New Technologies, New Paradigms

Enterprises have always been at the forefront of socio-economic progress. They contribute to social well-being and development by creating jobs and creating wealth. When I started my professional journey, the industry was dominated by a handful of family-owned conglomerates and state-owned/ run entities. Entrepreneurship was in its infancy and the privilege of the affluent few. This was not surprising given that the economic policy environment at the time was not conducive for business. Equally challenging however was the entry barrier for new business due to large capital expenses around physical infrastructure involved in starting a new business. Over the past three decades, globalization, duly complemented by the pace and consistency of technological disruptions has clearly changed all of that. Today, we are living in time when technology disruptions are enabling individuals, businesses, societies and nations like to define and reach new frontiers of growth and innovation. Creating jobs, wealth and societal progress is not limited to private business conglomerates and state-owned/run entities. Anyone with a dream and a unique idea can today leverage technology for personal, business and societal advantage.

One of the most popular and impactful technological disruptions in recent years is undoubtedly the cloud revolution which, combined with mobility and the internet of things has redefined the competitive assessment of enterprises – old and new. Look at the numbers. There are close to 2.7 billion internet users and 1.5 billion smartphone users in the world today. By the end of 2013, it is estimated that there will be more internet-enabled mobile devices than people. This unprecedented penetration of technology, combined with the agility and affordability of large computing power through the cloud is changing the way we interact with consumers and changing the way we do business. It is changing consumer mindsets and consumption patterns.

The ability of enterprises to leverage these emerging and disruptive technologies will not only determine their competitiveness but also their ability to survive and thrive. The next wave of Fortune 500 companies is likely to come from remote corners of the world started by individuals with minimal starting capital. Cloud computing is the disruptive technology which can empower the individual with unprecedented computing, communication and storage. It can provide agility and flexibility to businesses. It can allow organizations including governments to provide customized and centralized services to customers, consumers and citizens at lower costs.

In order to leverage this technology however, individuals, businesses and governments need to embrace new business models and operating processes. With the mobile phone being the chosen end-user device, the world of apps and app-based services for instance is disintermediating individuals from the business-consumer loop. These ubiquitous and affordable technologies are now accessible to the masses. Traditional business models are increasingly giving way to transaction-as-a-service, information-as-a-service and collaboration-as-a-service. Businesses are forced to re-think traditional R&D investments and adopt new business models for outsourcing to leverage the power of inter-connected consumers and vertically integrated service providers – in real-time and at lower costs. At the most fundamental level, these developments are changing the buy vs. build equation of IT systems. At a deeper level, it is allowing enterprises to focus on their core business without getting distracted by the erstwhile capital-expense-led decision making.

The need for innovation, the need to adopt new business models and the need to redefine the rules of the game are exemplified in the healthcare industry for instance where these technological disruptions are providing exciting possibilities. In the current scheme of things, various stakeholders such as hospitals, insurance companies, doctors and R&D organizations amongst others have multiple instances of the same patient information. Moving to the cloud will allow and necessitate the adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHRs). This will allow a single and unique patient information to be accessed anytime, anywhere by any stakeholder. The patient would own the EHR and authorize its access and use to each stakeholder who are in-turn subscribed to a pay-per-use model with the central service provider. This brings down costs significantly for both the patient and the service providers.

To create scale and to support the growth of industry in these evolving paradigms, governments and regulatory agencies must create a suitable environment for adoption of cloud computing. They must create the right set of regulations that balances adoption of this technology as well as protects the users of this technology. This is particularly important since the internet has no boundaries. In cases of cybercrime and cyber terrorism, the crime may happen in one geography while the jurisdiction may be in another. However, individuals and organizations are largely governed by national laws and regulations. Even the courts and the police/criminal investigation bodies are national in jurisdiction. Therefore to tackle these new-age challenges that invariably present themselves with new-age opportunities, we need extensive, on-going and real-time collaboration at the intra and inter-governmental level. We need clearly defined rules and collaboration guidelines to promote cross-border governance.

One thing is for sure. There are no easy answers or best solutions. Crime and governance are always playing the catch-up game with each other. We have to accept the fact that every opportunity brings with it a fair share of challenge and vice versa. The need of the hour is for individuals, businesses, policy makers and governments to work together to play their part towards mitigating the challenges and benefiting from the opportunities. We have to work with each other and work for each other. More importantly, we need to learn from each other. This is the only way we can leverage these technologies to provide affordable and quality solutions to some of the most pressing challenges that the society is facing today.

Photo: PHOTOCREO Michal Bednarek / Shutterstock