#Lead.Believe
About SLP
At TCS, we build on the belief that every individual makes an impact. If you have the courage to lead with this common belief, take a leap with our flagship Strategic Leadership Program (SLP). It aims at building the future leaders of TCS, who partner with our customers in their growth and transformation journeys.
SLP SUCCESS STORIES
Supply Chain Advisory for Jewellery Retailer
TCS played a pivotal role in helping a major Indian Jewellery Retailer assess and transform its end-to-end supply chain through a Consulting-led Engagement. The client had been operating in a predominantly traditional way for years and sought to transition to a more agile & efficient model, engaging TCS to enable a best-in-class inventory replenishment process.
A team of SLP consultants successfully completed this multidimensional project within six months, beginning with a comprehensive discovery assessment by conducting in-depth interviews with the client’s C-suite, operational teams as well as ground staff to understand their requirements & aspirations, uncovering over 500 functional and non-functional requirements. This included visits to stores, factories, warehouses at domestic as well as international locations. Based on TCS’ experience & industry best practices, we recommended 14 key initiatives, a list of new processes, a new organization structure & potential tools across the client’s four core functional areas, as a part of the Target Operating Model.
The team also developed a customized automated Business case toolkit to help the client visualize potential benefits of our recommendations. This, coupled with our four-step comprehensive vendor evaluation framework, enabled the client to prioritize initiatives & select the best-fit vendors for implementation.
To conclude, we were able to help the client envision its desired results of increased inventory turns, better store availability, improved freshness & Customer Experience. The rigorous exercise & continuous efforts of the team led to an exceptional achievement of achieving a Customer Satisfaction Score of 100%, solidifying the partnership.
Woolworth Value Chain TX
Our SLP Consultants helped one of the leading Retail Chains of South Africa in accelerating their Value Chain Transformation journey. The Client envisioned a major supply-chain shift towards a Future-fit, Agile, Customer-Centric Model and partnered with TCS to Modernize its core applications. This multi-phased engagement encompassed managing the end-to-end Request for Proposal (RFP) process and identifying the Best-fit vendors for their core systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Integrated Planning (IP).
The engagement included identifying the future state requirements for the systems in scope, creating RFP packages and floating the RFP to major enterprise solution vendors, shortlisting the vendors for the Conference Room Pilot (CRP) Product Demo sessions and assisting the client’s panellists in evaluating the vendor’s capabilities. This 20+ week exercise included over 150+ requirement gathering, and product demonstration workshops and multiple leadership discussions across their core growth categories of Fashion, Beauty and Home. More than 750 Functional and Non-Functional Requirements were discovered during this engagement and more than 230 user stories were built to evaluate the shortlisted vendors. The SLP team also built a robust macro-enabled vendor evaluation toolkit, to automate the vendor consolidation process and reduce the evaluation lead-time from multiple hours to a few minutes. The evaluation toolkit and the contextual point of views provided by TCS assisted the client in identifying the best-fit vendor suitable to their aspirations.
TCS achieved a remarkable Customer Satisfaction Score of > more than 94% for this engagement and paved inroads for further SLP-led engagements on their other value chain transformation initiatives.
Digital Oasis in the Desert Kingdom
One of the largest family owned conglomerates in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, headquartered in Jeddah, has a business strategy to grow by 5 times in revenue and 3 times in EBITDA by 2025. The conglomerate specializes in automotive dealerships, multi-brand garage, lubricant manufacturing to retail as well as retail fuel stations. TCS defined a Digital Strategy for the conglomerate, which would propel growth through customer acquisition, additional sources of revenue generation and operational efficiency.
As industries have been evolving, TCS has identified new avenues for the enterprise to tap into new customers. It has shifted the customers from the monotony of tank-filling to an enriching experience of purpose-based retail in QSRs, grocery and vehicle service. Steep profitability is expected. The depth of TCS’ knowledge and experience in Digital Consulting, its deep capabilities in end-to-end transformation and assets for digital maturity assessment for industry sectors/ sub-sectors has made it the right choice for this engagement. TCS works in a uniquely collaborative model throughout all levels of the client organization. The leading-edge management consulting has enabled TCS deliver higher level digital advisory, than most of its competition.
Leveraging the strong brand recall of the client, TCS has identified ways of harmonious synergy across the different business units.
AI Driven Demand Planning for a Global Personal Care Company
One of the world’s leading personal care and cosmetics company faced a challenge. The company had to build a customer driven forecast that is close to customer sales, could identify the changes in demand plans in the short-term and propagate it upstream. The program aimed at building demand-planning capabilities through making the organization more customer focused, digitalized and reflective.
