The 4th industrial revolution is already here, says Microsoft India president, Anant Maheshwari

Back in August 2016, Microsoft announced that Anant Maheshwari would soon take over operations of the company from Chairman Bhaskar Pramanik. Well that time has arrived and while the Chairman has yet to make his exit from Microsoft India (expected in March), Maheshwari who was recently interviewed by the Times of India, spilled out some plans and also commented on demonetisation and how it is kickstarting the 4th industrial revolution, out here in India.Anant Maheshwari comes from Honeywell and will now be responsible for all of Microsoft’s products, services, and support offerings across India. But there's more, as Maheshwari is also responsible for the continuing transformation of Microsoft into the leading productivity and platform, which happens to come at a time when the country is still struggling from the effects of the recent demonetisation move.His vision of the digital movement comes with a rather different perspective. In his interview, he proclaims his ideas about the 4th industrial revolution, one that takes place when both data and digital interplay with the physical world on an ongoing basis. He believes that even though parts of India have yet to enter the 2nd and 3rd industrial revolutions, thanks to demonetisation, the 4th industrial revolution is already making its way into their daily lives.Maheshwari did point out that the journey would be a difficult as the same group of citizens would literally be leapfrogging 2 revolutions.When quizzed about how many industries were unaware and under-prepared at the onset of demonetisation, the president of Microsoft India said that not everyone can plan for every situation. But he presented evolution and growth as the key pillars to comfortably overcome sudden changes in the system. When it came to vulnerabilities arising out of the move to digital, he claimed that it was high time industries and businesses shifted from whole prevention approach to one that focuses on detecting vulnerabilities at the earliest.