Welcome to TCS Live at Davos, where our theme this year is ‘Accelerating the sustainable enterprise’.
It’s Friday, And it is our last day at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
Yesterday we followed panels on the energy transition and decarbonising supply chains. We also heard from TCS’ Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Rajesh Gopinathan, who was optimistic about the economic outlook and discussed harnessing technologies like AI for good.
Coming Up Today:
- Panel on AI and White-Collar Jobs (09:00 CET)
- Youth Calls to Action (10:15 CET)
- Global Economic Outlook: Is this the End of an Era? (11:00 CET)
- Closing Remarks from Børge Brende, President, World Economic Forum (12:00 CET)
To see these and the other sessions, read more here
Friday, 20 Jan 2023
TCS and WEF themes chime as Davos meet ends
At the end of a busy and productive week, Børge Brende, the President of the World Economic Forum, offered his closing thoughts and brought together the key themes, including:
Scaling climate ambition and the ways that technology can be harnessed to help.
Generating a more collaborative future.
Avoiding a recession and building a solid growth agenda.
Stopping the fragmentation of the global economy.
Creating better skills, jobs, and education and a reskilling revolution.
Fostering better trade and sustainable supply chains.
- Working with technologies including AI machine learning, blockchain, virtual reality, and quantum computing
“This has been a working meeting where we have rolled up our sleeves,” he said. “I'm so proud that we close this meeting with such a powerful energy. I hope it fuels our actions and ambitions in the year ahead. Because in an uncertain and challenging time, one thing is clear that we can shape a more resilient, sustainable, and equitable future, but the only way to do so is together.”
For TCS, it was great to see so many of our senior executives participate in wide-ranging discussions about the economy, the future of work, India’s outlook and digitization and the role of technology.
Our core themes chimed with those of other global leaders — resilience across operations and the need to respond rapidly to new challenges and opportunities; the value of innovation and enabling transformation; and the real need, now more than ever, to collaborate and foster strong partnerships.
Friday, 20 Jan 2023
How work is evolving: A TCS roundtable
As part of our participation at the Davos summit, we were proud to host a roundtable in partnership with Randstad, a leading global HR services company, examining what an effective talent agenda should look like. There was a lively and interesting debate about the changing landscape that talent managers face when it comes to workers’ expectations.
Sander van 't Noordende, the CEO of Randstad, shared his insights and thoughts with Sapthagiri Chapalapalli, the Head of TCS Europe, and other high-level participants, at the TCS Lounge in Davos.
Randstad’s latest 2023 Work Monitor shows that across key global markets, 48% of workers surveyed would quit if work prevented them from enjoying life. And employees are also looking to their employers for understanding and support in these tough economic times, not least by facilitating flexible working to save costs.
The participants debated how to create talent strategies that reflect these new priorities and what companies can offer to attract and retain talent.
“Someone said to me the other day, the war for talent is over. Talent has won,” said Sander van 't Noordende. “In one sentence, that says where we are. If we just look around us and look forward and look at the demographics and everything that's happened, the scarcity of talent is not going to go away. So, it's a situation that we have to deal with."
Research shows that job security and inflation are back on people’s minds, and they are looking to their employers to support them, he said.
Retaining talent and offering flexible work is a business imperative, he said. “If you don't offer what your talent is looking for, they're going to go somewhere else.”
The panel agreed that flexible work is here to stay.
“I represent a company which has more than half a million people across the world,” said Chapalapalli. “And, of course, we are experimenting and leading the charge on various work practices.”
What was also clear was that there is variation between global regions. Panelists from across the globe stressed that while the key themes of Randstad’s research applied across the board, the same policies don’t work everywhere.
The key is retaining an open mind and remaining innovative. TCS and Randstad share the vision of a global and equitable talent cloud that provides equal opportunities and recognition of talent and human ingenuity - independent of where you live or work from. The talent cloud also has the potential to simplify matching business needs with employees’ skill sets and ambitions.
Friday, 20 Jan 2023
Creating fruitful partnerships
It’s not just the main agenda that sees significant progress at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. Countless other discussions and panels take place alongside at the event in Davos, underscoring the benefits of connecting in person.
