Reading ‘hybrid’ tea leaves with Toffler, Jobs and Dylan

Since Alvin Toffler had condensed the concept of "too much change in too short a period of time" into a two-word phrase –‘Future Shock’ – in his 1970 bestseller book bearing the same title, it has been invoked time and again for many a phenomenon. These included but are not limited to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the 9/11 terror attack on the World Trade Center in 2001.

Arguably this applies most aptly to the world besieged by the COVID-19 pandemic as it led to a fundamental metamorphosis of the global psyche spanning individuals, enterprises, countries, communities and societies in the year 2020.

Admittedly not a futurologist like Toffler, I would still attempt to make sense of the jumbled tea leaves, each pointing to a different direction. Without any clearly discernible pattern, there are a few likely scenarios even as the mix of flavours instils the much-needed cheer to a weary – teary world waiting with bated breath for the ‘New Normal’ as if the pre-COVID world was really ‘normal’!

Hopefully, the ‘New Normal’ would transcend the promise of the vaccine in the ‘New Year’. 2020 was indeed a shocker to show us how little our physical needs are even as the technology optimists and business leaders were also shocked to see the insatiable demand for data notwithstanding the economic downturn.

Let us explore the emerging ‘hybrid’ trends in the technology space.

Hybrid workplace

There is a sense of vindication with the government finally liberalising the policy for work from home (WFH) that I had urged way back in October 2004 in an article published by Dataquest’s sister publication Voice&Data.

While many employees are itching to get back to their offices, more often than not WFH would become normalised, adopted and accepted rather than seen as a rare case of ‘exception’. Moreover, just like the Internet of Things (IoT) gave way to the Internet of Everything (IoE), ‘work anywhere’ (WA) would become increasingly more commonplace.

Hybrid cloud

While some enterprises have been aggressively using cloud computing for years, others kept avoiding or evading the issue notwithstanding the fact that almost every enterprise, whether in public sector or in the private one, has been using some cloud services – often times, without even realising so.

Just conduct a ‘shadow it audit’ of your enterprise and don’t be surprised if the number of shadow IT services through your enterprise is 10 or 20 times than what you think. For WFH it could even be 100 times or even more!

All the same, hybrid cloud would become an accepted norm with enterprises combining the in-house IT infrastructure with private cloud and public cloud infrastructures. Keeping the confidential data on the cloud with requisite security, backup and access controls would be more sensible than leaving the singular copy unencrypted on the device at home.

Hybrid enterprise

The very nature of the enterprise is undergoing a paradigm shift as flexible, part-time and project-based work quotient goes up. On the other hand, new types of relationships and networks would keep emerging and evolving with the increasing speed of change and complexity amidst blurring boundaries.

In such an environment, keeping track of data is important – not just the ‘personal data’, ‘non-personal data’ or ‘meta data’. The bits and bytes of this article’s online version are also a data artefact. Hence, dictionary, vocabulary, syntax and norms of data governance would have to be evolved accordingly.

In addition, more businesses would adopt the hybrid business model of Freemium while also leveraging ‘Artificial Intelligence’ and ‘Robotic Process Automation’ as revenue drivers in their quest for digital transformation.

Hybrid reality

Leveraging Virtual Reality and AI with real-time feedback loop would enable us to visualise new paradigms and enhance simulations. Add 3-D printing and digital twins for a headier mix.

Hybrid security

It may seem uncanny but as someone said, 2020 otherwise a bad year, was actually a relatively better year for security. After all, security is somewhat countercyclical. Sales of insurance policies spike after every disaster despite rate hike.

Perimetric security was never sufficient even as it often did give a misplaced sense of comfort and confidence to the enterprise security teams. However, the WFH is the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back.

Instead of BYOD (bring your own device), the teams suddenly had to deal with CYOD (choose your own disaster), especially when the same device at home is used for enterprise work as well as for communication, education and entertainment by the family – at times, in parallel sessions.

End-point security and security of the data and document and devices throughout their lifecycles need a fresh look. On the other hand, SolarWinds attack have once again proven that there are only two types of organisations – those that have been hacked and those who don’t know.

Hybrid skills

In the so-called New Normal, the importance of soft skills like interpersonal interaction, critical thinking, system design and communication would gain even as every child in the country is being exhorted by some celebrity or the other to become a coder, as if that is the one and only technology to master. Technical skills may be necessary but are insufficient by themselves.

Hybrid policy environment

Policy calendar is likely to be quite busy over the next couple of years at least. ‘Vocal for Local’ may have to co-exist with ‘Vocal for Global’ thereby making the hybrid ‘Glocal’ a more likely scenario that India would champion in its upcoming G20 Presidency in 2022.

First and foremost, it would be best to have a clear articulation of the Unified Digital Policy Framework at the level of the prime minister’s office (PMO) encompassing broad vision and principles while delineating specific objectives, deliverables and accountabilities of the respective ministries, departments and agencies in their own remits. Sans that, the chaos, confusion, cracks and overlaps would keep multiplying.

Indications are that the joint parliamentary committee would look at non-personal data besides, of course, the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2011. National Cyber Security Strategy and National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence are also on the anvil.

Public procurement norms should be more accommodative of leveraging cloud and the state must become a role model in terms of making reliable and real-time, legally validated data sets in the public domain as per the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy, 2012.

The government should also undertake a sensitisation exercise with capacity building and commensurate investments to make government websites, apps and databases accessible to people with disabilities, as per the National Universal Electronic Accessibility Policy, 2013.

State governments can and must do their own bit in enhancing and amplifying the benefits of the technology, especially in terms of using local languages. Considering digital divide across various dimensions like geographies, genders and generations governments need to intelligently leverage Universal Service Obligation Fund and other such instrumentalities for spurring demand rather than focusing only on supply side initiatives or using regulatory diktats to drive adoption.

Public policy development and implementation is never a linear process with a singular obvious best choice as it does entail trade-offs. It also necessitates conceptual clarity and contextual familiarity.  Hence, public policy and regulations need to evolve in a more open, inclusive, deliberative and iterative process through wider public consultations and reliance on empirical evidence whether it is for healthcare, education, fintech, agriculture or something else.

‘Reality distortion field’ in ‘Changin’ Times’

Steve Jobs was known for influencing people through ‘reality distortion field’, a heady concoction of charisma, charm, hyperbole, perseverance, persistence engendered within an environment of self-confidence, alignment and empowerment that lead to extraordinary discovery, design, development and deployment.

It is up to us to envision the tech-enabled future that we want and then, go on to realize that vision with a vengeance. Remember Bob Dylan’s 1964 classic ‘The-Times-They’re-a-Changin’? Only, they’re changing much faster now in this ‘hybrid world’ and yes, heuristics would help.

By Deepak Maheshwari, public policy consultant with more than two decades of experience