EXL Acumen 2018 National Runners Up IIFT's Ishan & Aakash's Story

The final presentation round was grueling as the panel asked multiple questions from our case solution. Although we answered them convincingly, it added to our nervousness. Finally, the announcement of results brought us immense happiness, relief, and sense of accomplishment as our hard work had led to fruition. EXL Acumen 2018 presented us with an extremely interesting and challenging business case. We had to solve it by considering different facets of the problem and devising a go-to-market strategy.

Thus, solving the case step-by-step was a great journey. We could deploy our data analytics skills in solving the case. We also learned about the global medical equipment industry.

The business case could only be solved if we had firm grounding about the global medical equipment industry’s B2B sales scenario. Thus, we researched industry trends and the best practices to devise a business strategy for our product. Also, we analyzed the data given to us using various data analytics frameworks. Finally, we established a mathematical model to arrive at the optimized results.

We had put in 25-30 hours of focused work in each of the three rounds of the EXL Acumen 2018. The most challenging phase was interpreting the results of the mathematical model built by us. Also, estimating the business growth in the next 5 years considering market growth rate, pricing, and revenue scenarios, was difficult.

We both were fortunate to form a team together as both of us had the same passion and aggressive approach to drill down the business case and solve it to perfection. And thus in achieving this perfection, we both had sometimes differing opinions but which eventually led to the best outcomes.

Our team’s forte is the ability to break down the case into smaller problems and then solve them step-by-step while keeping in mind the bigger picture. This approach helps us to take into consideration all aspects of the problem and thus, come up with the complete solution to the case.

There were a total of 6 teams in the finale after two successive rounds. All teams had come up with great solutions which made the finale even more competitive and challenging. Almost all teams had a different USP about their approach which made it a close fight eventually.

We learnt about using extensive data to come up with the solutions using different analytical models, as well as framing Go-To-Market & business growth strategies for a product in a particular geography.

The competition, right from its 1st round to the finale, was extremely well thought out and impeccably executed. This made it a great platform for all students to learn and compete. The experience of participating and giving our 100% in all three stages of the round was extremely rewarding and enriching. We sincerely recommend all B-School students to utilize the great learning opportunity which EXL Acumen presents.

Ishan Shah and Aakash Sharma - IIFT

(Batch of 2018-20)

Ishan Shah & Aakash Sharma, MBA students from IIFT, are Mechanical Engineers and auto enthusiasts. They both share a common attribute of improving themselves daily through constant learning. Aakash is a basketball player while Ishan loves to play chess in free time.