Two-thirds of Indian Tech CXOs foresee high impact from Gen AI on business

Around 68% of Chief Experience Officers (CXOs) in Indian tech-services companies believe that Generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) will exert a high to existential impact on their businesses, revealed a new survey by global consultancy firm EY. The study, conducted during November-December 2023, encompassed 50 companies across small, mid, and large-cap categories, including information technology and business process management firms. According to the survey, CXOs anticipate Gen AI’s greatest impact in the realm of customer experience, with 89% of respondents highlighting this aspect. Following closely are innovation (66%), cost reduction (48%), and revenue growth (48%). Despite these positive expectations, 64% of CXOs express that their organizations’ readiness to leverage Gen AI is currently rated as “very low” to “moderate.” The study emphasizes the transformative potential of Gen AI, illustrating its ability to reshape business models, boost productivity, and reduce both direct and indirect costs. EY’s findings suggest substantial value-uplift in delivery-related areas, ranging from 20-50% for application development and support to 30-50% for business process management. Internal support functions within tech-services companies also stand to benefit, with potential value-uplifts of 30-40% for sales and marketing, 20-30% for human resources, and 30-40% for functions like finance, legal, and procurement. CXOs cite a skills gap as the primary barrier (50%) to Gen AI adoption, followed by unclear use cases (36%) and challenges in converting pilot projects into production-grade engagements. Concerns also arise regarding customer hesitancy due to issues like inaccuracy, misinformation, bias, ethics, and intellectual property protection. Data privacy (48%), hallucination or fabricated answers (23%), and biased responses (20%) are identified as key risks as organizations consider integrating Gen AI into operational processes.

Over 90% CIOs plan to increase investment in AI apps: Report

While company leaders believe that artificial intelligence tools can improve experience, they cite hurdles from adopting it at scale. A recent study by online graphic design tool Canva has found that over 90% of the chief innovation officers it surveyed agreed that their own roles and their employees’ experience can ‘dramatically improve’ with AI integration. Further, 93% of the CIOs plan to increase their budget to make investments in AI apps, with over half of them planning a 50% raise. On the flip side, however, over 50% of the respondents said that access to IT talent, data security were the two main challenges in integrating AI. “Navigating the avalanche of new technologies designed to make business easier is proving to be harder than ever. The balancing act CIOs face is unenviable: innovate with AI but don’t contribute to app sprawl,” said Cameron Adams, co-founder and chief product officer, Canva. “Our findings reinforce that CIOs in India want to be agents of change and innovation, by choosing technology that helps their organizations have a greater impact while consolidating cost and reducing complexity.” The study by Canva was done by interviewing 1,360 CIOs across India, the US, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, and Australia.

Navigating the Data, Analytics & AI Horizons: Top Trends Shaping 2024

Data is the lifeblood of modern businesses and the value of data in this digital economy is growing at an unprecedented rate. As we stand on the threshold of 2024, the dynamic realm of Data, Analytics and AI is poised for significant transformation across industries. Improved efficiency productivity, optimisations and finally enhanced experiences are shaping the next chapter in data-driven decision-making. Empowering Innovation and Efficiency at scale  – There has already been far too much said about GenAI, and it is by far the most recent and hottest trend. Building on multiple investments over the last decade, generative AI is poised to boost revolution across businesses. Applying AI-first mindset to everything (Software Development Life Cycle to Business Solves), organizations are seizing this AI trend to cultivate environments of growth & innovation.  Strengthening Operational Excellence and Governance – Industry solutions bridge the gap between technology and business, allowing for faster growth. Industry cloud platforms combine SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS services into a product offering with modular capabilities. The rise of IoT and IIoT devices is causing a strain on traditional computing models, leading to organizations adopting decentralized edge computing. This model integrates analytics, AI, and decision intelligence, enabling near-real-time data analysis and faster analytics.  Amplifying Customer Experience and Impact  – In the dynamic landscape of Data and Analytics, the trend is shifting towards the adoption of Customer Data Platforms (CDP). These platforms simplify and organize customer data, ensuring it is easily usable and requires minimal maintenance post-setup. In Summary, these trends collectively redefine organizational strategies. As organizations navigate the intersection of these trends, they are poised to unlock unprecedented insights and drive meaningful impact in the data-driven landscape of 2024.

