Covid-19, a wake-up call for MSMEs to adapt digital : Dr. Kapil Dev, CEO, Coeus Age

The growth journey of India Inc is passing through a uncertain phase in wake of the Covid-19 catastrophe. The environment has become volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. From big scale companies to medium, small and micro businesses, all are facing difficulty in growing. Covid-19 has taught the growing relevance of digital in business.

Digitization in the wake of the pandemic is a make-or-break issue for many companies. Rethink the Future: In a new series of expert interviews, SME Futures gathers input from prominent voices in academia and business.

In an interview in this series, Dr. Kapil Dev Singh is a globally recognized digital analyst, innovation strategist, digital consultant and board advisor and has over two decades of rich experience. He has been tracking the ICT industry for 20 years now. He is currently spearheading path breaking research on digital in enterprises and governance, explains why “this crisis was a wake-up call for MSMEs to adapt digital”.

Dr. Kapil Dev Singh answers the following questions;

1.    Covid-19 seems to have suddenly pushed digital transformation much further ahead. How are companies coping with this? Do you have advice on how they can adapt to a fully virtual workplace more effectively?

2.    Is India ready to radically accelerate digital transformation across sectors?

3.    How can companies balance the need to go virtual ASAP against developing a long-term digital transformation strategy? What shouldn’t they overlook, and what are some of the dangers of switching to remote work overnight?

4.    Can the current transition to fully virtual organizations help create more agile ways of working? If so, how? Could this be an opportunity to innovate, and how can organizations leverage that?

5.    What should businesses do with their digital transformation programs at the unprecedented crisis unleashed by this lethal virus?

6.    Are you seeing positive, inspiring stories of how business decision-makers (CEOs/ CFOs) are responding to the Covid-19 crisis? Who would you point to as an example for other leaders?

7.    What investments are the most necessary to create the technology environment that will allow companies to thrive in the next normal?

8.    A lot of upskilling has to happen for a company to digitally transform, but in tough times like these, training budgets get cut first. So how do companies meet this challenge?

9.    The MSMEs are the worst hit by the virus, is technology going to be the knight’s shining armour?