Komal Jain on High Tech Evolution

Komal Jain: Sure.

Jeff Kavanaugh: Are they cool internally, themselves?

Komal Jain: It's difficult to see, right? While they work on some really cool stuff, I think that internally they face very similar challenges. I think the biggest one is attracting the best talent. Everyone wants to go after what you call the super programmers, the 10x programmers. So that's a constant challenge for any company, and more so for high tech. Also, I think many of these companies have grown big very fast.

Komal Jain: And another thing unique about high tech is many companies go through mergers and acquisitions. So all of a sudden, you see internal technology systems which don't talk to each other. So I meet across many CIOs almost every week, and they're all still struggling to clean up the mess, and making basic information available to their business. So they have those challenges, they look cool from outside, but I think internally, they have the same complexity.

Jeff Kavanaugh: Going from an internal view to maybe a macro view, and maybe some would even say the elephant in the room, what about China? How is the dependence on China influenced the growth of the tech industry?

Komal Jain: I think China is a big player in the high tech world. If you really look at China, they've been known to be the manufacturing hub for good quality stuff at a much lower cost. That's what led to the emergence of Foxconn, the TSMCs, and many of the manufacturing majors in China. And I think they've led that wave. But what is really interesting is how China has shaped up in the last few years. I think in the last seven to 10 years, you would see China emerging as a AI superpower. You know, we look at some of the innovation coming out of China, the likes of WeChat, buy2, AI, Alipay, and very recently, TikTok.

Komal Jain: You see really interesting cool stuff coming from that region. And in fact, just two years back, if somebody were to say that a company from China would emerge, which would be on every phone, nobody would believe it now. Now but take the example of TikTok. I think it is one of the leading products on every app store, and on everyone's phones, competing with the likes of Facebook, and Instagram, and WhatsApp. So that's very, very interesting. So my personal view is that China will move and grow from its manufacturing position, as manufacturing hub to being an innovation hub.

Komal Jain: And if some of you are really interested in this topic, I would recommend you look at a book, a very interesting book called AI Superpower by author Kai-Fu Lee. I think it's a very interesting read.

Jeff Kavanaugh: Staying on the topic of China for a moment, what should executives outside of China know about China, especially if they're concerned about high tech?

Komal Jain: I think China presents itself as an opportunity as well as a big threat. I'd say opportunity, because it's a huge population. It's willingness to catch up to the Western countries in terms of technology adoption, and most importantly, government support to embrace technology with the likes of smart cities, AI, and its focus on innovation. So it really is something you can't ignore.

Komal Jain: But I call it as a threat also, because you're going to see competition from local Chinese companies. They have access to cheap Visi money which was not earlier available. They have access to talent, English-speaking talent, which is all of a sudden available, and who are willing to work double hard than their Western counterparts.

Komal Jain: And then more importantly, there is a government regulation which supports local companies rather than global majors. So that's why it's a big threat.

Komal Jain: Now, looking at companies who want to take care of this opportunity, I think the only way they can focus on growth and expanding that region is through continuous innovation. Because the moment you're entering China, you're seeing hundreds of copycats coming up who are willing to work double hard. But I think the biggest advantage that you will have is to be able to innovate, to be able to attract talent, and continue to try new things, localize it, and then expand in that space.

Jeff Kavanaugh: Let's look at the product itself. Everyone is enamored with software, but there are still factories that make stuff, that make physical goods. What's the factory of the future look like for high tech?

Komal Jain: So, the factory of the future actually would be a learning factory. We've already seen the emergence of intelligent factories. We have seen robotics being embraced in a big way. We are seeing data now being used in a big way to get real-time analytics, and real-time information, and put in the feedback loop, which helps make these products faster and cheaper and readily available, and be able to adapt to changing cycles.

Komal Jain: Also through industry 4.0, and leveraging IoT and cloud, we are seeing big shifts that really making the factory of the future. I feel the factories of the future will be more learning factories, where humans will work closely with machines, and be able to create that virtuous cycle, where you're able to make products which are far more customized, which are far more unique in many ways, at a much faster rate.

