Business Transformation Asia Issue 19

NAVIGATING THE FUTURE OF

INDIAN IT SERVICES INDUSTRY

While the long-term growth story remains intact, clients are cautious about decisionmaking due to uncertainties arising from the banking crisis in the US and an overall challenging macroeconomic environment.

The today and tomorrow of Indian IT services

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Tushar Sahoo tushar@gecmediagroup.com

EDITOR

Ayushman Baruah ayushman@gecmediagroup.com

CO-FOUNDER & CEO

Ronak Samantaray ronak@gecmediagroup.com

GLOBAL HEAD, CONTENT AND STRATEGIC ALLIANCES

Anushree Dixit anushree@gecmediagroup.com

GROUP SALES HEAD

Richa S richa@gecmediagroup.com

PROJECT LEAD

Jennefer Lorraine Mendoza jennefer@gecmdiagroup.com

SALES AND ADVERTISING

Richa S richa@gecmediagroup.com

DIGITAL TEAM

Vijay Bakshi - IT Manager

DESIGNED BY

Creative Lead

Ajay Arya

Designer

Rahul Arya

Assistant Designer

Vikas Chandra

PRODUCTION, CIRCULATION, SUBSCRIPTIONS info@gecmediagroup.com

War, pandemic, recession, and inflation – these are some of the buzzwords that appeared in recent news headlines. These are certainly not the best words for any business across the globe.

Indian IT services companies are witnessing muted revenue growth as there is increased cautiousness among clients around decisionmaking due to heightened uncertainties arising from the banking crisis in the US and an overall challenging macroeconomic environment.

However, the long-term growth story remains intact as technology spends continue to remain robust barring some slowdown in specific sectors. Given the US is the largest market for Indian IT services companies, the tremors are felt quite hard but also likely to subside in the medium to long term.

The pandemic in the last two years has accelerated the need for digital transformation to keep organisations competitive and resilient against market disruption. As we move ahead into some economic uncertainties, enterprises embracing digital technology seems to be the only way forward. The accelerated pace of investments in digital seems to have slowed down but the bigger picture remains intact.

Companies are exploring emerging markets in the Asia Pacific region – the next growth story. According to IDC, the digital transformation spending in Asia Pacific is forecast to reach $543 billion in 2022, a yearon-year growth of about 18% from 2021.

The Asia Pacific region accounts for almost 30% of total digital transformation spending worldwide followed by the US. Asia Pacific continues to be seen as having a high growth potential as advancement in technology adoption continues to improve. Organisations continue to allocate their digital transformation investments towards several strategic priorities which will be accomplished as they grow their digital footprints.

This month’s cover story offers a snapshot into the future of Indian IT services companies and their fourth quarter earnings. Many of the IT companies are yet to announce their earnings, so we could cover only some of them but they do provide an indication of where the industry is headed.

We covered the earnings of India’s top three IT services companies by revenue – Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, and HCLTech. The revenue growth forecasts for FY24 were weak compared to what we saw in the previous years when the industry grew on the back of pandemicinduced demand for digital transformation.

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The May issue also has some opinion articles on a wide array of topics ranging from technology in the HR industry to banking technology to digitalisation in the chemicals industry and the power of data itself.

Turn these pages for a deep dive into the future of the Indian IT services industry as well as to get a flavour of digital transformation across different sectors. Happy reading!

Ayushman Baruah Editor - Asia, GEC Media Group

Accenture’s outlook signals challenges for Indian IT services firms

Global IT major Accenture has cut the top-end of its FY23 revenue growth guidance to 8-10% from 8-11% earlier, indicating challenges ahead for the Indian IT services companies. However, the mid-point of its organic growth guidance of 6-8% remained same as that of earlier guidance of 5.5-8.5%.

Accenture’s earnings is seen as an indicator for future performance of the Indian IT services companies. Accenture, which follows a SeptemberAugust financial year, reported a profit of $1.53 billion

Asia Pacific private equity deal value down 44% in 2022, says Bain report

Private equity (PE) deal value in Asia Pacific plunged 44% year-onyear to $198 billion in 2022, ending two years of record dealmaking, according to Bain & Company’s Asia Pacific Private Equity Report 2023 launched today.

Slower economic growth, declining consumer confidence, falling manufacturing output, high inflation, and mounting global and regional uncertainties resulted in a perfect storm which dampened investor sentiment.

Across the region, deal value declined between 25% and 53%. Greater China and Southeast Asia saw the greatest fall at 53% and 52%, respectively, with the

for the second quarter. The IT giant also announced that it will cut about 19,000 jobs.

Net headcount addition was meagre at just 425 employees, flat sequentially and up 6% annually. Accenture said the job cuts was a strategy to combat wage inflation and reduce structural costs. 50% of the job cuts were in non-billable corporate functions.

The Dublin-based company reported a revenue of $15.8 billion, beating its own guidance of $15.2-15.75 billion.

“There is no significant cut to Accenture’s organic growth guidance, with mid-point of guidance maintained, despite concerns in BFSI sector due to crisis of confidence across US and Europe. We believe that recent events in the global BFSI space may not lead to more than 2-3% EPS cut for our covered companies vs fall of about 9% in NIFTY IT in past one month. We see no significant decline in demand given Accenture’s strong bookings and healthy pipeline,” analysts at ICICI Securities said in a note.

“Client focus on cost-optimisation deals bodes well for Indian IT companies given their expertise in large cost-optimisation deals. There could be delay in deal signings or conversion of deals to revenue in next couple of quarters in our view, which is also the feedback we have got from our covered companies ahead of their silent period,” ICICI Securities said.

former challenged by uncertainties relating to the zero-Covid policy, geopolitical tensions and tech regulatory crackdowns, and the latter faced with fewer growth deals. Deal value in Australia-New Zealand (ANZ), Korea and Japan dropped 48%, 39%, and 28%, respectively. Deal value in India declined 25%.

“The declines in deal value, exits and fundraising in 2022 should not be a surprise. In fact, conditions were set for a perfect storm. Investor exuberance and a

superabundance of global capital helped propel Asia Pacific deal value to an extraordinary high in 2021. As economic forces battered the market in 2022, investors retreated and deal value fell back to the level of 2020,” said Kiki Yang, co-head of Bain & Company’s Asia Pacific PE practice.

Greater China continues to hold the lion’s share of the region’s total deal value although it plummeted to 31%, a 9-year low. India and ANZ increased their shares to 23% and 19%, respectively.

BFSI to drag FY24 growth for Indian IT services companies, says Motilal Oswal report

Technology-related spends are likely to remain muted over the near term led by challenging macro environment and concerns on stability of the overall banking industry though the long-term demand will remain intact, according to a Motilal Oswal technology sector report.

“With an already high base (strong spends in FY22 and FY23), this would result in a muted industry topline growth for FY24. However, we expect the peak of weak macro impact to play out by 1H FY24 before recovering gradually in 2H FY24. With structural demand remaining intact, we continue to expect a strong demand recovery in FY25,” Motilal Oswal said in its report.

The adverse impact of IT-related spending cuts should primarily be on discretionary spends, which have been the key spending area post Covid-induced disruptions. On the other hand, cost optimisation and vendor consolidation-related spends should remain the prime focus over the next 3-4 quarters.

“Though IT spends have remained resilient, rising interest rates and current trouble in the US banking system imply adverse near-term impact for IT spends. We expect the banks to maintain caution and curtail discretionary technology spending until the situation stabilizes. This would hit IT spends in the early part of FY24 and exert further pressure on near-term growth outlook for IT services,” the report said.

The brokerage firm said it remains watchful of the situation and any further weakness in banking ecosystem would be viewed negatively.

HCLTech expands in Romania, to hire 1,000 people in two years

Indian IT services major HCLTech plans to expand its operations in Romania and hire 1,000 more people in the country in the next two years.

HCLTech, which completed five years of operations in Romania, will scale up its offices in Bucharest and Iasi. A third of the new roles will be offered to graduates recruited through partnerships with leading Romanian universities, the company said.

The company currently employs approximately 1,000 people in Romania serving global clients by leveraging its portfolio across digital, cloud, engineering, and software.

“We are investing in creating opportunities for local talent in Romania to pursue careers in technology. As we celebrate our fifth anniversary and embark on the next phase of our growth journey in the country, we remain committed to supercharging progress for our people and local communities,” Iulian Paduraru, HCLTech’s country lead for Romania.

“HCLTech is an important market player in Romania. We expect its growth trajectory to continue to improve as the business strengthens its local workforce and broadens its technology offerings in Romania,” said Alexandra Simion, Associate Consultant, IDC.

Country Lead – Romania, HCLTech

IULIAN PADURARU

Indian IT services firm to report muted sequential growth in Q4, say analysts

Indian IT services companies are expected to report weak sequential revenue growth in the fourth quarter ended March as there is increased cautiousness among clients around decision-making due to heightened uncertainty arising from the recent banking crisis, according to analysts.

“Deal pipelines have not shrunk, but conversion to new deal wins is taking longer time. Also, in certain cases, conversion of orderbook to revenues in terms of deal ramp-ups is taking longer than usual. This, in our view, implies right-shifting or postponement of demand to H2 FY24 or even FY25 as digitalisation

agenda of clients remains largely intact, but their near-term focus has shifted to cost optimisation and increasing efficiency,” ICICI Securities said in a report.

The brokerage firm said that, for companies under its coverage, the exposure to US regional banks is in low-mid single digits of overall revenues, but the overall exposure to BFSI vertical is quite significant. “This might lead to a decline in sequential revenue growth this quarter.”

According to analysts at Motilal Oswal, while the BFSI sector has been resilient for the last few quarters, recent industry developments have added to caution on its tech spending. “Though the Indian IT services firms do not have meaningful exposure to the affected US regional banks, fears of a banking crisis could impact near-term IT spending by banks and will be the key monitorable during the Q4 management commentary,” the brokerage firm said.

Suresh HP joins Sonata Software as Chief Delivery Officer

excellence across all verticals and businesses.

Suresh lives in Bengaluru, India. He brings more than three decades of experience in companies such as Infosys, Motorola, and, most recently, with LTIMindtree. His leadership experience spans global delivery across verticals and practices, delivery enablement, quality, delivery excellence, and digital practices.

Sonata Software said it has been “investing significantly” in senior talent to serve its customers globally as part of its growth strategy. “Suresh’s induction is one more step in that direction,” the company said.

Chief Delivery Officer,

Bengaluru-based IT services firm Sonata Software has announced that Suresh HP has joined as Chief Delivery Officer. In this role, he will spearhead Sonata’s global delivery strategy, enablement, and

“I am excited to welcome Suresh; his coming on board is a significant addition to our leadership strength. With his rich experience, Suresh would enable Sonata to continue building an innovative and trusted delivery org that inspires our clients and team members and delivers high-quality outcomes,” said Samir Dhir, MD and CEO, Sonata Software.

“I am excited to join Sonata Software’s leadership team to build a culture of excellence and drive our organization to new heights. Our top priority is to exceed our customers’ expectations consistently”, said Suresh HP.

SURESH HP

Sonata Software

Scandron partners with CriticaLog India to provide dronebased logistics solutions across India

be hub-to-hub, would be used for both internal logistics and for third-party customer requirements.

According to Scandron, this marks a “first-of-its-kind” alliance in India, highlighting the importance of leveraging drone technology to meet the growing demand for critical and timesensitive logistics requirements in the B2B segment.

