reprinted from The Times of India Technology Section, Aparna Desikan & Ranjani Ayyar, TNN | Jan 30, 2016 CHENNAI: Connect with a homemaker 500 miles away to buy a customised brocade potli bag through a chat app or order your favourite grande latte with skimmed milk from Starbucks.

The window between a signal arriving and it demanding a response is shortening. E-tailing chat apps may be buzz, future / Times of is already shaping strategy conversations in forward-looking organisations. Treating it as a future concern rather than a present one builds a preparedness gap that will have to be closed under pressure.

The most important question is not whether E-tailing chat apps may be buzz, future / Times of will matter, but how quickly it will matter in your specific context. Leaders benefit most from mapping the ripple effects early — not just the direct impact but the second and third-order consequences that arrive later and hit harder. That is the practical work of foresight.