M Ziauddin
Transportation of all kinds, road, rail, sea, air as well as through pipelines has become digitally hi-tech. And that is perhaps what we have to cope with as China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project gets into top gear by perhaps 2020. China, the lead partner of the CPEC, is already one of the world leaders of digital age while Pakistan across whose land the Corridor is being built is yet to get through even the doorway leading to the digital age.
Indeed, digital technology is becoming the central axis, rapidly redefining the way we live and work. Countries, companies and social organizations are enhancing their use of technology to stay competitive in the race to the future.
In the business world, for example, digital technologies have started reshaping the way work is done. Organizations know that if they are to stay relevant, they have to embrace the digital age. But the way they execute this transformation makes a big difference in whether they achieve what they’ve set out to.
A number of studies have been conducted to see how successful companies have changed their business and operating models when going digital. All of them are said to share two distinctive characteristics: they create products and services that are embedded with digital technologies, and they use digital channels to interact with their target audiences and clients.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is happening now, less than 50 years after the last wave of major change brought by electronics, IT and automated production. It’s not only happening sooner than previous revolutions, it’s happening faster. This industrial revolution is about the convergence of the digital, the physical and the human - The internet of things, Automation, Analytics and Cyber-physical systems. It is a time of great opportunity, and of great concern.
Indeed, the opportunity is huge for Pakistan, as one of world’s digital giants has entered into a close business partnership with it. However, the concern is, as the CPEC starts to come on stream many traditional jobs in Pakistan would appear to be disappearing being replaced by jobs that require a new set of digital skills – skills that the majority of our population lacks at the moment.
The solution for Pakistan is to take advantage of the opportunity that the association with the Chinese entrepreneurs provide to its workforce and succeed in this effort by educating and connecting its people.
Understandably to compete in the digital economy, Pakistan needs a workforce that is trained in essential and emerging networking skills, as well as non-technical skills like proficiency in English, team work, problem solving, creativity and innovation, and communication. But as of now we lack the right kind of faculty trained in these skills. So we need to find the teachers schooled in teaching these particular skills.
One is not even sure if the Government of the day or those other political parties opposed to the ruling political party are aware of this skills gap. What is urgently needed is to set up state of the art digital training centers in the country on the lines of internationally recognized networking academies. We need digital skills in all career paths therefore we need to plan to make courses available for all students in technical institutions, regardless of their area of specialization.
At these academies, partners, customers, start-ups, accelerators and venture capitalists need to be brought together to solve business challenges with new technology and in the process create job opportunities to the trained manpower. Tiny start-ups are able to get their products to market faster, and reach a wider audience by leveraging established sales forces. Customers who come to the Innovation center for help need to be exposed to innovative solutions which lead to improved business outcomes. All of this means economic growth, and more jobs in the digital sector.
Business challenges are not the only issues that the intersection of technology and entrepreneurship would help solve. Corporate social responsibility programs would also help nonprofit organizations to address big social and environmental challenges like access to clean and safe water.
Bringing people, projects and technology together is not the only aspect of connection that is important. Being connected to the internet is also critical for a successful digital economy. A strong, reliable network needs to be put in place to support this new digital infrastructure. Initiatives need to be taken in hand both at the private and public level to expand, strengthen and secure the network and provide internet access to everyone.
With an extensive and robust network, a way to connect with each other and a commitment to education, Pakistan has an unprecedented opportunity to rise in the market and lift its people to a higher standard of living.
The world has already entered the fourth industrial revolution. This revolution is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres. And the breadth and depth of these changes herald the transformation of entire systems of production, management, and governance.
The possibilities of billions of people connected by mobile devices, with unprecedented processing power, storage capacity, and access to knowledge, are unlimited. And these possibilities will be multiplied by emerging technology breakthroughs in fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles, 3-D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, materials science, energy storage, and quantum computing.
Already, artificial intelligence is all around Europe and the US. China is also catching up fast. From self-driving cars and drones to virtual assistants and software that translate or invest. Digital fabrication technologies, meanwhile, are interacting with the biological world on a daily basis. Engineers, designers, and architects are combining computational design, additive manufacturing, materials engineering, and synthetic biology to pioneer a symbiosis between microorganisms, our bodies, the products we consume, and even the buildings we inhabit.
To date, those who have gained the most from it have been consumers able to afford and access the digital world; ordering a cab, booking a flight, buying a product, making a payment, listening to music, watching a film, or playing a game—any of these can now be done remotely.
Transportation and communication costs are dropping, logistics and global supply chains are becoming more effective, and the cost of trade is diminishing, all of which is opening new markets and driving economic growth.
However, as most digital transformation across industries and countries continues to unfold, the people dimension of these transformations has emerged as the key to unlocking value and ensuring the sustainability of the changes. Because areas such as leadership development and external talent acquisitions may require entirely different and innovative approaches in the new digital environments, organizations need to be prepared to move and evolve quickly, particularly to ensure each employee has the opportunity to participate in this new environment.
The infrastructure to allow people to access digital information has surpassed what anyone could have imagined only a decade ago. Slowly, the world is getting to the point where everyone has a digital phone. A massive amount of data is available on this small little gadget but the trick is to know how to process it.
Our everyday lives are being rendered completely different because of the new vistas being shaped by the digital age. Working, education, the very definition of being present is getting to be different. Information is being delivered in real time and with highest relevance to oneself. Healthcare could see great leaps in efficiency. One’s state of health could be compared with millions from around the world within seconds, making a more accurate diagnosis and treatment possible. If all this information could be used and managed properly, a new better world, more livable would start taking shape. The possibilities are endless!
Principles that were part of IT environment are now extending beyond IT, often shared and implemented throughout a given organization in successful digital transformation. These digital principles should and will deliver new agile ways of working.
Another key element to consider for organizations is the customer experience. Digital technologies can enhance relationships between the company, their customers, their products, and other industry players. This requires capturing and leveraging information generated across their digital ecosystem.
Digitalization also necessitates new ways of working, as organizations become more collaborative and disregard hierarchy, employees must adapt to new team structures, responsibilities and deliverables. This can be done, but only if management and leadership are genuinely convinced of the value of adapting the organizational structure and invest in this new way of working.
Again, any company can digitally transform, in its own way. However, if they make every other change but employees are not empowered, the digital transformation will not be successful. Empowering people is the key to achieving profound and lasting digital transformation that provides sustainable growth and inclusion.
Pakistan, it appears, has so far failed to anticipate these changes and has remained more or less indifferent to the need of vigorously embracing the digital age.
(This article is based on ideas discussed in two published articles – one by Jordi Botifoll and the other by Jorge Becerra — reproduced by The Agenda Weekly of World Economic Forum on April 21, 2017)
