Insight | Pg 14 Insight | Pg 18 Transformation Will Become IBM’s Red Hat Deal – What Pragmatic: Forrester Changes For The CIO?
for the next generation of cio s
60 Indian B2B AI startups and their solutions
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AI: Why a startup strategy is an imperative
rtificial Intelligence is eating the world. AI is the driver of the much-hyped data-driven business models. While the agenda for AI application is being driven right from the top—starting with the national govern- ments—the technology direction is influenced a lot by theA startups. India has one of the largest AI startup base. While all top IT ven- dors offer AI solutions, for enterprise IT managers, it would be impru- dent not to leverage this startups base—especially when they are looking for AI as a competitive differentiator. Yet, awareness about the startups is really low among IT managers community. What is worse, many of them believe that those 4-5 start- ups that do all the song and dance are the universe. In fact, that is dangerous. Not all startups are good at reaching out to you. A large vendor is supposed to know your business well, send you nice marketing collateral and keep following up. Nothing wrong if you expect that as a matter of right. It will be disastrous to have the same expectations from a startup. Most startups are focused around one of the three—a specific A large vendor is supposed business problem, a technology or a few new use cases in a specific vertical. They may not be smart marketers. It is in your interest that to know your business well, you should be proactive in probing what exactly are they doing, how send you nice marketing robust and polished are their solutions. The better you do that, the better you build your competitive advantage. collateral and keep following Judging a startup by client reference too is tricky. Startups often up. Nothing wrong if you get the first couple of reference through personal networks. While a successful implementation is a definite plus, the lack of them is not a expect that as a matter of sign of weakness. What matters is what business problem they solve, right. It will be disastrous to how robust is the technology and how is the support—not necessar- ily how big is the client name. have the same expectations I guess there are more than 100 startups (those that are less than from a startup 10 years, by our definition) working in AI space. We have managed to study 60 of them and presented before you. Shyamanuja Das If you really want to build your competitive advantage leveraging AI, you cannot not have a startup strategy—and a proactive one at that. November 2018 Volume 09 | Issue 06 Content
60 Indian B2B AI startups and their solutions
cover story | Page 06
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INSIGHT | Page 14 M AnaGEMENT Transformation Managing Director: Dr Pramath Raj Sinha Will Become Printer & Publisher: Vikas Gupta Pragmatic: EDIT ORiaL Forrester Managing Editor: Shyamanuja Das Assistant Manager - Content: Dipanjan Mitra
DESIGN INSIGHT | Page 18 S r. Art Director: Anil VK IBM’s Red Hat Deal Art Director: Shokeen Saifi Visualiser: NV Baiju – What Changes For Lead UI/UX Designer: Shri Hari Tiwari The CIO? Sr. Designer: Charu Dwivedi
sa les & marketing Director-Community Engagement: Mahantesh Godi (+91 98804 36623) Brand Head: Vandana Chauhan (+91 99589 84581) INSIGHT | Page 20 Senior Manager - Digital Engagement: Securing Manan Mushtaq Community Manager-B2B Tech: Megha Bhardwaj E-Procurements Community Manager-B2B Tech: Renuka Deopa Through Digital Associate Brand Manager - Enterprise Tech: Abhishek Jain Signatures Regional Sales Managers North: Deepak Sharma (+91 98117 91110) INSIGHT | Page 22 West: Prashant Amin (+91 98205 75282) Majority Of Indian South: BN Raghavendra (+91 98453 81683) Ad Co-ordination/Scheduling: Kishan Singh Organizations Still In Early Stages Of Cloud Prui od ct on & Logistics Manager Operations: Rakesh Upadhyay Maturity: Study Asst. Manager - Logistics: Vijay Menon Executive Logistics: Nilesh Shiravadekar Logistics: MP Singh & Mohd. Ansari
INSIGHT | Page 25 Published, Printed and Owned by Nine Dot Nine Mediaworx Pvt. Ltd. APAC Ahead Of US Published and printed on their behalf by Vikas And EMEA In Security Gupta. Published at 121, Patparganj, Mayur Vihar, Phase - I, Policy Automation: Near Mandir Masjid, Delhi-110091, India. Study Printed at Tara Art Printers Pvt Ltd., A-46-47, Sector-5, NOIDA (U.P.) 201301.
Editor: Vikas Gupta
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November 2018 | itnext | 3 Extra Curricular
Drumming a rhythm of stress-free life and happiness Play On... NEXT100 Winner 2017 Muneesh Kumar, Vice President – Technology, XcelServ Solutions, shares his intense passion for music and his love of playing ‘Djembe’
“Music has healing power. It has the ability to take people out of usic is like a soothing soul to me themselves for a few hours.” – Elton John and playing a musical instrument is something which I always longed to “Music is moonlight in the gloomy night of life.” – Jean Paul do. I was fascinated by percussion instrument since childhood but “It’s easy to play any musical instrument: All you have to do Mdue to some other priorities and a busy lifestyle, is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will I couldn’t find the time and resource to pursue play itself.” – Johann Sebastian Bach this as a hobby. After quite a while, I got a chance to attend ‘Drum Circle’ at Zorba in Delhi. The “Setting my mind on a musical instrument was like falling in drummers at the ‘jam’, inspired me a lot and I love. All the world seemed bright and changed.” – William decided to learn ‘Djembe’. This is basically a rope- Christopher Handy tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare
4t | itnex | november 2018 EXTRACURRICULAR
Muneesh Kumar Snapshot
Muneesh Kumar is Vice Presi- Hyperquality. He has done his dent – Technology at XcelServ Masters and PG Diploma in Solutions. He was a NEXT100 Computer Applications. He also Winner in 2017. Muneesh has has certifications in Prince2 and previously worked in organiza- Project Management Profes- tions like Fareportal India and sional (PMP).
hands that originated from West Africa. As per the name, ‘Djembe’ comes from the saying “Anke djé, ankebé” which translates to “everyone gather together in peace” and defines the drum’s purpose. It is a versatile, easy to carry instrument that can be played anywhere, and it doesn’t Playing in matter if you have any prior peace knowledge of music or not; you can still play ‘Djembe’. I started my look-out for someone who could help me understand music and bring regenerate my inner love for rhythm instruments. The search ended with a young boy, Vaibhav Chaturvedi, a Delhi- based artist. I got his number from a newspaper article and called him. Vaibhav is India’s youngest ‘rhythm facilitator’ as he is facilitating many drum circles in the country from a very young age. Playing some amazing exotic and folk instruments, this self-taught artist and my teacher now plays nearly 16 instruments, some of which are even unheard of. He is also famous for his street plays and thumping your ‘Djembe’! is known for his fund-raising In other ways, Djembe serves as a stress-buster from our busy life busking skills in the city. as well as helps us to come out of our social media addictions like His teaching style takes you Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, etc. It enables us to interact from a very basic level to making with like-minded people, increase our social circle and spread joy you a confident performer amongst everyone, exactly like I’ve done and witnessed at the Delhi in a very short span of time. Drum Circle and Vegas Tribe. According to him, music cannot So, my advice to wannabe learners and performers is to just feel be learned, it has to be felt. He the music and make it a part of life! always says, “Just feel the beat, be relaxed and calm and start As told to Dipanjan Mitra, Team ITNEXT
november 2018 | itnext | 5 cover story
60 Indian B2B AI startups and their solutions By Shyamanuja Das cover story
As businesses try to become data- driven, AI will power that journey. We present a list of startups who, through their cutting-edge work on enterprise AI, can help you build a competitive advantage.
