co-founder and chairman of 5F World and Lighthouse communities Foundation and a director of State Bank of India, GTT, Skills Alpha, Kalzoom Advisors, Principal Center for AI & Advanced Analytics, Hinduja Global Solutions, SVP International, Educate Girls, the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network. Ganesh Natarajan is the author of Business Process Reengineering, BPR- A CEO GUide, Knowledge Management, Knowledge Force (with Uma Ganesh). Winds of Change, Through the Corporate Lens, What we really want (with Lavanya Jayaram), Inspired and From Start-Up to Global Success.
About Uma Ganesh-
Uma Ganesh is Co-Founder and Chairperson of Global Talent Track, which provides live training and digital platforms for talent development in Asia. She is also a board member of Skills alpha, Centre for Advanced Analytics and AI, and Emoha ElderCare. She was earlier the CEO of Zee TV’s Education business. She is the co-author of the book, Knowledge Force.
About Lavanya Jayaram-
Lavanya Jayarama is a high-energy marketing and strategy professional. previously CMO of ZEnsar Technologies and is currently a passionate change agent focused on driving innovative business strategies and business improvements for technology companies.