Scandron, a manufacturer of logistic drones in India, has partnered with CriticaLog India, a technology-driven logistics company, to provide drone-based logistics solutions across 160 cities in India. The partnership is expected to generate revenues of Rs 500-600 crore over the next two years.

The Indian drone market is

witnessing a huge uptick and between August 2021 and February 2022, India recorded a 34.4% surge in the number of drone startups, taking the total to 221 startups.

Under this partnership, CriticaLog will handle all customer-facing operations and Scandron will manage all drone-related operations. Drone deliveries, which will essentially

India’s e-commerce logistics space to exceed 10 billion parcels by FY28, says Redseer

The overall e-commerce logistics market is expected to grow at a minimum CAGR of over 20% to comfortably exceed 10 billion parcels by FY28 on back of steady e-commerce growth, according to Redseer Strategy Consultants.

Indian e-logistics market continues to see meaningful growth in FY23. Total shipments (forward + reverse) for e-commerce logistics grew to over 4 billion in FY23 (except of hyperlocal shipments). Within this pie, in-house logistics vs third-party players had a roughly equal share.

During the year, the industry saw intensifying competitive trends from smaller incumbents with yields also being challenged.

D2C has emerged as a strong growth segment within e-commerce. D2C brands across channels are expected to grow overall GMV at 35% in next few years, with brand.com accounting for a significant share of this growth. A total of $33 billion of GMV is expected to be generated from D2C brands across all

“We are excited to collaborate with CriticaLog India to bring drone-based logistics solutions to the B2B and hub-to-hub segment in India. Our range of CargoMax logistics drones combined with CriticaLog’s expertise in logistics will be a game-changer and create new opportunities for us to serve customers and provide innovative solutions to meet their delivery requirements,” said Arjun Naik, CEO, Scandron.

channels by CY27.

According to Redseer, logistics players with relevant and customized offerings for D2C brands are well positioned to capture market share in this high growth segment as well as have a stronger yield profile going forward.

Despite intensifying competition threats, Delhivery remains the clear market leader in FY23 within e-commerce 3PLs parcels, as per Redseer data. Further, its wide set of offerings for D2C brands along with fast-growing non-ecommerce business also makes it better insulated from the recent macro trends in the eCommerce space and a more resilient logistics business overall.

Bitget launches $100 million Web3 Fund to support crypto projects in Asia

Bitget, a top crypto derivatives and copy trading platform, launched its Bitget Web3 Fund during the Hong Kong Blockchain Week, with an initial investment of $100 million.

The fund will focus on investing in Web3-friendly venture capital and outstanding Web3 projects, with the goal of supporting

the development of the next generation of crypto projects, the company said.

The Bitget exchange is adhering to a ‘Go beyond derivative’ strategy in 2023 with the launch of the Bitget Web3 Fund, which is intended to foster a positive attitude towards the digital

Gig white-collar roles in India surge 11%, as per foundit Insights Tracker

India is witnessing a rising demand for the gig workers in the white-collar space with an impressive surge of 11% year-on-year, according to the monthly foundit Insights Tracker (fIT) report released by foundit (formerly Monster APAC & ME), one of India’s leading talent platforms.

According to the report, white-collar hiring in India exhibited positive numbers with a 2% rise in job posting activity in March 2023. The tracker reflected growing demand for talent across key sectors such as Retail, Telecom and Travel & Tourism on an annual basis (March 2023 vs March 2022).

However, on a month-on-month basis, job posting activity declined by 1% as several sectors slowed down their hiring processes. With rising uncertainties on the back of international developments such as shifts in the US economic policies including H1-B visas and volatile oil prices, job creation rates have stabilized on the whole. Hiring demand in Media & Entertainment and Import and Export saw a dip between 12-13%, while segments like IT, Telecom, and Manufacturing

currencies economy and support the development of the Web3 environment. The Bitget Web3 Fund will seek out VCs and projects globally but prioritise partners in Asia that have a clear roadmap and an experienced team, and those that offer innovative solutions to real-world problems.

As of now, it has received inquiries from VCs including Foresight Ventures, Dragonfly Capital, SevenX Ventures, DAO Maker, and ABCDE Capital for potential partnerships.

“We can see that Web3 space is evolving rapidly and many projects deserve the support to further advance such development and make Web3 a truly global phenomenon, as Web2 had once become. That is why the Bitget Web3 Fund will strive to seek out projects that have the most impact on this process,” said Gracy Chen, Managing Director of Bitget.

saw a decline between 3-4% (March 2023 vs February 2023).

“It is interesting to see the continued growth of the gig economy in the Indian white-collar space, as companies look at easier onboarding processes and higher cost savings. We have certainly seen newer trends emerge over the last few years with constantly evolving workplace preferences and a greater focus on employee well-being. Tech disruptions such as the most recent ChatGPT are revolutionising and paving new paths for every industry. It is important to note that such technologies hold the potential to create employment opportunities, re-iterating the crucial need for upskilling- not only for entrylevel professionals but the entirety of the Indian workforce,” said Sekhar Garisa, CEO, foundit.

TCS Q4 net profit up 14.8% to Rs 11,436 crore, deal TCV at $10 billion

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest IT services company by revenue, kicked off the fourth quarter earnings season on Wednesday with a 14.8% YoY rise in net profit to Rs 11,436 crore. TCS follows an AprilMarch fiscal year.

The Mumbai-headquartered company’s revenue for the March quarter grew nearly 17% from a year ago to Rs 59,162 crore, driven by long-term demand for technology-led transformation.

The dollar revenue for the March quarter grew 10.7% in constant currency from a year earlier to $7.2 billion. This is despite Q4 being a seasonally weak quarter on account of furloughs or lower number of working days due to holidays. The total contract value (TCV) in Q4 stood at $10 billion with all-time high number of large deals. For FY23, the order book stood at $34.1 billion.

“It is very satisfying to look back at our strong growth in FY 2023, on top of the mid-teen growth in the prior year. The strength of our order book demonstrates the resilience of demand for our services and gives us visibility for growth in the medium term. Krithi and I are working closely to ensure that the leadership transition over the next few months is smooth and seamless to all our stakeholders, and that TCS is well positioned to capture the opportunities ahead,” said Rajesh

Infosys pegs muted FY24 revenue growth guidance at 4-7%

Infosys, India’s second largest software exporter by revenue, has forecast its FY24 revenue growth to be in the range of 4-7% in constant currency, on the back of an uncertain demand environment and some unplanned project ramp downs and delays in decision making in Q4. The operating margin guidance for FY24 stood at 20-22%. Infosys follows an AprilMarch fiscal year.

and MD, TCS

Gopinathan, CEO and MD, TCS.

Gopinathan added that the company is not seeing any large-scale budget transformations though some “discretionary projects are being deferred.”

The Bengaluru-based company’s net profit for the March quarter rose 7.8% from a year ago to Rs 6,128 crore, below Bloomberg estimates of Rs 6,582.2 crore.

The revenue for the March quarter rose 16% annually to Rs 37,441 crore on broad-based growth, below Bloomberg estimates of Rs 38,769.8 crore. The revenue for FY23 grew 15.4% in constant currency to Rs 146,767 crore, below its guidance of 16-16.5%.

The dollar revenue declined 3.2% sequentially in constant currency to $4.5 billion due to deal ramp downs and a one-time revenue impact. In comparison, Tata Consultancy Services’ (TCS) dollar revenue grew 0.6% sequentially to $7.2 billion during the fourth quarter, below market expectations. During Q4, Infosys signed large deals worth a total contract value of $2.1 billion.

Operating margins for the March quarter narrowed to 21% from 21.5% compared to the December quarter. “Our continued focus on cost optimization and operational efficiencies have helped in achieving operating margins of 21% in FY23,” said Nilanjan Roy, Chief Financial Officer, Infosys.

RAJESH GOPINATHAN CEO

SALIL PAREKH CEO and MD, Infosys

Low demand from North America, margin decline led TCS, Infosys to underperform

and margin assumptions,” Kotak said in a report.

The earnings of two IT majors Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys had two common factors. According to analysts from Kotak Institutional Equities, the first factor is deterioration in demand from North America with discretionary programs that were paused or cancelled. The second factor is the companies’ inability

to flex margin levers as near-term costs are sticky at the beginning of the slowdown.

“Our structural view on margins and growth has not changed, even as we recognise elevated headwinds that could feed into multiples in the near term. Stocks to avoid are the ones trading at premium multiples after assuming elevated growth

The slowdown was sharper than expected. Infosys and TCS reported QoQ revenue declines of 3.8% and 0.8%, respectively, in North America. The revenue decline in North America was across verticals on a sequential basis. “The reasons for the decline were a pause in discretionary programs and even cancellations. After a slow start in January, projects were paused or cancelled in February and it continued in March. The banking crisis in US regional banks and European banks in March 2023 has induced greater caution and could impact the June 2023 quarter. We would not be surprised by a weak US performance across companies that are likely to report in the coming days,” Kotak said in a post-earnings report.

Job seekers in non tech sectors surge 30% as layoffs continue at tech firms

New initiatives in non-tech sectors like Auto and Manufacturing and recent layoffs in specific sectors led by IT has led to a 30% surge in tech professionals looking for jobs in non-tech sectors, according to Spectrum Talent Management.

The HR firm has also recently identified a steep rise of 20% in professionals taking up new employment in startups after months of slowdown and layoffs and impending hiring freeze amongst big tech companies.

Despite the above-average number, the trend of taking up startup jobs might be short-term. The laidoff employees use the startup ecosystem as ad-hoc (sometimes desperate) measures as an immediate solution until the market recuperates, a statement from Spectrum said.

A considerable part of the laid-off employees, about 10%, also plan to start a venture of their own. These trends are expected to stay till the tech industry recovers to its usual business trajectory.

Non-tech industries are not far behind in tech hiring to assist their expansion plans via captives and GICs,

the job demand across other industries, mainly in Auto, BFSI, Engineering, and manufacturing, and certain consumer business setups as well. The hiring traction will show various cycles depending on the upcoming two quarters. So far, the tech hiring in non-tech sectors have gone up by 30% and is likely to grow 2x in the next two quarters till the tech industry recovers.

20% of lateral movement from IT firms absorbed into GCCs and non-tech firms: Quess Corp

About 20% of the lateral movement from IT firms has been absorbed into global capability centres or GCCs and non-tech firms that are going digital, according to insights from Quess Corp.’s Skills Report FY23.

GCCs in India are rapidly growing in number and are estimated to employ over 3.6 lakh jobs in the coming year, as per industry reports. According to a ZinnovNasscom report, there are over 1,500 GCCs in India as of September 2022. This shift is also increasing regional diversity in the industry with a rapid expansion of tech talent footprint across tier-2 and -3 cities such as Jaipur, Coimbatore, Indore, and Kochi.

Despite global headwinds and geopolitical tensions over the past year, the Indian economy has remained resilient with the continued adoption of new-age technologies in FY23, according to the report.

The report reveals that the demand for specific technology skills is consistently rising even across nontech industries. ERP, Java Full Stack, Data Analytics, Cloud, and Infra Management have emerged as the top skills in demand.

