The New Convergence Paradigm

This article appeared on Business Today Jan 16 2005 Issue as a part of INDIA IN 2020

Gives us a peek into what the man is thinking and what Reliance is planning to do and is doing.

The New Convergence Paradigm

By Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director/ Reliance Industries Limited

We are in a world of convergence brought about not just by technology, but also by the process of globalisation, by the sharing of information and by the fusion of knowledge domains. The manifestations of convergence therefore go beyond the confines of products to people, practices, ideas and even ideologies.

Globalisation-led convergence promotes collaborations, information-led convergence enables connectivity, technology-led convergence stimulates creativity and knowledge-led convergence builds competencies.

Globalisation is inducing greater collaboration and convergence across borders. The pressure to increase efficiency and productivity is forcing companies to collaborate like never before. In manufacturing, different components of the production process are being located in different places of competitive advantage. In research, an explosion of knowledge and greater specialisation is forcing science-based collaboration. In business, a move to standardise common business processes is improving efficiency and productivity. In new initiatives, increasing risks are entailing strategic alliances for risk mitigation.

The ubiquity of global communications is forging new communities bonded by common goals and interests. The concept of the nation state is slowly getting obscure, with bilateral and multilateral trading blocs, greater migration of professionals across borders and increasing acceptance of dual citizenship. Greater global scrutiny is questioning the concept of sovereignty as a right to do whatever a government likes to do within its borders.

Technology represents, by far, the most tangible and dramatic manifestation of convergence to create new ways of living.

Genomics, molecular biology and bioinformatics are converging in nutritional genomics to create smart foods. An understanding of how genes, proteins and nutrients interact at the cell level is helping determine which types of foods cause what kinds of diseases in order to prevent them with altered diets and lifestyles.

Globalisation-led convergence promotes collaborations, information-led convergence enables connectivity, tech-led convergence stimulates creativity and knowledge-led convergence builds competencies

Embedded sensors and optic communications are coming together to create smart shirts. Undershirts made with conventional textile material, but embedded with optic fibres and sensors connected to a wearable data transmitter, and linked wirelessly to any receiving device, can help monitor body functions on a real-time remote basis or be used in medical and military applications.

Networking and automation technologies are uniting to create smart homes. Semiconductors and sensors connected to household devices can help us talk to our refrigerators, program microwaves, control washing machines, alter lighting and air-conditioning systems, and see who is knocking at the door-all from our cell phones-remotely and while on the move.

Mobile phones are integrating with other devices to enable smart working-global positioning systems to pinpoint a person's location, cameras to enable remote observation of a person's environs, sensors to enable remote monitoring of a person's body functions, and electronic pens to capture and convey a person's written word.

Materials science is intersecting with information and communication technologies to create smart products ranging from electronic paper to the electronic pen.

The coming together of the internet and wireless communications is leading to an information-led convergence. The internet is getting to be more about connecting people to people than connecting people to portals and web sites. It is taking the form of a network of identities and relationships that transcend corporate or national affiliations.

At one plane, the creation of new communities is coming about by associations of shared interests and goals, brought together in the virtual world. At another plane, new social networking software are coming into vogue, which are mining web traffic and looking for new relationships to acquire customers. They are also helping analyse patterns of behaviour among existing communities to help improve the value of relationships through, for example, higher sales. Social networking software is also optimising the organisation of social interactions. This is taking the form of shared purchases and unified articulation of issues.

Wireless technologies are forcing their way into more and more sectors. Today, wireless is used mainly to move information. In the future, it would be used to promote collaboration.
For businesses, convergence is an opportunity to enter new domains, improve productivity, expand collaborations, enhance capabilities and, above all, help transform humanity

Knowledge-led convergence is creating new competencies. For example, the marriage of digital technology with the art of illusion is opening endless opportunities for the world of entertainment. So far, different forms of entertainment-music, radio, movies and television-were offered through distinct devices and different settings. Digital entertainment is converging them to one platform in the virtual world. Not only that, it is bringing the same platform to games, education and healthcare. This convergence is creating new domains such as animation, gaming, edutainment and virtual tourism.

In a similar vein, knowledge-led convergence is bringing about the emergence of several new domains-geomatics, precision farming, molecular electronics, tissue informatics-to name a few.

Reliance is an enterprise driven by larger opportunities in the marketplace. Reliance Infocomm has been conceived to play on the convergence of information technology and communications. It is founded on the power of information and communications to transform Indian society. It is engaged in bringing about a digital revolution-led convergence of information, communication, education and entertainment.

The wireless platform offers Reliance an opportunity to converge transactions in retailing, financial services, capital markets, entertainment, travel and a host of other sectors for all participants. Equally, it helps collaborations among people brought together by common goals or interests. r-school, an interactive platform for teachers, parents and students on the wireless platform, is a case in point. With the rollout of broadband in the ensuing future, Reliance would have created a new platform for collaboration among businesses and people.

Reliance is working towards converging several energy forms-from petroleum products, natural gas, coal bed methane to electricity-at the consumer level in the form of common systems and processes. Eventually, this will include financial and information and communication services as well.

Reliance is an enterprise known for its international competitiveness. Convergence technologies are helping improve competitiveness by raising productivity and enhancing reach in manufacturing and in the supply chain. Global positioning based fleet management systems have helped better logistics management across all businesses. Information technology-enabled automation systems in the petroleum retailing business are helping improve customer care and gross retailing margins. Likewise, 3d seismic imaging has significantly helped improve discovery efforts in the upstream oil and gas business.

Globalisation offers Reliance an opportunity to converge markets and collaborate across borders. The acquisition of Trevira in Germany, coupled with a relationship with DuPont, is helping converge global research in polyester with Reliance in India. In a similar perspective, the acquisition of Flag Telecom is helping integrate information and communications markets overseas with the Reliance network in India.

The impact of convergence, in diverse fields and settings, can be far-reaching. Convergence will diffuse boundaries. Convergence will enhance human abilities. Convergence will bring out new consumer complexities. Above all, convergence will make societies clever.

For businesses, convergence is an opportunity to enter new domains, improve productivity, expand collaborations, enhance capabilities and, above all, help transform humanity.