Digital First Magazine – April 2022 – India Edition – AI and Automation Technology Trends in 2022

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April 2022

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AI and Automation Special (India Edition) Editor in Chief

Dr. Manoj Varghese, Ph.D

Managing Editor Sarath Shyam

Consultant Editors

Dr. Johny Andrews Anuja Mulmule Suchita Gonsalves

Anna Elza Roshni Rajagopal Komal Banchhor

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Ajay K Das Manjunath R Rohith Poojary

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Digital First Magazine April 2022

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MANAGING EDITOR’S NOTE

When the Experimental Becomes an Essential

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he world around us is changing faster than we thought. Be it an autonomous vehicle on roads or automated check-outs in grocery stores, the progress is real, and new generations of more capable autonomous systems appear every now and then.

These technological advancements have been driven by innovations in systems and components, including mechanics, sensors, and software. In fact, Artificial Intelligence as technology and industry has made especially significant improvements in recent years. The machine-learning algorithms have become more refined and made use of considerable increases in computing power and the exponential growth in data available to train them.

In 2020, the global AI market size was valued at USD 93.5 billion and is projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38.1% from 2022 to 2030. Today, tech titans like Amazon, Google, Apple, Facebook, IBM, and Microsoft are investing

extensively in the research and development of AI. It was also exciting to note that over 95 percent of the CIOs, CTOs, and technology leaders surveyed by IEEE agreed that AI will drive the majority of innovation across almost every industry sector in the next five years.

Besides, among total respondents of the IEEE survey, more than one in five (21%) say AI and machine learning, cloud computing (20%), and 5G (17%) will be the most important technologies next year.

However, many organizations are relatively freshers in AI adoption, excluding the tech giants. We have come up with this special issue to help our readers to understand the developing trends in AI that IT leaders will be wise to keep an eye on this year. In the following few pages, you will get to read the thoughts and ideas of industry experts on AI and Automation that will help CIOs, CTOs, IT directors, and other technology leaders worldwide understand the pulse of this emerging market.

Enjoy Reading.

Sarath Shyam

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ADVISORY BOARD Dr. Varughese K.John, PhD, MBA, MPhil, MCom, LLB. Dr. Kuldeep Nagi, Ph.D, MBA, BSc.

Former Program Director, MS in Management Program, GSATM - AU

Former Program Director of Ph.D, Recipient of Fulbright Fellowship Award & Dan Evans Award for Excellence and Writer columnist.

Mamta Thakur Former CEO (ASEAN), Arc Skills

Dr. Ajay Shukla, Ph.D, MBA, BE. Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Higher Education UAE

Mr. Amulya Sah, PGD PM & IR, PG Diploma in PM&IR (XISS Ranchi)

Chief Human Resources Officer, Former Head HR group Samsung R&D Institute India,Transformative HR Leader, Change agent, Digitization facilitator, Engagement architect, Trainer and Diversity champion.

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Digital First Magazine April 2022

Mr. Sreedhar Bevara, MBA, B.Com Dr. Manoj Varghese, Ph.D

Senior Director - Global Partnerships, Advisory & Consulting - Connecta®, Head of Advisory Board Higher Education Digest® & K12 Digest®, Adjunct Faculty Assumption University, Former CIO - Athena Education, Former Global Director Technology - GEMS Education

CEO at BMR Innovations, Ex Senior General Manager at Panasonic, LG, The Hindu, TATA, Author: Moment of Signal & The Roaring Lambs, Motivational Speaker & Leadership Consultant.

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DigitalEducation First Magazine Higher Digest April 2022 November 2020

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CONTENTS LEADERS’ INSIGHTS HOW IS AI REVOLUTIONISING FACIAL EMOTION RECOGNITION? Kunal Kislay, CEO, Integration Wizards Solutions

CYBERSECURITY 2022: NEW THREATS DEMAND NEW STRATEGIES Apu Pavithran, Founder & CEO, Mitsogo | Hexnode

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EXPERT’S OPINION BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION IN SERVICES INDUSTRY Alok Bhatt, Senior Vice President (Business Transformation), Analytix Solutions

HOW TO TACKLE THE RISKS OF CONVERSATIONAL AI SECURITY? Shubhendra Agrawal, Co-founder, Director & CFO, MSG91

HIRING TRENDS IN TECH JOBS DUE TO THE EMERGENCE OF METAVERSE

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Harsh Bharwani, CEO and MD, Jetking Infotrain

MAKING SMARTER, FASTER DECISIONS: BREAKTHROUGH INSIGHTS POWERED BY AI Raj Neervannan, Co-Founder & CTO, AlphaSense Technology India

AI OPENING DOORS TO A WORLD OF OPPORTUNITIES Sheyak Gupta, Specialist in the Applied AI Practice, Searce

HOW CAN INDIAN RAILWAYS MAXIMIZE REVENUES WITH OPTIMIZED CAPACITY INTEGRATION? Vijeta Soni, Co-Founder & CEO, Sciative Solutions

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CONTENTS

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20 IN MY VIEW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AS A BUSINESS ENABLER Praveen Kulkarni, Co-Founder, Director PracticeLeague Legal Tech Pvt Ltd.

AI AND THE HUMAN CONUNDRUM: THE FUTURE OF HUMANS IN AN AI-DOMINATED WORLD Sarvagya Mishra, Co-Founder and Director, SuperBot

HOW DIGITIZATION AND IOT HAVE ACCELERATED INNOVATION IN DIAGNOSTICS INDUSTRY Dr. Angeli Misra, Director, Lifeline Laboratory

ZERO WASTE, ZERO GUILT: A STEP TOWARDS CLIMATE POSITIVE TECHNOLOGY Gaurav Burman, VP & APAC President, 75F, India

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IN MY

VIEW

Artificial Intelligence as A Business Enabler Praveen Kulkarni, Co-Founder, Director PracticeLeague Legal Tech Pvt Ltd.

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ommonly referred to as AI, Artificial Intelligence, is one of the ‘in-vogue’ terms in technology and business domains alike. From a business leaders’ perspective, the question that arises is how exactly does AI benefit the business? The reason for such a train of thought is that while the term AI is prevalent, the direct linkage between the technology and the business itself is not comprehensive. However, this connection between the technology and its end-user takeaways is vital in driving its adoption.

Introducing AI In layman’s words, AI refers to machine programming that can perform tasks requiring human intelligence. This field brings together computers, data, and software programs, to enable problem-solving, typically, problems that would require at least some level of human intervention. This is a vast field and includes well-known Machine Learning & Deep Learning in addition to Natural Language Processing, Data Mining, and Image Processing.

Business functions generate oceans of data from all their component functions in the information age. Thus, any technology

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Given that AI deals with the intersection of computing power and data, it will have a lasting and defining influence on organizations

PRAVEEN KULKARNI

A Visionary par excellence Mr. Praveen Kulkarni is the Co-Founder and Director at PracticeLeague LegalTech – an innovative legal technology company operating in India, APAC, Africa and Europe.

Before founding PracticeLeague in 2016, Praveen worked as the Director at Uberall Solutions for over two decades. With a bachelor’s in engineering from Karnatak University, Praveen has always been keen on the technical functioning of systems. His curiosity for finding the most effortless solution for a problem has been a key driver in conceptualizing PracticeLeague and has contributed to its success. Over the course of his enterprising career, Praveen has led all his teams by example.

His role at PracticeLeague includes strategizing and innovation, conflict resolution, goal setting, morale building and so much more. He is also actively involved in the technical side of the business and is constantly encouraging the team to innovate and develop new systems that can further enhance PracticeLeague’s position in the industry. Having identified a need gap in the legal tech sector, Praveen along with his co-founder Mr Chanchani were able to leverage on the existing challenges in the industry with a first-mover advance.

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Fields’ refers to discovering contextual relationships within seemingly diverse sets of data. This can reveal insightful correlations, trends, etc., thus providing actionable insights. In short, this means converting data into actionable information.

Example: Organizing different contracts by “Type” or “Date of Contracts” or “Name of Parties” can give you an idea of your contracting database. With the help of AI, this administrative task of organizing the contracts and getting an overview simultaneously becomes very easy.

that can help make sense of and then give value-adding insights is sure to have a massive impact. Given that AI deals with the intersection of computing power and data, it will have a lasting and defining influence on organizations.

The applications of this technology extend across functions and departments. First, let us look at the impact on business from the perspective of the legal function.

Given that we are in the information age, there are a few subfields that we need to understand to appreciate the benefits. ● Extraction of Smart Fields: Making sense of the garnered data and applying AI to develop futuristic data fields ● Summarising Work: Getting at the implied meaning in text and data in summary form ● Document Review – Assessing the information against your standards ● Analytics: Developing insights from data ● Legal Bots: Automated Chatbots adapted to Legal work with an AI base. These are what convert data into streams of actionable intelligence!

