India Must Bridge Digital & Capability Gap
India, which has led other developing nations as being the largest exporter of information technology services and skilled manpower among developing countries, is trailing China in digitally transforming its economy? Is there a resurgence now? The World Development Report (WDR) , recently released by the World Bank sheds light on reaping the benefits of digital transformation.
As far as the Internet is concerned China has stolen the march---of the top 20 internet companies, 5 are Chinese. It’s largest e-commerce company Taobao, a website for online shopping similar to eBay and Amazon, operated by Alibaba Group. has a market capitalisation that is 25 times higher than that of Flipkart, the largest e-commerce company in India.
Another major factor—as of 2014 India had 227 million Internet users, compared to 665 million in China; barely two out of every five Indian businesses had an online presence compared to almost two-thirds of firms in China. India needs to bridge the digital access and capability gap.
There is also an urgent need to improve quality of basic infrastructure — expressways, logistics, storage, postal delivery system and reliable supply of electricity — and adopt a more open mind towards innovations like mobile money or even ride-sharing services—in order to facilitate easy entry of start-ups. Indian IT professionals excel in Silicon Valley yet the average Indian worker falls short of his Chinese counterpart. The key is improving overall business climate and the quality of human capital--around 25 per cent of India’s adult population cannot read and write compared to less than 5 per cent in China.
Understanding that digital transformation is at the fore of every industry and segment, was the theme of the Enterprise Digital Transformation (EDT) Summit 2016, which concluded in Mumbai recently? The summit was aimed at looking at business through the lens of technical capabilities and how they could impact operations and revenues. The summit was hosted by HP and the Economic Times.
Panel discussions focused on systematic planning for consistent revenue generation from digital businesses, .Only 27 per cent of the enterprises today have a logical and consistent digital strategy that sets out how the firm will create further digital business. Experts emphasised the need for concerted efforts to take the various digital initiatives across businesses to account and create a clear digital vision that maps the delivery of the revenue-generating digital experience.
It is expected that by 2018, 67 per cent of the 2000 global enterprises will have digital transformation at the centre of their corporate strategy. In other words digital transformation is the final of 3 steps; the first being digital competence,and the second digital literacy. To put it in layman terms it simply means ‘going paperless’. This will affect not just businesses but other areas too such science, art, government, education and mass communication.
The summit offered a diverse mix of engaging keynotes, panel discussions, where leaders of the industry and noted public figures PP Choudhary (minister for Information & Technology and filmmaker Karan Johar among others, came together to discuss the journey of digital transformation.
The government also strongly believes in the need of digitization of commercial services. “For the policy maker, digital readiness means the ability to use digital technologies to reach out to citizens and involve citizens in the process of growth, separating the gap between the haves and have- nots. We should think not only of Digital India today, but think of the opportunities presented by the Digital India of tomorrow. Not being digitally ready is not an option; Digital India is an imperative for our nation to be ready to face tomorrow,"he commented.
Karan Johar provided insights on the role of technology in digitizing the world of cinema. He added, "I'm one of the rare few people from the current lot of filmmakers who made the shift to digital editing, along with Aditya Chopra. There's been a sea change within the film fraternity when it comes to using technology. I actually edited all my films using literally a scissor in hand, snipping and slicing film together. Technology means you can try fade-ins and blurs and after the initial excitement died down, we understood how to make the most of the technology that was here to stay. The whole change has been completely, diametrically phenomenal."
The event not only consisted of the policy makers, but also the policy executors. Various sectors converged at the event, namely banking, power, trading, consumer technology, etc.
Ashish Kumar Chauhan (MD & CEO, Bombay Stock Exchange), sharing his expertise in trading and dependence of technology and IT in their daily business awed the audience with insights into the functioning of the the BSE. He divulged that BSE requires only 60 micro seconds for a trade transaction to be completed.
In the coming years, Bombay Stock Exchange intends to reduce this time to nanoseconds, all with the help of enterprise technology. He explained, "Technology comes in waves, and over time those waves have become shorter. Now, those waves are hitting us virtually every day. Over the last 30 years, digital technologies have changed the world fundamentally. “IT to me, is binding glue for the organization. Only the IT head knows everything about the entire organization since they work closely with each division, he added.
