CXO Outlook – February 2022 – India Edition – Automation Trends to Know in 2022 by Connecta Innovation

AUTOMATION SPECIAL

INDIA EDITION

INSIGHTS. IDEAS. INSPIRATIONS

February 2022

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

February 2022

Vol - 3 Issue - 2

Industry Automation Special (India Edition) Head of Advisory Board Dr. Manoj Varghese, Ph.D

Managing Editor Sarath Shyam

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CXO OUTLOOK February May 20202022

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

The Era of Automation

rom Water Clocks in the third-century BCE to modern-day artificial intelligent robots, automation has changed how we live. In fact, the thought of minimizing human interventions to improve production quality has always been a propellant for innovation. Over the last few years, automation has been evolving at lightning speed, and it doesn't look like slowing down anytime soon. Today, it is one of the fastest-growing industries worldwide. The global industrial automation market is projected to grow from USD 205.86 billion in 2022 to USD 395.09 billion by 2029, exhibiting a CAGR of 9.8% during the forecast period. India's industrial automation and instrumentation market is estimated to grow by USD 1.92 billion from 2020 to 2025, and the market's growth is anticipated to accelerate at a CAGR of 8.62%. So, what is surging the demand for automation across the sectors? The advent of 5G wireless technology and the increasing adoption of Industry 4.0 are significant factors. Besides, the expansion of Augmented Reality, Digital Twin, Digitalization, and Industrial IoT is expected to be important indicators of global industrial automation growth. It will also change the work as we know it. For instance, a report by McKinsey Global Institute says that

between 400 million and 800 million individuals worldwide could be displaced by automation and need to find new jobs by 2030. However, economic growth, rising productivity, and other forces could more than offset the losses. To know more about the automation market and its trends, we interacted with many experts and leaders in the industry. This issue results from our effort to give our readers a comprehensive view of what is happening in the automation sector. Here, we have a collection of insightful articles written by industry experts and leaders. We hope that their insight and expertise will help you understand the automation industry that minimizes human intervention while improving the efficiency and quality of the output throughout the micro and macro-level processes across the sectors. Enjoy reading.

Sarath Shyam

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

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

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

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

Mamta Thakur Former CEO (ASEAN), Arc Skills

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

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

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

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

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

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

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

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

CONTENTS

Why Holistic Process Automation Should Be Your A-Game in 2022

Arvind Jha, Sr. Vice President- Software Development, Newgen

IN MY VIEW

42 How Automation is Enabling Real Time Monitoring for the Transportation Industry

Nitin Mahipal, Managing Director, Mega Freight Movers

48 CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

Transformation Brought by Automation in Trade Finance

Manish Bharucha, CEO, Kyzer Software

36 Automated Car Parking Systems: The EcoFriendly Option in Urban Cities

Rajesh Kabra, Managing Director, RR Parkon

Procurement Guide -Why you need to Automate your Procure-to-Pay Process

Chandresh Sharma, CEO, Techpanion

Karunjit Kumar Dhir, Co-Founder, SCIKEY

LEADES'R INSGHTS

How Digital Marketplaces are All Set to Change the Future of Work with AI and Automation

The Evolution of Field Force Automation spanning Domains and Industries

Nilesh Patel, CEO & Founder, Leadsquared

Automation Impact of Jobs on MSME’s

Prateek Garg, CEO & Founder, Progressive Infotech

56 CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

CONTENTS How Automation Elevates Customer Satisfaction and Paves Ways for Increased Productivity?

Boopathy Rajendran, Vice President - Delivery & Services, Vuram

EXPERT OPINION

28 10

India Moving from Digitization to Automation Post 2nd Wave of COVID-19

Pulkit Ahuja, CEO & Founder, Proxgy

25 Why Should HR Leaders Rely on Intelligent Automation for Organizational Growth?

Vicky Jain, Founder, uKnowva

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

Business Process Automation: Some Important Lessons to Learn

Neelesh Kripalani, CTO, Clover Infotech

40 HR Artificial Intelligence: Roadmap of Tech-Driven Future

Raghav Poojary, Senior VP- Digital Automation & Marcom, FirstMeridian

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

IN MY VIEW

WHY HOLISTIC PROCESS

AUTOMATION SHOULD BE YOUR A-GAME IN 2022 Arvind Jha, Sr. Vice President- Software Development, Newgen

he quest for automating business processes for improving efficiency and bringing about optimization continues. What’s new in the equation is the shift in focus from efficiency to digital transformation, driven by the need for delivering a differentiated customer experience. In 2022, Forrester predicts that existing process improvement platforms will converge and be challenged by new AI-led entrants; investment to address global worker shortages will be prioritized; and to address the future head on, enterprises will embrace an automation fabric to fuel extreme innovation. There are two key takeaways from here- 1. Automating in silos will not suffice; businesses need to set in motion enterprise-wide transformation in a cross-functional manner by ensuring end-to-end automation of applications and workflows 2. A plethora of new-age technologies— robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), process mining, low code platforms— are making

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

significant strides in the automation space, making it way more complex for enterprises to chart their automation journey. To move ahead, enterprises need to step back and look at their organizational automation journey needs through an integrated and holistic lens. Journey Towards Hyperautomation: New-age Automation Technologies That Must Be on Your Radar The automation industry is undergoing rapid evolution. And business leaders are under a constant dilemma, deliberating on the right set of technologies that can cater to their end-to-end automation needs faster as well as future-proof their organization. However, truth be told, in the automation space, one single tool cannot accommodate all automation needs, nor can it replace the human workforce. Gartner says that in the post-covid world, as organizations are forced to accelerate their digital transformation

And business leaders are under a constant dilemma, deliberating on the right set of technologies that can cater to their end-toend automation needs faster as well as futureproof their organization

Arvind is responsible for product development. He has over three decades of experience in software development and engineering and driving business model transformation strategies for Global and Indian start-up companies. He is recognised by the Indian Tech community builder. Prior to Newgen. He was CEO of Pariksha labs and had also led product development teams at Polaroid, Adobe, Monsoon Media and Movico Technologies. Arvind holds a bachelors’ degree in computer science from IIT Kharagpur.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

initiatives, they will require more IT and business process automation initiatives. Enterprises need to automate as many processes as possible by leveraging disruptive technologies and doing it fast. And this makes hyperautomation a business imperative today. In fact, the worldwide market for technology that enables hyperautomation will reach $596.6 billion in 2022. Technologies enabling hyperautomation: BPM: A staple in the automation space, business process automation platform can help businesses seamlessly orchestrate complete processes by connecting systems, tasks, people, bots, and more. This brings about improved collaboration between stakeholders in a dynamic, remote environment while significantly improving the speed and quality of services.

RPA: It enables last-mile process automation with intelligence. RPA works very well with workflow automation technologies. It can be implemented as a part of process workflow to automate a repeatable task, removing human intervention. RPA can help reduce turnaround times, improve productivity by automating repetitive mundane tasks, and bridge operational silos. Bots can also be trained to eliminate process bottlenecks by intuitively routing issues to the right users for resolution. AI and ML: Under the AI/ML umbrella, cognitive technologies such as natural language processing (NLP), pattern recognition, sentiment analysis, and sequence labeling can infuse intelligence into processes. When these capabilities are deployed along with RPA, it can bring about process efficiency and accuracy. AI-enabled bots can perform intelligent tasks such as data processing, making it an indispensable part of hyperautomation. Process Intelligence: Along with cognitive technologies, process analytics and content analytics can help enterprises evaluate their processes and operations by identifying bottlenecks andvariations. This can help to weed out inefficiencies, track the health of and optimize business processes. Low Code Platform: Gartner says that the needs of business-driven hyperautomation will be one of the top three drivers for low-code adoption through 2022. Lowcode platforms can significantly speed up the delivery of business applications by automating a significant chunk of the development process. And their visual, drag-and-drop interfaces and reusable components make this possible. It also reduces the time to maintain

