The Multipler Effect of Ecommerce and Technology

Ecommerce: January 30, 2019

In May 2018 Walmart agreed to buy a 77% stake in Flipkart for US$16 billion which makes Flipkart a $20.8 billion enterprise.

At this time the US Dollar was trading at around Rs 67.50. So Flipkart in May 2018 was valued at Rs 140,000 cr.

If we hold the valuation for the present at the same and look at how this compares with other retail companies in January 2019 this will give us a perspective into some of the dynamics that go into technology and Ecommerce.

Let us look at the market caps of some of the top retail companies that are publicly traded.

Reliance Retail is a division of Reliance Industries so valuing this has its challenges so we will leave this out for the present.

A few companies do not qualify as pure retail like Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd

So we have taken 7 top retail brands and totalled their market caps and all of these together are 141136. No surprises here. They all just equal the valuation that a single company Flipkart had some months ago.

If we take out Avenue Supermarts from the list and add up the market caps of the other six we have a total of 44696 cr. If an offer of 50% premium on the closing trading price were made and accepted all of these six retail companies spanning a diverse range of products and spread across Indian states would become part of a new owner who will have invested 67000 cr, 50% of what it would have cost the same owner in buying Flipkart.

It is true that Walmart as a foreign entity and Indian laws relating to retail would not permit this purchase. Walmart could buy Flipkart and not these six because the regulations would not have permitted foreign ownership.

But if we leave this aside and speculate that someone like Reliance or the Tata Group decided to invest large in Indian retail and made a decision, they would be able to own a large part of Indian organized retail market share with thousands of stores for 50% of the investment that they would need to make in Flipkart which is really a website backed by a large number of warehouses spread across the country for order fulfilment.

So what is the mystique surrounding ecommerce and technology and why are these valued so highly?

What lessons does this have for businesses in India?

What is holding back businesses with decades of expertise, large capital and a wise management cadre from purusing and achieving these values from their existing businesses?

Technology companies and entrepreneurs understand the power and potential of technology. People without the same level of exposure do not realize the immense value that technology holds. It is similar to comprehending that a single drop of water if we were to use it efficiently as a fuel cell could harness power that would equal multiple times that we are able to generate through conventional means. The value is explosive and hidden and if we are able to unlock this, the multiplier effect would be immense.

There are many reasons for Ecommerce and Technology to have large potential than traditional retail.

If we look at the above reasons and work through them, it becomes clear that more businesses should embrace digital and Ecommerce and build businesses that are based on technology. This is not as easy as we can imagine for many different reasons. Some of these are listed and we can discuss each of them in more detail.
So what if a business can oversome these challenges and obstacles and embark on a Technology and Ecommerce venture that rivals their current business in scale and breadth?

Look no further than Reliance which with Jio has a digital vision that is one of the most comprehensive we have seen so far. It leader Mukesh Ambani has embraced digital and start-up culture than few would imagine themselves being able to do. Jio has made great strides in becoming a leader in digital and is on the path to financial success.

So here is a model that many businesses in India can take inspiration from and embark on their own digital journeys. These may help them stave off competition and decline and bring into them a new digital life and energy that can spur growth in the new economy and infuse a new lifespan into their existence.

This needs a deep transformation, catharsis and redical thinking to achieve. These are all in the minds of the people managing these businesses. It is possible to do. We just need to shake off our current thinking and look into the minds of those that have done it and look at ways to emulate them. There will be difficult decisions to take, large investments to make, substantial risks to endure. But they could bear fruit and lead to a new life that is more rewarding and fulfilling for Indian businesses.


Speed & Boldness in Technology Pursuits

Strategy: February 16, 2018

Technology is special because of its ability to disrupt, scale and transform. Speed and boldness play a large role in the success of technology companies. There are examples everyday of companies and founders taking bold initiatives and decisions and working quickly and nimbly to get a headstart in their markets, gain over competition and build massive value for their businesses. Of these, four are fascinating for the scale and extent of their success and worth reviewing.

Apple had their comfortable Macintosh market that kept growing steadily with the expansion in computer and laptop usage. They had experimented with the iPod and made a huge success out of it. The iPod revolutionized the music listening experience and the music industry and create a new category of users and product subscriptions. The iPod replaced the famous and successful Walkman that had begun the trend of portable music players.

The success of the iPod and the steady market share of Macintosh desktops and laptops should have been good for Apple to coast along with a steadily growing business. The thirst for more growth was strong and so was the willingness to think long and risk large. Apple began its quest to disrupt a business that it had no knowledge of and where there were large entrenched giants who had years of experience and understanding of the mobile business and global brand loyalty and distribution networks. Apple was determined to disrupt, transform and move the market in its favour. The design of the iPhone was startling because it brought in a new experience to users and innovations in technology and design which the larger market leaders failed to identify or acknowledge. Apple took a huge gamble in the billions that it invested in research and development of the smartphone and this turned out to the most impacting of all their decisions. Apple would go on to build the largest cash reserves for any company worldwide in a few years, all thanks to the success of the iPhone and its legion of fans.

Facebook had just bought WhatsApp for a cool $19 billion in 2014 and a few days later Mark Zuckerberg was invited to Mobile World Congress at Barcelona. The audience waited from about a hour before the doors of the convention room were opened and within minutes the seating of several hundreds was filled. I had an opportunity to look through the doors at the far end of the room where Mark Zuckerberg was seated on a dias being asked the familiar question of whether he had overpaid for WhatsApp. No said Mark, he felt that he had underpaid and had in fact done a good deal that would pay rich returns over the years.

Mark Zuckerberg wooed and charmed the WhatsApp founders, gave them a lot of decisions and flexibility and paid a huge price for a fifty member team that had created and was running a successful mobile app. Facebook was a web focussed company at the time with a market cap of about $100 billion. The deal was of staggering propositions at about 20% of the company value. It was a large risk and a plunge into uncertainty. But it was a gamble that paid off rich dividends. Four years later Facebook market cap is five times and the company is a leader in the mobile app space, something that it could not have done on its own. WhatsApp helped shape the consumer's mind about Facebook being a mobile company and gave it a customer base that it used to bring people over to the Facebook apps and its Messenger. The clarity and confidence of the deal making stood out and showed that boldness and speed can work remarkably when they are positive. By holding back and trying to build their own mobile engagement Facebook may not have caught the mobile bus and may have slipped into oblivion. Instead through the speed of outmanoeuvring other suitors Facebook turned the tables in its favour and denied other firms the opportunity to get into the mobile arena.

Google did it not once but twice. By buying YouTube and Android when they were in their very early stages and still unproven and putting in large investments into building the platforms and markets, Google created two game-changing businesses that by themselves are market leaders and huge market cap ventures. Both look like they will continue to dominate their markets for a long time with no worthy competition anywhere close.

Both were far-reaching decisions and masterly understanding of the future portends of the video and mobile phone markets. Google moved swiftly to take over these two companies and offered value large enough to beat other bids and win these two companies over. Both were bold moves as they were very early in their markets and the products were still in their development stages with low market reach. Google was able to take them both, nurture and invest in them and transform their offerings to make them market leaders and disruptors in their markets.

Amazon was more an ecommerce and selling-distribution company than a technology one. While its main engagement and transaction platform was an online store, a website, Amazon spent more time and effort in the non-technology areas of supply chain, pricing, customer service, logistics, order fulfilment and catalogue building. Web Services was not a recognised industry yet and the Cloud was just being touted as a large transformational movement in the technology world. Amazon pooled its resources and brought in large teams and invested massively in its AWS business, infrastructure and expertise, developing a detailed and nuanced understanding of the business and winning over developers and customers worldwide for its services.

The bold move by Amazon has taken it from being an ecommerce company into a leading enterprise software and services leader, one that it may not have been considered some years back. Today Amazon is recognized as a front-runner in enterprise technology and services and a serious competitor and disruptor for other technology vendors. The ability to strategically see a market position years ahead and invest large to build a competitive advantage has been a great move by the company.

The Technology time window is small and the opportunity large. The inflexion point can occur anytime and when this does the market growth is explosive. This calls for a lot of patience for technology companies who need to continue to invest, enhance and nurture their products while they wait for the inflexion that changes the growth trajectory. When this takes place valuations and market caps expand multiple times and products find themselves as leaders in large growing markets. This tipping point is a large opportunity but also a substantial risk. The rewards are large to offset the huge risks that companies need to take.

These rewards beckon and hold founders in thrall and they take large risks and invest in products and markets that are still in their nascent stages. Many lose their investments and fade away but the few that do stay afloat get a wind of growth that takes them to large valuations and leadership positions. It is the speed of decision making and implementation, the boldness to take risks and the confidence and patience of knowing what is ahead that gives businesses the edge and tips them over the success threshold.


APIs the Heart of Applications

Cloud: February 15, 2018

APIs or Application Programming Interfaces have existed from the early days of the internet. They have evolved, matured and become critical to applications over the past decade. APIs are the heart of applications and need to be architected, developed and managed well.

APIs are ways for applications to communicate with each other. They are the ways mobile apps can communicate with the cloud computing modules and data on central servers and clusters. Letting apps directly connect and deal with server based resources is not an efficient, effective and secure way of managing systems and data. APIs offer a better and more controlled method to achieve these features.

For applications to communicate with each other APIs offer a simple method to connect and manage tasks that require computing, processing and data management. APIs can help do updates of data and information, retrieve and send back information, get status details, exchange information, messages and documents, and carry out tasks with other systems, databases, devices and applications. APIs work on the Cloud side of applications - on the server and server clusters, on the technology infrastructure that supports apps and systems.

Website, portals, ecommerce stores and web apps work within the Cloud and on the server side infrastructure and can work on their own without the use of APIs. They can connect with databases and other Cloud / server based environments and directly carry out tasks. This is the way we used to architect and design web based systems in the early days. It is better, more elegant, scalable, flexible and secure to use APIs even for web based software and applications.

So what do APIs look like? APIs are server side code that run within web and applications servers and use server resources for computing, connections and storage. APIs are instructions that need specific information and parameters that tell them the type of task instructed or the type of data requested. APIs can be http calls which work just like the URLs we have in our websites with ? and & to specify different parameters that the API should work with.

APIs return information to the calling application as text, formatted data, binary files or encrypted data. Formatted data could be in the formats of XML, Json, CSV or other open and proprietary formats. APIs tend to be responsive and reactive. They do not work on their own and respond and act based on instructions sent to them.

Apps call APIs for anything they need from the cloud. They may need some information such as the Weather or Price or Product Photograph or Marketing Document. They call the appropriate API and send over the different options that they are seeking. The APIs receive the instructions and carry out processes based on these and send back the information or confirmation to the calling application with success messages or error codes or any information that has been requested.

APIs are now the heart of applications because they provide the most efficient, productive, scalable, robust and secure ways for apps including web apps, websites, portals, ecommerce stores and other systems and applications, to be created and managed. By designing and creating APIs you provide the inter-linkages, connections and ways for apps to communicate with the Cloud and send instructions for updates and tasks and receive information requested.

APIs foster the creation of eco-systems of apps that work together, exchange information and coordinate to achieve larger goals. Pricing updates from your Ecommerce store with other systems is possible through APIs. Product information that has been updated can be communicated or provided to Ecommerce stores through APIs that enable the communication and exchange between these systems.

Platforms enable the creation of multiple apps that work within a common set of information and features and can do multiple tasks in different ways. Groups of apps can be created that perform different activities and can connect to the Cloud systems for information and updates. Examples of these are the various apps that have been created for weather or which use weather information but all connect to the same weather data and system for their updates and details. The weather system is now a platform that has its set of APIs. The APIs are provided to enable other apps to connect to the platform and send instructions or request information. APIs enable the creation of platforms that can nurture and support multiple apps and provide common information that is useful to all of them.

APIs are the core of Service Orientation Architecture (SOA). They form the connectors and linkages between apps that run on computers and mobile devices, and the systems, programs and resources that operate the Cloud functions. APIs provide robustness, flexibility and expandability to applications and platforms and enable the creation of services and applications. APIs provide the services and support for inter-application connectivity and integration. APIs form the critical bridge that helps apps and systems work together in coordination.

Enterprises who want to create apps should consider the critical role of APIs in their systems and work with developer teams who can conceptualize, plan and build the API framework required for the apps. Cloud based APIs will become increasing more critical to the functioning and growth of apps.

Robustness, performance and security are paramount for APIs and extensive testing and trials are needed to establish and improve the quality of the APIs. These call for extensive understanding and detailing by the developer teams who are working the APIs. APIs that are well designed can be the critical success factors for applications when they expand and scale. Performance for the user also comes in some part from the quality and sophistication of APIs. Well designed, sophisticated and flexible APIs can be invaluable elements that determine success and performance of applications.

APIs are evolving and becoming more sophisticated and versatile. A lot more integration will come into APIs in the future. Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and other technologies will add to the power and advancement of APIs. APIs will continue to be the heart and core of applications and Cloud systems in the years to come.


The Continuing Growth of IT Services

Business: February 14, 2018

IT Services will continue to grow and add value to the global economy. Technology requirements are becoming more sophisticated and require high levels of talent and expertise to deliver. Developers and Architects will continue to be in high demand if they stay with the times, accelerate their learning and are able to deliver advanced requirements. New opportunties arising in computing, data management, analytics, automation, apps, artificial intelligence and machine learning will be larger than those that we have seen in the past decade.

Mathematics for applications software is becoming increasingly more sophisticated. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning need advanced structures, algorithms and mathematical application. These are likely to be high growth areas for the forseeable future and will need skills and capabilities that are already limited. Companies building these capabilities in their teams will have a large market to address over the next few years.

There is likely to be a surge in requirements of Robotics as we see mechanical extensions of automation in various industries. Robotics and mechanical automation need sophisticated sensors, vision implements and real-time data analytics to enable them to manage obstacles and handle physical objects and materials. The dynamics of these movements and work handling, and the decision making that devices and their systems need call for sophisticated mathematical modelling, analytics, programming and optimization. As robots and automation expand so will the coordination, communication and integration between them. All of these open up massive markets that will grow over many years.

Blockchain looks like it will create large disruptions in the business applications markets with new architecture of distributed and shared databases and methods of authentication and validation of transactions. Once these reach a critical scale in technology and application validation, Blockchain based systems will become a large area of development and operations.

IoT is a massive revolution that is unfolding before us and over the next few years will require a large volume of software, applications development and data management. Added to these will be analytics and integration of artificial intelligence for the management of these device networks. A large quantum of work will spin out of IoT as the sensors and protocols begin to acquire scale and sophistication.

All of these will eventually find their way into Apps which are the method of interaction for users. Native OS and Web Apps will flourish as there will be preferences by users for all of them based on the frequency and volume of usage. I believe there will be more automation in the development of apps, evolution of app frameworks and tools that will enable apps to be created with less development effort. Some of these are already underway with use cases. They will still not diminish the role of app developers who will see many more apps being required for a diverse range of applications.

I think it is now about time for a large disruption in the apps market. A new development platform may emerge that will possibly disrupt the current native and web apps that we have and create a new paradigm. Still unknown, I think the disruption is somewhere already in the making and will arrive in the next few years to create new formats of applications that work on the wide variety of platforms and devices we have. We already have millions of apps in the app stores and in use and these continue to need maintenance and enhancement. A large proportion of services will continue to be needed for these. New paradigms for app development will add to these with a massive effort at creating a new generation of apps.

Ecommerce is huge but still a small fraction of the total commerce that takes place in industries. Ecommerce will permeate more industries and online shopping, payments and customer service will continue to grow with increasing automation, intelligence and personalisation. The opportunity is large and new formats of ecommerce with convergence of other technologies will emerge to keep this sector expanding.

Cybersecurity is a critical requirement of our time. More automation, integration and devices call for more stringent ways to detect intrusions, monitor networks and respond rapidly to emergencies and situations. The worldwide force of cybersecurity specialists and teams will continue to grow and form a formidable proportion of the IT world.

Marketing continues the shift towards digital and there will be increasing integration of digital into all formats of marketing. Customer engagement, brand marketing and loyalty programs will keep becoming more sophisticated, better targeted and increasingly automated. Artificial intelligence, data analytics and automation will play increasingly larger roles in marketing as programmatic advertising and intelligence powered marketing decisions mature as technologies and applications.

IT Services will need to recognise these shifts and respond appropriately to them. Building new skills, hiring fresh talent and creating teams around these high technology areas will open new opportunities. User enterprises will continue to outsource increasing volumes of development, data management and analytics as the speed for innovation and development increases. While software is now core to almost every company, there will still be many areas that enterprises will like to contract to specialists instead of building in-house capabilities to deliver and manage them. IT Services will continue to have demand from enterprises as the threshold of capabilities and talent rise substantially in response to increasing sophistication and advancements of software and applications.

Regardless of the volume of automation and artificial intelligence the demands for software development, data management, analytics and several other related areas will continue to rise and offer new opportunities for IT Services companies worldwide. The global industry will see increasing demand and growth as enterprises begin to grasp the current disruptions and form well-planned strategies and initiatives for their next decade of sustainability and growth.


Accelerating Half-Life of Technology

Technology: February 13, 2018

The Industrial Revolution began sometime in the 1760s and progressed to a stage of maturity by the mid-1800s, about 100 years through its evolution. The transportation revolution began with the invention of the steam engine for vehicles in the mid-1850s and by the late 1800s were in regular use on roads as cars. In parallel the quest for airborne transportation was taking place. By around 1925 cars and trucks were a regular means of transportation on roads, railways had been well established in many parts of the world and commercial air travel had started becoming a reality. It had taken about 75 years for the transportation industry to go from early concepts and products to a mature industry that would grow rapidly and transform the world.

Around this time the telecommunications industry was beginning to come into public use around 1875. Over the next 75 years the industry would grow to provide instant voice communication to every part of the globe. Television took about 50 years to go from early concepts and prototypes to becoming a complete medium with commercial distribution. The computer from its early days in the 1940s evolved in about 40 years into the powerful personal computers we have become so used to. The mobile phone similarly grew from a first product in the mid-1980s to a worldwide base of billions of users in about 20 years. The internet went from a near zero base of users in 1994 to becoming a complete electonic medium with wide and common usage in about 10 years.

The progression is startling. From a 100 years time span from concept to wide commercial use we have been reducing the half-life of technology progressively to about 10 years with the internet. This pace of change is accelerating even further.

Half-life has been defined in nuclear physics as the time that it takes for a radioactive material to reduce to half its activity. Activity continues through the remainder of its life with progressive deceleration.

I see a half-life for technology with a difference. Half-life in technology would be the time that it takes for a new technology to progress from early concepts and prototypes to becoming a complete consumer application in regular use. Post the half-life the technology continues to grow but its growth begins to slow. It continues to exist, evolve and grow with progressively reducing pace. Other technologies begin to evolve from the base that it has created.

In 2007 the smartphone was launched by Apple. In a few years it was being used by millions around the world. About 7.5 years from the early product to wide and common usage worldwide. The smartphone will continue to be in use as are the other technologies and products that we have since their maturing into common use. Its growth and evolution will slow as other technologies begin to accelerate from concept to consumer use.

The acceleration is clear and alarming. We have breached the 10 year half-life period and we are heading towards a more rapidly advancing timeline.

Even social media has been part of this trend. If we assume the birth of Facebook in 2004 is around the time when social media with Myspace and Orkut had begun to be real platforms and look at how by 2010, the number of users topped 500 million, the acceleration is becoming increasingly apparent.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are new candidates. While they have been around for a long time, the first signs of their becoming products in common use came around 2015. By 2020 AI and ML will be in common use, a half-life of just 5 years.

I believe the next technology revolutions, be they IoT or others, will all have half-lives of 5 years or less. It will take these technologies less than 5 years to go from being a publicly known early concept or product, progressing through radical transformations, evolutions, integrations and collaborations, to being in wide use by billions of consumers around the world.

The ubiquitous use of real-time messaging, communications and collaboration and the large spurt in global entrepreneurship, startups and collaborative networks, all augur to rapid change, evolution and maturing of technologies from concepts to use by hundreds of millions of consumers. 3-5 years is a good half-life to expect from these technologies.

Half-life could be seen as the time when technologies emerge from birth and childhood into youth and maturity with the remaining part of their life in the middle ages as growth plateaus, attaining a steady state of diminishing growth and progress. This is also the time when new technologies, ideas and products are beginning to evolve and take birth so that the next cycle of progress, transformation and disruption can continue.

