There are at least two clear trends that show a demand-supply mismatch in tech jobs in cutting-edge IT fields such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. One is via industry predictions that estimate growth in the AI market from USD 21.46 billion to USD 190.61 billion between 2018 and 2025. Year on year growth is projected to be an impressive 36.62% during the same period. The second trend is more subtle. Big Indian IT firms in the US are reportedly ‘hoarding’ employees in these 2 fields as they foresee a shortage in skilled experts. They also fear a corresponding rise in the cost of hiring employees for tech contracts they have bagged for the future.

How are AI & Machine Learning being used in Industry?

Unlike the exaggerated robots of the 2001 Steven Spielberg movie of the same name, Artificial Intelligence [AI] in reality is tamer. AI is understood to mean ways of making computers, computer-controlled robots or program think intelligently mimicking the manner in which humans think intelligently. A computer program with AI can use can solve generic problems it is programmed to instead of just specific ones. They can accommodate new modifications to input without breaking structure. Traditional programmers would have to sort, sift and debug thousands of lines of code to make modifications.

AI finds applications in strategy games such as chess or poker where advance moves are determined by heuristic logic, natural language processing, virtual assistant technology, image and speech recognition and automated robotics. General AI systems which can solve any given problem are rare. Insurance and banking organizations regularly use AI to monitor fraud. Marketers use AI every time you shop online to gather your browsing habits and predict what you are most likely to buy. They will then advertise those products through pop-ups and logos. Self-driving cars, auto-pilot modes and smart homes using sensors all rely on AI and affect daily lives of consumers.

There is also a difference between AI and Machine Learning (ML) although a number of articles on the web club them together or use them interchangeably. ‘ML is the study of computer algorithms that improve automatically through experience‘ according to Tom Mitchell of Carnegie Mellon University. It is simply one of the ways we use to achieve AI or something closer.

How can you acquire AI & ML skills?

By some estimates, AI will create nearly 2.3 million jobs by next year. It might also make 1.7 million jobs obsolete but those would need to be replaced by 0.5 million new jobs. Nearly all forms of enterprise software, factory automation, transport and other industries are increasingly using AI-based interfaces in their daily operation. In fact, by 2030, AI may end up offering USD 15.7 trillion to the global economy.

Mathematical and programming skills are central to acquiring competency in this field. However, for seasoned tech professionals, it is also quite important to develop excellent communication skills. An understanding of how business works and the common processes used in day-to-day operations will help you better utilize your core competencies to improve organizational workflows.

Core Competencies required in AI & ML

For complete beginners, programming using C++ is a mandatory requirement. Also necessary is an understanding of how algorithms are created and executed. Typically, knowledge and expertise in Bayesian networks, neural networks, cognitive science theory, engineering, physics, robotics, undergraduate algebra, calculus, statistics and probability are very essential to hone your talents in ML.

Graduates in Computer Science need only supplement their knowledge of math and computing with a specialized course in AI & ML.

India Best Placed to exploit AI opportunities

Analysis of professional networking site Linkedin has shown that India is the third best-placed economy after the US and China to crack AI jobs and careers with high penetration of AI awareness. AI is a big part of investments into start-ups at an estimated by private players alone in 2016.

Among the more exciting opportunities one can expect in 2019 is the rising application of AI in healthcare to detect and diagnose health issues in individuals. Smart infrastructure to help balance rapid growth in urban centers in India is also an option being explored by the government. B. Tech programs now mandatorily have AI, IoT, Machine Learning and some other essential components of emerging technologies. However, constant changes in this dynamic field have made it mandatory for professionals to keep up skilling via a noted institution to remain relevant and job-worthy.

About the Author

Diwakar Chittora is the Founder & CEO of Intellipaat. You can find more about him here.

ACT Fibernet, India’s largest fiber broadband provider and Netflix, world’s leading internet entertainment service, announced a strategic partnership. As part of this partnership, ACT Fibernet’s existing and new customers who select from the newly launched 6-month and 12-month ‘Entertainment’ plan variants will be able to seamlessly pay for their monthly Netflix subscription through their ACT Fibernet bill. This will also enable customers to receive an assured cashback of up to INR 350 per month on their ACT bills, which will be added to their ACT accounts.  The offer will be available for ACT Fibernet customers from March 6, 2019 across Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and will be subsequently expanded to other markets.