he web domain associated with a small country, which few would even be able to point out on a world map, is today the most sought after. Anguilla, whose top-level domain is .ai, has seen an explosive growth in registra- tion of these domains, as more and more companies working in the artifi- cial intelligence space queue up to register for domains *.ai. TArtificial Intelligence, is red hot. Artificial Intelligence will change the world. It will change the equation between men and machine. It will change the way humankind lives (and dies). No one is taking these prognoses lightly. When was the last time you heard all major nations in the world—US, EU countries, China, India—coming out with national strategies on a technology? Whether these national strategies—differing widely in their objectives (China wants to use AI to compete; EU is worried about the impact AI will have on human beings; India wants to be a global innovation garage of AI—will achieve what they are set out to do is anyone’s guess. But they have achieved one thing. They have built tremendous ‘credible’ hype around the area. Credibility is important because hype per se is not such a new thing for the tech community. All this hype around AI, in this ‘use case’ era, has resulted in businesses scram- bling to embrace AI to make a positive impact to their business. What has turned this hype to a real activity is that the barrier to experiment—why, even implement— is low in case of AI. Contrast that with say, something like Blockchain. It is not for everyone to set aside significant time and resources and quickly stitch together an alliance or ecosystem. AI does not just require lower investment and other resources, it shows quick results; never mind the what-is-real-AI debate. So, the top executives want to ride the AI wave and make ‘an impact’. While a small fraction of those businesses has formulated strategies around AI and analyt- ics and have built up data teams which are taking this up, in most others it is the CIO with whom the buck stops. Even in those businesses where there is a separate data/analytics team, the CIO is often the incubator for the initiatives concerning application in business functions. In more data mature organizations, they are still active collaborators. In this year’s CIO&Leader annual conference in August, seven out of ten CIOs chose AI as the technology that they are most interested in. Yet, when this writer talked to them, many of those who had even implemented AI solutions like intel-
November 2018 | itnext | 7 cover story
Making the Conversation Intelligent! enterprise AI shoppers’ list from 60 to seven or Most start-ups in our list are working on chatbots, vhabot three. That is all we promise. platforma, building chatbots for specific functions (such as Ours is a curation job for the enterprise tech HR) or specific industries (such as financial services). managers who are looking to work with Indian startups to roll out AI. Yekaliva (AARC) Morph.ai Active.ai Niki.ai (Techbins) What we found Avaamo Supertext AI Before we get into the actual list, here is what we Bash.ai V ernacular.ai (different found, based on the analysis of 60 companies that Brainasoft languages) we have listed. Discovery AI vPhrase (natural language Bengaluru is still the AI capital. Talent, condu- cive environment for entrepreneurship, and pres- Glib.ai interface) ence of VCs make Bengaluru the preferred location Haptik Rockmetric (NLP) for AI startups. More than half the AI startups are no-bots (Light Information Mihup (Indian language based in Bengaluru. With many targeting devel- Systems) speech to text) oped markets, it is no surprise that the Mumbai- and Delhi-based CIOs have not heard about many of them. ligent bot by a startup did not even know names of other solution providers beyond the one that they City Where Startups Are worked with or maybe, one/two more. Surely, they are missing something. Some of these startups— % 3% 3 2% with offices both in India and the US—are working with leading global companies. Not only are they creating solutions with cutting-edge technologies, 17% they have immense understanding of issues in verticals. 2% That is when we decided to come out with this Total no of list. This is a simple list of AI startups who have tan- 53% 2% startups: 60 gible solutions/services leveraging AI—in various aspects. By no means, they are the only ones. 10%
What this list is? And what it is not? First, by design, it is a list of startups. The defini- 8% tion we have used here is: They are ten years or younger. That is, they have started in 2008 or after. Ahmedabad Gurugram Mumbai Obviously, we have kept out those that have only Bengaluru Hyderabad New delhi B2C solutions. Chennai Kolkata Pune And finally, a list like this cannot claim to be comprehensive. We will love to be pointed to any Sources: 9.9 Group Research significant company that we have missed. This is the beginning of a research on Indian enterprise AI Most AI players are focusing on horizontal that we have started. This is the very first step. solutions. Two out of three AI companies are Is there any information that we have presented developing solutions that can be used in multiple not available on Internet? Hardly. We ourselves industries. In fact, except for healthcare, there have used it extensively to gather that info. You is hardly any major vertical focused solution. Do will find many top 10, top 22, top 30 AI companies not get us wrong. We are not talking of adoption. lists—their CEOs name, funding they have received, We are talking of specialized solutions. Financial who are the investors, number of rounds of funding, services and online retail may still use a lot of AI- sometimes where they are based. This information leveraged solutions but those solutions are largely is of little use to an enterprise tech manager looking in areas like customer service or user analytics, for a conversational AI solution for retail industry or that can have use cases in almost any industry, an intelligent industrial IoT solution. especially B2C. Retail industry, especially online The scope of the story does not allow us to get retail, would be a major user of AI but much of into details. All we have done is to help reduce the that is developed internally.
8 | itnext | November 2018 cover story
Horizontal or Vertical?
Total no of startups: 60 Vertical Horizontal
Sources: 9.9 Group Research 27% 73%
Application of AI in Solutions 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
Conversational/chatbots/chatbot platforms/nlp engines 28% Intelligent analytics/bi 17% Healthcare/medical 12% Ai platforms 7%
Image processing/computer vision 7%
Vertical application other than healthcare 7% Ux 5%
Hr 5%
Industrial iot/analytics 5%
It/security management 5%
Bpm automation/decision automation 5%
Other horizontal business function automation 3%
Others 3% Total no of startups: 60 Sources: 9.9 Group Research An application may feature in multiple categories
Chatbots/Chatbot creation platforms are the Age of Startups most common offerings. Do not be surprised if 2% many believe AI to be synonymous with chatbots. 2% 3% More than one in four startups are develop- 5% ing conversational products. These include the 10% branded bots, platforms for enterprise to build 7% their bots, natural language processing (NLP) inter- faces and similar products. While some are focus- ing on verticals, others are focusing on functions 15% Total no of (like employee communications). startups: 60 32% Most companies are between 1-5 years old. More than four out of five AI startups are between 5% 1 and 5 years old. In fact, close to two-third of them are three years or younger—that started in 20% or after 2015. The list is presented with basic information that 0 2 4 6 9 is of use to enterprises—company, website, year 1 3 5 7 10 of start-ups, vertical or horizontal, solution cat- egory and actual solution. We hope that is enough Sources: 9.9 Group Research to start your own focused exploration!
November 2018 | itnext | 9 cover story
Enterprise AI Solutions Startups in India
Company Website City Start Year Horizontal/Vertical Product Solution Description
Aarc Yekaliva.ai Chennai 2018 Horizontal Yekaliva Platform For Creating Chatbots
Absentia Vr Norah.ai Bengaluru 2015 Vertical (Gaming) Norah AI-Based Workflow For Generating Games
Active.ai Active.ai Bengaluru 2016 Vertical (Financial Services) Triniti Conversational AI Engine Buit Specifically For Financial Services
Agara Labs Agaralabs.com Bengaluru 2017 Horizontal Agara Analytics Of Customer Communications For Insights And Predictions
Aindra Systems Aindra.in Bengaluru 2012 Vertical Aindra Is Cervical Cancer Detection System
Artivatic Data Labs Artivatic.ai Bengaluru 2016 Horizontal Av Series Horizontal AI Engines With Solutions For Multiple Industry Applications
Arya.ai Arya.ai Mumbai 2013 Horizontal Vega End-To-End Deep Learning Platform For Data Scientists
Avaamo Avaamo.com Bengaluru 2014 Horizontal Avaamo Various Components For Conversation Design
Avanseus Cognitive Assistant Avanseus Avanseus.com Bengaluru 2015 Horizontal Predictive Maintenance Of Networks For Networks
Bash.ai Bash.ai Gurugram 2017 Horizontal Bash Chatbots For HR Application
Boxx.ai Boxx.ai Bengaluru 2016 Vertical (E-Commerce) Boxx.ai AI Powered UX For E-Commerce
Brainasoft Brainasoft.com Ahmedabad 2013 Horizontal Braina AI-Powered Virtual Assistant
Coviam Engati.com/Coviam.com Bengaluru 2016 Horizontal Engati Free Chatbot Platform To Build, Train, Integrate Chatbots
Creditvidya Creditvidya.com Mumbai 2013 Vertical (Financial Services) Creditvidya AI-Based Credit Underwriting Automation
