Introduction

DigEca was launched in June 2018 with the initial name “Emerge”.This first-of-its-kind platform was proposed to digitize the demandservicing of ECA (Emerging Corporate Accounts or SMEs). DigEca aimsto capture the user requirements electronically to provide bettertransparency, analysis on lost sales (via sales funnel conversion)and increasing sales of Value-added products. DigEca mainlycaptures the sales funnel (Enquiry, Purchase Orders and Invoicing).The portal also provides insights on order tracking and indentplanning for increasing transparency in order management.Integration with SAP and Tally provides invoicing to be donedirectly. Background With tremendous adoption of ~2.5 Lakh tonnesof first hand monthly enquiry capture, from channel partners duringthe second year of its launch, DigEca was rolled out to the end ECAcustomers in Oct ’19 as a pilot with already 100% adoption fromchannel partners. The vision was to connect to our end-customers,whose requirements were previously captured only via our channelpartners. This have helped to provide a picture of pan-Indiarequirement and help plan better for our channel partners resultingin lesser yield losses. Any requirement for new product developmentcan also be planned based on the enquiry logging from our customersbased on market demands. Extensive dashboards provide betterdecision making for our customers as well as Tata Steel. We have abuilt-in predictive analysis and help users plan better.Interesting services such as customer engagement activities andtraining to shop floor can also be planned via this portal.

Problem Statement/Challenges Faced

DigEca, was meant for the end customers to come and directlyplace enquiries on the platform and negotiate with their channelpartners online and complete. As per roll-out plan, DigEca wasfirst rolled out to the channel partners, and then to the endcustomers. DigEca has successfully onboarded almost 12% of ECAstill date and aims to have them all onboarded. Since DigEca 2.0(e-commerce portal) shall be open to customers for any ECA to comeand sign up themselves and start using the portal, customers aremore comfortable using current medium or offline mode of purchase.Users are demanding huge benefits from the platform althoughproduct has been made to design as per end-user convenience. Pilotfor rolling out to customers was started in FY20 to collectcustomer feedback and incorporate it into system design andfeatures. Since DigEca is an all-inclusive omnichannel platformhaving stakeholders from Tata Steel, channel partner teams and endcustomers, all features are not likely to benefit all stake holdersequally.

Critical Case Questions

ECA business has a very established offline channel for a longtime which is taken care of by channel managers across brands andsales managers Pan-India. The idea is to inculcate changemanagement across channels and have a shift from offline to onlinewith more digital benefits. End state of ~50% ECA business to beonline through DigEca with >90% ECAs onboarded and starting touse this platform. Solution should have a detailed analysis oninherent challenges and what should be done to curb them.Expectations on how more relevant features can be incorporated insystem design to bring more buy-in among users (SMEs and channelpartners separately), thereby developing effective customerbase

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

The inherent challenge for DigEca is to meet the demands of that ll the stakeholders Currently the end customers are the ones who are most benefited b... View the full answer