Indian School of Business

ISB382

June 21, 2023

Devidutta Mohanty I Murali Krishna Mantrala I D.V.R. Seshadri

DRIVING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AT TATA STEEL’S MARKETING & SALES

DEPARTMENT: A CHANGE INITIATIVE
INTRODUCTION

On a scorching summer morning in May 2019, Peeyush Gupta, Vice President (Steel), Marketing &
Sales (VP, Steel – M&S), started driving the short distance from his official residence to the imposing
Tata Center, Tata Steel’s headquarters, in Kolkata. Gupta had been a veteran at Tata Steel and had
seen the company grow over the years, riding on the back of a booming Indian economy and a slew
of recent acquisitions. Gupta and his team had just delivered another successful financial year during
2018–19 (FY19).1 That morning, at the Annual Business Planning (ABP) meeting, he was due to address
the top 350 officials of Tata Steel’s M&S division and officials of other departments such as
Manufacturing.

In previous years, this had been the usual exercise involving taking stock of the macroeconomic
conditions in the country and other regions where the company did business. However, on this
occasion, Gupta wanted to do something radically different and transform the way Tata Steel
conducted its M&S activities.

Despite not being a “digital native,”2 he was very optimistic about developing deeper digital M&S
capabilities in the organization. He wanted the M&S function to imbibe the innovativeness of the
customer experience in an e-commerce company and apply the concept to the traditional steel
business. As he walked into the packed auditorium, he rehearsed his opening remarks one final time
and opened the session:

1
Tata Steel. (2019). Integrated reports and annual accounts 2018–19. Tata Steel Limited.
https://www.tatasteel.com/media/9238/tata-steel-ir-2018-19-220619.pdf
2 Dingli, A., & Seychell, D. (2015). Who are the digital natives? In: The new digital natives: Cutting the chord. Springer Berlin

Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-46590-5_2

Professor Devidutta Mohanty, Murali Krishna Mantrala, and Professor D.V.R. Seshadri prepared this case solely as a basis for
class discussion. This case is not intended to serve as an endorsement, a source of primary data, or an illustration of effective
or ineffective management. The authors would like to thank Peeyush Gupta and Sarajit Jha from Tata Steel for assisting in
the writing of the case. This case was developed under the aegis of the Centre for Learning and Management Practice, ISB.

Copyright @ 2023 Indian School of Business. The publication may not be digitized, photocopied, or otherwise reproduced,
posted, or transmitted, without the permission of the Indian School of Business.

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 ISB382

“It has been a very eventful year for us. Our combined crude steel manufacturing
capacity at Jamshedpur and Kalinganagar has touched 13.23 million tonnes3 per
annum [mtpa].1 With the acquisition of Bhushan Steel, with a capacity of 5.6 mtpa,
and the 5 mtpa Kalinganagar Phase-II expansion plan, our target of achieving a
production capacity of 30 mtpa by 2025 seems attainable. We are also on course in
terms of ramping up revenues from value-added products and services.

Embracing the digital trend has immense potential to enable us to maintain our
leadership position across the various business segments that we operate in. As we
look at making the organization future-ready, we need to ask ourselves how we can
leverage digital transformation initiatives [see Exhibit 1] to help enhance customer
experience, thereby enabling our B2B and B2C businesses to reach their full potential
and achieve their objectives.”

With digital transformation being a critical item on the agenda at the ABP, Gupta encouraged all those
present to have discussions with Pravesh Narang (Chief, Business Excellence and New Projects, which
included digital transformation) and his team on the sidelines of the ABP on what they thought should
be the future course of action with their digital initiatives. Gupta had thrown open a challenge to his
entire team.

Should they go deeper or broader in the digital initiatives they had already started? Given the fast
pace of technological evolution in the digital space, should they chase newer opportunities that were
on the horizon, such as pricing analytics and digital retail value management (RVM),4 or should they
carry forward what had already been initiated? Going forward, what should be the trajectory of digital
transformation?

ABOUT TATA STEEL

Tata Steel was founded in 1907. By 2019, it had emerged as the ninth-largest5 steel conglomerate in
the world. It was a powerhouse in steel manufacturing with major production facilities in Jamshedpur,
in the state of Jharkhand; a greenfield facility at Kalinganagar in the state of Odisha; a newly acquired
manufacturing facility at Angul, Odisha (Bhushan Steel); and several manufacturing facilities in Europe
and Southeast Asia. Its total manufacturing capacity had touched 26.8 mtpa, and the company
generated a revenue of INR 1.57 trillion in FY19.6 The company had by then become the world’s second
most geographically diversified steel producer, with operations in 26 countries and a commercial
presence in over 50 countries. It was also recognized as the global “Industry Leader” in the “Steel

