Many consider this the age of specialisation. Technological advancements and the accelerating rate of change have made it essential for researchers to delve ever deeper into their field. At one time, Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) itself was a narrower part of electronics or information science. Now, within CSE, you have artificial intelligence (AI) and – even more narrowly – Generative AI (GenAI). Once, GP was the acronym for General Practitioner: the family doctor who was your first port of call for any ailment. Now, it may mean a General Physician, a non-surgeon who is a specialist in internal medicine. And there are separate specialists for every part of the human body. Little wonder that there is also an evolution from General Hospitals to speciality ones to “super speciality hospitals”.
As new technologies have made their way from research laboratories to factory shopfloors, as the technology component in products and services becomes larger, businesses have had to hire super-specialists: those who “know more and more about less and less”. The demand for specialists has grown, skyrocketing in areas like AI. Those organisations (and countries) which have – or can quickly build – a talent pool will gain great competitive advantage.
Fortunately, India has a large talent base in most areas. Yet the demand – not only in India, but globally – is so high that salaries are shooting through the roof. Ramping up education and training are necessary solutions: academia and government are working on this. Companies need to support the effort, while re-skilling existing staff, wherever possible. In this, the success in creating a talent pool in IT in the 1990s and early 2000s is a good example. It not only met India’s needs, even though quality and depth varied vastly, but also served the demand abroad.
With the growing induction of technology and tech experts in business organisations, silos of specialised work have resulted, and complexity has grown. Global markets and supply chains necessitate awareness of global trade and geo-political matters. These point to the emerging need for a nascent new skill: persons with the ability to pull these silos together, keeping in mind the bigger picture of the overall business. This requires people with breadth, rather than depth; with a general understanding of the areas involved and the ability to integrate them in a way that they contribute to the company’s goals; with empathy for the consumer and the socio-economic and cultural context; with knowledge of design thinking and, above all, the capability of taking a systems view. “Systemists”, we may call them.
In the organisation of tomorrow, GenAI will replace most engineering functions. Yet, specialists will be necessary, supplemented by Imagineers (who conceive new products and services), Prompters (those who write the crucial prompts for GenAI), and Innovators. It is Systemists who will provide the connecting link and a holistic or systemic perspective which integrates these functions and silos of varied expertise staffed by specialists. Educational institutions will have to quickly create these new Systemists, who may well be in greater demand than AI experts today. Companies – and individuals – need to prepare for this to survive and prosper.