Speaking on the partnership, Ravi Karthik, Marketing Head, Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd. said

In line with our brand philosophy  Feel the Advantage, we are excited to partner with Netflix, one of the most preferred choice of entertainment for our customers, and provide exceptional benefits and convenience to our users who will now be able to stream and enjoy the best of 4K and HD content seamlessly.

Further, under our advantage entertainment promise, we are delighted to launch a unique assured cashback program for all our customers who choose to subscribe for Netflix via ACT.

Speaking on the partnership, Abhishek Nag, Director – Business Development, Netflix India said

Rising video consumption is at the heart of the growing broadband internet ecosystem in India. We are delighted to partner with ACT Fibernet to enable their customers to pay seamlessly for their Netflix subscription as part of their ACT bill and enjoy our incredible catalogue of content on any internet-connected screen.

In Bengaluru, the ACT Entertainment variants are available on ACT Storm, ACT Lightning, ACT Incredible and ACT GIGA broadband plans. Likewise, in Hyderabad, ACT Entertainment variants are available on A Max-1050, A Max-1299, ACT Incredible and ACT GIGA. In Chennai, the ACT Entertainment variants are available on ACT Blast Promo, ACT Storm, ACT Lightning, ACT Thunder, ACT Incredible and ACT GIGA. Similarly, in Delhi, the ACT Entertainment variants are available on ACT Platinum Promo, and ACT Diamond broadband plans.

Jio Cricket Play Along initiative has won the ‘Best Use of Mobile Marketing‘ award at the prestigious Global Mobile [GLOMO] Awards 2019 at MWC19 Barcelona. The other nominees for this award included Buyapowa and SMARTY for SMARTY, Dialog Axiata for Dialog Mega Run Mobile Marketing Platform, China Mobile Yunnan & Huawei for Yunnan Touring by One Mobile Phone, and Voyager Innovations for Freenet’s Freeniversaya.

Jio Cricket Play Along is an experiential marketing campaign that let users experience cricket on TV and Mobile simultaneously in a real time and interactive manner. The GLOMO Awards recognize and celebrate the best of the best, highlighting the technologies, products, companies and individuals that are pushing the boundaries of ingenuity and innovation to create a better future.

Speaking about the award to Jio Cricket Play Along, the judges said

This checked all the boxes to qualify for extreme success through a mobile marketing and advertising initiative. When you add up all the intelligent planning and execution, it is no wonder that millions played and 19 advertisers enjoyed the benefits of this progressive and fun platform.

Jio Cricket Play Along brought people together to celebrate the most loved sport in the country by turning spectators into participants, getting India closer to Cricket, their favourite teams and players. This award is testimony to the success of the highly engaging experience that this initiative presented for cricket fans on their mobile phones.

The concept to blend cricket which is the most popular game in India with an interactive and immersive mobile application was well embraced by Indian viewers with over 100 million unique participation and millions of hours of engagement on the platform.

A lot of us are still not entirely convinced regarding the benefits of using a water purifier. This blog post is a guide on how you can easily afford the best water filter in India, through the water purifier rental programme by LivPure Smart, because payments are small and monthly, and does not include the payment of upfront cash for the appliance as well. If you shift your residence frequently, or want to pay for only want you drink, this is the best choice for tap water filter. Renting water purifier for home is then both convenient as well as affordable.

Renting water purifiers is both efficient and hassle free, as it offers zero investment, zero maintenance charges and zero security deposit, for as long as you choose to use the product, also freedom from the packaged water suppliers and their services, whose water quality is also questionable. Whereas the water suppliers charge around Rs. 2 – 4 for per litre of water, through rental programmes you only need to pay Rs 1.2/- per litre for a monthly usage of 542 litres.

The plastic containers of the packaged water suppliers are harmful for health and can generate bacteria when stored out in the open. Where as in tap water filter rental, there is the assurance of having pure RO purified water to drink, that too at very affordable rates.

What’s more, you may enroll for the seven days no risk trial and that too with zero additional installation cost. The machine and the servicing will both be provided by the company you are renting it from, and it is free for lifetime, including real time water-quality checks.