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

A staple in the automation space, business process automation platform can help businesses seamlessly orchestrate complete processes by connecting systems, tasks, people, bots, and more

and upgrade the existing integrated technologies and can also be leveraged to model rapid automation. Actionable Agenda: Consider a Platform Approach for Hyperautomation Looking at all of the hyperautomation-enabling technologies in isolation is a recipe for disaster. What enterprises need is a holistic technology strategy in place to integrate and operationalize each of the parts as a whole. A unified digital transformation platform combines hyperautomation technologies – intelligent BPM, AI, ML, process intelligence—and low code capabilities, enabling enterprises to ensure end-to-end automation of their processes (intelligently and fast). It offers the most fool-proof and future-proof strategy to ace the hyperautomation journey. The Tangible Power of Process Automation: A leading insurance company in India was experiencing a high error rate due to manual processes. They experienced delays in policy servicing and claim processing, while also dealing with a decentralized underwriting process. The organization leveraged a digital transformation platform that helped them undertake end-to-end automation of processes across 2,000 branches, 113 divisional offices, 8 zonal offices, and their corporate office. The system is being used by 25,000 users across all branches.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

EXPERT OPINION

How Automation Elevates Customer Satisfaction and Paves Ways for Increased Productivity? Boopathy Rajendran, Vice President - Delivery & Services, Vuram

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

Boopathy Rajendran is the Senior Vice President of Delivery and Services at Vuram. With about 26 years of experience in the IT industry, Boopathy has established and run large Hyperautomation practices globally. He has 25+ years of experience setting and running regions, sales, global delivery teams, and practice management, focusing on the Digital Process Automation space.

s technologies evolve, businesses explore more ways to provide a better customer experience improving satisfaction and delight. Leveraging the power of automation technologies is one way to enhance customer satisfaction by improving operational efficiency and expertise. Implementing automation simplifies communication between the business and its customers ensuring high-quality services in a time-bound manner without interruptions elevating the customer experience. Functions such as self-service to give more control to the users, proactive messaging for efficient communication, and simulated conversations about staying connected around the clock directly impact the customer experience. To build a successful and resilient business in the modern digital landscape, organizations must shift their perspective towards building a solid customer experience (CX). A great customer experience is a critical catalyst that brings opportunities to foster lasting relationships and growth. Enterprises are making efforts to maximize customer satisfaction as a crucial differentiator by improving CX. The prerequisites are speed, convenience, and consistency to minimize friction and maximize process efficiency. Besides elevating customer satisfaction, adopting hyperautomation technology speeds up digital transformation to substantially improve productivity by automating mundane and repetitive tasks around the clock without further investments in the infrastructure. Also, this process frees up humans to focus on areas that require empathy, critical thinking, and creative approaches. Hyperautomation integrates Intelligent Automation, Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Business Process Management (BPA), and analytical tools to reimagine enterprise-wide business processes. The results? It radically changes the way organizations work and orchestrates a strategic digital transformation across the industry. In the insurance industry, legacy systems, fragmented ecosystems, and manual processes limit insurers and negatively impact customer satisfaction. Implementation of hyperautomation resulted in efficiently automating entire operations and business workflows to perform largescale tasks around the clock, significantly improving the speed at which services are delivered at the highest levels of accuracy, applying new capabilities to old issues. An area that benefitted the most was when insurers had to process substantial and complex data streams by navigating through manual processing. Hyperautomation

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

Hyperautomation combines intelligent technologies across disparate claim management methods and implements cognitive workflows 18

combines intelligent technologies across disparate claim management methods and implements cognitive workflows. Processes including documentation and verifications that were time-consuming and error-prone were streamlined to offer a great customer experience while increasing the productivity in the business frontier. For instance, Vuram’s Rapid Claims, the hasslefree claims processing and settlement solution manages challenging property insurance claims and delivers faster customer service. Automation enables detection of fraudulent claims and errors, verifying data against multiple systems eliminating human error and high costs ensuring productivity. The end-to-end agile claims management system improves productivity through seamless integration, document management, report generation managing numerous claims on a single platform with enhanced transparency. From assessing coverage, routing initial claims, assessing damage, obtaining approvals, and providing dispute resolution, implementing technology deftly handles the end-to-end

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

workflow with excellent efficiency and accuracy. These observations are further bolstered by an essential piece of recent research by KPMG, where the firm reports that 41 percent of organizations focus on increasing efficiency by automating manual processes like claims processing. Technologies including low-code and RPA provide the organization with reimaging processes from time to time giving business the flexibility and speed to address changing market conditions and client requirements. As new challenges continue to impact business operations and the economy, harnessing the advantages of automation technologies is crucial to ensure efficiency and sustainability, developing a more robust support system for business continuity, enhanced productivity, and improved customer satisfaction. Adopting components of process automation, integrating tools and technologies will develop highly focused solutions to tackle complex workloads efficiently, bringing a significant shift in how businesses operate, supporting their employees, and serving customers.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

LEADER’S INSIGHTS

PROCUREMENT GUIDE - WHY YOU NEED TO AUTOMATE YOUR PROCURE-TO-PAY PROCESS Chandresh Sharma, CEO, Techpanion

Chandresh Sharma, CEO, Techpanion, holds as a core belief. Currently, he is responsible for leading his digital automation venture, where he reserves the position of the Chief Executive Officer. He is a hands-on executive overseeing customer delivery & satisfaction besides planning the actions and supervising the firm's day-to-day operations.

ithout procurement automation, your company will be stuck depending on manual processes and siloed data while attempting to decrease waste ineffectively. After all, no cost-cutting option can compare to automation's ability to reduce costs. And automating your procure-to-pay process is one of the simplest ways to reap those benefits. Procure-to-Pay Process The procure-to-pay process describes how your firm asks, acquires, and pays for the resources and services it needs to operate. It specifically addresses how your company approves purchases, selects vendors, does quality assurance, and pays invoices. Procure-to-pay

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

software simplifies the process of tracking vendors, performing purchases, and managing cash flow. Many processes and workflows in your procurement process can be automated with these tools. By automating these systems, you can save money and eliminate waste by eliminating human operations. You'll also cut down on human mistake caused by manual data entering. If done right, you'll be well on your way to turning your procurement process into a strategic advantage for your company. How Procure-to-Pay Automation Helps Many steps in the procurement-to-pay process can be automated, lowering costs and enhancing efficiency. Many of the processes are automated, so they can flow

AUTOMATING VENDOR MANAGEMENT WILL ALLOW THE USE OF AN ONLINE PORTAL TO COMMUNICATE WITH VENDORS, RANK THEM ACCORDING TO THEIR PREFERENCES OR SERVICES, AND SORT THEM FAST BY AVAILABILITY AND OTHER CONSTRAINTS

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

from stage to stage in your procurement system without human participation. Each procurement automation system is unique in its own way. You must ensure that the system you select meets your company's requirements. Nonetheless, the majority of procure to pay systems will automate processes like Request for Proposals (RFP) where employees can submit proposals to a management for approval directly. It will also help in the automation of approvals. Guidelines can be developed so that permission is granted if the request falls within the parameters. Exceptions can be flagged and approved manually. Automating vendor management will allow the use of an online portal to communicate with vendors, rank

WITH PROCURE-TO-PAY SOLUTIONS, INVOICES FLOW SEAMLESSLY ACROSS YOUR PLATFORM BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS DIGITAL

them according to their preferences or services, and sort them fast by availability and other constraints. It will also help collect invoices, QA deliverables, and issue payment during reconciliation. In other words, if your procure-to-pay system has a workflow or process, there is almost certainly a function to automate it. If not, a low-code version can be simply created. Benefits of Automating Procure-To-Pay Process It's a waste of time to automate just for the sake of automating. In fact, you must be cautious given all of