AI-Based Platform For Analyzing Legal Contracts And Summarizing In Natural Cruxiq Cruxiq.com Chennai 2016 Horizontal Cruxiq Language
Cuddle.ai (Subsidiary Of Fractal Analytics) Cuddle.ai Mumbai 2016 Horizontal Cuddle AI-Based Business Intelligence
Customersuccessbox Customersuccessbox.com Bengaluru 2016 Vertical (Saas Providers) Customersuccessbox Automate Customer Onboarding, Product Usage Analysis And User Communication
Discovery Ai Discovery.ai Pune 2016 Horizontal Discovery Ai Conversational AI Platform
AI Powered Hr Platform For Talent Acquisition, Internal Workforce Optimization Edge Networks Edgenetworks.in Bengaluru 2012 Horizontal Hirealchemy And Analytics
Engineer.ai Engineer.ai Gurugram 2012 Horizontal Cloudops AI-Leveraged Tool For Building Custom Software
Fabulyst Fabulyst.com Bengaluru 2016 Vertical (Retail) Fabulyst Virtual Salesman For Fashion Stores
Floatboat Floatboat.ai Bengaluru 2017 Horizontal Floatboat Conversational AI Engine
Fluid Ai Fluid.ai Mumbai 2008 Horizontal Fluid Ai Intelligent And Predictive Analytics For Custom Applications
Horizontal (All Flutura Flutura.com Bengaluru 2012 Cerebra Industrial IoT Platform For Proactive Maintenance Manufacturing)
Formcept Formcept.com Bengaluru 2011 Horizontal Mecbot Data Analytics Platform
Glib.ai Glib.ai Ahmedabad 2013 Horizontal Glib.ai Customer Messaging Platform
Haptik Haptik.ai Mumbai 2013 Horizontal Haptik Customer Service And Engagement Platform
Innefu Labs Innefu.com New Delhi 2011 Horizontal Authshield, Prophecy AI-Based Cyber Security Solution, Video Analaytics Solution
10 | itnext | November 2018 cover story
Company Website City Start Year Horizontal/Vertical Product Solution Description
Aarc Yekaliva.ai Chennai 2018 Horizontal Yekaliva Platform For Creating Chatbots
Absentia Vr Norah.ai Bengaluru 2015 Vertical (Gaming) Norah AI-Based Workflow For Generating Games
Active.ai Active.ai Bengaluru 2016 Vertical (Financial Services) Triniti Conversational AI Engine Buit Specifically For Financial Services
Agara Labs Agaralabs.com Bengaluru 2017 Horizontal Agara Analytics Of Customer Communications For Insights And Predictions
Aindra Systems Aindra.in Bengaluru 2012 Vertical Aindra Is Cervical Cancer Detection System
Artivatic Data Labs Artivatic.ai Bengaluru 2016 Horizontal Av Series Horizontal AI Engines With Solutions For Multiple Industry Applications
Arya.ai Arya.ai Mumbai 2013 Horizontal Vega End-To-End Deep Learning Platform For Data Scientists
Avaamo Avaamo.com Bengaluru 2014 Horizontal Avaamo Various Components For Conversation Design
Avanseus Cognitive Assistant Avanseus Avanseus.com Bengaluru 2015 Horizontal Predictive Maintenance Of Networks For Networks
Bash.ai Bash.ai Gurugram 2017 Horizontal Bash Chatbots For HR Application
Boxx.ai Boxx.ai Bengaluru 2016 Vertical (E-Commerce) Boxx.ai AI Powered UX For E-Commerce
Brainasoft Brainasoft.com Ahmedabad 2013 Horizontal Braina AI-Powered Virtual Assistant
Coviam Engati.com/Coviam.com Bengaluru 2016 Horizontal Engati Free Chatbot Platform To Build, Train, Integrate Chatbots
Creditvidya Creditvidya.com Mumbai 2013 Vertical (Financial Services) Creditvidya AI-Based Credit Underwriting Automation
AI-Based Platform For Analyzing Legal Contracts And Summarizing In Natural Cruxiq Cruxiq.com Chennai 2016 Horizontal Cruxiq Language
Cuddle.ai (Subsidiary Of Fractal Analytics) Cuddle.ai Mumbai 2016 Horizontal Cuddle AI-Based Business Intelligence
Customersuccessbox Customersuccessbox.com Bengaluru 2016 Vertical (Saas Providers) Customersuccessbox Automate Customer Onboarding, Product Usage Analysis And User Communication
Discovery Ai Discovery.ai Pune 2016 Horizontal Discovery Ai Conversational AI Platform
AI Powered Hr Platform For Talent Acquisition, Internal Workforce Optimization Edge Networks Edgenetworks.in Bengaluru 2012 Horizontal Hirealchemy And Analytics
Engineer.ai Engineer.ai Gurugram 2012 Horizontal Cloudops AI-Leveraged Tool For Building Custom Software
Fabulyst Fabulyst.com Bengaluru 2016 Vertical (Retail) Fabulyst Virtual Salesman For Fashion Stores
Floatboat Floatboat.ai Bengaluru 2017 Horizontal Floatboat Conversational AI Engine
Fluid Ai Fluid.ai Mumbai 2008 Horizontal Fluid Ai Intelligent And Predictive Analytics For Custom Applications
Horizontal (All Flutura Flutura.com Bengaluru 2012 Cerebra Industrial IoT Platform For Proactive Maintenance Manufacturing)
Formcept Formcept.com Bengaluru 2011 Horizontal Mecbot Data Analytics Platform
Glib.ai Glib.ai Ahmedabad 2013 Horizontal Glib.ai Customer Messaging Platform
Haptik Haptik.ai Mumbai 2013 Horizontal Haptik Customer Service And Engagement Platform
Innefu Labs Innefu.com New Delhi 2011 Horizontal Authshield, Prophecy AI-Based Cyber Security Solution, Video Analaytics Solution
November 2018 | itnext | 11 cover story
Enterprise AI Solutions Startups in India
Company Website City Start Year Horizontal/Vertical Product Solution Description Light Information Systems Nlpbots.com Mumbai 2013 Horizontal Hr Assist Employee Conversational Bot
Locus Locus.sh Bengaluru 2015 Horizontal Multiple Products AI-Based Supply Chain Decision Making Engine
Mad Street Den Madstreetden.com Chennai 2013 Horizontal Mad Street Den AI Platform And Tools (See Vu.ai)
Mihup Mihup.com Kolkata 2016 Horizontal Mihup Indian Language Text To Speech Solutions For Multiple Applications
Morph.ai Morph.ai Gurugram 2016 Horizontal Morph.ai Conversational Marketing Chatbot
My Ally Myally.ai Hyderabad 2015 Horizontal Myally.ai AI-Based Recruiting Solution
Netradyne Netradyne.com Bengaluru 2015 Horizontal Driveri AI-Based Commercial Vehicle Safety And Monitoring Solution
Niki.ai (Techbins) Niki.ai Bengaluru 2015 Horizontal Niki.ai AI-Based B2C Chatbot Which Brands Can Leverage
Niramai Health Analytix Niramai.com Bengaluru 2016 Vertical (Healthcare) Niramai Breast Cancer Detection System
Noodle Analytics (Noodle.ai) Noodle.ai Bengaluru 2016 Horizontal Beast AI-Based Big Data Analytics Platform
Peritus.ai Peritus.ai Bengaluru 2017 Horizontal Peritus Data Center Automation Using AI
Playment Playment.io Bengaluru 2015 Horizontal Playment Computer Vision, With Driving Automation Applications
Positivenaick Analytics Positivenaick.com Chennai 2017 Horizontal Na Services
Quantiphi Quantiphi.com Mumbai 2013 Horizontal Quantifi Computer Vision, Natural Language Processing
Qure.ai (Subsidiary Of Fractal Analytics) Qure.ai Mumbai 2016 Vertical (Healthcare) Qure.ai Multiple Healthcare Solutions Using AI
Revarn Revarn.com Bengaluru 2015 Horizontal Multiple Multiple AI Tools Including Bot Platforms
Rockmetric Rockmetric.com Mumbai 2015 Horizontal Rockmetric Cognitive Data Analytics With Natural Language Search
Sigtuple Sigtuple.com Bengaluru 2015 Vertical (Healthcare) Sigtuple Visual Analytics Of Medical Data
Smarthealth Smarthealth.ai New Delhi 2018 Vertical (Healthcare) Smarthealth AI-Powered Analytics Solution For Hospitals
Staqu Staqu.com Gurugram 2015 Horizontal Abhed AI Based Human Efface Detection
Supertext Ai Supertext.ai Bengaluru 2016 Horizontal Chatclay Chatbot Platform
Tao The Automation Office Taoautomation.com Bengaluru 2016 Horizontal Tao RPA For Business Process Management
Ten3t Healthcare Ten3thehealth.com Bengaluru 2014 Vertical Cicer Preventing Healthcare Using Wearables To Monitor
Thirdwatch Thirdwatch.ai Gurugram 2016 Vertical (E-Commerce) Mitra AI-Based Fraud Detection For E-Commerce Companies
Tricog Health Service Tricog.com Bengaluru 2014 Vertical (Healthcare) Tricoginstaecg AI-Powered Instant ECG Solution
Uncanny Vision Uncannyvision.com Bengaluru 2011 Horizontal Uncanny Embedded Deep Learning System
Vernacular.ai Vernacular.ai Bengaluru 2016 Horizontal Vernacular AI Multilingual Chatbots
Videoken Videoken.com Bengaluru 2017 Horizontal Videoken Intelligent Video Players
Vphrase Vphrase.com Mumbai 2015 Horizontal Phrazor Natural Language Based Bi
Vue.ai (Specialized Co Of Mad Street Den) Vue.ai Chennai 2016 Vertical (Retail) Vu.ai AI-Based Retail Automation
Xurmo Xurmo.com Bengaluru 2009 Horizontal Xurmo Big Data Analytics Platform
Zenatix (Subsidiary Of Hero Electronix) Zenatix.com Gurugram 2013 Horizontal Wattman Intelligent IoT-Based Solution For Energy Management
12 | itnext | November 2018 cover story
Company Website City Start Year Horizontal/Vertical Product Solution Description Light Information Systems Nlpbots.com Mumbai 2013 Horizontal Hr Assist Employee Conversational Bot
Locus Locus.sh Bengaluru 2015 Horizontal Multiple Products AI-Based Supply Chain Decision Making Engine
Mad Street Den Madstreetden.com Chennai 2013 Horizontal Mad Street Den AI Platform And Tools (See Vu.ai)
Mihup Mihup.com Kolkata 2016 Horizontal Mihup Indian Language Text To Speech Solutions For Multiple Applications
Morph.ai Morph.ai Gurugram 2016 Horizontal Morph.ai Conversational Marketing Chatbot
My Ally Myally.ai Hyderabad 2015 Horizontal Myally.ai AI-Based Recruiting Solution
Netradyne Netradyne.com Bengaluru 2015 Horizontal Driveri AI-Based Commercial Vehicle Safety And Monitoring Solution
Niki.ai (Techbins) Niki.ai Bengaluru 2015 Horizontal Niki.ai AI-Based B2C Chatbot Which Brands Can Leverage
Niramai Health Analytix Niramai.com Bengaluru 2016 Vertical (Healthcare) Niramai Breast Cancer Detection System
Noodle Analytics (Noodle.ai) Noodle.ai Bengaluru 2016 Horizontal Beast AI-Based Big Data Analytics Platform
Peritus.ai Peritus.ai Bengaluru 2017 Horizontal Peritus Data Center Automation Using AI
Playment Playment.io Bengaluru 2015 Horizontal Playment Computer Vision, With Driving Automation Applications
Positivenaick Analytics Positivenaick.com Chennai 2017 Horizontal Na Services