How to create an innovation ecosystem that combines Swiss precision with India’s scale was the topic of one such event, where Rainer Zahradnik, Country Head, Switzerland, Tata Consultancy Services, discussed “How Indian companies can leverage the Swiss innovation ecosystem.”
Creating a fruitful partnership that draws on key strengths and is solution-focused was the main point of the discussion. The panellists saw significant benefits for both countries and for their companies from working together. Rainer was joined by Shrijeet Mishra, Chief Innovation Officer and Head of Group Services at Aditya Birla Group; Florin Müller, Head of Swiss Business Hub India; and moderator Liv Minder, Investment Promotion Director at Switzerland Global Enterprise.
Friday, 20 Jan 2023
Global economic outlook needs cooperation
In a panel on the Global Economic Outlook on the final day of the annual meeting, participants stressed the need for cooperation and solidarity between nations.
“We really have to make sure that that solidarity front holds, we have to make sure that it sticks,” Christine Lagarde, the President of the European Central Bank, told delegates.
The participants noted an improvement in the economic outlook — with Kristalina Georgieva, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, saying the global outlook was better than feared and that a worldwide recession is avoidable.
Earlier in the week, TCS’ Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Rajesh Gopinathan, also noted that the tone among delegates on the economy had improved.
“The mood is definitely much more optimistic,” Gopinathan told CNBC. “Everybody is positive. I would say incrementally what has changed is that on the European side, confidence has increased.”
Even so, delegates at Davos noted that it was still likely to be a challenging year ahead, and that the recovery continues to be fragile.
Friday, 20 Jan 2023
The importance of connection and collaboration
The challenges of the modern workplace and keeping employees engaged as our working practices evolve, have been key themes all week at Davos. TCS spoke to Mimi Turner, Head of EMEA and Latin America at The B2B Institute, LinkedIn, who shared three major points about the future of the modern workplace.
Importance of personal connections
“The modern workplace is largely hybrid for many people, and to keep the connections that make us able to trust and collaborate with each other well, we need to make sure we have some personal time as well as what we’re doing in an online environment.”
Virtual meetings can’t do it all
“Virtual meetings make the meeting ‘as people‘ difficult. We can transact, and get things done, but we don’t get to know people if we don’t know them already. So, while virtual meetings have become a really important part of our working practices, they need to be matched up and mitigated with more in-person human connections.”
Embrace innovation
“To be an innovative company, you have to maintain an innovation strategy as well as your existing strategy, and to do both of those things together is the thing that most companies miss or struggle with.”
Working together and collaborating is one of TCS’ central values. Read more about our approach to successful ecosystem collaboration here.
Friday, 20 Jan 2023
Collaborating to get things done
Our Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director N. G Subramaniam (NGS), attending his fifth World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, took time out to share his views on the benefits of attending the meetings in Davos and on how this year’s agenda and themes are different.
“You come here, and you see world leaders, you walk across the promenade, you get to hear the views expressed and what the challenges are,” he said. “People really talk about it freely, openly, it energises you a bit.”
On the long-term sustainability goals, he explained how TCS’ approach is linked to its overall group philosophy.
“The purpose is really about improving the quality of life for people, and doing so makes sure that the community benefits,” he said. “Then you have to deep dive into each one of the topics and see what does it mean to TCS as an organisation, what does it mean to our employees, what does it mean to our family members? So, there is a wider theme that’s happening within TCS.”
TCS’ theme this year is all about accelerating sustainable enterprise, which ties into the theme of Cooperation in a Fragmented World. For NGS, it’s all about collaboration.
“The whole world is reimagining supply chains and moving away from just in time, to just in case, at the same time, there is a collaboration theme,” he said. “So, it’s not completely seamless, there will be constraints, there will be fragmentation, but within that fragmentation, how do you collaborate and get things done?”
Read more about how TCS makes a difference with technology here.
Monday 16th January
Resilience, emerging technologies, and future of work
Our executives will be taking part in meetings and debates throughout the week that tap into many of TCS' core themes and beliefs.
