When ‘pitch conditions’ change in cricket, those players and teams who adapt to the new conditions will survive and win the future games. Those who do not adapt will lose and eventually get dropped out. Given all the disruptive technologies, automation leading to job losses, protectionist measures in various countries, the ‘pitch conditions’ for the $155 billion Indian IT industry is changing. How do the players in the Industry adapt to these changing conditions? This was one of the central themes of discussions in the recently held NASSCOM India Leadership Forum (NILF) 2017, held in Mumbai.

An impressive lineup of leaders including Business leaders, CIO’s, Technology providers, System integrators, Consultants, Industry analysts and Management thinkers discussed various dimensions of the Technology landscape that is changing.

Mega Trends: The combination of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine learning, Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Internet of Things (IoT) and Blockchains are continuing to disrupt various industry verticals like Manufacturing, BFSI and Healthcare. Industrial Internet is disrupting Manufacturing in a big way. The industry is now embracing Industrial Internet of Things to boost the productivity levels in manufacturing which has dropped to one percent in the recent years. BFSI is being disrupted by Blockchain technologies and very innovative Fin-Techs. Fin-Techs entered the segment through payments area and are now entering to all facets of Banking. Big Data and Artificial Intelligence are the two key technologies that are transforming the Healthcare sector. The combination of Bio-sciences and IT is spawning a huge disruption in the Bio-informatics segment. Powered by these disruptive technologies, the healthcare sector has evolved significantly, and the day is not too far when a person gets a possible heart-attack alert from an intelligent trio combination of We arables, Big Data and AI. Cognitive computing is becoming a mainstream. Digital is no longer a destination but a way of doing business.

Digital spends are increasing, though the current ROI on digital spends is still negative.

Most of the digital spends are happening in the areas of transforming customer experience and increased engagement by humanizing the technologies, optimizing and improving business operations, transforming products & services by leveraging digital content & insights, increased collaboration by empowering their employees. GE is a perfect example where the 124 year industrial giant has transformed itself into a Digital company with huge investments in Digital technologies. Their mantra is simple – ‘Future belongs to who digitizes the fastest’. Future is where machines are talking, listening and responding to each other, which has led them to launch Predix platform for Industrial Internet of Things in a big way.

Be an expert in your chosen focus areas. Simplify the structure in the organization to increase co-operation, and simplify the messages to articulate what you stand for

Designing a digital organization is the focus in many enterprises, which makes IT pervasive in all functions of the organization. CIO is no longer a support role, but a strategic role in many organizations. Enterprises realize that competition is coming from digital attackers – new age startups that are born digital.

Given the above dynamics, what are the imperatives for the Indian IT industry? Following four main points emerged during the key discussions:

1.Go to market with Solutions, IP’s, products, services, capabilities which are centered on Cognitive Computing, AI, IOT, Big Data, RPA enabled by an intelligent data and knowledge infrastructure. Help the customers in their digital journey. Co-create solutions along with the customer. The era of order-taking is gone. Customers expect co-creation capabilities.

2. Revamp the processes around sales, pre-sales, delivery and consulting. How to create value right from the first sales call makes a difference. Create functional teams and incentivize them. Move away from hierarchical, silo based teams and increase co-operation to improve productivity rather than throwing more resources. Train and empower Delivery teams to spot adjacent opportunities and unstated requirements for value creation.

3. Re-tool and Repurpose the Talent. More than 50 percent of the 3.9 million people in the Indian IT industry have to be re-skilled. This is quite a daunting task. Inculcate design thinking, train them to articulate value, make them full-stack developers and transition to an agile way of delivering projects. Relook at the metrics which influence their behavior.

4. Focus & Simplify – Trying to service too many areas in the huge technology space is not risk aversion but gambling. Be an expert in your chosen focus areas. Simplify the structure in the organization to increase co-operation, and simplify the messages to articulate what you stand for.

Overall, the mood in NILF 2017 was a mix of anxiety and excitement. While there were anxiety feelings due to U.S. protectionism factor, Brexit and loss of jobs due to automation, there were equally and more powerful excitement around how offshoring will improve, how there are increased market opportunities and how Indian IT is in an advantageous position to adapt to the future challenges. As per analyst predictions, 200 billion devices will be connected to internet by 2020, and data is set to grow 10X by 2020. Clearly, it is exciting times ahead for everyone involved in the technology industry. However, we need to become aware of the changed pitch conditions, get adapted to it and strategize our game to be in the winning edge.