Swagatham! Hyderabad gives Transformation Express a zesty welcome

The Transformation Express’ maiden voyage to the south was marked by a rather serendipitous turn of events as the Mobile Experience Centre rode into Hyderabad on National Technology Day.   

Eulogised as India’s Cybercity, Hyderabad has always had a hand in brokering India’s destiny - first as a vanguard of art and culture (not to forget that it is the home of one of the country’s most aromatic and flavourful cuisines), then as a princely state that sealed India’s union. In the propitious first decade of the new millennium, it emerged as the nation’s regency of technology, second only to Bengaluru.   

This transformation from the City of Pearls to the City of the Future has been driven by able, visionary leadership that reflects the industriousness of the people, who leave the imprint of their creativity, dedication and tenacity to grow wherever they go - whether as immigrants to far corners of the world, or as settlers at home. It was unsurprising then, that the Transformation Express was welcomed with open arms; Hyderabad, after all, has never stopped scripting its future, this time with technology at the forefront.  

At the heart of the engine of growth  

The first stop of the Transformation Express was at the offices of T-Hub, the famed non-profit startup incubator built on the private-public partnership model that defines itself as an ‘innovation hub and ecosystem enabler’ aligning the strengths of academia, corporate and government agencies.   

Since its launch in 2015, the accelerator has provided more than 1800 national and international startups with avenues for funding, technology, talent, innovation programs and access to government and corporates for mentorship. Boeing, PwC, Intel, Freshworks and GE are some of its well-known corporate partners.   

The Transformation Express, with its message of futuristic technologies and the digital cloud bore witness to the frenetic activity in the hub of innovation as startups gathered for the SAP customer visit at the campus of the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, one of the founding academia partners of the incubator.   

Mr. Panneerselvam Madanagopal (Vice President - Corporate Innovation, T-Hub, CEO - SHMC, Mentor - WE Hub Hyderabad and Advisor - NITIAayog) drew from his experiences at the helm of various crucial roles to speak about the game changing impact initiatives such as SAP’s Transformation Express, and how digital technology is at the heart of innovation.   

The second customer visit of the day was to the offices of Amara Raja Batteries Ltd., a subsidiary of the multinational conglomerate Amara Raja Group, one of Andhra Pradesh’s most prestigious homegrown brands. Amara Raja Batteries is a leader in the automotive and industrial battery technology segment and the producer of the ubiquitous Amaron batteries.  

Mr. L. Venkat Madhav (Executive Vice President, Supply Chain - Amara Raja Batteries Ltd.) led the team as they boarded the Transformation Express to experience the various tools offered by SAP for midmarket enterprises to migrate to the cloud.   

The evening's proceedings, hosted by SAP partner Neovatic, was held at Taj Krishna. Delivering the keynote address, Mr. Vinod Palakkil (Senior Director - Sales, SAP India) wove in the theme of this year’s National Technology Day - sustainable technology, and spoke of how SAP is engineering progress in this area.  

Mr Srinivas Rao (Chief Executive Officer - T-Hub) addressed the gathering of Hyderabad’s influential business leaders and shared his insights on how T-Hub supports startups and the role of digital technology in driving innovation.  

Greening the future with technology  

Day 2 at Hyderabad began with a customer visit to Greenko Group, one of the most prominent cleantech and energy storage solutions players in India, whose offices are located in the aptly named HITEC City. The company also has a distinction of being the first dispatchable renewable company in the country that is set to build the world’s largest energy storage plant in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh. The company is therefore, inevitably leaning on technology to manage the massive scale of operations through its intelligent energy platform.   

Mr. Tirumala Raju Mandapati (Head - ICT, Greenko Group) and Mr. Haridas Menon, (Chief Operations Officer - Greenko Group) visited the Transformation Express to experience the offerings and spoke of their association with SAP.    

The gala event of the evening was hosted by SAP partner NTT Data. Delivering the keynote address, Mr. Raghav Nookala (AVP - NTT Data) spoke of how NTT Data is solving business problems in partnership with SAP. Mr. Manoj Agrawal (Associate Director CX Practice - NTT Data) added to the discussion with his thoughts about how NTT improved its customer experience with SAP products.   

The event also saw a customer visit by RA Chem Pharma Ltd., a promising player in the API manufacturing and clinical research sector. The team was led by Mr. Venkat Srinivas, who also participated in the evening’s panel discussion and Q&A session along with Mr. Prabhakar Rao (Associate VP, IT & IS - NATCO Pharma Ltd.), Vinod Palakkil and Mr. Raghav Nookala. The pharma customers spoke of the centrality of SAP products in enabling their companies to achieve business goals.  

Transformation Express says au revoir to Hyderabad  

The third and final day at Hyderabad began with a customer visit to agro chem company Prathista Industries Limited at their offices and plant in Chowtapalli, Telangana.  Mr. Phani Rajkiran (MD - Prathista Industries Limited and Tripura Biotech) experienced the cloud technologies on board the Transformation Express.   

The day wound up with the visit of a large contingent of government officials from across departments aboard the Transformation Express stationed at the Radisson Blu. The public representatives were keen to understand how the government sector can transform with futuristic technologies.  

After its frenetic stint in Hyderabad, the Transformation Express is off to Chennai.   

The experiential journey continues to showcase the transformative power of technology and the possibilities of innovating on the cloud.

Follow the journey of Transformation Express here