Quantiphi Quantiphi.com Mumbai 2013 Horizontal Quantifi Computer Vision, Natural Language Processing
Qure.ai (Subsidiary Of Fractal Analytics) Qure.ai Mumbai 2016 Vertical (Healthcare) Qure.ai Multiple Healthcare Solutions Using AI
Revarn Revarn.com Bengaluru 2015 Horizontal Multiple Multiple AI Tools Including Bot Platforms
Rockmetric Rockmetric.com Mumbai 2015 Horizontal Rockmetric Cognitive Data Analytics With Natural Language Search
Sigtuple Sigtuple.com Bengaluru 2015 Vertical (Healthcare) Sigtuple Visual Analytics Of Medical Data
Smarthealth Smarthealth.ai New Delhi 2018 Vertical (Healthcare) Smarthealth AI-Powered Analytics Solution For Hospitals
Staqu Staqu.com Gurugram 2015 Horizontal Abhed AI Based Human Efface Detection
Supertext Ai Supertext.ai Bengaluru 2016 Horizontal Chatclay Chatbot Platform
Tao The Automation Office Taoautomation.com Bengaluru 2016 Horizontal Tao RPA For Business Process Management
Ten3t Healthcare Ten3thehealth.com Bengaluru 2014 Vertical Cicer Preventing Healthcare Using Wearables To Monitor
Thirdwatch Thirdwatch.ai Gurugram 2016 Vertical (E-Commerce) Mitra AI-Based Fraud Detection For E-Commerce Companies
Tricog Health Service Tricog.com Bengaluru 2014 Vertical (Healthcare) Tricoginstaecg AI-Powered Instant ECG Solution
Uncanny Vision Uncannyvision.com Bengaluru 2011 Horizontal Uncanny Embedded Deep Learning System
Vernacular.ai Vernacular.ai Bengaluru 2016 Horizontal Vernacular AI Multilingual Chatbots
Videoken Videoken.com Bengaluru 2017 Horizontal Videoken Intelligent Video Players
Vphrase Vphrase.com Mumbai 2015 Horizontal Phrazor Natural Language Based Bi
Vue.ai (Specialized Co Of Mad Street Den) Vue.ai Chennai 2016 Vertical (Retail) Vu.ai AI-Based Retail Automation
Xurmo Xurmo.com Bengaluru 2009 Horizontal Xurmo Big Data Analytics Platform
Zenatix (Subsidiary Of Hero Electronix) Zenatix.com Gurugram 2013 Horizontal Wattman Intelligent IoT-Based Solution For Energy Management
November 2018 | itnext | 13 INSIGHT
Transformation Will Become Pragmatic: Forrester Forrester has come out with its 2019 predictions.
n 2018, the theme for CIO&Leader’s annual Summit was Practical CIO. The Forrester 2019 forecasts validate that. Multiple predictions point to a shift towards organizations moving from generic to specific; from concepts to Ipractical interventions. Here are the 12 forecasts: 1. CX remains under fire 20% of brands will give up on strategic CX initiatives and resort to price reduction for short-term gains.
14 | itnext | November 2018 Forrester says customer revitalizing the brand. Some will take the CIO — will lead and orchestrate experience performance is flat for the added step of reaffirming and this vital effort; CIOs will spend the the third year in a row and 89% of honing purpose as an internal engine time to build their leadership teams, surveyed CX professionals say ROI to re-establish (or, in some cases, empowering trusted operators of CX is not well established in their merely establish) the connection to handle much of the day-to- companies. among their firm’s purpose, brand, day. Arguably the most important “There is a strategic and structural and experience,” says Forrester. outcome of 2019 is that leading CIOs mismatch between what CX needs to However, CMOs returning to will build a model that translates tech- do and what CX is allowed to do or is basics, warns the research firm, led innovation into customer value,” capable of doing. 2019 will see that “could be a double-edged sword, it says. mismatch continue to play out,” says as some CMOs could be perceived Forrester. as retreating to their comfort zone 6. AI builds a foundation of brand building and avoiding the RPA and AI will join forces to create 2. Digital goes surgical hard task of driving and orchestrating digital workers for more than 40% of 25% of firms will decelerate digital strategic and operational change. “ enterprises. efforts altogether and lose market In 2018, says Forrester, three items share. 5. CIOs take the reins held AI back. Indians are just too familiar with 25% of CIOs will expand their remit. AI had insufficient information the term. Forrester says in 2019, digital transformation in enterprises will move from grand organization- wide plans to more pragmatic, specific initiatives aimed at “making 25% of firms will decelerate incremental and necessary changes to operations”. digital efforts altogether “Tangible efforts, such as shifting customers to lower-cost digital channels, launching digital products, and lose market share... monetizing data assets, and automating processes to improve digital transformation in margins, will come to the fore,” observes Forrester. enterprises will move from 3. Purpose regains meaning grand organization-wide plans 20% of brands will refine and revitalize purpose. Another aspect of the move to to more pragmatic, specific tangible is refocusing on purpose. “2019 will be a year in which initiatives aimed at “making transformational ideals translate to pragmatic actions. Leaders will incremental and necessary make hard choices as to what is truly strategic and what is the basis for changes to operations“ bolder strategies in 2020 — while preparing for a possible economic downturn. Purpose will be the essential ingredient, acting as the strategic compass or the rudder in The rest will be relegated to a trusted architecture. the storm,” says Forrester. operator. AI was too horizontal. “In 2019, more CEOs and CIOs will AI was too confusing. 4. CMOs rebrand come to terms with the scope and In 2019, firms will put more potent More than 50% of CMOs will bring interdependence of this mandate building blocks in place to accelerate brand back as their top priority. — and the criticality of its success to their ability to meet AI’s extraordinary “In 2019, CMOs will move more the very destiny of their companies. promise, it says. budget and attention to remaking or They will agree that one executive —
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7. The world goes to Zero customer outcomes. They will (Trust) take a portfolio approach to One major brand will lose valuation of microsegments as a first big step more than 25% due to a cyberattack. to individualization. “In 2019 and into 2020, Zero Trust will become the ad hoc standard in the 10. EX takes center stage US, adopted by the US government 85% of employee experience as both its preferred strategy and as measurement efforts will fail. inferred guidance to industries. US government adoption will trickle down 11. Robots reimagine to industries by following a similar path talent management to the Cybersecurity Framework. It 25% of leaders will use will be more like a healthy waterfall as automation to address the talent CISOs and CIOs amp up their ability to scarcity squeeze. play defense in a hostile world,” says “In 2019, talent leaders will Forrester. start to execute two interrelated strategies centered on a robotics 8. Consumer brands enter the quotient (RQ) and a good-to-great outrage hiring and development strategy,” 75% of B2C CMOs will be tempted to says Forrester. jump into the social fray; 50% of those efforts will fail. 12. VC funding recalibrates Like individuals, brands will take VC funding for martech and sides in the social media debates. adtech will drop by 75%. In 2018, some brands jumped into the fray; Nike is the best example More brands 13. Blockchain exposes — a company that understands the advertising overriding sentiments of its customer will be tempted By the end of 2019, more than base. 50% of the top 100 advertisers will In 2019, more brands will be to jump into use blockchain for supply chain tempted to jump into market-baiting transparency. — taking sides to score points. But market-baiting “In 2019, blockchain — better most don’t have the analytics or described as distributed ledger instincts to get the timing and tone — taking sides technology — will chip away right. Those firms will misjudge the at digital advertising’s opacity moment and mechanics to do this well to score points. problem. Large brands are in and to make an impact, says Forrester. blockchain pilot programs now; But most by the end of 2019, they will have 9. B2B in a squeeze a better understanding of where 33% of B2B CMOs will shift away from don’t have the waste and abuse lie and how their blunt outbound methods and reorient money is spent,” says Forrester. around customer outcomes. analytics or “In 2018, we saw CMOs and B2B 14. IoT gets down to marketers mostly make do with what instincts to get business they had — choosing to optimize for 85% of firms will implement or lead flow versus marrying CX with the timing and plan to implement IoT solutions. marketing to take on the broader “B2B applications of the mandate of growth. Some made tone right. technology are set to take off in inroads by advancing early- and 2019,” says Forrester. late-stage engagements — but “B2B IoT will focus on driving most stayed true to supply-side efficiencies, connecting the marketing. Something has got to give, In 2019, 33% of progressive enterprise, expanding the as old-school tools and approaches B2B CMOs will drive change, edge, and, in some cases, are unable to support the growth shifting away from blunt outbound providing personalized customer mandate. methods to reorienting around experiences,” predicts Forrester
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www.digit.in/hi www.facebook.com/digithindi INSIGHT
IBM’s Red Hat Deal – What Changes For The CIO? If IBM decides to switch largely to an integration role in a multi-cloud environment, powered by Red Hat solutions, it will be great news for enterprises. But will it do that?
