Date: 24 & 25 September, 2013
Venue: The Grand, New Delhi

The forum in its 4th year was held at The Grand, New Delhi on the 24th and 25th of September 2013.The India Strategy Forum had speakers from the Industry, Government, think tank, International Organizations and academia to deliberate on various strategic issues in relation to the Indian context. mPOWERASIA was proud to be associated as Silver partner for this high profile event to showcase their automated solutions for Strategy execution and Performance monitoring.

The Forum kicked off with an introduction by Dr. Rajesh Pilania and the first session on the practice of strategy consulting in India - Opportunities and Challenges moderated by Dr. Srini Srinivasan (MD) Arthur D. Little India Pvt. Ltd. and comprising Mr. Deepak Agrawal (Director General) Consultancy Development Center and Mr. Akhil Bansal (COO) KPMG India threw up some interesting figures in terms of growth of Strategy Consulting @22% laying emphasis on Pricing, Client expectation and sector specialization. It is a $300 million dollar market. Mr. Deepak gave his perspective from the Government angle where consultants have to manage with less pay but high expectations. They were unanimous in their view that strategic consultants not only have to deliver but implement their ideas that lead to revenue generation for their clients.

The session after lunch on competitive strategy was well moderated by Mr. Hitendra Chaturvedi (MD) Reverse Logistics Corporation comprising of speakers Mr. Anshul Jain (CEO) DTZ India, Mr. Harvinder Singh (Country manager) United Airlines, India, and Mr. Sandeep Soni (President) Hero BPO. They were all of the firm belief that to maintain their upper hand amongst their competitor's one must always be one step ahead in terms of providing the same things to their clients differently to maintain interest and continuity.

Other sessions were held on Entrepreneurship strategy moderated by Mr. Rahul Bajaj (Partner) Roland Berger Strategy Consultants India and alongside were Mr. Rudra Dalmia (MD) Saxobank A/s and Mr. Pawan Rajkumar (Owner) Continental India. The day ended with the session on opportunities and challenges faced by Chief Strategy Officers in organizations. It was moderated by Mr. Ambarish Dasgupta (Managing Partner) KPMG consulting and supporting the discussions were Mr. Gopi Billa (Partner) Monitor Deloitte Consulting and Mr. Atul Mehrotra (CSO) Tenon.

The 2nd day sessions kicked off with a session on Innovation Strategy moderated by Mr. Nikolai Dobberstein (Partner) A.T.Kearney. Other speakers on the dais were Dr. Chandan Chowdhury (MD) Dassault Systems India, Mr. Vinod Sood (MD) Hughes Systique and Mr. Inderjit Sehrawat MD-India and SAARC. DVTel Inc. Each gave examples from the industries they head and the summation of the discussion was it is uncertain and risky, helps to build an ecosystem for new products, sustainability of enthusiasm and leads to great talent and deep domain and business knowledge. To top it all it is a $100 billion industry.

The session on Corporate Social Responsibility discussed the challenges of sustainability of a social enterprise and as a result it fizzles out over a period of time. Hence, it is important to be paid for providing services under CSR by those who would like to continue using the same. The session was moderated by Mr. Parul Soni (Partner) development advisory services, E&Y and alongside him were Mr. Yatinder Suri (Country head) Outokumpu India Pvt.Ltd. and Mr. Mandeep Singh (CEO). The main challenges are of forging the right partnerships. One should then have the will, scalability, sustainability and the ability of measuring the impact of such an initiative.

The other sessions were on HR and Marketing strategy conducted by eminent individuals and stressing on its importance in relation to the current scenario where online and digital media is fast overtaking conventional methodologies.

Overall keeping in mind the major pain area which most of the speakers enunciated, which was mainly to do with monitoring, strengthening processes, lean management we at mPOWERASIA believe that our COVENARK® Suite of products will surely add value and the requisite momentum for the Management across all levels to take critical decisions based on the structured information thrown up through our automated solutions that have the scalability and simplicity to fit into any scenario along with customization wherever required.

The TAJ Corporate and Business Excellence team wins the TABE award 2013 - Taj Awards for Business Excellence - for outstanding contribution in the Automation of The Balanced Scorecard powered by mPOWERASIA's COVENARK®

The TAJ Award for Business Excellence is awarded to the Organization that showcases all around capabilities in achieving distinction across a cross functional diaspora following a set of stringent Quality processes that are a hallmark the hallowed TAJ Group that is known worldwide for its Hospitality and Business ethics. The year 2013 saw the Corporate and the Business Excellence Team of the TAJ Hotels lift this coveted award for the first time. TAJ Spans 58 locations in 12 countries 5 continents with 120 hotels.

