Cynthia Rodrigues

The innovation labs of TCS demonstrate to customers the miracles
achievable by technology

If seeing is believing, the innovation labs of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) are doing a fabulous job of convincing potential and current customers of the heights that their businesses can achieve.

These domain labs focus on the business of the customer. The idea is to leverage technology to focus on customers’ problems in various fields. TCS currently has two labs in Chennai: one for retail and the other for transportation, travel and hospitality. Other labs include those for media and entertainment, and automotive technologies. TCS is planning to introduce more labs for insurance, banking, government and health care.

The labs for retail and transportation, travel and hospitality are a showcase, demonstrating how technology can enhance the value of the customer’s business. K Ananth Krishnan, chief technology officer, TCS, says, “The idea is to take our technologies in each of these areas, whether wireless, RFID, infrastructure management etc, and use them to showcase our capabilities and as idea generation spaces. You can test a lot of those ideas in ‘real life’ in these spaces.”

Pratik Pal, head, Retail CPG Practice and Solution Delivery, concurs. Delighted with the response to the Smart Store, he says, “Customers are looking for next-generation initiatives which spell innovation for them. There is no alternative to actually seeing these initiatives. So we decided to create a lab to showcase the latest technologies. It is a place where clients can be provoked into thinking jointly with TCS.”

Some of those technologies could have been presented in a conference-room setting. But the impact would have been considerably lesser. When customers see the technologies in the Smart Store, they are enthused and encouraged to imagine how their own ventures might benefit.

Smart shopping
The TCS retail lab looks at three main areas, namely customer shopping experience, store manager’s efficiency and operational efficiency of the store. The team considers how the problems in each of these areas may be solved by the use of technology.

The team studies ways in which to use technology to enhance the shopping experience for the customer. Traditionally retailers have used technology in back-end areas such as supply chain management, transportation of goods from the warehouses to the stores, replenishment, etc. Few retailers have been forward-thinking enough to introduce technology in the front end of the store, except at the point of sales.

Ananth Krishnan says, “Our labs conduct a lot of personalised customer behaviour analysis. Our strength lies in understanding the market, the customer and the domain, in addition to being proficient in the technology.”

The retail lab team believes that there is a lot of potential to use technology in the front end of the store. Some of these innovations are concerned with faster check-outs, locating products at the store, a reminder of things that the customer might want to buy, based on his buying list on two or three earlier occasions. Customers could also intimate the store of things that are out of stock or request for assistance.

Technology could also be used to offer mobility solutions to improve the store manager’s efficiency. Store managers need to have a lot of information at their disposal. Even though this information is available on computer, it is not of much use as the store manager has to move around the store constantly and cannot always access his computer. Providing this information either on a handheld device or a mobile phone would enhance operational efficiency considerably. The team has also taken into account issues such as inventory management and replenishment, workforce scheduling and planning, etc.

The results were soon evident. Awed by a demonstration of the possibilities, customers got over their inhibitions, and entered into more detailed discussions with TCS. The company’s familiarity with the domain also enhanced their confidence in its abilities.

The services that the retail lab renders to customers are concerned with facilitating the complex business of shopping both for the retailer and the shopper. They are solutions to problems that the retailer might face. Pal clarifies, “We have three kinds of initiatives, Run the business, Change the business and Innovation. Run the business includes help on maintaining the operations, running the data centres, the applications and the point of sales, etc. It is intended to ensure that all applications are running seamlessly. In the second initiative, we want to become a trusted business advisor and make a difference in terms of how the client’s business will look tomorrow. Innovation demands thought leadership, both in business and technology areas.”

Assuming a position of trust, however, demands that TCS’s inputs be imbued with domain expertise and competence. Unless clients believe that TCS understands their business and its implications, they are not likely to trust TCS’s judgement.

The retail lab people have three kinds of skills. These are software skills, including program management, architecture, process adherence skills, business analysis skills, to understand the needs of retail and translate it into requirements for IT, and consulting skills, to work with the retailer on new ideas and innovations.

A deep relationship focus, domain expertise and forward thinking are crucial for gaining the client’s confidence. Pal says, “They need to see you as a credible and forward thinking player in retail.”