By Shyamanuja Das
he analyst community has already given a thumbs-down to the IBM- Red Hat deal. One analyst has famously called it a ‘desperate deal’. After falling behind Amazon, Microsoft and Google in the public cloud race, IBM needed to do something to keep itself relevant. While championing ‘hybrid’ was the logical position to take for IBM, Tthere was very little to show. Theoretically, it either had to do something signifi- cant in the public cloud space to break into the league or enhance its private cloud/integration offering. With no practical way of achieving the former, it had no choice but to build a good differentiation in the latter, especially to thwart competitive threat from the likes of HPE and Oracle.
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If an acquisition is indeed the IBM maintains the neutrality of Red consulting/integration partner for AWS answer, there was no better target Hat, which has strong partnerships and Google which do not have such than Red Hat. If the analyst commu- with all top cloud providers. Rometty capability, getting to a new round of nity is questioning it, then it is on two too acknowledged that when she said IBM-Microsoft rivalry. points. Red Hat’s “Switzerland-like” position That would be good news for CIOs. Is it too big or too late? would be maintained. Those who are speculating that Many question the price that IBM For the CIOs, who have been IBM other cloud players like ServiceNow, is paying—a whopping USD 34 billon, customers for years but were switch- Pivotal, Zscaler, Okta, Ellie Mae and almost 60% premium on the price at ing to cloud, would be comfortable Twilio would now be pursued are which Red Hat was trading. Not just if IBM offered the services. It may be stretching things a bit too far. It is not that, some other terms have also wor- ried the investors. One such is that IBM would pay Red Hat a billion if the From a pure product-technology deal fails to materialize. The other big question is if it is too standpoint, much will depend on how late to make an impact to IBM. Has it already lost the plot? IBM maintains the neutrality of Red Hat, Let us leave both the questions for a moment and try to examine if and which has strong partnerships with all how IBM can turn around using Red Hat in its arsenal—something that is top cloud providers relevant for CIOs. One thing is for clear. It was not an option for IBM to join as the fourth or fifth—Alibaba is almost as big, though restricted to APAC—public cloud player trying to catch up. Rather, it needed to do something around which its credibility can logically be— and to some extent, is—a bit higher— the hybrid game, that is becoming the prime cloud go-to for enterprises (more than half the cloud users have a hybrid approach, according to Right- Scale’s State of the Cloud 2018 report. The same report says that organiza- tions are increasingly going for mul- tiple cloud providers. Almost 81% of organizations have a multiple cloud strategy. Red Hat solutions are uniquely positioned to support that kind of enterprise strategy. Take OpenShift, its noted here that more and more cus- Red Hat which badly needed IBM; it Linux container software. It can enable tomers of both hyperscale and smaller is the other way. Which other com- IBM to help enterprises migrate work- cloud providers are turning to services pany could make that investment? loads between multiple clouds. partners for integration, especially in Maybe HPE. IBM CEO Ginni Rometty acknowl- case of multiple cloud providers. However, all these discussion— edged as much when she called Red Can IBM aspire to be the top such including ours here—ignores one big Hat “the world’s leading provider of integrator? If it does, with the help thing that Red Hat has got, its huge open-source cloud solutions, and the of Red Hat portfolio, it may not help customer base, especially in the public emerging leader in the platforms for its short-term revenue much (why, it sector and government, though for hybrid cloud and multi-cloud.” may cannibalize the public cloud busi- its traditional enterprise Linux plat- While that sounds nice and is true, ness a bit) but it could be a big game forms. Bombay Stock Exchange, GSTN, from a pure product-technology changer for cloud. Aadhaar, LIC all run on Red Hat Linux. standpoint, much will depend on how Extending that, IBM may just be the They are great entry points
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Securing E-Procurements Through Digital Signatures For e-tenders, digital signatures play a crucial role, as a prospective vendor cannot at a later stage deny submitting a bid with certain prices or submitting certain information during the pre-qualification stage
By Ved Prakash
n today’s times, technology evolves real fast…the flip side, so do hackers. Armed with a deviously brilliant mind and superior knowledge of the latest technologies, hackers are breaching organization’s cybersecurity with such surprising ease that’s its worrisome. The latest victim of a sophisticated cyber fraud has been the Madhya Pradesh (MP) Igovernment. Dubbed as the ‘e-tender scam’, the fraud involved large-scale manipulation of the government’s e-procurement platform to rig the bids in favor of a select few private companies. Fraudsters breached the e-procurement platform to check the bids quoted by various vendors and modified the bids of the companies of their choice to the lowest.
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How did this happen? office to improve their efficiency and The scam came to light in March this reduce operational costs. Digital year, when the Madhya Pradesh Jal In a paperless environment like this Signatures Nigam (MPJNL) was notified by an where most documents, especially internal report that the bidding data confidential documents like tender ensure that submitted by vendors was being bids, contracts, etc., are stored in an modified in collusion with some electronic format, adopting a Digital the sender insiders and a few private companies. Signature-based approach can help The internal inquiry revealed organizations in many ways. Below are who has signed that the bids for rural water supply three significant benefits: any document schemes had been altered to make three favored companies the lowest Authentication cannot at a bidders. The bids of other vendors When it comes to submitting bids for were illegally made available to these e-tenders, prospective vendors submit later stage deny bidders so they could lower their bids a lot of confidential information like and seal the deal. their company’s financial information, signing it. For personal information of the directors e-tenders, this How was the scam and other senior personnel, name unearthed? and contact details of their clients for feature plays a Investigators conclude that the use reference checks, bid amount, etc. of Digital Signatures (also known as To get an undue advantage crucial role Digital Signature Certificates or DSCs) over others, competing vendors and Encryption Keys played a pivotal would definitely like to access such OWH value of the original document role in unearthing the scam. confidential information. They usually and its altered version. To ensure optimal security and obtain this information in connivance transparency in the bidding process, with insiders who have a direct access Non-repudiation the MP government’s e-procurement to it. As seen in the MP e-tender scam, Digital Signatures ensure that the platform mandated that a vendor’s once such information is accessed, sender who has signed any document bidding data should be encrypted the original bid documents can be cannot at a later stage deny signing using the DSC of the Tender Opening modified to get an upper hand in the it. For e-tenders, this feature plays Authority (TOA) and decrypted using bidding process. a crucial role, as a prospective the TOA’s encryption certificate keys. The use of Digital Signature is vendor cannot at a later stage deny When the bids of the submitted perhaps the most certain way to submitting a bid with certain prices or tenders were opened, the platform prevent such manipulations. Since the submitting certain information during instantly highlighted a mismatch in ownership of a Digital Signature Key is the pre-qualification stage. the One-Way Hash (OWH) value of the bound to a specific user only, a ‘valid As organizations shun paper- vendor’s bid document. This, in turn, signature’ notification guarantees based processes and embrace digital resulted in the ‘signature verification’ that the document was sent by that practices like e-procurements, it is page showing an error in ‘signature user only. crucial that they implement robust and certificate validation status’, cybersecurity measures to avoid thereby indicating that the original bid Integrity breaches. data was modified at a later stage by In many scenarios, the sender With an increasing number of an unauthorized person. and receiver of a document need procurement teams storing a chunk The OWH (a mathematical assurance that the document has of proposals, contracts and other algorithm that indexes data of not been altered in any way during commercial documents in the digital arbitrary size) that was generated at transmission. Digital Signatures format for ease of access, the need the time of submitting the bid was provide this feature by using of the hour to prevent cyber frauds, different from the tampered OWH, cryptographic ‘message digest’ is to adopt digital signing to verify the which indicated that the document functions that contain a string of authenticity of such documents and content had been altered. digits created by a one-way use HSMs to ensure zero-compromise hashing formula. of the sensitive digital signatures How Digital Signatures make As seen in the case of the MP e-Procurements safer e-tender scam, any alteration in the The author is Senior Business In today’s times, many organizations original document gets instantly Development Manager, India and SAARC strive to transform into a paperless highlighted due to a mismatch in the Region, Gemalto
