Inaugural Address

Second day of Solaris, the annual management fest of IIM Udaipur began with the inaugural speech by keynote speaker of the event, Piyush Pandey, Chairman, Ogilvy and Mather. Pandey started his interaction with students by talking about the need to create a balance between ‘magic and logic’ in every activity one undertakes. He spoke about the importance of conducting sensible research to generate ideas but emphasized that one must always expose the human being within him to life by observing scenarios without asking questions and relying on one’s memories to create advertisements that have an ever-lasting impact. He also spoke about the power of collaboration in generating ideas and concluded along the lines of looking for opportunities and ideas in adversities.

Unmesh- The Operations Summit

The first summit of the day was Unmesh – the Operations Summit. The summit was organized by Skein, the SCM and operations club along with Consult-U, the consulting club of IIM Udaipur.

The first segment of the summit was initiated by Josh Foulger, Country Head and MD, FoxConn.  Foulger threw light on the magnitude and characteristics of disruptions that have taken place in supply chain and operations across the world. He also spoke about the disruptions specifically pertaining to Indian economy and discussed ideas to survive and sustain them.

The second speaker for the operations summit was Deep Bhandari, Advisor, UCB. Bhandari spoke about the future of work and psychology of success. He opined that technology would only have value once people embrace it. They are its stewards who hold power to accelerate or limit the impact of technology. He also spoke about the importance of ethics in being successful.

He was followed by Vinod Kamath, President- Operations, Alembic Pharma who spoke about the importance of drawing inspiration from role models to be successful in life. He stressed on thought leadership and the need to institutionalize it.

Nagaraju Kesari, CEO and Director, Big Basket.com was the next speaker in line. Kesari spoke extensively on the importance of solving real and fundamental problems using supply chain management, keeping economics in mind. He also talked about how disruption is leading to unbridled and unsustainable consumerism and suggested ways to overcome them.

Last speaker of the summit was Amit Ghildiyal, Head- Supply Chain, John Deere. Ghildiyal spoke about the key supply chain deliverables and disruptions, and their future. He said that financials are the most prominent disruption in a supply chain.

Day 1 of the summit concluded with a panel discussion on ‘Disruptions in Supply Chain Management.’ The panelists shared their views on the ways in which Indian firms can adopt disruptive technologies when faced with issues like labour. They said that the key lies in embracing the technologies and changing mindsets about it. They also talked about the potential applications of disruptive technologies in medical field and diagnostics.

Anveshan- The Analytics Summit

The afternoon session of the second day of Solaris started with Anveshan, the analytics summit of IIM Udaipur. The summit was organized by Technalytics- the technology and analytics of IIM Udaipur.

First speaker of the afternoon was Vivek Khemani, Co-founder, Quantiphi. Vivek spoke about the use of artificial intelligence to customize the data suited to every individual. He talked about the displacement of industry towards unstructured data and said that dealing with the same is a paradigm shift.

Ujjyaini Mitra, Head Analytics and AVP Strategy, Viacom 18 spoke about the scope and the role of data science and analytics in the media industry. She highlighted accuracy and optimism as the critical factors of data science and analytics, and also stressed on the need to be passionate about data science for building a professional career in the field.

Christopher Arnold, Knowledge Services Leader, Wells Fargo. spoke about the impact of using science in analytics. He said that artificial intelligence is the most lucid revolution in analytics and technology, and described data as an art form.

The summit was followed by a panel discussion on ‘Role of analytics in today’s disruptive business environment’. The panel discussed about artificial intelligence as a major disruption in the business environment. They also talked about how artificial intelligence maps people’s behavior but is unable to track them all the time.

Samvaah– The Marketing Summit

Final summit of Solaris’17 was Samvaah – the marketing summit of IIM Udaipur. The summit was organized by MarClan, the marketing club of IIM Udaipur.

The first speaker for Samvaah was Anupam Dikhit, Global Brand Lead, Twitter. Dikhit talked about the history of disruption and the need to keep an open mind while embracing disruptive forces. He described disruption as the phenomenon of distilling values and said that digitalization is disruptive for everyone who has access to information.

Next speaker for the event was Satyarth Priyedarshi, Head of Product Marketing, JioChat. Priyedarshi emphasized the role played by government policies in creating disruption. He said that a prominent disruption does not happen often and is like a supernova explosion.

Following him was Tarun Sharma, Co-founder and CEO of MCaffeine. Tarun spoke about various levels of disruption and the Glass House phenomenon. He said that disruption could be found everywhere and one has to be alert and open-minded to create it.

The summit was followed by a panel discussion on ‘Pro-active or Reactive: Balancing Disruption’. The panel discussed if disruption could be tagged as pro-active and reactive. They also came to a consensus that disruption is not caused by a single user but by a significant number of users.

Competitions on Day 2 of Solaris:

The second day of the fest also encompassed some exciting competitions like Saudagar, Vaad-Vivaad, Vitt-Sangram, Arohan and Headrush which saw the participation from students from various B-Schools in the country. These competitions tested students in the domains of Finance, Economics, HR, Business awareness and Entrepreneurship where the students were enthusiastic to learn as well as to win.

A verbal battle of knowledge, wit, and humor concerning some of the most relevant topics on economics, Vaad Vivaad, the annual national economics debate organized by PiE – the Economics Club of IIMU, witnessed the participation of the top six teams who qualified through to the finals after the first two qualifying rounds.

Vitt Sangram, the annual finance case study competition was organized by Finomina- the finance club of IIM Udaipur. The six teams which qualified the second round participated in the quiz with great zeal. The competition tested the financial aptitude of participants through a grilling set of challenges.

Headrush, the quizzing competition encompassing various fields was organized by Potpourri- the literary and quizzing club of IIM Udaipur. A total of five teams competed in the final round which tested participants on business trivia. The national event saw participation from colleges around the country.

Saudagar – The competition which tested participants on their passion and acumen for entrepreneurship, concluded with the final round where the participants pitched their ideas to the panel. They were judged on multiple criteria like idea, pitching, communication, confidence and logical conclusion.

Arohan, the crisis management competition was organized by Dhruva-the HR club of IIM Udaipur. The final teams presented their solutions to the given crisis in front of a panel. The finalists reached the final round after a grilling first round where they had to make a video for the solution.

Exhibitions

Kalakriti, an art exhibition was also organized by Team CreArt, with a vision to promote art. The exhibition showcased the best of the artwork by the artists of Udaipur as well as the in-house artists from IIM Udaipur.

Closing Note

Upasana Karva, Convener, Solaris’17 delivered the closing note of the management extravaganza. She said that the successful completion of the event is a testament to the hard work, determination, and spirit of IIM Udaipur and its student community. She thanked the sponsors for their support, the faculty and the administrative staff for their guidance, the students for their passion, enthusiasm, and participation, and the luminaries from the industry for taking time off from their busy schedules and gracing the occasion. With that, the third edition of Solaris – the annual management of IIM Udaipur, after 2 days of grandeur came to a successful conclusion.