2020 predicted as an era of technology transition in India: Report

21st century showcases that the digital era has leveled the playing field, disrupting established industries and enabling new players to have a slice of the pie. However, established businesses have also learned to use digital technology to their advantage. Many are increasingly seeing the benefits of foraying into digital solutions to improve operations and expand market reach.

Apart from businesses, consumers also have an insatiable hunger for newer technology these days. Besides, a device introduced last month soon becomes obsolete in an instant as people quickly move on to a recently launched cutting-edge technology.

Take mobile devices for example. Over the last ten years, tech giants like Apple and Samsung have been fighting neck and neck to win hordes of tech-crazed consumers by launching the newest mobile phone and tablets every year.

The reality emphasizes on the fact that companies need to embrace the adoption of new technology and applications, especially now that the world is moving toward Era of Digital Disruption.

In lieu of this, Mr. Gaurav Gupta, Founder and Director of SquareBoat (a company which provides solutions to craft beautiful, responsive, and feature-rich web and mobile based applications ) has shed light on some of the important aspects revolving around technology transition in India.

How will India benefit from foraying into digital solutions to improve operations and expand market reach?

I believe that transition to new technologies is always gradual and so would be the case in India. What will happen by 2020 can already be seen in lesser proportion nowadays. By 2020, India would have a bigger rural population which uses mobile phones and computers, and as that happens it'll be more and more important for companies to build trust and market their products through online channels. I predict companies to be investing in online marketing using local social media influencers and promoting the use of online payments methods for their products and services.

Industries impacted and challenges faced in the adoption of Digital trends especially in India

Media is one of the sectors that is disrupted by technology. Earlier it used to be a privilege of only a few to have a voice and to be published, but these days, anybody with an internet connection can be a journalist, using platforms like Medium, Wordpress, YouTube etc.

What companies are lacking is the right human resource to provide the stimulus for a transition towards Digital. Never in the history has technology developed at such a fast pace as now. This is making the people from previous generations lagging the current generation in terms of awareness about technology. Therefore, the reason that a lot of companies didn't change is that they simply couldn't, because their aging leadership did not have the right attitude and/or knowledge to make that shift.

Current technological trends and the digital impact

Currently, the technology world is looking for another thing that can be shared/booked/bought online. Given the success of startups like Uber, Airbnb, and Amazon, people hope to find things which can work on the same model of online booking. This has led to a lot of people and small businesses reach a bigger audience. Today, almost any seller has the option to sell online via Amazon, hotels have attracted international tourists via hotel booking sites like Oyo and taxi drivers have reduced waiting times via Uber and Ola.

Indian mobile market and how technology is actually helping this industry to grow

A couple of years ago the mobile market in India had a 70 percent share of feature phones and a meager 30 percent of smartphones. With the advent of Chinese companies in India which provide low-cost smartphones, the imbalance has been neutralized and may even go the other way in future. Although most of this has been achieved with the help of advancements in manufacturing technology but the number of digital products which are now becoming a part of our daily lives, like Paytm and Ola, have also made buying a smartphone almost a compulsion.

Strategies that should be employed by companies to embrace the adoption of new technology and applications

A company should ideally have a workforce which is generally up to date with new technologies. This would lessen the requirement of training the company's workforce in case the company wishes to adopt a new technology to improve their performance.

A company should always look at the processes their customers go through, also called the 'customer journey roadmap'. One way to introduce relevant new technology would be to make the customer journey smoother than before by adding technologies like online payment method, Facebook or Google login etc. Another way would be to make the customer journey more fun by adding technologies like interactive graphics, social media sharing etc.