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Rising Significance of Digital Transformation in Changing Times

The adage, "Difficult times often bring out the best in people," has never been more accurate than it is today. It is true of organizations as well. From March 24, 2020 - the day India first went into lockdown - to date, people's struggle has been against the second wave of COVID-19. While we suffered a huge loss of lives and employment due to a total shutdown of businesses and marginal entrepreneurs going almost bankrupt, India proved its resilience to a large extent and stood firm on solid fundamentals.

Talking about resiliency, no one anticipated the longevity of the shutdown. Although business continuity is intended to deal with and withstand changes, continuing operations remotely for a prolonged period was unprecedented and unheard of. After 3 to 4 months, many organizations found themselves at crossroads, especially those that weren't technologically mature and progressive. The biggest goal that every business had to accomplish was to enable the entire workforce to work from home. It was not an ordinary task as it had multiple challenges, including lift and shift of computer hardware, providing connectivity, creating a safe corridor for data to travel, and ensuring mobility on the go.

Organizations that returned to work without much friction had a vision for the future and were already at an advanced stage of their digital transformation journey. These organizations took the least time to not only bounce back to work but also serve their customers, employees, partners, dealers and other ecosystem players without many compromises on the customer or employee experience front.

Tata Steel, whose motto is "we also make tomorrow," is one such organization with strong digital fundamentals. It operates in 26 countries, with commercial presence in over 50 countries and employees across five continents.

Sarajit Jha, chief of business transformation and digital solutions, Tata Steel, spoke about the heightened importance of digital transformation in the changing times.

Jha also provides an insight into Tata Steel's digital transformation journey and its preparedness in crisis management.

"It's very important to make a distinction between the two interchangeably used words - simple and easy. I follow Einstein and feel most things are simple. Things can be as simple as they are, not any simpler," Jha says.

This article was previously published on the DynamicCIO website on May 26, 2021.