Now both the water that you drink and your health are in safe hands, with the smart tap water filters backed by technological support from HEKA. Lay back and enjoy the engineering marvels such as IOT enabled smart indicators, real time filter health information as well as service support on the screen of your smartphone.

You are in for a guaranteed smart deal when you take part in water filter rental programmes, because it enables you to get a seamless supply of pure drinking water that is also RO filtered, at a much lower price when compared to branded packaged water container or the leading water purifiers in the market.

Not having to buy the purifier or paying for the water jars save around Rs. 9000/- -15000/- each year. You also get the benefits of checking water quality in real time or getting replacement of a faulty filter at zero extra cost. The service providers are there to help you with a single phone call for zero-cost installation or replacement of the RO device.

A filtering device comes with the 4-in-1 advantage of RO, UV, UF and Taste Enhancer, all blended into the purification process of the pure and healthy water that is generated from it. Upon subscription, you are entitled to the prompt services and assured quality offered by the company and can live your life at the fullest, without having to go through the hassles of buying any water purifier.

Zendesk, Inc. released The Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2019 showing that companies of all sizes across industries and geographies lack the capabilities needed to keep up with ever increasing customer expectations. The report is based on global survey results, focus groups, and the Zendesk Benchmark, an index of product usage data from 45,000 companies using Zendesk.

While good customer service outranks convenience and reputation when people are considering which companies to do business with, according to the report, there is a global dip in overall customer satisfaction. Over the past five years, customer satisfaction is down 2.2 percent, from 94.6 percent in 2013 to 92.5 percent in 2018, decreasing nearly a full percentage point in the past year.

At the same time, customer expectations continue to increase. Nearly half of customers surveyed [46 percent] said their expectations are higher than they were a year ago.

In the Forrester Research report, The Five CRM Trends In 2019 That Will Shape Engagement, Relationships, And Revenue, analyst Kate Leggett writes, ‘In the age of the customer, executives don’t decide how customer-centric their companies are – customers do.‘

Jeff Titterton, Chief Marketing Officer at Zendesk, said

We are seeing a widening gap between what customers expect and what companies can deliver. Whether you’re a 100-year-old financial services stalwart or a fast-growing consumer tech startup, your customers are comparing you to the best experiences they have ever had.

KT Prasad, Country Sales Director, Zendesk India, said

The new and empowered customer is breaking all traditions in their engagement with companies, and is prompting them to find more meaningful ways to engage proactively. As a result, customer experience [CX] has become a buzzword today in the technology and marketing-driven worlds.

Reinforcing this phenomena, the Zendesk 2019 CX Trends Report suggests customers from all over the world, including India, are increasingly impatient and their expectations continue to rise. This goes to prove that the customer is clearly still the boss, and brands must recommit to positioning themselves to serve them promptly and more effectively.

According to The Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2019, companies in travel, financial services, and retail industries are more likely to be among the leading innovators.

Companies like Amazon, Uber, and Airbnb are built on an entirely new kind of customer experience, raising the stakes for everyone. These businesses stand out for their ability to simplify the purchasing experience, communicate directly with consumers with digital tools, and use powerful data analytics to improve operations.

For those companies still struggling to deliver the experience their customers expect, the report identifies specific areas where businesses of all sizes, in every industry, can close the gap between what customers want and what they’re getting. According to the report, the most successful companies do the following:

Invest in an open, flexible platform – The World Economic Forum said earlier this year that fewer than 10 percent of business models are economically viable as the world digitizes. Seventy percent of the world’s top 10 most valuable companies [Amazon, Apple, Alibaba, Microsoft, etc.] and 70 percent of the $1 billion+ ‘Unicorn’ startups [Didi, Airbnb, etc.] operate a digital platform business model, yet fewer than 2 percent of other companies do.

Nearly 70 percent of customers expect support teams to collaborate so they don’t have to start over when contacting the same company through a different channel. This means companies need to manage customer data across all aspects of the customer experience and ensure a single record of the customer persists across channels, devices, and requests.

Pushing data in and out of support software using APIs, apps, and integrations can help businesses see a complete view of their customers. Companies using APIs resolve tickets 21 percent faster, and their customers spend 35 percent less time waiting for agents to respond, all while managing more than three times as many requests.

Meet customers where they are – The Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2019 findings show that 40 percent of customers prefer to use search or help centers before contacting support, yet only 20 percent of support teams provide self-service.

