Geopolitics to become integral to IT industry: Top Ericsson India official

Geopolitics will define business decisions in IT industry going ahead and companies will have to focus on real-time data to stay ahead of competition, says Amitabh Ray

Geopolitics will define business decisions in the IT industry going ahead, and companies will have to turn their focus on real-time data to stay ahead of the competition, said Amitabh Ray, the managing director of Ericsson Global Services India.

Ray said geopolitics can no more be overlooked by IT companies in the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.

"In the IT industry, we were very happy to keep ourselves away from politics, but now it will become an integral part of information technology, because decisions about places where we can do business and with whom will be driven by geopolitics. We have to adjust to this," he told PTI on the sidelines of a session at INFOCOM 2022, an IT event organised by the ABP Group.

The senior company official said business leadership needs to be redefined in today's times, and a key aspect of that is to take into account factors like "nowcasting".

"Business decisions will have to be taken on the basis of 'nowcasting', which is all about the present. In this direction, IT companies have started scanning data from a host of active sources like social media, airline traffic and bank transactions," Ray said.

"What we have known as globalisation for the last 50-odd years was driven by three factors cheap capital, labour and energy but all three are gone today. You have to accept this fact to move ahead," he said.

Ray also said climate change is another crucial aspect that IT companies need to consider, and many firms are taking this into account.

"You cannot set up a big data centre in a country where natural calamities have been rampant. Climate change is going to be here and interrupt our future plans, and therefore, needs consideration," said Ray.

The key is to balance organisational priorities with societal and climate demands, and operate globally with a local mindset, he added.