3
1 tonne = 1 metric ton = 1.10231 US ton.
4
An exercise to understand the market potential and extract value from co-products.
5
Pioneer (Beijing Peking University Pioneer Technology Co., Ltd.). (2020, July 31). Top steel-producing companies ranking in
2019. https://www.vpsatech.com/Top-Steel-Producing-Companies-Ranking-2019.
6
Tata Steel. (2019). Integrated reports and annual accounts 2018-19. https://www.tatasteel.com/media/9238/tata-steel-
ir-2018-19-220619.pdf

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Category” by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. The company supplied hot-rolled steel,7 cold-rolled
steel,8 coated coils,9 tubes, rebars,10 and more.

THE MARKETING AND SALES ENGINE AT TATA STEEL

Gupta, VP, Steel, M&S, oversaw over 350 officials in India. M&S was organized into four business
verticals: Automotive & Special Products (Auto); Industrial Products, Projects & Exports (IPPE);
Branded Products & Retail (BPR); and Services & Solutions (S&S). These verticals were supported by
the Business Excellence & New Projects (BENP) team. Each of the four business verticals was headed
by a Chief of Marketing & Sales (COMS) (see Exhibit 2). The company’s products primarily included
flat and long steel products spanning several thousand stock keeping units (SKUs)11 catering to a
variety of market segments, such as automotive, construction and infrastructure, white goods, and
home building. At a high level, the company addressed three market segments: B2B (business-to-
business), where the typical customer was a large automotive or construction player; B2ECA (business
to emerging corporate accounts), where the customer was typically what the company called an
emerging corporate account, which was more commonly referred to as a small and medium
enterprise, or SME; and B2C (business-to-consumer), where the customer was typically an individual
home builder in either urban or rural markets. The split of revenues from these segments was
60:20:20.12

Gupta and his team had several achievements to their credit in FY19, such as an annual sales volume
of 12.7 million tonnes, an increase of ~5% over FY18 sales of 12.15 million tonnes. The team had
managed to achieve several segment-related highs, including annual automotive sales at 2.12 million
tonnes and a growth of 9.2% Year on Year (YoY) against an industry growth of ~6%, taking the market
share to 42% in FY19. The annual sales for branded products increased from 3.8 million tonnes in FY18
to 3.9 million tonnes in FY19 (see Exhibit 3).

START OF THE CHANGE MANAGEMENT JOURNEY: A PRECURSOR TO DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

In 2015, the Indian manufacturing industry had already started embracing digital technologies such as
the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), cloud computing, additive manufacturing, 3D printing, big data
analytics, and digital supply chain optimization to drive efficiency, reduce costs, and improve
competitiveness. GE’s Brilliant Factory initiative was launched in 2015,13 and Siemens had also
launched its Cloud for Industry platform in 2015.14 These were not isolated events; clearly, the
manufacturing industry had embraced digital technologies with open arms. In the steel industry, Tata
Steel had always taken pride in being a global leader in the adoption of leading-edge technologies,

7
Hot-rolled steel is a process in which steel is rolled at a temperature of over 927°C.
8
Cold-rolled steel is a type of cooled hot-rolled steel that has passed through additional rollers to improve its dimensional
and mechanical properties.
9
Coated coils are sheets of steel with special coatings such as zinc.
10
The term rebars is expanded as reinforcing bars. These bars are used to improve the tensile strength of concrete used in
construction.
11
A stock keeping unit consists of an identifying number, barcode, or alphanumeric expression assigned to a product. It
helps in tracking and managing inventory.
12 Tata Steel – internal document.
13
General Electric. (2015, February 14). Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates GE's new 'Brilliant Factory' in Pune.
[Press Release]. https://www.ge.com/news/press-releases/prime-minister-narendra-modi-inaugurates-ges-new-brilliant-
factory-pune
14
Arellano, N. E. (2015, May 6). SAP launches HANA cloud platform, partners with Siemens, Intel. IT World Canada.
https://www.itworldcanada.com/article/sap-launches-hana-cloud-platform-partners-with-siemens-intel/374456

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both in its manufacturing processes and IT systems. Sarajit Jha, then Chief of Corporate Strategy, Tata
Steel, had flagged the huge impending impact of digital technologies on the company during the
monthly meeting of the top management in April 2015:
“The boundaries between the digital and physical worlds are blurring, and people
navigate seamlessly between the two. Digital disruption is all around us, creating
winners and losers in industries, and this will be true for steel too. In a digitally
enabled world, Tata Steel intends to continue to be a pioneer in value creation in the
steel industry. Our aim is to create a digital strategy that addresses the emerging
scenario and exploits the various opportunities that it presents to us across the value
chain.”

