Business Innovation and Diversification What next, Where Next

If you are a company who has been doing great in your business, but suddenly find that the core business has been disrupted by competition or there is a sudden drop in demand due to a smarter kid on the block, or you are stuck with the what next or where next question for incremental revenue in geometric progression. Then you have come to the right person having hands on experience in putting your organization back in track.

I have been successful in ideating and executing real time strategy in multiple industries by using innovation as a tool for turnaround.

New category exploration and expansion

A Thread company that was in far No:2 rank in the country, in the garments and the tailoring segment, got a new lease of life and started off a New Greenfield project, when we decided to explore and expand into special purpose threads for the Leather industry, Automobile seating and Covers, Canvas for multiple applications, aluminum industry , Packaging industry etc. Ask Me How?

Pure Play Diversification

The next is the Ideation and Pan India Execution of taking a pure play Market Leader in Sanitary ware to the next level of owning up everything inside a bathroom and becoming a major player in the building material industry. Was instrumental in establishing from idea to execution of diversifying it to a Major Player in the faucets and bathroom accessories segment which ensured that the company grew from current to 10X. The small idea that was executed gave the courage to this corporate to get into multiple segments thereafter.

Strategic Collaboration Gone Awry and Market Re-Entry Strategy

Playing the role in converting, a major Automotive specialty raw material company from being a contract manufacturer of automotive grade tubing, doing business vide the International distributor network, to an automotive component manufacturer dealing directly with the OEM’s and their component makers vide establishing a Value addition center and also establishing Overseas operations.

Business Re-modelling

A software company taken over by a Electronics and Engineering group because it came at good deal in terms of infrastructure is converted to Portal for E-Auction of Metal Scrap and related material. But the management wanted to monetize the same as it was yet to pay back the value at which it was acquired. After studying the relevance of the product in scenario the group was operating, a project was presented to diversify it into an asset management Vertical.

Creating A B2C Company inside a pure Play B2B Corporate

A major player in the Indian facility management industry with 26000 plus employees who were catering to all major companies in the country was wondering how they could improve their EVA. With increased competition and diminishing returns they were wondering what could improve their Net Margins. Implemented the Project of setting up a B2C vertical by using the existing infra and manpower thereby doing a 10X growth and also improving net margins to triple digit percentages.

Cases PQRST And Many More

Land Bank to organic farming or Completely Out of the World ideas as a German Machine testing and calibration equipment company that were enabling a lot of major consumer goods brands and wanted to see if they could expand to b2c business where the margins and the future lies. A project after studying their existing capabilities to enter the Consumer Market was designed.

Be the Phoenix – Turnaround or RISE

There is only one great medicine to the current challenges in today’s super dynamic scenario, that’s innovation. Innovation of products, Innovation of Markets, Innovation of process, Innovation in reaching the consumers or businesses alike. So turnaround means identify and discontinue the wrong ways and Innovate to ensure the speed. My experience will aid JCIA do this job very efficiently.

A few projects I have personally anchored.

First Time Automobile category Introduction

The assignment involved implementing, mindset change and category creation in a segment that never existed in two wheelers segment. When two wheelers were more a Unisex category a new mode of transport predominantly only targeting Woman called Scooterrettes was introduced. This was a change management initiative wherein we had to create a need for a sex specific transport and break the taboos that existed in India that existed in that category at that time. The journey was awesome and we pulled it of in great style paving a great change in the way woman commuted and also provided independence to the aspiring womanhood.

Sanitary ware to Complete bathroom experience

This was a project which transformed a pure Sanitary ware player to venture into a completely new product segment unknown to them till then. This paved way for the company to turnaround from a stagnated market share and turnover to a blue ocean that enabled a 10x growth going forward. The project involved ideation, strategy , greenfield plan, go to market planning , and Pan India Execution and Operations therein.

Predatory Competition and Market Revival in North America

An Indian Company in Specialty Automotive tube manufacturing having a global presence and that made great inroads to the world’s largest Automobile market North America, was found to be a threat to a Global Market leader in the segment. He Global player lured the Indian Player into an agreement where they would be the marketers of the product, and the Indian co the contract manufacturer. It was too late when the Indian company realized that this was a strategy by the Market leader to ensure that Indian Company’s inroads are weakened and sales slowed down. That ended up in losing their export turnover to the tune of 70 % and the Indian Company withdrew from the agreement.

The turnaround initiative which involved regaining the markets lost due to the decision of abstaining in direct exports was the project. The Project of MOU withdrawal and Market reentry to North America which comprised 70% of the total company turnover was successfully implemented by changing the profile of the company from a raw material manufacturer to a Component ready company and also changing the customer profile of the company by diversifying into New customer base which included Non-automotive customers thereby de-risking the entire company from Industry specific market shocks.

