Digital Isn't The Death of Brick-and-Mortar

Physical stores need to incorporate digital strategies to innovate and expand, feel top business leaders.

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Digital technology isn’t a substitute to brick-and-mortar businesses, but merely the means to transform the way in which traditional enterprises conduct business. Digital tools may help companies change business models and attract young talent, but they won’t kill physical enterprises.

This was the conclusion of the sixth and final edition of Forbes India LeaderSpeak—The Digital Transformation Series, organised by Forbes India in association with Microsoft, during which a diverse set of professionals came together to deliberate on the way forward for India’s digital transformation agenda. The panelists at the Chennai roundtable included R Chandrasekaran, executive vice chairman, Cognizant India; G Srinivasa Raghavan, global president & CEO, TVS and Sons; Manoj Jain, managing director, Shriram Life Insurance Co; NK Prasad, CEO, CAMS Group; Sumit Ganguli, CEO, GAVS Technologies; Sridhar Venkatesh, co-founder, Indix; and Bertrand Launay, chief operating officer, Microsoft India.

The ‘Phygital’ approach