IIn the ever-evolving business arena, consideration of
business consultation services can provide immersive benefits leading to the enhancements of the fundamentals of business development. As these services provide valuable insights into the aspects of development, incorporating strategies that allow the business to create an effective plan to generate and widen the revenue streams altogether while simultaneously cultivating loyal customers.
Companies of all sizes—large, mid, and small-cap can leverage the novelties that business consultants offer as they hold enough information about the emerging trends of the marketplace. These professionals comprehend the aspects with the essential data about the information of the market where the agency operates. When a company hires a consultant for the applicable enterprise, they are skilled in the discipline and subsequently have substantial information from the various subjects.
Abhishek Joshi Deputy Editor abhishek.joshi@insightssuccess.com
By comprehending all the crucial fundamentals and a stable angle of what your competitors and how other businesses are operating, a consultant will make sure to point out the failings of an enterprise and make sure a higher competitive facet scales the growth of your business to greater heights, exponentially.
Among all other steps, a business consultancy agency commences its operations with the discovery phase, where the goal is to learn the client’s business. This leads to developing an in-depth comprehension of the company through which the professionals offer solutions while capitalizing on new opportunities.
This creates a scenario to boost its marketing resources and capitalize on the operational staff. Business consultants with operations specialization emphasize enhancing the day-to-
day business processes; it also assists companies in fiscal matters by improving business processes that ensure the best outcomes cost-effectively.
Prominent business consulting companies provide valuable insights based on the consultants’ experience to support the assortment of the undertaking and incorporation of best industry practices, eventually boosting the growth outcomes.
Embracing the journey of such prominent leaders in the business consulting niche, Insights Success features the enthralling stories of “India's Most strategic Business Consulting Companies- 2022.” Flip through the pages and indulge yourself in the odyssey of excellence that embarks upon the fundamentals of assured growth.
Have a Delightful Read!
Avalon Consulting was set up in 1989 and has grown to become one of Asia’s top ranked consulting firms; the only Indian firm to achieve this recognition.
JCE Management Services Pvt. Ltd. is a leading consulting group and the only organization in India exclusively consulting on Lean manufacturing.
MABEC offers unique people engagement excellence model to help clients simplify their business and manufacturing processes to enable the achievement of business objectives.
Tata Sons is the principal investment holding company and promoter of Tata companies.
YRC is a Retail Consulting firm providing services like designing standard operating procedures (SOPs), franchise development, business model, and strategy. Your
MABEC JCE Management Services Pvt. Ltd. Tata Sons Pvt Ltd Rajendra S Potdar, Founder and CEO Raj Nair, Chairman Dr Ashok Puri, Managing Director Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman Retail Coach Nikhil Agarwal, Founder and Chief Operations Officer (COO) and Dr Rupal Shah Agarwal, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer (CSO)
Rajendra S Potdar
Founder and CEO
Adversities, challenges, issues, and problems are
part and parcel of every manufacturing and business industry. Sometimes they could be foreseen. But many a time, an avalanche of obstacles may strike you unexpectedly.
And the kind of resilience shown by the Indian industry inc. in the face of the pandemic; the thunderstorm of turbulent times is praiseworthy . Of course, in these efforts, many factors and many public and private sector entities aided them—entities like Manufacturing and Business Excellence Consultancy or MABEC in short.
MABEC, as a management consulting firm, was established back in 2011. Thus, even before the pandemic struck, they had already been consulting industry stalwarts like Aditya Birla Group of Companies, JSW Steel, Emami Group of Companies, Bajaj Consumer care, Indian Oil Company, Realxo, RAK Ceramics(UAE), Hindalco, Ultratech Cement, Shadeed Steel(Oman) etc., amongst the many.
MABEC could do this because of the consummate and visionary leadership of Rajendra S Potdar , the Founder and CEO . Rajendra states, " We offer unique people engagement excellence model to help clients simplify their business and manufacturing processes to enable the achievement of business objectives, pandemic or no pandemic ."
With a rich experience in manufacturing and business consulting, MABEC has established itself as a firm that helps clients facilitate growth and helps them for sustenance.
MABEC is currently involved in providing management consultancy to a large number of private as well as public sector companies distributed across various sectors like steel, aluminium, cement, engineering, chemicals, oil and gas, petroleum, pharma, cosmetics, food, FMCG, footwear and education sectors in India and abroad.
Harshal Pradhan, Director adds, " Our main offerings under the broader umbrella of manufacturing and business excellence identifying operational losses and wastages are and eliminating them through lean management, TPM/TQM, workplace management, safety excellence, health assessments, and competency enhancement training solutions ."
MABEC is empanelled by the Quality Council of India and National Productivity Council under MSME's lean competitive scheme by Govt of India.