The rapidly accelerating cycle of innovation and product growth is exciting but also a cause of deep concern. Humans are not equipped to handle this extent of change in such a short time span. Our abilities to reskill, relearn and regroup are limited and we need a lot more time to get equipped to handle these technologies and changes in our professions and businesses. As consumers we have shown a remarkable ability to absorb, learn and master the use of these technologies and applications. As businesses and employees we are in danger of falling behind the curve.

Nations and citizens need to become aware of these trends and see them as real threats to peaceful and harmonious co-existence as a global society. We need to arm our citizens with capabilities, learning and foundations that can help them cope and master the accelerating trends of technology half-lives that we are experiencing.


Remodelling of the Organization

Strategy: February 12, 2018

The modern organization in the AI-Cloud-BigData-Mobile era is a boundaryless, boundless eco-system of people working towards common tasks and objectives from different locations on the globe. There are few physical and timezone constraints. People working in the comforts of their timings, interacting with each other instantly around-the-clock, connecting from where they left off, adding tasks and comments, seamlessly networking and weaving their work with those of their colleagues. This is the organization that we will see in the third decade of the millennium. We will need to be ready to work with a new set of paradigms, technologies and dynamics.

As technology transforms, disrupts and creates new opportunities, the organization is becoming more diffused, free and open, yet evolving into being more purposeful, efficient and responsive. People are getting used to a new level of freedom with more opportunities for a better life, more achievement at work and a fulfilling multi-disciplinary career. Employment will get redefined and people will be more comfortable working with multiple organizations, from different locations and through different timezones, seeking opportunities and fulfilment from a diverse range of tasks and specializations.

The use of software and data in the Cloud, colleagues who could be virtual agents enabled by artificial intelligence, mobile based computing from any location and time, sophisticated software that manages tasks and processes and organizes data into well-defined databases, these and many more advances in computing are making it possible for organizations to transform into more efficient, flexible, responsive and agile global networks of people than has been possible until now.

Organizations have been structured over the past century based on the dynamics of collaboration, teamwork, leadership, processes and locations as we have known them through the decades. Paper based documentation and verbal communications have evolved into the digital communications and file management that we have become used to over the past two decades. The evolution and advancement of sophisticated enterprise software, automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning will create the catalysts for disruption, transformation and radical invention of new organizational formats, processes and mechanics.

Office and organizations are becoming more virtual and less physical in their manifestation. The office could be anywhere you would like. This is just a physical space. Your real office is your device - laptop, desktop, tablet, phone. What defines you and your organization is the brand, the networks and the cloud environment on which you access your software and store your data and documents. Your customers know you as a brand and the virtual interfaces that they can connect with - websites, portals, online stores and apps. Your connections and communications are with people you know and can feel and interact with through your devices. It is all increasingly virtual and less real-world.

Think about your taxi services - Uber, Lyft, Didi, Ola, Grab or any other you prefer. The service is in your app. You open your app and you are transported to the taxi service which just shows up as a car that you asked for. Your interaction is brief and purposeful with a member of the taxi organization. The service delivered, your payment made to an account number through the app. You have just interacted with an organization without any awareness or consciousness of its physical form, location and characteristics.

The same feeling comes from ordering products from an ecommerce store. The website or app is the store and could be all that you know about the organization. There may not even be an office or warehouse that the store has. The store could be a brand with a virtual team managing it with online accounts, software and payment systems. The store could be a virtual organization spread worldwide that is coordinating online, communicating through email and messaging and coordinating deliveries through apps and websites. The store does not need to have a physical form or structure anymore.

Organizations are large teams of people and we are coming back to the essence of these. People with expertise, talent, capabilities and time. People who can get things done, set up work for others, take decisions and further the objectives of the organization. People could be anywhere in the world, they could be your neighbours or they could be in a timezone that is twelve hours apart from yours. Work happens, collaboration takes place and tasks get done. The organization is in the Cloud and you are connected to it with your phone, tablet and laptop.

Enterprise software companies worldwide are growing rapidly, innovating and generating value through a rapid redefinition and transformation of the organization. Software will evolve rapidly to help mould the future organization into one that is flexible, ubiquitous, global and timeless. There will be physical activities like manufacturing, construction, transportation, storage and other real-world requirements. There will be meetings, lunches, teamwork, travel and recreation. There will be offices, warehouses, factories and stores. They will all be linked through software to a common brand, organization, processes and objectives. They will be part of a global Cloud platform.

Entrepreneurs and managers who can visualize their organization in this seamless, virtual persona will be able to create organizations that have the best of talent from different regions of the world, seamlessly connect them through online collaboration platforms so they can all work together in real-time, set up processes, data and tasks in intelligent and well-organized software so that everyone can connect, dock in and do their tasks that lock into others before them and allow others to lock into after them. These organizations will be formidable, efficient, agile and disruptive. They will be driven by the energy of their people, inspired by their innovative leadership and powered by sophisticated software and data.

Convergence in the enterprise is on its way. A number of technologies, processes, interfaces and platforms are coming together and integrating to make the organization of the future, one that is difficult to imagine but around the corner. These are great opportunities for the talented, the aspiring and the brave. For everyone else, its time to take a deep breath and plunge right into the change that is beaming into our lives.


Wearing Technology on your Sleeve

Technology: February 11, 2018

Wearables are a high growth segment within mobile devices. Google began the trend with Glasses which they were forced to disband due to various non-technology considerations such as privacy and intrusion. Apple focussed on the Watch and has made a success out of it. Fitbit meanwhile created a digital band that users can wear on their wrists and track a number of body parameters. Wearables are sinking into the consumer mindset and getting ready for a long reign.

Wearables have many advantages. They can be on your body all the time and have less chances of getting lost or left behind. They can be close to your body and track many vital parameters including heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, stress on various parts of the body and so much more. They can have some of the traditional applications we would like such as time, alarms, tasks, reminders, calculator and others. They are small and easy to manage and can be handy for many different tasks that we use our phones for.

The small size of wearables places limits on what they can do. The lack of size makes an on-screen keyboard difficult to integrate. So text based operations or those that need the display of large amounts of text or images are difficult. Wearables can however be used well for voice-based applications. The sophistication of Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant will revive wearables with new energy as people start using them with voice instructions for more applications than those that require viewing and keying in.

The potential for wearables is very large. Necklaces with digital pendants can be a nice way to have a device with you always. A watch or wrist band is another. You could be wearing them with your spectacles or sun-glasses. They can be part of your ear-rings or rings. Maybe on your belt. A pen that slips into your pocket. An arm band for applications that need a larger size. A card on a lanyard that you wear around your neck that can be your phone, identity, keys and health monitor.

Wearables are also being integrated into clothes. Devices could fit into your shoes, gloves and clothes. They can be sewn into fabric or clipped on. You could wear them around your neck or as a bracelet.

Applications for wearables have so far been around health and monitoring of body parameters. They have also been helpful for reminders, time, alarms and messages. Wearables are showing promise as digital ids and keys. Weables are almost all WiFi and Bluetooth enabled and can be connected with other devices. Wearables could make payments easy as you would just need to wave your arm near a payment device for contactless authentication and payment. Security would be easier with wearables to identify and usher you in. So would ticketing in buses and trains. Maybe check-ins at airports could also be simpler.

The ability for wearables to connect and pair with other devices expands their utility. Now your watch could connect with your phone and help you make calls through your phone but initiated from your watch. Your phone or tablet could be the display but the wearable could be sending information about your body like an Electro-Cardiogram or other parameters while you are running or resting. Wearables could be an easy way to order a coffee at your desk or book a ticket or place a grocery order to deliver home. The list of applications is slowly become boundless.

As voice interaction becomes easier and more sophisticated you will only need to talk aloud for your wearable to take instructions and act on them. So you could be getting directions to a location you are visiting or you could be checking prices and ordering supplies for the home while at work or on the move, all the time speaking to your watch or wrist band. You could actually call for a taxi or book tickets for a show or simply order food to be delivered home.

As appliances become smart and IoT comes home your wearables will become even more useful. They would be able to connect to your appliances at home and you could have reports and alerts from your washing machine, refrigerator or television. You could ask your television to record a show you are likely to be late for or ask your refrigerator to take a photograph and send you the inventory you have. Your washing cycles can be set and confirmed when done - all through a device you are wearing on your body.

The integration of artificial intelligence with wearables will only make the future even more exciting or scary depending on your outlook to the current technology explosion. Your wearable will be able to connect to the Cloud and get your information and assistance through virtual agents. Your wearable device will be able to guess your mood and health from your body temperature and heart rate and give you recommendations for the evening or suggest medication that may make you feel better. Artificial intelligence will enable your schedule to be readjusted for delays and changes and suggest other ways for you to complete your tasks faster. Maybe even suggest locales you can go for relaxation or dinner and even suggest where you may want to head out for a quick break over the weekend.

These are not figments of fantasy or dreams. These are real and wearables are already in the market and being used by millions of early users. They will start becoming mainstream soon with lower priced devices. The explosion will then occur. Billions of people around the world will be using wearables and walking around. Providing a rich source of data for analysis, tracking and interaction. Brands will be able to engage with consumers in many different ways.

Wearables will promote location based services in a large way. With your location known, brands will be able to speak to you through your device and engage with you in many more fun and useful ways. Brands will have more data from you to work with and artificial intelligence and analytics will help them understand you better and offer you experiences and deals that match your preferences and likes.

People interaction will be taken to another level with wearables as messaging, photo sharing and location tracking make it possible for people to have a lot more fun and interaction together. This may be an insane volume of digital engagement but its coming and there is not much we can do to hide. Maybe better for us to look at the positive value that wearables can give us and plunge right into this revolution.


China Seized the Opportunity

Global: February 9, 2018

I visited Shanghai towards the end of 1997 to lecture at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University about CAD/CAM and Computer Integrated Manufacturing. The economic and social revolution was beginning and was becoming visible. Shanghai was rapidly transforming into a modern city with world-class infrastructure and social amenities.

It was a revelation. We had been progressing in India but the pace of change here was startling. This was not progressive or incremental growth. This was quantum growth and progress with large upheaval and transformation in living, social relationships, careers and businesses. China had embraced globalization and change and had embarked on a momentous journey that would raise the economic prosperity of the nation and lift hundreds of millions of its citizens from poverty to well-being.

I looked around and interacted with people. They were happy and seemed proud and pleased with the change. They were happy to don western wear, embrace the retail revolution, move up with the challenges of global business and professional performance and look ahead to more change and disruption. I thought about India and the conundrum of change and heritage and how we were still struggling to deal with it. I looked at the smiling people and how China as an ancient civilisation would have had a similar dilemma. The leaders had voted in favour of the people getting a better life. Heritage and tradition was okay as long as it created prosperity, health and happiness. When these were diminishing it was time to take on a new philosophy, lifestyle and mindset. I wished India would do the same.

Along with the change in attitudes, mindset and lifestyles came new confidence, resolve and aspiration. China would go on to revolutionize the global order with its rapid growth in manufacturing, innovation in processes and productivity and ascent into a leading world economy. China would become the factory of the world, its people building products for the developed nations with lower labour costs providing a critical advantage.

India also had a similar profile. We had been looking at the Asian tigers - Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, all tiny populations to our billion, unconvinced that the same models would work for us. Now with China we could not hold the argument. Yet we held on, determined to build our local industry, hold on to our heritage and create a self-contained national economy. The pace was not enough and we were holding ourselves back. Our global outlook was inadequate and our aspirations low. We could have also seized the opportunity that the world and globalization was providing us. We blinked and China seized these with both hands, holding on to the advantage until India let go. Indian manufacturing would not have the opportunity to scale, grow and become worthy of the world's markets. Buyers from around the world would flock to China to setup manufacturing facilities or contract to China's producers. In two decades from near parity, China's economy would grow to being four times that of India.

India has done well by its own standards. We have had continued growth and our populations have prospered. We have grown our technology and services industries and our automobile industry continues to hold pride of place for our manufacturing prowess. We have had excellent improvement and expansion in infrastructure and our quality standards have risen substantially. Indian cities and faclities are now beginning to look like those that you would see anywhere in the world's best urban locations.

Yet we have had a serious lapse in our national strategy. We have a billion strong market for electronics and mobile phones, yet no local manufacturing industry worthy of mention. We import hundreds of billions of dollars worth of finished electronic and computing products annually, depleting our forex reserves but more critically depriving our large population of employment and value addition that could have been ours for the asking. It is now becoming too late to create a change and turn the trend around to our favour. We have lost the moment and the tidal wave of opportunity in that moment.

Is it too late for us to make a change? We still have the 1 billion plus market and technology will continue to bring in more innovations and products to serve this market. We have the world's most advanced technology companies already in India, some with tens of thousands of employees working for them in our lands on various technology initiatives. We could still muster the forces and with innovative strategy and policies help usher in a new era of manufacturing growth and employment.

Imagine factories turning out electronic products for our people with parts being made nearby in other factories. Electronic assemblies, glass displays, plastic housing and cases, paper based packaging, there is so much that we can easily produce in our own facilities with our people being employed for these. We could have production in millions and employment in tens of thousands even with advanced automation in production.

China seized the opportunity two decades ago and went ahead. They brought unimagined prosperity to their large population and showed them that they can take on the mantle of global leadership. They brought change, prosperity and advancement to their citizens. We have also been doing this but it is also time for us to seize the opportunities this moment brings us and embark on a decade long era of high growth and employment.

All that we need to do is focus on employment and the importance of this metric in the context of our economics. We then have to give incentives, facilities and encouragement to our enterprises to invest and create facilities for manufacturing, assembly and packaging. We must forgo relatively smaller benefits of taxes and revenues that we think are critical for our development. We may end up with a lot more if we can take this critical decision and surge ahead.

We have a moment ahead of us and we can leverage the timing and market opportunity. We need to look at the happiness of our people and judge these to be the most important for us to achieve. Means follow purpose. We need to define our purpose. This can be our finest hour as a nation.


Cloud the New Rainmaker for Business

Cloud: February 8, 2018

Everyone is talking cloud. A lot of our services and activities are in the cloud. Cloud is generating returns for businesses that are adopting this. Cloud is making them leaner, more cost efficient and more agile.

Government services across the world are in the cloud - from tax systems to information search, registrations and customer service. Large enterprises are moving to cloud based platforms in defiance of traditional reservations about security and privacy. New European GDPR is enacting new rules and penalties for data protection with very high costs for lapses, a move that will make the cloud a safer place.

Businesses are still wary of operating in the cloud because of fears about data ownership, intellectual property, confidentiality and ownership of software. Software encapsulates business processes, best practices and methodologies and is the competitve advantage that businesses have in markets where differentiators are hard to find. There is a valid argument that businesses should own the software they use and have control over it. These are still possible with the cloud.

The Cloud is a blend of technical, commercial and operational paradigms that are so different from conventional software. The technical architecture of Cloud based systems is different, distributed and founded on the principles of robustness, scalability and integration of discrete modules. Commercially the cloud allows businesses to forgo large investments and include software as revenue expenses. The pay-for-use or Software-as-a-Service model allows businesses to keep their costs low and based on usage. Cloud lets businesses keep out the capital expenditure and investments and work with variable costs proportionate to operations. The operational rules of cloud are different with new methods of authentication of users, the availability of the interfaces on multiple devices, the new standards of usability and user experience, and the centralization of control with the IT departments of organizations.

The cloud can be the ultimate rainmaker for businesses if used well and comprehensively. Areas of use include:

CRM

Supply Chain

HR

Finance & Accounting

Collaboration and Communication

Knowledge Management

There are many cloud based platforms and software already available. Directories and reviews exist for most of these products. Enterprises should go over these and look at ways they can include them in the operations of their organization. Used well and comprehensively, Cloud products can make the business easier to manage and more profitable.


Mobile as a Computing Device

Technology: February 7, 2018

Mobile is already a computing device. Can it replace the laptop in some years and eventually the desktop too? It looks like a strong possibility. The processor is already good for some very computing intensive operations. The graphics, animation and 3D are on par. Browsers work efficiently on smartphones and tablets with full features just as they would on laptops and desktops. We have productivity tools - email, calendars, messaging, calculators, graphics editors, image editors and a host of other apps that do a large part of what can be done on a complete computing device like a desktop or laptop.

Apps can actually do a lot more than the software we have on laptops and desktops. There is a built-in camera, GPS and touchscreen that most desktops and laptops do not have. Apps have expanded the areas of applications to many new genres that were not known in the days of only desktops and laptops. The smartphone is a cute little pocket accessory that lets us do so much more than we can on our computers and laptops. The tablet simply gives us the same smartphone functionality with more processing power, memory and a larger screen.

Does this make the mobile a computing device? Not yet. The phone and tablet still lack the ease of use of a larger device like laptop and desktop for intensive work. It is difficult to type at the same speed with an on-screen keyboard. The mouse still gives better feel for precision clicks that the finger is not yet fully equipped for. Processor power, memory and storage are a fraction of what we can have on our computers. Large files and storage are not possible. Even large images and videos cannot be edited. Very compute intensive work cannot still be done efficiently and quickly with a mobile processor and RAM.

If we have the ability to plug-in a larger keyboard and a display and maybe a mouse then maybe the phone can become a computer. These extensions are already available. I have been using a keyboard with my tablet for some years and this works really well. You can set yourself up in a small space including airline and train food trays and do your work with close to the ease that you would in your office. The touchscreen still requires more hand movement than the mouse that sits next to the keyboard so maybe an optional mouse will help add in the comfort. A larger 10" or 12" tablet gives a similar feel as a larger laptop or desktop screen but having an external display that one can connect with will make the experience nearly the same.

I believe we are just a little ahead of the phone and tablet replacing the laptop as a mobile computing device. The processors are getting better, the apps are becoming more involved and detailed. Cloud storage is becoming a norm. Storage is no longer a critical parameter for a device. Processor and memory are and these are rapidly evoling and will soon get to a stage where we have similar levels as what we would get on a laptop.

In a few years the desktop as we know presently may not exist. We may just have small devices like phones or tablets or a little pod like a miniature Mac Mini that we will use as our computing device. We will plug in a display, full width keyboard and maybe a mouse and we will be good to go with the same ease and comfort as the office computer we have become accustomed to.

Ask school and university students. Many of them prefer the phone to the computer. They are comfortable with the interface, the apps they need are there and they have the world's cloud storage to save their photos, documents and information. The same students will graduate and enter professional careers and retain the same ease and liking for their phones. Many of them already do. It is possible that in a few years everyone of us will be carrying our computers in our pockets and plugging in keyboards and displays on tables at locations we visit for serious work and staying mobile, connected and at work with on-screen keyboards and displays while on the move.

The cloud is our workspace. It will evolve into a powerful, private, confidential and secure platform where all our information will be stored and available in seconds. Data transfer rates around the world already allow large files to download in seconds. Local transient device storage may not be needed after all.

Microsoft knows this and expects this. They are now focussed on their Office 365 product and their Azure Cloud platform. They can see it coming. Their efforts at winning over people with advanced Windows technology has not worked for the phone and tablet. It may just be that we will see Windows retreating over the years as we keep moving more to phones and tablets for all our computing and working, not just our messaging, email, games and small tasks.

Apple and Google also see this coming. Neither is making an effort at challenging Windows in their home territories of Desktops and Laptops. Apple is doing a little to stay in the enterprise and work markets with their laptops and Mac Minis. Google is not doing even this. They are content for Android to be available and optimized for phones and tablets. They are not keen to spend effort at making Android a possible operating system for laptops and desktops.

It may still be a few years. The trend is very clearly towards mobile computing devices coupled with cloud platforms. It will be the roaming office that we will call our working space. Apps and software that focus on this trend and get more sophisticated to match performance and functionality that we have in our traditional software products are likely the ones that will win in the long term.


A Million Stories

India: February 6, 2018

Our cities and towns have thousands of legends, fables and narratives. Many of these are narrated with myths, emotions and exaggeration by members of families, friends and acquaintances.

These stories set into the visual landscapes of our cities can create powerful narrations and construct compelling interest for visitors, residents and international guests.

Indiamap a company that I am associated with has embarked on a project to build a repository of stories and visual locations from our cities to spark fresh interest and promote more travel, exploration and time-outs by visitors and residents alike.

We hope through this we can contribute to a vibrant landscape that our cities deserve and blend our rich Indian heritage with modernity that India is rapidly embracing.

