The Tech Whisperer: On Digital Transformation and the Technologies that Enable It

by Jaspreet Bindra

Companies all over the world are being buffeted by new technologies, disruptive business models and start-up innovation. Business leaders know that they need to adopt these new technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence and Internet of things, and transform their companies using them to keep pace with rapid customer and business environment changes. Therefore, there is an urgent need to understand the basic principles of digital transformation and the technology forces that enable this shift.
The Tech Whisperer, as the name suggests, demystifies and simplifies emerging technologies like AI, blockchain, Internet of things, virtual reality, etc. and narrates how companies can employ these to drive their digital transformation.
Jaspreet Bindra has been a leading practitioner and thought leader in digital transformation and technology. In his first book, he gives an engaging and forward-looking practitioner's view which can help business leaders, entrepreneurs and anyone looking to understand digital transformation and technology, and leverage them for their future success.

Genres: Technology, Nonfiction

272 pages, Hardcover

Published September 30, 2019

Reviews

[Sachin Joshi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book is Author's first attempt it has come out nice while it touches the subject at very periphery and rushes through most of the use cases in this space.

Wishing Jaspreet more success (I had the pleasure to hear him also in one of the event)

[Ashima Jain · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was asked to summarise this book for a website and, the subject being strongly technical, I expected to swallow it like a bitter pill. Surprisingly, I discovered it was written in a way that I, who doesn’t speak geek, can easily understand it.

The book describes Digital Transformation of businesses/companies as a two-part process –
1. Demystifying emerging digital technologies such as AI and Blockchain.
2. Employing them in collaboration with a redesign of the organisation’s culture, employee mind-set, and skill upgrade to drive your transformation.

The author elaborates by discussing models that have been successfully used by global leaders and strategy consultants to transform businesses. He also delves into Technology –
1. How adapting technology is different from transformation and why every company needs it.
2. What are Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and their use case scenarios.

The highlight of this book is the chapter on AI which has been written by an AI Bot, rigged up to the task in partnership with Findability Sciences.

There is also a section on Data – why it is key for any technology to work, types of data, as well as ethical practices around them.

The book wraps up with a brief introduction to select technologies such as Internet of Things, Robots, Drones, 3D Printing, Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality, which make up Industry 4.0 – the era of Digital or Digitalization.

This book has definitely put the concept of Digital Transformation in perspective for me and I no longer feel digitally challenged about terms such as Blockchain and Internet of Things. No wonder they say, there’s always something good about a book.

[Cyril Danthi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author has touched the digital transformation experience in implementation. I found this book is just a read. Some of the topics are taken from the book - Platform Scale How an emerging business model helps startups build large empires with minimum investment. BCG reports etc. overall it touches the periphery of digital awareness and it creates knowledge. Many of these are put in use by many companies and few have made pathways.
If you think of implementation strategy or lead, this book does not touches on this.

[Sourav · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a good read to get broad sense of all contemporary jargons related to digital - digitisation, digital transformation and more. The author provides interesting use cases for the need of digital transformation among legacy companies. The book can also be referred for frameworks to apply for digital transformation.

[Niraj Khandwala · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's an old book and hence much of this was known. However what I liked is the way Indian mythology was weaved into Digital Transformation. The book also touches upon (just scraping) different technologies and this could be a good read for someone looking to understand the universe available and then choose their own interests to deep dive.

It's a quick read ...you can breeze through it quickly.

[Ashutosh Mishra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good guide for people looking to pick up the threads on tech developments over last few years. Specially readable for layman like myself. Needs to be followed up by more detailed study or more advanced books.

[Om Somani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book on blockchain , AI etc.Nicely explained the need of the technology in the businesses with mythological references.Blockchain adaptation of the Indian businesses can be revoloutionay and risk free The book is great learning for the coomoner.

[Peter Musso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weaving Hindu mythology into the technologies discussed was a nice touch, however the book was clearly tailored to an Indian audience, which made it harder for me to connect with. Much of the information also now feels somewhat dated (just six years on).

[Havneet Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very insightful and simple book that opens up your mind to the varied possibilities technology presents to human life

[Anandh Sundar · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book 'Tech Whisperer' is highly recommended including from 2 friends, so I thought to key down some (Hopefully) actionable learnings. *The author's credibility was not initially too clear to me as M&M(Mahindra Group) is not known for any lasting disruptive change other than the PR campaign Mahindra Rise. But anyways, the below book gives examples from M&M Finance, M&M, Mahindra Holidays .

Automobile industry disrupted by electronic, autonomous and fleets, impact on motels, repairs, insurance, urban real estate, also either passion vehicles or MAAS(Mobility as a service) will arise. Revisit the sector

IT is at the heart of all digital transformation, while digital is business not just IT. 'Customer journeys' need to drive org structure, not functions(aka Amazon). BFSI is intangible, deals with money, complex/inefficient, and has a lot of money, so prime for Blockchain etc. The book gives a detailed playbook on executing transformation,

Chit funds, tractor sharing etc are some good ideas, and the author aptly uses religious examples to drive home the point(eg holy trinity). Some other ideas from the book

Whisperers, as we know, are people who speak the language of the listeners and serve to allay their fears and prepare them for the challenges they face. The Tech Whisperer
tries to do that too...The digital part is perhaps sexier. Words like AI, machine learning, blockchain, social media carry an element of oomph. The ‘transformation’ part, often, is an afterthought, since this is the more pedestrian and the tougher part of the equation and where the grunt work of changing an organization’s culture and people’s mindsets and skills needs to be done.

Overall, the book is nothing really eye opening/revealing but a good introduction to disruptive technologies. The references are nice as well to discover more.

[Vikram · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read for a layman who does not understands much of technology jargons like AI, RPA, IoT, Blockchains etc. The author explains all these technologies and how every company be it manufacturing, service or retail aspire to become a technology company.
The first part of the book focuses on digital transformation which explains the distinction between "born digital" companies like Google and Amazon and companies which are trying to "Become Digital" like Mahindra, GE, Burberry and how business model transformation, customer experience are changing the dynamics of doing the business.
The second part is the fun stuff on technologies. The one who has advantage over data would be the ruler of the world. Countries like China are extremely well funded and commmited to AI. An intriguing question that is being raised Is AI mans final invention? because going ahead AI itself will become more intelligent and capable than humans in inventing stuffs. What happens to us will be based on how well we build our last invention whether it will be tamed by us or we will be tamed by it!!
Overall a nice read with lots of insights!

[Syed Hassan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Tech Whisperer : On Digital Transformation by Jaspreet Bindra is an excellent reference guide on going digital.

Starting with how companies are reborn to see/grow digital and his own ten commandments for success in digital transformation, the author has covered the aspects of business model creation, customer experience and the disruption/culture well.

AI, Blockchain and Data related topics have been covered in detail including multiple examples of practicing/successful adopters. I definitely enjoyed reading these three chapters which were my favorite in the book.

Another surprise addition is the usage of AI to write a chapter on AI in the book.

If you are already embarking the journey, it is a very useful quick read and if you are starting afresh, it can be a great handbook to understand and then dive into the transformation journey.

[Joel Sunny · Rating 1 out of 5]

What got me to read this book was the chapter written by an AI about AI. But as a person from the tech world, I found it uninspiring. But this book is mainly aimed at people in the business who want to incorporate tech into their businesses.

[Shivang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing read on emerging technology and its use cases. Jaspreet details ample examples of startups and companies innovating in multiple sectors.

[Aditya Sharma]

It is a wiki of tech buzzwords. Nothing more nothing less.