The Team of Champions MABEC comprises highly qualified and experienced technocrats with professional qualifications in different areas of engineering and technology, such as production, mechanical, electrical, electronic, etc. and long practical experience in manufacturing and business excellence.
Many consultants have been trained at various Japanese Institutions such as the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance JIPM, JUSE (Union of Japanese Scientist and Engineers), and AOTS. The team members have long professional and industrial experience in lean management, TPM, workplace management, and Kaizen.
They combine dynamism, wisdom, and long practical experience in senior positions. D P Chattopadhyay, Director(TPM) shares, " Our highly qualified and trained consultants have a track record of converting their strong conceptual understanding into action for their associated organisations . We have Mr Samarendra Nath Roy,
India's Most strategic Business Consul ng Companies- 2022 Team MABEC -Rajendra Potdar(CEO & Founder) & D P Chattopadhyay(Director) receiving the BEST LEAN MANUFACTURING CONSULTANT BRAND OF THE YEAR Award -2021.Director(Consulting), Mr Sapan Bardhan, Director(OD), Mr Harshal Pradhan, Director(Manufacturing Excellence), and Mr Nityanand Parulekar, Director(ZED) in our team of champions. "
S N Roy, Director(Consulting) says, "We have spent a significant part of our professional life as engineers and managers. We faced huge problems more or less every day in our daily work management. We also realised that almost everyone in the organisation faced similar difficulties daily. Our daily problems triggered in a better way us to do things than we were already doing."
Once Martin Luther King said, " If I can't do great things, I can do small things in a great way ." Abraham Lincoln used to say, " I do the very best I know-how, the very best I can, and I mean to keep on doing so until the end ."
Both above quotes talk about the consistency of doing good work. Rajendra states, " We are what we repeatedly do; excellence then is not an act but a habit. " He simply means that doing a routine task consistently well is what MABEC excels at.
In Rajendra's words, " We started our pursuit of excellence ." There was a severe need to deep dive into the organisation to understand the current way of doing things to guide people in doing daily work management effectively with the help of various excellence initiatives.
He continues, " Slowly, our consistent way of doing good things became our passion. Hence, we ventured into the
field of business and manufacturing excellence consultancy and training ."
Since all manufacturing and business excellence initiatives required daily dedicated time from front line associates during their working hours, there were many challenges initially in convincing senior management to release people daily to ensure sustenance of the implementation gains.
Initially, all excellence initiatives started with tremendous momentum in companies, but later sustenance issues big cropped up. Rajendra explains, " So we had to struggle a lot initially to change the mindset of senior and middle management. But eventually, we were able to do that ."
According to Sapan Bardhan, Director(OD), the challenges of today are very different. For example, more and more workforces in large companies are becoming contractual. He the problem, and its solution, defines " Tremendous people are churning in industries nowadays, and when we massive efforts on competency building took of individuals, there used to be a sudden change of people, resulting in we having of to initiate re-training the new joiners. But now, we have our own developed strategies to overcome this challenge ."
Talking about the USPs of MABEC, Rajendra says, " We customise business solutions for our clients. We take a holistic approach to our client's business.
Our past results speak for themselves. We go deep into the mechanics of our client's business, and team members' rich ground-level experience helps.
On successful completion of two lean clusters successfully, the Quality Council of India and MSME DI, Govt of India of icials placed MABEC among the top ive clusters of Maharashtra.SapnKumar
MABEC received the 'Best Lean Manufacturing Consultant Brand of the Year' award in recognition of outstanding accomplishment in lean consulting at #TIME2LEAP AWARDS- MSME EDITION 2020-21.
Roy Samrendra Nath,Director (Consulting)
We handhold people at every level in the organisation. We inspire them to seek excellence with our guided path.
That is our USP. This makes MABEC stand out as the most strategic consultancy for businesses. Some of our clients have achieved the following significant tangible benefits:
On successful completion of two lean clusters successfully, the Quality Council of India and MSME DI, Govt of India officials placed MABEC among the top five clusters of Maharashtra.
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Quality Defects PPM - 50% reduction Ÿ
Space reclaimed for productive work – 10 to 15% Ÿ
Increase in inventory turnover - 10 to 20% Ÿ Reduction in manufacturing lead time - 5 to 30% Ÿ
Improvement in OEE – 10 to 25%
USP of this success was MABEC's unique approach to people development and employee engagement in all the organisation. That's why MABEC is successful in consulting many large and MSME organisations.
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Thousands of Kaizens are generated as a routine practice. Ÿ
Increase in productivity by 8-20%. Ÿ
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Millions of savings
Establishing good management systems/practices involving the total workforce and thus creating an environment of safety, high morale & quality consciousness ."
MABEC received the ' Best Lean Manufacturing Consultant Brand of the Year ' award in recognition of outstanding accomplishment in lean consulting at #TIME2LEAP AWARDS- MSME EDITION 2020-21.
