While we witnessed the rise and fast growth of newer and disruptive Technologies in the last decade, most governments across the world have not yet seriously attempted to create a clear roadmap and harness the power of these potent tools for effective governance.  Even governments of developed nations have only managed to use these technologies in limited areas such as process transparency and surveillance. Studying the broad range of technologies that currently exist and predicting the future trends is important for anyone who is in the business of designing, implementing and improvising public administration polices and processes. It is in this context, that we need to understand and appreciate the timeliness and relevance of this book.

‘How could we use today’s technologies to promote the greater cause of equitable and sustainable economic development of tomorrow’ comes across as the common theme in the book. The book in its essence is a collection of carefully crafted technology topics on society, governance and economy. Written in a lucid and easy to comprehend style, the book unfolds to the reader in five layers.

Firstly, it touches and introduces a wide range of cutting-edge technology topics like IoT (Internet of Things), Bitcoin, Augmented and Mixed Reality, 5G, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to the readers.

Secondly, through interesting case studies, the author illustrates to us how various sectors of the economy such as agriculture, logistics, banking, mass transportation, education, health care and retailing are fast transforming through the application of smart technologies.

Thirdly, the book provides overview of the evolving concepts, processes and procedures  on Agile project management, Lean structure and systems, Design Thinking through the central chapters of the book. These concepts are explained in simple and practical steps to give an inside glimpse of what it takes for an organisation to adopt and work with these approaches.

The impact of these new approaches on the culture and behaviours of the stakeholders   is examined for all types of organisations - be it a start-up, small business, government department or an established corporate company.

The fourth layer focuses on addressing the concerns of cyber security as well as the social apprehensions and uncertainties in terms of functional disruption, impact on jobs and cultural shifts required to cope with technology changes.

The fifth segment discussed transformational management processes to support and facilitate businesses to go through changes with planned and nimble precision. Business and Operating Model review and renewal, the concerns of small business to deal with fast changing business environment and issues related to the managing of millennial workforce are of particular interest to ongoing businesses as well as start-ups. How the cumulative impact of varied technological innovations impacts the social fabric of the nation is brought out through many of the articles.

Although, there is a non-linear order in which these layers of technology topics manifest to the reader, the concluding sections of the book, beautifully brings together all the beads into one thread.

As much as this book aims to ignite ideas for policy-makers, civil servants or anyone who is working directly or indirectly with public sector entities, it also could be of immense interest for academicians, students and job aspirants to educate and prepare themselves for what is coming ahead.

The book serves the purpose of broadening perspectives and triggering ideation on a range of techno-economic issues. It makes a compelling reading for all those interested in understanding and adapting to the deluge of pathbreaking technologies. All through the book the need for developing an interdisciplinary approach in managing the opportunities and challenges of the ongoing technological transformation is amplified.

Being an introduction to the technological changes that are unfolding, this book is more focused on the breadth of knowledge and the business connect of emerging technologies than an in-depth analysis of specific technologies and sectors.

 

Krishna Mohan

The author is a Management consultant by profession who has worked with leading Global consulting firms like McKinsey. Krishna is passionate about technology, entrepreneurship and education. He holds a Master’s degree from IIT Kharagpur. He now lives in Australia.