When they do have to contact customer service, customers want to be able to switch between channels and pick the one that best meets their needs. A whopping 85 percent of customers will use a different contact method if they don’t get a response from their initial request, with 44 percent waiting less than an hour before doing so.

Lean in to proactive engagement – While 30 percent of support teams are currently using proactive engagement for sales and marketing, according to the report, there are key benefits often overlooked, including reducing customer effort, preventing issues with a product, and minimizing support tickets for customer service agents. The vast majority of customers, nearly 90 percent, said they look more favorably on or are neutral about companies that reach out proactively.

Bet on AI – High performing businesses are twice as likely to use AI. In fact, companies using AI powered features by Zendesk have saved 225,000 agent hours and given 2,800 years back to customers. They’re resolving tickets 21 percent faster while handling six times the volume of requests. That said, 85 percent of enterprise companies aren’t yet using AI.

To learn more about the most important trends in customer experiences in 2019 and beyond, please visit Zendesk Customer experience trends report to download the report and check out the Customer Support Performance Scorecard, a personalized rating to help companies assess their own customer experiences.

Methodology

This report combines data from the Zendesk Benchmark, an index of product usage data from 45,000 companies using Zendesk, with the results of surveys and focus groups gauging the attitudes of customer service managers, customer service agents, and customers from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

ACT Fibernet, India’s largest fiber broadband ISP [Internet Service Provider], launched its new brand identity with the unveiling of the logo and tagline ‘Feel the Advantage’. The re-branding initiative is a strategic component of ACT Fibernet to becoming the most admired in-home entertainment and interactive internet services provider in India.

The new brand identity represents ACT Fibernet’s differentiated approach towards offering innovative customer centric solutions that will enhance user experience and provide maximum value.

In 2019, ACT Fibernet will expand its products, service offerings and partnerships across various categories, namely – ACT Advantage Entertainment, ACT Advantage Gaming, ACT Advantage Speed, ACT Advantage Service, ACT Advantage Smart Cities, and ACT Advantage community.

As part of the activity, ACT Fibernet will partner with content provider like ZEE5 and Sony Liv amongst others to strengthen its content offerings. Being the preferred choice of every gaming enthusiast, ACT Fibernet is working with popular gaming cafes, gaming OEMs and gaming publishers to provide the highest quality gaming experience to users.

Within the next six months, ACT Fibernet plans to launch its broadband services in multiple cities across North & West India, thereby expanding its footprint in the country.  The company will also be launching a 24*7 call center and a unified call center number to address customers queries in real time.

In support to the government’s mission towards building a digital India and smart cities mission, ACT Fibernet aims to complete 5000+ wi-fi hotspots across Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Vishakhapatnam and others. Further, ACT Fibernet is jointly working with the state government of Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru to enable free wi-fi connectivity in public libraries and schools.

Speaking on the launch Bala Malladi, CEO, Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd. said

We have always believed in providing our customers the best solutions through our products and services. Today, consumer needs and usage behavior is continuously evolving. Newer technologies are constantly being adopted and becoming mass-scale by the day, be it streaming or gaming or smart homes. It is therefore our responsibility to work in conjunction with the rapidly evolving customer’s expectations and find feasible ways to serve them. We strongly believe that our new brand identity reflects this value and commitment we have towards our customers.

Moving forward, we will be launching new products and services that our consumer’s desire. We are confident that with our pioneering fibernet connection, hyper fast speeds, new offerings and industry’s best customer service in place, we will successfully transform our customer’s experience enabling them to do and accomplish more. With ACT you can Feel the Advantage.

The new logo represents the brands ethos– Sharp, futuristic, innovative, exciting, creative and modern.  The tagline ‘Feel the Advantage‘is simple but powerful expression of the brand’s mission, values and commitment.

About ACT Fibernet

ACT Fibernet is India’s largest fiber-focused wired broadband ISP as on September 30, 2017 [in terms of number of fiber broadband internet subscribers from residential homes] [Source: India Broadband Market Overview – 2017 dated February 19, 2018, prepared by Media Partners Asia]. Headquartered in Bengaluru. ACT Fibernet has operations in 15 Indian cities as on December 31, 2017 with approximately 1.28 million customers.