Episode 8: Information & Digital Technology; Not the same

IT and Digital are not one and the same. The former has progressed this far from the concept of collecting and processing data. It essentially made the manual process for enterprises and industries more efficient. And was called Management Information Systems (MIS) for heaven’s sake.

 

Well, it relied on the Internet and progressed into Web 3.0 with Mobile Applications and a little bit of self-help. But predominantly forms based where someone was collecting the same data for various things, again and again.

 

Digital on the other hand is shifting that power to create, connect, curate, contextualize and collaborate data from enterprises to individuals. There are no forms. The creation of data is continual and contextual and therefore incremental. The needle is moving from Processing of Data to Automating and Orchestrating the data.

 

Who in the world is there yet? Well, this is a paradigm shift and the usual suspects like Alphabet, Apple and Amazon are already there with the technology. But Digital will be successful only when the controls shift to individuals. And that is a lot of Work In Progress (WIP). We need People to believe that this is Possible and Potentially Life-Changing. It is their Participation that will encourage the adoption and democratization of systems.

 

Despite the current recessionary trends, this is a committed and evolutionary part for humankind. And it has so little to do with perpetrating or continuing with the past. In fact, it is a complete breakaway from the past and a new way of Life Systems being established. The challenge is to find the conviction to cut the cord to the past and anchor to the future with renewed Structures, Synergies and Systems.

 

In this episode, we explore with Prof. Rahul De, the intricacies of this shift with Dr. Rahul De who is the Professor of Information Systems and teaches courses in Artificial Intelligence and Information Systems at IIMB. His primary research interests are in AI Ethics, e-Government systems, Open Source, Digital Payments, Tele-medicine, and ICT for Development. He is also the Chairperson, the Office of International Affairs.