From Dingy Cycle Shops to A Pan India Retail Network

A The transformation project of a Bicycle company that impacted its consumer experience , product mix, profitability, investor networth and brand image in a disruptive way starting with mere 100 sqft branding space in workshops to completely exclusive brand stores selling merchandise ranging from toddlers to the aged alike. A pan India network of 600 plus COCO,COFO, FIFO stores.

Traditional Channels to handholding into Modern Retail

Supply Chain, across the Indian Sub-continent by enabling entry to Future Group, Reliance Retail, Hypercity, Big Bazaar, Mom and Me, Beanstalk,

Indian Market International Brands in organized sector

A Phoenix project that enabled the extension of a Mass Brand to enter into the super premium category by tying up with the Best International cycling brands in the world and bringing them to India and enabling sales by setting up and Exclusive chain of Super premium stores.

Facility Management company to Tech Company

from the scratch project for a major traditional facility management B2B market leader for setting up a consumer services vertical in Home services segment using technology as its base. Lead a cultural change by making a facility management company think like a software technology company . This Involved the setting up of a Mobile App , Dashboard and a dynamic functional Booking system for a one touch Home service Market place.

Market Disruption

Being In the Leadership team of a Unicorn Start-UP with a disruptive idea of revolutionizing the way Taxis got booked in the country from on call to pure App booking anywhere anytime Taxi . Was instrumental in MARKET DISRUPTION in the oldest taxi market in the country BY dismantling the old ways of Taxi booking game changing strategy. The entire set up from the customer relationship team to operations and Marketing was set up in a matter of a few months. The disruption of the toughest market saw the company adopting similar strategy to enter new cities and was once the most valued company in that space.

Circular Economy Project

Enabling Circular Economy for an Electronic manufacturing and servicing company. The devising of a complete Electronic recycling project from Collection, Conversion, and Disposal to landfill.

Product / Brand Innovation

Ask me how I created the foundation of brands and product market problems by bringing in Innovation as a tool in every step of Strategy and Implementation. Because of the biased love for your own product, idea or brand, you might land up not being able to see that small change in approach that can bring in great results and add greater value your product could give the end user.

At times Abundance of resources can create lack of focus because of lack of constraints, and that’s when we stop innovating and become white elephants. Ask me how we could wake a few of them and make them run for their worth.

You can act like a big conglomerate having products in multiple industry segments which sell to a similar channel, but fail to recognize the beauty of your own strengths due to inability to synchronize your strengths to your advantage. Cultural immaturity, or lack of Cross-industry innovation capabilities can be basic reasons. I have implemented such Cross industry innovation from fmcg to automobile, to building material, to automotive companies to cycling Industry and Health and fitness and IOT. Ask me how?

Be it brand naming , brand design , color schema, imagery, packaging design, brand hierarchy, I have put the greatest Ad agencies in the world, to Work sensibly grounded to product market realities without, just taking you on a trip of dreams. Have been there and done it. Ask Me How ?

A great product without a proper marketing and branding strategy will stand to Bomb despite best efforts in being a process oriented company. Market research is the key to understanding where and how to innovate at the behest of the customer. Appointing a Market research agency or churning out market analytics from a software is the easiest of everything as unless you have expertise to know what information you seek from the market. Yes I have that real expertise for multiple industry segments.

Product Stories are important part of making inroads into new markets and categories specifically when you are a late entrant. PR agencies will do the placement, but a passionate product story can be only written best by its creator. Have donned the role of a creator in multiple product categories so that the money I spent on PR be it digital, or offline yielded bucks for the reach.

Redesigning, Rebranding and repositioning to face of competition and changing customer expectations is another area We excel.

An existing product offering in an existing market always needs the support of USP’s to survive and make inroads to a crowded market, we have done this too. USP’s can be created by smart innovative product design, packaging design, brand experience, categories targeted etc. We’ve been there and done it too

Aiding Workflow Innovation, Functional Thinking and Automation

From the excel sheet we have evolved to workflow charts and then we have automated the workflow charts to developing algorithms which is taking us to the next stage of evolution, using IOT to Artificial Intelligence. What’s common to all this something which we possess is Intelligence to reflect on human intelligence and the urge to understand why it exists and behaves in a certain manner? If you are looking to improve operational efficiencies by buying software while not understanding how the process works in the real world, then you need to talk to us .

I have been lucky to played a thought contributor role in the process of business evolution where I have deeply understood and analyzed the process from the seed stage of ideation through the more complex processes of project management, Product management, Innovation, Digital Marketing, GTM, manufacturing, Sales, Marketing, recruitment, training and development, software development, performance management, OKR & Business Metric formulation, e commerce, or be it Company Policy management.

JCIA has an edge here as we have been there and done it, all through the third and fourth industrial revolution.

These are a few done list !

Designing and Providing Inputs to set up the Consumer Interface infrastructure and intelligence and aiding to transformation a B2B IOT devices company to B2C with Ai driven Consumer oriented company

Designing a complete suite of Mobile App, Web App, Analytics Dashboard and Backend for an Online Market Place offering all home services and maintenance services. This involved challenging the set norms of a large size facility management company to think like a Software technology firm.