Data from the report indicates that while FY22 saw a significant increase in workforce demand with many

firms displaying “talent hoarding” behaviours, this momentum and speed of hiring has tapered down for traditional tech product-based companies in FY23. However, there has been an increase in technology adoption across non-tech industries. This has led to a redistribution of skills, resulting in a correction of demand for professionals and a decrease in associated price premiums within the IT sector.

The Noida-based IT services major posted a net profit of Rs 3,983 crore for the March quarter, up 10.8% from a year ago, but down 2.8% sequentially, amid a challenging business environment with clients cutting down on discretionary budget.

The revenue for the March quarter was up 17.7% from the year-ago period to Rs 26,606 crore as digital revenues continue to show demand. The digital revenue for the fourth quarter grew nearly 17% YoY in constant currency and contributed 37.5% of HCLTech services revenue.

The company’s dollar revenue for the March quarter grew 10.5% annually in constant currency to $3.2 billion, but declined 1.2% sequentially, indicative of a tough business environment.

“Our pipeline is near an all-time high which reflects our differentiated business mix and strong client demand for our offerings,” C. Vijayakumar, CEO and MD, HCLTech.

HCLTech has forecast its FY24 revenue growth to be in the range of 6-8% in constant currency, somewhat better than the 4-7% guidance provided by peer Infosys. The EBIT margin guidance for FY24 stood at 18-19%.

The attrition rate for the March quarter reduced to 19.5% from 21.7% in the December quarter indicating a constrained job market across the sector. The company made a net addition of 3,674 employees during the quarter, taking the total headcount to 225,944.

HCLTech forecasts revenue growth of 6-8% for FY24

C. VIJAYAKUMAR CEO and MD, HCLTech

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND MODERNISATION IN BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES

Although digital transformation was seen as a luxury for financial services companies in the pre-pandemic era, today it’s a necessity for every organisation in the industry.

WHY DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Demanding customers, stiff competition from fintechs, and the emergence of new and disruptive technologies have pressured banks to reimagine their business models and increase the efficiency of their IT infrastructure. Digitalisation is aimed at delivering a better user experience through integrated capabilities and streamlined access to information.

Although digital transformation was seen as a luxury for financial services companies in the pre-pandemic era, today it’s a necessity for every organization in the industry. Global investment in digital transformation reached $1.8 trillion in 2022, rising by 17.6% compared to 2021, and this spending is estimated to double by 2025. Whilst many financial institutes are investing in the newest hi-tech solutions, they often overlook the need to create comprehensive B2B and B2C experiences, which can give them a competitive edge.

PILLARS OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Customer Experience (CX) is the main driver of digital transformation. Customers now have higher expectations because of the digitalfirst mindset. They expect a simple, fast, and personalized digital experience. Banks need to focus on understanding the user’s motivation and behaviour to get there. The objective is to create a frictionless experience and boosts customer engagement with their financial institution.

Regulatory compliance across the world is another factor driving digitalization in banking. Central banks across the globe have mandated the adoption of ISO20022 in payment messaging and Swift has already provided the deadline of November 2025. Complexity in payment messages has motivated banks to adopt human centric experience in their platform modernization

journey to achieve higher STP rates and facilitate real time and instant payments. I recommend a user experience driven modernization strategy for the banking and financial services digitalization.

HUMAN CENTRIC CX

Before banks begin the digital transformation, it’s important to work backward using a human-centric approach. Understanding why an organization is undertaking a transformation and the target audience for its new digital initiatives are extremely important. While the customer and their user journeys are extremely important, it’s equally important to understand the organization’s processes and the people involved for a successful and holistic transformation.

Any business undergoing a transformation must go beyond the product strategy. Our team looked at not only the products but also the entire customer and advisor journeys across various stages to transform the products and services that a leading wealth management company offers to financial advisors. This holistic approach helps ensure that any team, in this case, advisors, are comfortable

BY ANOOP GALA Global Head Financial Services, Orion Innovation

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l Digitalisation is aimed at delivering a better user experience through integrated capabilities and streamlined access to information

l Global investment in digital transformation reached $1.8 trillion in 2022, rising by 17.6% compared to 2021, and this spending is estimated to double by 2025

l Any business undergoing a transformation must go beyond the product strategy

l Banks need to create a ‘Zero Trust’ based cyber security system

and equipped to provide their clients with new services and experiences.

Platform Modernization

While digital transformation can create easy-to-use consumer apps, they also provide institutions with digital tools to work more efficiently. We encourage clients to look at consumer experience models within the context of an enterprise-level application.

A micro-services based, cloud enabled architecture is the most suitable way to create modern digital platforms for banking functions like Payments, Core Banking, Wealth management, etc. Such architecture helps banks to expose their processes and clients’ data to third parties fintechs in an open banking economy.

Banks should focus on creating an extendable, extensible, resilient, automated, cloud enabled, and flexible platform to support new products, new geographies, and high volumes of data, especially for payment systems.

UNLOCK DATA INSIGHTS

The biggest issue faced by any organisation is access to real time, enriched, and structured data. Legacy based systems are not capable to create data snapshots of every step of any business process. Insufficient and unstructured data is creating friction in BFSI industry when it comes to implementing analytics and AI/ML models.

While banks can modernize their customers and reference data separately, platform modernization provides an opportunity to generate enriched, structured, and real time transactional data, which can be used for descriptive and predictive analytics. New digitalised platforms must create business events and audit logs for all the business processes

and subprocesses to populate transactional data in data lakes for analytics and research.

IMPROVE OPERATION EFFICIENCY USING INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION

Identifying opportunities to use automation and visualisation technologies to rapidly diagnose issues with transactions is a game changer. Our team created detailed end-to-end user journey maps for external and internal clients in a payment modernization project and reimagined the treasury and payment services touchpoints. We provided contextual suggestions to repair transactions and option to chat with clients at real time to gather missing information. Human centric design also enabled self-services capability to the customers.

ENHANCED RISK AND CONTROL ENVIRONMENT

While banks can focus on creating customer experience driven digitalised platforms, they should not ignore the growing demand for risk and control requirements. Banks need to create a ‘Zero Trust’ based cyber security system. Banks that are exposing their business processes and clients’ data to third parties must implement strong customer authentication (SCA) and data security on the go to keep control of their data on third party platforms. Banks should also implement complex events processing and 360-degree view of events to monitor suspicious transactions and possible cyberattacks.

Banks should also adopt NLP and ML to improve AML and fraud detection systems. Use of knowledge graphs, enhanced onboarding, continuous customer due diligence, and efficient transaction monitoring can significantly reduce money laundering and fraud activities.

DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES

Emergence of newer technologies has challenged the status quo

Banking & Financial Services Digitalization Model

and accelerated the digital transformation journey of banking and financial services. While enhanced customer experience is paramount, newer technologies have forced banks to digitalize their ecosystem to fully realize the value of Cloud, AI/ML, Analytics, and Blockchain.

Banks have started using data analytics in transactions

monitoring, machine learning in transactions enrichment, artificial intelligence in money laundering and fraud detection, and natural language processing in regulatory reporting. Wealth management clients are increasingly asking for digital assets and ESG as alternative investment avenues, which forced banks to quickly adopt blockchain to facilitate

accounting, execution, and custody of digital assets. Insurance companies have adopted smart contracts for automatic insurance settlement and natural language processing (NLP) to accelerate the underwriting process.

EMERGENCE OF FINTECHS

Favourable regulations and newer technologies have resulted in creation of many new age fintechs. These fintechs are agile, cloud native, and only focus on certain areas of banking and financial services. Open banking has accelerated adoption of fintechs in banking ecosystems. These fintechs provide treasury as a service, banking as a service, etc. on a per transaction basis and enable banks to launch new products with reduced time to market. Banks are also associating with fintechs to launch digital only services, virtualize the accounts, and provide embedded banking services. fintechs are helping banks to create standalone digital only banks to cater Gen Z and millennials.

CONCLUSION

Digital transformation is becoming more critical as financial organizations fight to attract and retain new customers. Incorporating a holistic and human-centric approach can help organizations create thoughtful solutions that improve their customer’s experience, business capabilities, and operational efficiencies.

Digital service providers are helping banking and financial services clients to modernise their Payment system, Core banking, and Wealth/Advisor platforms using customer experience driven strategy. They specialize in designing human centric experiences, creating extendable and extensible architecture, accelerating cloud adoption, modernizing client and reference data, and process optimization.

Drivers of Digital Transformation

NAVIGATING THE FUTURE OF

INDIAN IT SERVICES INDUSTRY

While the long-term growth story remains intact, clients are cautious about decisionmaking due to uncertainties arising from the banking crisis in the US and an overall challenging macroeconomic environment.

By Ayushman Baruah

Indian IT services companies are facing pressure on revenue growth as there is increased cautiousness among clients around decision-making due to heightened uncertainties arising from the banking crisis in the US and an overall challenging macro-economic environment.

“Deal pipelines have not shrunk, but conversion to new deal wins is taking longer time. Also, in certain cases, conversion of orderbook to revenues in terms of deal rampups is taking longer than usual. This, in our view, implies right-shifting or postponement of demand to H2 FY24 or even FY25 as digitalisation agenda of clients remains largely intact, but their near-term focus has shifted to cost optimisation and increasing efficiency,” ICICI Securities said in a report.

Q4 (January-March) is seasonally weak for IT companies on account of fewer working

days and some additional furloughs in January. Q4 this year has been eventful for the IT sector wherein on the one hand global IT giant Accenture continued to report strong bookings in the outsourcing business while, on the other hand, we witnessed fast paced events unfolding in the global BFSI space (30-38% revenue mix for top three IT players).

Some IT players have clarified that they do not have meaningful exposure to regional US banks, which are in financial trouble. Hence, the impact is expected to be minimal. BFSI sector in the US contributes about 19-20% to the topline of Indian IT services companies.

“The macro environment remains challenging for IT companies as decision making has been on the slower side…Clients continue to spend on cloud transformation, which is a multi-year opportunity while cost take out deals continue to form a bigger pie in the deals,” ICICI Securities said in a note.

ACCENTURE BAROMETER

Global IT major Accenture has cut the top-end of its FY23 revenue growth guidance to 8-10% from 8-11% earlier, indicating challenges ahead for the Indian IT services companies. However, the mid-point of its organic growth guidance of 6-8% remained same as that of earlier guidance of 5.5-8.5%.

Accenture’s earnings are seen as an indicator for future performance of the Indian IT services companies. Accenture, which follows a September-August financial year, reported a profit of $1.53 billion for the second quarter. The IT giant also announced that it will cut about 19,000 jobs.

Accenture numbers for the outsourcing business

were strong as it reported 31.8% YoY growth in outsourcing bookings. This offers positive signals for Indian IT companies, which are largely dependent on outsourcing.

Accenture’s consulting bookings were healthy, down only 2% YoY, compared to 14% decline in Q1 FY23. Absolute consulting bookings stood at $10.65 billion, its second-highest ever. Most verticals – financial services, health & public services, resources and products – grew in double digits. Growth in Europe was strong despite greater macro weakness in the region compared to the US. “Despite strong bookings, pipeline is being replenished with skew towards larger transformational deals focusing on cost optimisation,” analysts at ICICI Securities said.

Our record bookings reflect the confidence and trust that our clients have in us to create value and help them transform at speed

Julie Sweet, CEO, Accenture

Q4 EARNINGS TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES (TCS)

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest IT services company by revenue, kicked off the fourth quarter earnings season on April 12 with a 14.8% YoY rise in net profit to Rs 11,436 crore. TCS follows an April-March fiscal year.

