4IR: SHIFTING GOVERNANCE AND PROFESSIONALS’ THINKING Mohammad Shahajahan FCS
I
ntroduction
Now-a-days technologies became indispensable in every sphere of life and devices are interlinked and interconnected through cyberspace which enables communication, education, hiring car, letting residence, online shopping, online trading, medication, consultation, online conference, meeting, presentation, research, etc. Multinational companies and chaebols are increasingly promoting the networking tracking devices to enhance corporate and business performance. Public sector in Bangladesh has adopted e-filing for enabling virtual office, iBAS++ for real time financial management and governance and digitalization of most of the public services for transparent and smooth public service delivery. The private sector is also deploying and implementing the most recent technologies to sustain in competitions. The modern age is differentiated by the speed of technological breakthroughs, the pervasiveness of scope and the tremendous impact of new systems and emerging technologies. The breadth and depth of the techno-digital transformation in the era of 4th Industrial Revaluation (4IR) demands rapid changes in entire systems of production, management and public governance. The response to that rapid changes cannot be left to state institutions alone but requires the active engagement of citizens, the private sector, the academy and civil society. Policymaking cycles and processes used previously became inadequate due to the pace of technological development, its characteristics and quicker scale of emerging technologies comparing to previous industrial revolutions. This paper aims to evaluate the 4IR and its influence to shifting of governance, desired governance model and changing role of company secretary as governance professional during 4IR and finally, to recommend the preparedness of education and governance institutions in Bangladesh to ensure adequate measures at the pace of technological development during the 4IR.
26 | October -December 2019
4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) The first industrial revolution involved changes of agrarian societies to greater industrialization due to the consequence of the steam engine and other technological developments, the second industrial revolution expanded the industries and mass production due to the electricity and technological advances, the third industrial revolution expanded human activity due to modernization in cyberspace i.e. computers and networking. The 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR)/ Industry 4.0 is the current and developing environment of disruptive technologies and trends which are changing the way we live, work and relate to one another due to the adoption of cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI). In factories and workplaces, smart technologies are being used to connect machines to interact, visualize the entire production, supply chain and make decisions autonomously. This revolution is expected to impact all disciplines, industries, and economies and hence it is disrupting almost every industry in every country and creating massive change in a non-linear way at unprecedented speed due to the velocity, scope and systems impact of the changes of the Industry 4.0. According to Professor Klaus Schwab- the new age is differentiated by the speed of technological breakthroughs, the pervasiveness of scope and the tremendous impact of new systems. The breadth and depth of the transformation demands changes in entire systems of production, management and public governance. Responding to the changes requires active role of state institutions, the active engagement of citizens, the private sector, the academy and civil society. With the pace of rapid technological development the data protection regulations also became a prime concern to protect the risk of data misuse especially after high profile data security breaches at AOL Inc., Sony, Yahoo, etc.
