New order for a New World

Dataquest recently organised its annual Digital Leadership Conclave that was attended by over 1,000 delegates and an illustrious list of speakers across IT, ITES, education, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors as well as policymakers, academia, investors, and other stakeholders from the ecosystem. The conclave with the theme ‘New World Order’ focused on the role of digital technologies in the new normal and how they are impacting life and society, enterprises, and the economy. The experts also deliberated on how India needs to prepare and be ready for the 3rd wave of COVID-19, and the initiatives that the IT industry can take to deal with any such eventualities.

By making Aarogya Setu a partner in the vaccination process, the country was able to increase the reach and inclusivity to 400 million people in six months.

— Dr. RS Sharma, CEO, National Health Authority

The hospitality sector has been harmed the most but is using new opportunities such as voice-activated digital butlers and automated revenue management tools.

— Ajai Chowdhry, Member – Consultation Group on Science,

Technology and Innovation Sector, NITI Aayog

Delivering the keynote address on ‘Digital Imprint of the Vaccination Programme’, Dr. RS Sharma, CEO, National Health Authority shared his experiences of driving the massive vaccination program for COVID-19 using the Aarogya Setu platform. “India is a large, diverse country and not everybody here can use a digital platform. The vaccination requires two doses and people find it difficult to keep a record. Hence, we need a system that is easy to operate and can help schedule an appointment and also remind people of their doses.”

He highlighted that the need was to facilitate the process using a mobile phone, but since a large population in the country does not have a smartphone, it was decided to allow four people to register using one smartphone. “The system needed to be robust and scalable.” Dr. Sharma added that by making the Aarogya Setu app a partner in the vaccination process, the country was able to increase its reach and inclusivity. Emphasising that it is the only app in the world to scale up to 400 million people in six months, Dr. Sharma said that this made it possible for policymakers to plan the vaccination strategy.

The conclave also presented an interesting dialogue between Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty, Chairman, and Executive Director, Narayana Health, and Arun Seth, Trustee, NASSCOM Foundation. Speaking on the role of technology in healthcare, Dr. Shetty said that within five years, smart doctors will be able to dramatically change the way healthcare is delivered. “The mortality rate will go down significantly. Technology can transform healthcare.”

Delivering the special keynote on dynamics of the new world order, Ajai Chowdhry, Member –Consultation Group on the Science, Technology, and Innovation Sector, NITI Aayog, pointed out that there has been a massive uptake in digital payments and e-commerce due to the pandemic. “The digital ecosystem built over the years has proved crucial,” he said, highlighting the role of NPCI in the emergence of the digital payment system in India.

Talking about the impact on technology adoption due to the health crisis, he said that the change in digital portfolios in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, and financial sectors has been much higher than in any other sector. He also touched upon areas that were impacted the most. “While sectors such as education, entertainment, and lifestyle have been affected, the sector that has been harmed the most is the hospitality sector. But this has also thrown open new opportunities. Major hotel brands have started to use voice-activated digital butlers and automated revenue management tools.”

COVID-19 made us realise we are capable of doing much more. We have the tools and technology to solve problems of humankind. It is up to us to organise them.

— Debjani Ghosh, President, NASSCOM

Penetration of mobile broadband has transformed the marketplace. With automation, people will get more information and be less exploited. There will be a different society around us.

— Samar Mittal, Head – Cloud Network Services, India Market, Nokia

With the help of national language translation mission, we will make language exchange happen. We are looking at digital economy and can reach USD1 trillion by 2024.

— Anil Jain, CEO, NIXI

Chowdhry also pointed out that the pandemic has created the opportunity for VR-based travel experiences. “Public broadcasters and museums are also looking at VR, wherein you can see beautiful videos in 360 degrees. As VR becomes more advanced, it will bring people to places that were never visited before.”

Digital technologies and innovations

Earlier in the day, Rajen Vagadia, VP and President, Qualcomm India and SAARC talked about how integrated technology has become part of human life. “We are able to connect wirelessly today. The networks and devices have become so common that we take them for granted.” He added that going forward, most of the technologies will have 5G as a foundation – be it healthcare, education, robotics, virtual classrooms or tech-assisted learning.

“There will be smart cars, smart appliances, and even smart industries. In smart cities, monitoring of civic infrastructure will be required. This will increase reliance on cloud computing. This will also make it essential to cut down the data sent to the cloud. Processing huge amounts of data is more secure when it is done close to the cloud. Here, edge computing will play a big role.”

Speaking at the conclave, Samar Mittal, Head – Cloud Network Services, India Market, Nokia, said that digitisation is happening all around us. “Penetration of mobile broadband has transformed the marketplace. With 5G, we can expect to see transformation across sectors. With automation, people will be able to get more information and be less exploited. There will be a different society around us.”

Sharing her thoughts on the role of digital technologies and innovations to improve healthcare, and in addressing looming crises such as climate change, access to education, and eradication of hunger, Debjani Ghosh, President, NASSCOM said that emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and quantum computing are helping tackle some of these mega problems.“The ability to innovate and the speed of innovation help determine the possibility of overcoming a challenge. This COVID-19 crisis made us realise that we are capable of doing much more. We have the tools and technology to solve some of these problems challenging humankind. It is up to us to organise them.”

We did not have a template to deal with the pandemic and lockdown. It gave us an opportunity to step back and refocus on what we wanted to do

— Palash Nandy, CEO, Numeric

Going forward, most of the technologies will have 5G as a foundation – be it healthcare, education, robotics, virtual classrooms or tech-assisted learning.

— Rajen Vagadia, VP and President, Qualcomm India & SAARC

Talking about digitisation and its impact on society, Anil Jain, CEO of, NIXI said it has changed and impacted the whole world. “People, businesses, international relations, and boundaries have all been impacted. We are seeing that things are getting miniaturised. Less number of machines can do more things now. We can book food and vaccination via a mobile app. We can get a taxi within five minutes.” He also stressed the fact that data consumption has become critical in the new normal.

“In the future, there will be borderless business transactions. We are already working on driverless cars. There will be factories, colleges, etc., without manpower. With the help of the national language translation mission, we will make language exchange happen. We are looking at the digital economy and digital security, and can reach USD1 trillion by 2024.”

Palash Nandy, CEO, Numeric, said that the lockdown presented a lot of opportunities. “We did not have a template to deal with the pandemic and lockdown. It gave us an opportunity to step back and refocus on what we wanted to do; it made us think about different business models and ensured that we become stronger as an organisation through digital transformation. It made us think how digital technologies can be used to enhance customer experience.”

The day’s event also included the top three IT industry awards – the DQ IT Person of the Year Award, the DQ Lifetime Achievement Award, and the AatmaNirbhar Bharat Champion Award. Dataquest also presented the Digital Warrior Awards to CIOs and technology leaders for their roles in implementing important projects across 23 categories.

The conclave was supported by Nokia as the Technology Partner, ST Telemedia as Gold Partner, NIXI as Internet Partner, NIIT as Training Partner, and Numeric as the Power Partner. The event was also supported by Apeejay Education as Academia Partner, IESA as Associate Partner, CMR as Research Partner, and VConfex as the Platform Partner.

The article has been written by Shubhendu Parth, Editor, Dataquest