Jha had recommended the creation of a part-time cross-functional Taskforce on Digital Strategy (see
Exhibit 4). This task force, which comprised about 20 nominated and co-opted members as well as
volunteers, was created on May 1, 2015, with the following three specific mandates:

1. Creating new business models or reimagining existing ones to leverage the digital
environment.
2. Building stronger and richer experiences for stakeholders and employees, customers,
vendors, shareholders, partners, and related communities.
3. Identifying any disruptions from the digital environment that can throw up new
opportunities or flag impending threats.

The task force was given three months (from its date of inception) to submit its recommendations to
the top management.

BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

Many traditional companies admired new-age firms and aspired to use digital technologies and
become agile like them. However, often this vision was not implemented due to cultural barriers.
Digital transformation required four key values: impact, speed, openness, and autonomy.15 This
cultural change was hampered by insufficient awareness of digital technology and its possibilities,
especially among digital non-natives. Tata Steel was a large legacy company with inherent risk aversion
and bureaucratic decision-making processes. Most of Tata Steel’s top managers were digital non-
natives, having been with the company through the 1980s and 1990s. They were skeptical about
digital technologies, especially for applications in the steel industry. This created a divide between
them and the digital natives (those who had joined the company after 2000), whose ideas were often
shot down as they were perceived to be either too risky or too radical and not applicable to the steel
industry. One such skeptical business leader at Tata Steel remarked, “We cannot have an e-commerce
business model applied to the steel industry. We are a physical business, and our customers need to
touch and feel the steel. You don’t sell steel via a website and deliver it at home.”

TASKFORCE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BUILDING DIGITAL CAPABILITIES

Recognizing this issue, the task force headed by Jha came up with two significant action items. The
first was to kick-start reverse mentoring to ensure that top management understood the digital
landscape. This was a truly unique initiative, perhaps a first in the world among large corporates,
where digital natives in the age group of 23 to 27, who had spent 2–7 years in the company and were

15
Westerman, G., Soule, D. L., & Eswaran, A. (2019). Building digital-ready culture in traditional organizations. MIT Sloan
Management Review, 60(4), 59–68.

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digital technology experts but lacked business experience, were paired with top managers, who had
rich business experience but were unfamiliar with digital technologies. In such non-threatening and
psychologically safe one-to-one reverse mentoring sessions that was scheduled for one hour per
month, the company’s top managers quickly came to speed in terms of understanding and
appreciating the power and potential of digital technologies and their business implications.

The process for selecting reverse mentors was very demanding. Applications from aspiring reverse
mentors were invited. They had to take a written test, and then pass a rigorous interview process with
two top managers of the company and an external consultant. The desired qualities in reverse mentors
were a proven track record in the digital space, a strong desire to contribute to the digital thrust of
the company, the ability to learn quickly, and a willingness to challenge the status quo. 16 reverse
mentors were selected from 300 applicants and paired one on one with 16 of the company’s top
leaders, including the managing director, T. V. Narendran. This initiative, driven by Jha, the leader of
the task force, was recognized by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in January 2017 for its innovative
approach.16

The second recommendation of the task force was the creation of a central digital team that would
be housed as part of the corporate strategy group. The team, which would report to the president of
the company, was appropriately named the Digital Value Acceleration Team (DVAT) and had ten
members to begin with. It was led by Jha, who was designated the Chief Digital Officer.

The mandate of the DVAT team was to identify digital projects that would deliver top-line and bottom-
line impact across the organization. It was recognized that the level of knowledge about organization-
wide digital transformation in a large company was minimal, both within the company and in the
Indian ecosystem. To bring an outside (neutral) view, it was felt that the company needed to engage
with the best consulting companies in the world that were experts in this domain. A synthesis of all
these interactions revealed that the biggest challenge was not technology; rather, it was change
management17 at scale. It was also clear that for the effort to succeed, the initiative had to be owned
by the businesses, with the DVAT playing a facilitating role.

The company also launched the Digital Enthusiasts Exploration Program (DEEP) initiative,18 in which
select middle managers and members of the senior management were exposed to the latest cutting-
edge developments in the digital transformation of top global corporations. They were also exposed
to successful tech-savvy start-up companies to understand and imbibe their entrepreneurial culture.
The idea was also to explore potential avenues for partnerships and collaborations.

