Archive: November 28, 2024

Genpact Opens New Facility in Lucknow, Aims to Create Over 2,000 Jobs

LUCKNOW, November 28, 2024 – Genpact (NYSE: G), a global professional services and solutions firm delivering outcomes that shape the future, today announced the opening of its new office in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. The company plans to employ more than 2,000 employees in the city by the end of 2025, marking a strong foothold in the region and contributing to India’s role as a global hub for innovation and talent.

“Lucknow is a city with a rich heritage and a promising technological future,” said Vipin Gairola, Global Operating Officer, Genpact. “By establishing a presence here, we aim to tap into the city’s exceptional talent pool and drive innovation across our global operations. Our commitment to leveraging advanced technologies and talent development will empower us to deliver exceptional value to clients worldwide.”

The investment in Lucknow is a cornerstone of Genpact’s broader strategy to cultivate a world-class AI and technology-fluent workforce and enhance its ability to deliver advanced technologies, AI solutions, and digital transformation services globally. The new office is designed to foster a collaborative environment where groundbreaking ideas can flourish. It will also provide various opportunities for local talent to enhance their skills and develop in-demand expertise to succeed in an ever-evolving world.

With existing offices in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Madurai, and Warangal, Genpact has a proven track record of driving innovation and sustainable impact in India’s tier 2 and tier 3 cities. This expansion reflects the company’s ongoing commitment to strengthening its presence and empowering local talent in emerging regions.

Technology Seen as Key to Sustainability by 74% of India’s Business and Tech Leaders, Says Kyndryl-Microsoft Study

Bangalore, November 28, 2024 – Kyndryl (NYSE: KD), the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider, released the second Global Sustainability Barometer study, commissioned by Microsoft. The study, conducted by Ecosystm, shows that while 21% of organizations surveyed globally use technology to reduce their environmental footprint and shape their overall sustainability strategy, 54% of organizations in India leverages technology to achieve sustainability goals. Since last year, 31% of Indian organizations have increased their sustainability goals and execution.

“As the world faces increasing climate-related challenges, businesses are under pressure to act decisively and place sustainability at the forefront – and this year’s Global Sustainability Barometer study highlights that organizations must move from intent to collective action to drive change,” said Faith Taylor, Chief Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability Officer at Kyndryl. “By integrating sustainability into a company’s business strategy, processes and systems, organizations can maximize the value of their people and technology to achieve internal goals and deliver positive impact.”

The study shows that leaders are increasingly recognizing the benefits of sustainability initiatives for their organizations, with specific areas where improvements can be made. By embedding technology into sustainability strategies, organizations can turn abstract goals into actionable, data-driven plans.

The study highlights the following areas of opportunity:

While 59% of Indian organizations say sustainability goals and initiatives are incorporated into existing reporting processes, only 12% fully use data for strategic planning and decision-making.

99% of Indian businesses use data to track or measure sustainability efforts to some degree, however 87% don’t use the data from their sustainability initiatives to guide the organization’s transformation journey 29% of the Indian businesses believe AI will significantly impact their achievement of sustainability goals. However, 51% of organizations do not consider the environmental impact when implementing AI solutions.

Matthew Sekol, a Sustainability Global Black Belt at Microsoft, added, “Companies can gain the insights needed to deliver on their commitments and drive resilience by integrating sustainability data with operational and financial data, and using traditional data analytics and robust AI tooling to reshape operational efficiencies and foster sustainable innovations.”

Taking action to advance sustainability strategies

The study’s detailed analyses and deep insights can enable organizations to enhance their sustainability efforts. To fully realize an organization’s potential, consider the following guiding principles:

Technology must be core to strategic planning. 34% of Indian businesses leverage IT to reduce their technology environmental impact, while 20% say data and technology is helping achieve organizational sustainability goals. Only 18% of businesses focus on achieving both through technology. In the next year, companies should consider integrating technology into sustainability strategies to turn abstract goals into actionable plans.

Recast the role of AI. 76% of Indian organizations use AI to monitor energy use and emissions, but only 28% use AI to predict future energy consumption based on current data. Integrating AI-powered scenario planning and climate risk mitigation allows organizations to adopt a holistic approach to environmental responsibility, enhancing readiness for future challenges.