Reliance Jio’s new AI platform ‘Jio Brain’ to tap enterprises, create new 5G services

India’s largest telecommunications company Reliance Jio has announced the launch of its AI platform, Jio Brain, with the goal of integrating machine learning (ML) capabilities into its telco network. “Jio Brain integrates machine learning capabilities in the telco network, enterprise network or any industry-specific IT environment, without undergoing network or IT transformation,” said Aayush Bhatnagar, senior vice president of Jio. “This platform has been developed after a research and development effort for two years by hundreds of engineers.” Jio Brain comes with over 500 REST Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and data APIs for creating machine learning-enabled services. It also offers advanced AI features for images, videos, text, documents, speech, and built-in AI algorithms “as a service”. Bhatnagar added that Jio Brain will help create new 5G services, transform enterprises, optimize networks, and pave the way for the development of 6G, where machine learning is a crucial capability. He invited AI and ML researchers to collaborate with Jio to create value and expand the Jio Brain innovation ecosystem.

Over 60% Indian educators already using AI tools for enhancing teaching processes

Educators in India seem to be warming up to generative artificial intelligence (AI). A new study by staffing and HR firm TeamLease’s EdTech arm has found that over 60% of educators are already using AI tools actively. The agency surveyed over 6,000 school teachers and university professors, a majority of whom said that AI has had a tangible impact on evolving and personalizing teaching processes and resource creation.  About 64% of them also said that the use of AI is not just limited to enhancing learning experiences but also helps in preparing students for an AI-dominated future. As many as 71% feel that AI has an even bigger influence than the smartphone revolution. ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, often considered at the forefront of the generative AI revolution, signed a first of its kind collaboration with higher education institute Arizona State University. Under this collaboration, the capabilities of ChatGPT Enterprise will be used for ‘ empowering faculty and staff to explore the potential of generative AI to enhance teaching, learning and discovery, while also ensuring increased levels of privacy and security’, the university said in a statement. Starting February, the technology will be used in three main areas — enhancing student learning, forging new avenues for research, and streamlining organizational processes.

OpenAI introduces AI model that turns text into video

Microsoft-backed OpenAI is working on a software that can generate minute-long videos based on text prompts. The software, called Sora, is currently available for red teaming, which helps identify flaws in the AI system, as well as for use by visual artists, designers and filmmakers to gain feedback on the model, the company said in a statement. “Sora is able to generate complex scenes with multiple characters, specific types of motion, and accurate details of the subject and background,” the statement said, adding that it can create multiple shots within a single video. Apart from generating videos from text prompts, Sora can animate a still image, the company said in a blogpost. The video generation software follows OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot, which was released in late 2022 and created a buzz around GenAI with its ability to compose emails and write codes and poems. Social media giant Meta Platforms (META.O), opened a new tab beefed up its image generation model Emu last year to add two AI-based features that can edit and generate videos from text prompts.