On Wednesday, N G Subramaniam, Chief Operating Officer, TCS, will participate in a roundtable with leading CEOs of semiconductor and electronics firms, hosted by Invest India. This panel will discuss the supply shortages of semiconductors, whilst looking at ways to improve supply chain efficiency and sustainability.
On Thursday, Rajesh Gopinathan, Chief Exectuive Officer and Managing Director, TCS, is set to participate in a roundtable with senior business leaders on Digitization and Opportunities in Emerging Technologies.
Talent is also on the agenda on Thursday, with Sapthagiri Chapalapalli, the Head of TCS Europe, participating in a roundtable hosted by the CEO of Randstad, Sander van 't Noordende. The panellists will discuss "Tomorrow's Talent Agenda" and how companies can meet today's talent expectations in an ever-competitive world.
These and many of the topics under discussion this week are close to TCS's heart. You can read more about our thinking on the Future of Work here and more about our approach to Davos, here.
Monday 16th January
Our theme: ‘Accelerating the sustainable enterprise'
Our theme for Davos 2023 — ‘Accelerating the Sustainable Enterprise’ — is underpinned by three areas: Resilience, Innovation and Partnerships.
Resilience across operations — supply chain, product development, talent and technology — is more important than ever as the global focus shifts from efficiency to resilience.
At the same time, the value of innovation continues to rise, with most companies seeking to build a culture of innovation to remain in a perpetually transformative state.
Finally, the ability to create strong partnerships around purpose-led ecosystems, will help every aspect of business, including attracting and growing talent, driving innovation, or developing new business models.
With our theme in mind, this year we continue the tradition of hosting our TCS Global Reception, taking place tomorrow night, which brings together more than 400 leaders from business, government, media, and academia.
This year, we will convert our dome-shaped venue into a Sustainable Planet, using augmented reality and advanced imagery to create sky, forest, and ocean environments. This will underscore how vital it is that nature remains in harmony and the vital role we have in protecting it.
Monday 16th January
Partnerships and collaboration more important than ever
This year’s annual meeting is set against a backdrop of a complicated geopolitical situation, making bringing countries and companies together more important than ever. TCS has long believed that the ability to collaborate, foster strong partnerships, and grow around purpose-led ecosystems is the key to success.
Today, at the start of the meeting, the World Economic Forum published its January 2023 Chief Economists, which brings together the views of leading economists.
“As the world puts another tumultuous year behind it, governments, businesses and households will all have to grapple with persistent headwinds throughout 2023,” the Forum says. “Financial conditions remain tight, with little scope for significant loosening, despite much of the world economy being at risk of recession.”
Even so, there are “tentative grounds for optimism,” with the cost-of-living and energy crises likely easing by the end of this year.
To put the global economy on the firmest footing, the Forum’s president Børge Brende said in a video address that “we have to stop fragmentation of the global economy” and continue to work together to revive global economic growth.
Monday 16th January; 12.19 CET
Five sessions to look out for.
TCS will be present throughout the week, participating in the main meetings as well as those on the side lines. There’s a packed agenda, with multiple sessions, speakers and panels. See the whole schedule here: https://www.weforum.org/events/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2023/programme
The sessions to look out for:
Taking place on Tuesday at 09.45 CET, this session will look at jobs that are liable to be transformed by technology in the next decade and how we can prepare for that.
Also on Tuesday, starting at 13.00 CET, there will be a discussion about the adoption of technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence and internet of things. The conversation will explore how these adoptions can drive sustainable transformation of industries and sustainable economic growth.
Natarajan Chandrasekaran, the Chairman of Tata Sons will speak on a panel, starting 10.15 CET on Wednesday, about driving India’s economic transformation over the coming decade. The panel will also feature Smriti Zubin Irani, Minister of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Women and Child Development of India and Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Railways; Minister of Communications; and Minister of Electronics and Information Technology.
Later on Wednesday, starting at 13:15 CET, a discussion about the interplay between efficiency and resilience and how this relates to profits and taxes.
