On National Technology Day, India reflects on more than technological progress. It reflects on a quieter shift inside enterprises where technology is no longer limited to systems, platforms, or transformation programs. It has moved into human moments, decisions, resilience, and everyday life.
Across industries, leaders describe a similar turning point. Technology stopped being just a tool and started becoming personal not through strategy, but through experience.
Kamal Karnatak, Global CIO, RJ Corp
“It wasn’t just efficiency; it was transformation. In that moment, technology stopped being a tool and became a force that reshaped how work itself was imagined.”
In the 1990s, Kamal Karnatak worked in a textile manufacturing environment where even a small production change required manual calculations, handwritten records, and multiple approvals. A single yarn count change meant long machine downtime and coordination delays.
When computerized systems were introduced, the same process was reduced to seconds.
That moment changed his understanding completely. Technology was no longer about improving work. It was about redefining it.
Gopi Thangavel, Group CIO, L&T Group
“Technology is not just about platforms, cloud, or AI. At its core, technology is about people, trust, resilience, and the ability to help society function during its most difficult moments.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, leading digital enablement at L&T Group, he helped transition lakhs of employees to remote work while ensuring critical systems remained stable and resilient.
What stayed with him was not systems or architecture. It was people. Employees staying connected to families, teams making urgent decisions remotely, and organizations continuing because digital continuity held firm.
In that moment, technology became essential to continuity itself.
Rakesh Bhardwaj, CIO, Lupin Limited
“Technology is spoken of only twice — when we buy it and when it breaks. Everything in between is experience.”
At Lupin, as digital systems moved closer to patients, healthcare professionals, and internal users, the focus shifted from systems to experience.
The real value of technology lies in what users do not notice. Systems that quietly remove friction, support decisions, and respect intent without interruption.
In healthcare, that invisibility does not denote absence. It is trust working silently in the background.
Siddharth Sharma, Chief Information and Innovation Officer, Digi Yatra Foundation
“True innovation should be invisible — improving lives while remaining Responsible by Design.”
During a contactless travel pilot powered by digital identity systems, an elderly passenger moved through airport security effortlessly and later smiled saying, “Kamaal ho gaya, maja aa gaya!”
That moment captured everything.
At Digi Yatra Foundation, where seamless digital travel systems are being built, the focus is on secure and frictionless journeys.
The insight was simple. The best technology is the one users never notice but always benefit from.
Ketan Lodaya, CDIO, Gulf Oil Lubricants India Ltd
“Technology becomes truly powerful not when it replaces human effort, but when it amplifies human potential.”
There was a time when technology lived in server rooms, behind dashboards, and inside process maps. Today, it sits beside us in every decision, every conversation, and every ambition we carry forward.
For him, technology became personal the moment he realized transformation was no longer about systems alone, it was about people. The best digital journeys are not measured by how advanced the platform is, but by how naturally it improves human experience, empowers teams, and unlocks growth at scale.
Across these journeys, one truth stands out clearly.
Technology is no longer defined by systems alone. It is defined by moments where it holds organizations during crisis, simplifies complexity, restores dignity in experience, and builds trust in everyday life.
On this National Technology Day, the shift is simple. Technology is no longer only what we build. It is what we live.
