Content consumption has changed significantly. Audiences now want everything – news, entertainment, sports and so on – on their own terms. What does this mean for CIOs in media and entertainment? To find out, CIO Dimension spoke with Harmit Singh Malhotra, Chief Technology Officer of NDTV Profit and a tech veteran with over 20 years of experience in broadcasting. 

From leading projects in live news rooms and international sports events to driving advancements in OTT and remote production, Harmit has worked with some of the biggest names in the industry. In this interview, he shares key insights on the industry’s evolution and what lies ahead for CIOs.

You come with over two decades of experience in the broadcast media space, having worked with many of the top brands in the Media industry. Would you like to recall some key moments in this journey?

My journey in broadcast media began in 2003 with Network18, where I was fascinated by the unique opportunities this industry offers to tech leaders. From the very start, I realized there is never a dull moment in this space—it’s a field where creativity and technology converge to create impactful stories and experiences.

During my tenure at Network18, I contributed to several key projects, including the launch of CNBC-Awaaz, IBN-Lokmat, COLORS, and CNBC Bajar. Each of these ventures showcased the power of technology in shaping how audiences consume content.

One of the most exciting projects in my career came in 2013 while working with Star Sports, where we implemented India’s first-ever remote production for international sports events. We wanted to move away from the traditional model of deploying large production crews at global venues. So, we introduced a streamlined workflow: live feeds were transmitted from international venues to a central hub, where commentary was added, and localised broadcasts were produced. This project delivered significant cost savings and maintained the highest production standards, setting a new benchmark for the industry. 

Following this, I worked for leading media organisations such as Republic Media Network and Enterr10. A key achievement during this period was spearheading the launch of Dangal Play’s OTT platform, where I oversaw the entire Tech workflow—from content and delivery to user experience design. This project provided great insights into the world of streaming platforms. 

Currently, I spearhead the technology operations at NDTV Profit, managing all aspects of technical and delivery from our Mumbai hub. This role allows me to continue exploring the potential of technology in media while adapting to the industry’s changing demands.

Tell us a bit more about your role at NDTV Profit and how you navigated the acquisition of BQPrime and its merger with NDTV Profit. 

In my current role at NDTV Profit, I oversee Corporate IT, Broadcast Engineering, and Cybersecurity, ensuring seamless integration across these critical functions. I lead a team responsible for maintaining efficient workflows, real-time content production, and multi-platform content delivery—spanning satellite broadcasting and digital streaming.

A key aspect of my role is managing critical infrastructure, including network systems, security frameworks, and core IT operations, all within a single, integrated team. This ensures cross-functional collaboration, innovation, and agility, allowing us to adapt to evolving industry demands. 

During the acquisition, strategic foresight played a crucial role in guiding our technology choices, ensuring compatibility with NDTV’s existing systems. During our transition and expansion, we prioritized proactive planning and seamless system integration, minimizing disruptions and ensuring a smooth operational flow. Close collaboration between teams allowed us to overcome technological challenges, facilitating a smooth and efficient transition post-merger.

As we continue to evolve, our focus remains on leveraging technology, strengthening cybersecurity frameworks, and enhancing operational efficiencies to position NDTV Profit as a leader in business news broadcasting.

I’m really curious about how content consumption and viewing patterns are evolving, especially post-COVID. Digital has clearly become the go-to medium for many. How do you see these trends shaping up?

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a big transformation in the way we consume media. Digital platforms emerged as the primary source of entertainment and information during this phase. But I think this shift stayed and paved the way for many key trends that continue to shape the media landscape. Here’re a few that I would like to highlight: 

Streaming services take centre stage: Channel streaming plays a big role in reaching a global audience. By leveraging the power of channel streaming, we can deliver excellent, personalised experiences to a diverse and expansive audience, ensuring our content remains relevant and impactful in the digital age.

The rise of short-form content: Short-form content has become increasingly popular, especially among younger audiences. Platforms like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts have revolutionised content consumption with their bite-sized, engaging videos. 

Personalized viewing experiences: Algorithms have become the backbone of personalized viewing experiences. Streaming services and social media platforms use sophisticated algorithms to recommend content based on user preferences. 

