Thinking Big, By Nandan Nilekani
Inside the mind of a digitalist
India can progress, but not without embracing the transformative power of information technology and applying the data it throws up, says one of the foremost digitalists of our times, Nandan Nilekani.
Thinking big is a habit with Nilekani, co-founder, former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Infosys, and ex-Chairman, Unique Identity Development Authority of India, (UIDAI) the organization charged with the responsibility for Aadhaar, the largest social identity program in the world.
“Look, whether you spend ten minutes thinking small or thinking big, that’s ten minutes gone. So one may as well think big!” Nilekani told me in a different context some 20 years ago – an insight at how the man thinks. …show more content…
Thinking big is also the resounding theme of his first book, Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century, and more so in his second, Rebooting India: Realizing A Billion Aspirations, co-authored with Viral Shah. It provides an information technology-based blueprint to turn the country into a powerhouse by resolving the gamut of ills dogging our society.
It’s in this context that Digitalist Magazine interviewed Nilekani. Excerpts:
Q: Is digital increasingly becoming a way of life for corporations?
A: We are entering a phase where a digital backbone, or reimagining your business using digital, is becoming essential for every business. There was a time when people bought technology to improve their internal productivity, then to become more competitive externally, but now it is about reimagining your business around technology - this is becoming a global phenomenon.
Q: But technology in what form? There was a time 20-25 years ago when it was about …show more content…
Look at what is happening in retail in the US today, it is turning out to be a battle between Amazon and Walmart. Walmart has $486 billion in revenue, and 60% of their sales come from groceries. Groceries require to be fresh, that means it must be in a physical format but they realized they need to have a strong e-commerce play and so they bought internet retailer, Jet.com. So from a physical outlet-based business they are going the e-commerce way and Amazon coming from a purely e-commerce background, is buying physical stores. This clash is playing out in every field. So, what is new is, that companies with completely, radically new thinking in a particular sectors are coming up, and on the other side, existing firms are reimagining themselves - this is playing out in almost every sector
India can progress, but not without embracing the transformative power of information technology and applying the data it throws up, says one of the foremost digitalists of our times, Nandan Nilekani.
Thinking big is a habit with Nilekani, co-founder, former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Infosys, and ex-Chairman, Unique Identity Development Authority of India, (UIDAI) the organization charged with the responsibility for Aadhaar, the largest social identity program in the world.
“Look, whether you spend ten minutes thinking small or thinking big, that’s ten minutes gone. So one may as well think big!” Nilekani told me in a different context some 20 years ago – an insight at how the man thinks. …show more content…
Thinking big is also the resounding theme of his first book, Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century, and more so in his second, Rebooting India: Realizing A Billion Aspirations, co-authored with Viral Shah. It provides an information technology-based blueprint to turn the country into a powerhouse by resolving the gamut of ills dogging our society.
It’s in this context that Digitalist Magazine interviewed Nilekani. Excerpts:
Q: Is digital increasingly becoming a way of life for corporations?
A: We are entering a phase where a digital backbone, or reimagining your business using digital, is becoming essential for every business. There was a time when people bought technology to improve their internal productivity, then to become more competitive externally, but now it is about reimagining your business around technology - this is becoming a global phenomenon.
Q: But technology in what form? There was a time 20-25 years ago when it was about …show more content…
Look at what is happening in retail in the US today, it is turning out to be a battle between Amazon and Walmart. Walmart has $486 billion in revenue, and 60% of their sales come from groceries. Groceries require to be fresh, that means it must be in a physical format but they realized they need to have a strong e-commerce play and so they bought internet retailer, Jet.com. So from a physical outlet-based business they are going the e-commerce way and Amazon coming from a purely e-commerce background, is buying physical stores. This clash is playing out in every field. So, what is new is, that companies with completely, radically new thinking in a particular sectors are coming up, and on the other side, existing firms are reimagining themselves - this is playing out in almost every sector