This week in IT: It’s digital everywhere

AI. Digital. Machine learning.

One could never seem to escape from these terms at the recent NASSCOM conclave in Mumbai. It would not be an exaggeration to say the whole place reverberated with the digital slogan despite geopolitical uncertainties looming large.

Yes, one never knows how Brexit will swing or where trade wars will lead to. The US government’s position when it comes to H1B visa is only all too clear and is not bound to change anytime soon.

And yet, IT industrialists are confident that there is no better time to be in this business than now. Many digital focused enterprises cite previous quarterly results that showed strong growth and increasing digital contribution.

“We don’t see it diminishing any time soon,” Rishad Premji, chairman, Nasscom and chief strategy officer, Wipro.

According to a survey released by Nasscom, client investments in digital are at an all-time high, and the momentum is likely to continue in the next year as well.

If we observe global trends, this transition is more or less reflected across all sectors. Everyone from car manufacturers to local Kirana store owners have begun to take the digital route. One can pay for their rice and dal through Paytm or PhonePe.

There are startups that are trying to disrupt the retail supply chain by competing with bigger players in the process, while smaller companies are able to get big business contracts with their innovative technologies.

Noting this trend, companies have no option but to pull their socks up and invest in talent to build such products and services, or buy them out, both of which are taking place.

This definitely means more business, which translates to the need for a larger workforce that is acquainted with latest technology that the market is abuzz with. The dearth in talent assures a premium pay package for those are skilled in this space.

It’s good to be enthusiastic, but read between the lines, warn analysts. “One needs to look beyond the buzz,” said Phil Fersht of Hfs Research who tracks the industry.

He reasoned that only when the buzz dies down that one would know how great a technology is. “Now we are clearly seeing winners. Cloud for instance,” said another analyst.

Other digital technologies such as quantum computing and Blockchain, which were talk of the time until recently, continue to develop.