On Thursday, at 14:00 CET, a discussion about how world leaders and private decision-makers can balance short-term energy needs with longer-term supply, sustainability and affordability requirements.
Good morning and welcome to the first day of TCS at Davos 2023.
Charting TCS’ activity at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Switzerland, this live blog will give a snapshot of the action, bringing together the key themes all week.
The Davos agenda today features some arts and culture sessions to open the meeting before the full programme begins tomorrow. We will also see the launch of the Forum’s survey of chief economists, and a debate about the opportunities to create and optimize integrations between the electricity sector and other infrastructure to enable a transition to a net-zero economy.
Stay tuned for regular updates.
Tuesday 17th January
TCS Reception: Accelerating the sustainable enterprise
Yesterday evening, TCS was proud to host a reception that brought together more than 400 leaders from business, government, media, and academia.
Using augmented reality and advanced imagery, the dome-shaped venue was converted into Sustainable Planet to greet the guests. Sky, forest, and ocean environments lit up the space, highlighting the rich variety of nature and underscoring the role we have in protecting it.
TWEET: https://twitter.com/TCS_Europe/status/1615476348612485134
Tuesday 17th January
Data collaboration: Lessons from the field
Collaborating to unlock the value of data for society was the theme of one of this afternoon's panels, including how to democratize data.
The panelists underscored the need to create open data systems with inbuilt collaborative frameworks and increase digital literacy to ensure that as many people as possible can participate in data collection and analysis. They also said more input from the private sector is needed to fast-track these initiatives.
This session was linked to the Forum-backed initiatives on Data for Public Goods. To explore how TCS helps companies create, manage, and disseminate data, click here.
Speakers:
Karen Tso, Co-Anchor and Journalist, CNBC International (Europe)
Kimberly Mathisen, Chief Executive Officer, HUB Ocean
Shamina Singh, President, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth; Executive Vice-President, Sustainability, Mastercard
Anurag Jain, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade
Supheakmungkol Sarin, Head of Data and Artificial Intelligence Ecosystems, World Economic Forum LLC
Tuesday 17th January
Ukraine, transition to Net Zero, key themes of WEF opening remarks
Conflict, geopolitical challenges, and the push toward net zero were the themes of the keynote speeches on the official opening day of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos.
Ukraine was a central topic, with an address from Olena Zelenska, the First Lady of Ukraine, speaking of the dangers of Russian aggression to the world.
TWEET: https://twitter.com/wef/status/1615292838475976705
Building on that speech, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, underscored Europe’s support for Ukraine. She also spoke about efforts to reach net zero and how they will change the nature of work and industry.
“In less than three decades, we want to reach net zero. We have to reach net zero,” she told delegates. That will require “the greatest industrial transformation of our times, maybe of any time”.
To achieve this, she said that Europe will accelerate a Net-Zero Industry Act and a Raw Material Act, increase investment in clean technology and reskill people to work in technologies that will underpin the transition.
“The story of the cleantech economy can be one of creative construction with the right support and incentives for companies to innovate, with the right focus on skills and people, with the right environment to make the most out of our world-leading innovation capacity,” the European Commission President said. “Europe already has everything it takes: talent, researchers, industrial capacity, investment, and Europe has a plan for the future. And this is why I believe the story of the cleantech economy will be written in Europe.”
TWEET: https://twitter.com/vonderleyen/status/1615302407071858688
In his opening remarks, Klaus Schwab, the Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum called for more cooperation in a fragmented world to overcome the multiple challenges that the world is facing. His call for unity was echoed by Alain Berset, President of the Swiss Confederation 2023 and Federal Councillor of Home Affairs, Federal Department of Home Affairs of Switzerland, who said that “the world needs strong multilateral partnerships.”
Tuesday 17th January
Good morning and welcome to the second day of TCS at Davos 2023.
Charting TCS’ activity at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Switzerland, this live blog will summarize the action and bring together an overview of the key themes.
Klaus Schwab, the Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum will give a special address alongside Alain Berset, President of the Swiss Confederation 2023 and Federal Councillor of Home Affairs, Federal Department of Home Affairs of Switzerland.