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

the hype surrounding digitalization (which manages to ignore the obstacles of integration). Nonetheless, there are numerous advantages to automating your procureto-pay process. Improved Cost Savings Procure-to-pay automation results in significant cost reductions. You save paper and ink by printing invoices at the simplest level. Invoice automation, at a high level, reduces labour expenses, duplicate payments, and late fees. Faster Invoice Processing With procure-to-pay solutions, invoices flow seamlessly across your platform because everything is digital. Purchase managers can verify purchases, goods, and services in a timely manner. They can also transfer payments and documents to accounting in a timely manner. Additionally, in some cases, your organization may be eligible for early payment discounts. Enhanced Supplier Relations Suppliers appreciate being paid more quickly. Procure-to-pay automation will improve your supplier relationships for a variety of reasons. Suppliers can use self-service vendor portals to maintain their important information up to date. It also serves as a centralized communication platform. Finally, it provides you with more information so that you may build stronger relationships with your suppliers over time. Conclusion Despite the fact that procure-to-pay software has extended into numerous industries, many businesses still rely on manual methods. Spreadsheets and paper papers expose your company to unneeded risk, while also prohibiting your procurement process from gaining strategic relevance. Procure-to-pay automation can help you break free from these laborious systems. That means there will be no more manually filling out thousands of purchase orders. There will be no more back-and-forth to get purchase orders approved. Spend less on mavericks and tails. And no more putting together sloppy data from a variety of spreadsheets. You'll save time and money with procure-to-pay automation because you'll eliminate buy delays, keep your suppliers pleased with on-time payments, and offer your team more time. Best of all, you'll turn your procurement process into the flexible system it requires to maintain your company competitive in today's fastpaced industry.

Higher Education Digest September 2020

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

IN MY VIEW

TRANSFORMATION BROUGHT BY AUTOMATION IN TRADE FINANCE Manish Bharucha, CEO, Kyzer Software

rade finance simply means to address the monetary instruments and items that are utilized by organizations to work with global exchange and trade. It’s an important part of exports and imports. In other words, it basically introduces a third party (banks) to transactions for eliminating the risks of payments and supply, in turn, making the process reliable. And when we talk about automation in this sector, it seems trade finance is facing a major overhaul as banks are gradually trying to minimize the human input and go fully digital. From USD 7,616,520 million in 2019, the global market size of trade finance will soon reach USD 10,987,510 million by 2026 at a CAGR of 5.4 per cent. However, can market growth alone promise its success? No, isn’t it? So, in order to thrive, banks must position themselves as leaders in the digitization of trade finance.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

Why automation in trade finance? Undoubtedly, the trading of goods in the global market is perplexing and loaded with uncertainties. Since exports and imports happen between entities in far-off nations, there could easily be a lack of trust amid the buyers and sellers. This is where banks come into the picture, which helps them mitigate the risk of trade finance by providing documents such as Letter of Credit (L/Cs) and Bank Guarantee. While L/Cs reduce payment risk as a bank makes (or guarantees) the payment to an exporter on behalf of an importer once delivery of goods is confirmed through the presentation of appropriate documents; Bank Guarantee is a promise from a lending institution that ensures the bank will step up if a debtor can’t cover his debt.

With technology as a key enabler, digital transformations are bound to become necessary to efficiently make banks conduct their businesses

Entrepreneur Manish Bharucha is one of the co-founders and currently the CEO of Kyzer Software, a leading banking and financial organization, established in 2016. It creates niche products in trade finance, automation, lending, compliance, and regulatory reporting with various Indian as well as multinational banks.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

Right from enhanced customer experience, improved productivity in operations, optimal costs, to reduced regulatory and compliance risks, there are numerous areas where automation provides benefits

Now, this whole process involves a lot of paperwork, and extensive manual interventions like document reading, data entry, and data analysis. The banks get thousands of such documents of thousands of exchanges happening daily, which becomes a tedious task. By introducing softwares that enable banks to offer customers a web-based interface for conducting trade finance transactions online, including Letters of Credit, Bank Guarantees, documentary and clean collections, payment processing, foreign remittances, and pre- and post-shipment export financing, the business gets efficient. These techsavvy solutions secure online requests and transmit them electronically along with documentary evidence. The International Chamber of Commerce expects that the vulnerabilities due to the pandemic will further increase the requirements for trade finance products. It’s because organizations will, in general, consider these important, perceiving an increase in geopolitical and commercial risks. How is it transforming the sector? With technology as a key enabler, digital transformations are bound to become necessary to efficiently make banks conduct their businesses. Digitization helps convert day-today trade transaction management into the bank’s competitive advantage. Overall, the digitized solutions are a perfect fit for banks who would like to manage, monitor their trade transactions on a single dashboard, and have the solution customized and configured as per their banking process. It not only leverages the existing investments, but it also automates the functions carried out by the branch, service desk teams and improves their productivity with its value-added features. The softwares utilize customer historical data, scrutiny and compliance observations, blacklisting, AML, and sanction screenings to prevent duplicate request processing, financing and verify the veracity of underlying trade. Deferral management ensures account level checks, transaction processing controls with an irrevocable audit trail, and documentation is transmitted digitally, mitigating the existing high cost, error-prone and inefficient processes.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

Innovative solutions that can help reduce the cost of operations, improve compliance, check anti-money laundering, and adapt to disruptions like Blockchain and electronic trade documents will, certainly, win the market, in turn, transforming the sector. What are the advantages? Right from enhanced customer experience, improved productivity in operations, optimal costs, to reduced regulatory and compliance risks, there are numerous areas where automation provides benefits. The trade finance banking solutions can dehumanize and centralize the whole process. Many tech-enabled software offers businesses automated processing of import and export documentation, remittances, and negotiation. They help compliance as software packages include many functions that ensure all transactions comply with service-level agreements. They allow real-time document tracking and updates status, which further helps the operations. The transactions happening over long distances automatically speed up. Improved analytics will support banks to assist customers with more timely recommendations and build more solid, long-enduring business relations. Undoubtedly, the choice seems clear. These sorts of advancements have opened significant ways to value new business opportunities. Banks that are slow to accept these transformations will certainly struggle to keep up with the buyers and sellers. It’s simply because automation is the future. Banks will need to speed up the transformation of this space or face the danger of more inventive players utilizing this chance to enormously upset their share of the market. Summing up Digitalization of trade finance not only assists with meeting administrative prerequisites all the more proficiently but also improves internal risk management systems. It will only fuel the growth of trade finance market size. There is an incredible opportunity for banks today to invest in the smart digital revolution. Automation helps to stay ahead of the curve!

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CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

EXPERT OPINION

Business Process Automation: Some Important Lessons to Learn Neelesh Kripalani, CTO, Clover Infotech

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

Neelesh Kripalani is Chief Technology Officer at Clover Infotech. He brings 20+ years of extensive experience in the areas of Strategy Planning & Management, IT Services Delivery, Banking implementations, People Management and IT Operations Management. He has been instrumental in developing the Center of Excellence The innovation hub of Clover Infotech. He is responsible for research and analysis of new-age technologies such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Cyber Security and Cloud Services to understand industry requirements and leverage it for the digital transformation of our customers. As the head of CoE, he also oversees training and development requirement of the talent coming into the Clover Academy - The Knowledge and Training arm of Clover Infotech.

iving through the pandemic necessitated the need for adoption of digital technologies. Whether we were comfortable or not, we were forced to leave traditional ways behind and embrace digital transformation. This gave a huge fillipto business process automation. The relentless pursuit of survival had compelled organisations to adopt new-age technologies, and automation was one of them. The global digital process automation market is projected to grow from USD 6.77 billion in 2018 to USD 12.61 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 13.3% from 2018 to 2023. Organizations of all sizes have embraced bot-driven digital transformation across departments to optimize operating costs and accelerate business. However, if not planned properly, the entire automation exercise can prove to be a futile effort leading to wastage of time and resources. Hence, we look back at this year to gather our learnings with respect to automation to ease our way into 2022. Have a clearly defined set of objectives – Most of the times, organizations adopt newage technologies without having a clear set of goals and objectives. If we are vague about the processes that we are aiming to streamline through automation then it will not yield desired results. If organizations automate just for the sake of calling themselves digitally transformed then it will not serve any purpose. Without an overarching vision and a coherent strategy, automation will not create the desired impact. Understand processes holistically –A lack of holistic view of the processes and its innumerable variants can result in ineffective utilization of resources. No process transparency and lack of insights lead to sub-optimal automation and the bots will require months of hardening to account for the vagaries and variations in processes. The traditional methods of process mapping are not enough. Companies need to adopt more modern ways such as process mining, which leverages computer vision and machine intelligence to get a deeper and detailed understanding of processes.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