It is truly a herculean effort to select these admirable examples of Quality and Excellence that represent the best of the best from within the TAJ Group where the largest cross functional teams from different departments like MDs office, Business Excellence, Corporate IT, Finance and Sales & Marketing where working on it to make this happen.

This was made possible by mPOWERASIA's unstinted support in implementing COVENARK® to execute the Strategy and monitor performance which has been appreciated by all the decision makers and the Business Excellence team at the TAJ.

Raymond Bickson - Managing Director of Taj Group of Hotels at the center flanked by, Ajoy Jauhar, Vida D'souza, Jessica Rebello, Rajesh Gangakhedkar and Sukriti Murarka, of the Corporate office at TAJ Group

Date: 4th & 5th July 2013
Venue: ITC Maratha

The pre-event of HDS started with the registration session followed by an open exhibition.

mPOWERASIA made its presence felt at the event as a key sponsor. The attendees for the summit were CEO's Managing Directors, Heads of Planning and Strategy, Procurement, Head of Infrastructure and Development from the Hospitality Sector, Hotels, Hotel Operators, Ministries of Travel and Tourism, Associations, Real Estate and Finance to analyze and discuss the issues and possibilities of overcoming the challenges in the development and expansion on the Indian Hospitality and Leisure Sector

Some of the key areas of discussion shared by Mr. Uttam Dave - President and CEO - Interglobe Hotels were "Defining the Lack and Inadequacy of Infrastructural Development in the Country and the Effects on the Indian Hospitality Sector - India's stand in the global hospitality industry. The major highlights of this discussion were, Analyzing the requirement for better growth strategies to improve planning and development strategies, Identifying the critical factors required to enable change and improve factors involving time management and cost management, the challenges faced due to lack of infrastructure the entire team agreed towards a common aspect of identifying the best way forward to utilize and optimize the existing resources in the organization.

The main areas covered by Mr. Lalit Bhasin - Advocate, Supreme Court and Chairman SEPC Hon. Legal Advisor to FHRAI and NRAI, during this session was, How do the existing regulatory aspects affect the hospitality, are there any viable solutions to these and why have they not been implemented?, why is there lack of funding or financial support for the industry if on a yearly basis the Hotel and leisure industry contributes over 8% to the Indian GDP? How can this be overcome, what steps need to be taken and who needs to take them?

Presentations were shared by Mr. Arttu Salmenhaara - Director, New Equipment Business & Major Projects, Asia Pacific & MENA - KONE. 'New trends in Hospitality Covering New Technologies for Energy Efficient Design spoken by Mr. Prem Nath - Principal Architect - Prem Nath & Associates. The burning issue faced in terms of Management contract for Hotel Owners - The Owners point of view was shared by Mr. Anand Desai - Managing Partner - DSK legal.

There was panel of discussion on the topic "Creating and Improving Opportunities for MICE in India. The panelist Mr. Ajay Bakaya - Sarovar Hotels, Mr. Vikram Kamat ED, Kamat Hotels, and Mr. Partha Chatterjee - Keys Hotels discussed the features of hotel chains, operators and executives of MICE to discuss the following:

• India's Potential to cater to the Global MICE Industries, The Drawbacks and the Challenges
• Identifying the areas of improvement and implementing the best know how and methodology to overcome the lack of MICE opportunities in India.

The Case Study shared by Mr. Ajoy K Bakaya ED, Sarovar, in Optimizing Operational Efficiency Solutions highlighted improved cost and energy management', thus creating a sustainable development plan for consistent high quality delivery.

Mr. Bruno Loosli, CEO, Mars World highlighted critical elements of, Managing manpower costs and decreasing project costs to form an efficient and sustainable cost management model or strategy. He highlighted implementing the right technology to increase and optimize energy efficiency, minimize revenue leakage through better design and sustainable architecture and planning. Analyze the best way forward to convert fixed costs to variable and to monitor cost flow through more efficient procurement processes. Investing in efficient and highly trained manpower to maintain quality and minimize additional revenue flow.

The Panel discussion on 'Implementing Effective Procurement Strategies - Achieving operational Synergies - Centralized, Decentralized, Partly Centralized? - The Pros and the Cons' by the panelists Mr. Kaushik Jhingan AVP. Procurement & Materials of The Oberoi, Mr. Lalit Kapoor - MD, HDMB, Mr. Nitin Nagrale - Director Procurement - Sofitel Hotels, Mansingh Rathore - Chief Procurement Officer - Berggruen Group was an eye opener related to the relation to financial, cost reduction logistics requirement, individual regions and customer demography.