OTT platforms and Smart TVs: The integration of internet connectivity into televisions has transformed traditional TV viewing. OTT platforms offer vast content that can be accessed directly through smart TVs. This evolution has blurred the lines between conventional TV and digital streaming.

Social Media as a news source: Social media platforms have become crucial news sources, especially for younger generations. Platforms like X, Facebook, etc make it ideal for staying updated on current events. However, this has also underscored the importance of authenticity and trust in news consumption, as misinformation can spread rapidly across these channels.

Interactive and immersive content: Today audiences want more engaging experiences. Interactive and immersive content has  thusgained traction. Virtual concerts, online gaming, and live-streaming events offer unique and participatory experiences. The growing popularity of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) further enhances these interactive elements, creating a more dynamic media landscape.

That’s quite a lot on the plate for a CIO in the media and entertainment space! What are the opportunities and challenges that you see as a tech leader in this industry today? 

Speed and agility are paramount in the digital age. CIOs must prioritize digital-first strategies, ensuring rapid news dissemination across social media platforms. This requires a robust cloud infrastructure to enable real-time content delivery and personalized experiences based on audience preferences and location. Cloud technology, for example, is the cornerstone of our operations. Cloud platforms like AWS and Azure provide the foundation for our entire workflow, from content acquisition and processing to delivery and audience engagement.

One of the key challenges is the complexity of delivering content across multiple platforms and devices whilst maintaining quality and user experience. CIOs must prioritise building scalable infrastructure, including Content Delivery Networks (CDNs). As CDNs distribute content across a network of servers closer to users, it helps in minimizing latency and improving delivery times – making it crucial for modern media organisations.

You mentioned Cloud. Tell us how Cloud is driving some key business use cases for NDTV Profit. 

As a media organization, we are transitioning to a cloud-first approach, leveraging cloud platforms for content delivery, ad insertion, and audience targeting. This allows us to personalise content and ad experiences for viewers in different regions, enhancing the viewer experience and improving ad effectiveness.

We are also exploring edge computing, which brings processing power closer to the network’s edge. This enables faster response times and reduced latency, which is crucial for live streaming and interactive content. I believe cloud and edge computing will play an increasingly vital role in shaping the future of media delivery, enabling us to provide personalized content experiences to audiences worldwide.

What technological advancements do you foresee transforming newsrooms and studios in the coming years?

The media landscape is on the verge of a significant transformation. We are quickly moving away from traditional, cable-dependent workflows to IP-based production, which will efficiently transmit high-quality video signals over high-bandwidth networks. This shift will revolutionize our operations, enhancing flexibility and scalability.

AI is another technology that has the potential to change news production, even though concrete use cases are still emerging. From automated content creation and personalized recommendations to streamlining workflows and enhancing audience engagement, Generative AI will play a big role. I think, all these advancements in technology will help us build a more dynamic and responsive media industry.

The post Everything from Broadcast to Social: NDTV Profit’s Harmit Singh on the evolving media landscape appeared first on CIO Dimension.

Businesses today face an overwhelming “data tsunami” — a surge of data that, while valuable, often hampers application performance and strains architectural scalability. The more data an organization manages, the more challenging these issues become. With AI workloads adding to data management complexities, enterprises are looking for ways to achieve scalability, maintain performance, and meet evolving data demands.

CIO Dimension spoke with Bhanu Jamwal, Head of Presales & Solution Engineering, APAC, TiDB, to explore how a modern and innovative approach to databases is helping businesses overcome these challenges and innovate. TiDB – an open source distributed SQL database developed by PingCAP – tries to provide some answers. 

How is PingCAP’s TiDB positioning itself in the competitive database market, particularly considering the rapid growth of digital native businesses in India?

We’ve witnessed a remarkable surge in digital native businesses across India, spanning e-commerce, logistics, fintech, gaming, SaaS, and more recently, the emerging healthcare and Gen AI sectors. This explosive growth, however, comes at a cost – a massive influx of data.