Tourism and urban experiences can be a game changer for India and create large and sustainable employment for our youth and seniors. We will regain our skills in craftsmanship, narration, theatre and hospitality and revive our values and traditions while continuing our quest for global outlook and ideas.

A lot of work has been done in these areas since the past several decades by government agencies and cultural organisations. There is a large conservation and heritage movement in many Indian cities that is working hard at retaining some of our valuable monuments, buildings and architecture, reflecting the many eras that Indian has journeyed through over many centuries.

We have a vibrant history of Hindu kingdoms with various vistas of culture that are unique and distinctive. Layered and interwoven with these are Mughal and Muslim architecture and design that create a mosaic of variety that is again unique to our nation. We also have a large influence of Christianity and British architecture that is melded into our streets and communities. Together these create a large repository of spaces, facades and visuals that can form an excellent backdrop for the stories and experiences that we can create for our narratives.

While there have been efforts and initiatives towards these in the past, a comprehensive body of information, visuals and narratives does not exist. There are also no known plans or programmes that can create a transformational impact on our travel, tourism and recreation. We believe a substantial and detailed initiative will provide a strong impetus that can radically enhance our travel and hospitality services, revive our traditional industries and expand the community of local businesses and people.

Indiamap has created a technology platform to enable these and is working on partnerships and plans for content creation and collation. We have photographers working in a few cities creating visuals of our spaces and locations. Our team of researchers and writers are looking for stories, legends and folklore that can be moulded into stories that capture the imagination of people of all ages and interests. Our apps provide an easy and alluring method to explore our cities and experience a myriad of excitement, learning and discovery.

We hope to spark an interest that can evolve into partnerships, collaboration and community participation to bring out the wonderful ethos in our cities and mould these into living embodiment of our history and aspirations. Our million stories should fire the imagination of our youth and inspire them to wander, interact and sample the delightful theatre our cities enact every day and night.

Indian cities are today a fascinating blend of our history, heritage and modern outlook. From stores to food and street art we present a unique collage of our values, lifestyle and aspirations. Almost all cities now offer a wide range of travel friendly locations from malls to fashion streets, food squares and entertainment venues. The availability of app taxis adds more options for local travel. Our autos and rikshas add to the color and charm. It is possible that cycling will return as an easy way to move around our cities. As a roller skater I would love to see skating as a means to move around. Hotels of acceptable standards are available in almost all cities and towns. Indian cities are a kaleidoscope of culture, lifestyle, food and entertainment for all ages.

If promoted and marketed well our cities can be sustainable sources of income for its businesses and residents supplementing the current sustenance that come from local residents and visitors. This can boost local employment and give local economies an uplift and help them to be sustainable.

If coordinated well by each individual city we can collectively improve our local infrastructure, make our cities cleaner, enhance safety and transform our streets to be more interesting and pedestrian friendly. We can enhance entertainment options for visitors, create venues for various interests and make our cities candidates for relaxing and enjoyable vacations.

The combined effect of these could help draw more Indian tourists and attract international guests. There could be a strong ripple effect that helps boost local craftsmanship, handicrafts, cultural talents and fairs. We could revive many of our products and create sustainable avenues for our people.

All of these are possible if we collaborate and work together with a mission. The Indiamap initiative with content, discovery and interaction on apps could draw more attention to our cities and local areas and bring in more people and nurture their interests. It may a small beginning but hopefully one that can promote and inspire economic revival and growth of our cities beyond the opportunities, expansion and prosperity we have presently.


Automation and Outsourcing are Strategic Options for Enterprises

Strategy: February 5, 2018

Automation is growing and becoming more potent. Automation already manages many tasks and processes from Technology Infrastructure Management to Ecommerce, CRM and marketing.

Enhanced by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, automation will cut down time, cost and people in more processes progressively. Automation will be learned and applied by enterprises as a focussed strategic programme.

Outsourcing will continue to be ways enterprises can achieve complex process and objectives and stay competitive. Enterprises will embrace outsourcing with large engagements that bring in comprehensive expertise, blended multi-disciplinary teams and a strategic delivery of services, software and management.

Outsourcing will enable enterprises to stay focused on their business while engaging experts and staying ahead of the transformation curve.

Automation and outsourcing are strong actions that enterprises and businesses of all sizes should pursue with focus and resolve. These will help them remained focussed, competitive and agile.


When Robots become Visible

Robotics: February 4, 2018

Robots have been in development and operation since four decades. They have been the invisible technology enabler in factories, nuclear reactors, satellites, financial markets and internet media. They have only not been visible and in the public and media view.

Robots are now becoming visible and ubiquitous. Robots will soon be raiding our stores, streets, homes and offices as more applications and capabilities emerge and become their play fields.


The Disruption of Currency

Technology: February 3, 2018

In the early days there was barter. Gold and Silver then became a common means to value and exchange goods and services. These transformed into currency. Over the past two centuries currency and cash have established themselves as a common method of exchange, payment, accounting and valuation. The disruption of currency is imminent.

Cash or currency has been an easy way to manage economies, trade and transactions. Cash has no color, odour or class. Cash is anonymous, silent and powerful. Cash is instant in its measurement and transaction. Cash has been easy to manage and exchange. Cash and currencies have been among the greatest inventions in the history of humans. Cash is the blood of the economy and its flow critical for sustainability and growth.

While cash is controlled and owned by governments of nations it is without minute control. There is a macro level control that governments exercise. At a micro and transaction level cash is without trail and trace. Cash is also instantly recognizable and easy to transact. Cash has a sense of anonymity when this is necessary. Cash has provided a healthy balance between government regulation and control and the freedom of individuals.

While nations have been using cards and registering transactions for some decades these same nations still have a substantial flow or cash for daily transactions. These have become smooth and easy to manage. Infrastructure has been created for the management and transaction of cash from banks to cash machines, registers and vaults. Digital has not been able to make the world devoid of physical cash.

That seems set to change now. The mobile phone has been the harbinger and enabler of disruption. Now with the power of mobile, cloud, contactless technologies, cash is about to receive a strong and decisive blow. Digital wallets and payments are moving in to transform trade, commerce and retail. Governments are keen on promoting digital as it makes their control complete. How the future holds for individuals and their right to freedom and the right to privacy is unknown. We have not been through this journey earlier and there could be many unintended consequences as we progress.


Learning to Think

Education: February 3, 2018

In the early days humans had to think to survive. Think to find food, think to stay safe, think to live. This ability to think has continued, progressed and evolved over several millennia and have made humans a unique species. Over the past two centuries in our quest for productivity, efficiency and wealth creation we have been channeling the art of thinking into a smaller number of people who then work hard to discourage everyone else from thinking. We need to reverse this urgently.

Schools need to be mindful of the dangers lurking in our near future. Schools can transform themselves into becoming temples of thinking than just temples of knowledge. All the knowledge in the world and more is now avaialble for the asking on the internet. There is no smartness for knowledge. Most of it can be found within minutes. Value is in the ability to think. Thinking translates to creativity, leadership, management, effectiveness, strategy and innovation. If we teach our students to think they can blend this expertise with the knowledge available online and create solutions, careers and value.


Research for a Change in Orbit

India: February 1, 2018

India must ascend to the next level of Research to assume a leading role in the world economy. If we begin now we may be able to build our capabilities and research eco-system to see returns from around 2030 onwards. Our present research investment, charter and outputs are inadequate for our aspirations as a nation and our advanced expertise in sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics.

India has grown from a fledgling agrarian and rural economy in the 1950s to an economy with a large share of manufacturing and industrial output in the 1980s and then into a services and technology led national eco-system in the 2000s. India today has a strong base in services, technology development and engineering education, all of which are foundation for a large intellectual and innovation thrust. Instead of being content in this advancement, India should now embark on an ambitious programme of research and innovation that will move us into a higher orbit of advancement and bring us into the rare league of nations like the United States and United Kingdom.

India has the talent, infrastructure and resources to create a national programme for research in number of different fields including physics, mathematics, engineering, technology and aerospace sciences. A coordinated programme involving government, universities and industry can create a mission whose objectives are to raise the level of research in the country and create an eco-system of collaboration, peer reviews and key performance metrics that will drive and nurture research and innovation. A mission on a national scale with a ten-year charter can create the foundation for an enduring and sustainable research capability for India. A research platform on this scale will lead to technology and product development, process and material savings, and improved productivity, all of which will deliver massive returns for the investments being made and endured over this ten-year period.


Competing for the Experience

Technology: January 31, 2018

The internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) democratized and freed availability and access to information, software and experience. The web is a level playing field. Anyone can make a website, promote it and offer information and services. Other agencies and individuals have no power to block or obstruct growth of your website and access to the website. Others can compete and get ahead but you are wholly responsible for the success or failure of the website as you would like to define.

From 1995 to 2017 the web has had a glorious era of growth, freedom and excitement. The interfaces have grown in sophistication and delivery. The web is so much faster than it was in the early days. The sophistication of visuals, content and experience are many times what we had in the last 1990s. Software in the web has grown exponentially and the Cloud has emerged and grown from the web. Web apps today offer sophistication, reliability and experience to read information, interact and engage, shop, transact, work, entertain, play and do so much more. The web is the virtual world, an alter universe that is vast, growing and deep.

The web has been about freedom, democracy and equal opportunities. Many large organizations and brands have grown into very large enterprises. They still do not control the web and its opportunities. These belong to the world. Any individual or organization can potentially emerge to disrupt the current order and change the dynamics of the experience and business.

Then there are apps. Native and hybrid apps that need to be downloaded and installed on mobile and computing devices. Anyone can make an app, it takes some effort and expertise but it can be done. Apps are also equal opportunity and have low entry barriers so anyone can embark on a career and business with apps. Apps can be said to be democratic and equal opportunity. There are caveats.

Apps are bound by platforms and networks. These serve as gatekeepers who can alter the success and failure of your app. They can recommend, promote and sell apps to their users. They can block apps and limit access, features and users. Apps are limited by the number that a user can have on their device. Apps perform specific functions so a user needs to pick the apps they would like and limit their device to these. This brings in barriers to entry and growth. Apps are the way ahead and can have large opportunities but they are also not as open and equal opportunity as they appear.

We need the web and the apps. Together they deliver the experience to the user.


Transformation & Disruption in Customer Care

Enterprise: January 30, 2018

Messaging, Artificial Intelligence and Voice-Assistants will revolutionize Customer Care worldwide in the next five years. Add to this the advent of Robotics and Humanoids and we will see the same effect on In-Store Customer Care in a decade.

Technology alters human behaviour and psychology. We are different people from what we were two decades ago, before the full onslaught of technology in our lives. Our understanding of Customer Care and its trends must be based on how we have changed our paradigms of interaction and engagement.

Humans have always been social beings and this will continue. The nature of our social behaviour is changing and technology is a large contributor in this change. By opening new opportunities and methods of engagement and interaction, technology alters the way we perceive ourselves in the world and society and how we would prefer to engage and interact with other people.

Technology is also a journey for us as people. We get excited or fearful or dismissive about new technologies depending on how tech-savvy we are. The excitement leads us to try, experiment and use these to a point of addiction. Then when it all settles in, we find this routine and the new normal. Usage could then begin to come down as the novelty and excitement reduces and we get into other more exciting technologies and features.

I think voice assistants are fantastic and will be immensely valuable in the technology world. They are currently a novelty and provide excitement. We are experimenting with them, learning about them, marvelling at them and enjoying the new format of engagement, interaction and conversation. I think over time we will begin to get used to these voice assistants and then the novelty will diminish and we may not want to maintain the same level of engagement and interaction as we are presently.

These changes in technology and human behaviour is altering our expectations from customer care and will influence the way customer care will transform over the next few years.

When our social contact was limited to people we knew and our neighbourhoods, people delighted in visiting stores and interacting with the sales people there. The normal was to visit a store or office and wait and go about explaining our problems and needs and having these resolved.

As telephony gained widespread acceptance in business and technology brought in sophisticated contact centers, we enjoyed the ability to explain our problems over a telephone call and have these addressed without having to leave our positions. No more waiting at counters and in queues. For many the anxiety and stress from interacting with someone face to face was no longer needed.

The web has brought in self-service and social media has introduced us to people worldwide. Our social contact network is now much larger than it has ever been and we have friends and acquaintances in different countries and spanning various interests and cultures. Our need for social contact in business and customer care is now no longer a human need as we have enough opportunities for engagement and interaction with humans in our personal and professional lives. Self-service on the web balances this by limiting our direct interaction with customer care people in stores and offices and through call centers.

As our usage of voice interaction increases in our personal engagement with mobile telephony, VoIP and other voice services, so also does our need diminish for human contact through customer care. Customer care that is in person and indulgent like spas, beauty salons, gyms and sports still gives us a special level of intimacy and interaction, normal customer care like booking tickets or reporting problems no longer is an event to look forward to. Web self-service is a lot better but it does not really seem like we are connecting and having our difficulties resolved in real-time.

Messaging changes this and makes it more conversational and personal but does not need us to speak to another human being. Messaging takes out tone, emphasis and voice modulation that has a strong influence on the quality and comfort of the conversation. Messaging is efficient and lets us multi-task. Messaging is simple and low on resources and completes our documentation without additional effort. Messaging is transforming customer care with a new paradigm for interaction and engagement.

Messaging will converge with automation and artificial intelligence to have tasks completed and questions answered. This will work in many domains and industries including for bookings, ordering and return of products, consultations with specialists in healthcare, education, beauty and other areas, reporting and resolution of problems and difficulties, and so much more.

The introduction and integration of artificial intelligence with messaging will change the rules of the game and disrupt the current customer care industry worldwide where millions of people work over telephones, email and messaging to engage, interact and bond with customers, resolving problems and looking at ways to create more opportunities for business.

Voice assistants will take out the tedium and difficulties of typing and make messaging more conversational and easy. Voice assistants will work when people feel the need to indulge in an audio conversation. The other times people will just type and message non-intrusively and silently. Voice assistants integrated with process automation and artificial intelligence will make customer care very much the experience like the call centers we have presently but run by technology and software working in compact industrial facilities at remote global locations.

A plethora of new options for customer care will co-exist for many years and then some of them will begin to fade away and new ones will emerge. Messaging, voice assistants, self-service, apps will dominate customer care in the next few years and will edge into the territories that are presently occupied by contact centers and in-store support. Customer care will be transformed and will no longer be an indulgence for human interaction and engagement. Customer care will be transactional and impersonal and will be driven by the need to deliver service and support as an obligation.

Human contact and engagement will find its way into other opportunities. Engagement will become an experience for people and will be there for pure learning, enjoyment and indulgence in our brands, not because we need services or support. For a long time artificial intelligence may not be able to enter the realm of emotional connects that humans are so good at. Customer engagement will evolve rapidly with new paradigms and will include indulgences, emotional connects, experiences and genuine interaction and conversation.

Customer care as we know it presently is in the transition from its present architecture into one that is automated, efficient, interactive and technology enabled. The convergence of messaging, process automation, artificial intelligence and voice assistants will transform the customer care function. They will disrupt the current customer care organization and operations we have. They will open new opportunities but render many present ones obsolete. People worldwide in the sales, customer care and service functions should work on ways to acquire learning and skills and become a part of the new emerging trends in human-enabled customer engagement.


Education The Game Changer

Education: January 29, 2018

Education is a one-step leap for future generations to gain from. Research has shown that one member of a generation acquiring education results in subsequent generations continuing with good academics and education. If this is what it needs to create a nation of educated and self-reliant individuals, why are we losing the opportunity every day?

Between 10 and 15 million children and youth move from one education grade to another every year. If 10 million enter kindergarden every year, another 10 million become eligible to complete high school and pursue higher education of diplomas and degrees. So every year we have 10 million at each year or a total of 150 million who we need to provide useful education to help them seize opportunities and build dependable careers.

Every year when we miss these education targets we let down millions of our people. We leave them without the required knowledge and skills to learn and develop themselves as they grow older. The ability to learn and keep growing in mind and attitude is an important characteristic for people and must be nurtured and developed from childhood.

As a nation we are aware that education is a game changer and millions of the middle class in India pursue education with focus and zeal. Yet we are also aware that millions of other children do not have the opportunities to stay focussed on education and build the knowledge and skills they need to have sustainable careers. The reasons for these are not always lack of government and private support. The opportunities are denied to our children for a multitude of reasons. Governments, NGOs and private institutions have made effort to bridge the gap in their local areas. The efforts are not enough very often and we see high drop-out rates confirming our fears.

The mid-day meal scheme was a brilliant idea and implementation in Tamil Nadu by the government led by Chief Minister MG Ramachandran. The programme was designed to incentivise families to send children to school with the promise of nourishing hot meals. The programme worked and brought millions of children to school and reduced the drop-out rate. The programme was over the next few decades replicated by other state governments and the Government of India. Mid-day meal scheme is operated almost all across the country helping children get education and nutrition.

This was a disruptive idea in the 1970s and 80s. One that disrupted the inertia and compulsions of not sending children to school and motivating them to change and send their children to learn and develop their knowledge. Regardless of the education outcomes, the disruption helped bring millions of children to schools across the country.

India needs another big idea of this scale. One that can make eduaction the game changer for India and create a population that is better informed, literate, knowledgeable and skilled. A population that is aware, can take up sustainable careers, can manage their finances and assets well and who can ensure that their children are better educated and get employment in skilled and knowledge powered organizations.


Digital Marketing to Court the World

Marketing: January 28, 2018

Digital Marketing is an effective way to reach far corners of the world. It needs a different mindset and a resolve and once you get into it, you take to it like a fish to water and its then an enjoyable and fulfilling journey. Results can be outstanding when digital marketing is done well. Digital could your way to grow, expand and fulfill your objectives. The basics of digital marketing are not difficult and progressively one can build expertise to make it a valuable way to market and promote a business, cause, career or idea.

Digital Marketing has now been a field of work and study since the past twenty years. From the early days of the internet there have been different ways to market online. Over the past decade the opportunities and options available to reach, connect and engage with audiences worldwide has grown many multiples. There are 4 billion connected people worldwide, about 1 billion of who use the web and mobile in English. Everyone of them is a potential person we can reach, connect and interact with through digital. The opportunity could not be larger and more rewarding.

Digital marketing needs skills that are different from those in the real-world. Connections are fleeting moments over which the reader has complete control. One's ability to reach and connect with the reader is in a few simple and well written sentences, maybe a video or an animation movie. One has no ability to hold the person's attention other than the skill and power of our communication. The connect can be instant or it can be nurtured over time. It is a fascinating exercise in using communication, ideas and techniques to get people to understand and appreciate our communication in a few seconds.

Content is the key to good digital marketing. Content is communication, information, material that we can use to express, explain and elaborate on our ideas and thoughts. Good content is simple, catching and inspiring. If you can capture the imagination of the reader in a few well-worded sentences written or spoken with audio or delivered in video, you have earned the time and attention of the reader who will then be willing to listen for a more detailed explanation in a few paragraphs spanning a couple of minutes. Do this well and you then have the ability and opportunity to elaborate on your introduction and draw the reader into your interaction.

Digital marketing is fair, democratic and equal-opportunity. The reader is in control and can withdraw or engage when they would like to. It is democratic because you only have the power of your communication and articulation to move the reader into further engagement. It is equal-opportunity because the reader has the choice of millions of similar people and their websites looking to court them and engage them with their communications and you are among them. You have equal opportunity to have your message in front of your reader and another equal opportunity to wow them with the initial articulation of your thoughts and ideas. While there is a lot of investment, cost and advertising that can be used to flood the internet with a brand's messages, this by no means prevents someone with just an idea and no expense to be in the medium and find and engage readers without cost.

The internet is an ocean and while there are some potential monopolies, the equal opportunity and the low entry barriers make it a level playing field and one that anyone can work through and find a spot. Use digital marketing to further your business, career and cause. Use the medium to communicate, articulate and spread your message. Make digital the first step in your marketing, promotion and engagement of audience.


PHP: Versatile platform for the Web

Programming: January 27, 2018

PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor is one of the most widely used programming languages on the internet. PHP resembles the popularity of C++ or Java as a programming language. PHP today powers a large proportion of websites, blogs, ecommerce stores, social media networks and cloud software. PHP was conceptualized and created in 1995 by Rasmus Lerdorf, a Danish-Canadian programmer to make web pages and expanded into a complete scripting language by Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski.

PHP delivers speed, performance, flexibility and ease of programmng for the web. Originally called PHP for Personal Home Page, PHP has been created for web pages although it is used for a lot of other tasks. PHP was originally built for Linux and is now available on multiple operating environments. PHP is commonly bundled with Apache Web Server and MySql Database to which it has native connections and support.

