The paradigm shift in tech industry to catapult growth opportunities post-Covid

The pandemic impacted all the sectors but undoubtedly, it ushered in a paradigm shift in the tech industry. Reliance on technology to run operations, sustain business momentum and to establish communication in the remotest part of the country enabled tech players to recalibrate their endeavours to achieve larger goals. By scaling up next-gen transformation, collaborations between stakeholders became easier, risks were mitigated and networking was streamlined. This much-needed boost to the transformation of the tech industry and development of robust IT infrastructure is now helping knowledge workers across sectors to come together to support growth and innovation in the country.

India’s medical infrastructure was stretched beyond its limits during the subsequent waves of the coronavirus. Adoption of new strategies was inevitable and by leveraging the benefits of tech tools through telemedicine or teleconsultation to support homecare, ensured a robust network between care givers and care seekers, lowering the risk of infection and burden on hospitals. India is currently running the world's largest inoculation drive and its indigenous Cowin platform has efficiently helped to scale up vaccination in the country.  The efficiency of this platform is such that India has made this platform freely available to 50 countries as a humanitarian gesture in the time of crisis.

The emergence of online pharmacies easily connected local pharmacies with the customers and made medicines available for all. These pharmacies further gave a major boost to the health system majorly in tier-2, 3 cities. With the use of Artificial Intelligence, diagnosis was made faster and also maintainenance of patient’s medical history in digital registers made the process hassle-free.

Technology has helped to transcend socio-economic and regional boundaries and introduce new age tools, online learning programs and skills to each stratum of the society.  It has also promoted practical and value-based learning in addition to theoretical knowledge majorly in tier-2, 3 cities to make learners future and industry-ready.  Now, many students in the remotest locations are expanding their horizons and learning coding beyond conventional skills and are shattering geographical, social or economic barriers to step ahead and reap maximum benefits of this positive transformation.

The post-pandemic scenario or the widely debated ‘new normal’ will present a drastically changed business operations and workplace life, affecting both companies and employees. Video communication tools like Zoom, Webex, Google Meet and many others have become the prime examples of digital transformation and more changes are likely in the offing. Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, Artificial Intelligence & Virtual Reality, Machine Learning (ML), among others are the other big things that will upscale cybersecurity, IT support and applications in the industries. Minimal human intervention through a two-tier approach by blending physical and digital (phygital) will support work-from-home or remote working models in the long-run.

The pandemic has amplified the demand for new age and industry-oriented skills at workplaces. This will ultimately give rise to a larger need for tech-based skilled resources for the industries of the future. This will nourish more opportunities majorly in the tech industry and will magnify the scope of career development in various sectors.  The technological offerings will also offer solutions to hybrid working and learning models in the country and importance of tech developers will be amplified across different regions of India.

Technology is set to play its most influential role in the near future.  The idea of making India a digital economy will set the base for businesses and stakeholders to recalibrate their methods to sustain the growth momentum. In a post-pandemic world, technology will not only fill the pre-existing gaps but will also bend the curve of digital divide.  New business models, shifts in consumer patterns, remote workplaces will be the key elements of an industry reimagined for the future. The paradigm shift in tech industry to usher in growth opportunities post-Covid and will majorly benefit tech developers in the coming future.

By Sonia Das, Innovation Evangelist, NASSCOM Center of Excellence