My marketing colleagues are rightly on my case to use the word Digital. We are of course proud to position ourselves as “Born Digital . Born Agile”, however in the present scenario, I feel the word digital has been abused like any other trend! It is like a plane journey today – they have become a matter of routine. For some folks it’s equivalent to a taxi or a train, when they first started, they were considered a luxury, today they are part of ordinary life.
Digital Technology similarly is like the fabric, the clothes we wear. At the heart of it is the person who wears those clothes. Take the country I was born in – everyone from the hawker on the street to the largest corporates have a phone, it varies in price, but the interaction is digital and they all engage, buy, sell, interact through the fabric ‘Digital’.
I was speaking to the CTO of a large professional services company, and he made an astute observation that most of us will identify with. Most people think it’s the technology that makes the difference and enhances value. But in reality, technology can be trained and built to do what the business requires. What is required is the ability to identify the problems to be overcome or learnings from other industries that can be adopted. He is absolutely spot on.
Digital technology is here to stay and a few years down the line my good analyst friends will come up with a new set of acronyms as we move forward with accelerated innovation. And by the way, so will Covid. Well, Dr. Fauci prophetically said this – and most scientists & doctors agree with him. Pandemics have a general life span of 4 years+.
A few examples of some things that have changed our lives and hopefully improved with the quantum leap adoption of digital. And while we benefit as privileged individuals and enterprises, there is also a responsibility that we bear, especially as technology companies, to bring together Governments, Academia, Enterprises to enable upskilling a generation. In a previous article, I had covered this specific aspect. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/isaacgeorge_no-comebacks-activity-6750769638428164096-2aWO
The MIT Sloan Management Review has a really relevant article on Digital Growth. The argument and premise is to enable the ecosystem (whether supplier/vendor/customer) and use them for increased revenues. This is about going beyond being digital for an enterprise – it is about providing benefits for the consumer-citizen within an ecosystem and additional revenue streams for all parties – a great symbiotic relationship. Not sure if you can access it – but this is a worthwhile read – Source: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/driving-growth-in-digital-ecosystems/
- Digital Readiness – ability to digitally partner, leading to growth by adding more products and customers via digital networks with companies that enable speedy response to customer requirements
- Curation – enable drivers to coordinate effectively with their digital partners while creating and growing an ecosystem to grow through partnering. Ecosystem drivers must be thoughtful curators of the products and services – Curation enables drivers to coordinate effectively with their digital partners while creating and growing an ecosystem – spanning multiple ecosystem domains.
A stark reality I leave with you of the ~7.8Billion vaccines delivered, 73% have been in 14 countries!! Combine that with the increased disparity of wealth and increase in poverty – according to the World Bank – another 150 million added to what was previously a declining number pre-Covid.
So, spare a thought for the many impacted by technology and who need to be re-skilled and supported. While as consumer citizens we have benefitted, there has been an equal number of families who have also been adversely affected. And we need to find a way together to bring a level of equitability across populations.
I hope while we enjoy Digital we will continue our Journeys of Compassion – https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/red-pill-blue-isaac-george/
is Senior Vice President & Head of UK & Europe at Happiest Minds Technologies. Isaac brings diverse experience ranging from strategy, operations, delivery to building markets in India, UK & Europe. He has over 30 years of experience in the technology industry, of which 20 of which have been in UK & Europe. He has worked with companies such as Fujitsu, Steria (Xansa), TCS, E&Y, and Strong Memorial Hospital.
