Today, one thing that is common among-st all the mid-level and high-end organization is that, all of them boast of having ‘best practices’, ‘industry expertise’ and ‘sophisticated processes’ in whichever business they might be involved in. You can even find this mentality within most professionals. They believe that being an expert in one field is the key to success and specialization creates a mark in the society.
But one thing that they may or may not have realized is the fact that we live in an era where technology is disrupting almost all the traditional aspects of doing a task or a job. And not adapting or embracing it would surely lead to complete outage from the business. I am not even exaggerating when I say this. It is the truth.
So, what will the future mean, for businesses and organizations?
When machines had first come during the time of #industrial #revolution, there was a sense of fear that these machines will take away jobs, making us humans redundant. But, with time, new types of profession and jobs were created such as machine handling, controlling, operations manager, controller, foreman, factory supervisor and so on.
Then in the 1990s came the #internet revolution, which changed the way people used computers, laptops and mobiles.
With one click, you can could control surmountable amount of data, buy clothes, talk to each other via video conferencing and the internet created new jobs like, website developers, website designers, publishers, Internet based application designers, server manager, internet service provider, social media managers and the list continues even today. New businesses emerged – Amazon, Facebook, Tencent, Twitter, Uber, Ola, Google, AirBnb, Zomato and they are big with valuations worth billions of dollars.
And coming finally to the present, we have #AI,# Blockchain and #IoT which are reigning the technological world. People fear that machines will ultimately take over and there shall be no space or room for doing any business or physical task.
Yes, there is going to be revolutionary change in the way we do business, and everyone will have to adapt to this.
Specialization won’t work in your favor since a redundant or similar task can be easily taken over by a machine through deep and machine learning technologies.
I believe being a #polymath is the way forward. For those who don’t know what a polymath is – it is word used to define a person who has the knowledge of varied fields and can think from different aspects and horizons.
With knowledge of fields which are complementary to each other like Software development and computer and mechanical engineering or completely diverse fields like Accounting and AI technology, you will be able to solve not one, not two but many problems with better solutions. The knowledge combination of two different fields will be able to help you open newer businesses and services you never thought before.
Just imagine the capabilities that can be offered by a polymath in the future with technology reigning the redundant and repeated tasks!
I come from a commerce background and am pursuing Chartered Accountancy (US Equivalent-CPA) but I am a researcher of Blockchain technology, Artificial intelligence and CX management and love to develop business models, draft social policies and write contents on varied topics for diverse types of audiences. This has given me an edge over my peers who are stuck in unilateral work environment and interactions.
In future, your business will work best when it is able to adapt to unique needs it’s customer presents to it and this won’t be possible if only one area of work is selected to specialize. In my earlier article “Power of Shared Capabilities” I have explained how businesses can harness their true potential and increase their customer base by creating a shared business model and showing a combined front to customers.
Your workforce will need to crack situation and problems which will be far more complicated then what they are today and only a person with a 360 degree vision and mind will be able to cater these emerging problems.
Chanakya was an Indian teacher, philosopher, economist, jurist and royal advisor. He is traditionally identified as Kauṭilya or Vishnugupta, who authored the ancient Indian political treatise, the Arthashastra. As such, he is considered the pioneer of the field of political science and economics in India, and his work is thought of as an important precursor to classical economics.
He created his mark as early as 12th century and his strategies and policies are admired and adopted even today by people across the globe. Why was he a success? It was because he was able to think and apply various concepts of one field(maths) into another (Politics) and create strategies that are unmatched even today.
#Leonardo Da Vinci is another example of a polymath.
A few days back, I met with one of my classmates who was enthusiastic to start a research cell in our college. But he was of the opinion, that commerce being our field of expertise, won’t fetch us good results and we won’t be able to cover much ground and neither cater to companies at large. We discussed a lot and finally an idea struck. We took the ‘polymath’ concept as our base and drafted a proposal which lays down a strategic combination of research cells in engineering college and our research cell. We will learn about different technologies that are being developed from them and we will teach them businesses and commerce understanding along with problems people face with current policies/technologies.
Together, new business ideas, new policies for governments can be created and this idea of combining two fields so diverse under one research program for creating future businesses seemed full of potential!
Here’s another example of how you can shape things up with the help of technology if you are a polymath –
Imagine that you work in a Financial Assurance and Management firm. Usually, they have people having the same finance background and they rely on tailor made software for managing their clients and data. But one fine day, your bosses realise that they are relying on three different software for recording the lead they got, conversion of lead to client, using another software for putting actual number of hours worked towards that client and using a 3rd software for raising invoice. All of them require almost the same data. What if you had a solution? What if you knew technology and had the ability to create a logical model?
The solution is very simple. By leveraging Blockchain Technology, the data recorded first and the conversion from lead to client gets recorded in the ledger. The same ledger can be used to record the number of hours put in for that very client and raising the bill accordingly. All under one platform with zero data tampering and high efficiency, which you helped create and leverage with a right logical model. Your value increases in the firm!
I may not be able to give a tag to the job that was done above, but you get the gist, right?
For every replacement, for every innovative technology, there shall be new opportunities, new ventures and new jobs at hand.
Today your organization should develop an “Innovation by everyone” policy where each of your employee is given an opportunity to present new ideas, new technological solutions, newer working models which give you a competitive edge for today and tomorrow.
Someone might just develop technologies which will be far more effective then Artificial Intelligence! Rather than inserting intelligence in a machine, someone may develop a technology that would enable us to enhance our brain capacity. You never know!
The only thing you need to do right now is KEEP LEARNING and EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY. With time, you shall be capable of harnessing power and logic way beyond your potential!
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