Published on May 08, 2026
The inaugural edition of the Cyber Excellence Programme for Leaders (CEPL 2026), curated by Tata Business Excellence Group (TBExG), brought together Team Leaders and Deputy Leaders from across the Tata group for a day of meaningful reflection, collaboration, and dialogue on the evolving Cyber Excellence journey. Held at the President, Mumbai - IHCL SeleQtions hotel on May 7, 2026, the programme served as a unique platform for assessment leaders to deliberate on emerging cyber priorities, assessment effectiveness, organisational expectations, and opportunities to strengthen cyber resilience across the Group.
As organisations navigate an increasingly interconnected and digitally accelerated business environment, cybersecurity today extends far beyond technology controls and compliance requirements. Increasingly linked to the strategic imperatives of operational resilience, customer trust, business continuity, enterprise reputation, and long-term sustainability, Cyber Excellence Assessments across the Tata group have evolved into collaborative platforms for strengthening preparedness, governance, and cross-company learning.
CEPL 2026 built on this broader journey, enabling leaders to exchange perspectives, reflect on practical assessment experiences, deliberate on emerging cyber realities, and collectively shape the future direction of Cyber Excellence Assessments.
The programme commenced with a welcome address by Sanjeev Singh, Vice President & Head – TBExG, who reflected on the growing importance of cyber resilience in today’s business landscape. He highlighted the critical role Assessments play in helping organisations strengthen preparedness, improve governance, and build a culture of continuous improvement across enterprises. He also emphasised the importance of collaborative learning and ecosystem-driven capability building in ensuring that Cyber Excellence Assessments continue to remain relevant and impactful.
A symbolic highlight of the inaugural edition was the introduction of the Cyber Excellence Shield Lapel Pin, presented to leaders and contributors associated with the Cyber Excellence journey. The lapel pin represents commitment, collaboration, and contribution towards strengthening Cyber Excellence Assessments across the Group, while also symbolising the collective responsibility of advancing cyber resilience across the Tata ecosystem.
Reflecting on the Cyber Excellence Journey
The first thematic session of the day, led by Subhrajit Basu, Assistant Vice President – Service Delivery, TBExG, focused on reflections from the Cyber Excellence Assessment journey over the last three years. The session highlighted the significant growth of the programme, expanding participation across Tata companies, increasing Assessor capability development efforts, ecosystem-building initiatives, and the measurable impact Assessments have had in strengthening cybersecurity practices across organisations. The session also provided participants with a broader perspective on the evolution of the framework and the growing importance of building consistency, maturity, and collaborative learning within the assessment ecosystem.
Learning from Practice
The ‘Blueprint for Success’ segments brought in practical and experience-driven insights from assessment practitioners.
Mrinal Kanti Pal, Chief - Cloud Infra Network & Cyber, Tata Steel Limited, led a session on enhancing OT Security Assessments. The discussion explored OT assessment lenses, validation approaches, network architecture principles, governance considerations, and operational realities, helping participants better understand the complexities involved in OT environments. The session reinforced the importance of contextual, risk-based assessment approaches in strengthening operational resilience.
Strengthening Assessment Effectiveness
One of the key highlights of CEPL 2026 was the panel discussion built around pre-work themes collaboratively developed by the participants.
Moderated by Sushant Mallik, Cyber Excellence – TBExG, the panel featured Raviraj Salvi, IT Infra and Security Head, Tata Sons, Surya Vadlani, Associate Director - Cyber Security, Infiniti Retail, and Nishith Datta, Chief Information Security Officer – Titan.
Discussions explored enhancements to the Cyber Excellence Framework, data security and confidentiality during Assessments, and the need to balance evidence-based Assessments with practical validation approaches. Panelists shared grounded perspectives on evolving assessment priorities, implementation realities, data security considerations, and opportunities to strengthen assessment methodologies, validation rigour, and alignment with emerging cyber expectations. The dialogue brought together practical experiences and diverse organisational contexts, adding depth to discussions on strengthening assessment effectiveness.