Defeating the Pandemic Speaking about the impact of COVID-19 on MABEC, Rajendra says, " In fact, we are fortunate enough that we could help our clients even during the severe phases of the pandemic to create a strategy for adapting to the new normal.
At MABEC, We are what we repeatedly do; excellence then is not an act but a habit.
Harshal Pradhan, Director(Manufacturing Excellence)Nityanand Parulekar Director,ZED
We visualised the possible impact on the industry, designed an SOP for the new normal, circulated it across the sectors in April'2020, and conducted a series of virtual workshops for the first six months .”
As far as the efforts taken by MABEC during the pandemic to sustain its operations were tremendous. Rajendra says that supply chains were disrupted at the clients' end during the pandemic. The workforce had migrated back to their hometowns.
" So, they needed us even more badly to help them run the daily management smoothly. So, our operations were running. During restriction phases, we could facilitate the client companies virtually. We led our clients to adjust quickly to the new normal ," says Nityanand Parulekar, Director(ZED) in a satisfying tone.
As an established industry leader, Rajendra's first advice to the budding entrepreneurs and enthusiasts aspiring to venture into the business consultancy industry is ~ to not venture into business consultancy unless and until you have acquired sufficient domain expertise in the area in which you wish to start consulting business.
Apart from gaining domain expertise, it is also required to achieve business maturity, especially for dealing with senior management.
Business consultancy requires 24x7 passion, work ethics, dedication, and commitment. Therefore, Rajendra suggests that you venture into this area only if you are ready for this.
Transforming the Tomorrow Rajendra divulges about MABECs future mission: " We will be expanding our base in the competency enhancement areas. These are the much-needed vitamins for the industry to remain healthy, fit and fine. We have already created a Competency Excellence Model ' Manthan '. "
Finally, Rajendra concludes, " We are on a strong foundation in this area apart from our core offerings of lean management, organisational health assessments, safety excellence, manufacturing, and business excellence initiatives in a TPM/TQM way as per the organisation's need. We help transform people, and people transform their processes and organisation ."
Communication plays a pivotal role in driving the marketing process of any business organization. Companies those having developed their strong brand identity stand to leverage the respect of customers, positive brand perception, and higher recall value.
The branding efforts work in the long term to increase brand value through the series of branding activities conducted.
Business organizations have identified the importance and need for branding activities. A consistent brand-building process helps in stronger brand identity creation and attracts better customer inquiries and sales conversions. Let’s identify five effective brand-building strategies that are preferred by branding organizations.
We are in the modern age of digital technologies, where almost 90 percent of people use smartphones and social media. Hence branding the company offerings on digital media is most necessary. This plan implements all the digital mediums systematically and regularly.
•Complete communication is planned to highlight the products and their USPs in a smart and engaging series of branding activities.
•Developing a modern responsive and e-commerceenabled website.
•Regular branding campaigns to be run on the various social media platforms of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram the WhatsApp.
•YouTube videos made from the customer perspective focusing on product attributes in interesting stories enacted by impressive actors.
•SMS campaigns to be conducted
When the brand consultants identify that the client organization has its products or services catering to a vast multi-segment target audience, then they apply the smart option of implementing a media mix. This involves a proportionate weightage given to each medium that ensures a steady and rhythmic brand exposure to the target audience. It includes a golden combination of different media verticals of digital, direct branding, mass media, captive media, and electronic media, respectively. The objective is to reach out to a wider volume of audience, which is spread and exposed to different mediums. This will offer the possibility of …
•Reaching customers active in every media
•Reaching and reaffirming the brand message to the customer covered in more than two mediums
•Justifying the budget of the client organization in reaching out to a diverse and wider customer base.
•Empowers the branding analysts to review the branding efforts with respect to the efficacy of the mediums in parameters of exposure, reach, responses, inquiry generation, and sales conversion.
This branding is based exclusively on the brand positioning strategy. The branding company plans out the complete product qualities and virtues that need to be communicated systematically. The company research in detail to pinpoint the target audience and plan the branding activities.
It includes designing communication with focused strategies and targeting the end clients effectively. The sector-wise plan comprises the target customers, their circles of business communication, and areas of commercial relevance.
The captive mediums of specific events and exhibitions connect properly and logically to the niche target audience. Industrial roadshows rightly spread the branding efforts to make the entire exercise effective, thereby increasing customer engagement, feedback, inquiries, and closer to the deals too.
This branding strategy can be implemented with fixed client budgets. The branding of the company products is exclusively done in the contact points of the purchase, giving it the name Point-Of-Purchase (POP). The logic is to communicate promptly exactly at the point where the customer picks up the product that is to be purchased. The display shelves in supermarkets, malls, variety stores, etc.