Many programmers do not consider PHP to be a complete programming languages and prefer to call it a scripting language and one that can only carry out a limited range of tasks and features. These programmers prefer C++ and Java for the complete server based programming support that it provides. C++ is a compiled language. Java is more interpreted but has a pseudo-compiled format. PHP is completely interpreted. This makes PHP a lower performer than C++ and possibly Java too. Regardless, for web pages PHP outclasses C++ and Java in ease of programming, versatility and flexibility.

PHP is an easy language to learn and use. It can also be very advanced and sophisticated and helps to accomplish simple to very complex tasks for the web. Used mostly for the web where it delivers HTML code to the web server, PHP is also the programming medium of choice for many enterprise software platforms, cloud software and APIs. It is also used for pure server based computing tasks.

Over the years PHP has grown in popularity and usage, and in features, advancement and libraries, thanks to a dedicated and passionate programming community numbering millions around the world. Facebook is a PHP implementation, so are WordPress and Magento. SugarCRM too. PHP has a wide range of uses and has excelled in delivering performance and robustness in applications.

There are other competing platforms - Java, Python and Ruby on Rails are possibly the most popular ones. There is also ASP.net from Microsoft that does similar tasks and features as PHP. Java Server Pages (JSP) is also the Java way to handle Web Pages.The versatility and ease of these scripted languages is their inter-weaves with HTML. So you can create a HTML page and add in the scripted language code into it. The code will run when the page is called and generate HTML at the position you have placed the scripted language code. This results in intelligent HTML pages that can connect to databases, work with data, logically process decisions and run iterative loops for volume data processing and delivery of results.

Over the years PHP has come through as the leader with a large legion of fans that have built their careers and interests in programming using PHP and have produced millions of websites and platforms using PHP. Ease of use, a logical programming structure and the widespread availability of PHP as a default package in Linux implementations have helped. PHP has been the vanguard of the Open Source movement with millions of websites and software written in PHP with shared source code.

As a PHP developer myself I am delighted with the way PHP handles a wide range of tasks and works in different ways. PHP can work with HTML as part of web pages. You could also have pure PHP code without HTML that works on data and logic processing. You can also run PHP on the server command line as a non-web server task. While some tasks are not ideally suited for PHP, its ability to provide these makes it easier to use a single programming medium to do all the different tasks we would like.

An early criticism of PHP was its lack of object oriented structure. Since version 5, the PHP community has progressively developed a strong object oriented model and is today considered a strong implementation of OOP concepts and structures. The result of this advancement is the use of PHP increasingly for cloud and SaaS software for enterprise and consumer.

PHP is an example of global community collaboration. PHP is Open Source and belongs to the community. A worldwide network of developers work together to update, correct errors and add new features. Free to use, PHP can be modified, expanded and optimized for specific uses.

I believe PHP should be the language that students should be taught soon after they are taught HTML as a primer. After PHP they can move on to more advanced Java concepts and uses. PHP draws inspiration for its structure and syntax from C, Java and Perl and closely resembles JavaScript. The ability to quickly write pages, view their outputs and make changes rapidly make it a great language to learn programming. Giving students a good grounding in PHP will also enable them to create and maintain their own websites, blogs and ecommerce stores, and create applications for their work.

The future bodes well for PHP. Python has its community who believe it is well suited for analytics and big data related applications. Java will continue to have its own community that believes in Java for advanced enterprise and large implementations. Ruby on Rails I believe has lost a lot of steam and will find it difficult to get back into large software development. The other candidates are not in contention as PHP leads by a wide margin and is drawing the network effect to bring in more developers and converts every day.

If you are not a programmer yet, this may be a good place to begin. PHP can help you work your way around concepts and ideas and quickly create applications for validation, testing and decision making. Happy programming!


Youthful Nation Aspiring for More

India: January 26, 2018

India a sovereign nation of 70 years and republic of 68, has a youthful population with over 65% below the age of 35 years. Liberalization in 1991 opened India to the world and most of India's youth have seen a prospering India with free and open access to opportunities, availability of global brands, technologies and products, new waves of international culture, fashion and attitudes, and a mindset to aspire, learn, achieve and travel.

India has been able to fulfill most of the needs of these youth by delivering opportunities for education, employment, entrepreneurship, financial independence and wealth creation. India is no longer a nation of shortages and challenges for a large proportion of our population. Post-independent India had limited brands, an inward looking and insecure population, limited access to information, technology and opportunities, and a banking and financial system that was difficult to work with and seek help from. All of these have changed from the 1990s and progressively become better through the 2000s and the current decade.

Many of these improvements have been because of external developments not necessarily achievements by India. Liberalization and the dismantling of many controls by the then government of Narasimha Rao, ably supported by Manmohan Singh, P Chidambaram and others, helped open India to the world and bring the world to India. Television followed with MTV bringing in western culture, Star TV opening a new range of programming and Indian channels like Zee TV, Sun TV and NDTV reaching critical size to engage audiences. The launch of the internet in 1995 made available information, news and learning to Indian youth concurrent with their availability worldwide and this enabled Indians to be current with technologies, information and trends. These are probably the two largest contributors to India's success in Information Technology and growth of our economy, cities and communities to their present form.

The opening of our skies to private airlines brought in a revolution in air travel. International travel began to grow in the 1990s and with this came more awareness, appreciation and a balanced global view. Today's youth have open access to international travel and can imbibe world cultures, experiences and knowledge more freely than was possible some decades back. Increased confidence, improved knowledge and global competitiveness have had their share of contribution to the overall growth and success of India over the past two decades. Globalization and easy access to the world has been a critical foundation for this.

The current India is nearing parity with advanced nations in urban infrastructure, facilities and quality. We can be proud of our cities, some of which look better than the ageing cities of the USA and Europe. Our infrastructure is new and well maintained, from roads and highways, flyovers, buildings and airports. Our cities are beginning to be better managed with cleaner, greener and better lit road. We have an airline system that matches or betters the experience we receive abroad. Our railway system has improved manifold with better trains, routes and frequency. Digital India today provides many sources of online information, ecommerce and online purchases, digital banking, government services and customer self-service as we would have worldwide. India is a country that we can be proud of and which we no longer need to leave for a better life.

Yet there are many aspects that we need to reflect on and improve. These should be on our agenda for 2018 and beyond. With focus and priority we can overcome many of these and become a nation of opportunities, equality and aspiration.


Advanced Analytics can Improve Insights and Decisions

Analytics: January 25, 2018

There is so much information available today in an average mid-size business that CEOs and CXOs can spend their day sifting through these for insights and patterns and still be left with more than they can process. Our limited 24 hour day and the limited ability of the human mind to process large volume data make us unfit by ourselves for many data powered insights and decisions. We get by with insights and decisions made with limited information and by our instincts and experience. This is no mean achievement as it speaks volumes for the ability of the human mind to work with limited data and extrapolate and form decisions from these.

The large volume of data that we have from all our systems, social media, web properties, apps, stores, touch points, surveys, market research, advertising, product use and so much else places us with guilt of not using the data well and leveraging its value for better decisions and designs. The data available is humongous and needs to be processed at very high speeds to provide information and insights within context for people to form the right decisions from them.

Computers excel in processing large volumes of data especially when they are structured and arranged in specific formats. While the human mind can extrapolate, see patterns and form trends by skimming over the data, computers need to go through almost all the data before they can mathematically and statistically form similar patterns and trends. Technology is focussed on increasing computing speeds, handling big data and carrying out analytics faster while assuming that all the data will need to be parsed, transformed and analyzed.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning could change some of this and make it possible for computers to find patterns, trends and insights without having to process all the data available. Sampling, skimming and other techniques can be used to arrive at accurate decisions while processing and analyzing only a part of the total data.

Data needs to be provided as information for better assimilation and understanding. Information needs to be available within context for it to be better received and used. Context would be based on what people are doing and thinking at that time. If they are trying to solve a business problem or mulling about possible strategies and decisions, information provided within this context is far more valuable then the same being available at other times without the required context and relevance. Mobile devices offer the opportunity for context as they are available at all times and if people can use these mobile devices when they need information, they have the context and relevance. The value and power of the information expands in multiples.

The volume and diversity of data and the multitude of data sources make analytics a challenge for any enterprise. Yet there is an opportunity here in using technology and products that can bring these together, carry out analytics quickly and provide the information in the right formats on mobile devices for context and relevance.

PowerView is a product that I am involved with, which is trying to solve this for enterprises. PowerView has an advanced analytics platform that can draw information from multiple data sources, process them quickly and provide these in visually rich formats for easy and contextual assimilation. PowerView provides the processed data in visual charts and dashboards on the mobile and computing device of choice - phone, tablet, laptop and desktop.

Over time analytics and business intelligence will become more sophisticated and big data will provide ways to handle very large volumes of structured and unstructured data. Coupling these with artificial intelligence, advanced analytics and machine learning could enhance the sophistication of processed data being delivered to executives. Simplifying and presenting the information visually will enable better insights and decision making. Making these available on mobile devices will provide the information on-demand and within context.

As we approach the information explosion, less is becoming more. People want less information that is of a higher quality level so that they can use these to make better decisions quicker. Time cycles are becoming increasing smaller and executives need to have processed information available to them on-demand for them to make decisions. Visual representation provides better assimilation and understanding and dashboards that provide graphs and visuals can help people interpret them more accurately and draw better insights.

The opportunity is for cloud infrastructure and software to be able to handle large numbers of data sources, extract, transport, analyse and process massive volumes of data and provide these in processed format for presentation. Over time artificial intelligence and machine learning will manage the data and its processing and analytics and make this an automated and smoothly flowing process.

As Internet of Things (IoT) usage expands and the volume of data grows in orders of magnitude, data analytics, processing and presentation will becoming increasingly critical for better visibility of problem and improvement areas, patterns, insights and solutions. The ubiquity of mobile devices make them the ideal vehicle to offer these analytics and reports, making them on-demand on the device of their choice.

Context and relevance is essential for good use of information and analytics. Bringing these into presentation dashboards that blend multiple sets of data and analytics into a single dashboard view enhances the interpretation and analysis of the information, facilitates better decision making and adds large value for the enterprise.

On-demand analytics is poised for explosive growth as enterprises of all sizes tune into technology to find solutions for the vast volumes of data they have and continuously update. Mobile devices that provide the information and analytics in visually rich formats will be an effective and valuable inputs for people in their strategic and tactical insights and decision-making.


The Explosion of Content

Content: January 24, 2018

Since the coming of the internet and mobile content has seen exponential growth every year over the past two decades in scope and volume. This trend will continue and we will see even more diversity, volume and quality in content over the next few years. Technology has enabled the production and consumption of rich quality content. Consumption has grown exponentially with consumer spending more time on their devices.

Content has been a large global opportunity and will continue to be an area for agencies and professionals to create profitable careers and businesses. The diversity of content with online and mobile media is massive. From just text and images we have many new and rich formats of content including interactive, video, audio, animated, immersive, AR/VR and a host of others to wow and engage consumers in the languages of their choice and the themes that they like. Content is a multi-billion dollar business worldwide and will keep expanding. Companies and people engaged in the production and distribution of content will grow multiples over the next few years.

If there are opportunities for nations to look at employment opportunities and for enterprises and entrepreneurs to see business areas for growth, content is one valuable one. Content needs creativity, talent and the human mind and cannot be easily automated or done by artificial intelligence. Rich and quality content will continue to be the work of talented and trained people for a long time. Raising the bar in quality and richness of the content will be a constant human endeavour to stay ahead of automation and AI based content creation.

The introduction of new productions by Netflix and Amazon is an example of how the volume and quality of content will expand substantially. These are in the field of entertainment. There are many other areas where content will expand and improve in quality, depth and coverage.

There are many opportunities for news and events to grow in their scope and depth. Online media is growing rapidly and there is a large volume of fresh content being created by journalists and professionals worldwide. Even as print declines and online media struggles to find sustainable business models, news and current interest content will transform to become more engaging, relevant and detailed.


AR/VR Age is Here

AR/VR: January 23, 2018

We are coming to the age of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) in our daily lives. The revolution is around the corner and we will soon have it in our midst. The two technologies will become part of daily parlance for the billions of mobile users around the world. Technology that has been futuristic and innovative is now becoming mainstream.

Both technology areas have been in the making for over a decade. We have had pilots, demos, prototypes and small scale productions since the mid 2000s. These are technologies that have been spoken about extensively across the world and hailed as the future of experiences. Now they are here and will soon invade our screens.

It has taken many years for the technologies to be validated, tested and matured and for costs of development to come down. Tools have been developed, many different projects and products created and tested. A whole eco-system of developers, visualizers, creative people, content makers and testers, focussed on these two areas, has grown over the years.

The applications are many and enjoyable. Gaming and experiences are certainly some of the early adopters of these technologies. Real estate and shopping can make some great applications to show real spaces and products to people just as if they are on location. Travel will change totally with real experiences of great locations available on our devices. It will no longer be armchair travel, more like mobile travel.

Augmented Reality's great hit has been Pokemon Go, the 2016 game that had millions touring their cities looking around for Pokemons to show up in their screens. The game was a financial success getting its developer Niantic over US$ 1 billion in less than a year. Since then there has been renewed interest in AR. Facebook and Google have been invested heavily in AR/VR and we should see some applications getting popular this year.

I see AR being developed into useful applications for Retail, Travel, Industrial Plants and Real Estate in the first instance. Product information will be easily available in physical stores as we walk around. Travel will have a lot of potential uses with buildings, monuments, streets and other landmarks being augmented with detailed information. Industrial plants can make use of AR for better equipment and asset information, maintenance history and a lot more. Real estate is another contender for some useful applications that can help people locate places to rent and buy.

Virtual Reality (VR) is about creating immersive experiences that look and feel real but can also be simulated and give one the out-of-the-world feeling. Gaming is already deep in VR and will likely continue to be the leader for its development and use. Sports is another where people can be in the game with VR. Travel and nature are other areas that can benefit from the ability of VR to create a real ambience and produce a deeply fulfilling experience. It will be possible to live through history at popular tourist locations. Space and galactic travel can be simulated with VR. Training and creating new world scenarios and using these for learning, assessment and mentoring can be ways that VR can bring value to enterprises.

AR and VR need suitable hardware and software to create the holistic experience. We have had headsets to create the immersive experience. These will begin to get more compact, better designed and less expensive. Software is already creating the required sophistication and smoothness for a great feeling. These will come into apps and the mobile phone will become the device of choice for AR and VR. These developments will bring the technologies and their applications into the main stream conversation and usage and will spark viral growth.

There are many opportunities for everyone in this industry. Creative and art oriented professionals can produce some really cool experiences and applications using these technologies. For the technology professional there is going to be more development and content creation than the world's talent pool will be able to handle over the next few years as demand for the technologies and their applications grow exponentially.

The transformation and immersion in AR and VR is just about to happen. Get set for a delightful ride that will be full of thrills, excitement, surprises and some really cool experiences.


The Roaming Office

Mobile: January 22, 2018

The mobile phone also called a smart phone has continuously evolved since the early 2000s. It began as a small portable phone in the mid-1990s that you could carry around with you at all times, calling and receiving calls from any location, any time. The SMS or Short Messaging Service in the early 2000s extended the engagement with the ability to send text messages between mobile phone users. Blackberry, Nokia and other brands brought email to the phone and soon you could make calls, send text messages and check and reply to email.

Then the iPhone happened. Mid-2007 Apple brought out a phone that was more like a computing device. It could make and receive calls, send and receive text messages and check and reply to emails. It could do so much more. There was a camera to take photographs and short videos. Rich color display meant you could now play video on the little screen. Music was de facto an option. The phone was not just a communication and entertainment device. It was destined to become much much more.

The introduction of apps and app store by Apple first and then Android by Google took the phone from being a limited use device to a completely new level. Now computing and mobile were converging so the phone was also a mini-computer you could carry around. Since the beginning of the current decade the mobile phone is a hot device capable of doing so much from communication to computing, web browsing, email, camera and video, music and recording, apps for just about anything you would like.

And now work and business. The past few years have seen more people doing work and business on the phone. Not just email but serious work. From creating documents and spreadsheets to presentations, messaging and collaborating with colleagues, viewing reports and dashboards, editing and managing files, carrying out regular office tasks and workflow and much much more. Organizations are seeing mobile as a valuable tool for their people.

The tablet is an extension of the phone, only its focus is more on work and entertainment than on communication. The tablet has a larger form factor, better processor, memory and storage, and is a step between a phone and laptop. Convenient to carry around like a book, the tablet is a device on which you can work comfortably with the on-screen keyboard or you can attach a keyboard that brings it close to being a small laptop.

The roaming office is now an exciting theme worth exploring. There are many apps that can work on the phone and tablet and help you carry out tasks. You can view, annotate, edit and manage documents of all types on the move. Enterprise systems like ERP, CRM, HR and ECM are available to use on a mobile device. Maps and location based services, consumer services, shopping and so much more is now available to use on the phone and tablet.

I work and am invested with a product called iEvolve. Conceptualized some years back, the relevance of iEvolve has grown increasingly in the past two years with the increasing use of the mobile device - phone or tablet - for work and personal productivity. Integrating the mobile display and interface with the cloud makes it possible to have a roaming office that is available for you at all times, secure, private and confidential, yet large and versatile enough for you to be able to do your work on it. I have been using iEvolve for over two years and am convinced that this is the useful way one can be productive, efficient and easy on one-self.

iEvolve features Notes, Contacts, Documents, Schedules, Data Items and Worklists, offering enough options to have all your information neatly classified and stored for you. The search feature makes it simple to locate information and the encryption and security features keep the information private and safe. Available on all devices iEvolve can be used concurrently on multiple and can be switched between them at will, smoothly maintaining continuity and context. Easy to use and versatile in features, iEvolve is something that I am glad to be part of. I am hoping to influence people I know to try iEvolve as it could be a life-changer and help make life and work simpler and more efficient. The time saved, the lower stress and the increased confidence of having information on-demand on your device are worth the effort in getting onto the app and bringing your data on-board.

The roaming office has arrived and should be on your list of things you would like to achieve in 2018. Having your office on your mobile phone or tablet can ease the effort at arranging your information and locating it on demand. Knowing your information is safe and private permanently can be relaxing and comforting even if you lose sight of your device. Having the ability to house boundless information in your personal cloud space can make it easier for you to spend more time on decision making, networking with people, creating and efficiently managing tasks.

I expect to see many more features and advancements in apps and products in this category. Documents are already available for viewing and editing on devices. Storage services make it easy to save your documents and locate them at will. The ability to view and do small work on the mobile, a little more on the tablet and regular work, editing and managing on a laptop or desktop, while keeping seamless connectivity between these devices can be very valuable.

In case you are not already hooked on a work and office app like I am, it may be exciting to look around and find one or more apps that can help you arrange and manage your time, life and work easily and simply from the comfort of the device of your choice. App stores have many apps that could be worth installing and investing time in learning and using. In time these will grow further into becoming more advanced, sophisticated and easy. The roaming office has arrived and it will keep getting better, pushing the boundaries of what you can do with your phone.


India as a Magnet for Tourism

India: January 21, 2018

India is a nation with a rich heritage spanning five thousand years. A nation of ethnic, cultural, linguistic and economic diversity, we are both traditional and modern, a happy blend of timelessness and change. We have boundless beauty in our natural diversity that range from snow-capped mountains in the Himalayas to thousands of miles of coast and pristine beaches in the south, mystical and charming desert in the west and dense forest and hilly vegetation in the east. We have thousands of monuments, structures and wonders spread across our nation, capable of providing joy, awe, reflection and peace to people visiting them. Our cities are complex diverse mosaics of architecture, art, colors, cultures and life, traditional and modern. We have centuries-old customs across all the world's major religions in harmony with modern lifestyle, comforts and cultures from the world. We are a peaceful nation, content in many ways, largely safe and respectful.

We have just celebrated our annual hosting of 10 million international tourists in 2017. Seventy years past our tryst with destiny which enabled us to take control of our ambitions, aspirations and progress, we have achieved a milestone. One that we can be proud of, yet dismal when we look at the world and its spending on travel and experiences.

India is 40th in the nations list of competitiveness in Travel and Tourism for 2017. Our 8 million annual international tourist arrivals by this list brings us US$ 41 billion in total income, 2% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 23 million are employed in this industry, 5.5% of our total workforce. Travel and Tourism is a powerful source of economic growth, employment, business and sustenance for India, our many states and hundreds of cities.

