IIM Udaipur Aces The Accenture Innovation Challenge 2022

Accenture is a global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud, and security. The company was back with the Accenture Innovation Challenge 2022, one of the most awaited case study competitions. It gives students across domains the opportunity to put their innovative abilities to use in tackling some of the world’s most pressing problems, redefining business, and creating a greener tomorrow for all.

This year’s challenge in particular was based on the ‘Innovate for 360° Value’ theme, where the organizers were looking to recognize top young innovators by giving away exciting cash prizes and possible fast-track interview opportunities. In short, the competition was about coming up with innovative ideas and solutions to social problems. Both of us- Abhishek Matlotia and Sharath Chandrika Podugu are very keen on using our learnings to solve social issues which are affecting our country. So we decided to participate together and called ourselves Team Amogha. We are on cloud nine after having won the national winner title for such a grand challenge. Here is an overview of our journey.

Accenture Innovation Challenge 2022 Format

There were two tracks in the competition i.e. the E-track and the B-track. We are both MBA students from IIM Udaipur and were naturally a part of the B-Track. The format of the competition was as follows:

Idea Submission
Mentorship and Learning
Semi Finale
Grand Finale

Our Strategy

The competition served as a good platform for us to pick a social issue, work towards developing a suitable solution and present it before a jury that understood and supported us. Our strategy was

Firstly to make sure that we conducted in-depth primary and secondary research about the problem so that the solution we provide was not superficial.
We then considered all the stakeholders while coming up with the solution.
The pilot project and go-to-market strategy were also planned to show our vision to the esteemed jury panel.

There were 14 teams in the finals wherein 7 teams were from the engineering track and 7 teams were from the B-school track. We were ecstatic to have made it to the finals and winning the competition was like something right out of our dreams.

Check this out: Challenge Yourself With These B-school Competitions

Top Notch Judgment

The judgment was made according to a suitable procedure and it followed a well-defined plan. The main parameters for judgment communicated to the teams beforehand were:

Innovativeness,
Technical feasibility,
Impact, and
Pitch quality

The inputs provided by jury panels added a lot of value to us in terms of the refinement of the solution. And while the judgment quality was class apart, the organizers also assigned mentors for each team. The mentorship provided by these industry stalwarts before the semi-final and the final rounds was substantial and helped a lot in improving the solution and adding a new dimension.

Learned The Art of Storytelling

We as a team learned a lot through the mentorship round wherein leaders from Accenture provided us with great insights and constructive feedback. The pointers and lessons provided by the mentors immensely helped in enhancing our presentation skills. The art of building a story in the presentation was one of the most important takeaways for both of us.

What Made Our Team Click!

As mentioned before, our team consisted of Sharath Chandrika Podugu and Abhishek Matlotia. Both of us have bachelor's degrees in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. Sharath also has 2 years of work experience in the marketing and real estate domain while Abhishek has 3.5 years of work experience in the intellectual property rights domain. This goes to show that we have a diverse skill set and a wide knowledge pool. Both these facets helped us a lot in building a well-rounded and holistic solution.

It was awesome working in a team. Both of us really liked brainstorming for ideas and conducting thorough research, so were fully immersed in the competition from the get-go. Just like any other team, we too had some conflicts when working on our solutions. But we generally resolved these by considering the pros and cons of any situation. We also tried to have discussions, and consider each other's viewpoints before coming to a decision.

The Final Moments

For us, one of the most special moments would definitely be when the final results were announced. The jury award and runner-up award were given out before the winner announcement, and we were anxiously waiting our turn. As the jury started to describe the winning team, we started getting hints that it could be us. And finally, when the results were announced we were very happy. We were delighted when the jury told us that they could relate to the problem we chose and our solution and believed in our vision. The whole Accenture Innovation Challenge 2022 experience was extremely gratifying and validating.

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Team Amogha - IIM Udaipur

Batch 2021 - 2023

Team Amogha consists of Abhishek Matlotia and Sharath Chandrika Podugu. Both team members are pursuing MBA from IIM Udaipur. Sharath Chandrika has excellent presentation and soft skills which were of great advantage during the presentation. Abhishek Matlotia likes doing good secondary research and considers that to be his strength.