Extraction of Smart Fields As stated above, any organization generates tonnes of data; some of that data is interconnected. Within this, many interdependencies can be discovered. ‘Smart

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Summarising Work Summarising a long body of text for decision-makers is a trying task, even for humans at the best of times. As text tends to contain deeper meanings, text summarization is the functionality of discovering these connections to deliver the accurate implied summary. In addition, there is abstractive text summarization at the advanced level, wherein implied meanings and associations are found – for example, in legal contract analysis or legal research.

For example, gaining an overview of the contract portfolio for a particular client can be done in minutes using AI. The data collected, like the total number of contracts of a specific client, provide a quick summary of your client’s business.

Document Review On a day-to-day basis, lawyers review documents, make comments and redlines, and advise clients on whether it is good to sign as-is or if they need to negotiate better terms with the other party. Reviewing contracts/documents is a time-consuming process. According to Gartner, in-house legal departments spend half of their time reviewing contracts.

AI can expedite the contract review processes by classifying them, analyzing them, and defining the problematic parts by assessing them against the standard playbook set by the companies apart from identifying the risks and obligations within contracts.

Analytics In simple words, analytics is the discovery of relationships, their examination and presentation in a legible and impactful form. This is the domain where you discover trends and patterns in your data and deduce the findings in an easily accessible format allowing you to make accurate decisions.

Example: With an overview of contracts, you can analyze and improve the turnaround time for contracts, get an insight if there are any hurdles in the process, legal issues most frequently redlined or negotiated and help

your legal team with data and actionable items to help them improve their performance and efficiencies.

Legal Bots Lawbots or Legalbots are a broad class of customer-facing legal AI applications that automate specific legal tasks, such as document automation and legal research. The terms robot lawyer and lawyer bot are used as synonyms to lawbot. In simple words, it is a software that gets into a conversation using audio and/or text interfaces. Their uses vary from filling out forms, complaint response mechanisms, answering client or other inbound calls, PR questions. They also have the capacity for automated document generation. In addition, some law bots can undertake admin tasks like sending out various updates like court dates.

The Business Advantage of Artificial Intelligence Modern business is all about data – data from sales, procurement, manufacturing, finance, legal, etc.; all functions. And AI is a field, to coin a new way to put it. By leveraging the power of artificial intelligence, legal firms can make sense of the data that is constantly being thrown their way and subsequently learn how to use it. The marriage of these two is the proverbial match conceptualized in heaven.

Decision Connection All business functions on decisions. Nowadays, the manager needs smart data that is immediately interpreted

Nowadays, the manager needs smart data that is immediately interpreted and actionable more than ever before

and actionable more than ever before. A strongly correlated, connected data without any redundancy, which is accurate yet agile, enables fast, precise decisions. This is a must in today’s constantly changing world. This organizational journey from Data to Information is the domain of Artificial Intelligence. It is humanly impossible for a human to do this manually or using excel sheets on millions of data points.

Benefits and Advantages An R Glenister statement springs to mind; fast processes operating on clean data are keys to the success of AI; this applies to business equally well. A clean non-redundant relevant information flow removes operational hiccups speeds up the processes while reducing errors and eliminating redundancies, resulting in: ● Reduction of errors ● Reduction of process costs ● Increase efficiency ● Functional Insights, for example, consumer insights ● Improved and highly contextual customer communication ● These help in the balance three clear benefits, namely: ● An improved customer experience ● Resulting in greater customer loyalty and higher revenues.

At this point, we need to establish clearly that technology alone is not the answer. Instead, it is the technology, its implementation, the strategy behind that implementation, and rapid user adoption for meeting the objective that contributes to the above benefits.

In Conclusion As we have seen above, AI impacts almost every business function, from Sales to Finance. From the contract example alone, we can see that AI enables faster processes with higher accuracy. This tends to increase efficiency and productivity at a granular level within organizations. In addition, the more profound insights from the analytics engine and the predictive information all come together to provide needed timely information to support decisions.

Both of these factors are what combine to create a highly responsive customer-centric organization.

However, the smaller parts come together to create one agile and responsive organization suited to the volatile, uncertain, ambiguous, and complex world that now faces us in the business. This world functions on information – which is the foundation of the AI technology itself: AI is just a journey from data to information in its simplest, most basic form.

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LEADERS’S INSIGHTS

How is AI Revolutionising Facial Emotion Recognition?

Kunal Kislay, CEO, Integration Wizards Solutions

Kunal Kislay is a B.Tech IIT Bombay alumnus with over a decade of experience in enterprise mobility, Internet of Things, AI, Neural networks, and Machine learning. He co-founded IWiz - a made-in-India, AIenabled Computer vision platform helping enterprises and B2C segments. Their client relations are built across continents with AWS, Microsoft, Xerox, Godrej, Heineken, Johnson Controls, Tata, etc.

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Emotion detection from facial expressions using AI also provides a good way for market research

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complete shift to online modes of learning during the pandemic-induced lockdowns was overwhelming not just for students but also for the teachers. In addition to logistical and network issues, keeping the students engaged also became challenging for teachers. This was primarily because teachers couldn’t read the faces of students as they did in physical classrooms. But as they say -- there’s always a solution.

An artificial Intelligence-powered technology came to the rescue. The technology read the facial expressions of the students and helped teachers understand the level of their engagement.

Over the last few years, the usage of AI for facial recognition has gained prevalence in a wide range of areas, including security, in a very short span of time.

As human-machine interaction becomes more evolved,

facial recognition technology is being assimilated in several activities — from unlocking our phones to accessing personal documents on our devices — of our day-to-day lives.

Going a notch higher, AI is now detecting our facial expressions to ensure more safety and convenience. Today, there are AI-based software that measure muscle points on faces and identify emotions like sadness, happiness, anger, fear, disgust, contempt, and surprise.

Such software monitor the position and movements of brows, eyes, mouth, and other features of a person and then compare the facial expression to an already learned emotion. For instance, a wrinkled forehead and an upside-down smile are seen as a characteristic of a sad face by the software. In fact, the AI facial emotion recognition

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technology isn’t just capable of grasping how a person is feeling in the moment but also predicting their intentions and decoding their personality.

Use cases of AI for facial recognition As mentioned earlier, this sophisticated tech is now finding its importance in almost all walks of life. In the context of security, AI is being leveraged to prevent road accidents. Top models of several cars have started to offer an AI feature that alerts the drivers of their drowsiness, reducing accidents by a significant percentage. The software reads the driver’s face to identify if the person is distracted, drowsy, yawning, or closing eyes, among others. Some of these software even send personalised alerts -- like stopping for a coffee break, or changing music or the car temperature -- to the driver.

In the medical sector, AI emotion recognition technology helps medical professionals understand the patients who have trouble expressing themselves through normative means.

Similarly, the technology also facilitates the recruitment process by assisting the HR person in understanding a candidate’s facial expressions. This helps employers assess the personality and mood of candidates. According to media reports, Unilever is already starting to incorporate this technology into its recruitment process.

Emotion detection from facial expressions using AI also provides a good way for market research.

Companies are already using sentiment analysis to gauge consumer mood towards their product or brand in the digital world. After shopping online or at a retail store, we are often asked to pick an emoji -- among angry, unhappy, satisfied, and happy faces, and others -- to show the level of our satisfaction with the brand. Going forward, the AI emotion recognition technology will be a viable alternative to automatically measure consumers’ engagement and experience with the brand.

Further, video gaming companies can use the technology for their benefit. As each video game aims to evoke a particular behavior and set of emotions from the users, AI-based emotion detection software can help in understanding which emotions a user is going through in real-time as he is playing.

The technology is also being used in a big way in the area of law enforcement. In the United Kingdom, the Lincolnshire police have even invested in this AIbased emotion recognition to identify “suspicious” people. Other use cases of AI facial emotion recognition technology include -- surveillance, & monitoring, advertising, and entertainment, among others.

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Despite the giant strides the technology has made in the last few years, AI-based emotion detection is still in its nascent stage Long way ahead Despite the giant strides the technology has made in the last few years, AI-based emotion detection is still in its nascent stage. Sometimes these software falter in detecting gender and race. There are also concerns regarding privacy and mass surveillance around the technology. Also, some experts argue that technology works on the concept that people express emotions in a similar manner everywhere. They point out that people emote in different ways based on their culture and societies. In 2019, a study by the Association for Psychological Science also proved this point.

Nevertheless, almost all observers are unanimous that facial recognition powered by AI is going to be a multibillion-dollar industry in the future. According to market research firm “Markets and Markets”, the emotion detection industry -- which was valued at $19.5 billion in 2020 -- is projected to grow to $37.1 billion by 2026.

