In this Research NXT Interview, Vineet Dwivedi, Global Head of Alcon Global Services, talks about his journey in the organization and the transformative role of Indian GCCs in Digital Customer Experience (CX). He also highlights the in-house GCC model’s potential and real-world applications that act as the base of actionable insights to create the whitepaper “Leaders Speak: Transforming Customer Experience (CX) through Global Capability Centres.
Key takeaways from this Research NXT interview:
We would like to start with your role and journey at Alcon Global Services. Leading the India, Malaysia, Poland & Mexico centres for AGS and being a custodian for transformation programs in the organization?
Vineet: Having around 24 years of overall working experience, I am a mechanical engineer by qualification who started the journey in the manufacturing industry, initially as a trainee with Honeywell and then worked in various roles there. For the initial six years of my career, I was in the manufacturing sector associated with brands like Honeywell, Whirlpool Corporation, Delphi, etc. My area of focus during those days was explicitly in production and quality, and that’s when I was introduced to Lean Six Sigma at the beginning of my career, which I still held on to as a critical element in my profession.
In 2005, with the tech boom reaching India, many companies were setting up their shared services centre here. That’s when I joined Honeywell again as a quality manager responsible for driving a culture of continuous improvement through transition-based learning. Then on, for the last 17 odd years, I have been involved in various shared services roles and also had an opportunity to set up a Shared Services centre for Honeywell in Europe.
In between, I was associated with MetLife for some time in their consulting division. The next stage in the journey was ABB, where I was entrusted with the role of setting up their shared services centre and supporting their strategy to develop the whole GBS set-up across five different locations globally. This was a great opportunity, and I was happy to be a part of the initial team.
Finally, I did the same for the fourth time, i.e. starting from ground zero to setting up a GCC, and this time, it was for AGS (Alcon Global Services) in India, which now has more than 2000 people across the globe.
We should ensure that the change is adopted well both in the customer experience ecosystem and within the organization to consider any digital transformation initiative effective
What are your observations around the approach at AGS in terms of tech usage for the digital transformation initiatives, including innovations, and product/service launches for improving digital customer experiences?
While setting up and leading the Shared services organization at AGS, what were and are your primary goals in achieving the strategic business priorities via digital transformation initiatives? Could you also share some notable and effective business impacts of the initiatives?
Vineet: At Alcon, we started as an independent company almost five years ago, and from day one itself, we aimed to have a structured way of digital transformation both in terms of outward and inward experiences.
Our first point of action started with defining our customer cohorts and aligning strategic digital business priorities with them. And since customer needs are constantly evolving, our digital transformation project modules align with the changing CX requirements, be it for the ECP, the patients, or the inventory management systems.
Speaking of notable business impacts of these initiatives, I would like to share the following examples:
As an industry leader, what is your observation of how things have changed in the post-pandemic scenario in the Healthcare sector, and what are the key CX approaches to look out for while stepping into 2024 and beyond for top Healthcare organizations?
Vineet: Going beyond the obvious is an approach that the overall healthcare sector is focusing on in the post-pandemic era. Since the pace of change is so fast, we have to be ahead of the curve, which is tough, but integrating all facets of the overall healthcare ecosystem is the right approach. The next step, then, is the process of revisiting the strategy to validate and align it to the present disruptions.
Being a jury at the Zinnov Awards 2023 where tech centres are recognized for their exceptional contribution for value creation across global organizations, do you think Global Capability/Shared Services centres are better poised to enable Global Enterprises in their Digital transformation initiatives as compared to partnering with a third-party service provider? Why or why not?
Vineet: Most GCCs are still on the enabling side of the enterprise-wide digital transformation journey instead of leading the digital strategy completely.
However, this journey varies based on the organization’s maturity, and at AGS, after four years of incubation, we are currently at the helm of Alcon’s central digital transformation strategy. Overall, GCCs/Shared Services centres have the capabilities to lead the path of global digital transformation.
I would like to answer this question with an analogy of a motorbike with two synchronized wheels, where one is our GCCs and the other is the third-party service providers. Both wheels bring in specialized capabilities and need to work in sync. While the in-house teams could be leveraged to focus on the strategic organizational values and culture, the third-party partners could be used as consultants with broader experience and know-how from an enablement perspective. There needs to be a balance of capabilities and a shared vision that is synchronized toward the common goal, and that’s what we are doing at Alcon.
One of the key challenges, which may sound simple but is very relevant, is the process of managing stakeholders’ expectations across the larger global team within the organization. Ensuring that we have the proper mechanism to address the changing and diverse expectations of new leaders during the process of ongoing CX enablement is a constant challenge.
Secondly, with the rate at which customer expectations are evolving, we will always have to be agile to introduce last-minute tweaks while taking any new CX feature to the market.
These are the two things that come on top of my mind apart from the generic issue of finding the right talent, etc.
Before we wrap up, take us through the three must-checks (or more) every Digital Transformation plan needs to follow to ensure successful Digital CX accomplishments.
Vineet: The top one, for me, is the adoption rate of any digital transformation initiative. We should ensure that the change is adopted well both in the Customer experience ecosystem and within the organization to consider the initiative effective.
Secondly, selecting the software checklist is crucial for successful Digital CX accomplishments.
The third would be ensuring that the culture of agility in production and deployment is present within the team. Since with the new normal, the MVP defined at the start may be only partially relevant at the time of the final go-to-market.
Books that Vineet recommends:
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