Day 2 also had interesting topics which began with a panel discussion on 'Development of Hospitality in Tier II cities - untapped Opportunity Vs Challenges. The focus of this session was to discuss the untapped opportunities in Tier II and III cities across India. The session covered various aspects like Infrastructural requirements for better development for the industry, the opportunities that have not been tapped, how to overcome these above issues, how to find a synergy to tap into these markets successfully, what is result of the implementation? The Panelist includes Mr. Rajesh Punjabi, Mr. Uttam Dave, Mr. Raju Shahani - Langham Hotels and Mr. Beni Agrawal - Keys Hotels.

Mr. Rishi Kapoor - SVP International Development - MGM Hospitality, Mr. Zia Sheikh CMD - Svenska Design, Mr. Shobith Khattri - Director Development - IHG threw light on the Capitalization of Multi location expansion and how optimal results could be achieved through cost management & efficient resource allocation.

Mr. Zia Sheikh - Chairman and Managing Director - Svensha Design Hotels on the topic 'Overcoming Branding and Marketing Challenges in Reaching Out to the Consumer' gave an insight on building a consumer brand in India today, Positioning and differentiation strategies, selecting and managing marketing channels, Challenges & opportunities with social media and strategies for traditional media marketing.

Date: 3rd & 4th April, 2013
Venue : Grand Hyatt, Mumbai

The HICSA 2013 started with a pre-event session in the morning consisting of a panel of 70 hotel owners, where our Managing Director and Joint Managing Director of PIEM Hotels, Mr. Sudhir Nagpal was also present with Mr. Sunder Advani, Chairman & MD - Advani Hotels & Resorts; Mr. Vineet Verma, Executive Director - Brigade Hospitality Services; Mr. Rattan Keswani, Co-Promoter & Managing Director - Carnation Hotels; Mr. Ramesh Valecha, Executive Director - Chalet Hotels; Mr. Param Kannampilly, Chairman & MD - Concept Hospitality; Mr. Aditya Dawan, Mr. Dinesh Khanna, Mr. Jagdish Khanna, Executive Director's - Eastern International Hotels; Mr. L N Sharma, Director & CEO - Golden Jubliee Hotels; Mr. Himanshu Singh, MD - Hotel Commerce; Mr. Arvind Singh Mewar, Chairman & MD - HRH Group of Hotels; and other luminaries started the initial discussion regarding challenges faced by the ownership community in four broad areas - Human Resources, Funding/Financing, Regulatory/Legal and Brand/Operator.

The key objective of the discussion was to get a better view from the hotel owner's seat on what the industry should focus upon now.

The Panel discussion resulted in the hotel owners agreeing on the following aspects that need attention.
Human Capital- International brands to open hotel schools & provide Career development opportunity within company.
Capital (Debt/PE) - Ego-driven spend on building hotels is a problem. Repayment tenure not long enough. Innovative ways of structuring capital requirement
Hotel Development - Approvals/Licenses, Costs etc. Uniform Licenses System (nationwide) required Reduce Gross Areas/Room. Add revenue generating space. Infrastructure Status push required. Owners in attendance shall share best practices going forward.
Capital (Debt/PE) - Performance Test Clause is a must. Performance Clause should kick-in much sooner. Year 1, not Year 4 or 5 Push for Asset Management so that owners are more informed and involved. West treated to different standards in terms of contracting terms compared to India.

The Hotel Investment Conference- South Asia (HICSA) conceived by HVS India is an annual forum held to discuss several aspects and issues related to the hospitality industry. mPOWERASIA made its presence felt at the event as a first time sponsor.
Also, for the very first time the Global CEO Panel were on a common dais. The four CEO's of leading global hospitality brands; Arne M. Sorenson, President & CEO, Marriott International; Christopher J. Nassetta, President & CEO, Hilton Worldwide; Frits van Paasschen, President & CEO, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and Mark S Hoplamazian, President & CEO , Hyatt Hotels Corporation.

Some of the key areas of discussion were Sustainability, Reduce Operating Cost, Benchmarking, Human Resources, Brand Standards. They addressed that in order to have market sustainability, focus and diligence are the key aspects which should be examined. Also, prioritise investment; mitigate risks per average room of one's hotel vs. other hotels. The panelists also discussed the challenges faced in the global hospitality sector like Non - Alignment, High Cost Risks, Cost Capital, Length Approval Process and Human Resources. Nassetta spoke about the challenges of high cost of land and financing. It was also addressed that currently only domestic brands are investing in the Hotel management schools. The outcome of the discussion was to re-look on the Compensation structure, Talent development, to keep up the Brand Standards, Hotel Development, Investment in S&M infrastructure, Development Costs. "Entrusting the right partner is a critical aspect, as they should have the capital and the ability to survive in a volatile market" said Sorenson. Water and energy resource constraints have become areas of serious concern for the future. This was highlighted by Hoplamazian.

