Here is what it takes to lift the trophy of Accenture Business Innovation Challenge -By Team Sharks in Suits from TAPMI Manipal
Our winning strategy
After successfully qualifying the first three rounds, the 3 of us sat down with the case that was given to us. But there was one problem. Unlike your regular classroom cases, there wasn't much to read in this, because the entire case was mentioned in barely 6-7 lines. This also worked in our favour because the 3 of us didn't like constraints and loved it when ideas could flow freely.
So like we always do, we headed to our favourite spot on campus and discussed all the points that we had in mind. Given that it's a competition for B-School students, we always try to look at it from the organizer's POV and what they are trying to accomplish through this. This gives us a good perspective. The three of us are very different individuals but our goal was the same. There were fireworks, arguments and from "Are you seriously telling me this is going to work" to "I have a feeling this is what is going to win it for us", everything happened when we sat down to work.
Our strategy was simple. Given that we had ample room for creativity, we wanted to ensure our idea was grounded and wanted to put up something that ranked high on feasibility but was also a unique solution to the problem. Ideas were rejected left, right and centre because they didn't meet our prerequisites. But every idea contributed a little to our main solution.
Once we narrowed down on our final idea, we knew exactly what we wanted to do. Sayani is brilliant when it comes to research and Dhruv has a sort of vision where he's able to give a structure to the whole idea, which is extremely crucial.
The challenges we faced
We worked on our problem statement for a good 25 to 30 days. Every slide we made for the finale had to meet our standards. Every slide that made it to the final presentation went through at least 5 rounds of iterations. While at the outset it looks like we were very strict about things, we felt a competition of this stature required even the minutest of details to be perfect.
This was only 50% of the work done. For the presentation to come alive on the final day, each of us had to weave a story around it and present it the way we wanted the judges to understand. This required us to write our scripts and make sure every word we said had backing.
Our rehearsals were also a little different. We rehearsed in front of our professors and our friends a few times to see what they thought. We were certain about one thing. This wasn't going to be a regular presentation. This was going to be a story. A story that would capture the attention of every member of the audience. And in the end, it did pay off.
The top 10 finalists and tough competitors
There were a total of 10 teams that made it to the finale from around 4000+ that had registered. Before we began, we knew every single team was going to be tough and we had to bring our A-game if we had to come close to even making it to the top 3. The team from Goa Institute of Management, Goa, was brilliant. They eventually went on to win the Jury's Choice award.
The teams from IIM Lucknow and KJ Somaiah were also fantastic. They had a robust idea and presented extremely well. We were also wary of the team from XLRI, Jamshedpur. We knew it was going to be difficult because all of these guys were supremely talented.
The Team - Sharks in Suits
Dhruv, Sayani and I were close friends before becoming teammates so we already had an existing bond. But the tricky part is leaving that relationship outside the door when it comes to working as a team. The 3 of us are very mature when it comes to handling conflicts. Yes, you feel a slight niggle here and there but you can't lose sight of the ultimate goal so you brush it off and get going.
Dhruv is the kind of guy who will take time to buy into something, but once he's in he's all in. He goes to great lengths to ensure everything is perfect which helped us a great deal in this competition. He genuinely looks out for novel ideas and has excellent presentation and communication skills.
Sayani is the Rahul Dravid of the group, unrelenting and gritty. She is our subject matter expert, whatever be the subject. She's extremely well-read on everything even remotely associated with what we are working on which gives us huge support during the QnAs. She is also extremely data-driven and was instrumental in bringing a refreshing data angle to our final product.
Accenture Business Innovation Challenge
Accenture had invited an esteemed panel of judges from various fields given the diversity of cases in this competition. The competition, Accenture Business Innovation Challenge, covered all domains from marketing, operations to HR. The judges asked very pointed questions and tried to see the wholesomeness of the idea not only from a creativity perspective but also from the viability perspective in the long run.
Accenture as an organization is absolutely amazing. With their revamped vision of “New adopted Now”, they truly represent the best of work cultures there is today. Their Innovation Center stands testimony to their vision and left us awestruck like children seeing a magic show for the first time. The epicentre of leading technologies like blockchain, AI and ML, the tour of this world-class facility was one of the highlights of our MBA career.
The framing of the competition was extremely detailed. It tested us on our general awareness of Accenture as an organization to a strategy based simulation round. Then the last two rounds were a pitch deck with teams being given the central theme in which they had to ideate and then eventually elaborate with a B-Plan upon selection to the finale!
The innumerable learnings we garnered
Through this competition, we were tested on aspects of innovation and feasibility. The competition taught us what it takes to make a B Plan successful. The questions raised by the judges also gave us insights into what challenges or limitations our ideas may have. They made us think like managers dealing with real-world problems. While problem-solving is a skill any case study challenge will test, the rationale behind the solution was the key differentiator in this competition.
We also learnt that it’s better to be sceptical than optimistic. A little doubt helps in the long run because it pushes us to think in dimensions we otherwise wouldn’t have considered.
Our defining moment
I write this Winner Diary after just completing "The Test", a show on a broken Australian Cricket team. It is about how they were brought back to winning ways by their feisty coach - Justin Langer. There's one thing that's repeated in the show by Justin Langer and that hits very close to home for me. He talks about looking out for your mates. If you look at our Accenture Business Innovation Challenge journey, that's all we did. We looked out for each other. Each of us had our fair share of head-splitting moments during the journey. But we knew there were two other people who would readily share the load and look out for us. That, for us, was what was special about this competition.