So the last time I heard doom in the IT industry was somewhere in 2001 during the dot-com burst when every other company was building a web-based shopping portal on the way to becoming the next multi-million unicorn. Since then we saw a lot of ups and downs in the industry including the crash of 2006 which really hurt and altered the course of many people's lives and wiped off their lives ' savings. All real pains experienced by the industry and people working in that industry.
History Repeats Itself
However, during the same period, we also saw friends who made their life's worth of money in the Y2K (the Year 2000) 'bug' which needs to be resolved for most of the mainframes and older systems. We also saw the IT industry bounce back resiliently after the 2006 crash and do so much better than all the doom and gloom predicted for the industry.
Somewhere in these past stories of depression and triumph, I see a reflection of what is happening now with Cloud, Digitization, BlockChain, and Artificial Intelligence. I see a lot of industry Thought leaders and business heads giving presentations and key-notes which could spin your head on how we are at a pivotal point of global transformation where technology is going to take over most of the common functions done by the mortals.
A shiny object that nobody understands
A lot of these thought leaders and VP of the new shiny thing called Digitization reminds of me a childhood story of a lion in the circus. Here it goes.
A factory is shut down and this unemployed foreman is desperately looking for a job. He goes to many employment agencies without any luck. Out of desperation, he goes back to an agency pleads with them to find him a job as quickly they can.
History Repeats Itself
However, during the same period, we also saw friends who made their life's worth of money in the Y2K (the Year 2000) 'bug' which needs to be resolved for most of the mainframes and older systems. We also saw the IT industry bounce back resiliently after the 2006 crash and do so much better than all the doom and gloom predicted for the industry.
Somewhere in these past stories of depression and triumph, I see a reflection of what is happening now with Cloud, Digitization, BlockChain, and Artificial Intelligence. I see a lot of industry Thought leaders and business heads giving presentations and key-notes which could spin your head on how we are at a pivotal point of global transformation where technology is going to take over most of the common functions done by the mortals.
A shiny object that nobody understands
A lot of these thought leaders and VP of the new shiny thing called Digitization reminds of me a childhood story of a lion in the circus. Here it goes.
A factory is shut down and this unemployed foreman is desperately looking for a job. He goes to many employment agencies without any luck. Out of desperation, he goes back to an agency pleads with them to find him a job as quickly they can.
The lady at the agency takes pity and says, she has this weird job request from the circus which she explains is not very complicated and they are willing to pay cash every day. The lady says the monkey the circus had for the show has fallen ill so they want someone to wear a good monkey costume and just jump around on the sidelines entertaining people while the show was going on. The man quickly grabs the opportunity for a quick buck and shows up at the circus.
He is immediately is given a costume and the show begins in the evening as scheduled. Our man is nervous in the beginning but quickly gets into the groove and gets a lot of claps from the younger crowd. The crowd cheering excites our man and he jumps and monkeys around more. In this excitement, he accidentally jumps into the lion's cage.
Cold sweat pops out of our man but he notices everyone is busy watching the show and nobody noticed that he has fallen into the cage in the dark side. His life flashes in front of him and he silently says goodbye to his beautiful children and wife.
He is immediately is given a costume and the show begins in the evening as scheduled. Our man is nervous in the beginning but quickly gets into the groove and gets a lot of claps from the younger crowd. The crowd cheering excites our man and he jumps and monkeys around more. In this excitement, he accidentally jumps into the lion's cage.
Cold sweat pops out of our man but he notices everyone is busy watching the show and nobody noticed that he has fallen into the cage in the dark side. His life flashes in front of him and he silently says goodbye to his beautiful children and wife.
In the chaos and in the semi-darkness he did not notice when the king of the jungle reaches close to him. The lion whispers "I am also from the agency.. the rear door is open.. run".
The storyteller told us that life is like this circus, and the Lions, Monkeys and everybody else are all playing their roles but basically, *all are from the Agency* and have the same fears and weaknesses.
The new 3D Printer - that will kill all industries
The good thing about new technologies and trends is it democratizes the industry. What you knew 20 or 10 years ago is no longer relevant and your knowledge of technology is as good as that of a youngster right out of college. You may be able to better perceive and analyze the business impacts of the technology but understanding the new technology essentially levels the playing field every 5-10 years.
For some funny reason, I see a lot of resemblance in the lion from the circus to all the current thought leaders of Digitization because the truth of the matter is - nobody really knows it all - but in order to stay relevant in the industry - you act and talk like the lion !!!
- Santosh Balan Karthedath
The storyteller told us that life is like this circus, and the Lions, Monkeys and everybody else are all playing their roles but basically, *all are from the Agency* and have the same fears and weaknesses.
The new 3D Printer - that will kill all industries
The good thing about new technologies and trends is it democratizes the industry. What you knew 20 or 10 years ago is no longer relevant and your knowledge of technology is as good as that of a youngster right out of college. You may be able to better perceive and analyze the business impacts of the technology but understanding the new technology essentially levels the playing field every 5-10 years.
For some funny reason, I see a lot of resemblance in the lion from the circus to all the current thought leaders of Digitization because the truth of the matter is - nobody really knows it all - but in order to stay relevant in the industry - you act and talk like the lion !!!
- Santosh Balan Karthedath
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