The POP branding has the power to change the customer’s decision to opt for this branded product where the display shines out. The POP branding displays include shelf popups, electronic display boards, Handing danglers and banners, Colourful branding umbrellas, or even the full-size cut-out of the product.
The branding strategy here aims to convey the brand to a maximum number of the target audience in the fastest possible ways.
Print Media : Advertisements in Newspapers and magazines reach out to many readers in one effort. The effort helps in spreading brand awareness swiftly.
Electronic Media : TV and Radio commercials, talk shows, and interviews, aid in increasing the brand’s popularity and are known to generate decent inquiries too.
Outdoor Advertising : Hoardings in the prominent locations of the buzziest traffic squares, market areas, airport entry/exit gates, seating lobby, and bus panels.
Focused Digital Promotions : The marketing efforts in the SEO, Google AdWords, and Google AdSense through organic and paid campaigns have a massive reach across the globe through various customized branding activities.
The brand-building process is a long-term series of planned and consistent efforts which has a far-reaching impact.
Like growing a big tree, it needs efforts regularly to nurture by proper conditioning and taking care. Initially, the growth could be slower, but it steadily develops its identity and a striking memory in the customers and the industry as well.
As it gets counted as one of the prominent brands in the industry, the impact is visible through the rise in business associations, the surge in sales figures, and the loyal following of customers even during tough, uncertain scenarios.
- Kedar Borgaonkar
Value, Value Streams, Flow, Pull and Perfection are
the five fundamental principles of Lean Manufacturing. The Lean Manufacturing Principles aid organizations in generating maximum value for their customers along with maximum efficiency simultaneously.
The practical strategy when implemented offers manufacturing entities to improvise their offerings in a continuum. A helpful approach, the lean guides the company in the production process’s every stage including planning, designing, R&D, packaging, branding, and delivery.
However, implementing the Lean Manufacturing Principles is an arduous task. Any company serious about adopting it into their manufacturing process must either possess the prerequisite prowess or consult with one having the ability, talent, and expertis e.
In other words, it must seek advice from the Lean India Consulting Group (LICG) , a leading consulting group and the only organization in India exclusively consulting on Lean manufacturing
LICG is a division of 20 years old JCE Management Service Pvt Ltd , started by Dr Ashok Puri , the Managing Director (MD) , and a direct acolyte of Sensei Masaaki Imai- Kaizen Guru and later an associate of Mark Deluzio , and MD, India for Lean Horizons Consulting, USA . He is also former India Head of Kaizen Institute.
Dr Puri is trained by Asian Productivity Organization (APO) in Japan, in ‘Management Consultancy for Productivity Improvement.’ (1992,1997). He has a PhD in Manufacturing Excellence in Indian Industry. He has done his MBA from FMS, University of Delhi (1985) and his BSc in Mech Engg from the University of Delhi (DCE) (1974).
Dr Puri has been visiting faculty at various institutes like BITS Pilani for MS Program in Consultancy Management, Indraprastha University for its MBA Program, and the IAS Academy, LBSNAA- Mussoorie. He has researched, published, and presented many papers on Kaizen, Lean, Operations, Change Management, and Transformation.
Dr Puri has been involved in the MSMEs movement on Lean clusters in India for MSMEs and received the Best
Lean Consulting Organization award from the Ministry of MSME/NPC, Govt. of India, in April 2015.
Dr Puri shares, “ We excel in Manufacturing Excellence Training/Certification, Consulting and Execution of Lean Fundamentals as a part of SLIM, a proprietary program of LICG.
To our clients, we provide extensive in-house researched India-specific Lean Solutions. One such proprietary program of ours in Lean is SLIM. SLIM stands for ‘ Strategic Lean Integrated Manufacturing .’ We also call it a Strategic Movement on Lean .”
Lean India is an award-winning consulting company with a global presence, driven by the principles of Lean and helping organizations to drive Continual Business Excellence by Defining the Business Needs, Designing Strategy and Aligning Operations and Support functions with Strategy
Dr Ashok Puri is a globally recognized Management Guru; he is an Author, Engineer, academician, and philosopher, who has been exhorting his clients and students to examine and reassess their business practices by enabling a new vision. Moreover, he has been immensely contributing to various fields; like Kaizen, Lean Manufacturing, and Organizational Excellence. Dr Puri has also developed Micro-management models for better governance in organizations.
Recently, Lotus Hometextiles Ltd. , Punjab, appointed Dr Ashok Puri as an Additional Director of the company in the category of Non-Executive Independent Director on its Board.
In joint effort with IPACS, Australia, a Centre of Excellence is being conceived to start IOT based Smart Technology Consulting business in Water Resource Mgmt, Minning sectors.