Cyber Resilience as a Business Priority
The afternoon session, led by Aparna Ganesh, Group Digital Officer, Tata Sons, focused on Group priorities and improvement areas.
The discussion highlighted the increasing linkage between cybersecurity, operational resilience, business continuity, customer trust, and enterprise reputation. Participants reflected on evolving Group expectations, strategic focus areas, cyber resilience priorities, and opportunities to strengthen the assessment process. The session also encouraged broader reflection on emerging risks, organisational priorities, and the role Assessments can play in enabling long-term resilience.
Balancing Rigour with Empathy
Another key segment of the programme was the ‘Dilemmas for Deliberation’ breakout session facilitated by Deepak Deshpande, Vice President, TBExG.
Participants deliberated on real-world assessment dilemmas involving appreciative inquiry during site visits, Assessor guidelines, handling sensitive situations, and balancing rigour with empathy during Assessments. The thoughtful moderation and practical approach encouraged meaningful dialogue around real assessment challenges, helping participants openly deliberate on behavioural nuances, assessment dynamics, and opportunities for improving the overall assessment experience.
Extending the Learning
A continuation virtual session was subsequently organised to cover the remaining CEPL themes and extend the planned knowledge-sharing agenda.
As part of this session, Smitesh Valanju, Chief Information Security Officer, Tata Communications, and Ravindra Eknath Ghuge, General Manager — Information Technology & Digital, Tata Projects, shared their ‘Blueprint for Success’ perspectives. Dr Pawan Chawla, Senior Vice President, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and Data Privacy and Protection Officer (DPPO), Tata AIA Life Insurance, Ranjeet Kadam, Chief Information Technology Officer, Tata Autocomp, and Surya Bhushan Singh, Deputy Head – IT & Cyber Security, mjunction Services, presented practical experiences on Post Assessment Actions Implementation.
Ravindra Ghuge’s session on Enhancing Self-Assessment Maturity focused on the gap between self-assessment scores and actual Assessment outcomes. He highlighted the need to move from perception-based scoring to evidence-based maturity evaluation, with greater emphasis on current-state Assessment, operating effectiveness, calibration examples, coverage, consistency, and demonstrable proof.
Smitesh Valanju’s session on Enhancing Pre-Site Visit Engagement highlighted the importance of stronger preparation before Assessments through a clearer understanding of business context, technology landscape, risk hypotheses, leadership priorities, and organisational readiness. He also emphasised how pre-Assessment virtual interactions, independent research, industry analysis, and strategic alignment can help Assessors deliver sharper and more contextual insights.
The Post Assessment Actions Implementation sessions by Dr Pawan Chawla, Ranjeet Kadam, and Surya Bhushan Singh brought practical implementation perspectives from their respective organisations. The speakers shared how Assessment feedback was translated into structured action plans, covering areas such as access controls, cyber drills, cloud security, data protection, vulnerability management, OT security, governance cadence, action tracking, ownership, dashboards, and closure monitoring.
Throughout the programme, a recurring theme emerged: Cyber Excellence Assessments are ultimately about helping organisations become more resilient, better prepared, and more aligned to evolving cyber realities. The programme reinforced the importance of collaborative learning, thoughtful leadership, appreciative enquiry, contextual understanding, and ecosystem-driven capability building in strengthening assessment effectiveness and advancing cyber maturity across organisations.
As CEPL 2026 concluded, participants left with renewed perspectives, stronger cross-company connections, and a shared commitment towards continuously evolving the Cyber Excellence journey across the Tata group. The inaugural edition successfully established CEPL as a meaningful platform for reflection, dialogue, collaboration, and leadership engagement in advancing cyber resilience across the Group, while laying a strong foundation for future editions.
For more information on TBExG Cyber Excellence offerings, please write to Dhanalakshmi Kollipara (dhanalakshmi.kollipara@tata.com).