Our Future Will Be Powered By Community

I’ve had the privilege of spending my career immersed in technology at the service of great companies, organizations, and governments.?The one constant that I’ve turned to is the people that apply the technology across these organizations. They are where the power of positive impact lies.

?This week we launched?our?Digital Empowers report, Technology as a Catalyst for Empowering Communities.?The report compiles more than three years of our?efforts exploring the intersection of technology and social impact?with?experts from?leading?public, private, and non-profit?organizations across?sectors in partnership?with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce?Foundation.??

?Digital Empowers is aimed at?accelerating innovation for social impact.?The platform seeks to?facilitate the generation of new ideas, proliferate those ideas, and facilitate action through a cross-collaborative process.?

?What struck me in the findings of Technology as a Catalyst for Empowering Communities is that the significance of any technology lies in how much transformation it will bring in the life of a single person, anywhere around the world. Taken together, technology, human-centered design, and cross-sector partnerships can help accelerate real social impact for local communities.

?One thing that I’ve seen is the true impact that technology and community can make. Technology is fueling massive changes in the way we live, work and play – and the sense of community at all levels continues to evolve and grow stronger.

?This sense and power of community has never been more important. We all seek a sense of community at work, at home and where we live. Especially during the pandemic, technology has not only allowed us to find and expand our sense of community, but to empower those communities to have an even bigger impact on the world.

?Community is where we come together with united interests, sharing passions that bind us together. Community cuts across profit and non-profit or private and public. I’ve been fortunate in my role at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to work with organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and the Greater New York American Red Cross. I’ve also had the opportunity to connect that world with the public and private sector.

?These experiences lead me to one of my passions – exploring the fusion of technology and community – and how it will directly impact the future of how we work. For instance, in step with the local investments that TCS is making throughout North America, including recent expansions in Arizona, Ohio, Texas, and Montreal, is a commensurate increase in our local community engagement efforts and initiatives, led by our goIT and Ignite My Future in School STEM education programs.

?As the report states, “This human-centered approach to technology development and adoption will be essential in creating effective, sustainable solutions to social impact challenges.”

?I couldn’t have said it better.