If organizations automate just for the sake of calling themselves digitally transformed then it will not serve any purpose

Not choosing the right business processes – At the outset, every process looks automation ready. However, the reality is not every process needs to be automated to yield efficiency. Hence, it is important for teams to identify processes that are rule-based and redundant in nature, thereby ideal for automation. Cost of implementation – While automation can pay significant dividends, it is important to consider the upfront costs. These include direct costs such as purchasing licenses, managing vendors, infrastructure, and indirect costs such as training and upskilling of employees, support costs, etc. Hence, if the processes are not carefully identified and selected for automation, it can result in huge monetary losses.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

Selecting the right tools and software for automation – Picking the right tools and platforms for automation is just as important as selecting the right processes. Therefore, choice of the automation tools must align with the objective that an organization wants to achieve. It must also be compatible and work seamlessly with the existing application landscape and the technology infrastructure of the organization. Automation, if applied wisely and effectively, can yield significant returns. It frees up the workforce from rule-based, mundane and repetitive tasks, thereby allowing them to focus on more meaningful work that not only enhances the nature of their jobs but also gives them a chance to develop as multifaceted professionals.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

LEADER’S INSIGHTS

HOW DIGITAL MARKETPLACES ARE ALL SET TO CHANGE THE FUTURE OF WORK WITH AI AND AUTOMATION Karunjit Kumar Dhir, Co-Founder, SCIKEY

Karunjit Kumar Dhir is the Co-founder of SCIKEY Market Network. He has spent the last two decades working on the business side in the technology consulting domain helping fortune clients from multiple industries and geographies.

hange is the only constant. Even more fascinating is the pace at which this change is happening now, with technology at its core. It might have taken decades of research & hard work to invent the first typewriter in the 19th century and many decades after that for the world to get its first computer. In current times, the market leaders launch new upgraded smart devices every few months. What took decades to change earlier is now changing so rapidly and in a few months. We are living in a totally different & rapidly evolving world. And, the world of work is no different either. With technological adoption happening at a breakneck pace coupled with the fast-evolving human aspirations, we are at the cusp of an inflection point that will redefine the ‘Future if Work’ for good. There was a time when all someone expected out of their work was a steady source of income. People spent decades in one job and working for the same employer. Not anymore. In the 21st century,

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

employment and work are not only about making a living. Today’s workforce expects a lot more meaning (purpose), fulfilment, social belongingness & an emotional connection from their jobs & work, with the monetary aspect only a natural given. Another crucial aspect of the Future of Work is the dimension of remote work. Until a year ago, working from home was more of a privilege & perquisite that only a few could enjoy, but the pandemic has wholly changed this equation. Now a majority of tech-driven or tech-enabled industries have adopted remote working as a good practice. As a result, conscious efforts & investments are being put into making future workplaces more flexible, efficient & employee-friendly. However, technology is only as good as the people and business outcomes it can achieve for any organization. Today, the business & people challenges and goals around the ‘Future of Work’ are very different from those until a

TODAY’S WORKFORCE EXPECTS A LOT MORE MEANING(PURPOSE), FULFILMENT, SOCIAL BELONGINGNESS & AN EMOTIONAL CONNECTION FROM THEIR JOBS & WORK, WITH THE MONETARY ASPECT ONLY A NATURAL GIVEN

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

few years ago. Talent attraction, employee engagement, AI & automation will also improve employee engagement performance management, productivity, talent mobility, & job satisfaction levels. People will derive higher value and talent retention demand a radically different approach by focusing more on collaboration, creativity, innovation in this era. While most business enterprises earlier had & fulfilling work rather than wasting a significant portion productivity and profits at the center of their business & of their time on mundane, repetitive low-value tasks. people strategy, it is not a viable model anymore. Instead, AI & automation powered digital marketplaces will employee experience, customer centricity, diversity & make the businesses more efficient, agile, customer & inclusion, empowerment, and mental well-being have taken people-focused, safer, and bring in a positive outlook, center stage, becoming critical components of any business fairness & diversity at the workplace. People will strategy now. This is where the digital marketplaces contribute, collaborate, experience more transparency enable business leaders. The significant shift that we or data-driven decisions, a well-organized work stack, experience in the fundamental nature & work methods is flexibility, and productivity-enhancing tools. All of this put enabled by automation, digital together shall create the proper platforms, and other similar foundation of scale & offering innovation. The work doesn’t the best-in-class experience. get done in silos anymore, Another critical shift these and even the way the work or digital marketplaces shall trigger tasks are packaged, assigned is changing and expanding how & distributed has shifted individuals look for jobs and tremendously. There are fewer work. It will also impact how the manual tasks, different working companies identify and recruit AI & AUTOMATION POWERED models, a higher proportion of talent. With the rise of the gig & DIGITAL MARKETPLACES remote staff, more dispersed sharing economy, independent teams in multiple geographies, workers are increasingly WILL MAKE THE BUSINESSES and a comparatively more choosing to offer their services MORE EFFICIENT, AGILE, minor physical infrastructure on digital platforms & online CUSTOMER & PEOPLEwith increased cloud adoption. marketplaces, in the process, Digital marketplaces, both challenging conventional ideas FOCUSED, SAFER, AND BRING internal & external, ride on about how and where work IN A POSITIVE OUTLOOK, the power of technology like gets done. FAIRNESS & DIVERSITY AT AI, automation, data & cloud. To summarise, here are From helping the organizations some of the ways digital THE WORKPLACE identify the right talent, access marketplaces are all set to social proof, leveraging chatbots change the ‘Future of Work’ to boost process efficiencies with AI & Automation – and build engagement, AI-powered analysis of facial 1. Enable the rise of remote & digital workforce expressions, word choice, speech & even emotional patterns 2. Use of AI & automation to focus on high-value tasks by to assess talent suitability are just a few examples. It also automating low-value tasks makes organizations work faster & smarter by improving 3. Increased collaboration between machines & humans the processes, removing bottlenecks & dependencies while for better business outcomes eradicating bias. A step further is applying AI models to assist 4. A very high focus on improving flexibility, experience, organizations in predictive & prescriptive analysis harnessing security & privacy the power of data in a digital marketplace model. 5. Using technology & data to improve employability, With access to data & insights available in the public growth & learnability at the workplace domain and the entire organization’s data in a digital 6. Supporting human aspirations, soft skills & mental marketplace, mighty insight engines can be built that can well-being help solve some crucial business challenges. From skill 7. Empowering the distributed teams, gig economy & mapping across the teams, functions & geographies to alternative workforce predicting attrition, enabling talent mobility, helping in 8. Greater personalization, diversity & inclusion succession-planning, and performance management, the 9. Improved internal communication & growth planning applications of AI & automation are significant. The use of 10. More sustainable & ethical organizations

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

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CXO OUTLOOK

+91 33 4061 February 1086 2022

IN MY VIEW

HOW AUTOMATION IS ENABLING REAL TIME MONITORING FOR THE

TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY Nitin Mahipal, Managing Director, Mega Freight Movers

he transport industry is considered as the back-bone of any economy. In 1951, LEO (Lyons Electronic Office) became the first computer to run a regular routine office job. When the 1st computer reached India in 1960, it marked the beginning of automation in the Indian hinterland. While the world changed its way of doing business, with each passing year, the Indian transport industry remained neutral to these developments. The unorganized Indian transport industry is so fragmented that any automation attempt would never see the next sunrise. Starting with Single truck owners that dominate the country and there are about 10 million trucks in India. Only 10% of this truck population belongs to transport companies, who are receptive to some automation in business. India has 151,019 km (93,839 mi) of National Highways as of

