Ex-Canon India head Alok Bharadwaj’s start-up CreoVate to rev up small and mid-size print businesses

“In today's business landscape, we see an enormous pace of creations and innovations causing disruptions. Simply put, we have entered into the era of discontinuity. The future is snapped from the past. Linearity is gone. This is what is re-writing the rules of business models, success and winning strategies, argued Alok Bharadwaj, who spent 32 years with companies like Canon, Motorola, Tata and Shriram Group.

Bharadwaj has now started CreoVate Transformations & Consulting. He described it as a new journey of ‘creovating impact’ among small and mid-size set-ups in India. “In the current business landscape, change management and business transformation (CMBT) is at the top of leadership agenda. As external triggers are in full swing, continual market led transformations are the new normal. It is interesting to observe two commonalities across all enterprises, big or small. They all want to grow (financial results) and they all have the anxiety of future.”

But for leaders, it is a good idea to consider having a facilitator next to them to help in their agenda, said Bharadwaj. “I often say, if you want to climb the Everest, you always carry a  Sherpa. Small and mid-size enterprises have to keep daily operations running due to shorter cycles for every aspect. They can't afford a full-time chief transformation Office or chief strategy officer,” he said.

It’s this ‘sachetising’ consultancy that Bharadwaj wishes to take, make it more affordable and extend its reach. “I see most successful SME leaders quite strong in their domain. For best learning, a co-facilitator model works the best. Unfortunately, all consulting companies focus on large enterprises and charge by hours. This makes them untouchable for small and medium enterprises.” 

CreoVate will operate in the domain of technology industry, both B2B and B2C verticals in emerging countries, digital Printing industry, and photography industry among other, which Bharadwaj said, is his “familiar” domain.