When Team IQ searches outside the box
It is normal to hire an expert to solve a problem. But it is even better when these experts collaborate and create better solutions for a better future:
What happens when you put 20 PhDs in one team? They start imagining a different future, a better future. They start brainstorming to find new ways of overcoming current problems. They raise their collectively thinking to a different level. This is exactly what is happening at the Future Tech division at 3i Infotech.
Scientists and researchers simply love to collaborate. Remember, the internet was the brainchild of scientists around the world who wanted to collaborate with each other. Look what they created for data sharing, and what their creation has evolved into. Look at the enormous unforeseen transformation that has occurred.
Recognizing t he possibiliti es, 3i Infotech has set up Future Tech group, and leading the team is Damodharan Padmanabhan. He is the Global Cognitive Head at 3i Infotech, a company that is resurging like a start-up with its motto of limitless excellence.
Why do I say that it is like a startup? It is because Damodharan and his team are building a new business unit from scratch. They are crafting new solutions that will sit on new foundations or on top of legacy solutions - thereby creating new value and new opportunities.
The R&D team has identified 3 pillars for their SBU - Cognitive, 5G and IOT. Damodharan himself personally takes care of cognitive computing for application transformation and integrating with AI. He and his team have already developed 6 products based on AI. The next product to be launched is 3i HAWK, as an IOT platform.
For the Future Tech group, the core objective is to use AI to overcome limitations of human capabilities. Take for example, regression testing for software quality. This is a time-consuming task, perhaps an endless task, whereas the business demands that software should be developed, tested and made available to the users in minimum time. For business users and for software testers, it is a race against time and the Future Tech team sees an answer in intelligent automation. They are applying AI to develop a regression testing solution that gives a 360-degree view of process using cognitive technologies.
One question naturally arises is this: Is the Future Tech group focused on products on or services? Damodharan explains: “Our goal is to have a 40:60 ratio of products and services based on the 3 emerging technologies that we have identified. Products are for cumulative
Damodharan Padmanabhan has purposefully chosen to focus on the new wave of AI and Analytics to help businesses unleash actual business value
industry requirement whereas services are for individual customers.”
The group has a market research team for productization and it also collaborates with Gartner, Forrester, etc. It has set a target of coming out with 20 products over a period of 3 years.
Why is this team coming with a mix of product and services, while the traditional wisdom is to come out only with products? Damodharan explains: “Service brings us closer to the customer which we use to create the product. Our objective is to create futuristic products, but those products must meet business and customer needs – they should not be the outcome of wild imagination.”
Damodharan also recognizes that no new technology or solution operates in isolation…..it has to integrate with the existing setup. That is the reason the company has put emphasis on system integration, and has successfully pulled off deals due to this capability.
Damodharan sees cognitive computer vision as a key pillar in the future landscape. He justifies with a terse example: “A camera can be used for person identification as well as inventory management.” This simple insight shows how broad the potential of computer vision is. He also dwells into the relationship between the 3 technologies. Another terse explanation: “Cognitive is backbone of 5G and IOT.”
One of the key milestones for this Future Tech group is setting up a Center of Innovation, which includes a 5G Lab, with IIT Madras Research Park. Simultaneously, the team is preparing for 6G. Their R&D goal is to figure out how to make 5G- and 6G-ready applications, which they believe will be game changers.
360 DEGREE AS A SERVICE
In terms of services, 3i has chosen to focus on telcos as they are emerging banks given their widespread reach and the rapidly telecomization of retail finance. Says Damodharan: “We have Telco 360 as an offering, which works on the basis of connected inferences. Telcos have massive amounts of multi-dimensional data relating to finance. This is immensely helpful in the areas of marketing, finance and revenue assurance. Data reconciliation is a big issue for any telco, which is where our 360-degree service will create immense value.”
The team also had a 360 degree for Retail. This futuristic solution will do only predictive and prescriptive analytics….it will not do post-mortem analytics.
3i Infotech has figured out how to create value – they do it by building a tailormade algorithm for every specific business use case, as generic is not of much use.
SERVICES IN BFSI
The R&D team at 3i’s Future Tech group is working with customers across the world. One such partners is an Africa based company where the team is working on fraud management. Damodharan cautiously reveals some details: “We use meta data also as part of fraud management. Machine learning and deep learning models have internal and external factors. We use graph AI, which is a very powerful tool. This is one of the most sophisticated applications we are developing.”
Damodharan concludes: “The Future Tech team at 3i Infotech is focused on developing bespoke data and technology solutions. We have purposefully chosen to focus on this new wave of AI and analytics that may help businesses unleash actual business value. Our technology focus encompasses game changing developments such as Graph AI, Semantic Algorithms, Connected Inferences, Deep Learning Models, etc.”