Today, more and more start-ups are pushing back against the idea of a universal set of expressions and are finding opportunities to interpret a section of people with context. This process of comprehending human emotions is crucial to making AI robust. Future innovation in emotion recognition will allow machines to understand how people feel and this will truly revolutionise manmachine interaction in the times to come.

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IN MY

VIEW

AI And the Human Conundrum: The Future of Humans in an AI-Dominated World Sarvagya Mishra, Co-Founder and Director, SuperBot

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t will not be an overstatement to say that the way we interact with technology has changed. Most people interact with conversational virtual interfaces and AI-powered devices on a regular basis without a second thought. AIpowered digital devices and services are now used by a large section of the global populace, with more people joining the bandwagon by the day.

But what does this mean for the future of humans in an AI world?

The Tech Evolution: Viewing AI from the lens of human enablement The future of AI is often spoken about in terms of its potential to take over human jobs. But what if, instead of taking over human jobs, AI actually helps humans become better at their jobs? What if it helps us optimise how we function – as individuals, professionals, and members of society – and become better, in ways we never thought possible?

It definitely has the potential to do so. For instance, it can help us become better at our jobs by automating repetitive tasks

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In the future, we will see AI-powered robots in our homes and workplaces, helping us with everything from the mundane to the complex

SARVAGYA MISHRA

A visionary in the field of tech, digital solutions, and backend technology, Sarvagya Mishra is the Co-Founder and Director of SuperBot. In his current capacity as the Co-Founder & Director, Mr. Mishra oversees the tech, sales, and business development verticals.

He further envisions taking SuperBot to the global level of prominence, while building a strong team of like-minded people.

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and freeing up our time to focus on more value-added activities. It can also help us make better decisions by providing us with data-driven insights that we would otherwise not have access to. And, perhaps most importantly, it can help us create more meaningful and fulfilling lives by connecting us with other people and things in ways that were not possible before.

In the future, we will see AIpowered robots in our homes and workplaces, helping us with everything from the mundane to the complex. AI voice agents will draw on the collective human knowledge to serve as counsellors and psychologists. AI-powered cars will be on our roads and AIpowered assistants will be in our pockets. We will see the technology in our schools, hospitals, and government institutions, helping us make better decisions, provide better services, and improve the quality of our lives.

Many of these things are already happening. Educators and educational institutes are using AI and associated technologies to personalise learning the needs of the individual student without compromising the collective learning progress. They are also being used for the early detection of diseases, developing personalized treatments, and even conducting surgery, as well as making better lifestyle choices by providing us with real-time feedback on our health and fitness. Even traditional fields such as agriculture are being transformed by AI, as farmers get real-time updates about critical aspects such as the weather, soil condition, etc. to optimise their yields. Such measures will only become more commonplace in the coming years.

key, therefore, is to ensure that AI is developed and used responsibly. This means accounting for the potential risks and harms of AI and working to mitigate them. It also means ensuring that AI technologies are designed and used in a way that respects and protects the rights of individuals.

One way to do this is to ensure that AI technologies are transparent and accountable. This means that individuals should be able to understand how AI works and why it is making the decisions it does while implementing mechanisms to hold it accountable for its actions. It is also essential to ensure that it is inclusive by accounting for and removing human biases from the system. This means that AI technologies should be designed and used in a way that caters to the needs of all individuals, regardless of their race, gender, ethnicity, or other factors.

There are plenty of examples that demonstrate what can happen if these factors are not considered. In one famous example, an AI-powered recruiting tool used by a major tech company was found to be biased against women. The tool was trained on data that was predominantly male and, as a result, it downgraded resumes that included words such as women, family, or mother.

Facial recognition systems used by law enforcement agencies in the US have also been found to be more likely to misidentify black people as criminals due to the inherent biases in the training data sets.

The future of AI is one of ethical responsibility. As AI technologies become more advanced, it will become increasingly important to ensure that they are designed and used in an ethically responsible way. This will require a concerted effort on the part of all stakeholders, from AI developers and users to policymakers and regulators.

But, if done right, the rewards will be more than worth it.

AI technologies should be designed and used in a way that caters to the needs of all individuals, regardless of their race, gender, ethnicity, or other factors

Ethical AI: How to create AI that adds value to human life But, as with any transformative technology, there are risks and challenges that must be addressed. These include everything from data privacy and security to the potential for AI technologies to be used for harm. The

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EXPERT’S OPINION

Business Transformation in Services Industry Alok Bhatt, Senior Vice President (Business Transformation), Analytix Solutions

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oday, the list of 500 largest companies by revenue comprises more service companies than those in manufacturing. The service industry’s contribution to global GDP is rising every year and reached 60% in 2020. The services sector is one of the major contributors to economic growth and is also a major source of employment. In the United States, for example, the services sector contributed to more than 77% of the annual GDP in 2020 and is estimated to be the second-largest employment sector by 2030 with approximately 134 million jobs.

The global economy, and especially the services sector, has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, correctly described as the worst global healthcare crisis in a century. The pandemic has led to an unimaginable loss of human lives and caused unprecedented economic devastation. The pandemic has forced companies to relook at the way they are delivering their services. In a few months, COVID-19 led to changes in the way companies do business that would otherwise have taken many years during normal times. The

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Alok

Bhatt

is

Senior

Vice

President (Business Transformation) at Analytix Solutions, a company specializing in providing technologyenabled and value-driven solutions to help businesses succeed by focusing on growth and profitability. Based out of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, Alok has more than 16 years of experience in scaling up organizations and delivering transformation. Alok has been a trusted transformation partner for a diverse set of clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to small & medium-sized businesses.

Alok specializes in creating global standardized processes and systems through consultancy, collaboration, and

control.

experience

He

in

has

extensive

managing

global

sales operations for multi-service organizations, executing sales and marketing strategies for aggressive growth, driving lean and efficient operations innovative

and

implementing

technology

solutions.

Alok was previously associated with companies like Infosys Ltd, WNS Global Services and QX Global Group and has always focused on helping his clients achieve more for less. A certified Six Sigma Black Belt holder, Alok is an engineer and an MBA in marketing from the Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad.

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companies that have accepted the new normal and adapted their business and delivery models by embracing the digital transformation have not only survived the pandemic but have come out stronger, more efficient and more agile.

Key themes Driving Business Transformation in Services Industry Adoption of digital channels by customers The millennial generation and beyond were already in the always-connected mode but COVID-19 has forced even the earlier generations to adopt digital. Be it consumption of information or buying groceries or even for big-ticket purchases, customers now prefer to do it all online. The consumer expectations have changed, more likely permanently, and they are demanding more product options, high availability and quick delivery models. This has also forced businesses to shift their focus on digital channels and to adopt a digital-first customer experience.

Consumer Business Model Transformation: Enhanced connectivity and digitisation of processes has made it much easier for businesses to create a global ecosystem of partners. This has had a major impact on how firms are targeting their customers, their value propositions, the customisation of service offerings and the price points. The overall business model is now becoming much more customer-centric and this is enabled through the digitally connected supply chain for products, partners and people. The old business models are being forced to change or are being completely replaced by the new digital business models.

Services Delivery Model Transformation Digital-first businesses are easy to scale and most successful businesses have an inherent desire to go global. The service delivery model for global businesses has now been transformed. While the earlier models were internally focused and emphasised optimisation of costs or increase in efficiency of service delivery, the digital global service models focus on enhancing customer experience through a globally distributed virtual workforce. Digital-first businesses focus more on delivering a highly personalised customer experience by leveraging their data-driven decision-making capabilities. These businesses are highly agile and can customise their service delivery at a moment’s notice.

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The companies that have accepted the new normal and adapted their business and delivery models by embracing the digital transformation have not only survived the pandemic but have come out stronger, more efficient and more agile

Intelligent Hyper-Automation While earlier companies looked at individual tasks and analysed the feasibility of automation through point solutions, the world has changed now. Today, companies are focusing on end-to-end process optimisation and evaluating automation solutions through a combination of technologies. The digital ecosystem provides multiple ways to automate a task and it is prudent to evaluate what technology is best suited for a particular part of the process. Hyper-automation is the creation of automated solutions through multiple sets of tools and technologies like software integrations, RPA, IDP, AI and ML. These integrate seamlessly to provide an efficient, errorfree and intelligent automated process. This allows companies to focus more on judgement based and analytical tasks rather than transactional activities. The companies can thus move higher in the value chain and provide advisory and consulting services to add more value to the clients.

