Digital is India’s remarkable opportunity for achieving 'Second Independence’ to emerge as a global digital leader: Nitin Seth, Co-Founder & CEO, Incedo Inc

To get more insights, we contacted Nitin Seth, Co-Founder & CEO of Incedo, to learn more about this new edition.

Why did you write a New Edition of the book “Winning in the Digital Age” given that the first edition was launched just a couple of years back and has been so successful?

I feel humbled that the First Edition of the book “Winning in the Digital Age” (WITDA) has received such an overwhelming positive response —it has won five Best Business Book awards and has been on the bestseller lists consistently for the past two years.

I believe the success of WITDA is owed to the relevance of the topic – “the digital age,” which is the overwhelming megatrend of our times. Now, the digital age is not static but a highly dynamic amalgam of multiple technology and business forces at work. For example, in the past two years, many of the trends I had talked about in the original edition of WITDA have become mainstream. Cloud has become all-pervasive, data is rapidly exploding, and AI adoption is going mainstream. Generative AI, in particular—in the form of its popular application, a chatbot called ChatGPT—has caught public attention.

It is this quality of continuous evolution in the digital age that was an indication for me that its story and success mantras need to be chronicled and updated constantly, and it prompted me to pen this new edition of WITDA.

Are there any specific areas or topics that you covered in the New Edition?

Yes, I have added new topics and made significant updates. I have added a new chapter on how digital provides India a remarkable opportunity for breakthrough growth. I call it India’s ‘Second Independence opportunity’. History has demonstrated that during every industrial revolution, there is a reshuffling of global superpowers. I strongly believe that the digital age, which is the Fourth Industrial Revolution, will instigate a shift in the global order, and India will emerge as one of the digital superpowers.

I have also expanded on the Future of Work - Unlocking the potential of your workforce through AI, where he suggests that the growth of AI will necessitate that many jobs will need to be rethought and redesigned. However, it should be with the mindset of ‘human and machine’, not “human or machine’. I have also simplified and expanded on the introduction to the Digital Age and its dynamics so it becomes easier to absorb.

Do you believe that there is any key technology that will make India a global digital leader?

Well, Digital is not one technology. Rather, it’s an entire range of technologies. However, I believe that the biggest explosion is going to happen around AI and Data. AI is quite visible now, but the underlying aspect is around Data. AI is only as good as the underlying Data. While India has an opportunity across all the aspects of Digital, AI and Data is where I see the greatest potential. India has so far been the software development capital of the world; India now can become the data capital of the world.

Many books have been written in the recent past on Digital Transformation, so how is this book different from the rest of them?

If you look closely, a lot of the books on this topic have either been written by academicians who have a theoretical perspective or by businessmen or entrepreneurs who are trying to sell something. My book is primarily different in the sense that it is like a practical handbook. This book has a lot of frameworks, so if you want to undertake digital transformation, you can use these frameworks to execute your digital initiatives.

Could you provide specific examples from the book regarding some digital innovation that is already helping India progress towards global digital leadership?

Firstly, the leadership India has in the IT services industry is a clear example of India’s leadership on the global stage, and India’s share in the global IT industry has been growing every year. Secondly, the Aadhar stack, which is a digital stack enabling a lot of digital services, is really world-class, and there are very few countries that have anything like that. Thirdly, Digital payments are another example where India is a global leader and far ahead of the US and China. All these are very positive examples of what the future holds for India.

The new edition of "Winning in the Digital Age" is now available in print and digital formats at leading bookstores and online platforms.

https://www.amazon.in/dp/0670095427?ref_=cm_sw_r_apan_dp_1SA3DDGCXS3WG0N5NES0