Apart from being Lean India’s MD, Dr Puri had been also a member -of the executive committee – of IIPE (Indian Institute of Plant Engineers), Delhi and a member of the Advisory Council of GNA-IMT Management Institute Phagwara, Punjab.
He has been a former Chairman of the Delhi Chapter of IMCI, Institute of Management Consultants India and
part of its national executive council. He is also one of the known Consultants in Operations Management/Operations Excellence in India. He was also part of the expert team on the ZED program of Quality Council of India, QCI, GOI.
Dr Puri states, “ Besides the lean consulting, I am further involved in Mentoring Startups, Technology Transfer, JV consulting, M&A along with being a National Board Member – MSME Development Forum (Consulting Task Force) .”
On the personal front, he is actively involved with the large corporates and SMEs in India in Operations Excellence Consulting. He is a member of many important professional bodies like AIMA, LEI, IE, and ISHRAE. He is a keen Golfer, and a Tennis player, and practices Spiritualism.
Dr Puri adds, “ At Lean India, our mission is to Promote and Provide Solutions For Excellence in Business For : •A Productive Work Culture, •Improved Productivities, •Faster Results For A World Class Performance .”
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In Lean management, the LICG provides services like •Benchmarking •Consulting •Training •Certification •Strategy development •Sales growth •Cost Management •Supply chain excellence •Market awareness etc.
These services aids organizations in •Organization restructuring and turnaround, •New Business identification and technology backup, •Developing a business excellence framework for SMEs.
Dr Puri reveals, “ Clients choose us because we provide Supply Chain Optimization, Operations Optimization, New Product Development, Cost Management, Sales and Distribution, ” deploying tools like Hoshin X Matrix, Value Engineering, Value Stream Mapping, VSM.
Value Added Solutions:
Furthermore, Lean India offers Strategy Deployment through Factory Fundamental Activities (FFA), Continual
Excellence (CE) as part of SLIM, Management System Certifications – ISO 9001, 14001, 22000, TS 16949, OHSAS 18001, etc. – through our associates URS Certifications and also programs for Certification as Lean Practitioner, SLIM Practitioner, SLIM Coach, SLIM Champion, etc., and LICG also focuses on Work station Management (WSM), Operations Capability Index for Business Process Management, Customer Satisfaction, and Continual Excellence Leadership for MSMEs.
Application Software on Maintenance, Productivity, Quality, Audits are provided through its partner Opex Solutions, Pune. Smart mfg solutions like Data Analytics, IoT, Industry 4.0, etc., is also provided through Leanworks, Bengaluru (Bangalore).
LICG operates in sectors like Manufacturing, Auto, Eng, Food, FMCG, Process, Healthcare, Hotels, Pharmaceuticals, Chemical and Fertilizer, EPC Projects, IT/ITes, Financial Services, Service/Transactional, and Governments. Services are orgn size-neutral and can be provided to organizations of any size.
Dr Puri has also taken initiative to provide blended Quality Skill Education to young students in IT, Health and Aviation sectors through collaboration with edutech experts like Aptech, Virohan and Verandah, Acacia.
In a collaborative effort with Mr Kamal Singla of Lean Tycoon, plan is also to take up Payroll Services projects with Indian cos and commence BPO services for overseas cos. Efforts are on also to mentor, promote and support some good tech startups. Apart from SLIM and FFA, other programs include LEAP – Lean Engagement Accelerated Program, SEVA – Services Excellence through Value Addition, and LOFA – Lean Office Fundamental Activities. Lean Consultants Combine:
Dr Puri smiles, “ We are pleased to introduce Lean Consultants Combine , a unique concept initiated by Lean India Consulting Group .”
The SLIM approach has been specially designed by Lean India for Indian Cos., especially SMEs. “ Our clients have found this approach to be very effective in making their operations and organizational culture more productive ,” says Dr Puri adding, “Dabur , Highway (of Hero group ), Max Speciality Films, Majestic Auto, Bikano, Rockman, Centrient, Venus Tools, Hero Cycles, Trident, Shivam Auto, Temple, Omax Autos, Anmol Biscuits, GNA, Skipper Electricals are some of our clients who have benefited from this approach .”
At Highway Industries Ltd, interventions like Output Based Incentive OBI, COPQ reduction, Kaizen, SMED, and FFA have been successfully implemented with very positive results. Highway has also been mentored to win AtmaNirbhar awards of Excellence, Kaizen from ACMA, CII.
With its current resources, Lean India has been able to use SLIM in a limited way in North India and wants to extend the benefit of this approach to manufacturing units and also services units all over India. These units run in lacs in numbers all over India and are looking for such services.
Dr Puri feels, “ Consulting Costs being what they are today; it will not be possible for us to take up this challenge alone, as most clients want economical and affordable services. We have thus thought of creating a Lean Consultants Combine , which is now looking for like-minded management consultants, preferably specialized in Operations Management, spread all over India, and bring them to a common platform .”