Delegates will also hear from Olena Zelenska, First Lady of Ukraine, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission and Liu He, Vice- Premier of the People's Republic of China.
On the technology side, in the afternoon there will be a panel on "Big Bests for Digital Industries" that looks at 5G, artificial intelligence and the internet of things. There will also be discussions on data collaboration for public good, generative AI, and on how leaders can prepare for future cyber shocks.
Wednesday 18th January
The pivot to resilience: A price worth paying?
A panel that focused on the shift from efficiency to resilience explored the factors underpinning that shift and who the winners and losers among countries are likely to be. There is some recognition that leaders need to be ready to absorb the costs of such a shift.
The three key points were:
What is economic success?
The panelists said there’s a need to re-examine how we determine economic success, with a focus on long-term factors and resiliency. This shift throws up some opportunities, including those that emerge from the green economy.
Building in sustainability from the ground up
There’s a need to ensure new projects meet long-term climate change goals. Policymakers can use the tools at their disposal to aid this process, helping to support sustainability from the start.
Innovation
Digital technologies and innovation will likely play a central role in the pivot to resilience. TCS helps enterprises to embed agility and resilience in their fabric, read more about our work here.
For more on this panel and the list of speakers, click here.
Wednesday 18th January
Digital technology and green energy transformations
A couple of panels, including one on ‘Twining Energy with Digital’, on Wednesday explored how digital technologies can help shape the once-in-a-lifetime transformation of the energy sector and which solutions can unlock benefits quickly and at scale. Here are the key takeaways:
Digital technology can speed up the transition
When harnessed properly, technology will enable us to become more energy efficient and sustainable.
The metaverse and digital twins
These technologies could be used to design new systems that are more efficient. There will be a time when there’s a digital twin for almost everything. Elements in the physical world will be designed, tested, and implemented first in the digital world.
Technologies need to be proven and transparent
Certification and demonstration can help bring customers on board. Transparency about where emissions are happening can help create technology pathways to bring them down — and all this is done with digital enablement.
Collaboration is essential
Achieving these transformations at speed will happen more effectively when we work together.
More creativity and boldness
Solving the biggest issues of our time, and doing so at scale and speed requires more innovation — not just in terms of the technologies that can help us, but also in terms of creative ways to bring down consumption and demand.
Wednesday 18th January
India’s road to a $10 trillion economy: Key takeaways
The panel discussed what actions will drive India’s economic transformation in the coming decade. Here are some of the key takeaways:
India's economy is resilient, with strong consumption
Panelists noted that the economy is resilient, supported by consumption and investment. Infrastructure spending and businesses are doing well and the future strategy is about fostering domestic opportunities and growing exports.
“The consumption that we are seeing is just fantastic,” N. Chandrasekaran, the Chairman of Tata Sons told delegates. “Urban areas, rural areas, the consumption we’re seeing is strong, even for discretionary items like electronics.”
Energy transition is at the heart of the strategy
India has ambitious goals as far as energy transition is concerned and is well-placed to take advantage of the global shift toward resilience over efficiency. It is on the way to becoming a global green hydrogen hub, which will spur even more investment in renewables and create jobs.
Reform roadmap continues
The Indian government has simplified legislation and cut through a lot of red tape, making it easier to do business. It continues to take a consistent, multidimensional approach to the economy and super charging growth by liberating innovation.
India is part of resilient global supply chains
India’s collaboration with other countries and companies from around the world put it in a good position to take the lead on forming resilient business ecosystems and generating resilient supply chains for the world.
Fantastic tech sector
India has a thriving technology and digital sector, with a huge talent pool, the panel said. The nation has demonstrated that it can leverage technology to benefit everyone, for example with apps to tackle Covid-19.
