It was an interesting conversation with a veteran technology
industry observer who had spent more than a decade with technology vendors and
users alike, narrating their stories to the world. His insights were always
incisive and valued by the industry as key markers towards adoption and
success. We ruminated about the past and the fast pace of change that had
everyone scampering for a Digital strategy; but even that is now in the past.
Execution challenges and failures make better reading than laggards who are yet
to decide.
Unicorns aside, disintermediation and asset lite new
business models were key digital drivers for startups threatening to disrupt
existing business models, only to realize that survival rate for paper tigers
has been extremely low after success of first few in an industry segment. Consolidation
and shift from broad to narrow and broad again, hyperlocal to nationwide and
back again to niche had everyone struggling to find a profitable equilibrium;
churning trends also left many on the wayside never to rise again.
Few years back for conventional enterprises enamored by
SMACS (Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud and Security), the first mover or
competitive advantage frittered away with the rest catching up. Digital
engagement, delivery, customer service, and experience are beginning to level
off, the aura of the brand coupled with carpet bombing advertisements across
channels has waning interest in products and services. Customers are expecting
more for the same investment, the quality bar is raised in a buyers’ market.
CIOs and CDOs are being challenged to explore new
opportunities using old and the as yet untested new, which can offer solutions
to the unmet needs or a better value proposition to existing ones. Design
thinking and deep learning are no longer buzzwords, they are being applied to
invigorate organizations and solve real life problems. Discussions are no
longer about incremental innovation, focus is shifting to create exponentially
better products and services; and technology is expected to play a role in
making it happen.
Watches and wearables – new miniature screens pose new
challenges and opportunities with almost complete association with the wearer. Body
vitals, moods, behaviors, eating habits, alerts, nudges, tracking almost
everything that matters and some that don’t, the wearable is like the IoT
device streaming data imploring to be analyzed. Location tracking, your address
book, browser history, nothing is private anymore. Fitness is the current killer
use, critical care and health monitoring additional benefits to the provider
and consumer.
Virtual Reality could not live up to the promise with
refinements taking time and the cost of devices; Augmented Reality now creates
new paradigms. The future may blur the lines between the real and augmented
interchangeably making it difficult to differentiate thus passing control of
individual and collective experiences in the hands of ethical providers and
willful manipulators. Mind and thereby actions influenced by governments or
lawbreakers bring back scary images from the literary world of George Orwell
four decades later than his predictions.
Workplaces monitoring of activity and outcomes which
otherwise appear unsupervised would create a hyper-efficient work culture with
high levels of automation and efficiency. Segmenting performers aided by data
shall eliminate the unfit and inefficient; productivity norms would render
meaningless the need to publish reports and dashboards, everything tending to
Six Sigma. Bordering on utopian ? This scenario can be easily created with culmination
of existing technology solutions with some innovative analytical models.
The outliers would be the Digital hermits who have been able
to recuse themselves by virtue of their power, wealth, or fugitive status. Digital
vacations much sought after to experience real life, real people and the real
world devoid of augmented embellishments; the real look, touch and feel, to be
cherished and imprinted into real memory. Self-learning computers are already
making advancements where they optimize their own learning algorithms to create
better neural networks conceptualized by Arthur C Clarke; the tipping point is
not far.
Science fiction of the past is no longer unreachable; if you
can imagine it, you will find someone already attempting it. Be the dreamer,
not the subject of subjugation by others; it does not matter if it is an
individual, corporate, government or a nefarious mind wanting to control. It is
not about the control, it is a display of power over others destiny. It is not
about technology, it is about changing the world because you can. It is a world
where the human race is a slave to technology which is a slave of humans.
Sounds far fetched ? Are you really reading this or …
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