Komal Jain: Now it has two significant implications. Number one, I personally feel that the factories will move closer to their end customers. So we're already seeing that Tesla making its factories in Silicon Valley, or they're going to Europe. Because labor is not a big consideration, proximity becomes important.

Komal Jain: The other thing which we will see is factories be able to mass customize at a large scale, right? I can order my car to my specs, and be available in two to three weeks. That's something we could not foresee even just two, three years back. So mass customization, even for large factory locations is going to be very possible.

Jeff Kavanaugh: Working in the tech industry myself, what always amazed me is applicable I think to most businesses, but especially this, the market rate of change...

Komal Jain: Yes.

Jeff Kavanaugh: ... is X, whatever it is. It's a year, let's say. And yet the rate of change of a company to catch up has always been, let's say three years. It's at least twice that. It's like a mathematical equation with no solution.

Komal Jain: Yes.

Jeff Kavanaugh: You can never implement a big change before the thing you were trying to do is no longer relevant. How do executives deal with that in tech?

Komal Jain: It's not easy, right? It's not easy. For every success that gets talked about, like the Uber, the Airbnbs, the Shopifys, the Teslas of the world, right? There are a lot of failures along the way, which nobody knows. But I think what makes tech industry unique is, they're able to embrace those failures. And I think large global enterprises also need to do the same. You know, I see companies that are really successful in making this shift as the one which have an incubator mentality within the large enterprise. They have something called a “future fund,” or “navigate your next fund,” which is directly in the sponsorship, directly of the CEO. They're able to really focus on what is going to take them to the next evolution of growth.

Komal Jain: Now, if you look at the successful companies that have really reinvented them over and over again, examples like an Intel, or an Apple, or Adobe, or very recently Microsoft, we are really looking at where their new set of growth came in to drive incremental revenue top line. Whereas the traditional business kept the cash flow going on.

Komal Jain: So you really have to look at making that shift happen with that future fund, or an incubator fund, and have that sponsored not around side project or a small project, but right under the CEO, or somebody as senior as that.

Jeff Kavanaugh: Tech firms have traditionally been business to business, or B2B. What are the most important implications as they transition to B2C models, or businesses to consumer?

Komal Jain: Not all companies need to move to B2C. They really don't need to, because as I mentioned earlier, high tech powers in many other industries like the financial segment, the retail, the automotive and so on. Now, the companies would continue to sell in a B2B model, but they really help their clients, and their industries create disruption on their own world, so that will continue.

Komal Jain: On the companies that are in the consumer electronics segment, I think the battle is already on. In the world where end consumer has got used to instant gratification, a great customer experience thanks to the Apple, Netflix, and Googles of the world, I think the companies that'll continue to emerge are the ones that will really make the end user life experience much smoother, and provide them at the touch of a button.

Komal Jain: I'm particularly interested in looking at companies who can focus on few key elements, right? You know, I'm very curious to see how companies make the shift in the health area, right? To be able to focus on human longevity, and in a good way. To focus on autonomous driving. I think that's a big area companies are spending a lot of time and money on it, but there is still some ways to go. I think we're going to see more and more B2C work happening in that space.

Jeff Kavanaugh: We hear the phrase digitally native a lot, but what does that really mean? How are tech firms embracing it?

Komal Jain: I think this is a very interesting term that was coined by Marc Prensky in 2001. Referring to people who grew in the era of ubiquitous technology, which includes the computers, the internet, and the mobile. The digital natives are the ones which feel technology is integral part of who they are. They can't separate technology from their own lives. In the business world, it is really tied to companies in the mobile and social space. These companies really don't hold a lot of physical assets, or factories, or operations, but they have access to a lot of data, right? The companies like Uber, the WeChat I talked about, the Googles, and so on, Facebook and so on. So they every day, have access to petabytes of data. That itself is a gold mine. So they are the ones who are going to call the shots going forward, and really shape many of the industries.