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

March 2021, making the Indian road network the second largest in the world after the United States. A truck loaded with valuable cargo from a factory is unmonitored and at the complete disposal of the driver. Whether it is a traffic jam, a road accident or a robbery, the only way to receive this information is via telecommunication. All stake holders of the Transport industry brace themselves each day for a safe and on time delivery of their cargo. When the news of first GPS based vehicle tracking system (VTS) in India came in 2011, the stakeholders hoped that the VTS monitoring system will take care of their worries but soon they realised the penetration of VTS was to take years. The truck manufacturers never considered providing a built in VTS in their models until 2020. Some players of the organised 10%, did deploy expensive VTS

The unorganized Indian transport industry is so fragmented that any automation attempt would never see the next sunrise

Nitin Mahipal is the Managing Director at Mega Freight Movers. Mega Freight Movers is аn Indiаn road freight аnd surfасe lоgistiсs рiоneer, sрeсiаlized in disрersiоn, расking, migrаtiоn fасilities, аnd рreserving/wаrehоusing. Nitin has been in the industry for almost two decades, and is accredited with modernising the company and advancing it all to remarkable achievements. In order to adopt technology, he also developed Megamatic, an application that enables the service takers to receive real time updates on their shipments. Under his leadership, MEGА hаs rарidly сreаted аn enоrmоus, vаst netwоrk оf wаrehоuses lосаted асrоss Indiа.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

The traditional companies are turning their heads towards technology to stay relevant

to track the trucks whereabouts but their journey to accomplish smooth monitoring had its own challenges. Network on the highways were poor and the driver community who did not want to be tracked could easily tamper with the VTS, making it redundant. In an over competitive transport industry, the organised players also lack support from their customers, who majorly focus on reducing the transport cost and the business environment does not support deployment of monitoring devices. The use of any monitoring system is as fragmented as the transport industry itself. Although many industry players have VTS in their owned assets, the real victory is possible only when the single truck owners feel the need for a monitoring system and can afford the same. When the VTS proved its limitations to acceptance by the vehicle owners, the tech companies shifted their focusto monitoring the location of truck through the Drivers mobile phone. All that TRAI needs is an easy permission from the driver in form of asms or missed call. The nearest tower location of the mobile network is mapped and the information can flow to the stakeholders with a simple API integration. Although this system provides the location of the nearest telecom tower and not the truck per se, I hear the transporters say “something is better than nothing”. The logistics cost in India is 14% of the GDP, compared to 8-10% of developing countries. The government is on a mission to reduce it by 5% points. Some initiatives from the government has given collateral benefits to monitor the truck on road too.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

FASTag is made mandatory for all vehicles in India from February 2021. Although the main idea for Fast Tag was to reduce vehicular traffic at the toll plazas, it also gives information of a trucks approximate location between toll plazas. In case the VTS or Mobile tracking fails, the transporters have a back-up in case they need to send their surveillance team during a mishap. Next initiative by the government to install “GPS based Fast Tag” to abolish Toll plazas all together will also be a gamechanger. Apart from monitoring the Vehicle location which is a top priority for all the stakeholders, trucking companies today have options to deploy tech to their hearts content albeit their budget limitations. From GPS and Fleet Management Solutions that offer One Click dashboard to monitor fleet health and data to Camera based solutions that provide accident prevention and forward collision warnings, including Driver Fatigue detection, sleep alerts and Face Recognition. Door Sensors, Temperature Monitoring for Cold Chains and Fuel Sensors to closely monitor every aspect of the truck, is possible today. A chip in the tyre can also inform you the health of your tyre. All this information combined into an Intelligent Transport System (ITS) will surely change the way India transports its goods. While an ITS may seem like a distant dream, the Indian transport industry is in a better place today in terms of monitoring the truck than a decade ago. The traditional companies are turning their heads towards technology to stay relevant. The real time information from the new age VTS gives clarity on truck location, hourly truck stoppage, speed of the truck, ignition on or off and many more. After geofencing of a truck, an alarm is sent in real-time if the truck goes wandering off the designed route. These systems, filters all the insignificant data and throws attention to the urgent ones with simple and comprehensive symbols. In 2020, the penetration rate of smartphone in India reached 54 percent and is estimated to reach 96 percent in 2040, more than doubled from financial year 2016, when only 22 percent of the mobile subscribers were using smartphone. This data shows the gradual increase of smartphone by Indians and thus the Indian Truck drivers too. Real time information from VTS paired with increased use of smartphones will soon provide an ETA of the truck that is delivering cargo to your factory or hub, that can be as accurate as google maps can make it. One can look forward to accurate prediction of the time of delivery of your cargo. I hope the truck drivers turn receptive to real time monitoring before the “driverless trucks” catch up as the only option left.

CXO OUTLOOK K12 Digest February 2022 Sept-Oct 2020

EXPERT OPINION

India Moving from Digitization to Automation Post 2nd Wave of COVID-19 Pulkit Ahuja, CEO & Founder, Proxgy

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

Pulkit Ahuja is the founder of Proxgy, author of 2 books, former founder of 3 startups, inventor of multiple patented technologies, processes and designs, ideator of several brands and angel investor in a couple of companies. Pulkit Ahuja is a serial entrepreneur, author and inventor. He is experienced in founding and successfully running disruptive technology startups in mobility, transportation, ad-tech and education domains. Companies Pulkit has founded include Proxgy, Cabsguru, Unlockar, Yeshlé, RollingSlate, SchoolCampus Tech among others. He is the author of Bestselling financial fiction ‘Googled by God’. Pulkit co-authored his first book ‘Risk Management in Basel’ while pursuing his MBA. Apart from books, Pulkit has also authored several scholarly papers in the fields of finance and technology (neural networks, price movements, etc.) which have been published and cited by several National and International publications.

he COVID-19 pandemic struck India in such an unprecedented manner that it threw everyone, including the government, in complete disarray. Companies across the industrial sector were forced to adopt disruptive technologies like the Cloud, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, to name a few. Despite the various challenges the work-from-home (WFH) operations model presented, like vulnerabilities in security, employee misconduct, and general misplacement of the workforce, companies had no other choice but to adopt the technologies that would enable them to transition to their virtual space. This paved the way for the aggressive adoption of digitization. This has kickstarted a new industrial revolution that has catalysed business processes to become more efficient, cost-effective, and driven towards progress and longevity. Digitization has enabled companies to address the ever-burgeoning demands of consumers. Undoubtedly, the best way to meet them was through automation. In a short while, automation has been aggressively adopted by Indian companies, primarily because of the benefits it provides like better CRM, optimizations in redundant workflows and efficient use of resources, to name a few. With the increase in the number of vaccinated people, the country is slowly reopening. With things going back to normal, should companies still rely and transition towards more automation? The answer is YES! The Need for India to Move Towards Automation The Need for Increased Virtual Assistance: While the number of vaccinated cases has increased, COVID-19 is still an actual threat. So, going entirely back to the way things used to be is still not advised. Virtual assistance is a safer and efficient choice. More importantly, after more than a year, people have begun adjusting to the reality that the pandemic has severely altered. Companies should employ the same virtual assistance they offered their consumers during the pandemic. The highest advantage of digitization and later automation was that it reduced the workload and increased accessibility. It caters to a level of comfort that people are used to now, and a complete overhaul once again would hurt businesses more than any benefit it would provide.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

Increased Personalization: With companies relying more on the digital space than the physical one, technologies like cloud and data have become important support pillars. Companies have figured out that the best way to cater to their customer demands is by understanding consumer analytics, targeting the right audience, providing accessibility and a virtual IRL experience that provides the customers with more autonomy and preference than any conventional physical environment. They are provided greater assistance through AI-powered bots on product websites than an inexperienced customer representative. User experience can be tailored and made customer-specific. It saves time and resources for all pirates involved in the business. In short, going virtual provides a more enhanced and satisfactory user experience.