A single city like Singapore welcomed 12 million tourists in the same year, United Arab Emirates with two large cities 14 million. Turkey known for its history like India 40 million. Malaysia, a traditional Islamic nation had 25 million tourists, three times our numbers. Hong Kong a single city like Singapore had 26 million visiting from outside.

If India can work its way to 25 or 30 million international visitors over the next few years, this could be a large windfall for the nation, offsetting other potential declines in unemployment from automation, corporatisation and online disruption. We could top US $100 billion in annual income from this industry and bring the contribution of Travel and Tourism to 5% of our GDP. Our employment numbers from this industry could double and 100 million Indians could have steady income and prosperity from international tourism.

The Government of India and States have been working towards growth in tourism. These initiatives have been small and far between. They have not been relentless, constant and hard hitting. Our tourism efforts have not been missions with persistent focus and resolve. We have not been able to bring everyone on-board a programme designed to sell India to the world as a destination par-excellence. Our success in information technology, online media and digital marketing has not been able to make a significant impact and contribution to the industry. Our travel and tourism numbers have been regular growth from the large inventory of locations, experiences, sights and cultures that we offer to the world. People around the world come to India naturally if they are inclined towards spirituality, heritage, experiences and curiosity.

India needs to turn the hunger of the present generation into one that thirsts for unique experiences, breathtaking destinations, once-in-a-lifetime events and a lasting love of a lovely nation and people. We need to seduce and schmooze the world and wow them to come over, join us in our celebrations and enjoy our hospitality, culture, culinary diversity and love for live.

We need a carefully designed national programme that brings together people from all aspects of this large industry - airlines, cruises, hotels, restaurants, marketing agencies, travel agencies, digital marketers, online media, retailers, local services providers and so many millions who have a stake in delivering services to international tourists. We need to capture the imagination of our stake holders and create a programme that can resonate with everyone and help us create a national movement for international tourism. We need to maintain a constant and persistent focus on this and carry out training, awareness, improvements and coordinated programmes over several years to create the impact that the world can hear and see.

Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai are examples of cities that have made their lack of long-lasting history their strength. Instead of lamenting their lack of traditional monuments and destinations with natural beauty, these cities have created modern architectural marvels, entertainment complexes, awesome urban experiences and a cocktail of excitement, fun and celebration that draws people from around the world to participate and immerse in these for a few days at at time, rejuvenating their energies and minds, making them feel more travelled, fulfilled and wiser.

India already has vast and exciting history that brings people over. We have spirituality oozing from every street and locality. Yoga, meditation and holistic well-being are known worldwide. Ayurveda and naturopathy are famous for their abilities to heal and promote good health. Our temples, churches, mosques, buddhist temples, gurudwaras and synagogues should be on travel plans of the religious. We have culinary diversity that should tickle the curiousity of people from around the world. We have natural beauty in our hills, beaches, forests and rivers. Our bio-diversity is immense with wildlife sanctuaries, parks and reserves featuring thousands of species.

The Taj Mahal and Khajuraho draw people from all countries to see these legendary marvels. Goa competes on par with other destinations for its chilled-out, festive and unhurried lifestyle blended with its sun-kissed beaches and green landscapes. The deserts of Rajasthan beckon people with their romantic charm. Kerala draws people eager to relax in the tropical forests hugging backwaters and sea. The Himalayas beckon those with a heart for adventure and thrill. The North East is a treasure of forests, wildlife and natural beauty. Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh can provide thrills and sports for those interested in trekking and river rafting. Packaged well India has themes for every age group, every interest and every budget.

Our cities over the past few years have become hubs of shopping, dining, fun and entertainment. We now house brands from the world over in our malls and stores. Our infrastructure, architecture and streets are beginning to look like any of the world's modern cities. We are welcoming, free and happy with fashion and culture that is easy and open. India is not anymore a nation different in culture and outlook from the other countries and people. We welcome modernity, global lifestyles and free spirits. We are a nation well travelled and our new generation can blend in with any worldwide.

Our love and affairs with social media, technology and mobile have made us as global as any other nation. Our youth are in tune with world fashion, interests and likes. Our music and dance from Bollywood to South Indian and Punjabi blends in well with international trends. We have the world's largest movie industry and our television channels bring in large volumes of programming and entertainment to fill our airwaves.

We should now be ready to charm and engage the world and bring them over to our shores, motivate them to sample our cities, foods and experiences, spend time in our natural beauty, visit the monuments that are unique testimonies of human creativity, ambition and endeavour, and blend in with our unique cultures that have balanced traditional lifestyles with modern global outlooks.

India needs a national movement that will showcase our modern, current and evolving ethos, cities and culture to the world and draw them in large numbers to experience a unique blend that can provide inspiration, learning, peace and pure joy. We must assure the world that we are a safe, easy and enjoyable destination in which they can find comfort, pleasure and engagement. We must join hands to make travel across India an event to long for. We have the ingredients for some of the world's best experiences. We need to package, communicate and deliver these to the world.


The Relentless Pursuit of Innovation

Strategy: January 20, 2018
The human mind has been a constant seeker of solutions. Necessity as the mother of invention is the foundation of innovative thinking where solutions have been found throughout history that have resulted in progress for humanity and increase in the quality of life, comfort and security.

Since the industrial revolution, invention, innovation and discovery have not been as much for necessity as to seek ways to improve productivity, efficiencies and wealth. The pursuit of wealth has been a primary motivation for invention and innovation. War and defence have also significantly encouraged, funded and motivated innovation and product development. Over the past two centuries we have been expanding the scope and pursuit of innovation as strategy to further growth and wealth creation. We are now in the realms of Alvin Toffler's Future Shock with innovation exceeding the necessities we have as societies, nations and communities and becoming a culture, aspiration and way of business.

Regardless of our personal preferences and choices, as a society we live in a fast paced, high growth and competitive world where progress is a critical parameter for success. Progress comes from economic and social well-being, comfort, luxury and wealth-creation. This is the classical economic model that strives for economic growth for the alleviation of poverty, increase in income and wealth, and distribution of prosperity among the populations of nations. Economic growth and wealth creation are critical for our missions and objectives as nations, corporations and people.

In a free and open global marketplace, corporations who succeed are those that have products that appeal to consumers and deliver value, experience and utility. In a digital age, products that are progressive, sophisticated, advanced and yet simple are the ones that gain favour and market share. Brand, design, technology and experience are some of the guiding parameters for product success. Innovation is now a key measure of the respect that brands receive as they bring in new products to replace current ones and compete strongly in worldwide markets.

In a borderless commerce world, enterprises and businesses have no choice but to stay competitive and sustainable. These require excellent understanding of customers, product selection, service delivery, speed and responsiveness. Innovation is one way for businesses to create new and unique experiences for customers, improve products and increase customer loyalty. Over the past decades innovation has become a critical requirement for startups and businesses in their quest for growth, market share, profitability and sustainability.

We have reached a point as a global community where we do not have choices with regards to innovation, growth and competitiveness. Consumers have choices and will use them. Consumers demand new and better features, products, capabilities and experiences. Corporations that deliver these becomes brands with strong consumer loyalty. These translate automatically into better sales and higher profitabilities, resulting in sustainability and wealth creation. Corporations that choose not to innovate and grow lose their lustre and appeal with consumers and are no longer sustainable. Innovation is a critical requirement for businesses worldwide.

In order to build a culture of innovation among their people, organizations need to nurture the spirit of creativity, out-of-the-box thinking, daring and confidence. These need to be fortified with strong market research, business analysis, consumer understanding, communication and marketing. Blending all of these needs a capable organization that has the right processes, creativity and inspiration in their employees. Innovative organizations let people and teams try new ideas, work on them, fail and use the knowledge of failure to spur further innovation and creativity.

Innovation is both attitude and capability. People and teams can learn innovation through learning and training. There needs to be a systematic process to mentor, guide and nurture teams to think creatively and become innovative. Innovation is not just about looking around, copying ideas and replicating technologies and products. Innovation is about free thinking, looking for new ways and methods, having the courage to try them and being willing for them to fail and create a further spurt in more innovation. Innovation nurtures innovation and this cycle needs to be managed well by organizations for them to create successes.

Innovation can be expensive and needs careful financial management. Risks of innovation are high. Failure is the more dominant outcome. Failures have substantial benefits in learning and more innovative thinking. Teams need to be trained to look at failure as a critical parameter in the path of innovation and to use these as stepping stones for improved ideas and products.

Innovation rewards businesses and also takes it toll. Enterprises that nurture, manage and sustain innovation will see success although this may come at a high investment. By keeping innovation constant and sustainable, enterprises improve their chances of seeing large growth through product success.

Innovation is now across industries, functions and applications. Innovation can be applied anywhere - in products, services, sales, marketing, customer service, sports, entertainment and research, just about any area. Organizations need to nurture cultures for process oriented structured working for the operating functions that consistently deliver products and services to customers. Organizations need to have dedicated teams that focus on innovation, research, development, product creation and validation. Keeping these streams balanced and concurrent ensures that organizations can maintain sustainability and create new areas of growth and profitability for the future.

Innovation needs to be tested and validated regularly within the organization and in the markets to bring in the right feedback in time to make course corrections, discontinue investment in unviable ideas and products, and pivot to new models and technologies. Innovation needs to be quick, agile, responsive and flexible. Innovation needs to inspire and promote the spirit of growth, development and advancement but also be mindful of the costs and losses that can come from inadequate validation, feedback, correction and pivot.

The world belongs to corporations that can innovate, manage sustainability, build brands and create customer loyalty. The network effect works in favour of brands and products that appeal to their markets and draws them into a growth spiral that drives the other brands and products into decline. By staying on top of the innovation wave, corporations can attempt to build the network effect in their favour. These can help corporations create products that are successful, profitable and wealth creators.


Factories of the Present

Manufacturing: January 19, 2018

What we used to call factory of the future is now increasingly becoming the factory of the present with the future even more advanced, sophisticated and awe-inspiring. Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT and Automation will change the way products are manufactured.

These have been in discussion for a very long time. Computer Integrated Manufacturing has been a concept since the 1970s. What was envisioned then is slowly coming into place now and will soon be real and regular. Automated and integrated factories have been getting progressively more advanced and are very close to what has been visualized.

IoT and Artificial Intelligence are the new elements in the blend which will create another wave of innovation and disruption. Manufacturing has never had such a moment before. The technology and sophistication is awe-inspiring. The effects and disruption in employment, supply chains and businesses is concerning. In a few years factories will be working from dark sheds, fully automated with sensors and intelligent IoT monitoring and providing alerts, data and reports. No humans on the premises, some watching remotely from a distant location or nation. Artificial Intelligence will drive these factories with advanced scheduling and management of batch sizes, schedules, machine utilization, performance, and quality. Robotics will be sophisticated enough to enable integrated manufacturing processes from machining to handling, painting and finishing, so many tasks that are presently best done by skilled humans.

When I worked in the automotive industry, I vividly recall even now, the sight of a skilled workman cutting a sheet into a complex contour that would then be pressed into a complex 3D profile. Standing in a vest and trousers he was an epitome of concentration. On one side an assistant would be tracing a pencil line around a template over a rectangular sheet of steel with a complex but smooth profile that was smoothly curved on all sides. This stack of marked sheets would be on one side, each sheet about 5' long and 4' across, about two millimeters thick. The task of our technician was to cut the sheet along the traced profile by moving the sheet between the vibrating nibblers in the machine. A foot pedal allowed him to start and stop the nibbling as needed.

As I watched spellbound our technician would effortlessly pick up a sheet, hold it to the nibbler and then in a gyrating movement that looks so fluid and smooth that it looked more like a dance, he would swirl the large sheet with his hands between the nibblers and sway his whole body, all the while guiding the sheet along the traced profile. In one smooth long winding movement the sheet would have been cut to the exact traced profile, all in a few seconds. Every sheet would be the same and in a few hours a whole stack would be complete. We will not see such human skill and grace again.

Manufacturing is a very complex process involving a lot of parameters including scheduling, equipment availability, machine parameters, quality criteria and so many more engineering specifications. Hundreds and thousands of parts, each with their own production method and material, come together in sophisticated sub-assemblies and assemblies to create the final product.

Information systems have for long been optimizing and managing schedules, reporting and quality. Robots have been handling key functions like welding, glueing, machining and handling. The factory of the future has been showing signs of coming of age for some years.

The game changers are IoT and Artificial Intelligence. With these two technologies and their implementations and products, manufacturing will undergo a dramatic and disruptive tranformation. IoT will give the whole manufacturing process minute and delicate monitoring, auto-correction, diagnostics, coordination and reporting. Artificial Intelligence along with Machine Learning will start making the production, scheduling and management process a completely different level of play than has ever been seen.

This new factory is a dream for engineers, technologists and managers. Factories humming with production, all coordinated and managed by software, implemented physically with intelligent machines, IoT sensors and switches, and robots, supported by integration with other supply chain, quality and demand systems, are being created as we speak and will soon be competing with legacy factories on quality, speed of production and price.

Manufacturing will no longer be dependent on human work and endeavour. There will be large scale job losses but factories will be producting more and faster. The cost on the economy will be high but the expenses on manufacturing will drop dramatically. Developed countries with higher costs will be able to compete decisively with other nations with lower human costs through dramatically improved productivities and efficiencies. It will be the return of the competitiveness of manufacturing by nations on completely new paradigms.

Nations will have to formulate new policies, regulations and programmes to manage this new reality. People will need to reskill themselves and use their experience to be a part of the new economy and manufacturing model. New jobs will be created but these will need new skills and expertise. Economies will continue to grow and product prices will fall and flexibility of product configurations will increase. Factories will be able to operate in small batches and offer a wider range of variations and made-to-order for the customer.

A lot of new software is waiting to be written from sophisticated cloud computing to artificial intelligence, big data management and analytics through to intuitive and exciting mobile apps, all working with the new paradigm of automation, integration and intelligence in manufacturing. These will go through multiple versions, optimization and loops, all leading to more efficiencies, higher speeds and increased perfection.

The factory of the future is around the corner and a lot of innovation and ideas will go into its evolution and tranformation over the next few years.


Emerging Wave of Autonomous Vehicles

Auto: January 18, 2018
Self-driving vehicles were like a scene from a sci-fi movie. A few years back it was a hobby that only Google with its cash reserves and inclinations could afford. Not many automotive manufacturers took this seriously. Then in 2015 trends began to emerge and by 2016 it was clear. Autonomous vehicles are possible and will be a reality soon.

The automotive industry worldwide has been in panic mode since then. There is also a lot of excitement with the anticipation of this significant transformation in the automotive world. There is a sense of challenge, purpose and opportunity. Auto manufacturers worldwide are diving headlong into these technologies and their integration into cars and trucks.

The latest device on the block is the car. Think about a car as a device. One that can sing and play music, whom you can talk to with intelligent conversations, someone who will guide you through the cities and highways, tell you about the traffic and weather along the way, find you restaurants, fuel and recharging stations, toilets and convenience stores, even make calls and orders for you.

There are many who believe autonomous vehicles will never actually drive on roads because of many different reasons. The technology is not going to be good enough, there is too much at risk, safety is a critical consideration, who will own up in case of an accident, and who will pay the insurance are some of the obstacles.

As technology for the autonomous vehicle advances and becomes more robust and dependable, there are cities, states and nations who are willing to give the technology an opportunity. The technologies are formidable. Nations see this as an opportunity to get ahead of the technology curve and give their own countries and businesses a significant advantage.

There are live trials going on in several states in the US. UK, Singapore and some other European countries have approved trials and are looking ahead to see how they can embrace this technology while keeping safety and security paramount. Autonomous cars, trucks and buses will be on the roads in several countries within the next five years. They will transform, disrupt and turn over industries and businesses. Lots of excitement, fear and challenges. This is not going to be easy for many.

Autonomous is just the beginning. As the car becomes a device and brings on board a powerful computer, has connectivity to the internet and is wired with a lot of IoT sensors and devices, there will be many applications that will spring from this wave of innovation. Apps will be created, software will be imagined and a lot of new features, comforts and luxuries will be available for people with these cars.

Automotive manufacturers are now thinking holistically of the car as a device and planning for this product. Unlike in the past and currently when the auto manufacturers ship cars and allow everyone else to fit in accessories, manufacturers are now working on designs where everything will be integrated and will be fitted on the assembly line. So your music, navigation, dashboards, sensors, controls, displays and other electronic devices along with the main car device will all be designed and fitted into the interiors and operating parts of the car before it leaves the factory.

This is a huge opportunity for the industry and technology professionals. There is so much that we can do with these technology options. From writing sophisticated apps to creating new innovations that have not been imagined, technologists and auto engineers will have their hands full and minds active over the next few years.

This is again the convergence at play. A lot of technologies including IoT, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Vision, Machine Learning and Voice Assistants are coming together to transform and disrupt the automobile industry. There will be sparks, explosions and total transformation as autonomous, entertaining and technology enabled cars embark on a journey of innovation.


Big Data, AI and Voice Can Converge for a Health Revolution

Health: January 17, 2018

Health for a common user has not altered dramatically over the past few years. Despite promises healthcare solutions have not evolved and found the right features to make a huge difference. There have been many promises and a lot of discussion about how modern technology with Cloud, Mobile and Analytics can shape and improve health outcomes worldwide for our vast population. These have not yet found the sweet spot.

The emerging convergence of big data, artificial intelligence and voice assistants may massively disrupt and transform the industry. Most of healthcare solutions in the past decade have been focussed on healthcare providers, health insurance and patient information. Healthcare providers have implemented integrated systems in their facilities that manage patient information, billing, scheduling and reporting, among several other critical operational and regulatory requirements. Health insurance has become more robust, expansive and flexible with the use of information systems. Patient information has become almost fully digital for the healthcare providers and consumers carry these around on their device by photographing prescriptions and reports.

The internet has improved awareness for health and provides a vast volume of information on almost every ailment, disorder and disease know to humans. Drug information including dosages, side effects and pricing are available for quick reference. Information collated from millions of people and their experiences have found their way into blogs, portals and media reviews and can be searched and referred by people looking for solutions to their health problems. Many healthcare providers, pharma brands, medical professionals and media organizations have spent years compiling and putting together extensive content on health, medicine and remedies. YouTube provides a large collection of videos that range from professional guidance to personal experiences. The internet and online media has certainly transformed the knowledge aspect of healthcare for professionals and consumers.

Most of healthcare focusses on the treatment of illnesses, diseases, ailments and disorders. There is less emphasis on prevention and non-recurrence. The healthcare industry is too busy fighting and treating health problems to have time and energy to promote prevention and personal well-being. Advice also does not go well with consumers. Most of us believe that we are free of problems and are not likely to be in the path of potential problems. The vast majority of people on the planet take health and well-being for granted and live for the moment.

There is a need for better prevention, more holistic wellness programmes and improved post-treatment patient care. A lot of these are with the consumers themeselves who need to take care of themselves and their families and try to keep disease and health problems as remote as possible. Good lifestyle habits, better care of our bodies and organs, more awareness of the potential threats to our health and opportunities to stay healthy, and better mechanisms for motivation and compliance of good personal hygience, care and control, are needed to make the world a more healthy and happy planet.

Over the past few decades modern medicine, technology and insurance have together built a mindset of confidence, comfort and assurance for consumers to the extent that people believe that they can have good health regardless of their personal lifestyle choices and habits. Nations and businesses have built large infrastructure and eco-systems for healthcare management from treatment to drugs, equipment, methods, facilities and patient care.

I believe we are set for an age where there will be better health because people will manage their lifestyles better, and plan and manage their well-being in a structured and organized way. People will become more aware and sensitive to the very-often simple ways that they can prevent onset of illnesses and diseases and lead to more healthy lives. Technology will be the force behind this wave that will sweep the world over the next few years.

I am not referring to the new devices and wearables that are flooding our market. From the smart watches to bands, vests and many other similar devices, there is a lot of hype and discussion about the ability to have automated logs of vital health parameters being collected and transmitted to healthcare providers for real-time monitoring and action. These are wonderful inventions and have a lot of sophistication, benefits and value in them. I am not sure if they hold the key for better health.

