AvantGarde

World resigns when IIT Kanpur MBA students contest!!

Success of an educational institute is exhibited by its alumni when they distinguish themselves through different endeavours around the world. Over the last many years, alumni of MBA IIT Kanpur have shown their presence across the occupations. They have conquered every opportunity in different territories winning accolades to showcase their mettle. It’s our pleasure to announce once again that our Alumnus, this time Siddhartha Gupta and Aditi Makol, MBA batch of 2010 have made their Alma mater proud by coming up as  winners of the Capgemini Super Techie Show.

Capgemini Super Techies show aired on ETNow is India’s first reality TV series for IT professionals where they get a platform to showcase their tech talent to the world. Siddhartha and Aditi, the TECH-ILA- SIZZLERS, had somewhere deep in their psyche that art of winning, the skills of analyzing and problem solving, the knowledge, the attitude to be a leader and the charming personality. The ignition came through a newspaper advertisement and the journey to fame had commenced. As every journey has milestones to achieve, this was no different, starting from an online application form, then profile based short listing, telephonic Interview, face-to-Face interview and to make it more gruesome the on-the-spot problem solving round and presentation to extremely competent and experienced jury members from the ETNow, Business Financial news channel and Capgemini, the world renowned consulting, technology and outsourcing firm. Further to add the flavour of adventure, each round being eliminating, aimed to bring out the best contestant. The contestants, coming from the four zones of the country, being gems from their varied fields, working for big organizations to the likes of Adobe and Linkedin, having experience in the range of 20 years plus the entrepreneur’s who have successfully established many companies, formed the invincible army to take on. The Tech-Ila- Sizzlers were one of the youngest of all the teams. A total of twenty one teams were selected from across the zones and the Tech-Ila- Sizzlers was one of them. Three teams were grouped to compete against each other.

Siddhartha Gupta and Aditi Makol, (third and fourth from left respectively) MBA batch of 2010, with team name Tech-Ila-Sizzlers, winners of the Capgemini Super Techie Show

The Challenge for the group including Tech-Ila- Sizzlers was a real time task that insurance companies grapple with everyday i.e. The Max Life Insurance challenge- Increase sales and productivity. The entirely new domain of Insurance sector and with the given one week time to come up with the solution including the office hours and travelling, it was a herculean task to achieve. Also, the communication with the mentor assigned was limited to two phone calls and two e-mails. Finally, the Death day arrived and teams presented their solutions to the jury which happens to be the experts from the Max Life Insurance, CyberMedia and Capgemini. The process was followed with the questioning session between the teams and the jury members on understanding of the problem and the feasibility of the solution presented. Solution for the problem presented by Tech-Ila- Sizzlers aimed for better conversion ratio included better positioning and good targeting to customers. The team suggested applying data mining and predictive analysis techniques to the comprehensive customer data base, a web based CRM to be created which will have real time access by the sales team. Second step aimed to reduce the sales cycle by means of technology, implementing an online medium facilitating live chat between sales team and prospective customer, answering queries and providing policy details. The use of cloud computing and location intelligence employed for faster customer contact was also one of the agenda. The simplicity, conciseness and the economic viability supported by qualitative assessment of ROI for the solution presented by Tech-Ila- Sizzlers made the much needed impact and Tech-Ila- Sizzlers came up the winners with flying colours overpowering the experienced and talented competitors.

For students who have just entered the MBA universe and are willing to reach the same heights where our seniors are, what are the learnings required? Siddhartha and Aditi acknowledged that the case study methodology adopted by MBA @IIT Kanpur was the key to their success. Participation in various events and organizing the same equipped them with the necessary skills and tools to reach this level. The Brand value of MBA @IIT Kanpur came handy at various moments and motivated them for being a part of an Ivy League institute and the cream of India’s working population.
For Siddhartha and Aditi, it was a first experience of facing camera, interacting with the industry leaders, networking with the tech savvy and well-informed professionals. They became famous in their industry circle and got acknowledged by their employer, Infosys, for becoming the part of its Intranet activity.

To conclude, Siddhartha and Aditi are living the MBA@IIT Kanpur brand!!

(For their post show coverage please checkout:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGJ6L0jlYIM)

TEAM AG (with thanks to alum relations team)