Jeff Kavanaugh: What is a common misconception about the high tech industry that most people don't know?

Komal Jain: The many that are around? Yeah. I think everyone feels that high tech, you get to work on cool projects. I think that's not the case. And as I mentioned, companies have grown fast. Companies get acquired, companies merge, and there are a lot of legacy stuff, or disparate system that creep in. So there are things that don't talk to each other, and there is a lot of mess that needs to get cleaned up, and that's not always cool.

Komal Jain: The other thing that everyone thinks is that high tech industry attracts the best talent. Actually, that is not the case. In fact, high tech industry is a poaching ground for traditional companies to attract best talent. High tech industry on the other hand, attract good talent from colleges. They create for them a platform to work hard, sweat, and really become the superstars of tomorrow.

Jeff Kavanaugh: Like the farm team.

Komal Jain: Absolutely. Absolutely. And also, I think the third thing is that high tech companies are really cool because they provide access to free food, free beer and whatnot. I think that's a misconception, because those are the people who are working day in and day out. They have absolutely no work-life balance. So a lot of people who... things that look cool from outside may not be the ones which a lot of people-

Jeff Kavanaugh: Come for the ping pong, the free food, stay the night. Yeah.

Komal Jain: Yeah, absolutely. At work the whole night.

Jeff Kavanaugh: Yeah.

Komal Jain: You're absolutely right. So, these are the things that make high tech look very cool from the outside, but in the inside, it's not as exciting as it looks out to be.

Jeff Kavanaugh: We're close to wrapping up. What three things can you leave executives with, that they can follow to succeed in their own disruptions?

Komal Jain: What comes to my mind is be really honest about the difficulties of change. People know it, people talk about it, but very few do it. I think the biggest thing is, be able to champion failures, be able to embrace what changes, and be able to full heartedly support that. I think that's one big thing which I will recommend highly to anyone listening to this podcast.

Komal Jain: Second, I personally feel is, always look for the right talent. And third thing which I constantly see is, especially in the high tech world is, be constantly learning. Being able to really sense what is changing, being able to look at things outside your normal horizon, you know, what is your core day-to-day focus, and look at how industry shifts are happening. Because shift is going to happen. That is a given. How quick, how soon, sometimes difficult to adapt and know. And the only safeguarding is that is to be able to constantly learn, look for new ideas, not just in your industry, but outside your industry, and take it fully head on.

Jeff Kavanaugh: Who's been a major influence for you?

Komal Jain: Jeff, I'd go to my father. Growing up, I could see a strong sense of work ethic, being able to put in the hours on things that you're passionate about, and give it all that you have. Also, being able to focus on the values, the time tested values of honesty and integrity. I think while it may sound boring, I personally feel that those are the things that are important for creating a lifelong success and happy life, and my father really had a big influence on me, and the reason why I'm here,

Jeff Kavanaugh: Boring never goes out of style.

Komal Jain: Yes.

Jeff Kavanaugh: I appreciate that. What online resources can you recommend to listeners? Any books or any insights?

Komal Jain: You know, I just finished a very interesting book on Elon Musk by author called Ashlee Vance. It's a very fantastic read, because this was written before Elon Musk got to be known for all the success at Tesla, and SpaceX, and others. It really talks about all the challenges he had to go through, almost the near bankruptcy situation that he got into. So I'd highly recommend anyone interesting to know what the high tech goes through, to pick that up.

Jeff Kavanaugh: Finally, how can people find you online?

Komal Jain: They can find me online on Infosys' website, on my blogs, as well as on LinkedIn, and if they are interested, they can directly write to me at KomalJain@infosys.com.

Jeff Kavanaugh: You can find details on our show notes and transcripts at infosys.com/IKI in our podcast section. Komal, thank you for your time, and a highly interesting discussion. Everyone, you've been listening to the Knowledge Institute where we talk with experts on business trends, deconstruct main ideas, and share their insights. Thanks to our producer Catherine Burdette, Dode Bigley, and the entire Knowledge Institute team. Until next time, keep learning, and keep sharing.