Four ways technology will drive innovation in 2023 By Ravi Chhabria, managing director, NetApp India

At the turn of the decade, we witnessed a digital transformation like no other. Owing to various circumstances, the landscape transformed the way we do business, and was a turning point for accelerated adoption of technology to meet evolving customer demands. As we look towards the future, technology will continue to play a pivotal role in giving enterprises a competitive edge. Here is what will define the Indian technology landscape in 2023 and beyond.

The Indian technology sector will invent and innovate for the world

In the face of global crises, India has cemented its position as a harbinger of resilience. Digital Identity, digital applications, digitally delivered entertainment, digital payment systems, technology enabled supply chains, robust last mile network connectivity – mobile and fibre, enabled this resilience. This has cemented India's tech prowess, as every citizen has experienced the benefits at times of extreme stress. Services were not just delivered and segmented at scale by government and non-governmental agencies, digital infrastructure enabled social innovation at a grassroots level.

This ability to leverage data to drive change, the rapid adoption of cloud has impacted almost every sector and has opened new avenues to build innovative products and services. At its core, data is enabling this change, and will see Indian tech experts apply exceptionally powerful algorithms on massive cloud infrastructure to create solutions of value.

Supported by favourable policies such as the Digital India movement, India has risen to the forefront of promoting the growth of technology, and in tandem with the government, will continue to invent and innovate in the years to come.

Data services will be key to problem-solving

We are at a historical moment in the evolution of technology. The massive availability of data, not just transactional records, but patterns on behaviour, interaction, communication, location, consumption carry insight that can generate efficiencies, target therapeutics and social programs alike, reach the massive scale required for social engagement in a country as populous as India.  The confluence of data, massive scale IT infrastructure provided by the cloud, algorthims that can act at that scale, using emerging tech such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will dramatically lower the cost to make societal impact.

Technology has evolved, where the expertise required  to apply and adopt technology is shrinking.  Examples are emerging – open source technologies like Copilot are just the start. Experts across fields can leverage technology, be data-driven, without having to be experts in managing data themselves. Data, and the insights that it provides can be a powerful tool to identify, assess, and solve business challenges in real-time. As we move forward, we will see an increased dependency on data as a problem solver and means to reduce inefficiencies and redundancies to improve user/ customer experience. 

Hyper-personalised customer experience will be a game changer

What we have seen so far, is the massive reach, and scale that technology enables so efficiently.  Domain experts in fields such as health, sociology, economics, politics, business, finance, education, will be able to correlate machine curated data to deliver hyper-personalised experiences. Deliver services, customer satisfaction, at the district, community and individual level. Witness the number of platforms developing AI based tutoring.

Sustainability will drive cloud adoption

Over the years, companies have acknowledged that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) management has a defining role in its operations. At a time when the world is going through a climate crisis, the challenges we face require everyone to be a part of the solution. ESG is moving beyond the press relese and the headline, firms are embracing sustainability goals, sustainability is part of the technology roadmap, and increasingly the product feature set.  Carbon footprint is being put on equal footing with price, performance, and user experience.

Unified control planes that provide observability, and deliver a simple experience across hybrid multiclouds, are just one example of technology that can drive sustainability. These provide consumption dashboards that allow businesses to make intelligent decisions on operating the platforms that drive innovation.

The future will be defined by our approach towards the use of data and technology. How we create opportunities, solve challenges, and work towards building future-proof business models will be seen in our ability to innovate with data. We have already proven our mettle and have earned our place on the global technology map. Over the next few years – as more industries and services become tech-enabled, we will continue to be driven by a sense of purpose and work towards building a digitally driven world.