LET A THOUSAND FLOWERS BLOOM

By mid-2016, the results of reverse mentoring and initiatives such as DEEP were beginning to bear
fruit. It was evident that the top management had become very enthusiastic about supporting digital
initiatives. The environment within the company was abuzz with the new digital spirit. Many

16 World Economic Forum. (2016, January 22). Digital transformation initiative (DTI): Mining and metals industry.

https://reports.weforum.org/digital-transformation/wp-content/blogs.dir/94/mp/files/pages/files/wef-dti-mining-and-
metals-white-paper.pdf
17
Change Management is an umbrella term that includes preparation, planning, implementing, and institutionalizing
change in an organization.
18 Gupta, P., Steward, M., Narus, J., & Seshadri, D. V. R. (2021). Pursuing digital marketing and sales transformation in an

emerging market: Lessons from India’s Tata Steel. Vikalpa, 46(4), 197–208.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02560909211054700

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consulting firms vied with each other to conduct pro bono digital immersion sessions with large
numbers of company managers in different functions. This primed the whole organization to
independently try out multiple pilots (i.e., proofs of concept) across businesses.

These initiatives were encouraged by the top managers, who now understood the value of digital
technologies and were prepared to sponsor projects that furthered the digital transformation agenda.
The M&S function launched e-commerce for the Tata TISCON brand and Ecafez19 for ECA customers
(Emerging Corporate Accounts or SMEs). The philosophy was to “let a thousand flowers bloom.” This
enthusiasm soon became infectious. Many businesses conceived and implemented initiatives in the
digital space, some of which were successful; some failed. However, the management was very
supportive of all of them. A need was felt to continue to grow the number of top managers who could
become digital evangelists.

This drive got an impetus from the managing director of the company, T.V. Narendran, who noted at
the company’s annual leader’s conference in September 2016:
“Reverse Mentoring in Tata Steel started a year ago with 16 mentor–mentee pairs on
August 26, 2015. The Reverse Mentoring Program is testimony to our culture of
continuous learning and learning across all levels of the organization. As we scale up
the program, we have had 48 volunteers among the senior leadership and 25 new
reverse mentors selected via a rigorous process for which we had over 300 volunteers.
Some of the reverse mentors have taken on the challenge of mentoring two mentees
at one go, and we commend them for the same.”

THINK BIG, START SMALL, SCALE FAST

Everyone across different functions and levels of the company was convinced that digital technologies
could deliver enormous value. The digital journey took different trajectories for different functions in
the organization. In the M&S function, Gupta felt that although it was good that a thousand flowers
had bloomed, going forward, it was essential to change the way in which the company engaged with
its customers across different segments. Focused efforts were needed to derive tangible monetary
value from these initiatives.

To give life to this strategic shift, Gupta coined the digital motto “Think Big, Start Small, Scale Fast.”
What this meant was that the digital initiatives had to be prioritized in terms of value to the company
and feasibility for execution at scale. Only a handful of initiatives that had the potential for large
impact would be picked. Next, ways to kick-start these initiatives through small pilots had to be
developed, followed by rapid learning and incremental building to eventually deliver results at scale.

PHASE 0 (2015–2017): THINK BIG

With this clarity from the top management, there were two obvious questions: What should the
company do during its digital transformation journey in M&S? And how should various initiatives be
prioritized? The top management felt that as this was a greenfield initiative, it would be prudent to
onboard a consultant who had implemented large-scale digital transformation programs in several
top corporations across the world. A rigorous process was used to select the consultant from several
contenders. Considering that all the short-listed consultants had previously educated the company
management through pro bono work, they were very enthusiastic about working with the company

19 Ecafez is a knowledge-sharing website created by Tata Steel for ECA customers and the public. The website offers articles

about the best practices followed in various industries. Ecafez can be accessed at https://ecafez.tatasteel.co.in/

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on the next stage of the digital transformation journey. Some of them were even willing to work on a
very attractive risk sharing–gain sharing basis, as they perceived that working with Tata Steel, a
marquee customer, could open doors for them on similar large-scale projects across the subcontinent.

To arrive at a digital roadmap, the company applied three lenses:

1. Capturing global best practices across various organizations in the domain of M&S to
isolate the key characteristics of digital frontrunners: Tata Steel embarked upon a unique
exercise where they sent around 30 key personnel picked from various departments,
including M&S, to Bengaluru and the United States to visit companies that were at the
cutting edge of technology. During these visits, the key personnel were expected to
identify technologies that could help Tata Steel maintain its market leadership position.

2. Identifying the strategic priorities of the company’s M&S engine to unearth those digital
initiatives that were likely to further the company’s strategic goals: By 2015, Indian
consumers in B2C markets, including the key decision-makers in B2B customer firms,
began to experience the convenience of a digitalized world in their personal lives. Tata
Steel wanted to replicate these experiences, for both its B2C and B2B customers. Through
surveys, M&S gathered information from both these customers to better understand their
respective expectations from a digital platform. M&S wanted to provide an aspirational
digital experience to Tata Steel’s B2B clients, thus setting it apart from its competitors.
For its B2C consumers, it wanted to create benchmark digital experiences that they had
not experienced elsewhere.