India has been one of the early successes in digital revolution leading in software development and information services. A case in point is the Aadhaar digital ID which has now become a model for other countries too. Whether the new initiatives will generate even greater and more widely shared digital dividends — faster growth, more jobs, and better services — depends not only on expanding affordable access to all, but also on making long overdue progress on the analogue complements of digital investments .
The WDR argues that digital dividends are not spreading rapidly enough? This is because of 2 major reasons--nearly 60 per cent of the world's people are still offline and,, some of the perceived benefits of the internet are being neutralized by new risks. So how can we alleviate the risks? While the World Bank has stressed the need for increased connectivity it has also emphasized the need for better regulations so that companies can innovate and compete, improve skills, make institutions more accountable so that the needs and demands of the citizens are addressed by the government.
The Key Elements of Digital Transformation
There is a total of three core or key elements that contribute towards successful starting and development of the process of digital transformation, and they are given below.
· By 2015, about 90% of jobs will need information and communication technology-related skills
· A whopping 93% of marketers are now making use of social media for enhancing their image, selling products and getting in touch with customers.
2016 charmed Mumbai with its exuberant list of the industry’s best speakers from various sectors talking about the role of technology in developing and identifying new business strategies to make the most of future growth. The summit offered a diverse mix of engaging keynotes, panel discussions, where leaders of the industry and noted public figures like Karan Johar (film-maker), PP Choudhary (H'ble Minister for Information & Technology, Government of India) among others, came together to discuss the journey of digital transformation.
The Government also strongly believes in the need of digitization of commercial services. PP Choudhary (Honourable Minister for Information & Technology, Government of India) being realistic about the current scenario commented “For the policy maker, digital readiness means the ability to use digital technologies to reach out to citizens and involve citizens in the process of growth, separating the gap between the haves and have nots. We should think not only of Digital India today, but think of the opportunities presented by the Digital India of tomorrow. Not being digitally ready is not an option; Digital India is an imperative for our nation to be ready to face tomorrow."
Also present at the event was eminent film-maker, Karan Johar who provided insights on the role of technology in digitizing the world of cinema. He added, "I'm one of the rare few people from the current lot of filmmakers who made the shift to digital editing, along with Aditya Chopra. There's been a sea change within the film fraternity when it comes to using technology. I actually edited all my films using literally a scissor in hand, snipping and slicing film together. Technology means you can try fade-ins and blurs and after the initial excitement died down, we understood how to make the most of the technology that was here to stay. The whole change has been completely, diametrically phenomenal."
The event not only consisted of the policy makers, but also the policy executors. Various sectors converged at the event, namely banking, power, trading, consumer technology, etc.
Ashish Kumar Chauhan (Managing Director & CEO, Bombay Stock Exchange), sharing his expertise in trading & dependence of technology & IT on their daily business kept the audience in awe of the art the BSE uses for its functioning. He divulged that BSE requires only 60 micro seconds for a trade transaction to be completed. In the coming years, Bombay Stock Exchange intends to reduce this time to nanoseconds, all with the help of enterprise technology. He explained, "Technology comes in waves, and over time those waves have become shorter. Now, those waves are hitting us virtually every day. Over the last 30 years, digital technologies have changed the world fundamentally. IT to me, is binding glue for the organization. Only the IT head knows everything about the entire organization since they work closely with each division.”
The Economic Times Enterprise Digital Transformation 2016 closed with felicitations to the key players of the industry, followed by a networking session among the speakers and delegates present at the event.
The event will be attended by top bureaucrats and industry leaders, which includes Uday Ghare (Vice President, Digital Services, Communications, Media and Entertainment at Tech Mahindra), Golok Kumar Simli (Principal Consultant & Head Technology, Passport Seva, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India), Deepak Sharma (CDO, Kotak Mahindra Bank) and others will engage in panels and chats on the pertinent topics in the segment.
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