As the pace of automation innovations accelerates, Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America is partnering with the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) — India’s premier global management school — to launch the Centre for Digital Transformation.

The Centre, launched August 26, aspires to become a vibrant knowledge hub for academia, policymaking and the private sector by facilitating cutting-edge research on digital transformation and innovation, according to a recent Bank of America release.

The think tank partnership was born from a need for cutting-edge training programs in India, according to Sumeet Chabria, chief operating officer of global technology and operations and head of global business services at Bank of America and IIMA Advisory Committee member.

“India is ahead,” Chabria told Bank Automation News. “India’s had to, in some cases, rely on digital to leapfrog physical because they never had broadband rolled out across all of India. … They relied on mobile phones to leapfrog the need to have broadband and in some towns that was implemented first, because India was catching up.”

As the Centre is still in the early stages of development, Chabria said, “one of [the] key actions going forward in the next short term … is focused on selecting priorities, but also publishing some best practices and research papers on the subject, or guides on the subject that could actually influence how this is done, across the world and not just India, but the U.S.”

An advisory council that unites diverse stakeholders to consider digitalization has been formed by the Centre, according to the release. Council members include: Ritu Agarwal, senior associate dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland; Debjani Ghosh, president of the National Association of Software & Services Companies, a trade association; Rajesh Gopinathan, CEO of Tada Consultancy Services; Nandan Nilekani, non-executive chairman of consulting firm Infosys; Aditya Puri, senior advisor at The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm; and Vallabh Sambamurthy, dean of the Wisconsin School of Business of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The Centre’s focus goes beyond banking to overall digital transformation, said Chabria.

“The entire discussion on digital here is, how do you do it in a way that enables and helps all of society?” he said. “How do you do it with inclusion? I think the goal is not to just read about some best practices on being digital because anybody can do that. But the difficult thing is to do it in a way that is responsible, that impacts society in a very positive way. That is an enabler. It enables diversity and enables inclusion. And so really, we focused on those aspects.

“Our goal is to be able to lay the groundwork, the framework and the best practices, and the ideas around doing it the right way and to inform public policy, but also to inform the right behavior and actions in the private industry to take that forward right because the think tank is not going to be the center is not going to be able to do it. The Centre’s got to be able to inform how best to do it,” Chabria added.

Developing best practices for automation across institutions is a heavy lift in a rapidly changing industry, but one worth pursuing.

“Technology is not a goal, you know, it’s a [means to a] destination.” It’s a means to get to a better outcome for the customer. … So for us best practice means customer focus, doing the right things for the customer, doing it in the right way.” Chabria said.