The Evolution of Business in the Cyber Age

Digital Transformation, Threats, and Security

Divya Gupta Chowdhry, Rahul Verma, Manisha Mathur, Divya Gupta Chowdhry, Rahul Verma, Manisha Mathur

• Editorial: Apple Academic Press
• Año: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000007282
• Edición: 1
• Categoría: Business
• Categoría: Business Development

This book has a two-fold mission: to explain and facilitate digital transition in business organizations using information and communications technology and to address the associated growing threat of cyber crime and the challenge of creating and maintaining effective cyber protection.

The book begins with a section on Digital Business Transformation, which includes chapters on tools for integrated marketing communications, human resource workplace digitalization, the integration of the Internet of Things in the workplace, Big Data, and more. The technologies discussed aim to help businesses and entrepreneurs transform themselves to align with today's modern digital climate.

The Evolution of Business in the Cyber Age: Digital Transformation, Threats, and Security provides a wealth of information for those involved in the development and management of conducting business online as well as for those responsible for cyber protection and security. Faculty and students, researchers, and industry professionals will find much of value in this volume.

PART I

Digital Business Transformation

CHAPTER 1

Digital Workplace: The Human Interface

DEBASHIS GHOSAL¹ and SHULAGNA SARKAR²

¹Crossover Leadership Partner, 104, Coral Block, Sri Sairam Manor, 8–3–678, Pragathi Nagar, Yousufguda PO, Hyderabad,Telangana – 500045, India, E-mail: [email protected]

²Institute of Public Enterprise, Plot No. 98, Road No. 3, Surya Enclave, Tirumalgiri, Secunderabad, Telangana – 500013, India, E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Digitalization has become inevitable for organizations to survive. It is important to understand the concept of digitalization in the context of people and the workplace. Artificial intelligence (AI) and smart machines are replacing people doing repetitive work. The upside of digitalization and automation is that it could free more people to work on creative, newer, and interesting work. The chapter aims to highlight the attempt of digitalization of the workplace in India. The chapter also elaborates the concepts associated with the AI revolution. India is a developing country, and it will be interesting to understand the perspective of the human resource managers as well as the Generation Y on the scope of AI replacing human interface of organizations in India. The chapter attempts to discuss the factors that determine the scope of AI in replacing human interface in organizations. An attempt has also been made to discuss various cases in successful digitalization implementation across the globe.

1.1 DIGITAL WORKPLACE: AN INTRODUCTION

The workplace is transforming faster than we could imagine! Large scale adoption of technology to enhance the people skills, globalization, culture, and shift in economic balance are defining the new age work styles at all levels. Historically, the adoption of new technology and shift in work culture has always propelled the workplace forward. And it’s happening again – even faster! Corporate around the world is discussing about Artificial intelligence (AI) replacing human resources (HR) in various segments. In such a scenario, a concern worth discussing is the agenda of digitalizing the workplace–the means and mechanism. The question that has been traditionally attempted to answer is ‘what tasks currently performed by humans will soon be done more cheaply and rapidly by machines?’ Yet it is high time we must attempt to venture in answering a new question. What new dimensions people have to develop so that they have better-thinking machines to assist them?

The digital workplace has been defined differently by different organizations and experts. One of the most accepted versions is that the Digital Workplace is meant to be the “virtual equivalent of the physical workplace.” However, the rapidly changing definition of workplace adopted by different organizations makes the definition widely varying. Here’s an interesting take by Gartner (2018), “The digital workplace is an ongoing, deliberate approach to delivering a more consumer-like computing environment that is better able to facilitate innovative and flexible working practices.” However, irrespective of the definitions, the three layers are imperative–people, technology, and management. Given below is a simplified model of an ideal digital workplace (Figure 1.1).

FIGURE 1.1 Ideal digital workplace.
(Source: Schichtenmodell Digital Workplace, (2016). Digital workplace. Retrieved from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schichtenmodell_Digital_Workplace.png)

1.1.1 ESSENTIALS OF DIGITAL WORKPLACE

• User Experience: Digital workplace is an integrated, single source for the user with an enhanced ease of use and better experience, while being more efficient and effective.

• Communication and Collaboration: Wider and informal communication options, task/project/organization-specific collaboration through social – Intranet like tools.

• Multiple Business Applications on Multi-Device Platforms: Multidevice, multiple business solutions for all user groups providing personalized work-specific applications environment. The applications are vendor-built or individual, providing the same look-and-feel.

• Business Process and Data Integration: Technology-generated business-oriented processes using an integrated database, sharing corporate and individual skills and knowledge.

• Agile Working and Decision Support Systems: Ability to be productive any time at any place through integrated business applications, database, and transparent user access, providing real-time analytics (Figure 1.2).

FIGURE 1.2 Essentials of the digitalizing workplace.