Participants:
- Shereen Bhan, Managing Editor, CNBC-TV18
- Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons Pvt Ltd
- Smriti Zubin Irani, Minister of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Women and Child Development of India
- Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Railways; Minister of Communications; and Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Railways of India
Thursday 19th January
One world, one earth, one future
India’s G-20 Presidency is built around the principle of one world and one future. This theme was touched upon in discussions on Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The challenges of decarbonization and the future of energy transformation was a major talking point in the afternoon sessions. Making supply chains more efficient was seen as one of the major ways to achieve this.
‘Decarbonizing Supply Chains: Leaving No One Behind’, was the topic of discussion for a panel that included Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General, World Trade Organization (WTO). The panel said that emerging economies are at risk of being left behind because they lack green infrastructure, making harnessing technologies to support decarbonization vital.
Decarbonizing supply chains requires an in-depth knowledge of each sector and better ways to calculate carbon footprints, the WTO Director-General told delegates.
“We can build a greener, more resilient, and more inclusive global economy by bringing people and countries currently on the margins of supply networks into new low-carbon value chains,” Okonjo-Iweala said. Helping developing countries to diversify their exports and bring more women-run businesses and small- and medium-enterprises into the green supply chains will also help build resilience for the world, she said.
“This is a big agenda, but I know we can do it,” She added.
Elsewhere, in a panel that explored ‘The Different Roads to Energy Transition’, India’s plan to invest in green hydrogen was highlighted as a way to improve the country’s energy security, affordability, and sustainability. Renewables were discussed as a way to grow the economy, create new industries and, in time, bring the cost of electricity down for all.
Leveraging technology to fashion sustainable enterprise lies at the heart of our business purpose. TCS’ commitment to corporate sustainability is folded into our focus on people, planet, and purpose, read more here.
Thursday 19th January
The Factory of the Future
One of the highlights of the Day 4 at Davos was a debate about how the global manufacturing community can adopt digital technologies. It was chaired by Jagjit Singh Srai, Head of the Centre for International Manufacturing at the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing.
Delegates discussed how smart factories came up in a relatively short time frame of about five to six years. It is possible for any organization, they said. While it is easiest to build in digitalisation from the ground up, it is also possible to introduce it to established sites.
Discussing the challenges, they alighted on two that apply to almost every manufacturer. The first is how to train employees to use the new technology, and the second is how to retrofit legacy machinery to make it compatible with the digital future.
As well as operational efficiency, digital technology can also be used to enhance and monitor safety.
TCS has a body of work on the ‘Factory of the Future’, a digital thread that binds connected assets, operations, supply chains and workers.
Read more about our work and our technologies here.
Thursday 19th January
Harnessing tech power for good of humanity
The power of technology — for use in positive and negative ways — has been a theme for panels and delegates at Davos all week. A panel on Thursday addressed this head-on, noting that leaders have the responsibility to explain the positive and optimistic ways technologies can be harnessed in the future, while also guarding against misuse.
Collaboration — one of TCS’ central pillars — was seen as essential to ensuring that emerging technologies are used in the best way possible. The panel discussed how technological strides are often opportunities that should be maximized, and made more accessible., New technologies should be used to open up a broad spectrum of education to as many people as possible.
Kent Walker, President, Global Affairs at Google, told the panel that working together would help maximize the potential, asking, “What is your digital strategy? And what is the collective digital strategy to make the most of the opportunities?”
Fake news and cybercrime are among the challenges, said Brett Solomon, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Access Now. But technology can actually be harnessed to disrupt the problems that arise, he added.
“We spend a lot of time talking about AI in the context of efficiencies,” said Genevieve Bell, Distinguished Professor; Director, School of Cybernetics, Australian National University. “It can also be used to talk about wonder and opening up possibilities that we didn’t know existed. All of these technologies also have the possibility of creating new things.”
Read more about TCS’ approach to collaboration, technology and Davos, here.
Thursday 19th January
Optimism in Davos: TCS and the macroeconomic outlook
At the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, TCS’ Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Rajesh Gopinathan, spoke to CNBC about the economic outlook.
“The mood is definitely much more optimistic,” said Gopinathan. “Everybody is positive. I would say incrementally what has changed is that on the European side, confidence has increased.”
“Multiple threads are emerging, the opening up of China is a big thing,” he said. “That’s coming out very strongly as a big thing.”