Dr Puri’s counsel to the aspirants who are willing to venture into the field of consultancy is very appealing. He acknowledges that there are many professionals in the market who are tired of their existing routine jobs or are retired or are teaching in some Management Institutes. They are looking for doing something more exciting and challenging, which will not only give them financial security but also a sense of professional freedom, and selfrealization. As free and committed professionals, they will also be able to serve society as far as they can.
Dr Puri suggests, “ There are thousands of Individual consultants in the country, but according to our study, they are not satisfied with their current choices and are looking
for opportunities to belong to or be a part of a larger professional group and have better professional identification .” That’s what LICG is trying to provide.
The Consultants Combine will also give bigness to the organization which many clients cos are looking for, and thus consider only big cos for offloading the consulting assignments.
Another added benefit would be that of offering lower fees to the clients as the volumes will increase. Thus, it is low fee high volume model.
Dr Puri reveals, “ All over India, we are looking for consultants in each district of every state, say about 1000 of them .”
LICG will train and certify them as SLIM consultants/members. For this training and certification, a fee will be charged. Details can be provided to the willing candidates.
“ Consultants who can contribute to our knowledge bank or otherwise to our cause may be considered for a waiver of this fee to some extent. Those not keen to provide consulting can become our sales partners and provide sales leads for a fee if the lead is converted to business ,” says Dr Puri. Those who want to opt as part-timers can also join this platform.
LICG portal will provide all the marketing, and learning assistance to these certified members, including various software, on Factory Fundamentals; Asset Management; Quality, Productivity, SLIM tools etc., which it has developed in-house or outsourced.
A Lean Indian Industrial Future:
Based on the data in the territory of the consultant, the consultant will solicit business from the Industry from his assigned territory. Any consulting assignment shall be jointly executed by LICG and the consultant. The revenue fee shall be shared based on contributions/efforts between the Consultant and LICG, in a manner that leads to a win-win situation for the Client, the Consultant and LICG. Though standard terms will be worked out as a basis, each assignment shall be considered a unique case. The decision of LICG, however, shall be final and binding.
The Consultants Combines approach will provide more confidence to the clients in terms of capability. The consultants will have the advantage of getting all the knowledge under one roof
Dr Puri adds, “ Since there will be an all-India network of which you will be a part of, you will have the opportunity to add value by soliciting any other business as a part of their current specialization, to any other part of India .” This can create an additional revenue stream for the consultant as well as LICG.
Dr Puri concludes, “ We ensure the best results for maximum profits and accelerated growth. Thus, who would know the Lean Business better than us .”
Dr Ashok Puri lives in Delhi with his wife Neelam, who is a fashion designer. He has two daughters. Mehak, a media expert working with Amazon; Mahi, a Wildlife expert, who did her PhD from Florida State Univ, USA, and works there as a Research Scientist. His son Arjun looks after his Skill Education business.
Dr Puri is completing his book. ‘My thoughts on Kaizen and Lean,’ which shall be published soon. He is also starting a short video podcast series on Kaizen in daily life. For educating Indian masses on the benefits of the Japanese concept Kaizen. Students, working executives, housewives, professionals in any sectors, senior citizens will find the series immensely useful.
Business is the art of maintaining the crucial balance of various operations that support and complement the business objectives in sustaining the market conditions and growing steadily. As the famous saying “Change is the only constant. Those who change with time survive. Others who fail to change fall behind.”
Similarly, the business world is influenced and transformed by the digital revolution. All the new businesses are developed on the digital infrastructure already, making their breakthroughs steadily. It has become necessary for traditional business enterprises to transform into a digital environment as the industry has evolved completely.
The past glory of brand success does not work now in the new age digital environment with the young generation influencing the business dynamics. Let’s identify various strategies for transforming traditional businesses into modern digital enterprises.
Traditional businesses are based on manual paperwork with very limited computer usage. Identifying all the business departments for their functions and completely shifting the working from manual working to completely paper-less computer-based functioning. All computers are connected in a unified network with the data secured on common servers, thereby improving work efficiency, minimizing possible time delays, and ensuring the process. All the communication is carried out through emails, messaging, and the transfer of PDF documents.
Customized business software that has all the departments and their employees incorporated for
daily work in the centralized system. Every department works on its computer software system, which provides its own working interface where the users work and feed the data entries. Each department works to create a work requirement for the other, thereby working in a cyclic tandem.
The senior management team has access to each department and gets real-time updates on the work status. The system provides an automatically generate task list that guides the employees on what work to be done and enables them in quickly report generation. The next day opens with the system forming a newly updated work list with pending and new work tasks.
Gone are the old days of tele calling and making physical marketing visits, and relying on print collaterals. The modern digital age offers a vast scope of digital marketing, allowing companies to promptly reach out to customers across the globe in less than a minute. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) allows marketers to attract genuine customer traffic to the company website.