Empowered Global Workforce Another trend that has accelerated the transformation of the service industry in the COVID era is the hybrid work model with more and more employees preferring to work remotely. This has forced companies to relook at their digital strategies to enable their employees to deliver exceptional customer service, digitally. Many companies have even revamped their service and product portfolios to bring digital offerings to market. Companies that have enabled their employees through technology have seen their revenues going higher even though the service delivery models may have changed. The companies are now focusing on hiring globally to source the right talent at the right cost and are then creating a highengagement remote work culture to retain and re-train them. Leveraging the global workforce and enabling them through Artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics, machine learning and connected platforms is driving the transformation of the industry. AI supports professionals to learn, think and perform better; analytics and machine learning are revolutionising insight generation, and platforms are disrupting traditional business models by bringing buyers and suppliers together. Happy and empowered employees are the biggest differentiators in creating a great customer experience in the digital age.

The companies that are agile enough to transform their business quickly according to the customer demands are not just able to survive but thrive at the expense of companies that are deep-rooted in their legacy and resistant to change.

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IN MY

VIEW

How Digitization and IOT have Accelerated Innovation in Diagnostics Industry Dr. Angeli Misra, Director, Lifeline Laboratory

D

igitization and IOT (Internet of Things) has become an integral part of the healthcare industry and reshaped the entire healthcare ecosystem, while being the prime driver of its growth. It plays a key role in diagnostics: from the prognosis of a medical condition or disease, to screening, to diagnosis, to deciding treatment, to monitoring the condition and its progression, to determine long-term treatment modalities and for the prevention of diseases, besides enabling extensive and intensive research in the healthcare arena.

Digital technology, robotic process automation and AI (Artificial Intelligence) assisted medical devices, and cloud-based data management platforms have enabled better connectivity all over the world and have opened up the floodgates of information sources for all, making the world a smaller place. It has helped the population in remote areas to gain access to affordable healthcare facilities, with able support from govt. initiatives and public-private entrepreneurial partnerships in this regard.

In the current Covid-19 pandemic and social distancing scenario, telemedicine has come into its own in a big way. Online consultations, virtual conferencing, remote control of equipment,

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Digital technology, robotic process automation and AI (Artificial Intelligence) assisted medical devices, and cloud-based data management platforms have enabled better connectivity all over the world

DR. ANGELI MISRA

Dr. Angeli Misra is Director, Lifeline Laboratory – one of the premier advanced pathology laboratories of Delhi-NCR region. She brings with her an enormous experience of technical and service expertise spanning over 34 years in clinical pathology and 26 years as chief administrator and torchbearer in raising Lifeline Laboratory to meet the highest international standards. She has exhibited exceptional proficiency in Histopathology, Cytology, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Immunology, Oncology, Hematology & Clinical Pathology. She completed her MD in Pathology with a gold medal from the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, as well received the Mohan Lal Wig Gold Medal for her remarkable contribution in the field of Clinical Research (1989).

She earlier completed her MBBS from Nagpur University. Her research works include contributions to Eli-Lilly Company; Zydus Byk Healthcare Ltd.; and L.G Life Sciences. She has excellent experience in administering skilled professionals to help achieve remarkable standards. Her own hard work in pathology and related disciplines has elevated the values and working of doctors and technicians in an outstanding manner. She is a philanthropist and supports and works for humanitarian causes such as ‘Healthcare for Under Privileged’, ‘Children under Spastic Society’ and animal shelter ‘Friendicoes’. She is working as a consultant to Jet Airways, Airport Authority of India, GAIL, HUDCO, IGNOU and LIC of India.

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more efficient and sophisticated instruments, automation electronic devices, and health-monitoring applications systems, software, and reagents, for protein quantification, on smart phones and other such have gained immense cell biology, food safety, protein purification, gene significance and popularity, thus becoming common expression, drug discovery and manufacture, and science place. The IOT has enabled and brought about an education in life sciences applications. unprecedented boost to life sciences research the world Robotic process automation has emerged as a logical over. The diagnostics sector has emerged from linear solution and the true harbinger of this enormous change growth pattern towards expansive growth overall at high-end diagnostic centers, along with digitization to through tremendous innovations in both software and cover the lacunae in the area of skilled lab technicians and hardware analytics. personnel, as well as the delivery of improved precision The Covid-19 pandemic has ushered in an entire and quicker results. The concept of cobots (smaller and paradigm shift in the field of diagnostics, with regard lighter cooperative robots) is proving to be a more viable to its scope and capacity. The demand and potential solution as an assistive tool in lab automation, thereby for upgraded equipment from the diagnostic equipment leading to better staff deployment. manufacturing industry too received Encouraging a shift from manual a huge boost. Recognizing the processing to automated processing enormous potential of the situation, by adopting cloud based robotics the diagnostics industry was pushed to and artificial intelligence (AI) will devise newer and innovative methods considerably cut down on human for testing, and implement the latest The concept of intervention and move from manual software applications, to scale-up to processing to automated processing the demand of the burgeoning volume cobots (smaller and in the areas of sample collection, of tests required to be conducted, lighter cooperative sample and reagent handling, with quicker turnaround time, while sample analysis, and diagnosis. maintaining a sharp focus on quality robots) is proving It will further lead to seamless control, accuracy and affordability. to be a more viable data organization, collation and A case in point is the introduction management, for overall efficiency, of the rapid antigen detection test solution as an precision, accuracy, quality control, in addition to the molecular tests to assistive tool in lab and minimized human error in detect the presence of the Sars-CoV-2 automation, thereby reporting, reducing human exposure virus, while bearing in mind the to bio-hazards, thereby achieving limitations of social distancing in the leading to better higher safety standards for longlockdown scenario, bridging the gap staff deployment term economic sustainability. This in the demand-supply chain, lack of will positively impact the overall skilled technicians, and managing and level of health, disease awareness collating a humungous volume of data, and preventive health strategies while keeping up with the extensively and encourage the endeavor towards making diagnostic spruced-up research and development in the field. services available to all sections of society in the remotest The diagnostics industry, through the integration of parts of the country. digitization and IOT, has spurred pathology laboratories Digitization has also led to remote training of staff, and imaging centers to better utilize their equipment and technicians and phlebotomists to improve and upscale monitor their usage, improve internal and external quality their skills through online virtual training programs and control standards, besides minimizing the downtime, workshops. This has brought about a huge improvement as well as collate data for predictive maintenance in overall productivity. and improved efficiency, thereby reducing equipment Responsible and structured digitization is a powerful failures. Moreover, data analytics has led to improved tool for effective change management at all levels in patient support and personalized service through the an organization, leading to a reduction in costs for the use of digital epidemiology tools, chatbot assistants, AI patients, thereby enabling improved patient benefit, as applications, Electronic Health Record (EHR) guidance well as for achieving financial goals for the organization tools and rapid response test kits. in the long-term, while bearing in mind the increased The diagnostics equipment manufacturing industry need for cyber security, data privacy and protection. was egged on to make innovative changes in developing

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Higher Education Digest July 2020

Digital First Magazine April 2022

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LEADERS’S INSIGHTS

Cybersecurity 2022: New Threats Demand New Strategies Apu Pavithran, Founder & CEO, Mitsogo | Hexnode

Apu Pavithran is the founder and CEO of Hexnode | Mitsogo Inc. Recognized in the IT management community as a consultant, speaker, and thought leader, Apu has been a strong advocate for IT governance and Information security management. He’s passionate about entrepreneurship and spends significant time working with startups and empowering young entrepreneurs.

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The significance of Zero Trust has grown to the point where it is being considered at the national level, with the first example being President Biden’s declaration mandating zero trust for all government agencies

T

he SolarWinds attack on the US Federal Government in 2020 and the Log4j attack in 2021 are just two of the many devastating strikes the world has confronted in recent years.

Small or big, private or government, ransomware and socially engineered attacks have infiltrated, exploited and destabilized every sector. With technological advancements, cyberspace has always been ground to unprecedented war between data protectors and data hackers. But with the onset of the pandemic, sectors like healthcare, education, and supply chains have been even more susceptible to attacks. Cyber incidents have overtaken business interruptions and natural catastrophes to become the most significant worldwide business risk.

Data breach cost rose to the highest in 2021, and compromised credentials are the chief reason for the

breaches, says Ponemon University. While the trends and statistics seem depressing, the article intends to shed light on the forthcoming trends that a corporate must consider safeguarding their data and stay safe from the next attack.

The Trust No One phenomenon While businesses were established on the notion of trust, no one anticipated a future where you couldn’t trust your own corporate network. The overwhelming surge in insider threats and identity theft amidst the pandemic has given impetus to the ZTNA (Zero Trust Network Access) revolution.