I think voice assistants who have an artificial intelligence platform connected to them which in turn has big data powered information repository to refer to, hold the key to better health. Mobile phones will have these available on them as apps and they will be connected to massive databases that grow and become better and more intelligent by the minute. There will be artificial intelligence powered searches and processing that will look for answers in an intelligent and machine learning way. Thanks to the ability of big data platforms to hold, manage and scan through various forms of data we will have access to key information that can be intelligently correlated and compared and inter-linked to form better knowledge, understanding and potential solutions.

Voice assistants will touch half the world's population that prefers speech to reading and writing for various reasons including lethargy, indifference and illiteracy. By speaking to them in their own language, voice assistants will be able to provide vital information that can be used for better hygiene, wellness and health. Voice assistants will be able to keep track of illnesses, vital parameters, treatments, drugs, habits and so much more and will be able to collate these to find meaningful solutions. Voice assistants will alert, remind and persist with helping their users follow best practices, form good habits, work out suitable schedules and carry out instructions, all for better health, prevention and recovery.

Some of these are already available as technologies. They are still in their infancy and finding their way around. They will emerge slowly and progressively and will find their relevance, position and areas of strength. They will find their way into people's mobiles and their minds and hearts. Slowly the mobile phone and apps for good health will prevail over users and help them maintain better habits, learn more about various illnesses and their prevention, and motivate and guide them to follow these over long periods of time. By improving prevention and recovery, technology will impact health in a positive way and help us become a more healthy global community.


Live Healthy, Live Happy

Health: January 16, 2018

Health is an area that is increasingly worrying because of the number of ailments, illnesses, disorders and diseases that we keep hearing about every day. It is possible that many of these have been around through history over the millennia and not documented and are now discussed in excruciating detail with our 24x7 online media networks.

It is important for us to live healthy, every one of us. Health is one of the most aspired boons for our global population, the other being wealth and then a host of other desires. Health should not be a desire, health should be a given. Unfortunately not everyone is fortunate to have good health. Many of our friends and brethren worldwide do not have the fortune and means to strive for good health.

A lot of us do. Many of us tend to take our health for granted and believe that we will stay healthy regardless of the lifestyle choices we make. While this may have been possible some years back, this is increasingly difficult now as the number of potential impacts on our health are increasing rapidly and most of these are not in our control.

I am motivated to share some learnings I have acquired over the years. These are not meant to be advice but I do feel the need to articulate them for anyone interested.

The human body has been designed to be amazingly versatile, tolerant and self-healing. Over the millennia the human body has evolved and refined and become increasingly sturdy, strong and resilient. It can take a whole range of diversity of conditions, situations and matter and adjust itself to manage these. It has robust mechanisms to fight foreign bodies, adverse organisms and various deficiencies. Most often it comes through winning over a host of adversities and potential threats. Some times combinations of factors overwhelm the human body and its mechanisms and we end up with illnesses and diseases. Statistically these are a very small proportion of the total health we enjoy. These small proportions keep the medical and health insurance businesses profitable.

The human body has also been designed for some ideal conditions. This is a very broad range and staying within allows the body to manage itself and heal easily to keep us healthy. My learnings are about staying within this range and only exceeding limits very occassionally.

Fortune plays a large role in health. Sometimes we can do everything we think necessary to stay healthy and we may still be afflicted by illnesses and disease. We have little control over these and they are not within the scope of our discussion. Our discussion here is about things that we can do to keep ourselves healthy within a broad statistical probability. None of these are guarantees for good health and we do them to reduce the number of potential impacting factors that can affect our health adversely.

Stay Active
Staying active in mind and body helps to exercise and keep all parts and organs in the body in use and help them to become stronger and repair themselves more often. Staying active is about moving around, taking time off, looking at long distances, doing nothing and exercising moderately. Walking up and down stairs, walking short distances to the store, work or friends, stretching and doing small exercises when at work or at home, maintaining a spring in your feet and limbs, doing house work like gardening and washing and being alert in body and mind are simple ways to keep active.

Have Purpose
The mind controls and manages the body more than we would imagine. Having a purpose to live and achieve some milestones is a sure way of telling the body that you would like to stay healthy and active and live long. These go a long way in staying healthy and giving your body the motivation it needs to self-correct and improve. Working, contributing to neighbourhoods and society, playing sports, engaging in creative and constructive pursuits, enjoying gardening and other home and work pursuits, actively networking, engaging and working with other people, these are simple ways for us to maintain purpose and tell our bodies that we intend to go on for a long time.

Eat Natural
the human body has been designed to eat from what nature provides. Nature provides natural food for vegetarians and non-vegetarians. The new processed foods are new to the human body as these have been around only for the past seven-eight decades now. What the human body has become accustomed over many millennia is being altered with just a few decades of foods that are alien and need different processes and methods to handle. By staying closer to the natural forms of foods we bring them closer to what our bodies are designed for and this helps in digestion, absorption and assimilation, all of which are needed for good health.

Cut Out These Two
Oil and Sugar are two ingredients that are used widely in different types of foods. Both are not natural and have been processed heavily. The cummulative quantities of these two foods is very high as almost all processed food contains a little of these. Most restaurant food has a liberal use of oil and most desserts and treats contain sugar. By cutting these two down drastically or removing them altogether from the diet, we reduce the heavy load that they both place on the body. Breaking them down and assimilating them is tough for the body and it does a wonderful task of this. Do we need to stretch the load? A lot of people tell me that this alters lifestyles to an unacceptable level. My findings are that there are many ways to do these without feeling a compromise in lifestyle and foods. Many foods can be brought to flavour without using the normal quantities of oil and many desserts can use significantly lower level of sugars than they do. There are also natural substitutes to oil and sugar that are more in tune with our body.

Live Simple
Living simple is relative. Everyone has their own definition of simplicity. Many do not believe in these. Staying close to your truth so that you do not feel guilt and remorse, winding down on many luxuries and carrying out normal daily chores and tasks are simple ways to live simple. Making life complex and stressful and needlessly burdensome are the opposite of living simple. So everyone needs to define their version of simple and complex and adjust these to suit their desires and stay healthy.

These are just some of the ways that I think we can stay healthy. Health is a complex subject and involves a lot. There are many factors that we do not control. These few learnings that I have imbibed over the years from many people I interact with, watch and also through readings are what I feel good to describe. There are many more and by maintaining purpose to spread these I hope to stay healthy myself.


Is it all good with Technology?

Technology: January 15, 2018
Technology has delivered substantial benefits to the human species. Technology has wrought untold damage and misery to other living beings and the environment.

Of the three large groups of species in the universe ie Plants & Trees, Animals & Marine Life, and Humans, we as a people have been the most destructive and ruthless. Our intelligence has fuelled greed, lust, cruelty and many other traits that have made us destructive, intolerant and insensitive.

In our quest for a better life and domination over fellow humans, wildlife and the plant kingdom, we have wreaked havoc on our environment, plundered the earth for metals, minerals and oil, destroyed large swathes of vegetation and forests, driven millions of living species to extinction, and polluted our waters and atmosphere.

We have altered the natural cycle of life and death so we have less mortality and higher life spans. This has led to better well-being and comfort for humans but has also expanded our population to 7.6 billion which is a lot for our planet to handle. In our quest to support this large population we have used technology, knowledge and infrastructure to increase our food production, provide area for homes, expand facilities for entertainment, indulgence and leisure, and fill our lands with cities, agricultural expanses, food farms and waste lands at the cost of forest cover. We have altered the flow of our rivers and diverted water for our use, created large and wasteful use of water, leaving us with a damaged ecosystem that leaves little for the other living species and nature that maintains the ecological balance.

So why do we pursue technology and development without considering the damage and costs we are imposing on our planet? Why do we support this unbridled and boundless pursuit of dominance, advancement and ambition? Why do we create problems and then invent solutions that create further problems that necessitate more solutions and create an infinite spiral to our destruction?

The human mind came to a stage of development and intelligence five millenia ago that enabled humans to do so much more than any of the other living species on the planet until then. None of the non-human species come anywhere close to us in intelligence. All the development in other species has been in size, speed, strength and agility and humans cannot compete on these. The development of the human race has been the advancement of the human mind, intelligence and emotion. Our ability to teach and learn is unparalleled on our planet. Our ability to reach and retain a level of intelligence and knowledge and pass this on from generation to generation is unique.

It is the same intelligence and abilities that fuels greed, lust, pride, dominance, cruelty, ruthlessness, desire, ambition and many other emotions and personality traits that put us on the path of destruction and plunder.

All through history humans have used technology to further our ambitions and satiate our desires. From swords, spears, chariots, wheels, pulleys and cannons for warfare to vessels, cookers and lamps for homes, to woollens, armours, footwear and headgear for protection, early humans have invented, developed technologies and created products to solve problems, make life better and fuel our desire for domination and control.

Progressively the fields of research and development of technologies, inventions and products have expanded to cover all aspects of life, work, transport, entertainment and warfare. New materials, production techniques, treatments, processes, machinery, tools, gadgets, appliances and devices are all part of technology that humans have discovered, evolved and created to further our development and domination agenda.

In the past millennium the technologies and products developed have become more sophisticated and advanced and address a number of areas such as healthcare, transportation, storage, living, infrastructure, communication, entertainment, education and so many more. Technology pervades every aspect of our lives now.

Technology has been the driving force for change, development, quality and so many other positive aspects of how humans have built the world for themselves. Most technologies have positive benefits and are very valuable. Some of the technologies and uses of good technologies are implements for destruction, misery and exploitation.

Technology has solved many problems and created even more. Yet without technology our world will not be what we see now. We would still be in the medieval period. Our lives would be just the way it used to be hundreds of years ago with more simplicity, slow speed and limited comfort.

Technology has been a boon and it is also increasingly likely our nemesis. Technology has made humans more comfortable and improved our lives. It has also fuelled our desires and made us addicted to the use of technologies. Technology has put us on an accelerating treadmill that we are reluctant to get off in the fear that we will be left far behind.

Technology and it's human inventors are rooted in the firm belief that the solution to problems that technology creates is more advanced and sophisticated technology. The answers to technology is more technology. This has launched us into a spiral to infinity. We are way past our tipping point. We may be well beyond the point of no return.

In our minds while we keep expressing our angst we are also relentlessly pursuing more technology regardless of its cost. Technology is today the most profitable business and career pursuit. We have left all other industries and interests far behind.

So is this all doom? Or will we redeem ourselves in time? Do we have choices still that we can make? Or are we committed to go where no one has been before which could well be the extinction of our unique planet?

As a technologist and one who delights in creating new technologies and products that I believe will help the human species and make our lives better and more meaningful, I am conscious of the potential destructive and damaging nature of our pursuit. I would like to be part of the solution and not a contributor to more problems that could emerge.

Yet as I keep pondering and working on new innovations and solutions, I am painfully aware that the journey, however exhilarating and fruitful, may be destined to arrive at a point in time where we may not have control of our own destiny and may then struggle to redeem ourselves.

As technologists we need to ponder and debate the human side of development and innovation and the costs that we are passing on to our planet and the other species who have a longer legacy than us. We need to find ways to manage technology and reduce their harmful effects. We need to create technologies that will enable our other living species to thrive, grow and flourish. We have to work on technologies that will replenish, rejuvenate and renew our beautiful planet.

There is a large enough population in the world that believes in good and fair use of technology and resources and peaceful coexistence with other species. We have a large internet powered media that provides conversations and collaboration on a scale never possible earlier. We must harness all of these to make our world sustainable, enjoyable and nondestructive. Our intelligence and creativity enables and empowers us to achieve these.


Future of Small Businesses is in Strategic Decisions

Business: January 14, 2018
Every wave of technology unleashes disruption and transformation and alters the business landscape substantially. Businesses struggle to remain relevant, stay competitive and be sustainable. The present wave of disruption set off by Automation, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Big Data Analytics, Conversational Messaging and Robotics will be no different.

Small businesses will need to take strategic decisions to remain in operation even with modest levels of profitability.

All through history technology has changed paradigms of scale, strength and speed. Steam and then Electricity enabled machines, locomotives and vehicles to generate more power and strength, enabling movement of more goods than would be possible with human and horse power. Machines and vehicles ushered in the ability to work at higher speeds, enabling more throughput than would be possible from employing large teams of people. Scale would become possible through the organized factory that brought people and equipment together into a large unit working through coordinated processes to create finished products.

The past technology revolutions and developments have been largely focussed on the material and physical domain, enabling more work and throughput than would be possible through physical human labour. Past technology advancements have pushed human endeavour towards more mind work, thinking, information processes and human interaction. Developments in technologies, equipment and devices have created tools and aids that humans can use to do more that tney can achieve physically by themselves or in teams. Men have controlled machines and machines have been doing tasks under the complete control and supervision of humans.

Almost all people have benefitted from the automation, mechanization and productivity that has been unleased by technology development. People working in households, offices and restaurants have been able to achieve more through the use of washing machines, dish washers and vacuum cleaners. It has reduced numbers of people needed but has improved the quality of their work and enabled them to complete tasks with more relative comfort and less hardship. Drivers and loaders working in transportation and logistics have been aided by tools and means that enable higher loads, faster completion of tasks and easier handling of material, all of which have made work for humans easier and more fulfilling. Factories have had machines and material handling equipment being run by people, enabling the production of parts and completed products faster and more accurate than what would be possible through human craftsmanship. Farms, orchards and estates have seen the use of mechanized equipment and implements help in the watering, tending and harvesting of larger areas of produce by a team of people than they would be able to do through pure human effort. The world has been able to produce enough for the billions of people on our planet thanks in no mean measure to the development and deployment of technology, machinery, equipment, tools and other aids that provide scale and speed.

Technology has been supported with innovative, thoughtful and sophisticated management methods. Humans have designed processes, systems and designs, worked out work details to minute levels, set up coordinated mechanisms and implemented these with people and machines for smoothly working organizations, producing large volumes of work output needed to support the growing markets worldwide. The triumph of technology has been the triumph of their inventors and the leadership and people of the organizations using these to manage large business objectives. Human endeavour, intelligence and creativity has been the hallmark of the industrial and knowledge revolutions as it has been all through history.

While these have led to replacement of jobs as less people can do the work of many more, the increase in scale and the surge in consumption has generated more work and consequently employment. Nations have been able to reduce poverty and increase well-being for their populations even as machines have been replacing and reducing the number of people needed for work throughputs.

A large proportion of people have focussed their time and energy on more mind work and less physical labour and enjoyed higher prosperity, comfort and longevity. Whole industries of services have been created and the world has been referred to as a knowledge economy.

What makes this current round of technology disruption ominous is that technology and non-human capabilities are striking at the work done by human minds. Humans work through a combination of knowledge, memory, thinking and creativity. By storing information and experiences in unique ways and then using these innovatively people are able to learn, do tasks and improve constantly. Technology has been finding ways to store knowledge but their use has still needed the human mind. Computers and devices have been incapable of thinking. Creativity and innovation have been the domain of only a small proportion of people who have developed this expertise.

A lot of these are set to change in the coming years. Computers will be able to use the stored information because they are becoming more intelligent and capable of doing things on their own, working and navigating their way using feedback, data and decision making rules. The gathering of data in the physical realm is becoming more sophisticated through the advancement of sensors that are a critical element of IoT. Gathering of data in the virtual realm is also more sophisticated because of the interfaces, processes and automation that provide rich volumes of data at every step. The ability of computers to manage big data and carry out analytics exceeds the capabilities of humans who cannot deal with the volumes of data involved. Now with the increasing capabilities of computers to work with rules and learn through experience, computers are getting to areas that we thought only humans could do.

How will humans push back? They will become more creative and innovative and learn how to use computer processed information and find patterns, insights and potential opportunities better than computers can do in the near future. They will begin to use tools and algorithms to aid in more strategic thinking and decision making. People will start using automation as a means to achieve more work in shorter times with fewer people.

This will lead to shrinking workforces that can reach far corners of the world, reach and manage a disproportionate number of customers, handle a disproportionate number of tasks and deliver a disproportionate volume of sales and potential profits.

These technology developments, innovations and disruptions can be massive opportunities for small businesses to transform, pivot business models and emerge stronger and more fit. Small businesses can not only be competitive but large in scale and profitability while retaining a smaller workforce. Small businesses will not need to remain small in opportunities and operating scale. Every enterprise will have the potential to be competitive with the very best by adopting new paradigms for efficiency, work quality and business strategy.

To achieve these, small businesses will need to make key strategic decisions on their technology deployment. Business strategy will need to guide technology adoption and use. Business strategy will also have to be altered based on the technology available and usable by the team. Businesses will need to be flexible, open and willing to adopt technology at large scale. Current technology that replaces their existing information technology investments. Small businesses must be willing to turn over large parts of their operations to a younger workforce that is more in tune with current technologies and usage trends.

If small businesses want to survive, sustain and grow through the current wave of technology disruption, it is imperative that they make key strategic decisions now. Most of these will need to be about the large scale adoption, embrace and investment in technology. Technology adoption may alter business models, organization structures and operating processes. Businesses must be willing to be disrupted and invest in new models that can be competitive and sustainable in the transformed markets. They will also need to find new skills, expertise and people who can manage and carry out the strategic redirection for the business.


The Silent Revolution of Enterprise Software

Enterprise: January 13, 2018
Enterprise Software is undergoing dramatic changes. Gradually the way we use software and the type of software that we use is transforming. This is not a hot topic of conversation as for example AI or Blockchain is. This is a transformation that has been evolving over the past four-five years and will likely smoothly accelerate over the next five.

The transformation is led by Cloud and Mobile and supported in equal measure lately by Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. The way we store data and documents is undergoing large changes. The software that we use and the integration that is beginning between various products and platforms is progressively becoming better. Security and confidentiality are reaching levels of acceptance for CTOs in large and mid-size enterprises. Adoption is accelerating and islands of usage are evolving into corporate policy. Mobile apps are becoming preferred methods of using software and working on the move. There is near seamless integration between mobile apps, web apps and server based services.

Enterprise software is transforming from large, integrated systems into flexible, expandable, modular and connected cloud based systems. Enterprises are beginning to see the merits of using multiple products in their stacks for better functionality, suitability to business needs, flexibility and usability. This trend will accelerate in the three year period from 2018-2020.

This is a silent revolution. Silent because not everyone is talking about it. There is not much hype about the revolution and its benefits. Companies are bringing in versions and promoting them but collectively these do not seem like a revolution. If you look at the number of changes and the way enterprise software is transforming, this is a revolution of sorts. It is happening progressively, continuously and gradually. Maybe that is why there is no single disruptive moment that heralds this revolution.

In the next few years we will see large scale disruption. There will also be consolidation of products and acquisitions that create more expansive products and integrated systems. There will equally be new products from startups that will challenge the large entrenched players and bring in disruption. The process has begun and is likely to be the trend.

Some of this comes in as part of the digital that everyone is talking about. The transformation of enterprises into become digital. While digital involves a number of different areas including social media, messaging and automation, enterprise software forms a significant part of the digital transformation.

Amazon Web Services, Azure, Google Cloud and other Cloud players are bringing in disruption in the infrastructure area, motivating enterprises to move their computing and storage to cloud and private data centers from their present on-premise systems. Social media, messaging, file sharing and other consumer mobile applications have enterprise plays that are coming in waves for use within the organization. Individual cloud and mobile systems are being used for specific tasks, one-time use, individual projects and as replacement of the usual software, by individuals and teams within the organization. There is a lot of freedom and flexibility that departments and teams have to use products of their choice that are not necessarily deployed enterprise-wide.

The challenge for CTOs and CIOs is the wide range of products being used and the dispersing of enterprise information into various databases and cloud platforms worldwide. Information security and archiving are becoming large tasks by themselves for organization IT departments. Different ways are being used to handle these and standards and best practices are just emerging.

Is this the end of the legacy systems? Not yet but the legacy systems like SAP, Oracle, Intuit, Microsoft and the newer ones like Salesforce are also moving quickly, protecting their turfs, acquiring newer products and platforms, and transforming their products to align with current requirements of Cloud and Mobile. There will be disruptions and there will be more equality in the enterprise software space but there will also be continuous growth for the legacy vendors.

Architecture is going through large changes and the way data is stored and managed is very different from the traditional styles. Robustness of systems, virtualization and big data are playing major roles in helping enterprises deal with the humongous volumes of data and documents that are being produced. New methods are emerging to manage this volume of data and documents and more software products are being worked on that will help use these in many different ways for the good of the business, such as with analytics, mining and predictive reporting.

The elephant in the room this year will be Artificial Intelligence as it begins to take root in enterprise in their systems, task automation and analytics. AI will become mainstream and enterprises will start relying on these more for their work, processes and decision making. AI will begin to manage tasks that needed administration including in IT such as device management, network and infrastructure administration, data backups, archiving and restores, search and workflow.