3. Performing a deep dive into the customer’s decision journey to discover both customer
pain points and opportunities to delight the customer: Tata Steel tracked the customer
journey for both B2C consumers and B2B customers, from initial research to purchase and
post-purchase follow-up, to identify pain points such as a confusing website interface or
a long wait time for product delivery. They also looked for opportunities to delight the
customer, such as offering personalized recommendations and providing exceptional
customer service. This understanding helped M&S to understand the range of
opportunities to make the customer journey frictionless and create delight.

Deploying the above three filters, the taskforce members worked closely with the chosen consultant
and came up with possible opportunities, which had to be pruned even further. This filtering was
achieved by passing each potential idea through two sieves:

a) The attractiveness of the opportunity in terms of monetary value to the company

b) The ability of the company to execute the idea

After identifying suitable opportunities, BENP, along with the relevant vertical, M&S, worked to create
a proof of concept for each opportunity. Three initiatives were identified:

1. B2C segment: AASHIYANA®, an e-commerce and early engagement platform for individual
home builders (IHBs), homemakers, and influencers.
2. B2B segment: COMPASS®, to facilitate digitally enabled supply chain visibility for large
customers and project distributors.
3. B2ECA segment: A lead management and analytics platform called DIGECA® for ECA
distributors serving SMEs to enhance the proportion of value-added products.

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PHASE 1 (FY19): START SMALL

Once Phase 0 identified the three opportunities, one for each customer segment, it was time for
implementation. Gupta was the overall sponsor,20 and the COMSs of each of the verticals (B2C, B2B,
and ECA) were nominated as sponsors of the respective opportunities. This structure was put in place
to ensure ownership by the business units. Opportunity owners,21 who became the single point of
contact (SPOCs) for driving the respective initiatives, reported to one of the three identified sponsors.
The SPOC was assisted by a digital-savvy manager for a hands-on implementation role. A formal two-
member digital team, as part of the central BENP team, was put in place to manage the entire
program; provide directional guidance; integrate various stakeholders such as the businesses, the IT
department, and consultants; and remove any implementation bottlenecks. The two members
consisted of Gangesh Chaturvedi (Head – Digital) and Sagar Khetiya (Senior Manager – Digital).
Chaturvedi had significant experience of working in retail and telecom industries, including in Tata
Telecommunications, and was a lateral recruit into the company. Khetiya was one of the early reverse
mentors from the inception of the Reverse Mentoring Program, having reverse-mentored the Vice
President (Raw Materials), Vice President (Steel M&S), and the Group General Counsel.

A robust three-tier governance mechanism, which is essential for digital transformation in a large
organization such as Tata Steel, was instituted to progressively escalate issues as they arose, from the
opportunity owner to the project manager of the digital transformation initiative to the Vice President
(M&S), as appropriate.

To effectively execute the prioritized opportunities, the consultant advised the BENP team driving
digital transformation in M&S that given the high level of technology and market turbulence in the
digital arena, the method of spending an enormous time in conceptualizing, designing, and
implementing the digital strategy, referred to as the Waterfall Method,22 would not work. Instead, an
agile approach23 that relied on a rapid cycle of prototyping and customer feedback was the only way
to succeed. The business SPOCs, their working team members involved in the digital transformation
journey, the BENP Digital team, and other relevant members of the IT team were deputed to master
agile methodology.

It was recognized that because speed was of the essence, it was preferable to dedicate a team to
capitalize on the emerging digital opportunities rather than rely on managers to chase these
opportunities on a part-time basis, because these managers were saddled with other significant line
function responsibilities. Further, it was recognized early on that everyone in the company was in a
learning mode, and hence failure was an inevitable part of the journey. A mindset shift took place:
well-intentioned failures were accepted as an integral part of the learning process.

TRANSITION TO PHASE 2: SCALE FAST

20
Sponsors persuade senior management and establish the organization commitment needed to support change
initiatives. They also provide the resources needed for the change and bear the ultimate responsibility for the program or
project.
21
Opportunity owners provided project-level guidance and overall direction. Opportunity owners reported to the COMS
regarding progress in their vertical.
22
The Waterfall Methodology refers to the philosophy of software development lifecycle where each step of the process
is executed sequentially.
23
Agile is a software development methodology with an iterative development lifecycle. The Agile methodology is much
faster than traditional methodologies such as the Waterfall Methodology.

