**2. Age of new normal**

During ICIKS' 2021 Conference1 , Professor Tung BUI,<sup>2</sup> Keynote Speaker made a presentation untitled "Decision Paradigm and Support in the Age of New Normal."

This presentation made me aware of the effects of digital transformation and the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic on how decision-makers make decisions.

In his talk, Tung Bui pointed out the role of uncertainty that is constantly growing. Notably, considering the diversification of massive information sources that go beyond the organization boundaries, he listed four levels of uncertainty faced by decision-makers: increased difficulty in distinguishing real news from fake news; difficulty in identifying possible courses of action following a complex and often ambiguous decision; increased difficulty in estimating the probability

<sup>1</sup> International Conference on Information and Knowledge Systems.

<sup>2</sup> Professor Tung Bui holds the distinguished professorship of global business endowed by the Matson Navigation Company at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. His current research interests focus on effective use of IT in large organizations, information literacy, digital transformation, sustainable development, and in collaborative technology, including group decision and negotiation support systems and crisis management.

*Knowledge-Based Management: the Creative Power of Tacit Knowledge in the "Age of New… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.101947*

of decision-making results of a chosen action; and unexpected emergence of new actors—allies or enemies, humans or bots—throughout the decision-making process. Furthermore, he notes some characteristics specific to the behavior of decision-makers in this world in crisis: unprepared, illusion of objectivity (bias), fear of the unknown, denial of truth, ignorance, fear of being criticized. Professor Tung BUI insisted on the evolution of the world that was changing and forced to put in place new normality, which he called "the age of new normal."

Moreover, in their book "Covid-19 the Big Reset," Schwab, K., & Malleret, T. ([4], p. 166) foresee a series of long and complex changes and adaptations. They note that "*some industry leaders and executives may be tempted to equate the reset with a reboot, hoping to return to the old normal and restore what worked in the past: traditions, proven procedures and familiar ways of doing things - in short, a return to the status quo*." However, in a constantly changing world with an uncertain future, visibility is reduced, and beyond the short term, there is only uncertainty and unknown: agility and confidence become new modalities.

It reminded me of my own experience when, in 1978, I was responsible for introducing a crucial innovation, called "Computer-aided Design," into a large French industrial company. Faced with techniques and applications modalities unknown at the time, I imagined a new way of leading based on agility and confidence so that I could rely on a strong and involved team. That's how we put in place an infrastructure called "Semi-Opened Infrastructure for innovative technologies deployment." Today, this new managerial attitude seems to me well adapted to the "age of the new normality" as defined by Professor Tung Bui and the suggestions of Maria Koutsovoulou and Schwab, K., & Malleret, T. [1, 4]. The infrastructure for innovative technologies deployment is described in Section 5 of this chapter.