The Mumbai-headquartered company’s revenue for the March quarter grew nearly 17% from a year ago to Rs 59,162 crore, driven by longterm demand for technology-led transformation.

The dollar revenue for the March quarter grew 10.7% in constant currency from a year earlier to $7.2 billion. This is despite Q4 being a seasonally weak quarter on account of furloughs or lower number of working days due to holidays. The total contract value (TCV) in Q4 stood at $10 billion with all-time high number of large deals. For FY23, the order book stood at $34.1 billion.

“It is very satisfying to look back at our strong growth in FY 2023, on top of the mid-teen growth in the prior year. The strength of our order book demonstrates the resilience of demand for our services and gives us visibility for growth in the medium term. Krithi and I are working closely to ensure that the leadership transition over the next few months is smooth and seamless to all our stakeholders, and that TCS is well positioned to capture the opportunities ahead,” said Rajesh Gopinathan, CEO and MD, TCS.

Gopinathan added that the company is not seeing any large-scale budget transformations though some “discretionary projects are being deferred.”

K Krithivasan will take over as CEO and MD of TCS from June 1, 2023 replacing Rajesh Gopinathan. Krithivasan said his top priorities would include meeting customers and understand their requirements, meeting the larger TCS team, and focus on the nonBFSI side of business.

Indian IT companies reported robust earnings during the pandemic as demand for digital soared. But the peak revenue growth is likely to be behind them and the momentum is seen softening now on account of absence of large deal wins and clients selectively postponing their technology spends. Margins are under pressure due to wage hikes, higher backfilling costs, and increase in travel, visa, and other discretionary expenses.

TCS’s operating margin for the fourth quarter remained stable at 24.5% compared to the preceding three months.

On a trailing 12-month basis, the attrition rate reduced to 20.1% from 21.3% in the December quarter, indicating it is gradually coming down.

TCS made a net addition of 821 employees in Q4 and 22,600 people for the year, taking the total headcount to 614,795 as on March 31, 2023.

Rajesh Gopinathan, CEO and MD, TCS

It is very satisfying to look back at our strong growth in FY 2023, on top of the mid-teen growth in the prior year

INFOSYS

Infosys, India’s second largest software exporter by revenue, has forecast its FY24 revenue growth to be in the range of 4-7% in constant currency, on the back of an uncertain demand environment and some unplanned project ramp downs and delays in decision making in Q4. The operating margin guidance for FY24 stood at 20-22%. Infosys follows an April-March fiscal year.

The Bengaluru-based company’s net profit for the March quarter rose 7.8% from a year ago to Rs 6,128 crore, below Bloomberg estimates of Rs 6,582.2 crore.

The revenue for the March quarter rose 16% annually to Rs 37,441 crore on broad-based growth, below Bloomberg estimates of Rs 38,769.8 crore. The revenue for FY23 grew 15.4% in constant currency to Rs 146,767 crore, below its guidance of 16-16.5%.

The dollar revenue declined 3.2% sequentially in constant currency to $4.5 billion due to deal ramp downs and a one-time revenue impact. In comparison, Tata Consultancy Services’ (TCS) dollar revenue grew 0.6% sequentially to $7.2 billion during the fourth quarter, below market expectations. During Q4, Infosys signed large deals worth a total contract value of $2.1 billion.

Analysts believe the softness in Q4 is much higher than what the companies had anticipated in Q3, and the situation has further worsened with the weakness in the US regions, especially the banking sector.

“As the environment has changed, we see strong interest from our clients for efficiency, cost and consolidation opportunities, resulting in a strong large deal pipeline. We have expanded our internal program on efficiency and cost to build a path to higher margins in the medium term. We continue to invest in our people and in supporting our clients,” said Salil Parekh, CEO and MD, Infosys.

Operating margins for the March quarter narrowed to 21% from 21.5% compared to the December quarter. “Our continued focus on cost optimization and operational efficiencies have helped in achieving operating margins of 21% in FY23,” said Nilanjan Roy, Chief Financial Officer, Infosys.

The company’s digital revenues grew 15% YoY in constant currency to $2.9 billion and contributed nearly 63% to the total revenues as of the quarter ended March.

Financial services and retail are the largest verticals which together account for close to half the revenues for Infosys. Revenues from financial services grew 0.4% annually in constant currency and contributed 28.9% to the total revenue for the March quarter. Revenues from retail grew 12.6% in constant currency, contributing 14.8% to the total revenues as of March quarter.

The attrition rate moderated to 20.9% from 24.3% in the preceding three months indicating the supply-side pressures are gradually coming down. The total headcount as of the March quarter stood at 343,234 employees.

Salil Parekh, CEO and MD, Infosys

As the environment has changed, we see strong interest from our clients for efficiency, cost and consolidation opportunities, resulting in a strong large deal pipeline

HCLTECH

HCLTech has forecast its FY24 revenue growth to be in the range of 6-8% in constant currency, somewhat better than the 4-7% guidance provided by peer Infosys. The EBIT margin guidance for FY24 stood at 18-19%.

The Noida-based IT services major posted a net profit of Rs 3,983 crore for the March quarter, up 10.8% from a year ago, but down 2.8% sequentially, amid a challenging business environment with clients cutting down on discretionary budget.

The revenue for the March quarter was up 17.7% from the year-ago period to Rs 26,606 crore as digital revenues continue to show demand. The digital revenue for the fourth quarter grew nearly 17% YoY in constant currency and contributed 37.5% of HCLTech services revenue.

The company’s dollar revenue for the March quarter grew 10.5% annually in constant currency to $3.2 billion, but declined 1.2% sequentially, indicative of a tough business environment.

“Our pipeline is near an all-time high which reflects our differentiated business mix and strong client demand for our offerings,” C. Vijayakumar, CEO and MD, HCLTech.

Analysts expect HCLTech to grow faster than both Infosys and TCS in FY24. “We estimate HCLTech growth at 7.9% YoY in CC terms for FY24, close to the top end of the guidance of

6-8%. As a result, we increase our revenue forecasts over FY24-26 by up to 2% each year. On EBIT margin, we have lowered our outer year assumptions due to the company’s higher focus on cost take-out deals in which margins are lower,” ICICI Securities said in a post earnings note.

The attrition rate for the March quarter reduced to 19.5% from 21.7% in the December quarter indicating a constrained job market across the sector. The company made a net addition of 3,674 employees during the quarter, taking the total headcount to 225,944.

THE WAY AHEAD

The near- and medium-term future of Indian IT services companies looks challenging as clients turn cautious due to heightened uncertainties arising from the banking crisis in the US and an overall challenging macro-economic environment. However, the long-term growth story remains intact as demand for digital services continue to be robust. The global digital transformation spending is forecast to reach $3.4 trillion in 2026 with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.3%, according to International Data Corporation (IDC). Given the expertise and value proposition they offer, Indian IT services companies are expected to be a big beneficiary of the global digital transformation game plan.

C. Vijayakumar, CEO and MD, HCLTech

Our pipeline is near an all-time high which reflects our differentiated business mix and strong client demand for our offerings

SAFEGUARDING CUSTOMERS WITH A DYNAMIC CYBER SECURITY STRATEGY

India has long been considered a global tech hub and many companies here are pushing towards a digital transformation to increase productivity and efficiency while lowering operations costs.

As one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, the Indian government is taking steps to help its GDP exceed $5 trillion, earlier than expected. India has long been considered a global tech hub and many companies here are pushing towards a digital transformation to increase productivity and efficiency while lowering operations costs.

The number of digital payment transactions increased by 326.8% between 2017 and 2022. QR codes are ubiquitous, appearing everywhere from tickets to see performers on the road to paying barbers in shops. This code brings hundreds of millions of people to the instant payment system that has shaken up the economic ecosystem, which also creates a digital network that connects customers with businesses instantly.

Our latest research shows that QR code payments and peer-to-peer transfers have become the leading payment channels in India. On the flip side, convenience comes at a cost in the form of fraud. When was the last time you scanned a QR code without a second thought? This new payment channel attracts fraudsters to evolve their strategies, switch up their tactics to find vulnerabilities to exploit.

Online scams through QR codes are increasing across the Asia-Pacific region, according to our Global State of Fraud and Identity Report. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Cybercriminals are using a myriad of ways to launch complex attacks as digital transactions

continue to grow, often targeting the weakest link in the customer journey.

THE STATUS QUO

The Indian government has introduced a series of policies since enacting The Information Technology Act in 2000 to establish a better cybersecurity framework. The Digital India Act 2023 and the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill are expected to be in place later this year. The latter proposes a penalty of up to Rs 250 crore (approximately US$30 million) on firms that fail to “take reasonable security safeguards to prevent personal data breach”.

Nevertheless, the pandemic has accelerated the country’s digital transformation and the evolution of cybercrimes. With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), companies can detect fraud better by utilising data analytics.

WEAPONIZATION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

AI chatbots or applications amaze us by boosting our productivity, but the cyber threats brought by technology are also beginning to surface. In today’s digital age, fraudsters have continued to evolve and become adept with the latest technology, creating a more sophisticated fraud ecosystem.

Fraudsters are using AI to pinpoint potential victims and craft phishing emails, design malicious software or ransomware and develop fake chatbots that mimic individuals or reputable organizations. They aim to deceive people into divulging sensitive information.

BY NICK WILSON Vice President, APAC, LexisNexis Risk Solutions

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l Online scams through QR codes are increasing across the Asia-Pacific region

l Fraudsters have continued to evolve and become adept with the latest technology, creating a more sophisticated fraud ecosystem

l Malware, ransomware, and phishing are the most common cyber attacks

l To combat fraud, businesses need effective strategies and solutions that safeguard data and customers

l Cyberattacks can result in emotional responses such as anxiety, frustration, shame, and anger

TAKING RESPONSIBILITY

Malware, ransomware and phishing are the most common cyberattacks. Businesses are especially vulnerable to these attacks which can lead to data breaches. Hackers who bypass firewall security and steal users’ information are using it for fraudulent or extortionist purposes or to sell it on the dark web. Companies not only face the risk of losing customers and damaging their reputations but may also be subjected to substantial penalties.

The motivations and approaches driving cyberattacks are varied and ever-changing and we have yet to realize long term potential for both physical and economic disruption. Cyberattacks can result in emotional responses such as anxiety, frustration, shame and anger. Companies have a responsibility to take appropriate measures to protect themselves and their customers from such attacks.

ROAD TO SUCCESS

To combat fraud, businesses need effective strategies and solutions that safeguard data and customers, such as:

l Deploying behavioural biometrics solutions –People have patterns that indicate their unique ways of browsing the web or using a mobile app. Different from traditional two-factor authentication, behavioural biometrics builds unique user profiles based on behavioural patterns with devices. It analyses how users hold devices, how much pressure they apply on the touchscreen and more. Behavioural biometrics enables businesses to verify users in the background while they are interacting with their devices by analysing data with machine learning.

l Using a unified orchestration platform – Quickly onboarding a high volume of customers is not an easy task when it comes to transaction monitoring and risk scoring. Businesses can view and detect anomalies accurately in real time across the entire customer lifecycle with a single and unified risk orchestration platform. It covers the consumer journey from onboarding and screening to ongoing monitoring.

l Implementing a multi-layered approach – A multi-layered approach can detect cybercrime and fraud on different levels and across multiple channels that are invisible to customers. Investing in a single holistic approach with multiple layers of complementing fraud defences is an effective way to lower fraud costs.

l Utilizing digital intelligence –Businesses can detect high-risk events and take corresponding actions in real-time by adopting solutions that collect and process shared intelligence from millions of daily consumer interactions. Our recent local data centre launch in India shows how we value shared insights by enabling customers to gain additional risk signals across account openings, logins, and payments from the 1.4 billion recognised users across our network.

