Digital Sets You Free, says TCS CEO Rajesh Gopinathan
If you have in the past few months been able to lead a semblance of normal life – shopped for things, transacted with a bank, or consulted a doctor – you have likely done it online. The COVID pandemic has been a global leveler, causing pain and disruption in its wake, but also showing us a long-enough glimpse of a world that can break free of its own constraints. Digital is powering that shackle-free world.
While there is uncertainty around the duration of the pandemic and the impact on the economy, the verdict on digital is unequivocal – the post-pandemic world will be overwhelmingly digital. Many have already reported that a few months of pandemic-induced lockdowns have been a leap of several years for digital adoption.
A large company like TCS – 446,000 people over 46 countries, partnering over 1000 large global organizations – switched to 95% Secure Borderless Workspaces™ within a few months of lockdown. For TCS, this digitally-enabled freedom brings talent fungibility, location-independence, and higher levels of productivity, in addition to better social, environmental, and wellness outcomes for our employees. For our clients, when hit by a ‘black swan’ event like this, digital gives them wings of agility to pivot to new business or operating models.
For a large, populous, and diverse nation such as India, everything happens at a scale unimaginable for many nations around the world. TCS is an integral part of India’s technology story – both as to its largest IT multinational and as the digital backbone of the nation. I am struck by the flexibility and access that digital has enabled for India. The large-scale grassroots citizen programs that TCS have developed in healthcare, banking, telecommunications, or transportation show us that transparent, adaptable systems are only ever going to be possible through systematic adoption of digital.
For those of us living in India and celebrated our 74th Independence Day on August 15, 2020, it was an apt moment to reflect on what freedom means in today’s context. Digital is the most powerful symbol of freedom. Let us embrace it.