Another interesting discussion was the session on Women in Hospitality; the Challenges ahead moderated by Dilip Puri MD & India & RVP-SA Starwood Hotels. The panel included Trudy Rautio CEO, The Carlson group, who was of the opinion that women have many opportunities to move up the ladder, but have to be flexible in their approach and the work they do, has to come to the attention of the right people.

Priya Paul, Chairwoman Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels was of the view that gender diversity was essential for the team to grow and that women should be given due credit, and not just be looked at as eye candy. Madhu Nair, Dir. Interior Design & Ops, The Leela Palace mentioned that women need to believe in themselves above anything else. Jennifer Fox, President Fairmont Hotels & Resorts added that women should be wise in choosing a husband who provides the much needed support. Camelia Panjabi, Group Director, Masala World (UK) Restaurants was of the view that women in Sales & Marketing positions do a better job than their male counterparts. Today, women's make up to 60% of hospitality industry. The session ended with a very good note that, 'it is better to light candle than to curse the darkness'.

There was a panel discussion on "Are Owners Making Money" where leading players like Arun Saraf MD Jupiter Hotels, Atul Chordia Chairman & CEO Pancshil Realty, Neel Raheja Group President, K Raheja Group, Ashish Jakhanwala MD & CEO Samhi and SP Jain MD, The Pride Hotel shared their views on how to increase profitability & double income. It was moderated by Uttam Dave, President & CEO, Interglobe Hotels.

Also, there was a session that pitted top leaders of Global and Home grown brands represented by veterans from ITC, Taj and Lemon Tree against those of IHG, Hyatt & Marriott.

A keynote address was delivered by Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar, Chairman & MD, HRH group of Hotels on LGBT business.

There were further round table discussions on the 4th of April 2013 spread across various Board rooms. Varied topics were discussed during these interactions. They are listed below:-

India: Who's the David and who's the Goliath? Where Dipak Haksar, Chief Operating Officer, Hotels Division, ITC Limited, Jan Smits, Chief Executive Officer-AMEA, Intercontinental Hotels Group; Michael Issenberg, Chairman & COO - APAC, Accor; Patu Keswani, Chairman and MD, The Lemon Tree Hotel Company; Peter Fulton, EVP & Group President-EAME & SW Asia, Hyatt Hotels Corporation; Raymond Bickson, Managing Director and CEO, Taj Group gave their inputs on the Domestic and International challenges in the Hospitality industry. The key aspects focused were Strong supervision, Focused RND, In-house Schooling, Increase in Management Contracts, Loyalty Programs, and invest domestically or internationally. Some key concerns on domestic market were addressed which had to be resolved: Labour workforce/Education, Transparency, Infrastructure, Ease of Process, Debt, Land and Reforms. The panelists opined that 2013 would be good but challenging period for the hospitality sector.

Another session 'Creating a New Brand' the panelists Arjun Baljee, Founder and MD, Peppermint Hotels, James Stuart, Managing Partner, The Brand Company, Rattan Keswani, Co-Promoter and MD, Carnation Hotels spoke on balance between Global & Local Brands. One key aspect spoken about was focus on hiring right people with right attitude.

Budget Hotels - Profit without Frills: It was an animated discussion moderated by Sanjay Sethi (MD & CEO of Berggruen Hotels). Others on the panel were Anil Madhok (MD Sarovar Hotels & Resorts). PR Bansal (MD Lords Inn Hotels & Resorts), Sudhir Sinha (President & Coo India, Best Western), Philip Logan (VP Formula-1 Hotels, India Accor), Rummy Anand (Sr. Director Development-SA, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group). It bought out how no frills hotels with innovative amenities could still drive the markets to improve their bottom-line.

Similarly there were other topics like 'Brands Entering India'; 'Brand Standards: Adapting to India'; 'Hot Seat - General Managers: Pressure of Making Money in Challenging Markets' ; 'Leader's Panel - Brands on the Move'; 'Loan Coming to You: Hold Them or Fold Them'; 'Lifestyle Hotels: Passion or Profit?'; 'Services Spotlight, Hotels vs. Other Real Estate'; 'Design and Architecture: Looks or Books?'; 'Is Your Money Making Money?' on which panelists highlighted the aspects on how to manage the market pressure, compete the challenges, focus on innovation and become a benchmark in the hospitality industry.

On final note the Conference ended with cocktails and dinner arranged at BKC.