ENDLESS BATTLES

Businesses must balance the need for fast, seamless customer interactions with the demand for strong security measures that keep up with the speed of criminals. Customers expect interactions that are efficient, secure and frictionappropriate at each touchpoint. By implementing a dynamic, multi-layered fraud prevention and detection strategy based on a unified and risk-based of identity view, businesses can offer personalized and secure transactions to genuine customers, while accurately identifying and preventing potential cybercrime threats.

5 QUALITY ENGINEERING TRENDS TO WATCH OUT FOR IN 2023

With multiple business domains adopting digital technologies, focusing on quality engineering is no longer a choice but a business imperative.

With the digital revolution and the ever-increasing complexity of applications, the need for reliable and efficient testing methods is higher than ever before. Increasing customer expectations and the advent of major IT innovations such as Big Data analytics, Machine Learning (ML), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have ensured that testing evolved beyond a basic requirement. Organizations are investing and focusing more on producing quality products and ensuring seamless customer experience by integrating technologies and software to enable this.

With multiple business domains adopting

digital technologies, focusing on quality engineering is no longer a choice but a business imperative. Here are some of the top focus areas that should be on everyone’s radar when it comes to quality engineering services:

1. Increased use of AI/ML in testing - Robotics Process Automation (RPA), AI, and ML will help in effective testing and guiding future improvements. By automating testing and using AI/ML, enterprises can identify issues faster and improve the accuracy of tests and inspections. Intelligent automation will scale up and continue to transform quality engineering services and open up new possibilities for delivering value, managing complexity, and reducing cost.

BY VIJAY PRASHANT Global Head of Quality Engineering, Accolite Digital

2. Virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) - With a diverse array of applications, VR/AR is poised to play a differentiating role in quality engineering. From providing immersive training experiences to helping with the inspection and testing of products. VR/AR can also be used to create virtual prototypes of products, which can be tested for quality before physical prototypes are built.

3. Additive manufacturing (3D printing) - In the world of quality engineering, additive manufacturing is already proving to be a game-changer. For example, it’s now possible to create prototypes and test them for functionality before they’re ever put into production. This capability can save an incredible amount of time and money in the development process. What’s more, additive manufacturing can be used to create complex shapes and structures that would be impossible to create with traditional methods. This opens up new avenues for product design and quality assurance.

4. Security testing - By 2030, it is estimated that there will be over 29 billion connected devices. That’s a lot of devices collecting a lot of data! As the world becomes increasingly digitized, security testing will be a top priority for organisations as they aim to safeguard their data and prevent malicious attacks. Testing must ensure that data is protected at every stage, from storage, and processing to transmission. With the ever-changing landscape of cyber threats, it’s essential to stay one step ahead and implement a strong security testing program, which can help businesses keep their data and systems safe from any threats.

5. Digital experience – Digital disruption is not slowing down anytime soon and will continue to accelerate transformation in quality engineering services. With customer experience increasingly getting distributed across several digital channels, businesses will need to test the quality of each experience through end-to-end user testing, API, and security. To ensure that organisations excel when it comes to customer experience, QE experts need to have a comprehensive understanding of what the

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l RPA, AI, and ML will help in effective testing and guiding future improvements

l VR/AR is poised to play a differentiating role in quality engineering

l Additive manufacturing is already proving to be a game-changer

l Security testing will be a top priority for organisations as they aim to safeguard their data and prevent malicious attacks

l Digital disruption is not slowing down anytime soon and will continue to accelerate transformation in quality engineering services

customer wants and also, how the business provider can cater to their needs.

To be successful, development and QA teams need to embrace quality as the core ingredient, which is completely integrated across the entire software development lifecycle. Finding the right talent, ensuring they have appropriate skills, implementing automated quality checks across the entire software development process, and staying on top of emerging tech trends will determine success for businesses across industries.

BIG TECH’s

BOLD MOVES IN THE METAVERSE

Several companies, including the big tech, have all jumped on to the metaverse bandwagon to stay ahead of the game.

POWERED BY METAO

MARK ZUCKERBERG Founder and CEO, Meta

By Ayushman Baruah

Ever since Facebook renamed itself as Meta and committed to building the metaverse, this emerging technology has taken the world by storm. Several companies, including the big tech, have jumped on to the metaverse bandwagon. It is like everyone wanting a slice of the freshly-baked pizza!

Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg continues to focus on the metaverse despite its Reality Labs division reporting nearly $4.3 billion in loss during the fourth quarter, the largest quarterly loss within the department since financials for the business were first published.

During the fourth quarter earnings, Zuckerberg said the company is steadfast in its metaverse strategy and has no plans of changing it. “None of the signals that I have seen so far suggest that we should shift the Reality Labs strategy long term,” he said.

He has further added that the company would launch another ‘next generation consumer headset’ later in 2023.

On Reality Labs, Meta’s CFO Susan Li said, “We still expect our full year Reality Labs losses to increase in 2023, and we are going to continue to invest meaningfully in this area given the significant long-term opportunities that we see. It is a long-duration investment, and our investments here are underpinned by the accompanying need to drive overall operating profit growth while we are making these investments.”

The reported losses must be seen in context of the global economic uncertainties and layoffs by the big tech. Meta said it laid off approximately 11,000 employees across its Family of Apps (FoA) and Reality Labs (RL) segments. FoA includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and other services. RL includes augmented and virtual reality related consumer hardware, software, and content.

BIG TECH INVESTMENTS

In a bid to lay its metaverse foundation, in January last year, Microsoft announced the acquisition of Nasdaqlisted Activision Blizzard, a leader in game development and interactive entertainment content publisher. Microsoft said this acquisition will accelerate the growth in its gaming business across mobile, personal computer, console, and cloud and will provide building blocks for the metaverse.

Microsoft will acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l Indian IT services companies are tapping into the potential of the nascent metaverse to help enterprises develop interactive and immersive experiences for their customers

l Mark Zuckerberg says Meta is steadfast in its metaverse strategy and has no plans of changing it

l Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms

l The metaverse will evolve across three overlapping phases: emerging, advanced, and mature, according to Gartner

billion. When the transaction closes in fiscal 2023, Microsoft will become the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony. The company has studios around the world with nearly 10,000 employees.

“Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft said at the time of announcing the acquisition. “We are investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all.”

Mobile is the largest segment in gaming, with nearly 95% of all players globally enjoying games on mobile. Upon close of the acquisition, Microsoft is expected to have 30 internal game development studios, along with additional publishing and esports production capabilities.

Last year, chip manufacturer Nvidia launched its first software- and infrastructure-as-a-service offering – Nvidia Omniverse Cloud – a comprehensive suite of cloud services for artists, developers, and enterprise teams to design, publish, operate, and experience metaverse applications anywhere.

According to Nvidia, using Omniverse Cloud, individuals and teams can experience in one click the ability to design and collaborate on 3D workflows without the need for any local compute power.

“The metaverse, the 3D internet, connects virtual 3D worlds described in USD and viewed through a simulation engine,” Jensen Huang, Founder and CEO of Nvidia said during the launch. “With Omniverse in the cloud, we can connect teams worldwide to design, build, and operate virtual worlds and digital twins.”

SATYA NADELLA Chairman and CEO, Microsoft

INDIAN IT SERVICES

Indian IT services companies are tapping into the potential of the nascent metaverse in a bid to help enterprises develop interactive and immersive experiences for their customers. Two of India’s leading IT services companies, Infosys and Tech Mahindra, were among the firsts to announce their foray into the metaverse.

Infosys, for instance, launched a metaverse foundry to help its clients explore the potential of the nascent metaverse. The foundry harnesses the power of technologies like augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR), blockchain, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), Internet of Things (IoT), applied artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity and 5G to deliver value in the metaverse.

Infosys claims to have developed over 100 readyto-apply use-cases and templates. For example, one template that is popular with many large enterprises is for setting up an immersive retail experience where shoppers can explore a branded metaverse environment, buy products as NFTs or connect to an online checkout counter to make purchases that are delivered in the physical world.

Likewise, Tech Mahindra launched TechMVerse, its metaverse practice to deliver interactive and immersive experiences for its customers. In its initial phase, Tech Mahindra said it will leverage the opportunities presented by the metaverse through various use cases in areas like car dealership, NFT

marketplace, virtual banking, and gaming. Initially, the operations of TechMVerse will be spread across four hubs – Dallas, London, Pune, and Hyderabad.

“One of our key focus areas is helping our customers’ digital journey and technology is helping us build the differentiators. Metaverse is clearly a key differentiator. Like any other new technology, our metaverse offering will be initially incubated in a smaller group and then shared with our clients because for most of them, it is also a new way of running their business,” C.P. Gurnani, CEO & MD, Tech Mahindra said during the launch.

FUTURE ROADMAP

The metaverse will evolve across three overlapping phases: emerging, advanced, and mature, according to research firm Gartner. “The market is beginning to explore and experiment with applications and usecases with high, long-term value…Between 2024 and 2027, more direct opportunities for the metaverse will arise,” said Anushree Verma, senior principal analyst, Gartner.

“From 2028 onward, the vision and potential for the metaverse will become much clearer and easier to manage for both organisations and individual users,” she added.

Verma believes that IT services companies will focus on “current high-value use cases such as gaming, wayfinding and navigation apps, and AR and VR experiences. The size of the deals would vary a lot by the use cases depends on the kind of products or services offered”.

C.P. GURNANI CEO & MD, Tech Mahindra

‘We are focussed on driving profitable growth at scale’: Gupshup CEO

By Ayushman Baruah

GGupshup describes itself as a conversational engagement platform that enables businesses to have intelligent conversations with customers. The San Francisco-based unicorn uses technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), which it believes, dramatically improves the quality of conversations. Beerud Sheth, Cofounder and CEO, Gupshup, talks about the role of AI in conversational engagement, and the company’s IPO and expansion plans, in an interview with Ayushman Baruah. Edited excerpts:

Will describing Gupshup as an AI-based chatbot be too narrow a definition?

Yes, I think it is a little narrow. We describe ourselves as a conversational engagement platform. What that means is we help businesses have conversations with customers through chat. And in that process, engage their customers, do marketing deals, offers and so on. So, it is really about helping companies do business with consumers through chat.

How do you see technologies like ChatGPT playing a role in engaging customers?

AI dramatically improves the quality of the conversation because firstly, it can help understand what the user is asking for and then construct an appropriate response for the user, and do it in the right language. It dramatically improves the conversation experience. Internally, we use GPT3, which is the model underneath Chat GPT, which provides the APIs for us to do it. But in addition to that, there are many other models that are emerging. Some of them are open source, Meta, Google, Stability AI, which have launched these. We continue to evaluate them.

Which sectors are rapidly adopting the Gupshup platform?

