Trichy: Digital disruption has changed the way business is conducted, said the executive vice-chairman of Cognizant India, R Chandrasekaran, while urging students to indulge in exponential rather than incremental thinking to counter challenges of the new era. He was speaking at National Institute of Technology Trichy as chief guest of the alumni day celebrations on Sunday.A distinguished alumni awardee in 2008 by NIT Trichy, Chandrasekaran said "Though many people talk about "gloom and doom", we are instead at the cusp of great opportunities in this digital age. Digital disruption has changed the way business is conducted," he said. He asked the students to develop agility as the time frame of successive revolutions had shrunk and the current digital age was devolving rapidly."Even the traditional agriculture and tourism are being transformed by the digital age. The changes are difficult to cope with but will bring prosperity, said Chandrasekaran who joined Cognizant in 1994 and served in various capacities before taking up executive vice-chairmanship.He said that the universities had to produce more thinkers rather than doers. Self-learning would augment the skill sets of students. He said India had more problems and hence more opportunities. The whole world was appreciating the Mars Mission of ISRO.Chandrasekaran recalled the contribution of NIT Trichy alumni K R Sridhar at the world level and said social entrepreneurship was the need of the hour. He said Sridhar, CEO of Bloom Energy, was on a mission to "make clean, reliable energy affordable for everyone on earth," he said. "We should meet the needs of not only the industry but also society," said Chandrasekaran who did his mechanical engineering at NIT Trichy before moving to IIM Bangalore.Instead of the usual bouquet, Director of NIT Trichy Mini Shaji Thomas handed over a "Green Certificate" to the chief guest for planting 100 saplings on his behalf. Seeking the help of the alumni to inspire students to go for entrepreneurship, she said that under TEQIP (Technical Education Improvement Programme) Phase III, half the funding was for setting up innovation centres where the emphasis was on filing for more patents.Young Alumni Achiever awards (YAA) were given in the category "towards Excellence in Entrepreneurial venture" to Vaibhav Lodha, co-founder, ftcash while Vishnu V, executive director, Chennai metropolitan water supply and sewerage board(CMWSSB), bagged the honour for Excellence in Public Administration).

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