Today was all about innovation. We were honoured to visit the Accenture Future Camp to learn how to innovate new business ideas on Indian use cases. We had great collaboration in teams and with the Accenture team. One of our key learning was that it’s challenging to develop business models that simultaneously create customer value and financial viability.

Company visit to Accenture’s Future Camp
On Wednesday, we were welcomed at the Future Camp of our longstanding platinum partner Accenture in Zurich. Accenture focuses on the business areas strategy, consulting, digitalisation, technology, and operations. Accenture guides their clients to create innovative disruptive innovations, which remains to be one of the biggest challenges for companies. Their core values are to remain independent when working with clients in order to identify the consumers› individual needs. India is a very important business hub for Accenture. About 70% of Accenture’s business delivery is conducted there. During our onsite seminar, we will visit Accenture’s Indian innovation hub. It focuses on demonstrating digital innovations compared to Zurich idea creation hub.

Innovation Workshop
At the Future Camp Andreas Volz and his team hosted an interactive innovation workshop. The Future Camp brings client teams as well as other ecosystem participants together to collaborate on projects. We were split up in groups to work on an Indian use case to experience how innovation happens. We were guided to closely follow an idea building process with instructions by the Accenture innovation team. One key challenge that we and also many clients face is the identification of the user experience and the customer’s needs. Thereafter we developed solutions and prioritised these strategies to one concrete business model. In the end, we pitched our business ideas. We learnt about the difficulty to develop business models that simultaneously create customer value and financial viability.

BBC Group’s opportunities and challenges with market entry in India by Hansjörg Jaussi, CEO & Owner Jaussi pdc GmbH
Hansjörg Jaussi gave an insightful introduction into the business of the BBC Group and shared his experience of opportunities and challenges in the Indian market. The Behr Bircher Cellpack, short BBC Group operates in the energy distribution markets, medical technology and packaging (BBC Cellpack). BBC offers interesting and innovative solutions across various sectors such as Smart Access solutions and Electrical Products for infrastructure purposes.

BBC Group entered the Indian market with a joint venture strategy. Hansjörg Jaussi asserted on some key success factors for market entry strategies. Most crucial are market research and economic condition studies, and local competence and representation. The BU Smart Access will launch its first office in India in 2019. BBC will focus its efforts on industrial doors and gates that can offer customisation, which generates a higher revenue stream. Hansjörg Jaussi enjoys the collaboration and knowledge transfer with universities because he can leverage our knowledge for BBC’s business development. In fact, he has given two Focus India project members market research projects for the BU Smart Access market entry strategy in India.

Living & working in emerging markets by Heiko Fischer, BOSCH President and CEO of BU Power Tool Accessories
Heiko Fischer, President and CEO of the BOSCH’s BU Power Tool Accessories held an inspirational and highly enthusiastic speech about his journey, living and working abroad in emerging markets. Heiko shared his views on living in countries like India and China and gave advice on important living decisions. We’d like to share with you some of the anecdotes and advice he gave us during his exceptionally talk.

Heiko’s advice when considering to live and work abroad

  • The farther away I got from the headquarters, the more impact I made in my job
  • Going overseas is a big decision – if you don’t want to GO, don’t GO
  • Decide if you want to have this kind of life or not
  • If you go overseas to tick a box for your career, don’t go

Cultural advice

  • Be respectful, considerate and aware of the No’s
  • Be curious and open-minded but stay authentic
  • You don’t go abroad to be like them but because you devote your values to the culture – don’t “over-engineer” to live your life like their culture
  • Don’t forget who you are – If you are you, and rather do a mistake, you will feel great abroad
  • Don’t worry so much about culture in the business context, rather focus on how business is done in the chosen country (work approach)

Quotes from Heiko on India

  • If you are uneducated, you are not “free” to vote in India
  • Rich culture, traditions, and know-how vs poverty, limited infrastructure
  • India can be fascinating and depressing in one day
  • Young Indians demand change!