Quest: Collaboration between Environment India & Environment ARCADIS North America
Earlier in 2015, I had a great opportunity to support collaboration between Environment India and Environment ARCADIS North America during my recent QUEST trip to India! It was very enlightening to get an overview on various multi-national and government clients in India. My motivation to apply for a Quest program, originated from the fact that as an Arcadian, I always look for knowledge-sharing opportunities beyond conventional boundaries. India presents itself as a huge market that needs support for the growing restoration business in India. This was further supported by the focus that the Global Business Line -Environment (GBL-E) is currently advancing the strategy to grow the restoration business in India as well as Asia in general. One of the key opportunities to drive success in this region is to reinforce the connections between the North American, and the Indian operations, with support from the GBL-E and Multi-national client programs, to enhance our position and further engage our clients. Arcadis’ competitors in India have made their inroads into the nascent remediation market in India; and are arguably in a better position in some ways. In order to keep pace and maintain a global leadership position in Environment and Restoration, we as a global ‘one-team’ must enhance collaboration. Given Arcadis’ capabilities and success in US and EU and the wealth of technical knowledge, there is no doubt that Arcadis can soon be a formidable competitor in an evolving Indian environmental marketplace, but we have work to do before we get there. Therefore, with much-needed support for Arcadis’ leaders, I embarked upon the Quest to try to strengthen existing connections and forge new ones and connect few dots. The ultimate goal was to enhance our knowledge transfer in order to deliver better outcomes and increase our market share in India.
The Quest involved some strategic support and guidance from the global leaders including Environment Asia lead – Grant Sprick, Environment India head – Mainak Hazra and GBL-E Value proposition leader – Kurt Beil. I visited Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, Vadodara, Delhi during my two-week Quest. Spending time with Ketan Maroo and his team in Pune gave very holistic overview of environment and water related client base and challenges in the India market. India Environment business presents itself as a great challenge from multiple perspectives – regulatory, range of clients and (stiff) competition. Challenge is equal to opportunity, therefore, it was very interesting to learn the successes and the lessons learnt on various fronts. In addition to the warm welcome in every office, I really enjoyed learning from my colleagues. Various knowledge exchange sessions occurred – presentations about India projects and on various projects I have worked on in the US; this also included the unique GEC perspective where team members in India had begun catalyzing some of the US-based Environment projects and pursuits. It was very evident that everyone involved saw potential for synergistic collaboration opportunities. The best way to win that next opportunity is through collaboration – and that’s what I was thinking about as I learned more from my colleagues.
One of the highlights of my trip was the opportunity to talk at EnviroTech 2015, a national-level environmental conference and collaboration platform that has gained attention since its inception three years ago. A fast evolving environmental scene in India calls for such events and it was attended by more than 150 people. We saw multiple stakeholders including clients, government leaders, industrial operation directors, technology vendors and consultants. Arcadis was one of the sponsors for the conference and it was great to see the visibility that our participation provided to various potential clients who have a multitude of problems that we can help with.
Few preliminary project discussions occurred during the Quest trip and they continued to progress even after my return to the United States. Three months following my Quest, it turned out to be very busy time for India Environment operations; I was fortunate enough to be able to stay involved. The ‘One team’ has since then pursued many strategic opportunities in India and a few in China where we were able to polish our proposals and enhance our strategy while working on very challenging client needs, and delivery schedule. We are anticipating to hear about outcomes of these proposals early in 2016. It was a very rewarding trip and I continue to look for opportunities to collaborate. A huge THANK YOU to Lovinklaan Foundation, GBL-E, US/Ohio Managers and Host/India leaders and numerous colleagues who spared their valuable time to make this a memorable and stimulating experience. #india #collaboration #remediation
Regards,
Davinder