As supply chains become increasingly complex, GEP enables global enterprises to drive sustainable competitive advantages | 18 | VIEWPOINT: GEP “India’s worldclass talent enables us to keep client operations running despite challenges” 1. How are you using India’s competitive edge to become a global leader in supply chain and procurement solutions? GEP supports more than 500 world-leading enterprises, including Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Caterpillar, ExxonMobil, and Walmart. Enterprises have been under immense pressure during the past several years with disruptions, lockdowns, shortages and war. In a nutshell, India’s world-class consulting and engineering talent enables us to keep our clients’ operations running in the face of extraordinary challenges. Businesses today rely on algorithms to improve decisionmaking and overall performance. India’s capabilities and commitment to leadership in technology, mobility, client service, education and training, and a culture that embraces the world are the secrets to our company’s growth and success. The global economy faces the prospect of an economic recession and a sharp rise in credit costs this year. Is this a challenge or an opportunity for an India-based company to grow faster than your global peers? Today, everycompany ineverycountry is facingthechallenge of record inflation in global supply chains. To combat nearterm inflation and advance sustainability, businesses are rapidly remaking their entire value chains. They’re investing in new plants and capabilities, consolidating suppliers, and rethinking inventories to drive value. All this while trying to reduce supply chain emissions, which account for up to 90% of a company’s total environmental impact, and its long-term systemic challenge. What India-based companies need to forge is a new model of sustainable businesses. We can leapfrog other economies by accelerating investment in cleaner energy sources, software and AI to drive more efficient global supply chains and operations. As a nation, we intuitively appreciate and understand scarcity. We must provide sustainable solutions to global companies and other economies. This is our greatest opportunity for the next decade. How are you positioning your company to gain from the current global uncertainty and challenges? First, GEP is investing in next-gen, AI-based software platforms. We’re launching our low-code platform, GEP BUILD, which enables enterprises to quickly tailor and deploy our procurement and supply chain solutions. The era of multiyear, multimillion-dollar ERP implementations is dead. Enterprises today need agile and easily deployable platforms to manage their complex, multi-tier procurement and supply chain operations. Subhash Makhija CEO and Co-Founder, GEP Worldwide | 19 | Second, we’re partnering with Apollo and BNP Paribas, tocouple supplychainfinancingwithournext-gensoftware, for significantly improving clients’ supply chain visibility, resilience and working capital. It’s groundbreaking. Third, we recently launched a “GxP”-compliant functionality, enabling pharmaceutical companies to track and trace every ingredient across their supply chains, guaranteeing the quality and integrity of the drug. More broadly, we’re enabling companies to track their environmental impact across the entire global supply chain to support efforts to cut their emissions. Underpinning all of our innovations are our continuing efforts to attract and invest in talent. Last month, we opened our third Indian office. Most of our employees are located in India. Moreover, we’re expressly focused on attracting and developing women at GEP. Growing at an average of 20% annually, GEP is a privately held minority- and women-owned business where giving back is an integral part of its purpose and DNA. For too long, career opportunities in software and consulting have been skewed more towards men. Imagine the advantages Indian companies will have with more of our population, and more amazing women, in our talent pool. What opportunity does India’s fast-growing tech sector provide to global companies? This is a pivotal time. The pandemic and lockdowns demonstrated to every organization that there is no longer a need to source talent and expertise from expensive cities like New York City, London, Tokyo, and Silicon Valley. They can tap into brilliant people anywhere in the world. This is a generational opportunity for India-based companies, especially in software and services, to demonstrate a compelling value proposition. Companies are now looking for talent anywhere and everywhere on the planet. Distance and location are no longer insurmountable for most organizations. The pandemic has led to unprecedented growth in IT services and technology exports from India. How long will this tailwind last? It’s important to focus on providing solutions to the current challenges of companies, beginning with combating inflation, which is dragging down demand and hampering investment. There are important lessons from the pandemic, which is impacting the availability of goods and materials, primarily in China. But, it’s time to focus on delivering solutions for the current set of challenges. Whatmore can Indiado toadvance its leadership in technology and tech-based services and other critical sectors? First, India’s greatest competitive advantage is our people. We must continue to invest in developing highly skilled, creative, entrepreneurial and compassionate talent. Second, accelerate our investment in green energy and more environmentally sustainable products and services to become a leader in new, sustainable solutions and processes, across every facet of business and society. Third, we’re in an arms race for expertise and capability in AI, software, and advanced analytics. • Enterprises today need agile and easily deployable platforms to manage their complex, multi-tier procurement and supply chain operations.
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