Social media platforms of Facebook, Twitter , and Instagram have offered free exposure to millions of users, allowing the companies in executing controlled and customized communication campaigns effectively. Moreover, the power of social media is in its viral marketing, where the happy and satisfied/impressed customers spread the company branding communication further ahead in their network. Social media has also helped in getting product feedback and developing lasting customer engagement.
Professional platforms like Linkedin have helped organizations in their professional brand-building and posting recruitment requirements for all their vacancies.
The latest security systems in blockchain technology, antivirus software systems, firewalls, and security protocols have helped in fortifying the computer network infrastructure. Installation of modern sensitive CCTV surveillance systems helps in tracking all the workplace areas for close check of the activities. Remote monitoring systems track the computers for their complete daily work with the list of sites accessed and time spent on each.
The work tasks of the human resource department can be easily streamlined under the HRMS software system. This modern cloud-based system provides a versatile dashboard covering employee attendance, work performance, workplace manners and etiquettes, leave records, interview schedules, induction, training, and development to the exit formalities. Apart from employee management, it also houses precise tracking of employee movements regarding attendance. The company entrance, floor entrance, and departmental entrance are secured with conditional access control that allows entry to specific personnel only. This helps in restricting access to unwanted individuals that could possibly create disturbance or safety issues in the workplace.
Emails are fast and can deliver a good volume of data within seconds. Heavy data files can be easily shared on File Transfer Protocol (FTP) servers across the world. Real-time video conferencing facilities save the time and money spent on traveling to various locations. Technology has brought the world closer and enabled seamless communication between people of different countries communicating in a joint conference.
Business enterprises have simplified the payment channels through safe, reliable, and secure online modes of digital UPI payments, direct bank transfers, Wi-Fi card transactions, and seamless mobile banking. The business transactions are made smooth in all the dimensions of customers, vendors, associates, employees, banks, and other sources. This has accelerated transactions across various segments boosting organizational growth through a secure and controlled channel.
Every business mode has its own period and changes with technological developments. Adapting to the latest trends makes the organization versatile, efficient, and productive in the futuristic business environment having tight competition, well-aware clientele, and a demanding market. Digitally advanced organizations are preferred and respected for their modern approach, thus steadily gaining in challenging conditions as well.
- Kedar Borgaonkar
Change is the only constant. Although you have heard this phrase several times, there was a need to repeat it here. In normal circumstances, you hardly notice that change occurring. But when it storms you suddenly in a pandemic situation, you feel its presence heightened by a million degrees. Such was its onslaught during the last two years that there was barely anyone left unaffected by it.
The Indian retail industry was one of them severely affected by it. Already fighting with the international eCommerce giants, it had no option but to innovate overnight—those who did not are there to tell the tale.
So, what was the difference between the emergent successful retail companies and those who failed completely ?
The answer is simple, Your Retail Coach (YRC) , the professional management consultant and one of the most satisfactory and outstanding global brand managers of businesses .
Today, under the extraordinary leadership of Nikhil Agarwal , Founder and Chief Operations Officer (COO) and Dr Rupal Shah Agarwal , Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) , YRC is upgrading the definition of business management consultancy.
Nikhil's answer is, " Outstanding people have one thing in common: An absolute sense of mission. What makes you tick us? A ceaseless drive to achieve greatness .”
At YRC, a company based out of Pune, Nikhil, Rupal and their team do this with style, alacrity, and a dauntless spirit. And coffee. Lots of coffee
Nikhil elaborates, " We always strive for your success and our own. But we don't just give it away. We are always challenging ourselves to learn, and our retail business consulting services help our clients write their own success stories .”
Nikhil has done his Master's in international business and Finance from the United Kingdom. After choosing to return from the UK to India, Nikhil started working on the idea of
SOP as a service. His vision and insightful perspective of 'making business process orientated' continue to steer YRC's services and solutions.
Dr Agarwal, a medical doctor by qualification, associated with Nikhil in his dream project and together, as couplepreneurs, they founded YRC. She brings the expertise, drive and agility for strategic novelty and collaboration.
Nikhil conveys, " Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm. As management consultants, we hand-hold our clients for their entire journey from the inception of an idea to the conceptualisation of the business and execution of the operations. In retail consulting, we suggest to them the best practices of the industry, which eventually helps in scaling up stronger and faster !"
It is this enthusiasm with which YRC is already guiding companies like Hyundai, Future Group, Aditya Birla's Grasim and Hindalco, Raymond, Crosswords, PNG Jewellers, Anand, and many more bigwigs from different industries and sectors.
Nikhil was speaking with Insights Success for its edition of 'India's Most Strategic Business Consulting Companies2022,' detailing the journey, a ten-year-old exemplary success story, and how he is planning to expand the brand of YRC in the future.