I think for us, the most important sector is banking and financial services which would include FinTech. Then, Retail and E-commerce companies are heavy users of it. In addition, transportation, airlines, and hospitality like hotels and restaurants are using it quite heavily. Healthcare is also emerging as well as government agencies.

In terms of markets, which are your key markets and what are your expansion plans?

All of our current adoption right now is in the emerging markets. India is the biggest market for us. Then, we have the Middle East, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and maybe a little behind is Africa. The US and Western Europe are a little low now but there are some new features coming up which would make the platform attractive to those markets as well.

How are your IPO plans shaping up?

In this market, I don’t think any company can plan an IPO as such. The IPO window (in the US) is currently closed and there are a lot of uncertainties and therefore investors are still sitting on the sidelines. The way we look at it is since it is not in our control, we are focussed on continuing to drive profitable growth at scale. There are very few companies that have the kind of financial profile that our company has. If we do that, whenever the markets open up, we will be ready to IPO and it will be a successful one because the general philosophy is – focus on building value and the valuation will follow.

What was your revenue in the last fiscal and what are your targets?

Last year (calendar year), we clocked about $250 million in revenue. We are growing at about 50% year over year, so this year, we plan to touch about $350 million in revenue.

BEERUD SHETH Cofounder and CEO, Gupshup.

RECESSION TOOLS TO MANAGE A

A relook at how to make business gains with analytics as well as beginning the journey of automation to tackle recessionary trends.

SUPPORTING INTEGRATION WITH OTHER TOOLS

The Alteryx platform supports integration with a range of data sources including, databases, cloud applications, big data platforms, business intelligence tools.

BY VISHAL SONI Technical Product Marketing Manager, Alteryx.

It enables organisations to uncover hidden patterns, trends, insights that would be otherwise impossible to detect

Big data is a huge consideration in business today. With more data created each day than ever before, business leaders are looking towards data-driven insights to make disruptionbusting decisions. Decision intelligence combines big data with advanced

analytics techniques like AI, machine learning, and natural language processing to deliver the actionable insights those leaders need to make the right decisions, at the right time, at scale, to gain a competitive edge.

It enables organisations to uncover hidden patterns, trends, and insights that would be otherwise impossible to detect. One example of decision intelligence in practice is retailers predicting product popularity in advance and prestocking goods.

The Alteryx platform supports integration with a wide range of data sources including, databases, cloud applications, and big data platforms. It can also be integrated with business intelligence tools, visualisation tools, and other third-party analytic options.

Alteryx’s solution partner and ISVs integrations lets users integrate data from

different systems, applications, and services. An organisation in the healthcare space, for example, might use Alteryx to connect with their Electronic Health Record system, then blend that data with claims data from their lab results – delivering a holistic view of patient information for clinical decision support, improving care coordination and outcomes.

Businesses are making huge gains with analytics in marketing, supply chain, fraud detection, and risk management among many others. Challenges around data governance, sovereignty, and data literacy, however, are hindering a more widespread adoption of analytics.

Integration of many different micro-technologies can also be an analytics pain point. End-to-end simple to use analytic technologies like Alteryx means that different systems can work together seamlessly to provide a holistic whole-business view.

AI IS A TOOLBOX NOT SILVER BULLET

The Alteryx platform supports integration with a range of data sources including, databases, cloud applications, big data platforms, business intelligence tools.

The UAE inflation rate is forecast to average 3.2% this year, a considerable dip from its 2022 peak of around 6.8% in the second quarter. While these figures are orders of magnitude less unsettling than those in the US and Europe, the economy is now undeniably global, so UAE business leaders are not immune to western instability. Recessions have been a recurring global phenomenon since 2008. In fact, many argue that the trend in digital

transformation, both regionally and around the world, was mainly spurred by a do more with less battle cry that echoes to this day. The cloud was seen as a way to shave resource and financial costs by outsourcing many IT functions and shifting to predictable subscription-style outgoings. Artificial intelligence meanwhile, was seen as a means to tighten up production workflows, and as a tool for upending business models to stand out in a crowded market. The looming shadows of recessions, plural and a worldwide health crisis are scraping away at the businessintelligence function, eroding

resources and manpower and threatening to demote artificial intelligence to luxury status once again. But not for the innovator.

Forward-looking businesses see artificial intelligence as a necessary source of value — the route to market leadership and longevity. This is because they have paid attention to history.

Artificial intelligence took time to prove itself; and prove itself it did. It has a track record of improving efficiency within core operations, and solving real-world problems elegantly. The innovators have already integrated artificial intelligence into their culture and reaping the rewards of everyday artificial intelligence. As far as

The takeaway here is that data teams do not need to be large to add value

BY SID BHATIA Regional VP and General Manager for Middle East and Turkey, Dataiku.

they are concerned, artificial intelligence is no more superfluous than email.

AI IS NOT A BUSINESS CONSULTANT

Everyday artificial intelligence enterprises think along similar lines. They are the enterprises who grasped the essentials of artificial intelligence — that it was toolbox and not a silverbullet. By that I mean that everyday artificial intelligence organisations understood that they needed to think about the changes they wanted to see in the business before applying artificial intelligence to those changes.

They knew that artificial intelligence was not a business consultant, so they set themselves the task of identifying the right people and use cases to make artificial intelligence work for their unique operating model.

By collaborating with one another — HR, finance, sales, and the rest — business units ensured that areas that were already highly optimised or that represent too little prospect of value returns were left to tick on by themselves while other processes got more attention.

This is especially important during times of economic instability, when everyday artificial intelligence

organisations would never dream of giving up their data insights, which they would see as just as effective a remedy to recession as AC is to a hot summer.

Another lean-times goto for the everyday artificial intelligence business is training. If data teams are being trimmed or the plans to onboard that MIT-educated data scientist have been shelved, it is fruitful to look inwards.

If a business can find within its ranks those with aptitude and interest in artificial intelligence, they can upskill them. The lack of domain knowledge in artificial intelligence experts is a common project bottleneck.

By training internal domain experts in artificial intelligence, costs are saved in both recruitment and operations. This scenario would have seemed untenable just a decade ago, but today, no-code and low-code artificial intelligence platforms abstract the technical details of solutions development and put the intuitive design of smart systems into the hands of business specialists.

SOME USE CASES

Everyday artificial intelligence companies can navigate rough economic waters more easily. Once business-unit leaders get to grips with the nature of the data that is most relevant to them, they can extract meaningful insights from it to manage supply chains more effectively, optimise product lines, or spot demand spikes and dips ahead of time. Factory floors can fine-tune quality assurance and marketing teams can target their messaging in a more granular fashion.

Artificial intelligence not only brings intelligence; it brings automation. Just as low-code automates development, some artificial intelligence platforms can do the work of a junior data

scientist, automatically discovering insights and submitting them for review. When recruiting becomes prohibitively expensive, artificial intelligence can solve problems on its own.

This means that each insight is cheaper and comes more quickly. And everything can be led by domain experts who steer the artificial intelligence and review its work to optimise the value it delivers.

The takeaway here is that data teams do not need to be large to add value — artificial intelligence itself can recession-proof the talent pool. Data-science talent is rare and represents a significant portion, if not the lion’s share of the cost of each model and insight.

Recessions are great times to revisit wish lists and weed out the unnecessary in favour of the quick win. One example of an expensive to-do item is data migration, which drains monetary and human resources. The business can continue to generate insights without it, so placing it on hold will not put an end to Everyday artificial intelligence.

ADVANTAGE YOURSELF

Economic jitters are no reason to drop artificial intelligence completely from a business strategy, especially since it can help do many of the costcutting, efficiency-enhancing things enterprises look to do in a recession. While it will not be easy to harvest tangible value at scale during times of talent shortages and slimmed budgets, it is by no means impossible, and if successful, can turn a lean period into a historic turning point for an enterprise.

So, while the natural instinct is to cut, cut and cut during downturns, we should remember that they stop because a few bold innovators start spending again. And while hard times last, there is always a window for gaining an advantage. That is the spirit of everyday artificial intelligence.

LEVERAGING A DO-IT-YOURSELF DASHBOARD

Shipsy uses a low code, no code technology, so investments in engineering and training are minimal and anyone can plug and play with the solutions.

BY DHRUV AGRAWAL Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder, Shipsy.

AI enables businesses to become futureready. It helps with capacity planning for future delivery requirements, understanding customer preferences, delivery time slots, optimising territory planning to balance freelance vs own fleet. Moreover, it helps gain visibility of incidental charges even before they occur and get insights over CO2 emissions before the shipment journey commences, among other processes.

Predictive analytics empowers logistics enterprises with efficient route planning, inventory management, and capturing KPI-based realtime rider performance for fair incentivisation. A more profound use case of predictive analytics and automation may help businesses save more money. The tech can analyse customers’ shopping, return patterns to execute highly personalised deliveries. It would be great to see this materialise.

Shipsy has integrations across 64+ major shipping lines, 50+ thirdparty logistics companies, 300+ freight forwarders

Since big data analytics requires a lot of computing power and storage, cloud-based platforms will continue to grow in adoption. The global predictive analytics market size was estimated at $11.49Bn in 2021, and it is expected to reach a valuation of $55.5 Bn by 2032. Channel partners know the benefits of predictive analytics, including optimising processes and performance, mitigating risks, gaining a competitive

advantage, and more.

Shipsy Business Intelligence is an intuitive do it yourself dashboard that helps businesses reduce complexities and costs by deriving actionable insights and establishing correlations across diverse data points. The platform generates critical insights across multiple use cases, such as first-attempt delivery rates, SLA adherence, driver productivity or attendance, average delivery time, and more, to unearth conclusive insights from a store to an entire organisational level.

The tool quickly identifies the KPIs for each operational task and generates customised reports to share across teams. It empowers businesses to make efficient and quicker data-based decisions, identify the root cause, and share, or validate before executing corrective measures — all within seconds.

Shipsy has integrations across 64+ major shipping lines, 50+ third-party logistics companies, 300+ freight forwarders, 50+ customs agents, and a network of over 20,000 global shippers. Shipsy’s technology is also empowering 100,000+ customer fleets.

Shipsy uses a low code, no code technology, so investments in engineering and training are minimal. Anyone can plug and play Shipsy’s solutions. However, there are dedicated channel managers as well, to ensure in-depth platform training to enhance your domain authority and command.

SEC _ RITY IS NOT COMPLETE WITHOUT U!

11th May, 2023

Dusit Doha, Qatar

18th May, 2023

KSA

25th May, 2023

Address Dubai Mall

QUANTUM TECHNOLOGY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE HR FUNCTION

The use of quantum technology combined with machine learning can help the HR function by intelligently planning tasks in various processes.

uantum technology is a branch of physics that deals with the behaviour of matter and energy at the atomic and subatomic level. It uses the principles of quantum mechanics to create new technologies that are faster, more powerful, and more efficient. One of its key features is its ability to process vast amounts of information simultaneously, something that is not possible with traditional computing.

Can quantum technology impact how we manage Human Resources in a business? If yes, what is the extent of these effects? Let’s discuss.

SCHEDULING ACTIVITIES

HR professionals spend a significant amount of time on activities like employee scheduling, interview scheduling, training scheduling, time-off scheduling, shift scheduling, etc. These activities are crucial to ensure optimum staffing in the organization without impacting the employee experience and employee engagement. However, scheduling is a complex, arduous, and error-prone task if done using ordinary technology products, especially in large organizations with thousands of employees working on hundreds of different processes simultaneously.