A digital workplace to be effective should make physical location independent of work requirements. It’s not only to save time to access physical work location, but also will shape where people will work from, how teams will be formed and how people will collaborate to address business situations. According to Klaus Holse (VP – Microsoft), there will be an increasing focus of the modern day’s businesses to create an opportunity for their employees to work from anywhere, which can be achieved by integrating people, workplace, and technologies, thereby fuelling productivity and creativity. Information Technology will play a significant role in this direction by empowering the employees to use technology in the way they want to use. This will lead towards competitive advantage and business success. Businesses can achieve this by inculcating a culture of “people first.” A digital workplace will fuel adoption of technologies like Chatbots, Robotics, Automation, Internet of Things, Deep Learning, Machine Learning, AI, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, etc., which have raised questions about Human Interface at work. Let’s explore which industries, jobs, functions will be most affected and how human interface may have to be redefined in the new paradigm.

1.1.2 DIGITAL REVOLUTION AND TRANSFORMATION

The advent of the computer has provided us with a new kind of machine being the computer program. Computer programs are like these more familiar physical machines yet; their behavior is determined by-laws (Bundy, 1988). These programs are different from the physical machines as they are not made of physics. The concept of AI is based on the use of a computer to model and/or replicate intelligent behavior. Companies are working on AI development and analysis of algorithms that learn and/or perform intelligent behavior with minimal human intervention. Minsky (1968) has defined AI as the science of making machines to do things that would require intelligence if done by men. This definition stresses results over methods. Bundy (1988) has defined AI as the building of computer programs which emulate human intelligence, i.e., the striving to create programs that equal or exceed human intelligence without necessarily achieving the intelligence in the same way as humans. The AI programmer works by the pragmatic criterion being computer programming deserves to be treated equally as it acts like a human mind (Bolter, 1984) (Table 1.1).

TABLE 1.1 Three Eras of Automation

Era One: 19^th Century	Era Two: 20^th Century	Era Three: 21^st Century
Machines do routine jobs, which are harmful to humans due to the arduous manual labor involved.	Machines replace the regular work, which is more of routine transactions and involves clerical responsibilities.	Machines do work based on past and present data, using analytics, enabling reliable and faster human choices.

Source: Christensen, Grant, and Govindarajan (2017). HBR’s 10 Must-reads 2017: The definitive management ideas of the year from Harvard Business Review. Harvard Business School Publishing Corp.

Christensen et al., (2017) elaborated the three eras of automation in 19^th, 20^th, and 21^st century. There have been several studies past three decades attempting to measure efforts and impacts of AI as given in Table 1.1. Autor and Dorn (2013) tracked the effects of automation on labor markets and expressed that journalist and expert commentators have overstated the extent of machine substitution for human labor. He explained that researches do not reflect on the benefits of increased productivity, raises earnings, and augmented demand for skilled labor. He pointed out the challenges of applying machines to any tasks being flexibility, judgment, and common sense. Tasks that cannot be substituted by computerization are generally complemented by it (Autor and Dorn, 2013). Acemoglu and Restrepo (2017) have also studied the impact of robots on industry and occupation-level outcomes. The ultra-rich Wall Street investment bankers and hedge fund titans have also upgraded to automated trading and portfolio management systems. Madia (2018) shares that companies like DSP are also encouraging the same to enhance investment returns within precise decision making. Bolter (1984) expressed that robots will replace human workers at more complicated tasks than usual assembly lines jobs. He also shared that AI and robots can be used for warfare where smart bombs will find their targets with greater accuracy.

Articles from Business Week (1986) revealed that the major challenge for business is transforming a new paradigm for manufacturing. Changes in manufacturing since ages have been centered on the implementation of advanced technology. The scope of these technology-driven changes has expanded to more specific issues, such, quality assurance (Harrington, 1987), Inventory control (Klien, 1991), and strategy (Hayes et al., 1988). Work of Dean and Snell (1991) has also explained the need for changes with regards to job design. It is inevitable for companies to make a conscious decision of making a consistent transit to a new paradigm of manufacturing. Evidence from the research of Majchrzak (1988) and Ettlie (1988) suggest that the mismanagement of people is a greater issue in affecting the transition to newer manufacturing techniques and processes rather than technical systems per se. Managing people for implementation of systems driven manufacturing has turned out to be a great challenge. The present HR ecosystem is impacted by the influence of the millennial, tech disruptions a volatile economic environment, and the urgent need for enhanced employee engagement (NASSCOM, 2015). With such a challenging scenario, the role of HR and the way they operate needs to be redefined.

A digital economy could permeate every section of society and transform the way services are carried out by governments, businesses, and consumers. The digital revolution in India is significant as it promises to bring a multi-dimensional metamorphosis in almost all sectors of the society. From digitization in governance to better health care and educational services, cashless economy and digital transactions, transparency in bureaucracy, fair, and quick distribution of welfare schemes all seem achievable with the digital India initiative of the present Government (Singh, 2017). The world has been undergoing several changes, both socially and environmentally, due to which the businesses have remodeled themselves. The incorporation of cloud, mobile, social media, big data, and digital consumer experience into Human Capital Management (HCM technology) is disrupting how organizations manage, enable, and engage their workforce. The disruptive business scenario has for...

Índice

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• About the Editors
• Table of Contents
• Contributors
• Abbreviations
• Foreword
• Acknowledgment
• Preface
• Editorial Advisory Board
• PART I: DIGITAL BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION
• PART II: CYBER THREAT AND CYBERSECURITY
• Color insert of illustrations
• Index