Let us find it out.
Please tell us about YRC in detail
YRC is a management consultancy brand in the retail and eCommerce space specialising in retail business operations, expansion and management services. Founded in 2010, YRC has served more than 500 clients across 20+ verticals.
As an emerging global brand, YRC has a service presence in India, the Middle East, and South Africa, with more expansion plans in the pipeline.
Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is our flagship service where the objective is to help our retail and eCommerce clients become process-oriented enterprises with robust operations cutting across channels.
A vast majority of retail businesses in India have been and continue to be in the unorganised sector. Enterprises in this category are typically characterised by the vulnerability of business models, lack of sound business planning, undefined operations, unexplored growth and expansion potential, dearth of emphasis on customer experience, no strong improvements in services for years, etc.
Ten years back, these characteristics were even more profound. There existed a gap between potential and realisation of that potential. YRC was started with the vision of bridging this gap and helping retail businesses modernise and upgrade themselves for sustainability, growth and expansion.
What was your inspiration behind venturing into the field of business consultancy?
As an emerging global brand, YRC has served more than 500 clients across 20+ verticals and has a service presence in India, the Middle East, and South Africa with more expansion plans in the pipeline.
“ “
Rupal Shah Agarwal, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer (CSO)
What were the initial challenges after venturing into the business consultancy niche, and what are the challenges now?
About ten years back, when the journey of YRC began, the biggest challenge in front of its founders was that of perception. Two young entrepreneurs wearing the badge of 'management consultants' started meeting other businessmen and businesswomen running their businesses for years and decades. Scepticism was high. But once these experienced business owners could see through why there was a need for a change in perspective and adoption of new ways of working, they were willing to take their business out of their cosy zone.
Coming to the present times, technology continues to be a potentially disruptive force for businesses and industries worldwide. It affects the services and solutions that business consultancy firms have to offer. The next giant technological leapfrog is around the corner. It could be some AI-based application, smell sensors, full-scale commercialisation of drones, blockchain, or something else.
In SOP consulting, the reluctance among many traditional retail enterprises to embrace process management and SOPs in their business continues to be a major roadblock. Without a strong sense of self-realisation of the significance of SOPs, it is difficult for consultants to convince companies to move in that direction. The true benefits of SOPs cannot be achieved if the spirit and seriousness in the adherence to SOPs are missing within an organisation.
What USPs make YRC stand out as the most strategic consultancy for businesses?
YRC is a decade old consultancy brand that has worked with and provided value-based business solutions and services to 500+ retail and eCommerce clients. YRC has worked with various retail brands and businesses, from start-ups to large conglomerates.
The services and solutions are customised for each client to suit their unique requirements and specifications. The focus is always on creating practically implementable solutions so that they do not just remain on the papers.
As an emerging global brand, it remains our endeavour to keep the quality of our services at par with international standards.
From a business perspective, what is your opinion on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the business consultancy niche?
Albeit in an unfortunate, disguised form, COVID-19 proved to be a wake-up call for businesses. It showed how quickly the business environment can plunge into uncertainty; how quickly 'competing with business rivals' could change into
'fight for your own survival .' The dependence on a singlechannel strategy proved too costly to many businesses.
As a result of the lockdowns and other restrictions, businesses realised the need to adopt digital transformation. A large number of brick-and-mortar retail businesses sought to go omnichannel. There was a heightened emphasis on digital marketing and digital customer experience.
ECommerce players strongly felt the need to realign their supply chain and distribution strategies with a greater focus on localisation. Business consultancy services had to rise to the occasion and improvise services and solutions in the backdrop of an altered business environment.
As an established industry leader, what would be your advice to the budding entrepreneurs and enthusiasts aspiring to venture into the business consultancy industry?
Whether you are selling a product or service, one thing that does not change is the importance of the 'value' offered to customers and clients. If you are selling umbrellas, your umbrellas should be able to deliver the 'value' for which your customers are buying your products. You must figure out what that value is.
If a product has no value or fails to deliver the intended value, that product requires some serious reconsideration. If you are a business consultant, the same principle applies. Your services must be of meaningful 'value' to your clients. They must solve the business problems and address the pain points. If you cannot provide a solution, you need to be transparent with your clients about it. Business consultancy is not about offering what you can consult on.
How do you envision further strengthening YRC's stronghold in 2022 and beyond? In the next 2-3 years, our emphasis will be on helping clients adopt digital transformation in their businesses. Here, the market regions in question are Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. We shall continue to upgrade and improvise our services and support areas in this regard.
From concept to implementation assistance in adopting digital transformation, our services will be curated for eCommerce and D2C startups, adopting multichannel/omnichannel strategy and modernising traditional B2B and B2C businesses.
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