EY India rolls out Catalyst cloud platform to Indian manufacturers
Six months after professional services firm EY announced the global roll-out of its cloud-based Catalyst platform, the firm has launched the platform in India. The platform revolves around access to an IP database that has been used by major companies across Europe, the US, Latin America, as well as the Asia-Pacific region for more than twenty years.
As the digital arena continues to captivate businesses across the world, cloud-based platforms have emerged as a gold-mine for members of the consulting industry looking to capitalise on increasing digital disruption. From financial institutions to airline companies, there is a consensus amongst the business community that migrating most operations to a cloud platform can improve efficiency and agility within an organisation.
The Indian market, which is substantial in size and increasingly advanced with respect to digital maturity, has been expanding rapidly in tandem with this global trend. Dominated by technology firms, the Indian cloud market is due to expand to $1.9 billion (just over 12,000 crore) by 2019.
As a result, consulting firms from all over the world are rushing to tap into this promising market scenario through a number of new platforms and initiatives. Big Four accounting and advisory firm PwC launched its Neomegha platform in India earlier this year, which was followed by Grant Thornton opening a digital practice in the country. Another Big Four firm, Deloitte, also recently announced that India was the next target destination for its Deloitte Digital arm.
EY Catalyst
Now, global professional services firm EY has further deepened its involvement in the Indian digital market with the roll-out of its EY Catalyst cloud platform. The cloud offering helps companies significantly improve operational efficiency. Unique about the offering is, according to EY, that it provides clients with access to an IP database containing thousands of operational improvements and best practice use cases in several languages, which has been actively used by major businesses for over 20 years.
The range of solutions that the database provides access to includes: self-assessments, operational journey-maps, training tools and analytical capabilities. These solutions are provided to companies primarily through the use of mobile apps. While the platform currently focuses on manufacturing and supply-chain solutions, the accounting and consulting firm hopes to expand its capacity to include all of EY’s advisory services. The launching of EY Catalyst follows a three-year period of expansion for the firm, which includes strategic alliances with nearly 20 companies to enhance its capabilities in digital technology, cyber-security, analytics, and business transformation.
Commenting on the market entry into India, Partner at EY and Leader for Supply Chain Advisory Services in the country, Ashish Nanda said, “The EY Catalyst platform is yet another way we are working in India to help businesses transform their end to end supply chains into strategic assets and valuable sources for competitive advantage, with advanced capabilities to help increase sales, reduce risk and raise cost competitiveness.”
Andrew Caveney, the Global Leader for Supply Chains and Operations at EY’s Advisory arm said, “Companies need to drive increasingly higher levels of operational excellence to deliver both the agility and innovation they need for top-line growth, while delivering the productivity improvements needed to achieve bottom-line goals. The EY Catalyst platform is yet another way we are working to help our clients transform their supply chains into strategic assets and valuable sources for competitive advantage, with advanced capabilities to help increase sales, reduce risk and raise cost competitiveness. EY Catalyst can make it easier and faster for businesses to tap into a wealth of knowledge and associated digital operational excellence information.”
Outside of the consulting industry, other sectors are also looking to tap into India’s expanding cloud market, with major players such as Google (launched a cloud consultancy arm) and IBM (acquired Sanovi) both unveiling cloud-based ramp ups in the country recently.
