Computing today is in everyone’s pocket – Anant Maheshwari, Microsoft India
The power of the steam engine sparked the first industrial revolution and revolutionised transport and industry. The second industrial revolution brought with it machines and electricity. The third was given rise to with the advent of the microprocessor and the IT services industry. Each wave saw a fundamental change in the way humans connected with the world around them.
The Fourth Wave is very different. Perhaps the most tangible example of it is the transformation of each and every sector through automation. And this is just what is happening on the physical side. Anant Maheshwari, President of Microsoft India, said at the Bengaluru ITE.BIZ 2016,
“The landmark change in the fourth wave will be the innovation on the biological side. All the genomic diagnostics and complete DNA mapping, the engineering that is happening on the biological side is life changing. The combination of physical, biological and digital transformation is what makes the fourth wave of the industrial revolution so different.”
Bengaluru is uniquely positioned, as it has ecosystems across all three spaces and sectors. However, we need to think ahead. Anant adds,
- Reimagining and recalibrating all interactions
“The way businesses worked before doesn’t hold true in the fourth wave. You need to change the very way you interact with machines, people and consumers,” says Anant.
Today, everyone carries more computing power in their pockets than the world used even in rocket technology years ago. This means that we need to empower employees to do more.
The way we did business three years back, the way we do business now, and the way we do business three years hence will be vastly different. “There is a big change in the way we drive operations,” he says.
- Changing offerings and products
Today, the focus goes past just engineering, with performance being key. Healthcare has now moved beyond merely the curing of illnesses, taking into account the preventive aspect as well. There is a transformation taking place along the building and selling of products and services, as well as in how consumers are targeted. “The cloud is possibly one of the biggest enablers of every transformation we see in the world around us,” says Anant.
- Cloud world
The fourth wave of the industrial revolution is being driven by the cloud. It has transformed the way data is collaborated, shared, stored and used. Anant says,
“Over 15 years ago, people were reluctant to put data on the cloud, saying they wanted their data to be secure. Ironically, today, people are looking at the cloud to secure their data."
From the digital mobile world to the world of healthcare, everything we have been doing is transforming.
"In this fourth wave of the industrial revolution, life as we know it is transforming. Hence, we need to change our businesses to suit this changing need," Anant concludes.
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