VIRTUALISATION IS THE NEW INDUSTRIALISATION

As the old order changes, what should the upcoming generation of managers and business leaders do to remain in the game?

- Shri V.P.Nandakumar

Very often, the first step in learning some-thing new is to unlearn something we learned before. The raging COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to rethink the routine of our daily lives from work to school to leisure time activities. The trends seen today make it clear that the world, which has always changed with time, will now change at an accelerated pace. The days ahead will be starkly different from the days gone by. It is said that necessity is the mother of invention and, in keeping with that assertion, virtualisation has become the new mantra. Be it the digitalisation of entertainment services (OTT services like Netflix, Prime Video etc.), e-commerce, virtual training, online education, digital banking, or digital healthcare, you can prefix the ‘digital’ or ‘virtual’ tag to almost all services today and it would not be out of place. Virtualisation is the equivalent of Industrialisation for the 21st century and it’s suddenly come to the fore thanks to the pandemic.

In response to travel bans, school closures, and social distancing norms, the world is turning to digital tools to help people carry on with their lives as far normally as possible. It has now become necessary to digitally transform our places of work and education to be able to operate effectively. The companies able to use technology and who can rethink and reshape their business models for the needs of the future by fast-tracking digital transformation will emerge ahead of their competitors.

Specialisation is inevitable