Looking at the 3 dimensions of Now, New and Next

Nisheeth Srivastava, Chief Technology & Innovation Officer – India, Capgemini, talks about the latest ICT trends, post-pandemic transformations, the Metaverse and how the ChatGPT disruption is already here. Edited excerpts from a video interview.

ChatGPT will transform the way we do business, no doubt. It will do so very fundamentally and across industries, one consecutive shift at a time. It will do so by providing access to very large volumes of data and information as well as insights and recommendations.

Let me give you the Capgemini perspective. We are a global consultancy firm. We look at the world from three contextual dimensions: Now, New and Next. “Now” is about sustainability, stability and predictability about your business as usual. It’s about portfolio and incremental innovations which you keep on doing to stay refreshed and energized.

That’s what a Chief Information Officer (CIO) usually does. These definitions since the time they came in the mid-1980s have been evolving. You won’t find the CIO doing the same thing across organizations. Nevertheless, it’s more internal facing and about information systems in the organization. About the use of data to the extent possible. And like in the case of Capgemini, about the IT infrastructure including things like cybersecurity. More inward looking. That’s Now.

“New” is about differentiation or what we call as “change making”, which is about your future relevance, about securing a competitive edge and sometimes also serendipity, through the process of experimentation. It usually manifests as innovation related activities both inhouse and with the larger ecosystem of startups and academia. It’s a client facing role and outward.

“Next” is about anticipation of the disruptions as they appear on the horizon. We call that “future thinking”. It’s about the impact of these technologies on current business models. It’s about new emerging models, new revenues and new responsibilities.

On changes that took place due to the pandemic…

In a joke the pandemic was also referred to as the world’s best Chief Digital Officer ever. But I am still not sure whether it was Black Swan or a White Swan event.

We’ve already seen today sitting where we are how the IT landscape and associated strategies have shifted in the last couple of years. We’ve seen the hybrid work, worker and workplace. All these combinations emerged in the phygital world.

We’ve seen digital transformation activities being undertaken at a scale which was unimaginable, even from the most traditional businesses, from digitization to digitalization. We’ve seen the cloud scramble and the unbelievable muscle that the hyperscalers wield today. Resilience becomes a focus area for every CIO worth his salt.

I would ascribe the extraordinary trajectory to the aftermath of the pandemic. More to come.

The generative AI disruption is already here…

ChatGPT is the new tornado in town. You had the Microsoft Co-pilot launch along with other generative AI based launches like Google Bard, Adobe Firefly & Sensei and plenty more from where they are coming from. Some of these things will fundamentally change our reaction to technology and our desire to engage with it will be very high as an enterprise. We are witnessing traditional business models metamorphose.

Just this morning I saw a Tweet from a pet parent about how her dog was practically dying despite a ton of medical interventions from her veterinary doctor. She fed all the reports to a GPT-4 engine which had just been launched and it gave her a set of analyses on what could potentially be the range of things which might be afflicting her dog. She took that to another vet who then administered a different medication and interventions than previously and within a week the dog was OK.

ChatGPT will transform the way we do business, no doubt. It will do so very fundamentally and across industries, one consecutive shift at a time. It will do so by providing access to very large volumes of data and information as well as insights and recommendations. But it’s one tool among many. It’s just that it’s very handy for everybody.

You’ll find very soon, if you haven’t already, it changing the world for the whole sales and marketing activities. You will have digital assistants tailored to particular industries like retail; customized marketing and social media campaigns suited to slivers of demographics that you are chasing. Merchandisers will now be able to connect to very hyperlocal trends like never before at the click of a button.

You’ll be able to analyze and predict with improving certainty. Look at Zara. It’s success is down to its ability to read the trends in a market and then turning the SKUs around within a week. That ability will get democratized. It’ll become increasingly difficult to differentiate. So, from IT engineering to writing, documenting and evaluating code to optimizing even computational models like never before.

The disappointment and promise of the Metaverse…

It’s called the “Parent test”. The moment a technology is launched which your parents can use with ease, it’s going to change the world. That did not happen with Metaverse, by the way. Forget your parents. How many of your colleagues have ever touched a HoloLens? Watching reality in a browser is not Metaverse. We need to get the wearability right: It’s humans who need to wear the lens and not machines.

There is the promise of the Metaverse, however. When you talk of Digital Twins, there are use cases across renewable energy to designing new factories. Let’s say even for the product design for aircraft industries: It’s complex and massively computational and in places like these Metaverse will continue to become more and more relevant.

Large parts of society internal to you and external will likely go through an unprecedented phase of emotional attachment and isolation leading to a new chapter in human and machine relationships. It will impact the world as we know it today.

How many cadavers does one have to cut open before you become a doctor? The ability to navigate the innards of a human body immersively, see an organ from all around, here the visual you can get in action can only make you a better doctor. Live surgeries maybe not, but for training? Absolutely?

Advice for new C-suite level professionals…

As an innovator who works with many thought leaders, in corporations, academia, and across the spectrum, my first advice to CIOs, CTOs etc would be to be creatively curious. The world that we are beginning to see will need you and call upon that particular attribute in you. You have to choose the right mistakes and experiences from your own life and those of others around you to learn from.

There’s never been so much insight available to anybody on demand, ever before. Those of you who can dare to ask the right questions, in GPT terms is analogous to saying the right prompt engineering, you will find incredible gems just waiting to be mined, cut, polished and bejewelled in one’s corporate finery.

Take a really hard look at the skill profile of the existing teams and rapidly initiate upskilling and cross-skilling initiatives in line with how they want to develop their cognitive pyramid. To deliver new business expectations which are likely to emerge within months, not years. Ensure the team is agile and has a continuous drive to learn and innovate, because this is the moment their role has been waiting for all its life.

My third piece of advice would probably be to the CEO, perhaps. Expect a new phenomenon of psychological dimension in one’s business as usual quite soon. In Capgemini’s techno vision framework, we call it CQ or Creative Quotient. Because differentiation will become increasingly difficult to carve out. Large parts of society internal to you and external will likely go through an unprecedented phase of emotional attachment and isolation leading to a new chapter in human and machine relationships. It will impact the world as we know it today. The world of tomorrow is going to be amazing for those of us who take charge of our destinies. Plenty to look forward to, for sure!

(Catch the complete interview on the CyberMedia Series YouTube channel)

Nisheeth Srivastava

Chief Technology & Innovation Officer – India, Capgemini

sunilr@cybermedia.co.in