Apoorva Kokate – IMT Ghaziabad

Part A: ABG touches millions in the world. It is unlikely that you have never used a product, or travelled on a road or visited a site where ABG has not contributed in some way. Its presence in your life is massive. In at least 250 words or more, tell us why Aditya Birla Group is big in your life.

Aditya Birla group has been a part of my life since childhood. I still remember the first time a mobile was brought home. It was a Nokia Phone with coloured display. It was first of its kind. The SIM Card it held was Idea.

Idea as a brand has held its status of providing reliable network and coverage to remotest locations. Its uncompromising nature to provide quality service is what made it stand apart despite of intense competition. With the new merger with Vodafone, it has become the No.1 telecommunication company in India.

Another area where the ABGLP has touch my life is with Ultra Tech Cement.  I, along with most of the relatives, who have recently built their houses, have used Ultra Tech Cement and the mere fact that this cement is one of the most recommended cement brands by most of the builders, is a testimony to the quality and affordability of Ultra Tech Cement.

 When it comes to Fashion Retail, Pantaloons and Allen Solly are the one-stop solution for apparel needs. Collectively, they cater to my casual and formal dressing needs.

Apart from the brands that affect us directly, as discussed above, there is a brand such as Novelis that impacts us indirectly by working dedicatedly towards global welfare. Novelis is the largest aluminium producer and recycler. It supplies aluminium to iconic brands such as Coca-Cola, Jaguar etc and also recycles the rejected soda cans and other kind of aluminium waste. This not only helps company save money but also saves the world from Non-Biodegradable wastes which are the major cause of land pollution.

Aditya Birla Group, being an Indian company, has established itself as a market leader in various sectors like metals, textiles, carbon black, telecom and cement globally. ABGLP is truly “TAKING INDIA TO THE WORLD”.

Part B:
At the core of the ABGLP program are people who drive to make an impact, irrespective of what challenges they face. Tell us, in at least 250 words, how you overcame challenges to achieve your ambitions in life so far.

It was a typical Tuesday morning at my IT company. I was working on a project for a Bank in London. We were developing a CRM model for the bank from scratch where we would transfer their entire business process onto cloud using salesforce.com. I came to my cubicle with a cup of coffee but the atmosphere in there was very tense. As it turned out, the Project Manager promised certain functionalities to the client which he failed to communicate to the ground team (Us).

A panic phone call went from our team lead to the Project Manager because the additional functionality meant the project moving from 15% profit to 10% loss. Eventually it was clear that backing out was no longer an option.

The major problem was that our team consisted of one Team Lead, Two Senior Systems Engineers (experienced programmers) and four Systems Engineers including me (who were fresh off their trainings and this was their first project). There was only one viable solution: The juniors needed to rise up to the occasion.

 The team lead took himself off the ownership of certain modules and transferred their ownership to us individually and gave the most critical module to me. As an owner we were supposed to develop the module and talk to the clients directly (unlike before, where the team lead was the point of contact). The safeguards were removed and we were directly responsible for the success or failure of our module and in turn the entire project.

The risk was high, but so was the return. I started working continuously day and night to achieve the target. Constant client interactions had its own benefits. I ended up creating a rapport with the client which helped gain back the trust which was lost before.

In the end the modules were successfully delivered and deployed with no delay. The company was able to salvage 12% profit off the project as there was were cost incurred to arrange our stay in the company. But considering that a new customer was satisfied, it meant more projects in the pipeline and more Customer Lifetime Value, it was a small price to pay. My contributions were recognised by the managers and was given special monetary benefits as a thank you.