Their increasing reliance on data creates a greater demand for scalable and reliable data solutions. Traditional databases often struggle to scale to meet this kind of growth and volume. Imagine a scenario where an e-commerce platform, during a peak sales event experiencing a huge surge in transactions. Traditional databases, such as MySQL or PostgreSQL, may encounter performance bottlenecks under such pressure.

Businesses are therefore compelled to either implement workarounds or adopt modern database solutions that can address these challenges. And these challenges now go beyond just scale. High availability is paramount; downtime is simply not an option today. Real-time analytics is another critical factor businesses. For instance, a bank needs to be able to detect fraudulent transactions in real-time to safeguard customer funds. So, it needs, scalability, availability and analytics- all at the same time. AI introduces further complexities and challenges to this mix. 

Recognizing these evolving needs, TiDB was born in 2015. We strive to address these challenges with our distributed architecture, which allows businesses to scale as their data grows. Distributed SQL databases have in fact emerged as an effective answer to modern data challenges. This approach has been gaining traction, as evidenced by Amazon’s recent entry into the distributed SQL market, acknowledging the growing demand for such solutions. 

How do you view the SQL vs. NoSQL debate, and how does TiDB position itself in this context?

The SQL vs. NoSQL debate has been ongoing for some time with both playing pivotal roles in enterprise environments. While NoSQL databases offer flexibility for specific use cases, they often require significant development effort to maintain data structures. SQL, on the other hand, remains the de facto standard for data access, with a vast pool of skilled developers. 

It’s interesting how many NoSQL databases, which originally distanced themselves from SQL, are now adding SQL layers to their platforms. It shows that SQL remains a simple and effective way to access data. 

TiDB’s aim is to bring best of both by offering a distributed SQL solution. Our Hybrid Transactional/Analytical Processing (HTAP) capabilities are designed to bridge the gap between SQL and NoSQL databases and handle both transactional and analytical workloads. 

How is AI and ML, particularly the rise of LLMs, changing the game for distributed databases, and how is TiDB capitalizing on these trends?

The rise of vector database is a trend worth mentioning in this context. Vector is becoming a powerful engine for today’s AI workloads. Though it has been around for a while, the adoption has rapidly scaled in recent years. These databases are becoming increasingly crucial for storing and processing the data generated by AI/ML models. 

But, this also makes the environment quite complex for enterprises. They often manage multiple databases for different workloads—a transactional database, a separate one for analytics, and yet another for vector storage. Managing databases is a complex process. 

At TiDB, we see an opportunity to simplify this process by offering a unified solution. Our vision is to provide a single database that handles all these workloads, eliminating the need for multiple systems. TiDB supports vector as a form of storage with TiDB serverless, enabling organizations to store and process both traditional data and vector data within a unified platform. We believe the integration of vector search capabilities into a traditional database will be a game-changer for businesses looking to leverage the power of AI and ML. 

Can you share some successful case studies of TiDB implementations in India and globally?

Absolutely! We have a number of success stories across various industries. In India, a leading e-commerce giant was struggling to manage the increasing complexity of their database infrastructure as they scaled, relying on a multitude of single-node databases. By migrating to TiDB, they consolidated their infrastructure, significantly improved performance, and gained greater operational efficiency. 

Delhivery, a leading logistics company that delivers a million packages a day, migrated to TiDB to power their real-time analytics and data marts use case, enabling them to handle thousands of requests per second with less than 100ms latency. 

Pinterest is another flagship customer that leveraged TiDB to modernize their data architecture. Globally, we’ve seen tremendous success in the fintech sector. A major Japanese fintech company, for example, experienced a 10x increase in throughput and a 30% reduction in latency after adopting TiDB for their high-volume wallet application. 

We’re also seeing significant growth in the SaaS market, where TiDB helps companies manage the complexities of multi-tenant environments and scale their databases to support growing user bases.

What are the key market opportunities for TiDB in India?

India is a dynamic and rapidly growing market with a thriving startup ecosystem. We see immense potential here. The sheer volume of data generated by India’s digital-native businesses and startups, coupled with their ambitious growth plans, creates a strong demand for distributed database solutions. India’s thriving Web3 community, its vast base of skilled developers are all opportunities that TiDB will be actively tapping into. 