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In Phase 0 and Phase 1, Gupta was calling the shots on various digital initiatives of M&S because he
had a high-level understanding of the business needs and an increasingly deep appreciation of the
power of digital technologies due to the reverse mentoring he had undergone, as well as his wide
exposure to best global practices. In approving these initiatives, there was intense consultation with
BENP, DVAT, and the respective business verticals. However, toward the end of Phase 1, the approach
shifted more toward having the business verticals take ownership of the digital initiatives and drive
them by delineating the exact contours of how the three identified opportunities could be scaled up.
The top management of M&S shifted from a directive role to a more nurturing and mentoring role. As
digital transformation was transitioning to the next phase, the key performance indicators (KPIs) had
to be changed. It was now time to enter the Scale Fast phase.

However, scaling fast would not be possible without onboarding many more stakeholders, who had
to come together and work together to achieve common objectives. This brought its own challenges
as the number of stakeholders proliferated, both within the organization and outside it. Some
stakeholders were skeptical, others were upbeat, yet others were still in denial, and most were
indifferent. These cracks were not visible during Phase 1. This wide range of attitudes made change
management a key success factor. In Phase 1, the BENP Digital group was focused on listening to the
voice of the customer. The design of portals during Phase 1 was focused on functionality, with little
attention being given to the goal of a massive rollout. Challenges were found in the technical
architecture of the portals, and multiple teams doing the same kind of work with little or no reusability
of digital assets.

This was also the time when Jayanta Banerjee joined as Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Tata Steel.
Banerjee was a lateral senior leadership-level entrant from TCS (Tata Consultancy Services, one of the
largest IT services companies in the world). He got down to the task of evolving a strategy to address
the challenges that were being encountered in scaling, which in turn required rapid unlearning and
learning.

Besides the technical challenges, the governance mechanisms of Phase 1 required significant
strengthening. For instance, the Project Management Office (PMO) was now actively involved in
conducting weekly reviews to integrate multiple initiatives because the degree of dependencies
among multiple stakeholders intensified. Effective communication of progress made in the previous
week to all stakeholders, including internal and external IT providers, vendors, and relevant managers
from M&S across verticals and brands, had become necessary. Deep dives into each of the
opportunities were initiated to enhance cross-learning between opportunities. To strengthen
implementation, a dedicated SPOC from the IT function was deputed to work closely with the
opportunity owner from the respective business. In addition to being a forum for first-level escalation,
the PMO facilitated immediate solutions to any challenges being faced by any stakeholder, thus
fostering an environment of trust among stakeholders and giving a fillip to the concept of agile
development.

Another challenge was delivering a consistent customer experience across all digital initiatives. The
growing structural complexity posed a new set of challenges in terms of ownership of finished digital
assets. Not all brands that were adopting digital technologies rapidly had dedicated digital
competencies. For example, order fulfillment through a digital platform was unfamiliar to some
brands, as they had hitherto only operated in an offline mode. However, online customers formed
expectations across all brands. This necessitated a fine balance between consistency of experience
with respect to various brands on online platforms vis-à-vis the individual identity that each brand

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needed to maintain in the mind of the consumer. Gupta remarked, “We designed AASHIYANA,
DIGIECA, and COMPASS keeping in mind their target segments, which were B2C, B2ECA, and B2B,
respectively; however, the technical functionalities of these platforms were almost identical.”

Around this time, Gupta and the senior leadership of M&S started to seriously consider the journey
ahead. The last two years helped them recognize the rapid growth of new opportunities as well as the
multiple challenges in the digital transformation journey.

PREPARING FOR THE BIG DAY WITH THE M&S LEADERSHIP

Digital transformation in Tata Steel M&S had started with the idea of changing the customer
experience by leveraging digital technologies. Green shoots of progress had been visible through
multiple early proofs of concept that laid the foundation for seamless, omnichannel customer
experiences. Nearly a week had elapsed since the ABP, and the day for the presentation to the senior
leadership of M&S was nearing. Gupta had felt elated at the enthusiasm displayed by the entire M&S
team. His team had synthesized all the inputs they had gathered into a neat dossier for discussion at
the forthcoming meeting. There had been much to celebrate in terms of the progress made and the
ground covered to date.

“Thinking big and starting small” had indeed been high points of the digital transformation journey of
M&S. The real test had come after getting buy-in from the senior leadership to go full steam ahead
with the next stage of the digital transformation journey, the Scale Fast phase. Gupta had anticipated
that this phase would involve several unknown challenges.

Gupta felt that if the approach was to exploit already identified opportunities while exploring new
opportunities, the organization needed to develop ambidexterity at the organizational level. He had
known ambidexterity was not an easy challenge to tackle; on the one hand, the organization had to
focus on its core strength and continually optimize the existing offerings to increase market share,
profitability, or other such business metrics. On the other hand, the organization had to focus on the
ongoing breakthrough innovations that were occurring at a frenetic pace across the world in the
digitization space to address unmet customer needs and thereby gain a competitive advantage.
Balancing the two conflicting goals of exploitation and exploration would entail a lot of work for any
organization.