The significance of Zero Trust has grown to the point where it is being considered at the national level, with the first example being President Biden’s declaration mandating zero trust for all

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government agencies. Forrester’s dedicated study on zero trust highlights that around 68% of organizations that participated in their research planned to expand their investment in Zero Trust, and 36% of the budget would be set aside for micro-segmentation.

While dividing your enterprise and edge network into micro-segments might be the foundation of Zero Trust, ensuring endpoint visibility, a concept that has made news in tandem with zero trust, is the step to start with.

With the advent of hybrid work, corporate endpoints have found themselves dispersed throughout the network.

Built on the axiom: you can’t control what you can’t see, endpoint visibility solutions give insight into the behavior of devices that access your network.

IoT devices are a beacon of technological progress, but they have also opened the door to a profusion of flaws. While legacy solutions, including VPN, might be insufficient to secure IOTs, zero trust could be the solution. Furthermore, integration with solutions such as IAM (Identity and Access Management) which ensures that the right user has the right access to the right resources, will take the game to a whole new level.

An Unbiased Solution- Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have remained confident in their ability to avoid detection by hackers. However, this has proven to be a tale of the past. Over half of SMBs were jeopardized by assaults the previous year, and just one in every four was adequately equipped to secure their data. Many SMBs believe that cybersecurity resources are out of their budget due to their unawareness of cost-effective solutions available for them, just as it is for large enterprises.

Running to the IT admin when your device goes awry was once a viable option when the proportion of 20 devices to one IT admin stood true. However, with the BYOD concept gaining traction, the number of devices in organizations has scaled over time, and the tables have flipped. UEMs, the latest avatar of Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions, are currently the preferred go-to solution for both SMBs and Fortune 500. With the inception of smartphones in workplaces, MDM solutions were introduced to manage corporateowned devices. However, these MDM solutions were not intended to handle the whole range of BYODs, resulting in a superior form of MDMs, known as EMM (Enterprise Mobile Management) solutions. The limitations of both these solutions lead to the introduced UEM, which allowed IT administrators to manage and secure their device fleet from a single console, including

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According to researchers, though it still has a long way to go, 2022 would put AI one step ahead.

The majority of the corporates currently are in the initial process of acquiring valuable data and converting it into useful information

smartphones, laptops, and Macs, as well as IoTs and wearables. In 2026, the Device Management market is predicted to grow from $5.5 billion to $20.4 billion. You can’t safeguard your devices unless you can see them, and UEM provides a clear window into the status and upgrades of your corporate devices. UEMs like Hexnode ensures everything from easy onboarding to app, content, network, device and security management.

UEMs have become a baseline security measure that every corporate must invest in. With sophisticated attacks, UEMs will eventually take a step ahead by integrating with solutions such as ZTNA and passwordless authentication.

Artificial Intelligence (AI): From Experimental to Essential Many businesses have grown into tech behemoths by leveraging the data they have amassed over the years.

Data in its raw form isn’t helpful. It needs to be turned into valuable information. Understanding the importance of information made Peter Sondergaard state,” Information is the oil of the 21st century and analytics is the combustion engine”. And this Information is what powers AI. According to researchers, though it still has a long way to go, 2022 would put AI one step ahead.

The majority of the corporates currently are in the initial process of acquiring valuable data and converting it into useful information.

In 2021, it took an average of 287 days to detect and contain a breach that lasted longer than the 200-day threshold. Unfortunately, businesses fail to detect that they have been breached before it’s too late. AI in its best form would assist enterprises in real-time monitoring,

allowing systems to detect, identify and respond to threats promptly. The earlier an attack is detected, the sooner it could be evaluated and remediated, and the lower the data breach cost.

Metaverse, the latest tech concept that has grabbed the attention of tech giants and is being passionately discussed across various platforms, was made possible through AI along with other technologies like Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and blockchains.

From creating 3D avatars and digital beings to enabling language processing, Metaverse has become a fiction turned reality with the help of AI. While corporates see a future in the Metaverse, it opens the door to many unaddressed concerns. AI’s efficiency lies in the hands of its designer, as Stephen Hawkings, the greatest thinker of all times, argues, “AI is likely to be either the best or worst thing to happen to humanity”.

Last thoughts Cybercrime has always been on the rise, and only being vigilant and implementing appropriate security measures will defend us. The WannaCry ransomware attack, wherein corporations that failed to deploy the published patches were exploited, is a prime illustration of how organizations can be struck if proper security measures aren’t executed. While attack-as-a-service has gained pace in the dark side, self-healing endpoints, cyber resilience, and cybersecurity insurance are a few other notable tech concepts that businesses must be aware of in 2022. These solutions do not guarantee a threat-free environment but implementing the appropriate security measure could significantly limit the blast radius, contain the threat and, aid in quick recovery.

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EXPERT’S OPINION

How to Tackle the Risks of Conversational AI Security?

Shubhendra Agrawal, Kunal Kislay, Co-founder and CEO of Co-founder, Director & CFO, MSG91 Integration Wizards Solutions

T

hese days, AI chatbots are increasingly popular. People have grown accustomed to texting and vocal assistance services. All of these platforms make use of AI in some way. Implementing a conversational AI around the website is advantageous to the business. AI chatbots, on the other hand, are still robots with possible flaws. True, AI chatbot algorithms are more complicated than those found in most apps. As a result, security breaches are much less likely.

Threats associated with Conversational AI System vulnerabilities are flaws in a computer system that attackers can exploit to cross authority boundaries. When the system has insecure coding, outdated hardware drivers, a misconfigured firewall, and so on, it is vulnerable. The majority of system flaws are caused by human error. SDL (Security Development Lifecycle) is a tool that can help you avoid mistakes like this. Because many chatbots store data in cloud-based services, which are well-protected against risks and vulnerabilities, the following article concentrates on the communication component and various aspects of data manipulations.

There are two domains in encrypted messaging. The first domain is data transfer security, which refers to the safe delivery of data, audio, and graphics to a server where the chatbot is housed. The second domain is concerned with how the user’s data is handled, saved, and shared on the servers (backend).

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Shubhendra

Agrawal

is

the

founder of MSG91 and is an absolute Finance man. Ideally a Mathematics freak and an Engineer who cares not very much about academics.

MSG 91 is India’s number one A2P communication provider in India.

The cloud communication platform mainly caters to businesses (B2B) all

over

India

(and

expanding

globally) to perform effective and seamless business communications through

various

channels.

The

services provided by the platform are BulkSMS, Emails, Voice, Chat, Whatsapp,

and

RCS.

MSG

91

has delivered 1 billion + OTP’s, Transactional SMS

every

and month

promotional without

fail

and 15 K+active users use the service globally.

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Both identities cover the user’s domain’s lifespan. In the first domain, there are many dangers to user messages.

The following essay examines how to make chatbot communication more secure. Not every one of them is commonly used because they are not required in many circumstances. The majority of the techniques listed below must be implemented if a company handles any user data.

Authentication and Permissions It is not always necessary to verify the identity of the user (authentication). Authentication is normally not necessary when a user asks help, such as on a retail website. In this instance, the process does not require the user’s identify or connect directly to their data. The scenario is different when a user asks guidance and the chatbot uses the user’s data. Authentication and validation are required to ensure that a user’s login credentials are legitimate and trustworthy. A username, network interface, system ID, contact information, biometric authentication, certification, passphrase, and other methods of validation are the most common credentials. The user sends these credentials to the system, which generates a secure authorization that is used during the user’s session.

Tokens are used in communications with banks (and other similarly protected services). After a certain amount of time, the system must generate a new token.

Personal data storage and sharing via the World Wide Web is never completely secure. A personal authentication verification (Personal Scan) barrier would authenticate the user’s acceptance by the bots while engaging with them. The personalized scan would therefore ensure that the user’s information will not be utilized by cybercriminals or other fraudulent agents if they interacted with a rogue chatbot.

Security of API It’s an extra layer of protection. It is a feature that allows users to only transmit information to white listed IP addresses. It will also display the IP addresses from which the APIs are accessed. If API security is activated and users try to send an SMS from a different IP, they will receive an error.

Encryption from beginning to End End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) is a communication system in which only the persons conversing can read the information. The discussion is encrypted in such a manner that only the document’s unique recipient, and no one else, can decipher it. A third party can tamper with and counterfeit data being transmitted. As a result,

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it’s crucial to make sure that only the parties involved have possession of the data encryption needed to decrypt the discussion. The user’s device creates two different encryption keys-public and private keys. Different protocols, such as the RSA algorithm, are used to offer encryption. The messages are encrypted with the public key, and the messages can be decrypted with the private key.

Anyone who transmits a signal to the encryption key owner can, of course, use the public key. Simply put, the public key can be shared by both ends of the chatbot to encrypt interaction. Identification and identity protection techniques sometimes employ encryption. Keeping the encryption key safe is crucial; otherwise, an attacker will be able to decrypt all messages sent to this user.

