As Adobe prepares for the next wave of disruption led by Web 3.0 and the metaverse, the software giant is stitching together partnerships with industry peers such as Microsoft and is in talks to power Meta’s range of virtual reality devices, chairman & chief executive officer Shantanu Narayen said in a virtual conversation with Archana Rai at The Economic Times Global Business Summit. The Hyderabad-born executive—who expects more Indian-origin leaders to helm global corporations—said the software giant, which has always aimed to change the world through digital experiences, is poised for fresh opportunities in the new world order. Edited excerpts.

How difficult was it to navigate Adobe through a disruptive event such as the pandemic?

Like most companies, we put our employees first, made it flexible for them to work out of anywhere. We did what we could in terms of providing healthcare and access to vaccines. On the customer side, it was clear that many were going through cash flow situations, so we had to continue to enable (digital) access to these customers. It was also clear that digital was going to transform everything: work, life, entertainment, health care, so is Adobe stepping up to the opportunities that are available to us? So those were sort of the three things that we did.

What role did the Indian arm play in all of this?

We have got incredible talent in India and they are responsible for major parts of every aspect of our business, including product, be it Acrobat or creative or digital experience tools, so much of the pioneering engineering work is done in India. We continue to expand our footprint in the country. Our aspirations for India are not just related to product, but about running global businesses out of India (like) the advertising, print and publishing business that are run completely out of India. We are disproportionately invested in India and will continue to invest.

You have led Adobe through massive technology shifts. Where will you place the company in the emerging universe of Web 3 and Metaverse applications?

I will start with an example. A lot of the things we participated in the physical world will move into the virtual world. What role can Adobe play there? All the content must be created, be it immersive, 3D, or just making sure things present in the physical world are represented in the virtual. We have a product called Substance, and can there be a 3D offering of that? Secondly, we are talking to partners. We are talking to Meta because Meta wants Adobe to be the partner of choice for their Quest devices (virtual-reality headsets). We partner with Microsoft on the HoloLens (mixed reality smart glasses).

We like to make that core hypothesis and then unleash the innovation of our employees before erroneously saying the truth lies in one place or the other. That’s how the company continues to evolve and stay nimble. For example, we acquired Omniture in 2009 because we asserted that data was going to be important, much before it became that.

How will this massive shift to digital impact Adobe?

Adobe’s mission has always been changing the world through digital experiences. There are three aspects to that. The first is what we call ‘creativity for all”. That segment is exploding.

The second thing is providing every enterprise the ability to have digital infrastructure by which they engage with their customers, including healthcare or government-regulated industries, which were perhaps a little late to this digital engagement. The third is automating inefficient manual processes. As you know, PDF is the document lingua franca of the Internet. So, we allowed people to do more, whether it’s electronic signatures or providing PDFs on mobile devices. On all these, we have seen a massive tailwind and we are going to continue to expand our footprint.

So, what is Adobe doing to retain market share, even leadership in this hyper-competitive space?

Adobe is well known for pioneering (new) market categories. We created desktop publishing with Apple and Canon, gaming, or video on the web (enabled) by Flash, imaging with Photoshop or document exchange with PDF. And most recently, everything that we have done with respect to marketing and digital marketing as a form of enterprise software. If you add all of this up, we are talking about a $100 billion addressable market opportunity.

To your point, yes, it will probably attract other companies, I would say, though, that the companies that you talk about (Apple, Microsoft) are, frankly, more partners. In the grand scheme of things, we are significant partners because we are one of the largest independent software vendors. These companies get our applications to sing and dance on their platforms.

In India, the IT sector has crossed the $200-billion mark in revenue for fiscal 2022. How much further do you see it growing?

India is in a unique position, leapfrogging between several generations of technology. Just consider HDFC Bank or ICICI, for example. The cost of transactions is just a minuscule amount of what’s happening elsewhere. Or the mobile phone revolution, I remember when I was young, in India, we had to wait for years to get a landline connection. The second thing that augurs well for India is the demographics and the sheer numbers, both contributing to a unique talent resource. The missing part, in the past, was access to capital. So, you put that with the other two elements and there’s an explosively positive combination.

What would you say about India’s chances of achieving its target of becoming a $10-trillion economy by 2030?

I’m long on India!

If you look at it, the first wave of IT was coincident with the Internet. People realised that they could make innovative software. The emergence of TCS and Wipro and Cognizant and Infosys was Generation I, in which the idea was to take advantage of the Internet. Now, the big shift is that people have realised it’s okay to work from anywhere, in the post-pandemic scenario. I think it will augur well for not just India, but also other areas like South America, and other regions.

India’s largest export, in addition to software, has been CEO talent. How does it feel to be among a celebrated tribe of Indian-origin CEOs? Would your tribe grow?

I do think the number will increase. I have been doing this for 15 years. I was one of the first fortunate ones to be tapped to lead a global corporation. It speaks as much about the US environment as it does about Indian talent. It’s the meritocracy and the willingness to give opportunity; we take diversity and inclusion seriously, and that’s why we have been able to have this kind of impact in the US. Again, I’m blessed.