Using digital technology to accelerate business growth: ASSOCHAM-Deloitte study

Digital infrastructure can also help leveraging technologies like telepresence that can reduce the need for business travel and result in cost savings. Increased levels of digital technology-use under can improve employee satisfaction and collaboration, leading to a more productive workforce. In India, it is estimated that employees in SMBs with advanced digital engagement are 8.7 times more likely to collaborate than offline businesses, noted the study titled ‘Digital India: Unlocking the Trillion Dollar opportunity,’ jointly conducted by ASSOCHAM and research firm Deloitte.

The government has taken several measures to improve ease of doing business in India. Consequently, India has seen an improvement in the global ranking for ease of doing business. Services such as eBiz portal, KYC and other e-governance initiatives have started to contribute to the improvement in ease of doing business and this is expected to further improve.

Availability of digital infrastructure will help companies drive significant efficiencies, reduce time to market (new products, new markets) by digitizing their core operations and supply chains, adds the joint study. 

The vision and initiatives towards Digital India is expected to boost investment in the digital space in the short-term and lead to rise in digital innovation, efficiency and productivity in the long-term. Currently, a number of domestic and global companies have announced investments in the digital space in India.

“Digital India is likely to have a significant impact on the profitability and operations of business. Through adoption of digital technologies, companies can consolidate documentation, automate processes and have access to efficient and cheaper ICT capabilities”, said Mr Sandeep Jajodia, President ASSOCHAM. 

India has pledged to decrease its carbon emissions by 33% to 35% relative to its GDP from 2005 levels by 2030. The Digital India program is likely to have a positive contribution towards achieving these goals. Wide spread implementation of telepresence and cloud computing technology under Digital India will lead to reduction in carbon emissions. For example, telepresence can eliminate 20% of the business travel, leading to reduction in carbon emissions by 1.08 million tonnes globally. Use of cloud storage for documents will significantly reduce the consumption of natural resources like paper.

India is the fifth-largest producer of e-waste, discarding approximately 1.8 million tonnes of e-waste each year. Under Digital India adoption of ICT solutions such as waste collection automation and waste management information and prognostics are expected to considerably reduce e-waste.

Using Digital infrastructure that is developed under the digital India program, city municipalities will be able to better manage the collection and disposal of solid waste and sewage. Several cities have started the deployment of pilot solutions for waste management in cities.

Digital India can prevent deforestation by increasing the use of digital solutions in the coming few years. For example, Google in collaboration with University of Maryland and the UN Environment has developed Global Forest Watch 2.0 to prevent deforestation. This tool uses satellite technology, data sharing and human networks to better manage forests.

Availability of digital infrastructure across various locations along with sensors and customized applications will help provide better information related to environmental challenges like pollution, climate change, weather monitoring etc. This can help local governments react to local issues (like traffic congestions, high levels of pollution etc.) in real time.