The post Why Distributed SQL is the answer to modern data challenges: Bhanu Jamwal, TiDB  appeared first on CIO Dimension.

By Saurabh Rai

Reflecting on 2024, the geospatial sector has witnessed transformative advancements, driven by innovations that integrate GIS, AI, and IoT into critical domains. The development of the Ayodhya Sustainability Index as a milestone in leveraging geospatial intelligence for sustainable urban planning, environmental conservation, and heritage preservation. This initiative has set a global benchmark, showcasing how technology can balance growth with cultural preservation. 

The year also saw India embracing national initiatives like Naksha, Bhuvan, and SVAMITVA, which propelled sustainable development, urban planning, and disaster management using geospatial solutions. These programs reflect the sector’s growing influence in addressing complex challenges.

Looking ahead to 2025, the integration of geospatial technologies with AI, IoT, and big data is poised to transform industries such as agriculture, logistics, and renewable energy. 

The focus will be on leveraging these technologies to tackle global issues like climate change, rapid urbanization, and resource management. With data-driven tools at the core, the industry aims to drive impactful and sustainable change, fostering innovation and supporting national priorities. 

With precise data-driven insights, industries can make informed decisions, optimise resource allocation and implement sustainable practices.

In agriculture, for instance, geospatial tools combined with AI can enhance crop monitoring, predict yield and manage water resources effectively. In logistics, they streamline operations by providing real-time data on traffic, weather and optimal routes. Renewable energy sectors can benefit by identifying ideal locations for solar and wind energy projects, thus accelerating India’s transition to cleaner energy sources.

The integration of geospatial technologies aligns with India’s national priorities, such as building resilient infrastructure and achieving sustainable development goals. 

As geospatial intelligence continues to evolve, it promises to play a critical role in shaping a more sustainable, resilient, and technologically empowered future.

Saurabh Rai is the CEO of Arahas, a provider of Geospatial, AI, and Sustainability Technology services. The opinions expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the views of CIO Dimension.

The post Outlook 2025: Navigating the future with Geospatial Intelligence appeared first on CIO Dimension.

By Ankit Kumar

2024 has been transformative for India’s drone industry, showcasing Bharat’s immense potential as a land of opportunities. Drones are rapidly transitioning from niche applications to becoming an integral part of mainstream operations in India. With remarkable advancements in policy, innovation, and sector-wide adoption, the industry has grown exponentially, impacting logistics, agriculture, healthcare, and infrastructure. 

There are many examples of how India is leading the trend. In a groundbreaking development, Gurugram became the first metropolitan in the world to adopt drone-based delivery in daily life, enabling residents to receive anything and everything within minutes. As one of the fastest hyperlocal delivery services, Skye Air completed over 1.5 lakh deliveries in the city during December alone. 

Milestones like drone-based mail delivery in Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and AIIMS medical supply chains further highlight the sector’s ability to enhance accessibility and efficiency.

As we move into 2025, the momentum will only grow stronger, with drones becoming increasingly integrated into mainstream operations. The focus on scaling networks, boosting payload capacities, and driving cost efficiencies will unlock new opportunities in quick-commerce, urban air mobility, and sustainability. 

The government’s proactive measures, such as the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan, have laid a robust foundation for the drone ecosystem. This ambitious initiative integrates various economic zones and infrastructure projects, enabling seamless logistics and enhancing operational efficiencies.

Initiatives like this, coupled with continued investments in R&D and skill development will further solidify India’s ambition to become a global drone hub by 2030. 

The future holds incredible promise. Drones are proving to be indispensable in addressing real-world challenges. They are reducing urban congestion by offering alternative delivery solutions, minimizing carbon footprints through energy-efficient logistics, and facilitating disaster management and agricultural monitoring. These advancements will propel “Bharat toward a technology-driven, sustainable tomorrow.

Ankit Kumar is the CEO of Sky Air. The opinions expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the views of CIO Dimension

The post How the Drone industry in India is set to transform in 2025 appeared first on CIO Dimension.