Harness data for proactive business transformation. Disparate data across various enterprise planning systems is seen as a clear challenge as only 13% businesses in India use data to guide their transformation journeys. By effectively integrating the disparate data, organizations gain a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of their environmental impact, which leads to informed sustainability decisions.

Foster a culture of collective responsibility. CEOs continue to shape sustainability goals and 55% of organizations consider Chief Sustainability Officers and sustainability teams key stakeholders. The next step is for organizations to fully engage cross-functional teams, particularly finance and technology, to move sustainability into a core business priority and ensure implementation.

While the benefit of AI for sustainability is gaining traction, AI’s environmental impact is a growing concern. Only 46% of Indian organizations are considering the energy implications of their AI solutions. Kyndryl and Microsoft provide actionable strategies for organizations to measure infrastructure baseline emissions and optimize AI architectures, including AI and machine learning models to minimize energy use and reduce waste. The two companies work closely with organizations to ensure that technological advancements contribute positively to sustainability goals without compromising innovation.

“The study’s findings confirmed our understanding of the Indian market: consumers are increasingly demanding sustainable products and services. As customer expectations rise and regulations tighten, Indian organizations must prioritize sustainability initiatives,” says Sash Mukherjee VP Industry Insights Ecosystm. “The power of data and technology extends beyond environmental benefits, enabling organizations to integrate sustainability into their broader strategic goals.”

Palo Alto Networks Shares Cybersecurity Outlook for Asia Pacific in 2025 and Beyond

India, Mumbai– 28 November 2024- Palo Alto Networks, the global cybersecurity leader, released its 2025 cybersecurity predictions for the Asia Pacific region, outlining five key trends that cyber practitioners can expect to unfold in the coming twelve months and position their organisations for a more secure future.

Organisations across the APAC region have emphasised embedding AI into business processes in 2024. This includes cybersecurity processes, where organisations and their adversaries are engaged in an AI arms race. But alarmingly, according to a recent PwC report, more than 40% of leaders say they do not understand the cyber risks posed by emerging technologies like Generative AI. In 2025, AI will become central to cybersecurity strategy with organisations using AI to proactively mitigate risk. Crucially, they will also seek to secure their own AI models.

Swapna Bapat, Managing Director and Vice President, India & SAARC, Palo Alto Networks:

“In 2025, the cybersecurity landscape will enter a pivotal phase, driven by the dual forces of AI-powered innovation and increasingly sophisticated threats. Cyber adversaries are leveraging AI at unprecedented levels, orchestrating attacks with precision and speed. To counter this, organisations must embrace a unified, proactive security approach powered by transparent, ethical AI. The ability to centralise and analyse data effectively will determine who stays ahead in this high-stakes game. Trust, adaptability, and innovation will be the cornerstones of resilience, ensuring organisations can safeguard not just their operations but also their reputations in this rapidly evolving digital era.”

From the anticipated surge in high-impact cyber attacks to the integration of quantum AI for energy-efficient solutions, these predictions for 2025 serve as essential guidelines for organisations to shape their cybersecurity strategies and maximize the potential of AI technologies.

Cyber Infrastructure will be centred around a single unified data security platform
In 2025, the organisations will address increased complexity by reducing the number of cybersecurity tools in use, and shifting to a unified platform, offering enhanced visibility and control. The ongoing cyber skills shortage will continue to accelerate this trend. A unified platform will provide end-to-end visibility and context, spanning code repositories, cloud workloads, networks, and SOCs. Ultimately this creates a more holistic security architecture with fewer dashboards. The convergence of all security layers onto a unified platform will optimise resources, improve overall efficiency, and enable organisations to build more resilient, adaptive defences against evolving threats

2025 is the year deepfakes go mainstream in APAC
Deepfakes are already being used for nefarious purposes in the APAC region. While some have been used to spread political misinformation, the most effective attacks have targeted corporations for financial gain, like the employee at a Hong Kong engineering firm duped into wiring millions of dollars to a scammer who had used deepfakes to imitate the CFO and executive team on a video conference.

Savvy criminals will take note and use ever-improving generative AI technology to launch credible deepfake attacks. The use of audio deepfakes will also become more widespread in these attacks, as the available technology allows for highly credible voice cloning. We can expect deepfakes to be used alone or as part of a larger attack much more often in 2025.

Beyond the Quantum security hype: what to expect in 2025
Quantum computing projects are spreading across the region, with governments and venture capital firms investing heavily in local initiatives.