The use of quantum technology combined

with machine learning can help the HR function by intelligently planning tasks in various processes. Quantum algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data and optimize schedules based on various constraints, such as staff requirements, employee preferences and availability. Machine learning algorithms can also use historical data to predict future staffing needs, allowing HR professionals to anticipate and proactively manage staffing issues. By leveraging quantum technology and machine learning together, HR professionals can streamline their scheduling activities, improve workforce efficiency, and free up time to focus on more strategic initiatives.

SMARTER CHATBOTS

The HR community’s interest in chatbot is at its all-time high due to the recent developments of generative AI. There are many use cases of chatbots in HR technology like job posting, conducting interviews, evaluating candidate responses, handling employee queries, performance management, helping with learning and development, employee engagement, and much more. The availability of quantum technology can improve the efficiency of chatbots in HR space by leaps and bounds.

Chatbots can get better at Natural Language Processing (NLP) by leveraging quantum technology.

BY SUMIT SABHARWAL CEO of TeamLease HRtech

High-level algorithms can be used to improve the accuracy of language translation, sentiment analysis, and speech recognition. The response speed of chatbots can improve dramatically. The ability to learn more about employees’ preferences, behaviors, and interests, can be used to provide more personalised interactions.

VR DEVELOPMENT

Virtual Reality is mostly an untapped area inside HR technology. VR can be used for many purposes for human resource management. For example, it can make recruitment and onboarding more immersive and engaging, employee’s training can become extremely effective when it is blended with VR and AR experience, remote and hybrid working can become deeply collaborative with the help of a virtual workspace. But, developing VR resources can be challenging, expensive, and time consuming.

Quantum computing can be the key to faster VR development for HR technology. Further evolution of quantum technology can even optimize the cost of the process. It’ll help HCM platforms to equip employee self-service VR modules, making the technology highly accessible to modern workplaces.

ACCURATE PREDICTIONS

The HR function has always been in the need of accurate predictive analytics. Predictions are required at every level of HR management. HR managers need predictive tools for workforce planning, talent acquisition and management, performance and productivity measurement, benefits management, etc. Currently, companies have access to enormous databases of talent pools but the tools to analyse them and find the best talent are still not widely available.

Quantum technology can make the predictive tools stronger for HR managers and make planning and forecasting much more efficient and accurate for their employers. Sorting the best resumes will be faster, employee retention strategies will be promptly implemented, diversity and inclusion will become unbiased. The overall work of the HR professionals will become swift and more effective.

While the future of HR management looks promising with quantum technologies, we should not overlook some of the limitations that the tech sector has experienced so far with this highly sophisticated resource. Here are some of the challenges with quantum technology:

l Cost: It has been the major hurdle in the adoption of quantum technology since its inception. From building the infrastructure to finding the experts to work on it, quantum technology can be expensive to most businesses.

l Complexity: Quantum technology is complex and businesses cannot expect HR managers to understand it or use it directly. Businesses will need experts to deliver intuitive interfaces to make the technology usable for others.

l Accessibility: Quantum technologies are still in the

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l One of its key features is its ability to process vast amounts of information simultaneously

l Quantum with machine learning can help the HR function by intelligently planning tasks in various processes

l Quantum technology can make the predictive tools stronger for HR managers

early stages of development, and access to quantum computing resources is limited. It means that most businesses will have to wait longer for the technology to become widely available.

l Integration: Integrating quantum technologies into HCM platforms requires meticulous tech execution. Businesses will need highly trained experts from different fields to ensure seamless integration of quantum technology in their SaaS platforms. In conclusion, quantum technology is set to revolutionise many fields of work. HR management will largely benefit from its higher computational abilities. As a result, HR professionals will get innovative tools and predictive models that can significantly improve their decisionmaking processes. However, the true impact of quantum technology on HR management will depend on its cost optimisation and accessibility. As quantum technology continues to develop, it will be interesting to see how it transforms Human Resources.

AI-DRIVEN DATA AS A SERVICE (DAAS): WHY DATA IS CREATING A BANKING REVOLUTION

An Accenture study found that 80% of organisations are sitting on unstructured and inaccessible data.

Blind dates are no longer fun. Dinner at the best sushi spot in town will fall flat if your date is vegetarian! Today, it’s cooler to do your research ahead of time. Especially if you’re catering to lifestyle customers. Because 2023 is the year of Customer Experience (CX). Personalisation is table stakes.

86% of customers say they would pay a premium to brands that offer a fabulous experience. Companies with an annual revenue of $1 billion can earn an added $700 million within three years of investing in CX. There’s no doubt then that enhanced CX is great for the bottom line.

This shift in customer sentiment has not gone unnoticed. 81% of organisations currently cite CX as a competitive differentiator. This year, however, enterprises remain cautious. The International Monetary Fund says that the risk of recession is lower than previously predicted. But the risk does remain. And so, CX strategies are focused primarily on retaining existing customers.

The key to this strategy is data. And enterprises have data in abundance. This is especially true in the banking, fintech and travel sectors. Demographics, preferences, and transaction information are integral to their functioning.

Making sense of this data is a completely different game. Enterprises in these verticals face four distinct challenges.

1. Data is not accessible to all stakeholders. 71% of banks underperform at collecting and using customer data. Only 8% of banks can apply predictive insights to make decisions and run campaigns. Even digitally savvy fintech companies struggle in this space. Globally, 81% of

fintechs say data issues are their biggest challenge.

2. Available data is of poor quality. Inaccurate data costs enterprises 15% to 25% of revenue. “Dirty data” costs the global banking industry over 400 Bn USD annually.

2.1. Data available in Silos Business units create their own siloed data and process it independently. This process could prove to be inefficient when we deal with heavy data. Ultimately, making it difficult to present the same holistically.

3. External data is not used. 92% of analytics professionals say their firms need to increase their use of external data sources. Organizations that use external data saw 37% more revenue per employee.

4. No single view of customer. Only 28% of banks can integrate structured customer data to use in AI-led initiatives. There is a skewed view of the customer’s lifestyle and financial preferences.

ENTER DATA-AS-A-SERVICE (DAAS)

DaaS helps enterprises collect, manage, analyse data and creates advanced analytics and ML models

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l 86% of customers say they would pay a premium to brands that offer a fabulous experience

l 92% of analytics professionals say their firms need to increase their use of external data sources

l Only 28% of banks can integrate structured customer data to use in AI-led initiatives

l An efficient DaaS partner can also suggest better methods of collection to prevent or lessen the need for data cleaning in the future

as an outcome. It combines data with AI capabilities and makes information available across departments through the cloud. And provides secure and affordable access to data-centric insights. To make datasets understandable and actionable, there’s a lot of strategy, science, and structuring involved.

It’s not simply setting up algorithms. To uncover insights from datasets, a human touch is required. As is a scientific approach. Businesses can use these insights to plan their CX strategy.

Some of the key indicators for DaaS:

l Insights into performance on target and what should be actioned to achieve the same

l Increase in Customer Lifetime Value and customers to target

l Product performance

The most effective DaaS capabilities take a multipronged approach. Let’s explore five key elements.

Data Lakehouse

In the words of author DK Moran, “You can have data without information, but you cannot have information without data.” An Accenture study found that 80% of organisations are sitting on unstructured and inaccessible data. Without this data to analyze, there are no insights to be had.

A DaaS provider ensures that the vital first step of data collation is done right. By opting for DaaS, enterprises can spend less time and effort in administration. With a cloudbased approach, the provider creates data lakehouse. All the data in one place, no silos.

This data management architecture leverages flexibility, cost-efficiency, and scalability.

BY KARUNAKARAN NEELAKANDAN VP Engineering, Crayon Data

l It reduces data movement and redundancy.

l Stakeholders have direct access to data for analysis tools.

l It is a cost-effective data storage solution.

l It encompasses ease of data versioning, governance, and security

Data cleaning

DaaS goes beyond just filling up the data lakehouse. Once your data is accessible, it’s time for some spring cleaning. The data needs to make sense before it is analysed. Enterprises often have inefficient methods of data collection which results in unclean data. This can result in

l Transactional risks –inaccurate or fraudulent transactions

l Incorrect assumptions about data-driven insights

l Reduced speed and productivity Fixing this manually is a time-consuming and laborintensive process.

DaaS saves the day with AI models and algos that improve data quality by removing inaccurate, corrupt and duplicate data. This ensures enterprises have access to high quality data. When analyzed, this can generate reliable visualizations and models to plan business strategies.

Regular cleaning also helps maintain effectiveness. Enterprises

can then meet the five benchmarks of quality data:

1. Validity

2. Accuracy

3. Completeness

4. Consistency

5. Uniformity

An efficient DaaS partner can also suggest better methods of collection to prevent or lessen the need for data cleaning in the future.

Data enrichment

Once a data-based strategy is in place, it’s time to focus on the customer profile. With internal data, banks can use AI/ML models to give top categories and merchants for each persona.

DaaS providers can go beyond this first-party data. They also give access to external data to create a more comprehensive view of customers on an individual level.

The benefit? Understanding customer behavior, customer targeting, and improved customer experience, to name a few.

For instance, Crayon Data’s AI-led platform maya.ai has

DaaS capabilities like the patented TasteGraphTM. This helps enterprises calculate the affinity between any customer and merchant, even if they have not transacted before. Combined with external data (of 7.4 million merchants globally) each persona gets a

l Taste Print

l Taste Match Score

l Spend Potential maya.ai also features Customer Genome, an inference engine that combines, consolidates, correlates, and mines patterns from data. Like the human genome, it uses information from the customer’s DNA to drive business value.

The result: a comprehensive view of every single customer, across demographics, product holding, transactions, and channel usage. And the ability to seamlessly convert these insights into action.

To improve customer experience, enterprises need to work with multiple partners. Data analytics is a layer of intelligence that adds value in both B2C and B2B markets.

Metrics Library – Self Serve Analytics and Feature store – Machine Learning

Crayon Data’s expertise in banking is proof to our DaaS module’s capabilities. Equipped with Wall Banking related Metrics Library, the platform is built for self-serve based advanced analytics.

With AI-powered data, we have a comprehensive feature store that is pre-generated to enable our ML catalog for all banking use cases.

Generative AI

Crayon’s DaaS module also has inbuilt Generative AI capability which allows natural language search and query functions for CxOs, Business Heads, consumers and enterprise users based on inferences and interpretation

But is DaaS worth it? Or will it be a flash in the pan, an investment that enterprises will regret or simply not use enough? According to Gartner’s Hype Cycle, 2023 is when DaaS reaches the Plateau of Productivity. That is, we’ll see high growth adoption. Conceptually, it’s no different from Software-as-aService (SaaS).

A DaaS partner with the above capabilities can make personalization more comprehensive, convenient, and relevant than ever before!

This growing ubiquity of data is making the case for more AI in banking. AI allows banks to scale their data analytics capabilities at a lower cost. For instance, in a data dark market like Myanmar, less than 40% of adults have a bank account. Working with one of Myanmar’s largest digital wallets, Crayon Data helped them go from zero to 11.5 million new users. We did this within four years of launch. And powered ~85 million monthly transactions. With a monthly transaction value of $6 billion –that’s $72 billion every year.

Using data to create exciting customer experiences (that keep people coming back for more) results in added revenue. And banks in this digital era, need this more than ever.

