Hindware powers digital transformation with Microsoft technology

Need for a unified source of truth to accelerate digital initiatives

In early 2022, Hindware set a target of achieving significant revenue growth in three financial years. To achieve this, it needed a unified source of truth and real-time data and analytics that would make the company more agile. However, Hindware wanted the capability to visualize, slice and dice data as needed, and generate insights required to make responsive and informed decisions. Moreover, to stay ahead of the curve, the company had to invest in industrial IoT to acquire an overview and detailed know-how of production processes, material status, resource usage, and other workflows. Lastly, Hindware aimed to reengineer business processes and introduce greater automation to increase employee productivity, reduce costs and enable employees to work on innovative solutions.

Therefore, Hindware began to look for a cloud-based solution that would integrate smoothly with enterprise solutions and existing databases, and offer seamless and scalable data dissemination capabilities. It sought a solutions provider who could guide the organization’s digital journey and had a robust partner ecosystem. Finally, it wanted a solution that could be easily adapted across organizational levels. It decided to partner with Microsoft to implement the latter’s Intelligent Data Platform.

Anjaiah Surgi, Group CIO, Hindware says, “We were looking for the right data and analytics platform to centralize our data, improve decision-making, and support our digital transformation journey. After evaluating PoCs from a few vendors, we found that Microsoft had a robust suite of integrable tools that could be customized to our needs and a team experienced in solutioning. We, therefore, decided to go ahead with Microsoft.”

Hindware implemented the Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform with Azure Data Lake, Azure Synapse Analytics and Azure Data Factory. Its next step was to streamline master data management (MDM). Sensing the power of Azure Data Lake, it leveraged its capabilities to successfully develop a custom architecture for MDM in Azure Data Lake.
Based on research and vendor evaluations, Hindware selected Microsoft Power BI for data visualization as it integrates with the data lake and data marts on the Azure platform smoothly. Additionally, the Hindware project team felt that employees would adopt Power BI easily as the user interface was similar to the other Microsoft tools they were already comfortable with.

Aiming for the golden record to do more

The Microsoft solution was deployed quickly, in just three months, and it fulfilled Hindware’s complex business requirements. Most importantly, it helped the company achieve the ‘golden record’, i.e., a unified source of truth, or a single version of all the data in an organization. Along the deployment journey, Hindware gained valuable insights and derived significant benefits, including:

Single unified source of truth: With the Microsoft solution, Hindware consolidated data at the distributor, dealer, and customer levels as well as product data, business functions data, etc. It also provided seamless interconnectivity with enterprise systems like SAP, CRM, and other applications. By achieving the golden record, i.e., a unified source of truth, Hindware could centralize critical information and capitalize on it to deliver better value to key stakeholders.

Optimized Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): The custom architecture of MDM within Azure Data Lake was an innovative solution. Hindware could do more with less as it did not have to acquire more licenses or utilize additional resources for integration. The solution minimized the total cost of ownership.

High-level architecture of the Microsoft solution deployed at Hindware

More efficiency and increased agility: With Power BI's user-friendly interface and seamless integration capabilities, Hindware’s employees exchange and analyze large volumes of data effortlessly. They generate real-time, intelligent reports and dynamic dashboards with a few clicks, unlike earlier, when it would take an entire day to perform the same tasks. The new technology thus saves time and effort. Power BI’s actionable insights also enable quick and well-informed decision-making, ultimately contributing to enhanced productivity and agility, which were key success criteria of the project.

Better security control: With the solution built on a trusted platform, Hindware can govern the data and implement a robust identity access management layer for suitable security and privacy controls.

Data-driven project management: Hindware’s homegrown application for project management utilizes Power BI to create a centralized view of all programs and projects. With self-service and enterprise data analytics, it provides relevant and real-time reports and dashboards. It offers concurrent visibility into the performance of all the projects to managers, teams, PMO leads, and senior leadership, including those outside the scope of the digital initiative. By putting data to work, it has reduced MIS efforts significantly without additional manpower as one individual now manages reporting.

Improved productivity: With the entire suite of products of Microsoft 365 along with Microsoft security solutions, Hindware has leveraged the Microsoft Modern Workplace to enhance employee productivity and satisfaction and enable more seamless and secure communication and collaboration.

Transition to a digital-first culture: Hindware has been able to build a digital culture by educating employees on the latest technologies and sharing digital solution experiences through newsletters and other means. Through initiatives like gamification, etc., the company has created a digital mindset. Employees are more engaged and motivated as they participate in related games and quizzes built on Microsoft tools and get recognition. These initiatives have led to crowdsourcing ideas for the organization to go more digital, ensuring the entire organization is more invested in digital transformation.

Nitin Dhingra, Chief Digital Officer, Hindware, says, “With the expertise and guidance of the Microsoft team, we have a holistic solution that consolidates disparate systems and data sources, and streamlines and automates our workflows. It has converted our data into a competitive advantage. The support and commitment of the Microsoft team to finalize and translate the business requirements into an all-encompassing solution is commendable.”

Building a data-driven culture for digital transformation

Hindware aims to maximize the value of its investment by using the solution to do even more. For example, it plans to develop a Power Apps version of the project management tool.

It aims to adopt Power BI cloud, its ML and AI capabilities and Azure OpenAI and make it a hub for data and analytics. It is also driving a more data-driven culture by integrating various Microsoft tools and providing enhanced user experiences to accelerate digital transformation.

Additionally, it plans to leverage the power of low-code tools like Power Apps and Power Automate to create and automate workflows so that it can do more with less as repetitive tasks are automated, and employees can focus on high-value tasks, bringing in more organizational efficiency.

Niraj Kumar, Head of Data Analytics, Hindware, remarks, “The solution is a game-changer for us. The end-to-end, plug-and-play Microsoft solution has modernized our data estate. It provides timely and relevant information and ensures data governance, allowing us to deliver more business value. We want to drive a cultural shift in the organization by leveraging the solution for future digital initiatives.”