70% of Indian automobile sales will be digitally influenced by 2020

Vantage point: Insights from cutting-edge research

Almost 70 per cent of Indian automobile sales or $40 billion will be digitally influenced by 2020, compared with $18 billion today. This is according to a Bain & Company and Facebook report, “Changing Gears 2020: How Digital is Transforming the Face of the Automotive Industry”. The report, which looks at the impact of digital technologies on the automotive industry, finds that digital engineering, 3D printing, smart sensors and the Internet of Things are poised to disrupt R&D, manufacturing, sales, marketing and after-sales services. Social media will influence about 40 per cent of sales valued at $23 billion by 2020, up from 20 percent of sales today. “As digital technologies cause disruption across the value chain from manufacturing to after sales service, rules of the game are changing and opportunities and threats are emerging for auto makers. Players from outside the traditional industry are witnessing rapid growth world over. It is important to evolve the business model to tap into shifting profit pools,” said Karan Singh, MD, Bain & Company India.

Gap between tech investments and expectations among Asia-Pacific CEOs

Asia-Pacific CEOs expect productivity in their organisations to increase 24 per cent by the end of 2018, with revenue (cited by 26 per cent of respondents) and profitability (15 per cent) as the top two metrics of success, according to Gartner, Inc.’s 2017 CEO survey. However, the survey uncovers a gap between what they want to achieve and where technology investments are being made.

To achieve such aggressive productivity gains, Asia-Pacific CEOs believe that conventional technologies (cloud, ERP, analytics and CRM) will help them, rather than technologies that support digital transformation (digital environments, blockchain, the Internet of Things, robotics, artificial intelligence and 3D printing). This is despite their awareness and understanding of the major impact that these key digital business technologies will have on their industry. The problem is that Asia-Pacific firms aren’t moving fast enough to capitalise on potential as seek to increase profit margins while maintaining sales growth, said Partha Iyengar, VP and Gartner Fellow.

A majority of Indians seek greater support from HR departments for flexible workers

A recent survey by American corporation Polymer challenges the notion of going to work as we know it with nearly two-thirds (62 per cent) of the global population quite literally working from anywhere. The Polycom Anywhere Working study captures insights from more than 25,000 of the working population including over 2,100 from India.

In India, 91 per cent of companies offer flexible working arrangements for their workers. Despite this, 63 per cent respondents to the survey believe their human resources departments need to give more support to flexible workers. Clear guidelines would be welcome as a way to ensure everyone is enjoying the benefits responsibly and fairly. Also, 51 per cent respondents said they use video multiple times a day to collaborate with others for work, while 98 per cent believe this technology is important for improving productivity when teams are based in different locations. This result is not surprising given 86 per cent of the working population in India have a colleague based in a different location.