The announcement follows the first visit to India of Hauke Stars in her capacity as Member of the Board of Management, Volkswagen AG, in charge of IT and digitalization of the entire Group. Ms. Stars, who joined Volkswagen AG in February 2022, is currently meeting teams worldwide to share her target vision for NEW IT, an organizational set-up and mindset geared to enable Volkswagen Group’s NEW AUTO strategy, transforming the company from a traditional automaker to a software- and data-driven provider of sustainable mobility. More speed, more agility, more value – this triplet is at the heart of NEW IT.
VWITS plays an important role in the NEW IT strategy. Set up back in 2016 to tap on the IT competency and expertise available in India, VWITS has been developing and delivering the state-of-the-art technology solutions for various digitization initiatives in the Group, continuously growing from 200 to close to 1,700 people.
“India has long evolved from an extended workbench into a true IT powerhouse. The amazing local tech talent pool provides us with the right skills, competences, and attitude for New IT, powering Volkswagen Group’s New Auto strategy,” Hauke Stars explained. “This is why we want to scale fast in Volkswagen Group Technology Solutions India, aiming at doubling our IT workforce here by the end of 2024. Our next step is to empower VWITS to take end-to-end responsibility for key strategic projects that drive our inhouse value creation.”
Dr. Cornelius Menig, Head of Application and infrastructure, added: “One of the drivers in the next months will be to build in-house expertise for our key applications serving critical business processes. Volkswagen Group Technology Solutions India will play a significant role in the overall internalization strategy, reducing reliance on external suppliers and intellectual monopolies."
Sidharth Yadav, Managing Director Volkswagen Group Technology Solutions India, emphasized on the availability of IT talent and innovation capabilities in India. He further stated that we want VWITS India to lead key IT initiatives on behalf of the Group. “Whenever the Group thinks about new technologies, they should think about VWITS. We intend to further develop our team in India into one of the key technology innovation hubs for Volkswagen’s Group IT. With our ITS.4 strategy, we are now getting ready to take end-to-end product responsibility by insourcing key knowledge within the Group.”
Launch of EVOLVE program
In addition to discussing the key projects for the Volkswagen Group, Hauke Stars wants to use the opportunity of her visit to inaugurate VWITS’ “EVOLVE” initiative. EVOLVE is a new flagship development program designed to groom female talent for leadership at VWITS, aimed at increasing gender diversity in the managerial cadre while being cognizant of the organization’s high standards of meritocracy.
“While women’s representation at career entry levels at our IT organization in India is comparatively good at 27%, it dips significantly at the managerial level to 14%,” Hauke Stars said. “I am confident that with the EVOLVE program, VWITS is taking the right approach to systematically encourage and groom emerging women future leaders, preventing this invaluable talent pipeline to leak.”
About Volkswagen Group Technology Solutions India Private Limited
VWITS was conceived during 2016 with a 200 person team and employs close to 1,700 people today at three locations in Pune, Gurugram, and Bengaluru. Being a solution provider to the Volkswagen Group, VWITS has also developed inhouse products like AISHA-Chatbot, IRIS- OCR based invoice processing tool, Desk booking tool, collaborating with startups and strategic partners. VWITS has a strong talent pool with SAP HANA & Cloud expertise who is in the driving seat for S4/HANA migrations at Volkswagen Group. The team has developed a S4/HANA migration kit with assessment tools and accelerators to reduce the overall migration timeline.
Currently, more than 180 projects and services are running for the Volkswagen Group’s various brands like VW, MAN, SCANIA, TRATON, AUDI, VWN, SKODA, Bentley, Navistar, and numerous regional companies across Asia-Pacific, Africa & Americas.