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spending on SaaS applications over the next year,” says Rishu Sharma, Associate Research Manager, Cloud and Internet of Things (IoT), IDC India. “Organizations in India are looking for providers with deep technologi- cal expertise, along with experience across verticals, that can help them transform their businesses, provid- ing them with business agility and increased IT security.” The IDC MaturityScape specifically defines the stages, critical measures, business outcomes, and actions that are required to effectively move through the stages and increase value as more investments are made. Using the maturity measures and descriptions in the document, organizations can: Understand exactly what sets “thriving” organizations apart from “surviving” organizations, based on Majority Of Indian their maturity scores Understand industry and peer group expectations for business out- Organizations Still In comes and IT outcomes for an increas- ingly mature (sophisticated) use of cloud in how organizations operation- Early Stages Of Cloud alize their internal IT assets and how they source capability on the public (provider-based) cloud Maturity: Study Understand the supporting pro- cesses, governance models, technolo- More than 14% of the organizations are gies, and skills to deliver cloud-based service delivery models to their inter- in the latter stages of maturity in the nal customers Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) markets Identify gaps in overall cloud management capabilities based on the aforementioned criteria - or more broadly, vision, technology, people, and process ore than 93% of the Indian organizations are still in the early stages “While organizations in India under- of maturity, according to IDC India’s latest study, titled ‘IDC Matu- stand the need for incorporating cloud rityScape Benchmark: Cloud in India, 2018’. These in IDC Maturi- technologies in their digital journey, tyScape’s model are referred to as ad hoc and opportunistic stages. they will have to move from experi- Compared to the Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) markets, with more mentation to active adoption, ensure Mthan 14% of the organizations in the latter stages of maturity (repeatable, man- scale and swiftness for better leverage. aged, and optimized), Indian organizations in the latter stages are lesser (10%). ‘The Cloud Journey’ is a mandatory While improving IT security and increasing business agility remain among the one for all organizations and there is a top expected benefits of cloud by Indian enterprises, the challenges related to need to take intelligent decisions to be costs and complexities with infrastructure cannot be ignored. To be able to derive able to progress rapidly in the matu- maximum business value from their investments in cloud, awareness around rity curve” says Ranganath Sadasiva , potential benefits and challenges is a must. Director, Enterprise Infrastructure, “Most organizations in India have plans to spend maximum of their new cloud IDC India
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Enabling Employees To Change Jobs Within Their Organization Can Increase Their Likelihood To Stay: Gartner Increased competition in the external labor market is making it harder for organizations to attract new candidates and retain their best talent
ncreased competition in the external labor market is making it harder for organizations to attract new candidates and retain their best talent, accord- ing to Gartner. This is compounded by today’s historically low unemployment rates, which have put pressure on traditional talent management strategies, and mean that it is taking longer and costing more to hire critical talent. ITo combat this challenge, Gartner experts said there are benefits to creating a more vibrant internal labor market, including a 27% increase in employee will- ingness to go above and beyond at work and a 33% increase in employee intent to stay. Managers report internal hires perform better than externals across a whole range of measures, such as attendance, collaboration and meeting
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expectations, which add up to 10% fewer regretted hiring Just more than one-quarter of employees believe that their decisions. organizations make it easy for them to find job opportuni- Gartner’s 2Q18 Global Talent Monitor report found that ties that match their interests. lack of future career opportunities was the top driver of Cultural norms: The cultural norms that exist in most employee attrition in every major economy, as well as glob- organizations today fail to support the idea of employees ally. This echoes Gartner data from 2017, when 41% of moving across the organization. Only 37% of managers employees who left their organization cited lack of future encourage their direct reports to seek internal opportuni- career opportunity as the No. 1 reason, ahead of compen- ties and only 21% of employees believe that it is easy to sation (36%) and the people management (34%). change positions within their current employer. Organizations are competing for talent now more than Skills: When employees do find internal opportunities ever before. According to Gartner TalentNeuron, in 2017, that match their interests, many lack the skills required to 90% of S&P 100 companies recruited for the same 37 fill those jobs. Just 6% of heads of learning and develop- roles. While heads of talent management are recognizing ment, and more than one-third of managers, believe that that higher levels of internal mobility can alleviate these the employees in their organizations have the skills needed pressures, they are largely unable to achieve the results for future roles. they desire. How to make it work What’s going wrong? The most progressive talent management leaders rec- There are three fundamental barriers facing employees ognize that creating an internal labor market requires who might want to participate in their internal labor developing the processes, norms and infrastructure that markets: facilitate the mobility of employees from their current Visibility: It is hard for employees to know what oppor- roles to other existing or newly created roles within the tunities are available to them in their own organizations. organization. To achieve this, they are focusing on three key initiatives: 1. Push the right jobs to employees. Leading organizations are using the same technology and tools they use for the external marketplace with their own employees — to actively push a tailored set of jobs that are most in line with their experi- ence and interests. 2. Ease the path to par- ticipation. Organizations are experimenting with differ- ent methods to remove the barriers to participation in their internal labor market. For instance, separating per- formance discussions and career development discus- sions. 3. Brokering employee The most progressive talent management development. Rather than simply offering self-service leaders recognize that creating an internal learning platforms, which often overwhelm employees, labor market requires developing the the best organizations are processes, norms and infrastructure that providing structured guid- ance on identifying the right facilitate the mobility of employees from internal career options for them and how to achieve their current roles... them.
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APAC Ahead Of US And EMEA In Security Policy Automation: Study APAC is substantially ahead in using AI/ML in production as compared to the US and EMEA where the rate of adoption is still in early days, with few organizations using AI/ML in production — just 4% of respondents in EMEA, 9% in the US
PAC is ahead of the US and EMEA in terms of automation for processes involved in the management of firewall rules and security policy, according to the results of a global survey conducted by Osterman Research, Understanding Security Processes and the Need to Automate. The survey, which includes responses from 465 senior securityA leaders at large enterprises in the US, EMEA and APAC, reveals trends in the use of security automation, as well as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Survey questions focused on workflows in firewall and security policy management and vulnerability management.
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APAC is substantially ahead network context and having visibility of for many companies, migration to the in using AI/ML in production as firewall and security policy, including cloud is having a significant impact compared to the US and EMEA why firewall rules exist. 47% in APAC on the automation of security policy where the rate of adoption is still in said they had only “minimal or some changes. This is most notable in APAC early days, with few organizations understanding.” 39% in APAC said where 43% of organizations said using AI/ML in production — just 4% they have only minimal or some cloud is impacting the automation of of respondents in EMEA, 9% in the understanding of how security security policy changes. Survey results US.“Many organizations have significant changes impact their business: And it also show that the clear majority of deficiencies with regard to their appears that identifying vulnerabilities organizations are working on initiatives firewall and security management,” continues to be a challenge, with 42% focused on security automation to said Michael Osterman, Principal in APAC having only minimal or some support cloud environments. Analyst of Osterman Research. “Most understanding of what vulnerabilities While the journey to understand realize that they need to improve the exist on network devices. the key drivers for Security Automation
It appears that identifying vulnerabilities continues to be a challenge, with 42% in APAC having only minimal or some understanding...