One of the SLP consultants took it upon herself and collaborated with the supply chain team to transform the demand planning landscape through digitalizing demand forecasting and sensing.
The SLP consultant along with her team members helped TCS implement consumer driven demand forecasting using machine learning algorithms for e-commerce, mass and modern channels. AI/ML based weekly demand sensing was executed for handling production and distribution planning using latest demand trends.
Further venturing into the customer requirements, the SLP consultant along with the team successfully solutioned demand replenishment and data analytics for distributor replenishment, dispatch plan and designing data governance framework.
This engagement added immense value to the customer in enabling real-time decision-making capabilities and enhanced collaboration which led to AI/ML based forecasting with an accuracy of 80-85% across channels.
Creating a Gaming/eSports ecosystem platform using Metaverse
With Telcos around the world transitioning into Digital Service Providers and building new business ventures, the next area of diversification has been Gaming and eSports. Gaming has evolved into the Biggest Entertainment industry in the world ($173 Bn) that is dominated by Millennials & Gen Z-ers. The telecom involvement in this industry has historically been of a rudimentary yet essential backbone by being the internet provider for enabling multiplayer gaming and digital downloading of content. However, Telcos are expected to intervene in the existing value chain at multiple points in majorly significant ways.
In this context, one of the SLP Consultants had built a Proactive Pitch on how Telcos could create an ecosystem of services that caters to the end-to-end customer journey of a Gaming & eSports fan. This covered areas of userbase and revenue growth simultaneously while also providing options at each step for building capabilities in-house vs onboarding third-party collaborators. Collaborating with the TCS Interactive team, the whole ecosystem was conceptually realized in a Metaverse platform - making every part of the ecosystem highly interactable in a 3D-rendered environment. A set of use cases and a roadmap for realizing this ecosystem was included in this pitch.
This initiative could put TCS in the limelight for pioneering a purpose led Metaverse ecosystem that promises sustainable growth and revenue.
SLPs lead the change for an export-oriented government Bank
The Indian banking system has historically been one of the most stable systems around the world. One such export-oriented government bank partnered up with TCS to create its future technology roadmap and enhance the customer experience. The SLPs formed a key part of the team that delivered this project successfully.
In the first phase of the engagement, the SLPs focused on getting to know more about the client’s current state. This was done through meetings and workshops with business IT stakeholders to understand the relevant issues.
The information gathered was coupled with the desired state of the client, to create a current state assessment and an analysis of business gap identification, which formed the second phase. The delivery team used the analysis for Target State Definition, with futuristic functional architecture, infrastructural improvements and technology stack.
Finally, the initiatives were prioritized, and the implementation roadmap was defined & documented. An extremely impressed client further strengthened the partnership with TCS and glory for the SLPs.
The DGM IT of the client quoted - “We would also like to take this opportunity to thank you and your entire team, for the quality of service provided during this engagement. We sincerely appreciate your efforts towards detailing each requirement and coming up with quality document. Thank you so much, and we will be looking forward to an excellent continuing business relationship.”
Technology Integration for a Large Media Merger
One of the large global media conglomerates in the world decided to merge a major India-based media house with its Indian subsidiary. The objective of the merger would be to leverage each other's strengths and gain a stronger foothold in the fast changing & growing landscape. Media companies are associated with large scale applications which are highly complex and critical for smooth running of business.
Our SLP Consultant pro-actively identified this as a Growth & Transformation opportunity with the scope of TCS being a Technology Integration partner. In collaboration with the Mergers, Acquisitions and Divestitures Practice in TCS, a Point of View was put together for the consumption of CXOs.
What started as a proactive pitch had then converted into a formal bidding process with other major service providers in the market. A large suit of technology capabilities was put together for the proposal creation to ensure coverage of an end-to-end technology stack. After multiple rounds of evaluation, TCS has been selected as the Technology Integration partner for the merger between the two companies.
Digital Transformation of a Life Insurance Company
One of India's most Prominent Life Insurance Companies rolled out an RFP last year to improve its mobile application and enhance the value proposition for its prospective and existing customers.
The engagement was to be conducted as a benchmarking exercise to compare the leading mobile applications from various relevant industries and geographies. As part of its response, SLP team at TCS identified 16 mobile applications across 5 different categories in associated geographies to conduct the benchmarking exercise.
The SLP team further proposed a framework by identifying and analyzing the various KPIs needed to conduct an accurate benchmarking. After the team presented the user journey and key insights from every app category post, regular client feedback was also added to the deliverables.
Concludingly, the SLA team gave a final presentation with the consolidated learnings from all five sprints. Their recommendations paved the path to improving the insurance company's mobile app.
