Essential lessons for tomorrow’s business

As AI and robotics are shaping the future of business, B-schools are making space for them in their curriculum to equip tomorrow’s managers and entrepreneurs.

By Dr. Akhter Mohiuddin Rather

For some time it was just artificial intelligence (AI) or, more specifically, data sciences that had made their way into every field including in B-schools in India and abroad. Now it’s not just AI but also robotics, the internet of things (IoT), blockchain, and big data analytics which along with AI are finding their way into the B-school curriculum. AI and robotics can make businesses more efficient and we are witnessing it in our daily tasks. Now is the age of AI and robotics, which have been made possible because of the past and present research in this field. AI and robotics have taken a boost and there are various reasons behind their success, such as the availability of high computation power, advances in statistical models, and also the endless availability of data storage which finally results in an ocean of data which we all know by the term ‘big data.

Business models that integrate markets and technology such as AI and robotics are emerging as new factors in enterprise level innovations.

The field of AI and robotics is very dynamic; new updates and developments happen each day. The aspiring managers and engineers or so-called millennials have seen this trend growing; so have academicians of B-schools. As a result, according to experts, the trend of introducing ‘AI along with robotics’ in the B-school curriculum is only going to increase. On the other hand, existing managers and engineers foresee that their current skills would get outdated in near future, which means job losses. B-schools will also see tough competition among themselves.

The way ahead for aspiring managers, engineers and B-schools is the same: Darwin’s theory of ‘survival of the fittest. This is the age of innovation and change, or from a business perspective, this is the age of startups. New startups do and should bring some innovation in their products and services so that they survive for longer. There are such examples in India that have inspired many but very few could succeed. Taking such inspiration, aspiring managers in AI and robotics do think beyond campus placements to become successful entrepreneurs. They do have some innovative ideas which they dream to implement in the real world but would require business skills as well as technical skills.

Some well-known B-schools including the IIMs, apart from the IITs, do offer courses in AI and robotics and many more are joining the race.

The research has revealed that AI and robotics develop innovation based on three elements: technology, business model, and market for characterising the knowledge-based economy and innovation. Business models that integrate markets and technology such as AI and robotics are emerging as new factors in enterprise-level innovations.

Some well-known B-schools including the IIMs, apart from the IITs, do offer courses in AI and robotics and many more are joining the race. These institutes believe that together AI and robotics will offer new opportunities in the future and will lead to a notable change in businesses and commerce. This means at the business level these B-schools will produce managers who should be skilled enough to perform different tasks, for instance, developing, customising, and using AI bots, unveiling the patterns of data which get produced with every action of the end-user, advance data analytics and so on. This will mean improved services to the customer, improved product design, delivering meticulous insights, and much more.

Some elite B-schools in India and abroad have keenly observed how disruptive technologies such as AI, IoT, big data analytics, blockchain, and robotics have changed the ways businesses operate. Out of all these technologies, AI has seen the biggest boom and that is reflected in the curriculum of these B-schools all these years. At this stage and in the future AI and robotics hold immense potential for pharma companies, healthcare, agriculture, logistics, and digital marketing. Academicians of the B-schools are trying to figure out the best fit of such technologies in their course curriculum. It is expected that the young managers who graduate out of these B-schools would have the updated skills of AI and robotics. This will be highly important in becoming a successful entrepreneur with AI business innovations, innovative leader, or change manager in futuristic companies.

Dr.  Rather is Assistant Professor Machine Learning & Data Sciences, Great Lakes Institute of Management

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