Tech intensity will help businesses improve productivity: Nadella

Businesses of various scales can improve productivity and affordability of their products and services by building tech intensity, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said.

Nadella noted that organisations globally are undergoing digital transformation amid the COVID pandemic, and that trends like hybrid work, hyperconnected business and multi-cloud environments require "a boundaryless digital ecosystem where trust between different parties needs to be established in real-time".

"Digital technology is a powerful deflationary force in an inflationary economy. Businesses - small and large - can improve their productivity as well as the affordability of their products and services by building tech intensity," he said.

He added that helping organisations navigate this change and emerge stronger is both a tremendous opportunity and an enormous responsibility for tech companies like Microsoft.

Highlighting trends like hybrid work, hyperconnected business, multi-cloud environments and cybersecurity, Nadella said the company is building the identity system of the future, a connective network that enables people, organisations, apps and even smart things to make real-time decisions.

"...whether it's hybrid work, hyperconnected business, multi-cloud, multi-edge computing or Zero Trust security, it requires a boundaryless digital ecosystem where trust between different parties needs to be established in real-time," he added.

Speaking at the Microsoft Future Ready event on Tuesday, Microsoft India president Anant Maheshwari said India's advantage is that it was already well on its way with digital and the two years of the pandemic have served to accelerate how India can play a leading role for the next normal of the world.

"Starting with, being among the largest number of digitally connected people on the planet, India has now evolved to create the largest digital identity system.

"And that is now rapidly enabling billion scale digital platforms - a great example is how India is catapulting to lead the mobile payments innovation and scale for the planet," he said.

Maheshwari noted that the innovation in India is now accelerating through the third largest startup ecosystem - the entrepreneurial energy is just compounding.

"We are seeing the largest scale of unicorns being created at an unprecedented pace.

"What is dramatic now is the significant share of B2B players in the Indian startup ecosystem indicating how India's Software as a Service or SaaS ecosystem is maturing...India's unique strength is its large developer population...Rapidly adding to it now is the low-code / no-code platforms that are democratising digital asset creation," Maheshwari said.

He added that with the power of India's large young population that is natively connected and mobile, India can scale the creation of digital assets without necessarily knowing how-to-code software.

"At Microsoft, we believe in empowering everyone to do more and we strive to make tech accessible to individuals and businesses.

"We focus on building an ecosystem approach to accelerate India's progress, and are now the largest end-to-end ecosystem in India...

"We value partnerships with our customers and partners," he added.

Photograph: Lindsey Wasson/Reuters