The manufacturing sector in Bharat stands at a pivotal juncture, navigating an increasingly complex compliance environment while striving for global competitiveness. With the rapid adoption of cutting- edge technologies and evolving regulatory frameworks, compliance management has become both a challenge and an opportunity for manufacturers. In this insightful conversation with Mr. Mahesh Krishnamoorthy, Managing Director of Core Integra, we explore how Ctrl F, the company's flagship compliance solution, is revolutionizing the way manufacturers approach compliance. From leveraging RPA and AI for seamless execution to enabling ESG reporting and global adaptability, Ctrl F is setting new benchmarks in efficiency, accuracy, and cost-effectiveness

Can you elaborate on the unique compliance challenges faced by the manufacturing sector and how Ctrl F addresses them effectively?

Manufacturing sector in Bharat is undergoing massive transformation over the last decade and is competing in the global arena today. This increases the volumes of compliance fulfilment within a limited period of time across multiple acts and authorities. As the dynamics of business change, there are frequent updates to the compliances as well. In this scenario, which is going to be so for the next few decades as Bharat continues its journey towards global leadership, Ctrl F supports the sector in terms of proactive updates, interpretations of notifications and circulars, simplicity in compliance adherence, handling large volume compliance transactions in minutes, online fulfilment of compliances, remaining an instant access repository for all compliances and last but not the least, give confidence to the leadership and authorities of compliance status on finger tips.

How are cutting-edge technologies like Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolutionizing compliance management for manufacturers?

The beauty of RPA is that it can be used by Operations staff, very limited dependency on the IT team since it does not call for complex code writing and testing. Workflows can be created across source and destination software, whether owned of third party which makes complex tasks simple and not everything need to be loaded on the core software. At Core Integra, we use RPA extensively for data transmissions, data validations, reconciliations, report writing.

Artificial intelligence is gaining pace and will gradually become as prevalent as RPA and more in times to come. Currently we use AI for analysis and insights across large volume of transactions especially in our Audit function where we perform very high volumes of audits of Factories, Establishments, Contractors across multiple period and locations.

How does Ctrl F help manufacturers save time and reduce costs in compliance execution, particularly in mid-sized enterprises?

Ctrl F helps simplify compliance adherence in a cost effective manner. It goes with our primary motto – anyone can do compliances, you really don’t need experts for it. Every organization has to fulfil compliances in terms of information to be published in certain formats prescribed under various acts and by various authorities within stipulated timelines and repetitively. All it requires a user to do is to click a few buttons to move information from source systems to Ctrl F and process the compliances required by the organization. Record keeping, fulfilment, reporting is taken care of by Ctrl F. For a mid-sized enterprise using Ctrl F for its various compliances under Factory, Establishment, Contractor, Social/Payroll, it would save approx. 50% on human resources cost and approx. 80% of time over manual compliance work.

With the launch of Ctrl F 2.0, what new features have been specifically tailored to benefit the manufacturing industry?

Ctrl F 2.0 comes with inbuilt RPA tools, high quality reporting in terms of dashboards & MIS, insights for decision making, free access to critical compliance information and simplified interpretation of all circulars and notifications.

Can you share a case study or example of how Ctrl F has positively impacted a manufacturing client in terms of compliance, cost reduction, or operational streamlining?

I can mention the case study of one of the largest Manufacturing companies in Bharat managing global projects as well. CtrlF manages the entire end to end compliance workflow for Contractor management which includes aggregation, onboarding, verification & validation, processing, attendance management, wage runs, record-keeping, generation of registers & returns in bi-lingual formats across multiple States, performance tracking and real time dashboards. The Client has over 25 Factories with over 3000 Contractors across all States in India and has been using Ctrl F for over 3 years now. Other than centralized record management, accurate processing and real time information, Ctrl F has been able to control revenue leakage and ensure 100% compliance adherence in a segment where maximum non compliances are prevalent putting Principal Employers to highest level of risk.

With Core Integra planning global expansion, how do you envision Ctrl F adapting to the compliance needs of international manufacturers, and how will this benefit Indian manufacturing firms? Ctrl F will support manufacturing sectors in both manners, on one hand Bharat is an attractive investment and consumer destination hence global entities want to set up their operations in India. The software will help such entities in knowing and adhering to compliances in Bharat. On the other hand, many Indian entities prefer to expand in global markets and would need to know local compliances to be fulfilled not just for labour law compliances but entity compliances, we have products which cater to this requirement across 25 countries and can be integrated seamlessly into Ctrl F for data transmission and consolidation.

The labour law landscape is constantly evolving. How does Ctrl F ensure real-time updates for manufacturers to stay ahead in compliance?

At Core Integra, we have a robust Compliance Advisory team blended with a strong tech team supporting aggregation of data across public domain on a real time basis with appropriate filters to deliver important information within minutes of its release. The Advisory team understands the information, collaborates for effective interpretations, simplifies the language and the rich content is delivered to our Clients within hours of update from respective authority. These changes are automatically transmitted to our Client base and updated in Ctrl F for future access.

Sustainability is becoming a priority in the manufacturing sector. Does Ctrl F integrate features to help manufacturers align with ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) compliance norms?

Yes, Ctrl F is capable to manage compliances around Environmental and Social compliances. GRC system is available with Core Integra and integrated with Ctrl F for offering a seamless ESG compliance experience. In terms of ESG compliance and reporting, customization is required due to reporting formats being standard but information collation is required across multiple source systems of the entity. Hence, Core Integra undertakes projects to set up the ESG structure, reporting dashboards & formats, data collation across systems, data integrity checks, conversion of data to single reporting platform Ctrl F and publish the reports as required by the organization and authority.

Looking ahead, what trends do you foresee in the regulatory and compliance landscape for the manufacturing industry, and how is Core Integra preparing to address them?

As mentioned earlier, Bharat is today a global player and an attractive destination for investment. Additionally, Bharat has a tech superiority over many global markets and the Government is pushing aggressively for higher digitalization along with simplification of compliances. The future is exciting and the immediate anticipation is the New Wage Code which will transform the way we have been looking at compliances so far especially in the labour law space.