All of these look good for enterprises and technology product vendors. Organizations will become more agile, more responsive, more automated and more integrated. These will result in better outcomes for the business and customer.


Explosive Mix of 3D Printing, IoT & Cloud

Manufacturing: January 12, 2018

The theory of contract manufacturing is founded on the premise that physical materials and factories are needed to produce parts and assemble them together for finished products. The dedicated machinery needed and the high setup times necessitate batch manufacturing. Assembly lines have been designed and optimzed for maximum throughput with micro-tasks being carried out sequentially for the finished product.

3D Printing threatens to unravel all of these and bring in a new paradigm in borderless manufacturing. 3D Printing blended with Cloud and IoT is all set to disrupt many markets worldwide and alter the competitiveness of nations. Nations that still believe lower labour costs will be their competitive advantage will see significant declines in their volumes over the next few years as production shifts to locations closer to the customer.

3D Printing is a wonder technology and machinery that is still evolving. The printing process deposits small drops of material mostly plastics with high precision guides and heads very similar to inkjet printers. These micro-drops bond with the lower strata and gradually the desired shape is formed and cools to provide the required material characteristics. 3D Printing uses 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD) models which are created by part and product designers. 3D Printing can produce almost any shape of object including those with cavities.

3D Printed parts still lack many of the properties needed like strength, hardness, stiffness and toughness. Materials used for 3D Printers are polymers and many of these have impressive physical properties. They cannot still replace steel, aluminium and othter materials, yet.

3D Printing has revolutionized many industries, particularly those that are making prototypes and small batches for limited use. 3D Printing technology is becoming more versatile with the ability to bond multiple materials, include colors and produce specific surface finishes. Over the next few years 3D Printers will become smaller, less expensive and more versatile. Materials will be researched and created specifically for 3D Printing to compete with the traditional metals and hard materials. 3D Printing will become faster and will begin to take on larger batch productions. These will still be small compared to current mass production but will begin to open up new competition advantages.

3D Printing eliminates the need for expensive dies and moulds. Setup times are negligible and so is the need for larger machines. 3D Printing enables the creation of small batches and the inter-weaving of different designs and parts into the production schedule. One 3D Printer can produce multiple parts with different designs in a day without the need for setups and downtime.

IoT will add more capabilities to manufacturing using 3D Printing and will help in material movement, finishing, packing and assembly in ways that have not been imagined yet. Designs, data and software in the cloud will control and manage 3D Printing factories and schedule and coordinate multiple tasks. People will be watching and managing factories from their own locations, many in other countries. Design teams will seamlessly blend with manufacturing processes across large distances and time zones.

The combined power of these technologies will create alternate models for manufacturing and product availability. Many industries will turn to 3D Printing as their primary method of production. New business models will emerge and new eco-systems will blossom. Technology will alter the dynamics of business and change the fortunes of manufacturers in different countries.

Innovation, technology adoption, creative business models and Cloud powered systems will be the driving force for manufacturing and the revolution is sooner than we imagine.


Future of Education is in the Cloud

Education: January 11, 2018
Education will move from notebooks and textbooks to mobile phones and tablets and eventually fully into the cloud. Content, lessons, interactions, tests, practices, projects and all other learning, teaching and training will be online and in the cloud. Some exceptions for digital training will be those that need physical contact, activity and work such as laboratories, sport, workshops and other similar activities.

Isn't education already in the cloud? It is to an extent; what we have presently is probably a miniscule part of where we are headed. In the next decade we will see a total transformation of education from pre-school to university as they become completely digital, interactive, immersive and cloud-centric. Learning, interaction and all other forms of teaching, testing and projects will be conducted from digital screens that will span a wide range of sizes from small wearables to phones, tablets, larger display tablets and notebooks, all through to digital boards and walls.

The opportunity in education is massive and one that we have just begun exploring. Videos on YouTube provide course material and guides for just about any topic that you would like. Information on any subject is available online with Wikipedia being a treasure trove of material. Skype helps students and teachers work together in virtual classrooms that foster personalized tutoring. Tests are easy to do online. University and school administration is already online working from websites, online forms and portals that institutions offer to students. So aren't we a long way ahead in this quest?

I think what we have is impressive but just a small part of what we can do. As new technologies emerge and become commercially viable such as big data, analytics, voice interaction, virtual reality, augmented reality and so many others, the field of education, learning and experience based development will expand massive multiples in scale and sophistication to what we have today. People in technology, education, consulting, training and almost any field should look at this an unique opportunity to contribute, participate, join and gain.

Integration of technologies, systems, content and processes into a structured, validated and verified education programme is where a large part of the work is still in progress. These will begin to get easier, more seamless and accurate. Students from all ages and subjects will be able to participate in a worldwide education movement, get help, be tutored and mentored, contribute to the body of knowledge, provide feedback, get tested and certified, and receive a richer, more immersive and detailed knowledge and development experience.

Geography will be history in education as it has become in several other fields. Global expertise, teaching and mentoring will be available for anyone anywhere in the world to gain from. Remote teaching and learning will be on par with classroom sessions. Programmes that span multiple institutions and courses but collectively accumulate to enable graduation and certification, will emerge as new ways for people to acquire degrees and education. Learning for a student will no longer be limited by the institution and teachers that the student has access to. The world and its talent will be available for students to learn from.

I believe and wish for a global education programme that is free from barriers and entry criteria, which is free and open to everyone and which students can enter into with their dreams, aspirations and desires to learn and gain knowledge freely, develop and expand their horizons, and participate in a more meaningful and fulfilling knowledge universe we are evolving into.

Knowledge should be free and in the language of our choice. 80% of the world's people speak a language other than English and two thirds of those who speak English can also speak a second language that is likely the dominant language in their region. Most of the content we have online and on media for education are in English with other languages having a long way to go before they can come close to catching up. Some languages and nations are doing better than the others. China, Japan and some of the European nations are progressing well with language based education and content. Many others have very limited content and options for learning and development in their own languages. This forces students to learn English which impedes progress and extends the total education tenure.

Interactive text, speech and video based content can be blended with live virtual sessions for one-to-one and one-to-many learning modules. Integration of content, structured learning systems, tests and reviews into a holistic framework will make the education process more seamless and comprehensive.

The need for verification, validation and certification of education content, knowledge, facts and courseware is critical for us to provide quality education that is accurate and conducive to learning. The internet is a massive forest where content grows on its own from multiple sources and has little validation and certification. This has its perils with a lot of inaccurate, biased and malicious content being available and infiltrating the learning and education process.

A worldwide and nation-wide collaborative effort is needed for us to create holistic and comprehensive education programmes that can be customized, personalized and paced to meet the students' needs and capabilities. If nations around the world create missions that are designed with the sole objective of creating world-class education programmes using digital technologies and media over the next decade, the world will be a better place and there will be more equality of opportunity for everyone.


Cloud is where you want to be

Cloud: January 10, 2018
The cloud just keeps getting bigger and better. The cloud is now gigantic, capable of storing the world's data, processing these at speeds and volumes that could not have been imagined just a few years ago and has a worldwide footprint of over one billion users.

Enterprises and small businesses have had reservations and concerns about security. The growth of consumer applications including social media has brought public networks into the workplace. Firewalls and security are becoming more advanced but face challenges with the openness that comes with social media, messaging and file sharing apps. Employees resist being kept away from these apps and websites and organizations are beginning to accept the peaceful and happy co-existence of personal interactions blending smoothly with work and collaboration.

Cloud security and technology has progressed manifold and today provides confidentiality and privacy of information as good as it can get. Being in the cloud may actually be an advantage for enterprises as it frees them from investing and spending time on security within their own networks. Reliable cloud networks and vendors are investing in security, privacy and management of data at scales that individual businesses cannot match.

Embrace the cloud and reap its many benefits. Cloud can be a way for businesses to have a small footprint and focus on core business and growth. Investments and expenses are lower, benefits are multiples.

Cloud fever is extending to other areas not connected with the cloud. Cloud employees are people you can hire and will work from their locations while being seamlessly connected on virtual networks. Cloud kitchens can be hired and operated by restaurants so they do not need dedicated kitchens of their own and can deliver to multiple dining locations and homes. Cloud manufacturing lets you get parts and assemblies produced by contract manufacturing companies around the world with your brand and directly ship them across the world to your customers.

These trends will amplify and expand. Cloud is a worthy investment and one that every enterprise should have in its consideration as a strategic way to focus on the brand, business, growth and success. Almost every enterprise is already using cloud in some way be it through email servers that are based in the cloud or messaging, video, employee training and services. If there has been a compromise in the architecture of data storage, software and operations being exclusive to the organization's network, this has already been made. Most likely without negative consequences. So it is now just a mindset and policy for organizations to expand their cloud usage and bring in wider acceptance among all levels and functions. New policies will need to be drafted, people sensitized and trained, and control and surveillance conducted. Cloud can be an efficient and easy way for organizations to excel and grow.

Sales, marketing, operations, HR, administration - so much of these already have world-class applications available for the asking at costs that are small in comparison to time of employees and the costs of maintaining and managing infrastructure and services from within.

Formulating a cloud strategy based on current state-of-the-art is what CEOs and CTOs around the world can place high on their wish list. Over the next few years Cloud will be not just around the world but within homes, offices, organizations and services and will be seamless, smooth and secure.


Ecommerce Technology will Focus on Experience

Ecommerce: January 9, 2018
The period from 1995 to 2010 was slow for Ecommerce. In all of fifteen years, Ecommerce wowed, grew steadily, created many successful startups and disruptors and laid the foundation for online retail. The period also saw a number of business models being tested and many failures as the complex infrastructure of warehousing, logistics, order management, payments and user experience did not work as well as they were visualized.

Sometime around 2010 Ecommerce began to gain critical mass and the explosion began. Observe the sales graphs of Amazon and Alibaba, two of the largest ecommerce companies in the world and you will see that sometime around this period sales growth moved from being good to exceptional. The online retail ecosystem comprising of physical and digital infrastructure including supply chain, warehousing, payments, order management, deliveries and many other linkages that go into processing an order, all began to work better and in coordination. Ecommerce began to deliver better experience to users who by now were also getting more comfortable with ordering and paying online.

The growth of smartphones has been a key contributor to the wider acceptance and explosion of ecommerce. More people browse products on their phones today than on laptops and desktops. Apps on the smartphone provide a richer interactive experience and allow people to use their time during travel and waiting to look through products and check trends. Payments are now also becoming easier on phones and adding to the convenience.

In 2017 Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), two technologies evolving since the past decade have also developed to a point where they are ready to use in applications and create new experiences for users. These two technologies will begin to influence user experience in online retail in the next few years as ecommerce companies look for ways to make products look and feel more real to their customers.

Ecommerce today involves a number of technology areas, all converging and blending to create a holistic end-to-end experience for the customer from product search to order to delivery and delight. Mobile apps, richer web interfaces, smoother payments and higher quality images and videos create the first level of experience in searching and viewing products. Big data and analytics help ecommerce companies bring in product relevance for users and help them explore and find products that match their desires. Sophisticated order management and supply chain software and processes integrate smoothly with higher quality of warehousing, transportation, pickups and delivery to make the physical activity of ecommerce smoother and more reliable. The use of bar and QR codes, RFID, NFC and other non-contact technologies ensure better tracking and reliability of the supply chain process from product pickup to delivery at the address of the buyer.

As ecommerce gets set to wow more customers and bring more people into the comfort of being able to order anytime at prices better than the high streets and with a richer range of products than one can find in stores, user experience will become the dominant theme for ecommerce companies in the next three years of this decade. In this period I expect us to see significant advances in the overall experience that users will delight in as they buy products online and watch them being delivered to their homes.

Some of the areas that we will see advance include better personalization of ecommerce stores to meet preferences and profiles of users, integration of VR and AR along with more videos and product demonstrations for better product understanding and visualization, smoother payments that ensure quicker and easier checkouts, more sophisticated analytics that provide better relevance of products being presented to users, improved tracking and visibility to the user through the period of order processing and transportation to the actual delivery.

As these technologies get better, users will begin to explore more products online than they would at stores that still provide a richer real experience. Store browsing online will increase and bring in better brand and product engagement for users. This will benefit both online and real-world store footfalls and sales. Product information that is formatted and presented better will enable users to understand products more holistically and facilitate their buying decisions.

The use of intelligent virtual agents and shopping assistants that help customers find and choose products in simpler conversational interfaces will further add to the charm of online shopping and facilitate more conversions. Brands will vie with each other to deliver a better experience and engagement with the user on the ecommerce stores as these will influence buying behaviour.

The use of VR and AR on phones will accelerate in 2018 and 2019 enabling brands to showcase their products in richer interfaces and help buyers visualize them better. These experiences will further enrich the online shopping activity and provide stronger competition to high street stores.

Big data and analytics will also play a large role in improving the experience for users. Improved analytics will enable ecommerce companies to choose better products and vendors and sift out products that do not meet user expectations adequately. Analytics will help the online retailers present products with higher relevance and intelligently price them to motivate buying decisions. Increased personalization will foster more trust and expand the size and value of carts. Customer loyalty will also rise and ecommerce companies will begin to see more stickiness in purchases from loyal customers who are being provided personalized service even if these are through digital interfaces and bots. Improved product delight will better reputations of ecommerce companies and brands and increase trust in online retail. Management of the large volume of data from different sources including transactions and social media and the application of analytics for better feedback analysis, surveillance and intervention will help ecommerce companies create more positive experiences for their customers.

Experience will be a strong factor for growth of sales and customer loyalty. As ecommerce companies innovate and improve experience these will also help them price better for improved contributions and realization from sales. Experience will enable online retailers to embark on a journey of improved profitability in the coming years. Price will remain relevant and important to the buyer but will contribute less to the buying decision as experience creates a more positive motivation.

Ecommerce is set for a point of inflexion now as we now have billions of potential users worldwide who have smartphones and apps that provide the world's product catalogues within thumb's reach. This will spur innovation and adoption of new advanced technologies and bring in more integration for a better coordinated ecommerce eco-system. In the next year I see user experience as being the primary driver of ecommerce technology and one that ecommerce companies should pay more attention to as they vie for the increasingly smaller attention spans of users.


Internet of Things is gaining Critical Mass

IoT: January 8, 2017

Over the past few years there has been miniaturization of cameras, sensors, WiFi transmitter-receivers, GPS receivers, flash memory and other electronic modules, leading to their being integrated into mobile devices. Along with the reduction in size these are also now manufactured at lower costs thanks in part to massive volumes providing economies of scale, but also because of manufacturing innovations, lower costs of research and royalties, and other factors.

It is now possible to embed sensors, cameras, GPS receivers, WiFI transmitter-receivers, storage as small modules into almost any device at considerably lower costs than a few years back. All of these can be packed into wearable devices as small as a band, or into a pen or just a thumbnail size button.

This opens up the possibilities of embedding electronics with sensors, memory storage and small processing into any device that you can think of at home, work, public spaces and on the move. These modules can interact with each other over WiFi for which we only need routers within reasonable distance. Once on WiFi the modules can transmit and receive data with other sensors or through cloud based servers that manage the interchanges.

Internet of Things (IoT) has been growing rapidly since the past few years with increasing sophistication, applications and value driven outcomes. 2016 was the year IoT came alive with a number of commercial applications and success stories and 2017 added further consolidation, technologies and application development. In 2018 we will start seeing real uses and applications in day-to-day use and in work, transportation, factories, parks and so many other fields, powering and strengthening them, creating new value and benefits.

IoT is still young and there are few clear standards and industry-wide protocols. These are being worked on and standards will begin to emerge over the next new few years. The three period from 2018-2020 will see exponential growth in the production, application and usage of IoT and there will be consolidation of technologies and platforms and an evolution of market and cooperation driven standards.

By 2025 IoT will be common place and in regular use in manufacturing, transportation, lighting, utilities, airports, malls, commercial buildings and security, among several other applications. IoT will also be part of homes, offices, hotels, restaurants and other private spaces. Appliances like refrigerators, televisions, air-conditioners, kettles, ovens, lights and doors will also be IoT enabled.

Homes, offices, factories, public utilities, gardens, parks, toilets, stores, farms and many other public spaces will become intelligent with sensors being installed at key locations and software being used to drive actions. Sensors will continuously take readings of critical parameters and store and transmit these to servers that will process the data and carry out checks, set off alerts, initiate actions and present them in reports and graphs. Software will also start sending out instructions to the devices to initiate actions such as switching on or off lights, water and other resources, changing operating parameters and sending back data and responses.

IoT will bring in a whole new paradigm to smartness in devices and will connect and bring together billions of devices into a virtual digital mesh that interact with other devices, people and applications. Automation will start taking on a new meaning with billions of devices working on their own, switching on and switching off, carrying out specific tasks, sending data and initiating transactions such as purchases, orders, payments and reports.

All of these are opportunities for businesses and people to change their paradigms of efficiencies, costs, speeds, cycle times and capabilities. IoT integrates well with Cloud, Mobile, Analytics and other technology areas and there is a lot of work in creating software, applications and use cases. Innovation and imagination will enable the creation of solutions that could not have been visualized until now or have been in the realms of science fiction.

IoT will bring in a lot of disruption and will also lead to movement of a large number of tasks that are currently being managed by people. Many tasks will be automatically managed by the devices and appliances without or with minimal human intervention. The time people need for tasks will reduce or be eliminated and this will lead to more tasks being done by a fewer number of people. The need for people to stay alert and look for signals, events and alarms, or check parameters and readings regularly will reduce as IoT will send data over to mobile and computing devices and send out alerts automatically when parameters are not okay and something out of range has been detected.

All of these promise a world very different from what we have seen so far. While there are many benefits and comfort from having these technologies become part of our regular life and routine, these will also create huge shifts in human behaviour, work, activity and attitudes, at a level that we have not seen or experienced in the past. This will call for new policies, regulations and social-economic-political models from governments and agencies at a scale that they have not experienced before. These challenges are around the corner and the world is unprepared for disruption and change of this magnitude.

It is time for technology professionals to get together with governments, agencies, economists, think-tanks, universities, politicians and many others to work out ways that we can manage this change in a smooth way and create other changes and policies that can help a more smooth transition into the world of IoT. There is an urgent need to evaluate the well-being of our large populations and look at ways that we can make everyone's lives meaningful, sustainable and comfortable.

IoT is still in its early stages and growth will begin exploding soon. This is also a time for people and organizations to delve deep into this area, build expertise and capabilities and look to harness the huge opportunities that are around the corner and within reach.


Messaging Apps are transforming Business Communication

Apps: January 7, 2018

Messaging apps have been gradually transforming business communication and becoming a platform for collaboration among the teams in the organization, their customers, partners and suppliers. By delivering a service that is easy to use, conveniently accessed on all mobile and computing devices, providing a happy blend of informal and formal conversations and versatile with integration of other business services into a common interface, messaging apps are bringing people closer together, enabling more agile responses, fostering closer collaboration and saving companies time and money.

A team that is engaged with each other, has a blend of informal and formal interactions and is able to exchange documents, share information and smoothen workflow, will be more agile, efficient on time and good for the business. Messaging apps are slowly getting the recognition they have been working towards by CXOs at small and large corporations.

The leading messaging and chat apps are focussed on the consumer side of the market with emphasis on instant text, voice and video conversations, photographs and selfies, likes, follows and comments. Many businesses and people also use these apps for their work and team communications because of their popularity. The leaders in consumer messaging are promoting and creating large groups and networks, integrating rich media support, and developing ways to make conversations more interesting and entertaining. Some of them also have variations that are focussed on business communication and team collaboration with premium features that are priced with monthly subscriptions.

Business messaging has many contrasts with consumer messaging. A different group of apps and platforms are focussed on providing high-quality team collaboration features and benefits for organizations from small to very large. Integration of business tasks, security, archiving and ease-of-use are key features that provide advantages to organizations using these apps.

The benefits of having more interactive communication channels through business messaging, being able to collaborate in real-time, ease of use and user experiences are some of the reasons organisations should actively consider and pursue use of business message apps for their teams.

Messaging apps are gradually becoming the default method of communication within teams and organizations. The opportunities for integrating workflow and common work tasks with messaging provides organizations with new ways to improve efficiencies, have a happy workforce and bring in more dynamic and real-time collaboration, all of which can help the organization be more responsive, agile and efficient.

