Technology this time has created a massive equalization: Anant Maheshwari, president, Microsoft India

On the final day of the Nasscom Technology and Leadership Forum (NTLF) 2021, Anant Maheshwari, president, Microsoft India joined Shobhana Kamineni, executive vice chairman, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd and Shiv Shivakumar, group executive president – corporate strategy & business development, Aditya Birla Group, to talk about ‘culture’ as a critical determinant of an organization’s success in times of change.

Their percipient conversation focused on purpose being the centre of building a resilient organizational culture, technology being a key enabler of the new aspects of a hybrid culture – focus on empathy, inclusion, growth mindset, technology having created a level playing field at the workplace-democratizing access to learning, information and breaking down hierarchical structures, and mental well-being the core priority in the new world of work.

“Each of us has been increasing our tech intensity during the last 12 months of the pandemic and it's not just at work, it's not just how we do NTLF, it’s in everything. It's about how we think about our lives, about online groceries, remote schooling, online consultations with the doctors, the virtual gym,online socializing and so on. We can keep going on and on about how our tech intensity has increased in the last 12 months. Now as you look back you will always feel good about the resilience that we have displayed and because of that you can look forward and say that even though there were significant losses we can look forward to healing, to growth and to restoration, said Anant Maheshwari, president, Microsoft India.

Shobhana Kamineni, executive vice chairman, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, while thanking Apollo employees for attending work every day during the COVID-19 pandemic said: “So, this thing about a hybrid workplace is no longer something special, it is just something you need to do to survive. It’s business survival almost 101 now and what we build on top of it and how complex and how easy you can make it, actually the complexity comes in, how easy and that's it…that I should be able to get a patient that can show what he has or I should be able to look at his face, detect on the screen, see his tension level and actually be empathetic and find him the fastest care. I should be able to move a hospital to the house now.”

As the Indian technology industry gains momentum in its hyper-digital journey, talent, transparency, and trust gain prominence for systematic growth, the final day of NTLF 2021 highlighted the theme - Transparency and Trust- wherein in through various sessions, several industry leaders discussed the increasing role of responsible build and use of technology in a hyper-digital normal.

“No company has formulated policies for human being and robots to work together. That's something which will fundamentally change. That will be a very hybrid HR department, a hybrid HR Policy. Let's go to services. Thanks to the pandemic, I believe we'll have two types of services, contact services and contactless services. And I think more and more businesses will move to contact less services. But I think the most important shift for businesses is that every business will need a digital business model. In some cases, it will be the front and center,” said Shiv Shivakumar, group executive president – corporate strategy & business development, Aditya Birla Group.

“As we move forward, I think technology and this time has really created a massive equalization…hierarchical structures are changing…people are rethinking how they will run organizations going forward and they're already starting to do that,” added Maheshwari.

Apart from these industry leaders, the third day of NTLF saw Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray, Rekha M Menon, chairperson, and senior managing director, Accenture India and vice-chairperson, NASSCOM, Julie Sweet, chief executive officer, Accenture, Sindhu Gangadharan, senior vice president and managing director, SAP Labs India, Mainak Mazumdar, chief data officer, Nielsen Company, Kris Gopalakrishnan, chairman, Axilor Ventures, Karthikeyan Natarajan, president and chief operating officer, Cyient, and many other dignitaries in attendance.