4 WAYS DIGITALISATION IS TRANSFORMING THE CHEMICALS SECTOR

environmental regulations, which presents chemicals manufacturers with a moving target as they strive to stay ahead of new sustainability mandates.

What’s more, a retiring workforce invites the possibility of a shortage of skilled labor, forcing companies to find new ways to transfer institutional knowledge and train new workers. In short, the chemicals industry will need to surmount many hurdles in the coming decades, and the stakes have never been higher.

Fortunately, with the rapid and recent advances of industrial technologies – powered by artificial intelligence, big data and the cloud – forwardthinking digital solutions now offer a way to overcome these challenges and improve plant profitability and sustainability.

The worldwide chemicals industry is undergoing a period of rapid change. Global supply chain disruptions have plagued chemicals companies. Meanwhile, governments and industry organisations continue to adopt ever-stricter

According to the McKinsey Technology Trends Outlook 2022, today’s disruptive trends will drive the chemicals industry to invest in advancements in sustainable, cost-effective, and higher-quality materials and production processes, with a forecast global impact of up to $300 billion between 2030–40.

Leveraging the latest technologies will futureproof your plant against today’s complex industry challenges

BY STEPHEN REYNOLDS Industry Principal - Chemicals, AVEVA

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l A retiring workforce invites the possibility of a shortage of skilled labour, forcing companies to find new ways to transfer institutional knowledge and train new workers

l Advances of industrial technologies now offer a way to overcome these challenges and improve plant profitability and sustainability

l By digitalising work, chemicals companies can drastically improve collaboration and efficiency

l To succeed in the future, chemicals operations must be able to shorten engineering cycles

DIGITISING YOUR PLANT

By digitalising work, chemicals companies can drastically improve collaboration and efficiency. By enabling work in a digital environment, workers can complete tasks from anywhere in the plant, at different sites, or remote locations, so operators can accomplish more than ever before. They can use time to drive continuous improvements as opposed to merely solving problems, which increases overall efficiency and helps companies build resilience.

Not only do digital tools enhance enterprise-wide collaboration, but they can seamlessly unify operations and supply chains, thereby opening new pathways for informationflow and breaking down silos. Information is shared via centralised visualisation, so operators can collaborate on the same data at the same time to identify vulnerabilities in the business and work together

find ways to innovate and improve profitability.

These new ways of working, based on common data platforms and global visibility, help companies become more profitable and increase sustainability.

To succeed in the future, chemicals operations must be able to shorten engineering cycles; optimize value chains and improve agility; ensure safe and efficient operations; and upskill, reskill, and empower workers.

SHORTENING ENGINEERING CYCLES

Modern digital engineering and simulation tools in scalable architectures let engineers collaborate on the same designs at the same time, promoting efficiency and eliminating rework. Cloud-enabled data makes information visible to all relevant stakeholders and gives engineers flexibility in where and how they access data. As a result, projects can be executed faster, and at lower cost and risk.

DEMAND SHIFTS AND MARKET FLUCTUATIONS

While market volatility, supply chain shocks, and the commoditisation of products represent significant business hurdles, they are not insurmountable. With more accurate operational data and a model- driven execution process, chemicals manufacturers can improve product quality, reduce waste and emissions, increase energy efficiency, and be better positioned to drive the emerging circular economy.

DRIVING EFFICIENT OPERATIONS

With greater measures of digital agility, chemicals companies can build resilience against future market disruptions, while improving efficiency. Analysts can explore optimization models with real-time reliable data sets and quickly adjust chemical operations to meet new market conditions. By

enabling better planning and scheduling capabilities, they can optimize production, be more agile, and find new areas to improve efficiency.

UPSKILLING, RESKILLING, AND EMPOWERING WORKERS

Workforce empowerment stands as one of the most powerful drivers of sustainable operations. An empowered, energised workforce can make impressive efficiency gains while keeping operations safe. Today’s new generation of talent is looking to work for companies that offer the latest training, technologies, and operating environments.

BUT HOW CAN YOUR COMPANY IMPLEMENT DIGITIZATION IN PRACTICE?

Many chemicals manufacturers wonder where to start their own digital transformation journey and which steps can be quickly taken to catch up with competitors that were early adopters of digital technologies.

Six distinct, cross-functional digital initiatives can define a successful roadmap for the transformation of work and help chemicals companies address their business imperatives.

1. BUILD YOUR INDUSTRIAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Establish a solid foundation for all of your digital transformation initiatives by integrating and contextualising all sources of engineering and operations data to centralise information and foster a data-driven decision culture.

2. ENABLE FULL VISIBILITY AND AWARENESS

Go beyond situational awareness by creating a multi- experience single-pane-of-glass and mobile-enabled visualisation system that can break down functional work silos and speed informed decision-making

by providing universal visibility, tailored to a user’s specific role.

3. OPTIMIZE YOUR PRODUCTION AND VALUE CHAIN

Make the highest quality product at the lowest cost using AI-powered tools to enhance your operations execution, process optimization, production management, feedstock management, and supply- chain planning and scheduling capabilities.

4. INCREASE ASSET HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE

Improve reliability and identify areas for proactive maintenance. Tap into the power of AI for riskbased guidance to improve your asset strategy, asset analytics, and maintenance execution.

5. ACCELERATE PROCESS DESIGN, INNOVATION, AND LEARNING

Bring agility to the entire process and plant lifecycle of design, engineering, simulation, training, and operations, enabling the digital twin for faster innovation.

6. STREAMLINE ENGINEERING AND CAPITAL PROJECT EXECUTION

Break down silos between process, mechanical, and other engineering disciplines to enable seamless cloud-based collaboration across teams and unify your approach to all aspects of the engineering lifecycle. According to PwC’s 23rd annual CEO Report, 58% of chemicals CEOs see sustainability and the circular economy as the priority for investing. However, to ensure that investment is successful, chemical manufacturers must lay the digital groundwork that transforms the way their teams and operations work. Through the digital initiatives outlined above, chemicals companies can streamline engineering cycles, optimise value chains, achieve operational excellence, and empower their workforces to drive the circular economy and ensure profitable and sustainable operations.

K. KRITHIVASAN CEO Designate and Global Head of BFSI Business Group, TCS

K. Krithivasan, CEO Designate and Global Head of BFSI Business Group, TCS

Who Why in the News

The Board of Directors has appointed K. Krithivasan as CEO Designate, effective March 16, 2023. Krithivasan will work with Rajesh Gopinathan to transition into the role of Managing Director and CEO in the coming fiscal year. Krithivasan rose up the ranks to replace Gopinathan for the top job in India’s largest IT services company.

Things you need to know about Krithivasan:

HEADS THE BFSI VERTICAL OF TCS

Krithivasan is the CEO Designate and Global Head of the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) Business Group at Tata Consultancy Services. BFSI is the largest segment within TCS. He handles one of the largest portfolios of $11 billion, which has grown consistently.

BORN IN TRICHY, TAMIL NADU

He completed his schooling in Trichy. He then moved to Coimbatore for his undergrad. Krithi holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Madras.

AN ALUMNUS OF IIT KANPUR

He acquired a Master’s degree in Industrial and Management Engineering from IIT Kanpur.

34 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN THE TECH SECTOR

Krithivasan has held various leadership roles in delivery, customer relationship management, large program management, and sales. Before his stint as the Global Head, of BFSI Business Group, he was the Industry Solutions Unit Head for Banking and Financial Services.

A COMPANY VETERAN, A TCSER SINCE 1989

Krithivasan has been responsible for planning and executing growth strategies, improving financial performance, building deep customer relationships and mindshare, as well as market positioning. He has played an integral role in helping customers in banking, financial services, and insurance, with

digital transformations, change management cycle acceleration, value delivery, technology strategy, and governance.

BASED OUT OF CHENNAI

Chennai is one of the biggest centers for TCS in terms of talent. He started his career at TCS in Delhi and later spent some time in Los Angeles before moving to Chennai. He will now be moving to Mumbai as he takes on the position as CEO Designate.

SERVES ON THE BOARDS OF DIRECTORS OF GLOBAL TCS SUBSIDIARIES

He is on the Boards of Directors at TCS Iberoamerica, TCS Ireland, and TCS Technology Solutions AG.

DESCRIBES HIMSELF AS A RELIGIOUS

Co-workers and friends describe him as “humble”, “kind”, and “spiritual”. He is a cordial leader and is well-known in TCS. Krithi describes himself as a religious person rather than a spiritual one.

TIME AWAY FROM WORK

Krithi likes running in his spare time. He is an avid reader who is found the happiest while reading books during his leisure time. Over the last 2-3 years, he has been taking an intensive Sanskrit course.

LOVES SPENDING TIME WITH HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS

Krithivasan enjoys spending his time with his close friends and family. He has met some of his closest friends at TCS during his three-and-a-half-decade long career.

TIM COOK CEO Apple

Tim Cook, CEO, Apple

Who Why in the News

Cook was in India to inaugurate the first company-owned store in the country at Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex, popularly known as BKC. Cook also opened the second outlet of the country in a mall in New Delhi’s Saket on April 20. People across the country gathered to catch a glimpse of the celebrated CEO of Apple. Apple’s physical store has taken a long time to open in India, but its products have been available on e-commerce websites, while its online store opened in 2020.

Things you need to know about Tim Cook:

FULL NAME

Timothy Donald Cook

POSITION NOW

Tim Cook is the CEO of Apple and serves on its board of directors.

BEFORE BECOMING CEO

Before being named CEO in August 2011, Tim was Apple’s Chief Operating Officer and was responsible for all of the company’s worldwide sales and operations, including end-to-end management of Apple’s supply chain, sales activities, and service and support in all markets and countries. He also headed Apple’s Macintosh division and played a key role in the continued development of strategic reseller and supplier relationships, ensuring flexibility in response to an increasingly demanding marketplace.

PRIOR TO APPLE

Prior to joining Apple, Cook was Vice President of Corporate Materials for Compaq and was responsible for procuring and managing all of Compaq’s product inventory. Before his work at Compaq, he was the Chief Operating Officer of the Reseller Division at Intelligent Electronics. He also spent 12 years with IBM, most recently as director of North American Fulfillment where he led manufacturing and distribution functions for IBM’s Personal Computer Company in North and Latin America.

EDUCATION

Cook earned an MBA from Duke University, where he

was a Fuqua Scholar, and a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Auburn University.

APPLE’S BIGGEST ACQUISITION

Under Cook’s leadership, acquisition of “Beats Music” and “Beats Electronics” for $3 billion, in May 2014. Other acquisitions include that of Akonia Holographics and PullString.

THE FIRST PRODUCT ANNOUNCED DURING HIS PERIOD Apple watch

BORN ON

November 01, 1960

UNDER HIS LEADERSHIP

In 2018, Apple became the first $1 trillion company by market capitalisation. Just two years later, it reached $2 trillion in value.

LEADERSHIP STYLE

After Steve Jobs’ passing, Tim Cook is credited for maintaining the stability of Apple while growing the company to stratospheric heights. Cook’s management style involves organising teams with dedicated project managers. These leads spearhead the product vision from beginning to end, determining the financing, staff, and resources to see the project through. Under this management style, teams do not work in silos, but rather collaborate and communicate often. They also are given the time to ensure that the project is completed at its highest level, ensuring that the product is ready.