He added that a less severe than anticipated energy crisis is also a positive.
TCS continues to invest in research and innovation, and that shows through in the patent numbers. “Today, we have more than 2,600 granted patents and another 6,000-7,000 in the pipeline.”
“It’s really ramping up. About 70-80% of them are around technology and applied technology,” with the rest in areas such as materials and cosmetics and healthcare.
TCS’ long-term mission remained intact even amid the pandemic, he stated, and the company needs to continue adapting and becoming resilient.
“I have a lot of confidence in the resilience of the organization,” he said. “We need to make sure we articulate the knowledge that we have, and that we monetize that knowledge. There is a lot of value capture that lies ahead.”
Thursday, 19th January
Tech-powered governance: Building India’s digital economy
With every aspect of India’s economy digitalizing at a rapid pace, this panel discussed the benefits and challenges of new technologies and the power of artificial intelligence. The participants were India’s Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw; Brad Smith, President and Vice Chairman of Microsoft and Rajesh Gopinathan, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of TCS.
“Any such tool that accelerates technology adoption and processes, I think is a huge benefit, and a benefit to society,” said Rajesh Gopinathan. “We need to understand it, we need to be able to incorporate it, but I’m very optimistic about what it can do in terms of its transformative power.”
AI is a tool that will make many aspects of life more successful, but it does come with challenges, the panel noted.
“We need to go into it with our eyes wide open,” said Brad Smith of Microsoft. He pointed out how easy it is to weaponize technologies and use them for criminal purposes. He added that work needs to be done “to ensure that they are used ethically, legally and responsibly.”
Managing transitions is always challenging, but India is open to technology and is open-minded about the benefits that it can bring.
“Whenever such technological transitions happen, there will always be disruptions, uncertainties, and we in the government should be very open minded,” said Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. He added that India’s policymakers need to be thoughtful when regulating AI so that the technology can be harnessed while also being utilized for the benefit of society.
Thursday 19th January
Enhancing resilience in the global electronic and semiconductor supply chain
Yesterday our Executive Director and Chief Operations Officer N. G Subramaniam took part in a roundtable discussion on 'Building Resilience in the Global Electronic and Semiconductor Supply Chain’ with Invest India and Confederation of Indian Industry.
The semiconductor shortage served as a stark reminder of the fragility of global supply chains and the need for connected, intelligent, and collaborative ecosystems. TCS has always helped its clients to improve transparency in their supply chains and made them more intelligent using cloud-based products with features including proactive risk mitigation, real-time market updates, and price and supplier performance tracking.
Other participants on the panel included Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for IT, Electronics, Telecom and Railways of India; Smriti Zubin, Irani
Minister of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Women and Child Development of India; and, Shereen Bhan, Managing Editor, CNBC-TV18. Read more about TCS’ work on supply chains here.
Thursday 19th January
How innovative, adaptable and resilient businesses thrive in testing times
In a blog that chimes with the themes of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, our Chief Operating Officer, N. Ganapathy Subramaniam (NGS), argues that resilience, adaptability and embracing technological change are the factors that will make businesses fit for the future.
“It would be an understatement to say that the pandemic accelerated technology adoption and digitalisation that would have normally taken years if not decades to break through,” NGS writes. “What is more, with the pace of change and the high levels of uncertainty we face, there is a premium on adaptability.”
Having come through the worst of the pandemic, the international community now finds itself surrounded by challenges. “Organizations now need to take their evolution one step further,” he argues.
“And as much as we would all like to return to less turbulent waters, it’s clear that volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) are set to stay with us for some time yet,” he writes.
To thrive in this environment, leaders must think beyond the concepts of resilience and robustness, and adopt a mindset of constant evolution, continually iterating and becoming better after disruptions. A wave of frontier technologies is likely to bring more change, hot on the heels of Cloud, AI and ML.
“But technology will not stop there. By its very nature, it continually evolves,” NGS says. “To maintain the high level of resilience needed to achieve antifragility, organizations must develop an innovation mindset.”
Read the full article here.
