Tech Unplugged | Future of Tech | Alexei Miller, MD & Sheetal Kale, Head of DataArt R&D | Part 2

So just to add on, thank you so much, Sheel. Since you are leading the R&D development sector in India, what are your insights on the same question? Do you think that there was some technology that was relevant in the past and has become completely irrelevant today and will not be relevant in the future as well?

Wow, so interestingly, our locations are called R&D centers by DataArt. So coming to the more technological side of things, as Alexi rightly said, the next 10 years, I feel from what I'm hearing in the market, and I attended the Bangalore Tech Summit recently, so we had some good discussions around AI, ML, and the unknown. So as rightly said, I wouldn't be able to name the specific technologies that are going to get redundant, but for sure the next 10 years are going to be very pivotal in this digital transformation journey in these technological innovations that are happening, and AI, ML, data science, data analytics, these are things that will shape up the future. Yet, at the end of the day, our human mind, our brains, ourselves as humans, we are such a colossal setup where we are able to ideate, we are able to pivot, we are able to be agile, we are able to change the speed of things. So if we use our minds with AI by our side, I'm sure we are going to win. We don't need to get scared of what's in front of us. And as a company, as a culture, DataArt is used to working in the unknown. So for us, we are happy to keep AI and ML on our side and work alongside it. And to that point, when it comes to AI/ML, we are very proud and humbled that we already have AI/ML Labs at DataArt, we already have incubation hubs, accelerators within the company. So that's our way of being prepared for the future to come.

What should we call the next cutting-edge technology? Three years ago, which is almost redundant today, and do you think the software industry will soon mimic the pattern of how fast mobile phones become outdated? Is there something like that you have in mind?

So we have a question: many great app and software ideas usually die because the person who came up with the idea did not have the knowledge on how to proceed with the development or simply thought that it was not their cup of tea. So what would you like to tell them to help their ideas come to life?

Okay, so of course there are a lot of ideas and innovative approaches that startups or individuals come with, and we do see a trend many times that things go to a certain level and then they roll back or just don't develop as they should. I wouldn't say I can give you a magic portion on how to bring better apps to market or how ideas can come to market. There are lots of nuances, lots of experiences, situations, environment, a lot of things that play in together. Yet let me try to answer this in my way, the best way possible. So let's say we have an idea of building a product or doing something. Before we even think of working on it, a lot of research needs to go in the backend. What we see is like that iceberg approach in marketing, sales, R&D, and product development. What we see is just the tip of the iceberg, but right behind, 90% immersed, is all research: a lot of understanding, development, reading, learning. So please do your research. Research what the market has, what kind of applications and software already exist, what your competitors are doing, what is working, what is not, what the market demands. Are you solving a problem? Are you fulfilling a need? All this is part of your research. So research is very important, number one. Secondly, as an ideator or product developer, you don't need to understand the coding language or know how to code, yet you need to understand the whole development process. You at least need to understand the various stages of development when a product goes from ideation to fruition, and at least the basic technological layers that need to be utilized. So at least do that research and be very cognizant of the stages involved. It's not like some missile theory where you ideate and then bring it to market. No, it never happens. There are a lot of stages and things involved. Pay cognizance, utilize that time and energy at every stage. It is important. So I would say understand the various development stages of new product development. It's sometimes called NPD. So know these stages in your new product development cycle before it comes to market. Simple: test the idea. You can start from your friends, you can test your idea from your friends, your colleagues, your social networks. Please test the ideas before you bring them to market. And like I rightly said, does it fulfill a need or solve a problem? You need to understand this from the application you're developing. So test your ideas, you can also test with surveys, interviews, talking to people, understanding what the market needs. So get involved in doing all this. Then comes a very important part of product development: having a good mentor, a mentorship program, or being a mentee while you're developing your application is very important because a mentor brings collaboration which you may be missing out on just by thinking with your friends or colleagues. So having a mentor is very important. Then I would never say go big right from day one. Take small steps because when you start small, you are able to iterate, and that is the need of the hour. Please listen to your customer. You may have a great vision, you may have that great thing in your mind that this is going to create wonders, but you'll be surprised that the customer may be wanting something else. That's the time if you start small, you are able to iterate, adapt, be flexible, do so much more by just listening to your customers. So it's important to start small, it's important to collaborate. I may not be able to code, I may not know a lot of things. This is the time to collaborate with people, outsource with smaller companies who can help you, and go together as one while building that application or program. And without doubt, whatever I said does not make any sense if as an app developer or product developer I just don't have grit, determination, and persistence. Grit is something where hard work is needed three times more than the technology. These skills can be learned, but persistence, determination, that drive to continuously move on with it. Yet a word of caution: don't fall in love with your project or product. If you fall in love with your product, you become so biased in your approach that you're not listening to anybody. It doesn't work. So these are a few things I would like to say. And of course, at the end of the day, it's money. We need funds. So when you're developing something, you need funds. So go to various schemes, scholarships, grants, crowdfunding approaches. That's how you reach out to people for some good funding. So that's pretty much it about product development or how to bring your app from an idea to market.

So Alexi, let's come to you. With an increasing number of similar applications, what do you think is the new definition of innovation in the tech industry?

Another question that the entire world somehow wants an answer for is: do you both think that AI will one day take over the world like the Terminator? And if not, then what is the extent to which it will impact our lives in a positive and in a negative way? How do you think it will positively impact or probably bring a more negative change in the future?

Of course, it's not going to rule us. AI is not going to be any kind of Terminator. As I mentioned sometime back, AI is a tool. How we as human beings, especially our human mind, work with it, pivot with it, work along with AI, that's how I look at it. We need to keep AI by our side so that both of us win. How can we do that? Our past experiences of so many years have taught us that the human brain is just limitless. The capacity, the nature of the human brain is just limitless. So the human brain is able to ideate, pivot, be agile, take decisions, stop decisions, take wrong decisions, take right decisions. But because we are able to utilize our brain, till the human mind thinks, we will be able to keep AI on our side and win along with AI by our side. I surely don't think we are going to be negatively impacted by AI. I do feel that upskilling, cross-skilling, and learning new skills is a necessity of the hour and will come in for our people, for our workforce. Certain things may be taken over by these automated bots, AI bots. But when certain mundane things are taken over by AI bots, a person like Alexi, Tanvi, and me have the time to think more on important things. Let's look at it that way. So that shift, that mind shift, skill shift would be needed in years to come. I agree.

I was reading something that says there's a quote: 'Technology is a great servant but a terrible master.' So now to Alexi, I would like to know the other side. So now what if technology becomes a master because somehow we as a generation are also becoming a little lazy and technology is making us a little lazy? So what if we make technology our master and we completely depend upon these tools?