Revolutionizing Affordable Lending with the ‘Art of Possible’
In the realm of affordable housing finance, traditionally characterized by its rigidity, TCS forged a dynamic partnership with an affordable housing finance company, to embark on an extraordinary journey of transformation. The goal was clear: reshape the lending landscape and revamp business processes to accommodate rapid growth and innovation. Our Strategic Leadership Program (SLP) played a pivotal role in driving the success of this transformative endeavour.
In the initial phase, our SLP meticulously scrutinized every facet of the client's operations, engaging with teams across the organization. Through this comprehensive evaluation, we uncovered critical business process gaps that needed immediate attention.
Having pinpointed these gaps, we set the stage for a groundbreaking transformation. We devised a target state for the business process and application architecture, aligning it with the client's vision of becoming a lending ecosystem that could accommodate burgeoning business demands and introduce new products.
In our pursuit of a cutting-edge application, we conducted in-depth research, evaluating numerous low-code platforms, implementation partners, and UX design experts. To amplify the transformation, we even orchestrated an ‘Art of Possible’ workshop, enlightening the client's CXOs on the latest technology trends and their potential to revolutionize their business.
The result was nothing short of astonishing. The client was thrilled with the remarkable progress and enthusiastically extended its partnership with TCS. A Transformation Management Office (TMO) is established at the client's location, ensuring the sustained execution of our consulting recommendations.
This transformation is not only elevating the client's lending capabilities but is also a step to position them as a disruptive force in the affordable loan segment. TCS, through its SLP, demonstrated the power of innovation and strategic consulting once again, by reshaping industries and driving success stories that define the future.
SLPs Spearhead ERP Implementation for Saudi Arabia's Largest Mining Company
TCS's Strategic Leadership Program (SLP) consultants have successfully implemented an ERP system for Saudi Arabia's largest mining company. This more than half year long consulting project was critical due to several economic pressures facing the industry, making it essential for the company to enhance its operational efficiencies to maintain its competitive edge in the global market.
The project's urgency was compounded by rising fuel prices in the kingdom, accounting for 25-30% of the operational costs in the mining industry, coupled with the depletion of government subsidies for raw material imports, representing 30-40% of expenses. Additionally, an escalation in interest rates for short-term loans increased the financial burden on necessary working capital. The new taxation policies introducing a 15% tax affected inter-company cost advantages, while volatility in mineral prices, particularly a sharp decline in DAP commodity prices, further stressed the economic landscape.
The ERP implementation addressed these challenges by optimizing inventory management, enhancing visibility for customer orders, and developing integrated planning processes. These improvements were pivotal for the company to conserve costs and strategically manage resources amidst these financial pressures. The success of this transformative project was underscored by the enthusiastic approval from the client, culminating in a Certificate of Appreciation for each SLP team member involved.
Delivered on schedule and executed flawlessly, this Consulting Engagement propels the client toward achieving Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 and demonstrates TCS SLPs' ability to manage and deliver complex, high-stakes projects within stringent timelines. This also sets a benchmark for how TCS’ technological advancements can fortify businesses against economic adversities, ensuring sustainability and operational excellence in challenging market conditions.
SLP CONSULTANTS’ TESTIMONIALS
Thought Leadership Articles by SLP
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT SLP IN THIS COMPILED LIST OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Management students from premier B-schools in India can apply to the Strategic Leadership Program (SLP). Young and dynamic minds who can provide solutions to business problems across several domains, create a vision for the customer, are quick and eager learners, have keen foresight and an appreciation for the ‘big picture’, all while adhering to the Tata ethos and value systems.
If you are interested in pursuing a career with TCS or doing an internship, please reach out to us through your placement team.
Aspiring candidates would need to go through the following steps:
- Registration via TCS Career Portal
- Profile screening
- Group Interactions/Discussions
- Personal Interview
The process followed might differ based on the guidelines of the candidate’s institute. Final selection of a candidate is subject to fulfilling TCS eligibility criteria for SLP.
SLP CAMPUS (SUMMERS AND FINALS) FAQS
The SLP summer internship selection process happens in Q2/Q3, while the SLP final placements happen in Q3/Q4 of the respective financial year.
Yes, of course.
At present, SLP hiring is applicable to IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, and IIM Calcutta.
It is not mandatory for a candidate to have work experience to apply for SLP. Candidates with up to a maximum of 3 years of work experience can apply.
Disclaimer: TCS reserves the right to modify the program as needed from time to time. SLP hiring in India is done through campus engagements with the select set of institutes we partner with. Please get in touch with your Placement team to know more about our other programs for management graduates at TCS.
TCS does not ask candidates to deposit any money at any stage of the recruitment process.
