Transformation key to surviving Fourth Industrial Revolution

By Mr. Rajesh Janey, President, Enterprise (India & SAARC), Dell EMC

We stand at the very beginning of the Internet of Everything, an intelligent world pulsing with processing power and connectivity. It’s been called the fourth Industrial Revolution and the next quantum leap in human progress; one that is fundamentally altering the way we live, work, and relate to one another.

Previous industrial eras were driven by steam, coal and electricity. This one is driven by data and populated with digital devices, appliances and people. It is ruthlessly redrawing the business landscape and reinventing our future.

By 2031, the number of connected nodes and devices will grow from eight billion to 200 billion or more, about 25 times the number of people on the planet. All of these will create massive new sources of information. Using that information, in real time, to provide better insights and to build a better world is the greatest opportunity of our generation.

Particularly in India, where Digital is a national agenda and strategic priority, cities are becoming smarter, and a new generation of digitally native consumers is taking the reins, the opportunity to transform the value gained from data is unbounded.

The business world is truly at a crossroads now: looking ahead, there are more opportunities now than ever before. But all around, are challenges and obstacles to accelerating this future. We are at a time where competition is coming from unknown sources, disruption is everywhere, the value of established organizations is rapidly eroding, and customers are expecting better, personalized experiences.

Thanks to today’s digital consumers that are hungry for faster, slicker, personalized services, nimble, information-driven companies are enjoying their day in the sun.  For traditional businesses, these pose risks to revenue, to innovation, and in many cases, the very survival of their organizations and business models.

To keep up, organizations in every industry will need to embrace the digital economy, create new operating processes and transform IT infrastructure. They must move beyond to intelligent systems that can connect, learn and decide, and they must do it now.

While there are many barriers impeding progresses, businesses have a huge opportunity to get this right. First, refocus digital beyond IT and into the boardroom and wider workforce. The Digital leaders – a minority of forward-thinking businesses – are allowing their digital strategy to shape who they do business with, how they run their budgets and organize themselves.

They are coupling the latest and greatest technology with a shift in mindset, an investment in their people and a bold approach. Digital transformation is a balancing act, requiring a commitment to transform not only people and process, but also the very technology upon which a business is built, from the edge to the core to the cloud.

This sort of a transformation requires action in three areas:

IT Transformation: As businesses become digital, they drive exponential growth in digital data. Ninety per cent of the data that exists today was created in the last two years. This data, and the information it contains, over time becomes a company’s most precious asset.  Organizations need to modernize the data center, automate IT, transform processes & service delivery.

Workforce Transformation: The 21^st century workforce needs to be highly mobile, connected anytime and anywhere. They need to be empowered with modern user experiences, new ways of working and innovative decision-making intuitive apps and data insight.

Security Transformation: As everything goes digital, cyber attacks are also growing: a million released every day, at last count. Organizations should connect business context with threats to defend against cyber-risks more quickly, using threat intelligence, analytics and shared expertise to become better informed.

Ultimately, any business model that’s intermediated, high cost and transactional in nature is ripe for digital disruption, and eroded profit margins. But, change, if embraced correctly, can open a world of opportunity and businesses may still have a chance to leap ahead.