Messages that are self-destructive Self-destructing messages are a realistic option in many circumstances when critical PII (personally identifiable information) is conveyed. Messages holding PII are automatically deleted once a certain amount of time has passed. Both the client and the chatbot may be involved. In connection with financial (banking) and healthcare chatbots, self-destructing communications are an important security practice. Personal data must be retained for no longer than is required for the objectives for which it is processed, according to Article 5 (e) of the GDPR. Although general talk is not considered personal, financial and healthcare information are. It can be difficult to tell what is and is not personal information when communicating with a chatbot, but it’s also regulated under GDPR and Protected Health Information (PHI) under US law. PHI states that any information about a person’s general health, the treatment of medical conditions, or the reimbursement for health care must be developed or collected by a Public Body and cannot be related to a specific person. GDPR compliance necessitates a level of privacy known as “intent.” This means that just the participant’s intent will be registered and maintained for auditing purposes, and that the user’s personal information must never be disclosed, also from the backend.

Summing Up In the digital era, AI technology and conversational AI are indeed a gift and a curse. It can be leveraged to break into systems as well as guard them. As artificial intelligence’s application is harnessed across businesses, it will boost cyber security. Humans can only look into things to a certain level; however, AI can look into anything. With the ability to do in-depth analysis, businesses will be able to respond quickly to clients who pose a threat.

Powerful protection designed for PC gamers

NORTONLIFELOCK.COM Digital First Magazine April 2022

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EXPERT’S OPINION

Hiring trends in Tech Jobs due to the emergence of Metaverse Harsh Bharwani, CEO and MD, Jetking Infotrain

What Would the Metaverse mean?

In its most basic form, the Metaverse is indeed a simulated world where people can build, own, and exchange properties. Virtual reality and augmented reality are two types of technology that make up this new universe. However, the Metaverse is made up of more than just those components.

Virtual reality allows you to enter a virtual world without being physically present. Virtual reality goggles are required to enter this realm. Augmented reality, on the other hand, is defined by elements from both the physical and digital worlds.

What We Know Already Facebook, as well as other major digital companies such as Apple, Microsoft, and Google, have already entered this new realm. Health, schooling, pleasure, economics, and athletics are all included.

In terms of recruitment, the Metaverse notion has been generating a lot of buzz. With Bill Gates’ recent forecasts, it seems clear that perhaps the Metaverse draws near.

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Harsh

Suresh

spearheads

the

Bharwani International

Business, Dedicated Services and Employability initiatives at Jetking.

In the past decade Harsh has trained over 40,000 students on success, confidence, social skills, leadership, business, health, and finance. With 17 years of solid experience behind him, he is a Certified NLP Trainer & Certified Business Coach. Over the years, he has donned various hats and has excelled in various departments of business. Accounting, Counseling and

sales,

HR

management,

channel management, International operations, placement and marketing are some of the areas he has worked on during his journey with Jetking.

In addition to being a par excellence leader, his is known for his innovation, empathy,

understanding,

connect

with employees and multi-tasking.

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What Will the Future Bring?

The future of the recruitment industry will be very similar to what we have now. We’ve already begun to acclimatize to a life with fewer physical interactions and more virtual ones.

Email and virtual platforms like Zoom and Skype are already used to interact. A more interactive experience will be possible with the Metaverse. In a word, it will broaden our existing experiences in another reality.

What are the responsibilities of recruitment firms?

To find recruitment solutions that will meet the Metaverse’s needs. Emerging platforms and software are already being used to implement these solutions. These are some of the measures: ● Software for job posting ● applicant monitoring ● recruiting management These changes will minimize the requirement for personal interaction and presence even further. This will be accomplished by applying for and being hired for a job. Individuals will now be allowed to use an online ATS recruitment method that is simple to use. They are able to take tests and monitor their development.

Applicants can also complete training and onboarding before starting work.

The Metaverse will host seminars and conferences.

Employers can meet with clients from all around the world using the virtual space.

There are numerous advantages as well. In its most basic form, the Metaverse is indeed a simulated world where people can build, own, and exchange properties.

Recruiters aren’t allowed to ‘shut for the day’ or ignore your emails. The Metaverse is never closed. As a result, recruiters and businesses will be more accessible.

Because of AI, applicants wouldn’t have to wait longer for screening. It eliminates the hassle of interview travel along with geographical limitations. Applicants can work virtually anywhere in the world without ever leaving their home.

It might open up a world of recruitment opportunities.

As a result, the entire hiring process becomes much less transactional and dehumanized. Recruiters, for example, may conduct cold outreach, network for referrals, or deal with inbound or job board applications. At the same time, candidates are applying for positions with organizations they simply have a passing familiarity with. Bringing recruiters and applicants closer together in the metaverse

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brings up new opportunities for interaction. In the end, this could be beneficial to both parties.

recruitment isn’t known for being quick off the mark, so it’ll be interesting to watch who jumps in first.

It will be fascinating to watch who is the first to jump.

Recruiters will have more access to candidates without having to do tedious activities or execute impersonal automated sequences. Candidates have access to

The metaverse is rapidly expanding.

It will be particularly intriguing to see how rapidly the metaverse becomes accessible to businesses of all sizes, not just large corporations. When I wrote my thoughts in 2020, the metaverse excitement was still mostly focused on today’s crypto and entertainment players. The bright, gimmicky item, on the other hand, is simply skimming the surface. It’s the neon sign that draws you in, but the metaverse is expanding well beyond that – into space, real estate, engineering, and everything else.

It will be particularly intriguing to see how rapidly the metaverse becomes accessible to businesses of all sizes, not just large corporations

secure areas. If you will, call them “metaverse talent communities.” Before they decide to apply, they will have a lot more one-on-one interaction and access to a lot more information. When it comes to technological innovation,

The internet is embodied in the Metaverse.

It is a way in which you embody the content rather than merely seeing it. And you feel as if you’re in other places when you’re with other individuals. Having unique experiences that you wouldn’t be able to have on a 2D app or website. Like dancing or many forms of fitness.

Experiential learning People can work, play, cooperate, learn, attend virtual events, shop at virtual stores, talk with virtual sales assistants, and buy physical and digital commodities in real time in the metaverse. The concept reflects some of the aspirations that existed when Second Life first started in 2003, but technology has progressed since then.

Prepare in advance.

Ireland has a very high interest in the metaverse and virtual worlds. Companies facing skills shortages will be able to tap into a larger talent pool as the metaverse grows, and employees will be able to connect with coworkers in virtual surroundings that seem much more like real-life situations. Employers will need to keep a close eye on metaverse developments and plan ahead this year. Companies must think about how to improve their ability to attract and retain critical personnel.

Employers who are proactive are already doing so, but it is critical to be able to distinguish between hype about the metaverse and real opportunities.

Conclusion being…

This new reality will undoubtedly alter the recruitment process. The industry has already begun to prepare for it by implementing various procedures. However, it is still unclear how the Metaverse will impact the recruitment business.

However, we can get a sense of how the future will be based on the present wave of industry trends.

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EXPERT’S OPINION

Making Smarter, Faster Decisions: Breakthrough Insights Powered

by AI Raj Co-founder Neervannan,and CEO of Kunal Kislay, Co-Founder & CTO, Integration Wizards Solutions AlphaSense Technology India

F

inding the right information to make critical business decisions is difficult. It requires understanding your own business, your competitors, and the market you both operate in—then synthesizing and making sense of it all to make a well-informed decision. This requires time and keen analytical skills, with each decision building on the quality of the prior one. Technology is supposed to help, but doesn’t always do the trick.

It’s no wonder this is the case. Most of the information on the internet takes the form of unstructured information—everything from transcripts to exclusive content to gated reports. This content is hard to search through with conventional web search engines, which were primarily designed for traditional web content and to capture advertising dollars rather than relevant business information.

Similarly, other traditional enterprise search solutions don’t quite work either—they have a hard time filtering the signal from the noise and often fail to expand on the intent, as they lack the contextual and semantic understanding to do so. Analysts, strategists, and other

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Raj Neervannan is the CTO and co-founder of AlphaSense, a groundbreaking AI-based market intelligence search engine used by over 2,000 investment firms and corporations globally. A visionary technologist and entrepreneur of multiple venturebacked firms, Raj has previously led the development of financial software products used across numerous Fortune

500

companies.

Mr.

Neervannan splits his time between offices in the U.S. and India.

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decision-makers using conventional search and these other products end up wasting time, thus missing out on mission-critical information found elsewhere.

