Reflection - Learning Launch

Challenge      I joined an Early Child Care organization two years ago as Lead - Corporate. My organization is  ten years old and follows a very traditional method of working. Being the newest and youngest  member of the core team, it was quite challenging initially.   I was appointed to start an absolute new vertical for the school, where in the mandate was to  start a new business vertical- corporate business which included set up of new onsite day care,  tie ups for offsite day care, staff recruitment, training and management, planning and  procurement, costing, contracting, compliance, process designing and implementation,  adherence to safety guidelines and its implementation. Since the existing organization had no  prior experience in this vertical and they were testing the waters with this new venture, it was  solely left to me to drive this forward. With pre existing business leaders in this segment, it was  difficult for a new entrant to compete in a market where prior experience was a big plus.    Selection      A detailed SWOT analysis of the company helped us in identifying the areas to play- selling of  vacant seats in existing centers to corporates to increase headcount,  focus on category B/C  cities for onsite day care of existing corporates, exploring tie up opportunities with existing  corporates parents.  Absence of bigger players in category B & C cities gave us an advantage to  increase our footprint; gaining referrals from existing satisfied parents gave us a strong backing  to pitch for onsite/ offsite business.    Application    Since the project required starting from scratch the first and foremost agenda was to design  SOP’s and processes keeping in mind internal/ regulatory /  environmental, health and safety  (EHS) guidelines in line with existing industry practices. This helped us in identifying actionable  across functions and categorizing them as per risk and priority. These SOP’s also transformed  into an operation manual going forward.     Next item on the list was to identify potential corporates to approach for generating business.  Being an extremely young organization we had an advantage of no baggage and hunger for  growth which were our driving forces. We started looking at similar clients- who either could  not afford the bigger players OR were willing to experiment. Word of mouth from existing  parents was the go to strategy for generating more business rather than big spend on  marketing which we anyways could not afford due to shoestring kitty available. PSU’s/ Semi  Government organisations for day care business were still an unexplored segment and we  plunged quickly to explore the waters.

Recent introduction of the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) bill was an enabler and aggressive  approach/ faster turnaround times were key to success. In order to create demand we also  simultaneously made corporates/ decision makers aware about the existence of such a bill and  it’s benefits to organizations as well employees.    Insight    We realized a huge upside in business in the years to come as the implementation of legislation  was still in its nascent stages and awareness was still much less. A rigorous effort was required  to create demand as well as provide supply simultaneously. Highly skilled front line team  enabled good curriculum design with equally efficient operations support was the need of the  hour for delivery of product. In nutshell it required 360 degree effort on all fronts.     Approach     There were a lot of moments of truth during this journey on all fronts which resulted in a lot of  learning all along. We had to tweak/ modify our processes to align with requirements of  partner corporates. We grew strength to strength learning and assimilating from each  experience and the journey continues. We learned that instead of competitive pricing, focus on  processes and quick turnaround were playing a significant role in the decision making process  and we aligned ourselves to these needs quickly.


Reflection - Learning Launch Challenge I joined an Early Child Care organization two years ago as Lead - Corporate . My organization is ten years old and follows a very traditional method of working . Being the newest and youngest member of the core team , it was quite challenging initially . I was appointed to start an absolute new vertical for the school , where in the mandate was to start a new business vertical- corporate business which included set up of new onsite day care , tie ups for offsite day care , staff recruitment , training and management , planning and procurement , costing , contracting , compliance , process designing and implementation , adherence to safety guidelines and its implementation . Since the existing organization had no prior experience in this vertical and they were testing the waters with this new venture , it was solely left to me to drive this forward . With pre existing business leaders in this segment , it was difficult for a new entrant to compete in a market where prior experience was a big plus . Selection A detailed SWOT analysis of the company helped us in identifying the areas to play- selling of vacant seats in existing centers to corporates to increase headcount , focus on category B / C cities for onsite day care of existing corporates , exploring tie up opportunities with existing corporates parents . Absence of bigger players in category B & C cities gave us an advantage to increase our footprint ; gaining referrals from existing satisfied parents gave us a strong backing to pitch for onsite/ offsite business . Application Since the project required starting from scratch the first and foremost agenda was to design SOP ’s and processes keeping in mind internal/ regulatory / environmental , health and safety ( EHS ) guidelines in line with existing industry practices . This helped us in identifying actionable across functions and categorizing them as per risk and priority . These SOP ’s also transformed into an operation manual going forward . Next item on the list was to identify potential corporates to approach for generating business . Being an extremely young organization we had an advantage of no baggage and hunger for growth which were our driving forces . We started looking at similar clients- who either could not afford the bigger players OR were willing to experiment . Word of mouth from existing parents was the go to strategy for generating more business rather than big spend on marketing which we anyways could not afford due to shoestring kitty available . PSU’s/ Semi Government organisations for day care business were still an unexplored segment and we plunged quickly to explore the waters . Recent introduction of the Maternity Benefit ( Amendment ) bill was an enabler and aggressive approach/ faster turnaround times were key to success . In order to create demand we also simultaneously made corporates/ decision makers aware about the existence of such a bill and it ’s benefits to organizations as well employees . Insight We realized a huge upside in business in the years to come as the implementation of legislation was still in its nascent stages and awareness was still much less . A rigorous effort was required to create demand as well as provide supply simultaneously . Highly skilled front line team enabled good curriculum design with equally efficient operations support was the need of the hour for delivery of product . In nutshell it required 360 degree effort on all fronts . Approach There were a lot of moments of truth during this journey on all fronts which resulted in a lot of learning all along . We had to tweak/ modify our processes to align with requirements of partner corporates . We grew strength to strength learning and assimilating from each experience and the journey continues . We learned that instead of competitive pricing , focus on processes and quick turnaround were playing a significant role in the decision making process and we aligned ourselves to these needs quickly .