Increased Industrial Optimization and Output: Automation is done primarily to ensure redundancies are reduced, operations are executed with perfection, and the burden placed on manpower is significantly reduced. Consider a manufacturing industry before automation was introduced. It would require a lot of workforce and skilled training to ensure that the assembly, packaging, and inspection are done precisely. But with automation, all of the grunt and minimal skilled tasks can be automated, and the workforce can be directed towards more meaningful employment. Automation increases efficiency, scalability, and sustainability by cutting down wastage and increasing overall revenue. Sustaining Technological Advancement: Automation is the future. The pandemic was devastating in more aspects than one, but it cannot be ignored that the pandemic acted as the perfect catalyst that induced companies and consumers to adopt disruptive technologies more readily than they would have in conventional times. Necessity is truly the mother of all innovation, and the pandemic created an insatiable and unprecedented need that could only be met with automation and other disruptive technologies. It allowed people to more readily and promptly take the next natural step in the industrial revolution a lot sooner than intended. Robotics, automation, VR, AR, and other digital platforms became true live savers and introduced people to a new manner in which technology can be leveraged to create a more positive impact. India has to adapt and stay true to its course in aggressively adopting automation if the Indian market is to sustain the pandemic and any such circumstances in the future.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

It was perhaps Dr. Giovanni Traverso, Business Transformation & Management Consultant, who best captured the aggressive rate at which automation is being adopted in India in recent times. He had this to say while scouting India for its electronic components’ market at the behest of Bitron, “In my job, I frequently visit Indian manufacturers of electronic components and have seen many deployments of automation excellence in-process monitoring, output control, and ERP integration. Over the last 3 years, I noted an increase of such champions.”

The highest advantage of digitization and later automation was that it reduced the workload and increased accessibility

The recent years and especially the second wave of the pandemic have been a much-needed wakeup call for Indian companies to realize that their model and current business continuity plan will not sustain their revenue or overall business. The need to adopt disruptive technologies has gone from a future possibility to a present mandate. With prominent companies like Proxgy providing a safe virtual platform for everything, including entertainment, shopping, education, and healthcare, now is the perfect time for companies to make the switch to automation primarily because it ensures sustainability against almost any difficult circumstance in the physical world.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

LEADER’S INSIGHTS

THE EVOLUTION OF FIELD FORCE AUTOMATION SPANNING DOMAINS AND INDUSTRIES Nilesh Patel, Founder and CEO, Leadsquared

Nilesh Patel is the CEO for LeadSquared, a market leader in SaaS automation with services across high-velocity sales execution, field force and marketing automation not just in India, but across the globe.

hink about this for a minute – How many fundamental services or processes do you know today in the world, which were more efficient five years ago than they are now?The answer is, none. We, humans, are neurologically wired to move on to more efficient systems and processes. As they say, evolution is and always will be inevitable. If you looked at a field team five years ago and compared it to today, you’d see that today’s field reps plan better, are more prepared, and achieve higher productivity. How did that happen? Automation. Not to mention, the biggest impact of technology has been the redundancy of field teams themselves. We are digitally connected more than ever before, and most logistical tasks can be carried outusing software solutions. Especially with the remote work culture growing in popularity, how long has it been since you physically signed a document?As a result, a lot of companies are transitioning to inside sales/support teams.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

But are field force operations dying? No. Most high-involvement purchase decisions (like insurance) require human contact, for which, a face-to-face meeting is still the best way to go. And as we come up with innovative solutions like quick commerce, for example, field teams are the best way to raise awareness and onboard vendors. This is even more important for developing countries, with less literacy and a lagging adoption curve. This is where automation comes in. It equips sales-led organizations with the tools to have better end-to-end field operations. It impacts every function - teams, managers, logistics, sales workflow, partner management, and the bottom line. Let me explain. Among all sales teams (inside sales, pre-sales, call center, sales development), the field force is the hardest to control – becauseof its remote nature. Ideally, managers would like to know where their reps are, who they are

MOST HIGH-INVOLVEMENT PURCHASE DECISIONS (LIKE INSURANCE) REQUIRE HUMAN CONTACT, FOR WHICH, A FACETO-FACE MEETING IS STILL THE BEST WAY TO GO

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

meeting, what happened in the meeting, and what the status of the lead is, and if possible, on a real-time basis. In short, visibility has been automation's biggest impact. Mobile CRMs connect on-site and off-site teams by establishing a real-time communication channel. Managers can use geo-tracking features to oversee employee location and movement. To understand better, let’s look at a few examples. Say, you are an Edtech company with home demos as an important part of its sales strategy. With a mobile CRM, an average day in the life of a sales representative would look like this: 1. Start day, check-in on the Mobile CRM application. 2. Receive a system-generated route plan. 3. Reach prospect’s home. Update “reached” on the application. 4. Provide the demo. 5. Note lead response, list potential opportunities, and update lead stage with a single click. 6. Move to the next demo according to the route plan. 7. Receive real-time notification: “Lead generated near your location”. 8. Repeat process. 9. Check out. An integrated process like this allows managers to intervene at critical sales junctures and help reps close deals faster. Businesses can truly centralize their entire workflow on one system. Let’s take the case of one of India’s biggest technology success stories, United Payments Interface, or UPI. UPI is an immediate system of accepting digital payments that helps transfer funds between bank accounts through a simple mobile platform. If you live in India, you are most likely well familiar with UPI transactions. To make this possible, fintech players had to educate and onboard millions of local kirana stores, necessitating a huge field force undertaking. They needed to educate and onboard as many business owners as they could, quicker than the competition. Here’s how field force automation played a critical role in the success of UPI. An important part of the vendor onboarding process is KYC verification. This would typically require sales reps to physically collect documents from every vendor and send them to the verification team. Subsequently, the verification team would have to verify and send the documents back to the vendor. If an application was rejected, the process was repeated over again. Today, Field Automation solutions have dramatically shortened this onboarding cycle. The rep could take pictures of the documents and upload them onto the app,

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

FIELD FORCE AUTOMATION HAS INCREASED EFFICIENCY IN VARIOUS INDUSTRIES LIKE INSURANCE, BANKING, PHARMACEUTICALS, EDUCATION, REAL ESTATE, MANUFACTURING, AND RETAIL

instantly sending them to the back-end verification team. The back-end team would then verify and approve the documents. The process was shortened from about two weeks to fifteen minutes. Sales reps can also verify merchant numbers instantly with OTP. These were two examples of Automation enhancing Field Force operations. From a broader perspective, Field Force Automation has increased efficiency in various industries like insurance, banking, pharmaceuticals, education, real estate, manufacturing, and retail. An important aspect to note is that Field Force Automation will not only help businesses sell faster but also take steps towards managing and organizing data centrally. New-age industries like Edtech have been quicker in adopting centralized data management solutions and are higher up in the experience curve than, say, legacy industries like manufacturing. Field Sales Automation can act as a gateway and help these industries take the next step towards the automation curve.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

IN MY VIEW

AUTOMATED CAR PARKING SYSTEMS:

THE ECO-FRIENDLY OPTION IN URBAN CITIES Rajesh Kabra, Managing Director, RR Parkon

lobal urbanization is one of the biggest growing trends in the 21st century. The continuous rapid growth naturally presents urban sustainability challenges. The major challenges for these growing cities are accommodating the increasing level of vehicles on road competing for parking space. Indian metro cities like Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai have often been featured in the world’s top 10 most congested cities for traffic. An Indian driver spends 20 minutes every day on an average to look for a suitable parking spot (as per a report by IBM), an incalculable loss to national productivity. Today, finding a parking spot is more tedious than driving a car around in the city. This is an alarming issue, especially in metro cities. Due to the shortage of parking space available, drivers are often seen parking on the road and even on pavements. This shrinks the available space and obstructs the free

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

flow of traffic. On an average 40% of the cars are being parked on the roads resulting in traffic congestion. As per a 2018 study by BCG it is estimated that we lose 1.47 lac crore rupees a year to congestion in the four metro cities alone. The construction space in the metros have reduced drastically. With the daily new car registrations of approximately 800 cars in Mumbai and 1500 cars in New Delhi (NCR) the additional daily space required is equivalent of 4 and 7.5 football fields respectively. How do we generate this kind of space? Especially when per capita open spaces in cities like Mumbai are at 1.28 sq.mtr as against the 9 sq.mtr recommended space by WHO. This situation creates an emergency need for a sustainable parking solution at the earliest. An automated parking system is one of the most efficient ways to deal with this challenge.

