Sanjay Saxena – Director (Worldwide IASP) IBM on ‘Design for better future’

We are speaking a lot about the “new normal”, the words of the Lebanese philosopher, poet and writer Kahlil Gibran ring true today, “To go back is impossible in existence”. All rivers end up in the ocean and it is said that they tremble, before flowing into the ocean - to become the ocean. For us to overcome our fears, both of rapid change and the unknown future, we must learn to accept change. The global pandemic has changed the way we view ourselves - it has changed our present and the future forever. We need to allow converging technologies to take up a prime position in how we can adapt them in our personal and professional lives. The future of almost all the sectors has been affected in the wake of the pandemic be it advertising, entertainment, education, healthcare, insurance or finance. A lot of it was due to technology, the internet; but now this pandemic that surrounds us has accelerated change the way it was never predicted. Re-skilling is becoming ever more important. The convergence of AI and Robotics will surely make many jobs redundant. And we fear change, resist change, if we do, then change will overcome us, destroying all our creativity and our future. Our job is to keep moving on, adapt to change as if it’s our only lifelong friend. Think of some important brands: Sears, Nokia, Kodak, Sun Micro Systems. To understand, what everybody refers to as “The Big Picture”, is more relevant now and will continue to berelevant in your lives, starting now, well into your early professional years. Disruptive innovation is becoming a more common place and you, the students, will be those, who will be accelerating the pace of change. Change should be the only constant in your lives, and we must embrace that premise. The changes in the covid 19 era are also interesting at the workplace, in terms of how and what businesses are required to do in order to survive and remain competitive and relevant. If the last year is anything to go by, many business leaders look to this disruption as a catalyst that will force change in workplace practices, for always. Consider some of these forces in the marketplace that you will all be faced with as you grow up from being young students to the professionals of tomorrow:

• A substantive change in demand: Businesses are moving to become digital enterprises in a truer sense of the word. Changes have to be brought about in conceptual thinking of how to meet the evolving needs in a business-to-business environment.

• A different workforce: You will often hear the words “re skilling”, “digital marketers”, again a change that favors your generation more than mine.

• Fundamental strengths of a business: Everybody will look to do business with companies that have a sound fit for purpose, for fundamentals and are agile enterprises. Workplaces that offer sufficient remuneration with loyal staff members creates workplace that resonates with its employees, and are able to produce stronger and more flexible supply chains.

• Regulator and Government: Governments need to be more responsive to sudden changes across the economic spectrum. How to manage flux by creating new structures that are trustworthy, reliable, transparent and efficient – How to cut out red tape and promote entrepreneurship. How to facilitate commerce. How to function as a true servant for its citizens.

• How to overcome the virus and track its evolution: This aspect will entail defining innovation in medical research, investments, collaboration between the private and public sector to foster new protocols for dealing with the virus.