By Mike Gregoire, Global CEO at CA Technologies
The Fourth Industrial Revolution, often called Industry 4.0, is imminent. We are experiencing a pace of technological advances like never before, and in this new era, contextual machines and materials, powered by software interconnected by application programming interfaces (APIs), will drive change to an unprecedented level. In this context, the mentality that is changing software today also provides a path of transformation for such a world, in order to make ours a truly agile society.
The road to agility
In essence, agility means bringing people together in a way that promotes the productive engagement defined by interaction towards a solution. And, along the way, embrace change.
Reflecting agile principles - used in the development of software to integrate areas and make the process of creating systems more fluid - means critically evaluating how organizations and institutions are touched. Abstaining from rules in favor of results; responding to change in the face of a rigid (and static) plan to be followed; and encouraging participation and autonomy over an imposition of command and control with an outdated hierarchy.
These changes will not be easy, nor will they come overnight, so I recommend that we start by acting in three critical areas: 1) How we govern; 2) How to unlock the potential of our people; and 3) How we can maximize our use of technology.
Cut the red ribbon
Governments and government institutions are often considered slow to innovate compared to their private sector counterparts. But those who embrace the concepts of agility already see huge gains in the engagement of their teams and the audience they serve.
An example in the United States is a non-profit organization called the Code for America. It is an organization committed to the modernization of municipal IT programs, which makes working in the government fun and creative. One of its most attractive projects is to enable cities to develop an open-source application to solve civic problems chosen by the citizen. This application can then be used or adapted by any city. And the results have been remarkable - at the same time, authorities and citizens have addressed local problems while reducing public IT costs, allowing code sharing between government entities.
Empower a diverse workforce
The success of organizations of all types is directly proportional to the empowerment and engagement of their people.
It is about ensuring that the workforce you have feels comfortable expressing yourself. This involves ideas that lead to innovation and the rejection of any kind of discrimination. In my experience, more diversity leads, in a constructive way, to more robust solutions.
Likewise, it must be recognized that a place that does not receive enough attention in technology is gender equality. In developing countries, 200 million fewer women than men have access to online technology. I am passionate about the idea of increasing the number of women in the global workforce - specifically in technology - starting with the introduction of girls into science education (STEM) at a young age. Early school training should be the battleground for recruiting future technical superstars.
Unleash the power of technology
Software is the most transformative force in today's global economy. According to a November 2015 global survey of 250 business leaders by Harvard's Department of Business Analytics Services, two-thirds (66%) say your company's future depends on the quality of its software. This is as important for business as it is for society.
Thousands of the systems that protect us are enabled by software. Think about earthquake warning systems that can paint a picture of the threat in real time. Or on a cell phone that, equipped with customized settings, alerts a factory that it is necessary to replace machinery.
The key to rapid advancement will be to enable ways to make technology more open and secure. Since the US census made its data publicly available, thousands of companies have been accessing the rich demographic data for their own use. This has led them to much better business decisions - from countless companies that access data to explore a potential market to new startups that are labs with the intention of finding insights from data exploration.
The time is now
We live in a remarkable time. The App Economy era, in which people are connected with brands and each other like never before. We are at the summit of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where personalization will be the key and software will link the Internet of Things to Industry 4.0. But we will only be able to maximize this technology to become a truly agile society if we have the structure in the right place for society. This needs to start with a review of the way we govern, empower people and use the technology we are creating and consuming.
EN 
PT 
