According to Rajiv Sharaf, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Reliance Infrastructure, normal routine cycles of IT configurations will vanish in the coming years and will be overtaken by AI-based automation. Credit: Vertigo3D / Getty Images Rajiv Sharaf is the senior executive vice president and chief information officer at Reliance Infrastructure, where he has been steering the overall IT for over 15 years. He has over 28 years of progressive leadership experience across various industry domains including utility, manufacturing, infrastructure, and telecom. In an interaction with IDG Media, Rajiv Sharaf shared his future vision of the infrastructure sector and spoke on how technology will impact enterprise IT in the coming years. Reliance Rajiv Sharaf Edited excerpts How do you see the impact of technology on enterprises in the next decade? For the last 20 years, we have seen enterprises going for IT implementations such as ERP and some automation. In the next decade and beyond, the business needs will be immediately satisfied without going through the normal routine cycle. With the commoditization of IT systems, everything will be available at the click of a button. Also read: Reimagineering Infrastructure: The rise of autonomous machines As the IT head at Reliance Infrastructure, what technological advancements do you anticipate for the infrastructure sector? In the infrastructure space, project sites are located in remote locations, so organizations may not have visibility on the project. In future, drones with longer battery backups could be deployed to inspect construction sites through live feeds. 3-D designs of the project will be integrated with augmented reality and organizations will be able to perform real-time project monitoring without leaving the office premises. Along with that, automated integration of IT with supply chain management, labor management, warehouse management and transport management will ensure that there is no wastage of material, and inventory is maintained as needed. What do you think will be the most important change for IT infrastructure? Whatever requirements companies have today, they have to comprehend and configure them into the IT systems, which takes a lot of time. All of that will vanish in the future as IT configurations will be made through voice assistant software based on AI. The voice commands will be converted into block diagram or process flow diagram, and IT deployments will be automatically configured. Also, many businesses today are using analytics but decision-making will not depend on analytics in future as it will also be automated. Blockchain has been a buzzword for the last few years. What impact do you see blockchain having on the global infrastructure? Blockchain will ensure financial inclusiveness by removing barriers of the current infrastructure. This technology will enable low income groups people to get loans by sharing their credentials and documents in a secure decentralized manner. Blockchain-based currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum could be the global currencies of the future. At the moment, it’s not regulated but going forward, it could be regulated, which will support a seamless global business infrastructure. Related content case study How IT leaders use EV tech to fuel the transport revolution in Kenya Many African nations are starting to invest in electric vehicle (EV) transportation as a means to broaden access and help keep pace with global environmental initiatives. In Kenya, strides are being made despite industry and tech leaders grappling to By Vincent Matinde May 31, 2023 5 mins CIO CTO Emerging Technology feature How CIOs distill the most sought-after data skills From back-end engineers to data scientists and line-of-business experts, here’s the in-demand talent that all organizations need to turn a glut of information into game-changing insight. By Mark Samuels May 31, 2023 8 mins IT Skills Data Center IT Leadership interview Broadcom’s Andy Nallappan on what cloud success really looks like The CTO, CSO, and head of software engineering and operations knows firsthand that a successful move to the cloud is all about changing the culture and replacing on-prem’s sunk cost mentality with incentivized FinOps. By Martha Heller May 31, 2023 8 mins Technology Industry IT Strategy Cloud Computing feature Key IT initiatives reshape the CIO agenda While cloud, cybersecurity, and analytics remain top of mind for IT leaders, a shift toward delivering business value is altering how CIOs approach key priorities, pushing transformative projects to the next phase. By Mary Pratt May 30, 2023 10 mins IT Strategy IT Leadership Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe