Brainstorming for Making India's Growth Story at India-US Technology Summit

The biggest priority for every single bureaucrat, minister, politicians and even individual citizen of India is to contribute in the change for their country that is much expected. Undoubtedly a new spark has made people of India to rethink, rebuild their thought processes in order to experience a better India. New schemes, Government programs such as ‘Make-In-India’, ‘Clean India’ etc are offshoots of this spark.

Coming onto the advancements of technology in governance, we have a lot of work upon. The advent of the 21^st century has seen an unprecedented pace of change in the advancement of technology leading to an explosion of data generation worldwide.

Reams of data are cascading in at unparalleled rates from new devices and multiple points along the value chain. For developing countries like India with a large population, strong youth demographics and a potent supporting telecommunications ecosystem, this data explosion creates a challenge and opportunity for both industry and end-user alike.

At India-US Technology Summit many aspects of collaboration were discussed by expert stakeholders of both sides.

“Technology is the greatest amplifier, connecting Indians across the country. Critically, an empowered Internet is possible only with a connected population, and in India, this connectivity must reach the bottom of the pyramid. The Government’s vision is based on the premise that the 1 billion plus Indians must be connected, supported by an inclusive plan encompassing affordable and accessible broadband, infrastructure creation and localized content development” said Dr Arvind Gupta, National Head – IT, BJP, at a session on “Connectivity and the Internet of Things” at the India-US Technology Summit which is being organized by Confederation of Indian Industry, the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and the US Department of State.

Dr. Gupta further elaborated that the Government’s vision underscores the importance of disseminating a digital literacy campaign, which will not only leapfrog adult literacy initiatives but also unleash the power of innovation enabling co-creation solutions from India for both technology transfer as well as manufacturing for the world at large.

During the panel session on “Big Data – Start of a Data Explosion,” Dr BVR Reddy, Founder & Executive Chairman, Cyient Group, said, “Importantly in India, key demand-side fundamentals such as the proliferation of smart phones and availability of low-cost sensors will continue to fuel this exponential data growth. However, the key variables of Big Data are the 3Vs – volume, velocity and variety: With the velocity of data generation escalating and the variety becoming increasingly complex, it presents both a challenge and opportunity to store, analyse, combine and redefine this data growth for both industry and governments.”

Taking off from Dr Reddy’s address, Mr Kaushik Bhaskar, Director - Information & Analytics Software, IBM India Software Lab, said, “Data is the world’s newest natural resource. Organisations and governments worldwide recognize that digital information provides a critical competitive advantage in the competitive workplace and helps transform business models. Big Data is based on velocity of data generation and veracity of the output generated, especially as organisations focus on customer-focused investments.”

Using case study examples to highlight how Big Data can be employed for the greater good, Dr Manish Gupta, Director – Xerox Research Centre India, Xerox India Ltd, said, “Delivery of public services serve as good examples of how Big Data can harnessed to deliver solutions and make a better impact on society. Big Data mapping, collation, analysis and application techniques help improve both access and quality of healthcare delivery. They also provide tier II and III Indian cities, burdened with poor infrastructure, traffic and congestion management blueprint models that have been adopted successfully elsewhere.”

The Panel Discussion on ‘Designing ‘Secured’ IT Processes – Growing Need for IT Security & Compliance’ brought together business leaders who recognised the exposure that comes from operating within an interconnected global ecosystem. The panelists discussed the importance of striking the right balance between high-end IT service delivery and adherence to regulatory compliance measures.

Dr Ganesh Natarajan, Vice Chairman & CEO, Zensar Technologies Ltd, said, “decreasing data integrity, loss of intellectual property, regulatory compliances and frauds are increasing with 60% of organizational data breaches going unreported. The biggest outcomes are financial loss and impaired brand reputation.” He added, “it is critical that key preventive measures are adopted and implemented i.e. notification, investigative, and security system & data management protocols.”

Elaborating on the importance of designing secured IT processes, Mr Balaji Venketeshwar, CEO, Secure Matrix (I) Pvt Ltd, said, “The nature of technology is that it possesses a high rate of obsolescence, which necessitates that organisations must share information on their security protocols on a real-time basis to thwart and impede cyber-attacks. He added, “Given the rate of change of technology and the ongoing nature of these attacks, security preparedness is essential. This preparedness entails management of threat intelligence by a dynamic monitoring and response mechanism.”

Mr Manish Tiwari, Chief Security Advisor, Microsoft Corporation (I) Pvt Ltd, said, “Organisations need to address security holistically and put in processes & policies that are driven from the top and complied with by all and sundry. Alignment of an IT strategy to security requirements involving risk assessment protocols and policy & risk controls is critical.”

In an era of increased accountability, stakeholders are taking a significantly keener interest in ensuring that the entities that they are associated with are compliant. There is an unified and standardized compliance management strategy to help enforce consistent regulatory compliance and controls processes. Compliance ensures that a company can uphold a positive image and build consumer trust, thus, working towards higher productivity and better market performance.

Echoing these sentiments, Mr Rajesh Uppal, Co-Chairman, CII National CIO Forum and Executive Director (IT), Maruti Suzuki (I) Ltd, said, “adoption of the right processes and technologies is critical for any organization. Besides, regular training and sensitization of employees on safety and security protocols and information-sharing guidelines are imperative, as the susceptibility of data leakage in today’s highly connected world is high.”

Whatever said, or highlighted, any spark needs a vision and plan of execution to bring any change. I feel that the initial phase is moving smoothly but the most critical element is plan of execution. More importantly, execution of all the planning becomes decisive.

Industry stakeholders and policymakers are zeroed on bringing better ecosystem for business. Which can be considered as a positive start for the spark.