An automated parking system stores the similar number of cars small portion of the space needed by a parking ramp or other conventional parking structure

49 Rajesh Kabra, a youth leader & a dynamic entrepreneur is a Director at RR Global, an 850+ Million USD diversified group of industries focusing mainly on infrastructure & electrical solutions spread across 85 countries globally. Mr. Kabra is best known for spearheading RR Parkon, India’s largest automated multilevel car parking solutions company. He started his career at a young age with Tyco as a Business Analyst and later moved to BG Group where he was responsible for Strategic Planning. Rajesh joined RR Global in early 2009 when he was only 21 years of age where he took on the responsibility with his team to lead the business at RR Parkon and turned it into a successful venture for the group company. Mr. Rajesh Kabra strongly believes in offering not only quality products but also quality service to his customers and hence the brand RR Parkon is driven by the mantra S ‘ervice driven is success driven’ . He is known for being a transformational leader who creates the best balance for his employees and the company.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

Automated multi-level car parking systems are a technically solid choice, offering progressed techniques to park and retrieve cars from the parking facility. Their superior innovation and technology simplifies vehicle parking and retrieval with a strong system of pallets, lifts and signaling devices. A multilevel parking system

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

usually accommodates up to 70 cars in the space of 3. As multiple cars can be parked in the same amount of space as a conventional parking lot, automated parking systems are considered to be used for optimum space utilization. The gradual progression towards these automated systems is not only beneficial for ease of mobility and people but also to promote a sustainable and safe environment while solving the paradoxical challenges of urban living. An automated parking system stores the similar number of cars small portion of the space needed by a parking ramp or other conventional parking structure. The conventional parking systems with their large, complex buildings often prove to be an expensive affair to maintain and are timeconsuming as well. The large parking structures take up a huge space of real estate and green cover in already congested cities. This makes it largely inefficient in terms of mobility and sustainability. Automated Parking Systems play a significant role in saving green spaces in the city. The city green spaces help improve air quality in the urban environment and also help in improving the surrounding property values. Currently the urban spaces in the country are facing air pollution issues due to which construction is banned by the government in certain cities, Automated Parking Systems are an optimal solution to avoid the environmental hazards caused by conventional parking management. Studies have shown the slower vehicles go, the greater their emissions of Co2 and other greenhouse gases. Idling vehicles produce significant emissions for no real benefit. The traditional parking spaces encourage these wasteful behaviors as drivers circle slowly to find parking spots to navigate winding parking structures. Automated parking systems are aimed to reduce carbon emissions by 20-30 per cent simultaneously saving the car owners the frustration of finding parking in busy areas. Automated parking systems can help contribute to the city’s sustainable efforts in reducing significant Co2 emissions. The elimination of driver aisles and ramps gives parking systems a great opportunity to build structures that are way more efficient and accessible than the conventional parking spaces in urban cities. India will soon exhaust opportunities for horizontal developments and a multi-level car parking system might be a necessity. Multiple states and cities in India are opting for smart parking solutions and are making sustainable choices to ensure the city is not congested and is meeting the increasing demand for parking spaces. Multilevel car parking systems are quite popular in developed countries, India too is taking a step in the direction of including smart parking in the development plans as seen in major smart city projects in the country.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

EXPERT OPINION

HR Artificial Intelligence:

Roadmap of Tech-Driven Future Raghav Poojary, Senior VP- Digital Automation & Marcom, FirstMeridian

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

S Raghav Poojary is the Senior VP - Digital Automation & Marcom at FirstMeridian. He plays a key role in driving end-to-end automation of key business processes through seamless implementation and adoption of stateof-the-art HR tech tools across the Group. Raghav is also an expert advisor for the Group’s Branding/ Rebranding, MarCom and Talent strategy. Raghav holds a bachelor degree in Computer Science from Bangalore University and has over 16 years of experience that is spread across HR Technology & Process Automation, Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), Consulting, Staffing, Managed Services, Sourcing Channel Optimisation, Social Media Hiring & Talent Branding and University Hiring.

tarting from screening and selection to training and administration of employees, HR has a role to play in the functioning and success of an organisation. The pandemic paved the way for the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in every department of an organisation. However, to capitalise on this, companies need skilled workers who are nimble and are future-ready. This has created a global shift in jobs and job descriptions, making it more challenging now for the HR industry to find the right fit. People who facilitate digital transformation are an essential component of an organisation’s digital transformation journey. HR requires a talent pool with the skill set to work in collaboration with AI. Besides that, the HR processes in themselves are now partly or entirely integrated with AI. According to a survey conducted by the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) in 2021, [95 percent] of tech leaders strongly believe that AI will lead to major innovations across multiple sectors like manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, and energy in the years to come. It will be apt to say that HR Artificial Intelligence is leading the world to a tech-driven future. Some of the most evident trends in the techdriven future will be: Smart Digital Forms for recruitment: The recruitment and employee onboarding pattern has witnessed a change since AI has entered the industry. What was a time consuming, boring process has been optimissed by smart digital forms, sensors and screeners for employment referrals and smart techniques to find the right talent. These processes continue to evolve with the requirements. The entire hiring process, which is aided by automation, not only speeds up the process but also aids in the monitoring and analysis of KPIs, which was certainly not a cakewalk previously. AI Boosting work quality: AI allows employees to focus on higher-quality tasks, as it takes over the routine role that require no strategic planning. The focus in the future will be more about quality of work rather than the quantum of work. HR automation can track KPIs more effectively to identify slow areas, assist in providing training where needed and ensure a higher quality output over time.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

AI opens the doors to various employment opportunities wherein human skills will be in demand as the ones that require no specialised skills will be taken over by AI thereby giving individuals a chance to explore their potential.

The entire hiring process, which is aided by automation, not only speeds up the process but also aids in the monitoring and analysis of KPIs, which was certainly not a cakewalk previously

New employment opportunities: As per a report of 2018 by The World Economic Forum, artificial intelligence was set to displace 75 million jobs as it took over increasingly mundane aspects of employment. However, 133 million new roles were said to be created, necessitating emotional and technical intelligence, such as technology design and programming. The first couple of weeks of 2022 have already witnessed a further digital leap facilitating automation across industries.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

Better employee experience: AI enhances employee experience by taking over tedious tasks that otherwise exhaust them. Employees get enough rest and space to utilise that energy in strategic planning. By making sure that employees are not overworked, it ensures a conducive environment to work in. AI in HR will also make it easier to maintain track of leave records and reply to leave requests quickly and make tedious tasks like calculating payrolls easy. This will contribute to an overall good employee experience both in HR and other departments. Transformation in corporate training: Training modules of a company has to resonate with the type of work and the skills that need to be developed for the role. Both these factors will witness a change once AI takes over, so there will be an evident change in corporate training. Smarter businesses engage in talent through various learning and development programmes, embrace and encourage diversity, and ensure that all employees are technologically savvy. A study by the World Economic Forum (WEF) stated that [65 percent] of children entering primary schools today will work on jobs that do not exist currently. AI will greatly influence the occupational shift in the next decade. A tech-driven space that integrates both human effort and technology will change the face of the global market. We are living in an age wherein we can witness that transformation. Technology has always played a role in accomplishing company goals by increasing efficiency and optimising processes. Artificial intelligence has revolutionised how humans interact with technology. An era wherein people are not just aware of the technical know-how but are driven and motivated by AI and technology awaits the future. The HR industry will also be more flexible given the trends like gig work and remote work, which are rising prominently among the workforce in these contemporary times. A workspace driven by technology will ensure that every possible opportunity to reach organisational goals is on the plate. Harnessing the talents of these individuals to reach organisational goals can be made possible when HR is completely integrated with the recent trends of the times aided by AI.

