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During these trying times when the industry is heavily affected with economical issues came up the pandemic called Covid 19 and disrupted the industry completely. We at Industrial Automation Magazine have taken an initiative to bring the industry together and share their viewpoints so that others reading can take measures accordingly to have minimal damage.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in interviews are personal, not necessarily of the organisations represented.
Mohua sengupta a Senior Business Leader, with 25+ years of experience across the globe, both in the Financial Services Industry and in the IT Services Industry. In the past decade, I have focused on Digital Transformation, Digital Banking, Distributed Ledger Technologies, Application of Emerging Technologies in Banking, Insurance Healthcare to name a few. After spending almost a decade in Royal Bank of Canada Financial Group, I had shifted back to India and have worked in organizations like Wipro, Accenture, Patni, iGate, ITC Infotech and 3i Infotech. Currently I am an Independent Consultant utilizing my experience and expertise to support my clients. I am extremely passionate about Women’s issues especially in the Corporate and have spoken and written extensively in that space. I am also very passionate about emerging technologies and their application in the BFSI space and have written 100+ articles in business journals of repute. I am a theatre enthusiast and together with my husband, I have co-founded Ventures, a banner for theatre enthusiasts, in 2014. Ventures has produced 3 full act plays which have been staged in various prestigious auditoriums in Bangalore and outside. Academically I am an MA in Economics, an MBA in Finance and a Certified General Account of Canada. Most importantly, I am a mother of a 13-year-old daughter.
Completely. The world at large has been completely caught off-guard. We have never experienced anything similar to this before. The reason this is so unique is because of a combination of three things:
i. A highly contagious virus
ii. No vaccine or medicine to tackle it
iii. A highly globalized world where people travel internationally very frequently
In the past we have seen a combination of two out of three of these, but never all three together. Centuries back the world has faced cholera or smallpox, but at that time global travel was extremely infrequent. So it took a long time for a communicable disease to cross borders. But today with this extreme globalization, no challenge is contained to one corner ever.
So today’s problem is very new and unique and everyone is trying to grapple with it.
The world is at the juncture of a complete transformation. Businesses are no exception. Every business, in fact every industry will be facing a transformation post Covid-19. Each business’ transformation will be a bit different from the others depending on its nuances, and specialities, but they all will transform. In the short-term the B2C industries will see more change, since people will continue to be sceptical about face-to-face connects. But even B2B world will change. We all know that there will be a new world very soon. Overall digitalization and automation will be the buzz words of this transformation.
Some of the key changes that we would notice in the immediate future are:
i. Bank branches or even ATMs will see much less traffic because people are getting used to digital payments
ii. Online insurance will completely take over agent based insurance transactions
iii. Restaurants, health clubs, pubs will need more spacious seating or interacting area to attract people
iv. Work from home has been tried and tested fully during this lockdown and many companies will now start rationalizing space and many suitable processes will start getting shifted to people who will work from home always
v. Education industry has seen a sea change and has shifted completely to online classes during the lockdown. In the new normal, they will definitely have a new line of business.
vi. Even in healthcare industry, we will see more video consultation replacing OPD
vii. Automation will be the focus in every industry. The world has now realized that dependence on people comes with a level of vulnerability and no matter how much BCP/ DRP is done, there might be a situation where people are unable to get to the job. Automation takes care of any such issues and a process that has been automated will go on uninterrupted for long.
And the list goes on….
Most Governments are struggling through this crisis and if we analyze this struggle we can broadly see two sets of issues:
i. First they got the information late as to how contagious this disease is and hence they took longer to bring travel restrictions and also effect other lockdowns.
ii. Secondly the healthcare facilities in every country fell short of what they needed and the Governments had to react to that situation.
In order to combat the first issue, I think there is a need to have a regulation, and the commensurate technology, to report the emergence of any new communicable disease, where the vaccination and medicines are yet to be discovered, on a real time basis, not only to WHO, but also to the Health Ministries of all countries. Given that data privacy and security, together with audit trail, would be paramount here, a Blockchain protocol with WHO, different Health Ministries and may be even nodal hospitals as different nodes, seems most appropriate.
For the second issue, I think all Governments, would take a relook at their public healthcare facility and try to restructure appropriately. Another transformation! In countries like India where most people rely on private healthcare, there is a real need to restructure public healthcare.
High accuracy thermal scanners have seen a huge drop in price. I don’t think the reason behind not using it is cost. I think it’s another area where the demand increased without any prior intimation. So manufacturers are unable to meet the demand. As much possible they are being used. But it’s not just about having the scanners, where I think many countries are falling short, is that most people have either not been trained to use the thermal scanners appropriately, or have been doing their job with less than necessary diligence. We need to focus on plugging these two loopholes.
Absolutely! I think even the worst sceptics of work-from-home, have now realized that it works. So many organizations will now think of rationalizing space cost, while being a more employee friendly organization at the same time. This will definitely be a complete paradigm shift. It’s about time Real Estate owners start redoing their construction plans.
As I have explained in the second question, automation will be a focus area for every industry in the immediate future. Every organization will focus on automation, and especially the more mission critical processes, in order to reduce dependence on people.
Honestly this crisis is teaching us a lot and most are fundamental or rather spiritual. For me, the biggest lesson from this crisis is that life can always throw a curveball at us - something we haven’t planned for. Secondly nature is all powerful and no matter how much money or power we have, it can fall short in front of nature. Thirdly the world can work together to address a crisis and no boundaries are material when it comes to a crisis for the humankind. Fourthly, our known way of doing something is not the only way and when a challenge is thrown at us, a new way comes out. And finally paradigm shifts happen when we are faced with a crisis.
#April 2020 Covid Special
To say the world is passing through trying times is to state the obvious. Also evident is the fact that for too long the world has been ignoring the warning signs of environmental degradation fuelled by human excesses and greed. But this is no time for ifs and buts, nor recrimination. Instead, the crisis should be used as an opportunity to make the required course correction to make the world a safer place for all living beings, and the ecological balance, restored.
Industrial Automation invited a cross section of industry leaders to offer their views and possible course of action as a way forward from this situation, even as governments across the world and the people are trying to make sense from the still evolving scenario.
To read the full cover story Please click here
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