New ideas coupled with customer centricity drive the innovation programme of retail, forming the base on which it thrives. This customer centricity can only arise when the TCS retail team can intuitively understand the needs of the industry. An industry perspective, therefore, becomes crucial since it enables the team to understand the demands of the retail industry as also the pressures that key personnel, such as the store or category managers, labour under, the challenges they face and the decisions they must make.

Most importantly, they are able to impress upon the customer that they are as comfortable with business issues as they are with technology. This is especially necessary as TCS is often seen as a purely technology company. Customers need to be assured that TCS understands their business challenges.

The retail lab offers clients a range of solutions for the back office and front office. This includes logistics, warehouse management, replenishment, the point of sales, the interface, loyalty programmes, etc.

In the Indian context, the attempt is to induce Indian retailers to adopt the best practices and business processes practised internationally. Indian retailers are intrigued by the fact that TCS works with some of the most well-known retailers abroad and are anxious to benefit from its experience. There is also a growing realisation that a well-kept store with advanced IT systems and cost-effective inventory translates into efficiency and profits.

Currently the retail lab has a number of satisfied clients, both in India and abroad, and the list is steadily growing. Pal says, “We work hard to sustain our success. The challenge lies in interpreting their requirements right. Usability is another issue. We do a lot of prototypes and also spend a lot of effort on change management.”

With organised retail poised to grow in this country, the retail lab is confident of its role in altering the landscape of Indian retail.

Travel smart
The Travel, Transportation and Hospitality (TT&H) lab of TCS is flying high. The lab promises to manage the whole travel experience, making it richer for both customers and service providers. The aim is to use technology to streamline the clients’ business processes, solve their problems and ensure higher productivity and business innovation.

The margins in travel operations generally leave very little room for R&D and innovation. This is where the lab can make true value addition, enabling clients to save on technology investment costs while benefiting from technology. It can deploy solutions ahead of time, get clients to experience them and see how they can be relevant to their business. Additionally, it can offer clients access to domain experts, business process analysts, technology specialists and its R&D team. The lab is also designing solutions in e-services, revenue accounting, fare-filing and distribution as well as targeting customer marketing.

In doing so, the lab has distinguished itself from other labs that showcase technology established by other companies. At the TT&H lab, the focus is on business transformation, not technology.

Already 35 clients, including British Airway, Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Ginger hotels have availed of the TT&H experience in their businesses. G Raghavan, head, TT&H Practice, says, “We have put these three industries together because there is a lot of commonality in them. A hotel property and a seat on a plane are both perishable in terms of availability at a given time. There is a lot of synergy between transportation, travel and hospitality.” Similarities also exist in terms of the framework and the logistics.

The lab has currently signed up to develop Mumbai and Cochin airports. The deal, which will include all the software and allied products that are given for the use of the airlines by the airport authority, will be a spectacular display of the volume and depth of the lab’s domain knowledge.

This domain knowledge serves as the lab’s calling card. Raghavan says, “Our focus is on how to position ourselves on the thought leadership aspect and get a mindshare to show our domain expertise. Our solutions will showcase our expertise in terms of using technology to innovatively solve business problems.”

The ideas emerging from the lab stem from the use of technology to solve the business problems faced by the travel, transportation and hospitality industries. Accordingly, the people working in these labs have strong business and technology skills. In addition, the lab often takes help from certain industry people who act as consultants.

The people who understand the domain completely serve as business analysts. Their role is to draw from their business knowledge whenever the labs try to create solutions for specific business problems.

Sriram Chattyvish, associate consultant, clarifies, “Our core strength lies in understanding the technology and other verticals. There are a lot of concepts that we can apply, knowing how other industries work. Some of those solutions may need fundamental changes before they can be reused.”

Inputs may be offered in terms of a product or a piece of code within a framework that is already existent. Solutions could take the form of a platform for hospitality-related clients or a code for fulfilling a set of functionalities. The labs sell products and also develop applications.

Training also features as part of the purview of the lab. Domain training is offered for those who want to work as business analysts, besides technology training for the industry and training for IATA technologies and business initiatives.

With more and more players entering the travel, transportation and hospitality segments, clients are realising that when it comes to sky-high success, TT&H lab could well be the wind beneath their wings.

Uploaded in July, 2007