way they manage security and policy, Security staff are bogged down continues, the good news is that and they also realize that automating with incident response processes, security leaders have started on workflows and processes is key to compliance management and making their automation journey. “Security these improvements.” changes to the security infrastructure. leaders are facing a tough time A few interesting trends from Compliance management and security balancing organization risk and value the survey: changes were noted as the top time from automating. Though there are Cost is critical but not for APAC, takers for APAC. many areas, where it is essential to only 35% in APAC ranked costs Security teams need help, with implement automation — and, in fact, as the key driver for automation. most organizations admitting they where automation reduces risk. For They instead ranked the difficulty of need to make major improvements in example, collecting/gathering data for managing the size and complexity of how they manage security and policy. attack surface visibility and modeling, their network as the primary reason The biggest improvements are needed network change management and (43%), as well as being able to move in how organizations decommission rule life cycle management. Networks skilled staff off mundane activities to applications: 54% in APAC say they do are simply becoming too large and higher value/skill security tasks (40%). it “poorly or moderately.” Ironically, complex to manage manually,” said Better visibility and context are these are areas where automation can Gerard Sillars, VP-APAC, Skybox still one of the key concerns when make a huge impact. Security. If you’re not already working it comes to APAC. Organizations Automation is an impetus for with a vendor in these areas, you are still deficient in understanding cloud migration. It’s no surprise that should start looking for one
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Security Solution Revenues In APeJ To Rise In 2022: IDC Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APeJ) spending on security related hardware, software and services will reach USD 28.76 billion in 2022 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.7% over the forecast period 2017-22
sia/Pacific excluding Japan (APeJ) spending on security related hardware, software and services will reach USD 28.76 billion in 2022 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.7% over the forecast period 2017-22, according to IDC Worldwide Semiannual Security Spending Guide. Security spending is estimated Ato reach USD 13.41 billion this year, an increase of 19.6% against 2017. Security-related services will be both the largest (USD 5.3 billion in 2018) and the fastest growing (23.3% CAGR) category of APeJ security spending. Managed security services will be the largest segment within the services category, delivering almost 45 to 50% of the technology category total in
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2022. Integration services Hardware is the discrete manufacturing and and consulting services will be federal/central government responsible for most of the second-largest (USD 1.8 billion and USD 1.3 remainder. Security Hardware billion in 2018, respectively) are is the second-largest category category with spending led by Hardware technology with spending expected to group. The industries that total USD 4.9 billion in 2018. expected to total USD will see the fastest growth Network security hardware in security spending will be will be the largest hardware 4.9 billion in 2018. Resource Industry (24.2% segment throughout the CAGR), state/local government forecast period, followed Network security (24% CAGR), and Utilities by data security hardware. (22.9% CAGR). Most of the spend in network hardware will be the From a company size security hardware is led by perspective, large and very Unified Threat Management largest hardware large businesses (those with and Firewall technology more than 500 employees) will hardware. Software spend segment throughout be responsible for nearly two will reach USD 3.1 billion in thirds of all security-related 2018 with a five-year CAGR the forecast period, spending in 2018. Small of 14% only. businesses (10-99 employees) Banking will make the followed by data will see the strongest spending largest investment in security growth of 21.5%, which will solutions, growing double-fold security hardware be neck to neck growth with from USD 2.1 billion in 2018 21.4% in very large businesses to USD 4.5 billion in 2022. Security-related services, led (1000+ employees) and 21.3% in large businesses (500- by managed security services, will account for more than 999 employees) over the forecast period. Small offices half of the industry’s spend throughout the forecast. The (1-9 employees) and medium size businesses (100 to second and third largest industries in year 2018, which are 499 employees) will also experience moderately good growth of 20.3% and 19.8% respectively. From a geography Top Industry Based on 2018 Market Share perspective, IDC counts two sub regions under APeJ, which (Value(Constant Annual)) are China and Rest of Asia Pacific (excluding Japan & China). China will only account 45.3% to 39.7% of total APeJ security solutions spend in 2018 but Banking will gain traction by year 2022 by accounting to almost 50% Telecommunications of total APeJ market. China Federal/Central will show a record five-year CAGR of 26.6% as compared to Government 6.2% 15.6% 16.2% recorded by Rest of APeJ State/Local Government region. Telecommunications Discrete Manufacturing and State/Local Government 9.2% are the two leading drivers of Others 10.2% 13.5% Chinese market for security related solutions, collectively accounting to 35% share from overall China spend in 2018. Industrial spend in APeJ
Source: IDC Worldwide Semiannual Security Spending Guide, 2017H2 (excluding China) will be led by strong demand in India, Singapore and Malaysia
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concern for an overwhelming majority of IT leaders as they consider upgrad- ing to an SD-WAN solution. Highlights include: 1. Networking challenges are com- SD-WAN Deployments mon with current WAN setups. Top three challenges in India are Increase But Networking performance between locations (64%), rapid network expansion (60%), and complexity (55%). And Security Challenges 2. SD-WAN deployments are on the rise. In India one-third (37%) have Remain already deployed SD-WAN in most of their sites, and 40% are in the Organizations in India with SD-WAN process of doing so or will in the next year. in their organization saving USD 1.15 78% of IT leaders in India said they experienced increased net- million on MPLS and networking costs work security since deploying over 12 months SD-WAN 3. Security is a top priority when choosing an SD-WAN solution. Over three quarters (78%) of respondents in India agree that they don’t need to invest in any other security as their SD-WAN solution contains everything required 4. SD-WAN offers improved security and lower costs. Organizations in India with SD- WAN in their organization or in their sights estimate a saving of USD 1.15 million on MPLS and net- working costs over 12 months, as a result of implementing SD-WAN “These findings show that as IT professionals increasingly turn to SD-WAN to address their networking challenges, they’re looking for solu- tions that provide security, simplicity, and cost savings,” said Klaus Gheri, VP, Network Security, Barracuda. “Barracuda meets those needs by offering a single solution combining advanced security and SD-WAN.” new global research report by Barracuda Networks, “Security, Con- With secure SD-WAN and advanced nectivity, and Control: The Challenges and Opportunities of SD-WAN” security, Barracuda CloudGen Fire- surveyed IT leaders and networking and security professionals to walls are an all-in-one solution that learn how widespread SD-WAN deployments are, how organizations can be deployed on-premises as a are deploying them, and what benefits and challenges they’re seeing. physical or virtual appliance or in the AOverall, the study indicates that SD-WAN deployments are increasing to cloud, redefining the role of a firewall address networking challenges resulting from the explosive growth of WAN traffic and helping customers optimize dis- due to high demand for cloud applications and services. Security remains a top tributed networks
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INSIGHT
Key Digital Disruptions CIOs May Not See Coming: Gartner Quantum computing, real-time language translation and nanotechnology are some of the key disruptions which need to be considered
rganizations may not be prepared for computing that is based on the quantum state of key digital disruptions, which include subatomic particles. Classic computers operate several categories of disruption, each using binary bits where the bit is either 0 or 1, true of which represents a significant or false, positive or negative. However, in QC, the bit potential for new disruptive companies is referred to as a quantum bit or qubit. Unlike the Oand business models to emerge, according to strictly binary bits of classic computing, qubits can Gartner. represent 1 or 0 or a superposition of both partly 0 and partly 1 at the same time. Quantum Computing Superposition is what gives quantum computers Quantum computing (QC) is a type of non-classical speed and parallelism, meaning that these
November 2018 | itnext | 31 INSIGHT
computers could theoretically work computers through the use of sensors on millions of computations at once. The cloud that measure muscle activity. Muscular Further, qubits can be linked with contraction generates electrical signals other qubits in a process called platform that can be measured from the skin entanglement. When combined with providers realize surface. Sensors may be placed on superposition, quantum computers a single part or multiple parts of the could process a massive number of (to varying body, as appropriate to the individual. possible outcomes at the same time. The gestures are in turn interpreted by degrees) that a HMI linked to another device, such as Real-Time Language a PC or smartphone. Wearable devices Translation they must using myoelectric signals have already Real-time language translation could, hit the consumer market and will in effect, fundamentally change remove as continue migrating to devices intended communication across the globe. for people with disabilities. Devices, such as translation earbuds much friction and voice and text translation services as possible Software Distribution can perform translation in real-time, Revolution breaking down language barriers with in the buying Software procurement and acquisition friends, family, clients and colleagues. is undergoing a fundamental shift. This technology could not only disrupt and owning of The way in which software is located, intercultural language barriers, but bought and updated is now in the also language translators as this role processes province of the software distribution may no longer be needed. marketplace. With the continued growth of cloud platforms from Nanotechnology behavior of decentralized, self- Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, Nanotechnology is science, organized systems, natural or artificial. Google, IBM and others, as well as the engineering and technology conducted A swarm consists of small computing ever-increasing introduction of cloud- at the nanoscale — 1 to 100 elements (either physical entities or oriented products and services, the nanometers. The implications of this software agents) that follow simple role of marketplaces for selling and technology are that the creation of rules for coordinating their activities. buying is gathering steam. The cloud solutions involves individual atoms and Such elements can be replicated platform