Acknowledge the power of technology to grow your business sustainably: Ankur Warikoo

Creating awareness on the benefits of updating to Windows 11, Microsoft and YourStory have joined hands to bring forth stories of inspiring entrepreneurs who are creating deep social impact leveraging technology.

In this video, one of the most influential names in Indian entrepreneurship, Ankur Warikoo speaks about lessons one needs to learn to achieve sustainable growth, expectations from entrepreneurs in uncertain times like these, importance of data security to ensure a sustainable growth, and key trends that will further enhance the entrepreneurial landscape in India.

“As one grows professionally [go up in the business hierarchy], they are rewarded for managing people well, something that doesn’t necessarily come with hard skills. It is based on how well you know your people, what’s your definition of success and failure, and empathy,” says Ankur.

Reiterating the importance of making a business digital-first, Ankur opines that the key for a sustainable business growth is to “acknowledge the power of technology”.

“Labour in India is so cheap that we gravitate towards solving a problem through people and not technology … [entrepreneurs need to understand] that you may or may not need a finance team, you can have accounting software instead, a PC can replace paper-maintained records, etc. … look at your business, identify what you can do best and run with that, outsourcing everything else via technology,” he adds.

Touted as the most secure Windows yet, in Windows 11, hardware and software security work together to help keep users, data, and PCs protected. Its zero trust-ready OS is designed to protect data and access, anywhere, keeping users protected and productive. In the video, Ankur mentioned the importance of building fruitful partnerships with hardware and software platforms and “tap into the global ecosystem where you can buy into other people’s expertise rather than doing that job yourself”.

Talking about the trends that will shape up the entrepreneurial landscape further, Ankur says, “The entire Gen Z population - 300+ million people - are going to start earning in the next five years. They will be the next workforce and also the next set of customers businesses need to build for. Another key trend would be going digital in vernacular because the next 300+ million people [workforce and customers] will come from tier II and III regions. Additionally, the trend where you’ll need infrastructure to drive and access the entire space of the internet is going to get bigger. People are realising that different hardware solutions are catering to different problems. So, a customer could be consuming your services/solutions on a smartphone but a business owner needs a PC to run and operate their business successfully.”

Strong security policies, strong passwords, relying only on licensed softwares, are some of the important elements that Ankur pointed out while talking about ensuring safety and security of businesses.