With ambidexterity came the need to implement effective mechanisms for conflict resolution. These
conflicts arose from a variety of sources such as trust deficits, turf wars, and weak identification with
a “shared destiny.” Gupta was not clear what the role of the M&S leadership should be in managing
the resulting conflicts,

A related dilemma was whether these initiatives should be best implemented by an in-house team or
by external consultants. Further, lateral recruitment had become difficult and expensive.24 Which of
these approaches was best suited for exploiting existing opportunities and exploring yet-to-be-
discovered opportunities was far from clear. This was an important call that the M&S leadership had
to take after carefully considering its resources, budgets, expertise, and goals.

The complexity of the digital transformation was another factor to consider. Digital transformation
spanned a wide spectrum of changes. At one end of the spectrum, there were changes in how M&S

24
Poojary, R. (2017, May 19). Key recruitment challenges in 2017. Peoplematters.
https://www.peoplematters.in/article/strategic-hr/key-recruitment-challenges-in-2017-15482

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functioned but few or no changes in other parts of the organization, a transformation that Gupta
labeled “localized digital transformation.” At the other end of the spectrum, massive changes shook
up the entire organization. Through his interactions with peers in other leading companies in India, he
had understood that digital transformation and organizational change management went hand in
hand.

As Gupta thought about these challenges, the way forward appeared to be very fuzzy. However, he
was confident that his learnings from John Kotter’s conference on change management (see Exhibit
5), which he had gained while attending a company-sponsored program at the Stanford Graduate
School of Business recently, would come in handy while navigating the next phase of digital
transformation25 in M&S.

25 Kotter, J. P. (2014). Accelerate: Building strategic agility for a faster-moving world (1st ed.). Boston: Harvard Business Review Press.

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EXHIBIT 1
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVES IN THE MARKETING & SALES DEPARTMENT OF TATA
STEEL

Digital Business Description Important Digital Nature of

Initiative Segment Features/Modules Initiative
Developed
AASHIYANA® B2C E-commerce and Inspirational home New opportunity
early engagement designs
platform for Material estimator
individual home Service providers
builders (IHBs), (architects,
homemakers, and masons,
influencers engineers,
contractors, and
dealers)
Multi-brand e-
commerce
platform
COMPASS® B2B Digitally enabled Inquiry placement Unserved
supply chain Inquiry response customer
visibility Purchase order Need
for industrial placement
products, Order status
project customers, tracking
and project Geo-tracking of in-
distributors transit orders
DIGECA® B2ECA Lead management Inquiry placement Unserved
and analytics and tracking customer
platform for ECA Indent capture and Need
distributors to order confirmation
enhance the Visibility of supply
proportion of material
value-added Analytical
products; lost sales dashboards (such
analysis as Lost Sales
Analysis
for Distributors,
Net Promoter
Score Capture, and
other relevant
metrics)
Notes: ECA = emerging corporate accounts.
Source: Gupta, P., Steward, M., Narus, J., & Seshadri, D. V. R. (2021). Pursuing digital marketing and sales transformation in
an emerging market: Lessons from India’s Tata Steel. Vikalpa, 46(4), 197–208.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02560909211054700

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EXHIBIT 2
ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

Vice President – Steel

Marketing & Sales

Chief – BENP COMS – BPR COMS – IPPE Chief – SPM

COM – Retail COM – ECA SPOC SPOC

Head – Digital

Initiatives

SPOC
HOMs

Facilitators SPOC

Across Opportunities

Notes: BENP = Business Excellence & New Projects; BPR = Branded Products & Retail; COM = Chief of Marketing; COMS =
Chief of Marketing & Sales; HOM = Head of Marketing; IPPE = Industrial Products, Projects & Exports; SPM = Sales Planning
& Mills; SPOC = Single Point of Contact.