While quantum attacks on widely used encryption methods are not yet feasible, nation-state-backed threat actors are expected to intensify their “harvest now, decrypt later” tactics, targeting highly classified data with the intent to unlock it when quantum technology advances. This poses a risk to governments and businesses, with the potential to jeopardise civilian and military communications, undermine critical infrastructure, and overcome security protocols for most internet-based financial transactions. We will likely also see nation state actors target organisations developing quantum computers themselves, in corporate espionage attacks.

To counteract these threats effectively, all organisations will need to act and adopt quantum-resistant defences, including quantum-resistant tunnelling, comprehensive crypto data libraries, and other technologies with enhanced crypto-agility. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently released final standards for post-quantum cryptography. Transitioning to these algorithms will help secure data against future quantum threats. Organisations that require high security should explore quantum key distribution (QKD) as a means of ensuring secure communications. As quantum computing continues to become more and more of a reality and potential threats loom, it will be essential to adopt these measures to keep pace with the rapidly evolving cyber landscape, prevent data theft, and ensure the integrity of their critical systems.

For now, CIOs can debunk any hype around this topic to the board. Though significant progress with quantum annealing has been made, military-grade encryption has still not been broken.

Transparency will be the cornerstone for maintaining customer trust in the AI era
Regulators in the APAC region are starting to zone in on the data protection and cybersecurity implications of the growing use of AI models. This is part of an overall bid to build trust in AI use and encourage AI-driven innovation.

In 2025, APAC legislators’ AI focus on ethics, data protection and transparency, will remain, However, increased use of AI models will lead to greater emphasis being placed on AI security and the integrity and reliability of the data being used. Transparency and proactive communication about AI model mechanics—specifically regarding data collection, training datasets, and decision making processes—will be essential for building customer trust.

Increased focus on product integrity and supply chain security in 2025
In 2025, organisations can be expected to focus more on product integrity and supply chain resilience. Specifically, they will conduct much more thorough risk assessments, consider accountability and legal implications of business outages and review insurance arrangements.

In cloud environments, where complexity and scale amplify risks, real-time visibility has become a necessity. Expect to see greater focus on comprehensive monitoring involving continuous tracking of both infrastructure and application performance metrics.

Airtel’s AI-Powered Solution Blocks Spam Calls and SMS for Karnataka Customers

Mangaluru, November 28, 2024: Bharti Airtel’s new AI-powered spam detection system has provided much-needed relief to customers in Karnataka. In the 63 days since its launch, this pioneering telecom solution has successfully identified 682 million potential spam calls and 46 million spam SMS messages in Karnataka.

All Airtel mobile customers in Karnataka now have automatic access to the free solution without needing to request service or download an app.

Commenting on the launch, Rajnish Verma, Chief Executive Officer, Karnataka, Bharti Airtel, said, As customers increasingly rely on and engage with technology, they face a growing risk of exposure to scams and harmful communications that have led to numerous online fraud incidents. In response, Airtel is proud to launch a cutting-edge, AI-driven solution designed to proactively identify suspected spam calls and messages. By leveraging advanced in-house AI technology, Airtel is building a secure digital platform for its 50 million of customers in Karnataka, empowering them with greater awareness and control over the calls and messages they receive.

Developed in-house by Airtel’s data scientists, the AI-powered solution uses a proprietary algorithm to identify and classify calls and SMSes as “Suspected Spam”. The network powered by a state-of-the-art AI algorithm analyses various parameters such as the caller or sender’s usage patterns, call/SMS frequency and call duration amongst several others, on a real time basis. By cross-referencing this information against known spam patterns, the system flags suspected spam calls and SMSes accurately.

A dual-layered protection, the solution has two filters – one at the network layer and the second at the IT systems layer. Every call and SMS passes through this dual-layered AI shield. In two milliseconds the solution processes 1.5 billion messages and 2.5 billion calls. This is equivalent to processing 1 trillion records on a real time basis using the power of AI.

Additionally, the solution also alerts customers to malicious links received via SMS. For this, Airtel has built a centralized database of blacklisted URLs and every SMS is scanned in real time by a state-of-the-art AI algorithm to caution users from accidently clicking on suspicious links. The solution can also detect anomalies such as frequent IMEI changes – a typical indicator of fraudulent behaviour. By layering these protective measures, the company is ensuring its customers receive the maximum level of defence against the evolving landscape of spam and fraud threats.