providers realize (to varying molecules. Nanotech is used to create quickly and inexpensively. Thus, a degrees) that they must remove as new effects in materials science, such swarm can be scaled up and down much friction as possible in the buying as self-healing materials. Applications easily as needs change. CIOs should and owning of processes for both their in medicine, electronics, security and start exploring the concept to scale own offerings and the offerings of their manufacturing herald a world of small management, especially in digital independent software vendors (ISVs) solutions that fill in the gaps in the business scenarios. (i.e., partners). ISVs or cloud technology macroverse in which we live. service providers (TSPs) recognize the Human-Machine Interfaces need to reach large and increasingly Swarm Intelligence Human-machine interface (HMI) offers diverse buying audiences. Digital business will stretch solutions providers the opportunity conventional management methods to differentiate with innovative, Smartphone past the breaking point. The enterprise multimodal experiences. In addition, Disintermediation will need to make decisions in real people living with disabilities benefit The use of other devices, such as time about unpredictable events, from HMIs that are being adapted to virtual personal assistants (VPAs), based on information from many their needs, including some already in smartwatches and other wearables, different sources (such as Internet use within organizations of all types. may mean a shift in how people of Things [IoT] devices) beyond the Technology will give some of these continue to use the smartphone. organization’s control. Humans people “superabilities,” spurring people CIOs and IT leaders should use move too slowly, stand-alone smart without disabilities to also employ the wearability of a technology as a guiding machines cost too much, and technology to keep up. principle and investigate and pilot hyperscale architectures cannot deal For example, electromyography wearable solutions to improve worker with the variability. Swarm intelligence (EMG) wearables allow current effectiveness, increase safety, enhance could tackle the mission at a low cost. users who would be unable to do so customer experiences and improve Swarm intelligence is the collective otherwise to use smartphones and employee satisfaction
32 | itnext | November 2018 INSIGHT
Majority Of Consumers Still Prefer Humans As Chat Agents: Study While most agree chatbots can be fast and convenient in certain situations, consumers cite a lack of intelligence as their top complaint against automated bots, and 65% still prefer a human agent on the other end of the chat
ost chatbots still aren’t smart enough to meet consum- ers’ great expectations, according to a Pegasystems study. While most agree chatbots can be fast and convenient in certain situations, consumers cite a lack of intelligence as their top complaint against automated bots, and 65% still Mprefer a human agent on the other end of the chat. 72% of consumers generally find chatbots to be helpful to some degree, but the interaction quality can be quite mixed. The majority (58%) rank their chatbot experiences as merely ‘adequate’ – doing some tasks
November 2018 | itnext | 33 INSIGHT
well and others poorly. Another chatbots can be almost as good as The survey found a separate group 18% grumble how chatbots are inef- interacting with a human, while 34% that have yet to try chatbots at all fective or even annoying. Only 16% disagree, and 23% don’t know. and have no plans to start anytime gave their chatbot experience a high soon. These bot holdouts, which skew quality rating. Artificial intelligence or towards a slightly older demographic, Analysts expect chatbot usage artificial stupidity? say they haven’t used chatbots yet to rise significantly in the next two However, speed and simplicity can due to: years – a shift that could prove costly only take today’s digital consumers so Lack of any real exposure to chat- for brands that don’t evolve their far. While most brands claim artificial bots (53%) bots. According to Gartner, “25% of intelligence power their bots, consum- A personal preference to only customer service and support opera- ers’ top chatbot complaints include: engage with a human (30%) tions will integrate virtual customer Not enough smarts to effectively Lack of knowledge on how to use assistant (VCA) or chatbot technology answer questions (27%) chatbots (23%) across engagement channels by 2020, Lack of context in the conversa- A full 45% of these consumers up from less than 2% in 2017.” tion (24%) without chatbot experience said Robot-like engagement with few they won’t try one in the next year Best bots keep it simple human qualities (14%) while another 30% aren’t sure, which Consumers tend to favor chatbots for Similarly, the top reasons consum- presents a roadblock to companies
Only 25% of these non-users said they would be willing to experiment with a chatbot, albeit with some reluctance. Their biggest concerns stem from their lack of experience: they simply don’t know how to use it only the simplest queries that can be ers would drop a chatbot session are trying to expand reliance on digital done quickly. The most popular chat- when bots can’t answer their ques- service channels. Only 25% of these bot use cases are: tions (47% selected), make them do non-users said they would be willing Tracking an order (60% selected) more work than expected (47%) or are to experiment with a chatbot, albeit Finding basic information (53%) too vague in how they can assist them with some reluctance. Their biggest Asking basic questions (49%) (43%). Separately, only 17% said they concerns stem from their lack of expe- The respondents also noted that would use a bot to purchase goods rience: they simply don’t know how fast service (56%), ability to engage and services, further muddying the to use chatbots (top concern at 46%), on their own schedule (37%), and path from bots to direct revenue. lack confidence in chatbot effective- convenience (36%) are chatbots’ top ness (31%), or worry about security benefits. When done well, 43% say In no mood for chit chat and privacy (27%)
34 | itnext | November 2018 INSIGHT
Majority Of Enterprises State Hybrid Cloud Is The Ideal IT Model: Study The study also reveals public cloud is not a panacea
nterprises plan to increase hybrid cloud usage, with 91% stating hybrid cloud as the ideal IT model, but only 18% stating they have that model today, according to Nutanix’s first ever global Enterprise Cloud Index, measuring enterprise plans for adopting private, hybrid and pub- lic clouds. EThe findings also revealed that application mobility across any cloud is a top priority for 97% of respondents – with 88% of respondents saying it would “solve a lot of my problems.” Additionally, the report found public cloud is not a panacea; IT decision makers ranked matching applications to the right cloud environment as a critical capability, and 35% of organizations using public
November 2018 | itnext | 35 INSIGHT
clouds overspent their annual budget. When asked to that only 6% using public cloud came in under budget, rank the primary benefits of hybrid cloud, interoperability while nearly six times as many (35%) overspent in their between cloud types (23%) and the ability to move applica- use of public cloud resources. tions back and forth between clouds (16%) outranked cost Security is top of mind for determining workloads: (6%) and security (5%) as the primary benefits. 71% of respondents surveyed for the report ranked Nutanix commissioned Vanson Bourne to survey IT data security and regulatory compliance as the top fac- decision makers about where they are running their busi- tor in determining where to provision their workloads. ness applications today, where they plan to run them in This was followed by performance at 62%, ease of man- the future, challenges in setting up their cloud environ- agement at 53%, and cost at 52%. ments and how their cloud initiatives stack up against App developers today are circumventing IT: 57% of other IT projects and priorities. The survey resulted in respondents said their developers are circumventing IT approximately 2,300 respondents from multiple industries, when it comes to deciding where applications run, put- business sizes and geog- ting the organization at raphies in the Americas; potential risk. Europe, the Middle East, Finding hybrid IT Africa (EMEA); and Asia- talent is difficult: Pacific and Japan (APJ) With clear benefits regions. to a hybrid model, In roles centered on respondents say scar- agility and digital trans- city of hybrid experts formation, IT teams is a challenge, with understand that run- 54% claiming talent time environments for retention is part of the enterprise apps change problem. constantly. Respondents EMEA is expected to indicated a need for surpass the Ameri- greater orchestration In roles centered cas with hybrid cloud and application mobility on agility and digital adoption: Regionally, across cloud environ- the Americas reported ments, as they seek flex- transformation, IT greater use of hybrid ibility to move apps to the clouds now (22%) and “right” cloud on a more teams understand that within 12 months’ dynamic basis. In addition, time (31%). However, shadow IT practices that runtime environments for the two-year outlook circumvent enterprise IT has EMEA (43%) sur- teams are posing a sig- enterprise apps change passing the Americas’ nificant challenge to fore- hybrid plans (39%) casting and controlling constantly. Respondents and APJ (39%) catch- public cloud spend with indicated a need for ing up. well over half of respon- “As enterprises dents (57%) reporting greater orchestration and demand stronger appli- one or more incidents of cation mobility and shadow IT. application mobility across interoperability, they are Other key findings of increasingly choosing the report include: cloud environments... hybrid cloud infrastruc- Hybrid cloud better ture,” said Ben Gibson, addresses business chief marketing officer needs over single pub- for Nutanix. “While the lic cloud, including the price tag: 87% of respondents advent of public cloud has increased IT efficiency in cer- said that hybrid cloud as an IT trend is having a positive tain areas, hybrid cloud capabilities are the next step in impact on their businesses, and more hybrid cloud users providing the freedom to dynamically provision and man- reported all their needs were being met (49%) compared age applications based on business needs. However, the to single public cloud users (37%). Furthermore, organiza- findings of this study reveal an important gap in the mar- tions that use public cloud spend 26% of their annual IT ket: Organizations need IT talent to manage their hybrid budget on public cloud. Perhaps most striking is the fact cloud models, especially in the next 12 to 24 months.”
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Go make it. We’ll protect it. 50 | itnext | DECEMBER 2017 From all of us at ITNexT, a sincere thanks to our partners for their invaluable support in making the
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50 | itnext | DECEMBER 2017 DECEMBER 2017 | itnext | 51 Double Two times Spc the revelation
A movie which I liked the most 3 Idiots
An emerging tech which will bring large-scale transformation
Sachin Gavankar AI Head - IT Pan India Paryatan I would have liked Q to become My favorite cuisine A painter
Konkani dish My tech idol
Bill Gates My peer in the IT community Dilip Joshi General Manager – Technology, &Shemaroo Entertainment
My favorite sport
Cricket A tech tool which I use the most
Visual Studio An ideal getaway spot
Mahabaleshwar
A tech book I’m currently reading My favorite show on TV Reverse Innovation by Vijay Govindarajan & Chris Trimble KBC 42 | itnext | NovemberA 2018 GROUP Innovation is life
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