Seamless integration, easy notifications, security and privacy of communications, smoother workflow and on-demand information are ways that messaging apps will emerge as the default platform for working and collaboration and enable other functions and features within their interfaces. Messaging apps hold the promise of being a unified virtual environment for people to work and collaborate within, bringing in a new format and experience of working that is quick, fun, easy and efficient.


Power of Big Data and Analytics

Data: January 6, 2018

It's a cliche now that Data is the new Oil. Data is powerful and valuable and it needs a dedicated approach to use effectively and draw value. Data has many forms and nuances and an organization's ability to structure, analyze and use the data is critical to its continued success.

As the world gets more digital every action online is a source of data. This brings in privacy concerns and there are regulations around the world that are being drafted and implemented to ensure security and privacy of information. Europe's General Data Protection Regulation that will come into effect in May 2018 is an example of the control that governments and regulatory bodies plan to ensure privacy is not compromised when data is collected and used. These also throw light on the widespread use of data worldwide.

As every action and movement online translates into data for the website and app, these can provide patterns, insights and conclusions that can be very valuable. When the volume of this data is of the order of hundreds of millions of users as large social media platforms typically have, the value of this data goes up exponentially. Data at this scale is no longer sampling but an accurate indicator of trends, collective thought and action spread across millions of users and billions of data points.

Organizations need to have a comprehensive data strategy that is driven from the CEO and CDO (Chief Data Officer) levels because of the potential these have for their strategies, sales, operations and profitabilities. Architecture and design of data, format of storage, method of analytics, and styles and formats of presentations are just some of the areas that organizations need to consider when they look at the use of data for their organizations.

The best users of data are the online media, social networking and ecommerce companies who use this as a primary tool in their operations. Retailers like Amazon, Alibaba and Flipkart have been refining their use and application of data and have made this a science that goes into every aspect of their website, apps, customer engagement and order handling. Google has long been seen as the expert on use of data. Data gleaned from the search operations and applied for targeted and personalized advertising has been the foundation for multi-billion dollar advertising revenues quarter-on-quarter, year-on-year. Facebook has followed suit with its own brand of data and personalization from the content, user engagement, presentation and actions on its pages all through to the advertising, recommendations and alerts that users receive. Facebook has grown in size of its user base but also in its valuations from the $100 billion it had for its IPO all through to $500 billion now, a five-time growth in as many years. Data is a critical component and contributor to this achievement and wealth-creation.

Data by itself has some value that is limited. It is when data is combined with advanced mathematical and computing algorithms, processed and analyzed in sophisticated ways and used through automation and presentation in a million different ways, that its true value is realized. This calls for immense expertise, talent and implementation, something that the Silicon Valley and Chinese giants have mastered over the past few years.

As messaging, purchases, payments and engagement explode in volume and diversity of usage, so too does the data that can be collected, and the applications and uses that these can be put to after processing and analytics. Automation enables the micro-management and application of data in millions of ways that are not humanly possible which expands the use and value of the data. The outcomes and value from these are humongous.

Add in artificial intelligence and machine learning to this mix and you have explosive potential that is multiples of what we have seen so far. The trillion dollar market cap company is round the corner and it will soon tip over this value in months, thanks to the application of data with advanced computing methods and the realization of value in sales, income, customer engagement and loyalty.

Technology and business professionals, technology and consumer-centric companies, actually almost anyone in business, should seriously consider and invest in the value of data and look at ways to strategically harness this for their products and customer engagement among just a few opportunities of the many available. Universities should be working on ways to educate and train students on the sophisticated art of data management, analytics, mining and presentation. Brand, marketing, sales, engagement and operations managers should think about how data can be applied at micro-levels in their functions to expand sales, save costs, improve yields and promote loyalties. A lot of these are already being done, but the potential is far larger.

Data is full of opportunities. While many advancements have already been explored over the past few years, these are just the tip of the iceberg and the next few years will see these grow exponentially in sophistication, diversity and spread.


Cryptocurrencies - Real or Scam?

Cryptocurrencies: January 5, 2018

Valuation of brands are based on sales of products, perception and loyalty of customers, and future economic potential of earnings and value.

Patents, technologies and intellectual property are valued based on an assessment of skill, expertise and innovation that they are made of, current sales and earnings, and estimate of their future potential for commercialisation and value.

Technology company valuations are based on an assessment of people, talent, expertise, skill, intellectual property, technologies and products, sales and earnings, potential possibilities of market leadership and future value potential among other factors.

Art is valued based on reputation, rarity, perceptions of people, promotion, fame of artists and art owners, pride and status of ownership, and demand-supply.

All these examples are of products whose valuations are based more on perception and estimation of the people valuing them than on the costs incurred on them, and whose price or value does not have a well defined formula or basis that can be termed objective and deterministic. Different people can assign widely varying value to the same work or item with one valuation being multiples of the other.

What about cryptocurrencies? Are they being priced based on pure demand-supply or pure speculation or is there some method in the values being assigned to them?

I think cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are being valued and purchased based on perception of future value founded on the belief that they are limited in quantity, will be widely used in commerce and trade in future and that by sheer size and volume of usage will become widely accepted currencies worldwide.

Beyond this there is no significant parameter on which they can be assigned a value. There is a cost of mining that is high. Add up all the devices, software, intellectual property that has been invented and created over the past decade for mining, transaction and holding of the cryptocurrency and they are a significant investment of billions of dollars. These investments are not in a single entity or commercial paper and does not bring in value into collective ownership of technology, assets and intellectual property.

The desire to own Bitcoins is the power of the brand that has been built over the past few years, of a new world where only market forces determine value of the currency, which are not subject to regulation and control by governments and central banks, that are purely digital and highly secure, easy to pack in value without volume and logstics of storage and transportation, and which can flow freely across borders instantly without bank processes and transaction costs.

This desire, fear of missing out, promise of future value, images of rarity and limited availability, and hype surrounding the phenomenon is driving the price of Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies.

Is this pure speculation? I don't think so. I think there is a genuine perception of value, a price assigned to ownership and a desire to participate in a growing disruption that is driving the prices we see and hear about. There is no guarantee or underlying asset that provides support to the price. There is no surety of the longevity of cryptocurrencies and assurance that governments will not derecognise and ban them. There is no imputed value that we can gather about future earnings and value of our investment. But there is belief, mystique, pride and demand that is prompting buyers to invest in this new phenomenon.

Does land have reasoning beyond perceptions to prices that are so vastly different within kilometers of each other? Does celebrity brand appeal have any rationale beyond a deep emotional connect? Does pride of ownership have a financial basis when products are valued far in excess of peers? Do luxury goods have any correlation to their cost of production? Is there a rationale for constant movements in price of gold other than perception and demand-supply?

Over time, theories, models, methods and mathematics have been developed to frame and define value and phenomena that create the price.

I think over time we will develop models, methods and mathematics to define and estimate the value of cryptocurrencies. They will then be seen in the same class as derivatives and other financial products.

Until then the debate will rage on both sides of the argument.

Should one invest? If one has the ability and willingness to take large risks of future losses, if one believes in the future of cryptocurrencies, if one has a feeling that values will appreciate in future, if one feels a thrill of a gamble, and if one is willing to consider that like many other valuations this is also based on perception, feel-good and belief.

On the stock exchanges of the world there are sellers who have reason to believe price is valued fully and will likely peak and dip, and concurrently buyers who believe in just the opposite, that price is attractive, low-valued and will likely appreciate. Everyone has access to the same information. Pricing and demand-supply are created by people and perceptions.

Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies are building the foundations of a pure demand-supply and perception-based-value product. In time as their usage becomes widespread there will be more refined market forces to manage their price.

(None of the companies I am involved with, my family and I own or intend to own in the immediate future, any cryptocurrencies.)


AI will Grow Exponentially

Artificial Intelligence: January 4, 2018

Artificial Intelligence or AI is the current theme that most technologists believe is the cutting edge in innovation and development and one that is likely to also be the most disruptive.

We are at very early stages of AI and the path forward is long and challenging. AI is however on the path to exponential growth in sophistication and precision.

Machine Learning (ML), a sub-set of AI will provide software with the ability to choose data sets, test out hypotheses, learn based on the outcomes and increasing improve on its accuracy and success rates through feedback loops. ML is the area that is likely to cause explosive transformations and disruptions.

ML is in its early stages. There is learning but this is controlled and limited learning. But it is learning nevertheless and one that will keep becoming more sophisticated over the next 2-3 years.

Over the past five decades AI and learning have been researched and worked on by hundreds of researchers across the world. Advanced mathematics plays an important role in AI and these have also advanced significantly over the past decades after the world war. So there is a large body of knowledge that has been built and accumulated over the past seven decades. These are now coming together.

I spoke about Convergence yesterday. In many ways AI today is disrupting and exploding because there is convergence of mathematical models, programming languages, computing power, big data availability and hundreds of tools, software code and interfaces that blend and integrate together to form an explosive mix.

I use the term explosive frequently today because I think AI will soon explode when ML starts coming to a level of advancement when the learning of machines starts getting more sophisticated and machines begin to apply learning to learning so that their learning starts becoming better and more sophisticated.

Given that machines have humongous computing power and networks today enable computing power to be shared and distributed worldwide so that we can have a million computers processing and computing and sharing their outputs so that we have a supercomputer like power available for us to use, this accelerated learning will be faster than we have ever seen in the history of mankind. This can then create an explosion quite like sonic booms are created when aircrafts and missiles go quicker than sound and penetrate the sound waves ahead of them.

Is this all exciting or scary? I would say a mix of both. AI at this stage is fun, exciting and enchanting. It is likely to be this way for the better part of the next decade. But around 2025 the data sets, learning, algorithms, computing power and collective integration will be enough for the explosion to occur. At that stage we will begin to see the dangers of unfettered AI and hopefully all of us as researchers, technologists and innovators will join hands and partner with governments, agencies and societies to set rules and processes for the adoption, application, spread and management of AI for the benefit of humans with limited side and harmful effects.

That is still about a decade away. A long time and one that we can enjoy as we see innovation and advancement wow us every passing day.

To anyone with interest in technology AI is an area you may want to delve into and keep track of. It could be fascinating and rewarding. For organizations, AI could be a powerful way to expand, grow and become more agile and efficient.


Convergence is the Disruptor

Technology: January 3, 2018

There are thousands of technologies, platforms, tools and many more are being created every day. Disruptive moments take place where there is Convergence. Convergence closes loops and lets data flow freely quite like electric currents. And there is the explosion, a riot of colors, a whole new world.

Look at all the disruption happening. Uber has been able to disrupt the taxi transportation business because maps, intelligent routing algorithms, GPS, data analytics, mobile apps and payments have all come together in a potent blend.

Maps by themselves were useful but benign applications. Navigation systems have been around for a while. Google Maps came in and integrated the GPS on the mobile device, enhanced the backend systems with some powerful analytics, added intelligent algorithms that can work out routes and ported these into mobile apps. This changed the dynamics of the navigation market and allowed everyone with a smartphone to have navigation with them for free.

Uber added it's own communication systems to this, worked out routings and schedules, integrated payments and brought all of these into a single, easy-to-use system that works brilliantly. Then they integrated this technology platform into the business model, blending relationships with drivers with learning, best practices and processes. It took some time to refine and perfect and now they have an enormous, magically running service that delivers huge benefits for its customers.

Convergence is what is bringing seemingly unrelated technologies together into a single powerful and disruptive platform. Convergence is changing the world, our work and lives, our societies and our relationships.

If there is one element in the melt that is worth paying attention to, it's the convergence you can create and nurture. This will make the change a lot more powerful and disruptive and create the scale you need to transform processes, organizations, industries, businesses.

This isn't easy but it's possible and this is the way we will see a lot more disruptions and transformations in the future. It may not be easy or pretty to everyone but it will be exciting and scary. It's also inevitable and it will happen. Embrace technology and change. They may be your biggest opportunity.


Technology Enables Large Global Corporations, Eliminates Jobs, Creates New Opportunities

Business: January 2, 2018

Over the past two decades we have seen the growth and dominance of new technology powered corporations who began as startups less than 25 years ago. Amazon, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, WhatsApp, Salesforce, Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu were founded in the late 1990s and early 2000s and have disrupted and transformed their respective markets, becoming larger than many of the older corporations that have been leaders for several decades prior.

Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, Intel, Dell, IBM, Oracle and SAP are the other large technology corporations that were founded over 25 years ago and have become dominant players in their markets. They have been able to grow continuously, stay nimble and agile, and transform to meet new market needs. Each of them is still a dominant player in their market.

As corporations grow and become market leaders they create large scale disruption in their industries and bring in consolidation of customers, services and people. These lead to the closure of smaller businesses and large scale job losses that are compensated only to a small proportion by new jobs in these corporations.

The emergence of these corporations brings in new services, better quality and delivery, new levels of advancement, better designs, lower costs and more happiness to customers who revel in the higher quality of living and service they can now enjoy. These create an all-round feel-good environment that lessens the impact and visibility of the disruption that they have created.

There are other benefits the disruption creates. The changes in dynamics of the business fosters new skills, expertise, opportunities, channels and services. These nurture the emergence of new businesses that create new employment and opportunities.

Amazon pioneered a new category in ecommerce and online retail and has created disruption in the worldwide retail industry which until then was based on physical stores. Since its founding Amazon has been constantly innovating and expanding, adding new product lines, expanding to different countries and regions and improving its technology platforms, interfaces and analytics. These have made Amazon more competitive and also forced several hundred thousand small enterprises to shutdown, eliminating millions of jobs as a consequence.

Large corporations build more efficient processes with automation, integration, machine intelligence and convergence to keep themselves profitable and agile. While these also result in lower costs of products to consumers, they reduce large industries to a small number of employees that deliver the same or better service. If a few hundred thousand small retail businesses employing small teams of people and using other services for supplies, accounting, distribution and administration, are replaced by one large giant corporation, the result is several million jobs being replaced by a significantly smaller number of new ones.

This is the new reality that nations and societies must grapple and take head on. Disruption and new business dynamics open new opportunities, skills, job positions and businesses for youth who are better trained and aligned to manage and leverage these skills. They also create challenges for the older workforce who have built their skills, experiences and careers on older dynamics and expertise.

Creating and nurturing these skills needs a large pool of people across different roles, skills and industries. These are new opportunities for people to consider as they try to transition smoothly into new and transformed businesses and organizations.

Learning, re-skilling and personal tranformation are new imperatives for everyone regardless of age, experience and industry. These are challenges to be taken with a positive mindset, enjoyed and conquered. These are also opportunities that can create new prosperity and well-being.

As we begin a New Year ahead that promises to create new disruptions, alter dynamics and generate new opportunities, this may also be a time to consider how we can equip ourselves to cope with a bright new world ahead. Creating change in our minds and attitudes, exploring and learning new skills, acquiring new knowledge and fostering new partnerships, alliances and areas of collaboration should be on our list of things to actively pursue in 2018. These will be a source of joy, achievement and fulfilment.

Wishing you all the Very Best in your Pursuits this year.


New Skills should be priority in 2018

Strategy: January 1, 2018

Organizations and people will do well if they are able to identify new skills and work on these over the next few months to prepare for a new world where many present skills will become redundant and new skills will emerge as opportunities.

Automation, integration, artificial intelligence, analytics and many other technologies have become powerful and usable. Integration of technologies and platforms has also become easier and more reliable. Bring this convergence together and we have a world where a number of skills will lose relevance and value.

A common example I use is the relevance of conductors and ticket issuers in buses around the world particularly in developing countries. In many countries and bus operators, bus drivers manage the tasks of issuing tickets to passengers, taking over the tasks of the conductor. These tasks are already semi-automated and only a few instances use cash and need the return of change.

New payment mechanisms including wallets and sensors on mobile phones will accelerate the adoption of digital money. Bus cards and season tickets will also soon move over to being digital with apps to manage them. Passengers will find these more convenient and simple and will become the primary drivers of change.

Use of QR Codes, NFC, Biometrics and Contactless technologies will ease the use of mobile phones for purchase and authentication of tickets and passes in buses. These will free drivers from having to adminster them and will remove the role and relevance of bus conductors.

All these technologies are now reliable and working. Their integration will close loops and create the disruption. Applications and systems are already available and proven so its only a question of adoption. Developing countries will try to hold these off to protect jobs. Change is however inevitable and will force its way to take away the job of the bus conductor. This is no longer a disruption. It is only a board decision at the bus companies.

The repercussions of this decision are huge. Millions of people who work as conductors in buses will have no job and role when change strikes. In a few years this will no longer be a position in bus companies. Millions of families who are dependent on the income from these jobs will need to find other sources. Conductors still have time to consider acquiring new skills to keep their careers active and growing.

This is just one example of what changes can occur and how widespread their disruption can be. There are so many more. Self-service with apps and websites are coming to a point that we no longer need to call customer service. The relevance of customer service is increasingly reducing to disputes, claims and complaints. Even in these instances text and chat based services are coming to the fore. Call and contact centers have begun a steady decline which will accelerate. As voice recognition and artificial intelligence becomes more mainstream in 2018, the relevance of contact centers with a large pool of agents will reduce. We are probably a few years from a complete dismantling of people-enabled call and contact centers.

Some years back being a call center agent required skills and learning. The job was well paying and had a clear career growth path that could see people through to their middle age. Millions of families around the world acquired new prosperity and social status because a younger member got a break in a call / contact center. Call center jobs are increasingly becoming non-critical and will soon disappear from positions companies will want to fill.

Secretaries, receptionists, retail salespersons, tour guides, data entry operators, software testers, cashiers and so many other similar skills are at risk of being completely eliminated or significantly reduced, rendering millions out of work and a challenging future. It has taken the world one or more generations over the past few decades to build the skills and job profiles for these positions, creating industries and businesses with millions of employees in direct and support roles.

People working in these roles have new opportunities to acquire skills and grow their careers. Acquiring sales skills, learning analytics and looking for ways to reduce churn, win loyalty and increase sales, using social media to connect with customers, these are some ways people with relationship and interaction skills can add value for their careers. There are many new skills that can be acquired through learning and practice and can provide fulfilling jobs and careers. Maybe 2018 is the year to consider these.

Thousands of jobs will undergo changes and move to the path of lower value and loss in relevance, eventually becoming positions that companies no longer want to maintain. Is your job on the line in any of these? Maybe this is the time to reflect and acquire new skills that can get you a job that is on the ascent.

Will all these changes and disruptions lead to job losses? Certainly. Can they be offset with job gains? Certainly. As people want to acquire new skills, enhance learning and immerse in new experiences, there are many new jobs and opportunities in teaching, assisting and nurturing them. People who have already been through these before may have new opportunities to use the experience in helping others acquire them.

New businesses will proliferate, new services and professions will be invented, the world will keep running quicker and quicker with more activities packed into our limited time. All of these will compete for people with the money, time and inclination to buy them. They will keep money in circulation and move income across different categories of jobs. These will continue to be opportunities for people to create income, savings and better comfort and prosperity for their families.

In 2018 these are some universal skills that may be worth improving - writing, speaking a new language, networking over social media, basic math and statistics, reading and analyzing data, gardening, cooking, investing, to name a few. Some of these are pursuits that we may start enjoying and some may have use in our careers too.

Wish you all and your families a Very Happy and Fulfilling 2018.


Blockchain will disrupt information technology

Blockchain: December 31, 2017

Blockchain is reving its engines to be the disruption and growth story in 2018.

I see a lot of new opportunities emerging to integrate Blockchain with existing applications and create new applications that offer more transparency, shared ownership, confidentiality and sureity. The companies that I work with and I are doing extensive research on Blockchain and investing in technologies and products. We hope to bring these to market in the next few months.

Blockchain will disrupt traditional centralized databases that are controlled by a single organization or entity. In theory this entity can manage authenticity and integrity of the information and control rules of access. Blockchain with its multiple distributed databases, all mirror copies of the original, ensures that edits, amendments and hacks are limited to only a few databases that are accessible to the people involved. Even in these instances hashes of the transactions shows up variations and differences that have arisen subsequently, making them difficult to refute.

Blockchain by ensuring links with forward transactions creates a clear audit trail that cannot be easily overwritten especially if some database mirrors are with other members not sympathetic to the people wanting to edit these.

Blockchain creates trust networks where group members stand guarantors of authenticity of transactions. This creates new dynamics in relationships and a level play field that brings all members and organizations on equal terms with each other.

Have a great New Year Evening. Look forward to connecting with you all again in 2018.