70% of businesses reported increased spending on proactive security solutions, such as attack surface management and risk-based vulnerability management, over the past year, according to a new research from Titania. The report, Emerging Best Practice in the use of Proactive Security Solutions, indicates a marked increase in investments aimed at preemptively mitigating cyber threats. This notably outpaces investments in both preventative and reactive measures.

The study, completed in partnership with Omdia, a global analyst and advisory leader, surveyed over 400 security decision-makers in North America, the UK, France, and Germany. It underscores the acceleration in adoption of proactive security measures from three key drivers: ‘reducing the opportunity for threats’, ‘reducing the mean time to remediate known vulnerabilities’, and ‘minimizing attack surface’. 

Key findings of the report include:

• Strategic Implementation: A significant portion of organizations, particularly those with mature security postures, are strategically deploying proactive security solutions. This trend is especially prevalent among larger organizations. This growth is particularly pronounced in EMEA, where 74% of respondents increased their budgets, compared to 67% in North America. The desire is particularly strong amongst financial services organizations (54%) and critical infrastructure organizations (53%) including energy and utilities companies. In addition, almost half (47%) reported that their top cybersecurity goals for the next 12-24 months are to reduce the opportunity for threats with proactive security. Conversely, only 27% of organizations plan to improve tactical outcomes, such as better threat prevention, detection and response.

• Enhanced Security Posture: Respondents report a strong desire to improve security posture and expect that the broader integration of proactive security tools will greatly improve attack surface management and security control optimization. Currently, a large majority of respondents report having limited visibility into the security posture of network assets (firewalls, switches and routers) and long cadences between assessments – with roughly half of organizations checking network devices at most, monthly. 
  Organizations are also much more likely to only monitor all devices in critical segments (or simply look at a sample of devices), than to monitor every device in their networks. Notably, critical infrastructure organizations (i.e., energy, utilities, and transportation) report much lower confidence than other industries in their ability to maintain adequate network segmentation and prevent unauthorized access to networks.
  
  
• Disruption Anticipation: Almost half (48%) of all respondents anticipate a high level of organizational disruption due to the broader adoption of proactive security solutions, highlighting the transformative impact these measures are expected to have.

“This research vividly illustrates a widespread and rapid shift towards proactive security to improve operational readiness and resilience. Organizations are recognizing the critical need to stay ahead of known threats and shut down attacks by investing in solutions that offer real-time visibility of their security posture and remediating action that will continuously minimize their exposure.”

Tom Beese, Executive Chairman, Titania

The post Over 70% businesses in advanced economies increased spending on proactive security appeared first on CIO Dimension.

As Wimbledon fever grips the world, a Generative AI-powered tool will help fans across the globe to stay up to date with personalized player stories. The All England Lawn Tennis Club, also known as the All England Club where the Wimbledon championship is held, has expanded its three-decade long partnership with IBM to further leverage GenAI. 

The tech giant’s partnership with the All-England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) has driven digital transformation at Wimbledon for more than 30 years. This year, we will witness a new feature for the Wimbledon digital experience that will leverage match data with generative AI from IBM’s AI and data platform, watsonx, to keep fans updated on the world’s leading players as they advance through The Championships.

The new ‘Catch Me Up’ feature displays pre and post-match player cards with AI-generated player stories and analysis via wimbledon.com and the Wimbledon 2024 App. Player cards will be personalised based on user preferences and data such as their location and myWimbledon profile, starting with their favourite players. Pre-match content will include analysis of recent performance and likelihood to win predictions, and post-match it will include key statistics and highlights. The feature will also create longer-form daily summaries of play.

‘Catch Me Up’ was built using IBM’s Granite large language model (LLM) to provide AI-generated text using the capabilities of the watsonx platform. The model has been trained on the Wimbledon editorial style and will be monitored by the All England Club. The new feature is designed to help Wimbledon scale its content to both new and existing tennis fans globally, as well as provide fans access to timelier, curated coverage across ladies’ and gentlemen’s singles matches which are often happening simultaneously.