Moreover, in our post-print world, many kinds of useful digital content show up in disparate, even surprising places, such as trade journals, press releases,

Sophisticated augmented intelligence platforms, driven by AI and expert insights, empower businesses to create order from chaos, making sense of complicated, unstructured information

event transcripts, expert call transcripts, company presentations, and analyst reports. The breadth of these sources can be daunting to any knowledge professional.

Between these two major pitfalls of information in the digital age—lack of structure, and overwhelming breadth of sources—knowledge professionals are bound to miss vital information critical to their decision. And the compounded effect of analyst after analyst missing

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critical insights and committing poor or delayed decisions is extremely detrimental to a company’s bottom line.

This is why contextual, competitive intelligence tools are so important. They allow users to wade through waves of information for smarter, faster, and more confident decision-making. This gives companies an advantage against competitors by preventing costly mistakes, ensuring better outcomes, and enabling more accurate future planning.

Sophisticated augmented intelligence platforms, driven by AI and expert insights, empower businesses to create order from chaos, making sense of complicated, unstructured information. For instance, unlike traditional search engines that point readers to entire pages, advanced tools like AlphaSense extracts relevant snippets, giving readers more context without the need to scan the entire document. This way, users glean the right information more efficiently than they would with conventional web search or with business intelligence tools with lessdeveloped tech and design. What makes it special is the platform understands user query intent and guides users to the right answers, extracting insights that allow them to make smarter decisions with confidence and speed.

Business users often have a nuanced understanding of a topic that traditional search engines may not be able to capture. For example, let’s say that you wanted to learn more about driverless cars. When searching the phrase “autonomous vehicles”, traditional search engines may only surface articles that use the exact literal keyword.

Often, searches have different synonyms, like “selfdriving” or “driverless” or “cars” or “trucks.” Search engines that don’t focus on the human semantics of the search miss out on crucial data.

Hence, it is critical for search query to surface results that include that specific term, as well as all the synonyms and other real-world examples that people associate it with. Novel AI-based search technology applies natural language processing, search proximity, company tagging, sentiment analysis, topic modeling, and knowledge extraction, and its understanding of the nature of documents to optimize research for professional users.

The research process, as it is generally conducted now with traditional search engines, can block your ability to swiftly analyze a topic, market, company, or theme.

Certainly, getting the right information can be like finding a needle in a haystack. And at the end of the day, information is just a means to an end—to enable people and businesses to succeed. To thrive in today’s information vortex businesses must embrace the next generation of intelligence platforms for all their relevant information needs.

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EXPERT’S OPINION

AI Opening Doors to a World of Opportunities Sheyak Gupta,and CEO of Kunal Kislay, Co-founder Specialist in the Applied AI Practice, Integration Wizards Solutions Searce

O

n a Friday afternoon, at a company’s cafeteria, there were sounds of clapping and whistling and a happy birthday jingle echoing from every corner. Ankur was turning 30 over the weekend and his colleagues decided to have a small celebration. During the festivities, Shreya approached Ankur and asked him if he had already bought a life insurance policy. Ankur was baffled by such a thought, especially while he was celebrating life. Shreya further explained that if he bought life insurance before 30, he’d enjoy the perks at a lower premium.

Ankur was now on the clock. There were merely hours before he’d turn 30 and he knew these processes took time. He tried connecting with his agent, Prakash but got no response. Taking matters into his own hands, he did some policy comparisons and decided to go ahead with a term plan offered by one of India’s leading insurance providers.

He predicted it to be a long process with multiple documents to be filled in, and documents to be uploaded before they get processed and approved by the company. With the weekend a couple of hours away, Ankur lost hope of the process being completed before Monday. He

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Cloud and AI specialist, Shreyak Gupta, has helped startups and fortune 500 companies alike in futurifying their technological needs.

He is an MBA by education and an engineer at heart. Shreyak holds multiple professional and specialty certifications in the field of Cloud, Data and Machine Learning. He aims to use his skills in understanding customer problems and solving for better. While off work, Shreyak likes to automate his daily chores, paint and spend time with his family.

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filled in all the required information and waited. Within a few minutes, his documents were processed. Surprised by the swift service, Ankur imagined if there was a guardian angel just waiting to process his request.

On Monday, he called up his agent and told him how the process seemed like magic. Prakash explained how they’ve incorporated an AI called Recognic, which leverages the power and scalability of Google Cloud. How this AI intelligently processes thousands of documents in mere seconds, extracts and validates the required information and lets the user know if any document is incorrect or missing. While satisfied with faster processing and decreased wait times, Ankur thought about how the new age technology is changing our lives for the better.

The talks of Artificial Intelligence (AI) might seem like a dream of a dystopian future, but it has become an integral part of our present. From Google Home controlling our favorite music to Amazon recommending the product of our choice, artificial intelligence is silently present all around us. In the last decade, AI has seen multifold growth and there has been a 450% upswing in Applied AI jobs.

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Tech innovation transforming our daily lives In India, a lot of AI startups have sprung up that focus on solving complex business problems. Several delivery services and cab aggregators leverage intelligent route optimization to figure out the fastest way out while showing the driver’s ETA to reach your location.

The terms “frequently bought together” or “Other people also liked” are not foreign to anyone who has ever been on an e-commerce platform. The retail industry heavily relies on AI-based recommendation engines. The objective is simple – increasing the overall cart value.

What’s interesting to note is that something that seems so trivial has a lot of driving potential and has seen an investment upward of $2.5 billion globally.

Route optimization is another ML algorithm used in many delivery and cab aggregating apps. From Ola and Uber showing the shortest route; to Swiggy and Zomato assigning nearby orders to a delivery executive, we see multiple examples of AI enabling these tech companies.

Disruptive trends that are set to rule the industry Innovation has been the buzz word in every Industry that exists. Technology has played a pivotal role in ensuring

businesses evolve and move with the pace of changing customer expectations. Recently, the industry has been seeing the below trends emerge as strong support suits.

• Digital twins. They are virtual copies of a physical thing. There has been a recent uptrend in applications of digital twins in the metaverse. They can help simulate real world shopping. While sounding futuristic, the earliest application of digital twins was 50 years ago, used in NASA’s Apollo 13 mission. These simulators were one of the most complex technologies of the mission. Digital twins have come a long way from there and now see a lot of industrial applications.

• With the advent of OCR (Optical character recognition), Doc AI[6] and other Vision based AI solutions, physical documents are now digitized with ease. Some companies that have successfully implemented Doc AI have cut down the middle and back-office work, leading to a 30% increase in the number of applications that can be processed in the same time span without the need for additional resources.

• A big revolution in the AI space has been in the world of conversational AI. A chatbot can be seen greeting us everytime we visit any website, present 24×7 to solve any query. The IVRs are also developed to point the user in the right direction by simply answering a couple of questions. As these technologies develop further, the chances of talking to a real human seem bleak.

• Structured chats and call transcripts can also enable an AI to classify future interactions into a predetermined category. This helps in understanding the customer better.

• Having a highly available AI run, the show allows multiple users to interact with the system without any wait times. This also helps in keeping human intervention to a minimum thereby bringing down the operational costs and elevating the customer experience. Any call center still following traditional ways without AI, is set to die out sooner than later.

• With the advent of MLOps, experimenting with ML models and translating these experiments to production became easier thereby reducing technical debt across machine learning models. Today, many open source frameworks such as Kubeflow and TFX help in making portable and scalable ML workflows and reduce the bottlenecks that traditional ML models face.

Challenges the industry is yet to address While all these use cases fit the bill for artificial intelligence, real-life implementations have always been a challenge. According to a survey by Algorithmia, around 55% of the companies that actively work on AI/ ML could not deploy a single model[2]. The staggering

numbers show that there is clearly a gap in the market where data scientists are not able to engineer pipelines, operationalize models and build scalable solutions that could handle incoming traffic. Companies have started identifying this problem and have started hiring more and more Data engineers. In 2019, the jobs for Data engineers grew by 50% (data scientists grew by 32%).

Personal data being siphoned for targeted advertisements by Big Techs, examples of racial and gender-based bias in the ML Models are just the tip of the iceberg

Recently, there have also been many controversies around the biased and unethical use of AI. Personal data being siphoned for targeted advertisements by Big Techs, examples of racial and gender-based bias in the ML Models are just the tip of the iceberg. Though there has been a lot of movement in the governance of AI and Ethical and Responsible AI has come into practice in the western world, this is yet at a very early stage in India.

Corporates have started figuring out solutions to these problems. Firms have started setting up in-house teams of data engineers and data scientists along with consulting partners who work in tandem to leverage technologies such as cloud to build scalable solutions and implement MLOps to frequently retrain their models.

While we have come a long way in the adoption and implementation of technology there is still so much to be done. The next 5 years are going to be critical as we race towards digitizing businesses and our economy. Positive steps taken today will pave the way for our future.