123

Higher Education Digest October 2020

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

LEADER’S INSIGHTS

AUTOMATION IMPACT OF JOBS ON MSMEs Prateek Garg, CEO & Founder, Progressive Infotech

Prateek Garg is an entrepreneur and a technology visionary. Prateek was felicitated at the 9th A ‘sia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards-2018’, where he received the award for his continued efforts and innovations in the field of ‘IT, Internet and Telecommunication’. Prateek has chaired the Western UP Zonal Council- Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) as Vice-Chairman (2013-14) and as Chairman (2014-15). He is the CII Co-Chairmen Northern Region (2019-20) for Artificial Intelligence (AI).

apid technological advances in digitisation and data and analytics have been reshaping the business landscape, supercharging performance, and enabling the emergence of new business innovations and new forms of competition. At the same time, the technology itself continues to evolve, bringing new waves of advances in robotics, analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI), and especially machine learning. Together they amount to a step change in technical capabilities that could have profound implications for business, for the economy, and more broadly, for society. With such advancements and the automation making its way in the employment sector, the jobs, not only in India but also abroad are at jeopardy.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

AI and emerging technologies, for example, virtual personality assistants and chatbots are quickly gaining ground into the work environment. As per a report by Gartner, it is expected that these advances will supplant practically 69% of the director’s outstanding burden by 2024. With all the progressions the workspaces are required to see an immense change in the coming 4 years. The work of manager will see a complete upgrade in the following four years. Presently, managers regularly need to invest energy filling in forms, refreshing data and approving workflows. By utilising AI to automate these errands, they can invest less energy managing transactions and can contribute more time on learning, performance

APPLICATION LEADERS SHOULD UPHOLD A SLOW PROGRESS TO EXPANDED MECHANISATION OF THE BOARD ERRANDS AS THIS USEFULNESS TURNS OUT TO BE PROGRESSIVELY ACCESSIBLE ACROSS MORE ENDEAVOUR APPLICATIONS

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

management and goal setting. Artificial intelligence and arising innovations will irrefutably change the part of the supervisor and will permit workers to expand their level of responsibility and influence, without taking on management assignments. Application pioneers zeroed in on advancement and AI are presently responsible for improving labourer experience, creating specialist abilities and building hierarchical competency in dependable utilisation of AI. Application leaders should uphold a slow progress to expanded mechanisation of the board errands as this usefulness turns out to be progressively accessible across more endeavour applications. The pervasive conversation in the market today can sometimes focus on whether there will be sufficient positions for labourers in this consistently mechanized world. Truly this dread has demonstrated unwarranted, as work markets acclimate to innovation, and as we said before, likewise make new openings. India has an unemployment crisis. Far beyond that, what this report recommends is that India likewise has an employ ability emergency. In any event, when firms have occupations on offer, they can’t discover up-andcomers with the correct abilities who can take on these positions. A significant purpose behind this lays in the way that schooling frameworks are not exceptional to adjust to changes at the work environment. This has made another issue well beyond unemployment.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

AI is tied in with attempting to make machines or programming impersonate human conduct. Computer based intelligence has given us colossal preparing power, stockpiling limit and continuous admittance to data. These advancements of innovation gave us the turning wheel in the primary, power in the second, and PCs in the third mechanical transformation. In recent past, the World Economic Forum called AI “the fourth mechanical upset” that has profoundly changed the way we live, work and associate with one another. Be that as it may, it has likewise given us the administrative difficulties, similar to Data Ownership, Data Security, Labour Protection, and so forth AI will supplant tasks, not jobs. Rather than agonising over occupation misfortunes, organisations should advance AI and AI, which takes over tedious assignments, without any mistakes, without bargaining the wellbeing and quality, aside from expanded profitability, effective utilisation of materials, and so forth. Automation in the long run will also have an impact on jobs which are highly skilled (Phase 3 –Around 2030). However, the industry will start benefitting from automation initiatives that have been implemented already. An evolved workforce with better skills will soon emerge resulting the evolution of human skills as automation increases. Even though automation has a number of cons, the sector is only meant to grow and flourish.

Higher Education Digest July 2020

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

EXPERT OPINION

Why Should HR Leaders Rely on Intelligent Automation for Organizational Growth? Vicky Jain, Founder, uKnowva

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

A Vicky Jain is one of the Founder of uKnowva, a cloudbased HRM software that happens to be the brainchild of Convergence IT Services. Vicky along with his cofounding members Abhay Talekar and Priyanka Jain has played an active role in the development of the software, which provides a 360-degree solution for HR Automation and People Management. Vicky has been responsible for the software’s exponential growth & operational excellence that has merited uKnowva the badge of a trusted brand.

study conducted over six continents, involving six hundred HR Information Technology (IT) and HR leaders by PWC revealed that process automation or intelligent automation (IA) is the key area of focus for 45 percent of the participants. Intelligent automation of human resources, according to expert technologists, has the ability to change the HR function by increasing performance, maximising competitiveness, and promoting creativity. According to HR experts, intelligent automation will enable them to make better choices, get things accomplished with fewer resources, and move their attention from the manual, routine jobs to more strategic roles – just by innovation. What is intelligent automation (IA), and what led to its rise? IA incorporates artificial intelligence and automation to allow machines to perceive, comprehend, study, and act on their own or with the help of humans. This ensures that, unlike conventional automation or robotic process automation (RPA), intelligent automation allows robots to not only replicate manual operation but also make intelligent choices in the same way that humans do. IA is capable of comprehending systems and their combinations. This would enable HR to spend less time on non-value-added tasks and more time on peoplerelated initiatives such as employee involvement, experience, and culture, making HR an even more valued business partner. A recent study conducted by the State of HR Technology India states that nearly 70% of companies in the world have automated half of their HR tasks, such as recruiting, productivity monitoring, communications, and partnership. In the current financial year, about 20% of companies expect to spend more than Rs. 1 Crore crore ($140,000) on HR technologies. According to the same survey, the percentage of businesses who have automated different HR functions have risen in comparison to three years earlier. The primary motivation for businesses to invest in HR technologies is to save money. According to the survey, other core factors include improving HR role efficiency, encouraging leaders to handle workflows, and improving HR policy execution/implementation. And with the arrival of COVID-19 and the rapid increase in work from home situations, HR experts are now indeed realising that IA not only

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

reproduces manual activity but also assists them to get more work done with less.

With the arrival of COVID-19 and the rapid increase in work from home situations, HR experts are now indeed realising that IA not only reproduces manual activity but also assists them to get more work done with less

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022

Organisational Growth Aided by Intelligent Automation in Human Resource Decision-Making Talent recruitment is one HR operation that stands to profit greatly from IA. Recruitment and hiring processes have traditionally required a lot of manual, tedious activities. IA will radically compress recruiting and onboarding procedures, allowing talent management executives to concentrate on what matters most: company development. Talent management experts will accomplish strategic company objectives, including maximising retention and efficiency by concentrating their efforts on developing innovative communication tactics and providing an outstanding employee experience. One or both of the possible benefits of integrating IA seems to be cost reduction and return on investment. According to a 2019 Hackett Group survey, HR departments and firms that use automation will do more with fewer resources. According to the survey, “worldclass” HR companies use IA and, as a result, have 20 percent lower expenses and deliver required resources for 31% fewer workers than non-digital organisations. In 2017, IBM published research into how cognitive computing could affect HR. Artificial intelligence, according to the report, will assist practitioners in making fast choices on a daily basis. Apart from their job contributions, the Human Resource department is liable for an employee’s mental and emotional well-being. Before and after a customer call, AI-enabled systems can take over the role of monitoring and assessing employee attitude. HR will then determine if the employee requires rest or can begin working. Anxiety may also be detected by a person’s actions and voice sound. IA systems will assist managers in determining if they can investigate and remedy the situation until it becomes detrimental to the workforce and the business. Repetitive administrative processes may be automated with IA-based technology. It will help with HR strategy, workforce management, processes and procedures review, payroll management, and more. It has the ability to automate workforces, review corporate enforcement, and develop legal tactics. When a company expands, so will the number of workers that need HR assistance, each with their own set of needs. Employees may perform a portion of basic tasks on their own with the help of intelligent automated HR technologies. Employee satisfaction can rise as a result of this.

CXO OUTLOOK February 2022