Capgemini L'innovateur 2018 National Runners Up IIM Kozhikode's Arijit Goswami's Story
The competition was quite different from other competitions. We were not presented with a case problem, where students generally limit themselves to the scope of the problem statement. This competition stressed more on brainstorming on possibilities of futuristic technology trends and identifying use cases where the company can make a difference to the society and the businesses. Our educational background and work experience well aligned with the ethos of this competition, which encouraged us to participate.
Our team always made sure that each of us read the given brief multiple times before any discussion. Then, each team member would elucidate what he has understood and we would arrive on a common ground of understanding. Next, we would connect with friends, colleagues, corporate, entrepreneurs and subject-matter experts for primary research.
The entire research of over two weeks went into identifying the most promising technology trends and the associated possibilities. It helped us to devise innovative solutions. The guidance that we received from our mentors also went a long way in refining our presentation and keeping track of our progress. The most challenging phase was to understand the interplay of various emerging technologies and arrive at a suitable use case which would succinctly elucidate our ideas.
It was indeed a lot of fun working with the team. We spent many evenings after class to discuss the case in brief and collate our findings from our individual pieces of research. We bothered many professors to help us with their inputs, and I don't remember any professor who shied away from helping us with his/her expertise.
Conflicts did arise but in the context of ideas. And, each time, we found the resolution in a discussion. Each of us would present our findings, ideas, and solutions to the other two and then evaluate them collectively. We could find common ground among our thoughts and that would go into making our presentation.
Our team's forte was our diverse educational background. While Nikunj was proficient with financial management concepts, Akshay would leverage his technical knowledge to come up with brilliant ideas. My experience in the IT sector came handy while preparing the use cases and understanding how an ITeS company can approach business problems. Each of us could look at the problem from different angles. Hence, we could come up with a holistic solution for the competition.
The moments that we spent debating about our ideas, painstakingly shortlisting a few of them and working late nights to have the best presentation for the competition, were the best ones.
There were 6 teams in the finale; the team from FMS being our toughest competitor. The competition was very meticulously organized across all the stages. The brief given to us was quite descriptive and clear in all aspects. The best part about the finale was the opportunity to interact with the senior executives of the company. The mentors assigned to us took an active interest in helping us come up with the best version of our presentation.
The competition gave us an opportunity to avoid a myopic view of problem statements and look at them from different angles. When proposing a business solution, one should consider various aspects, like technical feasibility, financial viability, and meaningful innovation. In addition to our work, we also got to learn from other team members by listening to their ideas.
The interactions with senior leaders of the company also helped us with more insights on emerging technologies. These lessons and the new connections that we made have added a lot of meaning to our business studies.
Students always expect organizers to be responsive to queries, be clear in the brief given and be meticulous with the judging process. The organizers of Capgemini L'innovateur 2018 exceeded our expectations and organized a wonderful finale for the teams.