Change is a journey. Embracing change can open doors to new opportunities and possibilities. But for India’s traditional family-owned businesses, transformation journeys are often complex, involving fundamental changes to strategy, processes, culture, and technology to adapt to market shifts.
To make this transformation smooth, Deloitte India and SAP have collaborated to launch ‘INTEGRATE’ industry solutions designed to accelerate the digital transformation of Indian enterprises. Through INTEGRATE, family-owned enterprises can confidently transition to the SAP Public Cloud, achieving greater agility, transparency, and measurable impact.
This article covers key insights on how family-owned enterprises can modernise, while still preserving their legacy and values, from an expert panel comprising Pankaj Banarase (Partner, Deloitte India), Nitish Agrawal (Chief Partner Officer, SAP India) and Kishore Kumar CH (VP, Head of Finance, Lifestyle).
Modernising in today’s cloud-first environment
As technology transforms every industry, family businesses rooted in old systems are feeling the pressure to modernise for long-term success and scalability. They are ready to embrace digital maturity and reimagine how they run finance, HR, and planning functions through data, automation and AI.
But managing legacy alongside innovation is no small feat for family businesses. They need to strike a balance between preserving their legacy and adopting modern technologies. Shedding light on this, Kishore Kumar CH says, “Family businesses today need to adopt data-driven approaches and more customer-focused ways of working. Moving from instinct-based decisions to data, analytics, AI, and better systems can help them improve efficiency and stay competitive without losing their identity and core purpose.”
How INTEGRATE solution ensures a smooth transition
INTEGRATE portfolio offers preconfigured, ready-to-deploy cloud solutions tailored especially for family-run businesses. It helps businesses accelerate their transition to the SAP Public Cloud with minimal disruptions.
Reflecting on this, Pankaj Banarase quotes, “INTEGRATE promises faster deployments, safer implementation, and continuous user enablement, helping enterprises realise faster return on investment and reduce their overall costs.”
Reimagining business models through faster and reliable cloud transition
Enterprises today are looking for a faster and more reliable way to transition to the cloud. They need an ecosystem that can drive innovation, reimagine business models and deliver large-scale value for a future-ready Bharat.
With cloud platforms and real-time data insights, changes that once required massive effort can now be done instantly. If you talk about the impact of technology, Advanced automation, Cloud, AI, and analytics have immensely improved data visibility and decision-making. They drive sustained business performance, user enablement, and long-term innovation.
Deloitte India, through its innovation labs at DCIT and a global network of alliances and collaborations with technology leaders, startups, and academia, is building solutions that deliver measurable business impact and make the technology transition seamless.
Managing transformation with trust
Change management is always challenging, especially with family-run businesses that are deeply rooted in tradition. They often think, why should we modernise when our existing systems work well.
What can help overcome this transition challenge is engaging every stakeholder in the process to ensure the transformation feels relevant, meaningful, and aligned with the company’s goals. According to Nitish Agrawal, “Modernising legacy organisations is not just about technology alone, it is also about people. The shift required is more about mindset than machines. Businesses must shift from simply running better to running smarter, simpler, and more sustainably to stay globally competitive.”
A strategic approach to change helps family enterprises scale
Moving from on-premise ERP systems to public cloud platforms is a big leap for conventional family-run businesses. But what helps ensure a smooth migration is avoiding common pitfalls such as underestimating the change management and replicating old processes in the new system.
According to Pankaj Banarase, “A strategic approach to change helps overcome these challenges. For the transformation to be smooth, early stakeholder alignment is essential so everyone understands why the change is happening. Secondly, a phased approach with small and quick wins helps build confidence. And thirdly, leveraging a platform that can provide access to best practices, reduce risks, and lower costs.”
For more insights, check out the video link.
The bottom line
While the balance of legacy and modernisation is not easy, with the right guiding principles, collaboration and innovation, family enterprises can identify new growth avenues without losing their identity.
It’s time family-led businesses must reform, rethink and reinvent to scale and grow.