Source: Gupta, P., Steward, M., Narus, J., & Seshadri, D. V. R. (2021). Pursuing digital marketing and sales transformation in
an emerging market: Lessons from India’s Tata Steel. Vikalpa, 46(4), 197–208.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02560909211054700

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EXHIBIT 3
KEY BUSINESS INITIATIVES AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF FY 2018–2019 OF TATA STEEL INDIA

FY 19 (in million tonnes) FY 18 (in million tonnes)

Automotive & Special Products 2.12 1.94
Branded Products, Retail & 3.90 3.80
Solutions
Industrial Products & Projects 4.69 4.24
Domestic 10.71 9.98
Exports 1.06 1.15
Domestic + Exports 11.77 11.13
Transfers (Wires, Tubes, Agrico, 0.92 1.02
Tinplate)
Total Deliveries 12.69 12.15

Source: Tata Steel. (2019). Integrated reports and annual accounts 2018–19. Tata Steel Limited.
https://www.tatasteel.com/media/9238/tata-steel-ir-2018-19-220619.pdf

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EXHIBIT 4
TASKFORCE ON DIGITAL STRATEGY

Steering Committee Members

• Chaired by VP Steel M&S, comprising Chiefs across businesses, IT, & Head
– Digital
Opportunity Sponsor
• Chief of M&S of sponsor business units

Project Leadership
• Chiefs of Business, IT, and Business Excellence teams; provide overall
direction, program level guidance and support
Core Working Team
• Nominated members from Business team to manage day-to-day
operations
Program Facilitators
• Business Excellence Digital (M&S) and Information Technology (M&S)
teams with consulting partners to facilitate overall progress and remove
bottlenecks

Note: M&S = Marketing & Sales.

Source: Gupta, P., Steward, M., Narus, J. & Seshadri, D. V. R. (2021). Pursuing digital marketing and sales transformation in
an emerging market: Lessons from India’s Tata Steel. Vikalpa, 46(4), 197–208.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02560909211054700

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EXHIBIT 5
JOHN KOTTER’S EIGHT ACCELERATORS OF CHANGE26

1. Create a sense of urgency: Kotter’s research shows that many organizational transformation efforts fail
due to a lack of urgency. To seize the opportunity for transformation, leaders must emphasize the
importance of acting quickly. Tata Steel recognized the significance of digitalization early on and formed
a Taskforce on Digital Strategy to capture its benefits. The task force had three months to present its
recommendations to the top management.
2. Build a guiding coalition: A successful guiding alliance requires bringing together members from various
departments and hierarchies to gather information and create innovative solutions. The Taskforce on
Digital Strategy at Tata Steel exemplifies this by including Chiefs of Business, IT, and Business Excellence
teams, chaired by the VP of Marketing & Sales (M&S).
3. Form a strategic vision and initiatives: A diverse team of employees creating a strategic vision with the
approval of senior leaders increases the chances of a successful transformation. The vision motivates
and aligns staff for coordinated action. Tata Steel’s Taskforce on Digital Strategy incorporated the
created strategic vision, leading to initiatives such as Reverse Mentoring and the Digital Value
Acceleration Team (DVAT).
4. Enlist a volunteer army: For successful transformation initiatives, broad support from within the
organization is crucial. A 15% volunteer army recruited from different verticals, without involving
outsiders, can generate enough momentum for change. Gupta recruited leaders from Auto, IPPE, BPR,
and S&S verticals, and young employees were encouraged to apply for Reverse Mentor positions.
5. Enable action by removing barriers: Eliminating ineffective traditional processes gives employees the
opportunity to make a meaningful impact. However, obstacles such as silos, chasing sales targets,
legacy systems and procedures, and limited access to leaders and key stakeholders can hinder the
success of transformation efforts. To overcome these challenges, robust governance mechanisms were
established with the specific objective of removing barriers as they emerged.
6. Generate short-term wins: Regular communication of wins, no matter how big or small, can motivate
volunteers. Wins can include process improvements, lessons learned, and new behaviors, but they
should be visible, tangible, and replicable. Tata Steel’s digital transformation effort was divided into
three phases—Think Big (Phase 0), Start Small (Phase 1), and Scale Fast (Phase 2)—each with specific
targets. This approach generated quick wins and energized the transformation journey.
7. Sustain acceleration: After a few wins, it is easy to lose the sense of urgency. To maintain momentum,
leaders must continue to prioritize urgent activities and recruit new members to the volunteer army. A
loss of momentum could make it more challenging to restart the transformation process. Whereas
Think Big and Start Small were relatively easy to implement, sustaining momentum required additional
initiatives. For example, Tata Steel trained select M&S employees in agile methodology and encouraged
some employees to immerse themselves in the digital technology advances adopted by outstanding
companies worldwide.
8. Institute change: Although accelerators 1–7 promote new behaviors, it is crucial to communicate the
resulting cultural changes and their benefits. By connecting the dots between new behaviors and
successful outcomes, the changes become ingrained in the organization’s culture. Tata Steel has a
culture of rapidly scaling successful microcosms across the organization with top management
oversight. This philosophy was also applied to the digital transformation of M&S.

26
Kotter, J. P. (2014). Accelerate: Building strategic agility for a faster-moving world (1st ed.). Boston: Harvard Business
Review Press.

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