Healthtech Platforms Leverage AI to Enhance Product Offerings

Tech platforms operating in the health and fitness space are increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance their offerings. While these startups embrace the technology, they also stress that it cannot do certain things as good as humans do – like in motivating a user. According to consulting platform GlobalData, spending on AI platforms in the healthcare sector globally is projected to grow $18.8 BN by 2027 from $4.8 BN in 2022. Unilever Ventures-backed startup Healthify (formerly Healthifyme), which offers services such as nutrition and calorie tracking as well as fitness coaching, has seen an increase in conversions and user engagement since incorporating AI into its services. “This has contributed to a doubling of conversions. AI is seen as a cost effective alternative to personal nutritionists and trainers,” said Tushar Vashisht, co-founder and chief executive of Healthify. Healthify has a conversational AI coach, Ria, and a tool called ‘coach copilot‘ that collaborates with human trainers. It also has a photo-based nutrition tracker, Snap. Users of this tool are 30-40% more engaged and retained compared to non-users, said Vashisht. The platform has 40 MN users, with half of them using AI tools, he said. The company acknowledges the importance of human involvement in ensuring compliance, accountability, and building meaningful customer relationships. Talking about the potential of AI in the health tech space, Saurabh Daga, associate project manager of Disruptive Tech at GlobalData, said: “AI can help healthcare providers deliver better patient outcomes by improving efficiency, accuracy and proactivity of care. AI can assist in analyzing large databases of health information, reducing the burden on healthcare professionals and enabling faster and more accurate clinical decisions.”

50% Indian users unintentionally reach out for their smartphones

Almost half of Indian consumers pick up their smartphones out of habit, often without any specific intention, said a recent study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The research titled “Reimagining Smartphone Experience – how surfaces can play a key role in making the phone smarter” segments clarity of intent while reaching out for smartphones into three parts – pre-determined, exploratory, and spontaneous. According to the report, while around 55% of the time the consumer had no clarity of intent while picking up their phones, 50% of the time consumers were very clear on the task to be accomplished. Further, for 5 to 10% of occasions, consumers had partial clarity on why they picked up their phones, said the report. The report found that a typical smartphone user picks up their phone almost 70 to 80 times a day. Further, categories like socializing, shopping, searching, and gaming featured among the top five activities for consumers to spend their smartphone-time on, according to the report. The report also shed light on the proliferation of use-cases ranging from streaming to shopping which are enabled by smartphones today. It said that users spend around 50 to 55 % of their time on streaming apps, followed by gaming, and shopping, both of which stood at 5-8% usage. Additionally, around 84% of users check their phone within 15 minutes of waking up, said the report. The study also talks about a concept of AI-enabled lock screen, dubbed as ‘Surfaces’, which will enable users to access features through their home screen directly without going to the app.

Google pushing an alternative to WhatsApp enterprise messaging

A battle is brewing between Google and WhatsApp (Owned by Facebook) over the Rs 2,500 crore enterprise messaging market in India. The US search giant is pushing an alternate mobile phone messaging system in the country that could disrupt the growing use of WhatsApp by enterprises for communicating with customers. That has the potential to upend the broader messaging-based communication ecosystem in the country. Vodafone Idea (Vi) has become the first Indian telecom operator to partner with Google for offering rich communication service (RCS) messaging to enterprise customers in India, with bigger telco rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel expected to join the bandwagon soon. The potential adoption by enterprises of Google’s RCS—priced at almost twice traditional enterprise SMSes but 70-75% lower than WhatsApp’s charges—is expected to net operators a substantial revenue share. RCS will also help operators counter the increasing move by enterprises away from the traditional SMSes to over-the-top (OTT) platforms such as WhatsApp. Telcos have previously sought regulatory intervention to prevent the move of enterprise messaging onto platforms such as WhatsApp, highlighting threats ranging from cybersecurity and fraud risk to loss of revenue not only for the carriers but also for the national exchequer to the tune of Rs 3,000 crore. To be sure, there are challenges to wider adoption of Google’s RCS with India still having nearly 300 million feature phone users and a smaller but key number of people with iPhones. These, as of now, don’t support RCS. At stake is the enterprise messaging market, which was just shy of Rs 2,500 crore on March 31, 2023, according to a Frost and Sulivan report. But the pie is expanding, as it becomes increasingly relevant for businesses with digital payments and ecommerce scaling up, experts said. Vodafone Idea has started onboarding enterprises for RCS messaging at a 70:30 revenue share model with Google. The current pricing (for Google RCS) is at 20-25 paise per message, of which 70% goes to the telecom service provider. Google is also in aggressive talks with Airtel and Jio and we expect both operators to join the RCS channel soon.