INTERVIEW | Right now, digital disruption is on every CXO’s mind: Tiger Tyagarajan, CEO, Genpact

Digital transformation is changing the traditional technology outsourcing business. Genpact, one of India’s largest business process management companies, says it is uniquely positioned to cash in on the change.

In an email interaction with Moneycontrol, Genpact CEO Tiger Tyagarajan talks about the opportunities, challenges and impact of its digital strategy.

Edited excerpts:

How has Genpact’s business model changed in the past couple of years?

We now have two routes to market: the first is Intelligent Operations and the second is digitally- enabled Transformation Services.

As the market continues to rapidly evolve, and a number of our clients in every industry attempt to transform themselves by leveraging new digital technologies and analytics, we have rapidly changed as well.

The BPM market, where we have deep domain and process expertise, is now more and more embedded with digital technologies in the delivery of services. That’s what we call Intelligent Operations, so it is BPM that leverages digital technologies such as robotic process automation (RPA), AI and machine learning, and cloud-based dynamic intelligent workflow technologies.

At the same time, we are taking these capabilities and solutions into our clients’ businesses and operations to consult with them and help them drive transformation in their business – that’s our Transformation Services business.

We are finding that the more we grow our traditional Intelligent Operations, the more we can compete and win digitally-led transformational work. At the same time, the more we win and grow our digitally-led solutions, the more opportunities open up to win long-term Intelligent Operations engagements.

Where do you see maximum growth opportunity?

Right now, digital disruption is on every CXO’s mind.

In this sense, we are driving a razor-sharp focus on our digital investments, which are aligned to client needs, resulting in high return on investment.

Most importantly, we are leveraging our deep understanding of domain and process, so we are building our capabilities in key service lines through investments in talent, technology, partnerships, and acquisitions.

Our focus is on co-innovating and partnering with clients to make them successful in their transformation journeys.

Our strategy of honing in on a specific set of chosen industry verticals and service lines, where we have deep domain and process expertise, coupled with our investments in digital and analytics capabilities, has positioned us very well to be that strategic transformation partner.

We believe this is opening up what continues to be a hugely underpenetrated market.

We are seeing huge traction in banking, insurance, consumer products and retail, life sciences and healthcare, industrial machinery, and hi-tech -- in all our chosen verticals.

How much of the business is voice based, and what are the other areas it is now focusing on?

Genpact has always had very limited pure voice services. Our business has always dealt with complex processes in banking, insurance, or high-end finance and accounting, supply chain, and analytics in all of these areas.

Furthermore, client demand today is shifting from pure voice to omni-channel services (across IVR, email, chat, web, social media) which is where we are focusing on building capabilities as well.

Which geographies are you most focused on?

The geographies we are focused on are primarily the developed markets where our clients are based: United States, UK/Western continental Europe, Australia, and Japan.

From an operating footprint perspective, it is India, China, Philippines, Eastern Europe, Latin America and onshore in the US, UK, Japan, and Australia as well for high-end work.

How is automation working to the advantage of BPM providers?Digitisation, AI, and other emerging technologies are forcing companies to rethink the very way that they operate and serve their customers. The most successful companies are the ones who adjust their strategies – and cultures – in real time to reflect current needs and upcoming trends.

We have been building and refining our digital strategy for our business over the last four years and a year ago we launched Genpact Cora, our comprehensive automation to AI platform, which is being extremely well received in the marketplace – Genpact has implemented Genpact Cora more than a thousand times, and we run billions of transactions through the platform.

Its new help visualise and streamline workflows from the customer’s point-of-view to enable journey-driven transformation that connects the front, middle, and back-offices.

Leveraging Genpact Cora, we are demonstrating our ability to deliver increasing value to our clients across all of our chosen verticals.

Genpact’s deep domain expertise and the experience of running processes for clients for many years positions us well to identify opportunities which are most ripe for automation.

As certain business processes get automated through technology, we are able to move employees to higher level roles through reskilling.

So, we are experiencing industry-leading growth rates in our Global Client BPM business.

How has the skill profile at Genpact changed with the onset of automation?

As work moves toward man plus machine, the critical workforce skills will evolve from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineeging and Mathematics) to STEM plus.

Math, science and data analytics will still have a huge role to play, but as machines do more of that work, it will have little value without the human connection of creativity, emotion, judgment, and relationships.

However, preparing the workforce to succeed in the era of man and machine will require companies and individuals to commit to reskilling programmes and retraining employees, which is what we’ve been doing at Genpact by offering programs around AI, RPA, data science, and other key areas that add more value to our client work.

AI as a technology solves only half of the equation – we believe it must be contextualised in the domain of an industry and the respective business process. And it is the intersection of AI and domain knowledge that is becoming the core driver of our success. Up-skilling in digital is necessary, but at Genpact, we are also focusing on both up-skilling and hiring talent to build domain expertise, leadership, and consultative skills.