5G Coupled With Wi-Fi 6 & RFID To Witness Widespread Adoption Among Indian Businesses In 2024
Rajnish is a seasoned industry professional with over three decades of experience across diverse tech functions. He joined Zebra in 2021, prior to which he has had successful stints with multinational corporates Microsoft and HP across various key positions. In a recent conversation with Siliconindia, Rajnish Gupta, VP & India Head, Zebra Technologies gave us a brief overview of the Indian technology landscape so far this year, and discussed its future prospects entering the New Year. Below are the excerpts from the exclusive interview
How has been the technology landscape in 2023, especially from an Indian standpoint?
2023 has been an amazing year for the Indian tech fraternity, wherein our country has been at the forefront of embracing nextgen technologies, which is eminent across almost every industry today.For instance, India's transportation & logistics sector has witnessed a surge in adoption of cutting-edge technologies such as AI/ML, cloud computing and many others. This has led to remarkable expansion of the industry across the industry in recent times. Also, e-Commerce is continuing to grow not just in tier-I cities, but also in tierII & III cities from where the number of orders in recent times exceed far more tier-I cities.
Thus, the only way for retailers to capitalize on this is to streamline their operations, improve their inventory management, get the costs down and many others. While initiatives like PLI and Make in India are helping boost the manufacturing sector in India, to truly realize the vision of being a global manufacturing hub, Indian manufacturers must enhance their existing operational capabilities by leveraging latest technologies such as robotics and automation.
What were some of the major concerns for tech organizations while entering 2023, and how is the scenario now?
Most of the challenges for the tech organizations emanate from their customers' problems. Thus, it is paramount for every tech company to stay updated with the latest technologies & their use cases in order to solve the customers' pain points effectively and stay ahead in the market. However, the major concern for the industry was in correctly identifying the right technologies to adopt for their business functions. The fast pace with which technologies are evolving makes it challenging for Indian enterprises to keep pace with, which is another constraint for us. For instance, manufacturers who are looking to improve the quality, optimize process cycles, and comply with all regulatory frameworks will require tech solutions that can do all these in the most efficient way possible.
According to you, what were the 2 most significant advancements for the tech industry in 2023?
This year saw the emergence of a wide array of cutting-edge technologies, most of which saw widespread adoption from companies across various industries. But according to me, two technologies that are having a significant impact are 5G and RFID. Although 5G is already making an impact on the consumer front, its use cases in the business sector are now slowly starting to evolve to the next level. 5G coupled with Wi-Fi 6 is no doubt going to be a game changer for India going forward.
On the other hand, although RFID has been in existence for many years now, its adoption today is skyrocketing today. The Indian RFID market which stood at $500 million as per latest estimates is expected to grow by 3x by 2030. Decision makers in India, especially in the retail and transport & logistics sectors, are have been very keen to adopt this technology lately and reap maximum benefits from them, especially in terms of increasing the visibility of their inventory management process.
What does the future hold for the tech landscape in 2024, according to you?
The biggest break through this year has been a few companies successfully demonstrating Gen AI on mobile computers and tablets without being connected to the cloud. This will be a huge advancement going forward since it has the potential to empower front line workers with new capabilities. Also, adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies such as 5G coupled with Wi-Fi 6 and RFID is expected to see widespread adoption in 2024.
How has been the technology landscape in 2023, especially from an Indian standpoint?
2023 has been an amazing year for the Indian tech fraternity, wherein our country has been at the forefront of embracing nextgen technologies, which is eminent across almost every industry today.For instance, India's transportation & logistics sector has witnessed a surge in adoption of cutting-edge technologies such as AI/ML, cloud computing and many others. This has led to remarkable expansion of the industry across the industry in recent times. Also, e-Commerce is continuing to grow not just in tier-I cities, but also in tierII & III cities from where the number of orders in recent times exceed far more tier-I cities.
Thus, the only way for retailers to capitalize on this is to streamline their operations, improve their inventory management, get the costs down and many others. While initiatives like PLI and Make in India are helping boost the manufacturing sector in India, to truly realize the vision of being a global manufacturing hub, Indian manufacturers must enhance their existing operational capabilities by leveraging latest technologies such as robotics and automation.
What were some of the major concerns for tech organizations while entering 2023, and how is the scenario now?
Most of the challenges for the tech organizations emanate from their customers' problems. Thus, it is paramount for every tech company to stay updated with the latest technologies & their use cases in order to solve the customers' pain points effectively and stay ahead in the market. However, the major concern for the industry was in correctly identifying the right technologies to adopt for their business functions. The fast pace with which technologies are evolving makes it challenging for Indian enterprises to keep pace with, which is another constraint for us. For instance, manufacturers who are looking to improve the quality, optimize process cycles, and comply with all regulatory frameworks will require tech solutions that can do all these in the most efficient way possible.
According to you, what were the 2 most significant advancements for the tech industry in 2023?
This year saw the emergence of a wide array of cutting-edge technologies, most of which saw widespread adoption from companies across various industries. But according to me, two technologies that are having a significant impact are 5G and RFID. Although 5G is already making an impact on the consumer front, its use cases in the business sector are now slowly starting to evolve to the next level. 5G coupled with Wi-Fi 6 is no doubt going to be a game changer for India going forward.
On the other hand, although RFID has been in existence for many years now, its adoption today is skyrocketing today. The Indian RFID market which stood at $500 million as per latest estimates is expected to grow by 3x by 2030. Decision makers in India, especially in the retail and transport & logistics sectors, are have been very keen to adopt this technology lately and reap maximum benefits from them, especially in terms of increasing the visibility of their inventory management process.
What does the future hold for the tech landscape in 2024, according to you?
The biggest break through this year has been a few companies successfully demonstrating Gen AI on mobile computers and tablets without being connected to the cloud. This will be a huge advancement going forward since it has the potential to empower front line workers with new capabilities. Also, adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies such as 5G coupled with Wi-Fi 6 and RFID is expected to see widespread adoption in 2024.