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IN MY

VIEW

Zero Waste, Zero Guilt: A Step Towards Climate Positive Technology Gaurav Burman, VP & APAC President, 75F, India

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2nd April is World Earth Day, the anniversary of the modern environmental movement as it began in the USA in the 1970s. It’s also a day when we reflect on the choices we need to make for the betterment of the planet and all life on it, including our own. With the drastic increase in consumption and the consequent global pollution, the very future of the natural world is at stake. Yet, according to UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report 2021, the global rise in temperature this century can be significantly reduced if countries pledge to netzero emissions by 2050. This may sound like a big goal, but the truth is that we already have the tools in place to execute it. Let us dive a little deeper.

It is superfluous to mention that human activity over the last few centuries has taken a significant toll on the earth’s resources, to the point where its ability to self-renew has been compromised.

Just as humanity is responsible for climate change and its adverse consequences, we are capable of mitigating those consequences too. The last decade or so has witnessed an increased interest in sustainable technology. This refers to technology that has been designed specifically to avoid or alleviate environmental problems.

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Green building design emphasises low energy usage and as much reliance on natural light and ambient conditions as possible

GAURAV BURMAN

Gaurav Burman, in his previous position was with Schneider Electric, as their Director – Marketing where he was also a part of the Management Team of Schneider Electric, South Asia. Gaurav has handled diverse portfolios in his career including product management, alliances, channel sales, and enterprise sales. Prior to Marketing, Gaurav spent 20 years of his life in Sales and worked with companies like PCL, IBM, L&T, APC, and Schneider Electric. He was recently recognized as one of the 50 Most Talented CMOs in India in 2013, and one of the 100 Most Talented CMOs in the World by the US-based CMO Council.

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Systems run from a central dashboard that is intuitively designed, can be run remotely and is built on advanced AI that can offer predictive solutions for energy usage and room design planning in the future

Energy efficiency has become one of the hottest trends in vehicle, appliance and equipment design, with customers now expecting that the products they buy will have minimal carbon footprints and use as little energy as possible. While many still think of energy efficiency as something expensive and unwieldy, the truth is that the cost savings on energy usage add up faster than one can imagine. Moreover, customers are likelier to trust and buy from a brand that shows environmental commitment, which means that businesses can make back what they invest. As it happens, the theme for this year’s Earth Day is ‘Investing in the Planet’. The focus, therefore, is on building structures and systems that protect and preserve natural resources while still meeting human needs.

Green building design emphasises low energy usage and as much reliance on natural light and ambient conditions as possible. Traditionally, humans would build houses with materials that naturally insulated against cold, protected from the sun and ensured maximum indoor ventilation. Many modern building practices take inspiration from these age-old guidelines and use materials that are environment-friendly, cheap and have ambient properties. In addition, technology can enable micro-precision control over every aspect of heating, lighting, cooling, air and maintenance. There are several building management solutions in India that leverage such technologies to help businesses maintain a balance between profit, people and planet when constructing new spaces.

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The key feature of green building design is that it employs sensors and AI-based systems that automatically detect room usage and outside conditions and minutely adjust heating, lighting and ventilation to optimal levels.

Moreover, it automatically schedules maintenances as needed and switches off power when the building is not in use. This ensures that only as much energy as is necessary is used at any given time, which reduces carbon emissions and also saves on energy costs. And with adjustable indoor settings and increased fresh air and natural light, employees can feel more relaxed and thus be more productive. Finally, systems like this are run from a central dashboard that is intuitively designed, can be run remotely and is built on advanced AI that can offer predictive solutions for energy usage and room design planning in the future.

There is still time to protect the earth and its treasures.

What it requires from us is a commitment to sustainability and environmental consciousness that reflects in our actions. With green construction and design, economies can make significant headway in creating a world where competitive advantage exists side by side with planetary conservation. Moreover, contrary to popular belief, such technologies are highly cost-effective and easily understood by all. Going forward, we can expect to see many more businesses – large and small – make the right decision for the earth and invest in sustainable building technologies that promote both planetary and employee wellbeing. Let’s pledge to ‘Save Planet, Save Lives’.

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EXPERT’S OPINION

How Can Indian Railways Maximize Revenues with Optimized Capacity Integration?

Soni, and CEO of Kunal Kislay,Vijeta Co-founder Co-Founder & CEO, Sciative Solutions Integration Wizards Solutions

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he revenue generated by the Indian Railways did not reach its maximum potential in the second consecutive year 2020-21 due to lower passenger ticket sales and higher expenditure towards maintaining Covid-19 safety guidelines. Also, Indian Railways incurred losses estimated to be about Rs 36.87 crore due to the agitations by farmers and other organizations during this year including other social issues. According to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s report in 2021, the railways incurred a loss of Rs 26,388 crore in the last one year, though the Ministry of Railways had claimed a net surplus of Rs 1,589 crore.

Moreover, the railways’ overall fund balance, which was Rs 10,806.68 crore in 2015-16, turned into a negative balance of Rs 25,730.65 crore in 2019-20. In addition to the losses, capital expenditure of railways increased by 11% even as revenue expenditure decreased by 7.3% during 2019-20, while expenditure increased from Rs 3,20,110.17 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 3,21,169.55 crore in 2019-20.

However, there’s a foolproof solution for Indian Railways to reduce losses and maintain a dynamic structure of pricing right. The

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A Woman in Tech leader and a dynamic powerhouse, Ms. Vijeta Soni is the Co-Founder & CEO of Sciative Solutions. She is an alumnus of the prestigious IIM Bangalore and the University of Houston, Texas, USA. Vijeta is a proud member of Goldman Sachs 10K Women Entrepreneurs and an exceptional leader with over 16 years of experience in digital transformation, technology adoption, and client relations across retail, ecommerce,

manufacturing,

and

education sectors. She has played a pivotal role in driving some of the large-scale projects in India and has worked with industry giants like Overstock.com (USA), Reliance Industries Ltd., Jio Institute etc. Vijeta along with Dr. Anshu Jalora founded Sciative in 2015 after realizing the need for AI-driven Dynamic Pricing to empower businesses to have the right price for every product, every market, every customer, every single transaction. The company through its wide range of award-winning SaaS products caters to a wide array of industries such as Retail, Travel, Entertainment, Cinemas, Hospitality, and more. She enjoys spending her leisure time hiking and trekking.

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passenger mobility with cutting-edge automation and intelligent pricing technologies can seamlessly bridge the gap between unreserved seats in trains and audiences looking for budget-friendly prices. Indian Railways is

Unlike conventional rule-based pricing which only goes directionally upwards, the AI powered dynamic pricing goes both ways

entirely run by the Government and its pre-determined approach. But since it adds a great value to the Indian economy and lightens the weight of travel expenditure

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of the citizens, it requires a definite strategy that can help it boost up and hit its utmost potential even in times of discomfort like Covid-19.

How Indian Railways can leverage AI powered dynamic pricing?

Optimize Capacity Utilization – Current flat pricing structures results in thousands of people remaining without a seat on days when they ‘have’ to travel – like festivals, weekends, etc. On such days the seats get filled months in advance. Getting a tatkal booking is not only difficult, but a matter of chance. On the other hand, the same trains could be running with less than 70% capacities on normal days. AI powered dynamic pricing can help curb this problem by smoothly redistributing demands to low demand days with attractive pricing.

Affordability for Customers to Upgrade – Unlike conventional rule-based pricing which only goes directionally upwards, the AI powered dynamic pricing goes both ways. During low demand days customers will be able to purchase higher class seats at affordable prices thus escalating the overall travel experience for the customer.

Self-Finance Investments in Customer Experience – Indian Railways is a service to the citizens of the country, therefore along with value it’s important to focus on services. One of the outcomes of AI dynamic pricing will be increase in revenues which can then be invested back in improving hygiene, safety, and connectivity.

Optimal Allocation of Seats Quota for each Station – Real time demand prediction based on the most advanced deep learning technologies can help Indian Railways to simplify revenue management across a network that is vast and complex and is bound to fall under the category of manual errors.

Open-up Opportunities for Multi-Modal Transport – Enabling a dynamic pricing structure into existing ERP or CRM used by Indian Railways can help the department utilize a state-of-the-art technology that not only makes the entire process faster but as well as convenient.

It is imperative for the Indian Railways to adopt and integrate intelligent pricing techniques since its network is vast and extremely crucial for both the Indian economy as well as the citizens. Moreover, the dynamic pricing structures can help align attracting the right audience and providing them with favorable prices. With such an ecosystem, the Indian Railways can flourish in terms of capacity utilization and saving resources with the support of a pricing domain expertise backed with high end technologies like Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.

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