Offering Consulting services for an B2B Database and market Intelligence company to build its Business Intelligence tool.

Contributing to building an business Intelligence infrastructure from scratch for a leading Taxi hailing Technology Aggregator in their inroads to the oldest Taxi market in India, which lead to them becoming the fastest growing Cab Aggregator in the country

ERP implementation roadmap and design for a leading thread company

Transforming And designing a Website for a Automotive tubing manufacturer which had no belief in projecting a brand image.

A dynamic website for a Health and Fitness business vertical, offering real time advice on fitness and health.

Omni channel, Omni Device, Multichannel Architect

As India rapidly underwent ICT disruption in the past few years we were in the forefront of quickly adopting and designing an Omni channel experience to utilize, the increasingly impulsive customer purchase behavior. I have extensive experience in setting up Omni channel network for Industries from new age industries like IOT devices, Technology aggregators, consumer durables, service sector, pure-e commerce players, manufacturing sector, facility management, two wheelers , FMCD, Agricultural produce, Tourism sector and on.

Conceptualized an Adaptive Distribution strategy first time in the Industry seamlessly syncing Modern Trade, Distributor network, MBO’s, Ecommerce Channel, Institution into one single Transformer like network for an IOT device company.

Having hands-on expertise in setting up and spear heading the challenge PAN India with network of Retail store chains in any format be it Company driven COCO, COFO, FIFO, or Franchisee outlets.

Strategized and executed, taking over Multi-brand outlets and converted them to exclusive stores be it in a phased manner or as a result overnight negotiations

We have adeptly Designed Omni channel pricing strategies as they are a key to the success of any Omni channel, Omni device, GTM execution taking into account all the different types of nuances that exist in each of these channels.

Be it setting up simple solutions in pure Ecommerce Companies to a network where e commerce is also a part.

Have conceptualized and implemented the idea of Experience centers across the country with the intent of providing the brand experience of product to the consumer in multiple industries , to say Building Materials industry , be it new age IOT Device industry with AI as the basis.

Enterprise Performance Innovation

It’s mandatory for any enterprise, mature or startup to ensure that their growth efforts is sustainable and innovate continually. My expertise in enabling transformation in the different stages of the organization’s development big or small, helps me to effectively advise you. I can model Business Performance management measures and the Growth metrics you need to track on a dynamic basis to ensure Success and Survival whichever challenge you are facing.

Yesterday’s BI are today’s refined EPM’s, BPM’s or CPM’s. Having been blessed to anchor Innovation projects in different product, market and Industry categories cutting across functions and departments I have the unique ability to understand the metrics that matter.

JCIA understands the challenges in the existing performance culture and will evaluate what’s the mindset of the organization resources, to the entire initiative. Designing and implementing the right measurement tools require at times a vast mindset change of the leadership and employees alike in many scenarios.

As a leader and consultant, I have designed the BPM’s of Retail Industry, Manufacturing sector, SAAS Companies, Digital Marketing verticals, Product Management domains, Human Resource domain, Finance domain, Inside Sales, Ecommerce Industry, App development companies, Luxury Destination Companies, Hotel and Banquets business, B2B Database and Analytics, Organic farming sector etc so say a few.

Leadership Mentoring – Startups and Laggards

The easiest part is to prop up an idea that works and make it commercially interesting to your investors. The harder part is to organize those investor approved thoughts and making it work. In simple terms we call it organization. Many startups with great ideas, takes ages to take off in one side, while some do not sustain in implementation, because their young founders are specialists in one sector or the other (a Techie or A finance guy or a Marketing specialist).

I Expose leadership misalignment by non-traditional strategy to growth and survival tactics to face Risk.

Mentorship for Startup Founders

Today Agile methodologies needs to be adopted to survive in super dynamic business scenarios with obsolescence rates of ideas ever highest, there is no luxury of time for startups to evolve and build one function by function.

Mentorship for White Elephant Corporate Intrepreneurs

Taking off from where we left, the large corporates, lack the speed and prudence to operate agile needs our services, instead of hiring some other white elephant consulting Company’s to land up doing a long term project that does not take off at the right time.

They can consider the services of Jayagopal Chathur , who has managed the enormity of strategy and operations and has bandwidth which cuts across processes, departments, industries, and projects in Startups and Corporates alike. He also brings onto the table the business knowledge framework of Intrepreneurial projects and New age Tech Startups with Speed and essence. Speed is not just about tools and software or just Ai. It about real understanding of the culture that exists and what needs to be nurtured or discarded.

Market Evolution – How I built a Market

So what’s in my list as a Creator and Evolution Specialist? Ask me and Know How ?

Starting Up – Shooting Stars and New Galaxies

So what’s in my list as a Creator and Evolution Specialist? Ask me and Know How ?