The debate has changed rapidly. It’s no more about whether to go digital, but how fast must one get there? Every company will be a digital company if they aren’t already, and if the truth is told – fence-sitters don’t have much time. When 5000 nurses and 3000 doctors of Apollo enroll for NASSCOM’s FutureSkills program, you know, TRANSFORMATION is HERE & NOW!

We had an insightful discussion – an all-women heavyweight panel – that touched upon broad ideas to do with the workforce thriving and transforming the world digitally. Gracing the occasion we had Sangita Reddy, Apollo, Rekha Menon, Accenture, Debjani Ghosh, NASSCOM & Kirti Seth, NASSCOM (also the session Chair).   

Digital Mastery – Myth or Reality?

Amidst the seeming chaos due to digital disruption, lies a plethora of opportunities, but the progression isn’t automatic. Only those who have attained Digital Mastery, can stake a claim and experience the leverage. Does this mean that all of us need to code in R? Not really, but a time will come when knowing basic programming skills may be as common as using MS Word.

Digital literacy is a must-have attribute. We also have a cohort that exhibits digital fluency, under which the archetypal “techies” fall. But as the panel emphasized, professionals will need to have domain knowledge and tech skills – the bilinguals - which explains why doctors and nurses are getting themselves skilled in digital technologies. Deep domain knowledge and tech expertise, will seldom reside in the same human. Therefore, working collaboratively is not a matter of choice any longer. Team members will have complementary skills and be bound by the same purpose (vision) to function as a whole.   

There’s another layer between the two – those who have a deeper appreciation of what tech can do. Inasmuch, they will also have a broader understanding of other industries and ways in which inter-disciplinary functions can work to render greater value through co-creation. The pandemic has shown us how the lines have blurred between industries.  

Delivering Personalised Healthcare

Did you know that the body of medical knowledge is doubling itself in 73 days? The ease of accessibility of the healthcare industry's raw materials – data & information – and when put through analytics-based tools, deeper insights on how molecules mutate based on so many factors including genetic disposition, have led to miraculous breakthroughs in medicine. Bandwidth availability & processing power are the other magic wands that make telemedicine and remote health monitoring look so easy. The march towards personalized healthcare has followed a trajectory but the progress was exponential. From hospitals to clinics to homes, the shift has been remarkable. The discipline of Genomics has given doctors a much better understanding of diseases and deep-tech has been the enabling catalyst. The focus is on preventive healthcare, and that’s why it will always be “healthcare” and not sick-care.

As Eric Topol, an American cardiologist says, “Technology will make healthcare practices more humane and doctors can sit and hold the patient’s hand”. Leave it to the intelligent machines to do the analysis. Studies reveal that 54% of the people who have a prescription do not comply. For many people, 15 minutes spent in the doctor’s chamber isn’t always a transformational experience. To sustain the efforts and ensure better compliance, we now have a whole range of tech-enabled wearables that monitor vital parameters 24/7.       

Some jarring statistical references. India has 65 million diabetics (85 million if pre-diabetics are considered); 63% of the people who have cancer get detected only in Stage 3 (if detected earlier, the survival rate can go up significantly). Proactively keeping the nation healthy is about using technology or democratizing tech to make detections early.  

The grand vision: Can healthcare reach the last man? Can India be a global hub in healthcare? And, can young India take care of a greying world?  

The Egg & Chicken Conundrum

Domain knowledge or tech skills? Deep specialized knowledge isn’t going anywhere so the answer is “AND” and not OR. There’s no place for Luddites or techies who have no understanding of industry domains. While specializing (going deep) in one area, individuals will need to have an appreciable understanding of the other. This argument can be viewed through the lens of STEM which had to make way for STEAM (and NOT reluctantly). Other professional skills are equally critical – problem-solving, design thinking, learnability, adaptability, and collaboration. Employability is about reinventing oneself and always being open to learning new skills. We now have the potential to work in different ways as we continue to acquire new skills.

It comes as no surprise then, 14K Apollo employees have registered for the NASSCOM FutureSkills program. Oh, did I tell you that there are 5000 nurses and 3000 doctors as well?