This year, Wimbledon will also use generative AI to provide coverage of a broader range of matches than was previously available, including wheelchair events, to offer more to Wimbledon’s diverse international audience. This will form part of a redesigned digital match centre, known as IBM Slamtracker, available on the Wimbledon App and wimbledon.com. Using generative AI built from watsonx, IBM Slamtracker has been enhanced to  provide bullet point-based match previews and post-match reviews for ladies’ and gentlemen’s singles matches.

“We are committed to offering fans the highest quality Wimbledon experience, whether it’s in person or digitally. Generative AI allows us to scale our ability to provide different types of content for fans wherever they are in the world in a way that’s personalised for them. This year’s new Catch Me Up feature will make it easier for fans to follow the key storylines as they emerge throughout The Championships.”

Chris Clements, Digital Products Lead at the All England Club, 

“The new Catch Me Up feature is an exciting example of how we can use the power of generative AI to deliver compelling, insight-driven storytelling at scale. For 35 years, IBM and Wimbledon have been co-creating solutions that make fans feel more connected to all the on-court action, and our new research confirms they are beginning to understand the positive impact technologies such as generative AI can have on their digital experiences…”

Jonathan Adashek, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications for IBM

The post Wimbledon 2024: Here’s how IBM GenAI-powered tool keeps tennis fans updated  appeared first on CIO Dimension.

The world produced a staggering 62 million tonnes of e-waste in 2022, marking an 82% increase since 2010.This figure is projected to grow by another 32% to reach 82 million tonnes by 2030. (Source: UNITAR). The numbers are staggering. While efforts are on to prevent and manage e-waste, we must embrace more sustainable ways to address the e-waste problem, which is reportedly the fastest growing solid waste stream in the world. 

This World Environment Day, we feature a homegrown Indian company that’s pioneering environment-friendly, sustainable practices in the telecom technology  – a field with a high e-waste footprint. In fact, this company’s commitment to eco-friendly practices sets them apart in the industry. 

The greener the better

Chennai-based Telekonnectors, a leading brand that offers communication headsets, analog phones, copper cable testers, and Air-Traffic Control solutions, has a few decades-old story in ‘green telecom’ and sustainable product lifecycle. 

Karthik Krishna Murthy, Managing Director & CEO of Telekonnectors says, “Employee turnover and hence disposal of personal use telecom products amongst our customers is as high at 45% every year. One can imagine the amount of e-waste that gets generated. If we are to treat our plant with respect, we ought to manage and recycle the amount of waste that gets generated.”

The company’s TLK Buyback program is just one of the many ways in which the company works toward this goal. The program ensures recycling and safe disposal of plastics, cables, and other e-waste, in addition to encouraging clients by incentivizing them. “Our buyback program ensures that we collect all headsets including those of other brands to dispose of them safely,” Karthik highlights. 

And there’s more! The company’s ‘green’ philosophy reflects across the entire product lifecycle. “All companies including our customers have a responsibility to sign up to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We have taken this responsibility seriously. Right from product engineering, design, design for manufacturing and customer servicing, we are enforcing a culture of environmental friendliness. So we are pushing through a behavioral change within our employees and an appreciation of the same with our customers,” elaborates Karthik. 

End-to-end sustainability

Hence, the aspect of sustainability is not an after-thought for Telekonnectors, but something the company consciously incorporates right at the design stage of the products. Karthik maintains that they focus on picking more sustainable materials for production and packaging to ensure minimal environmental impact, both during its lifespan and after its usability has ended. 

Similarly, its manufacturing processes are centered around efficiency and waste reduction while the distribution mechanisms are optimized for minimal environmental impact. 

Karthik believes that a product’s sustainability journey does not end there. Factors like high durability and energy efficiency are equally critical. “Typically headsets need to be replaced within 12 months, but we promise our customers a product life of anything between 24-36 months,” he adds. 

Their dedication to sustainability extends beyond environmental practices. Telekonnectors is one of the few companies to champion gender inclusivity across all levels, including its factory floors. “More than 40% of our Manufacturing, R&D and Quality teams are staffed by women. Our production floor has nearly more than 1 woman for 2 employees. We find women being more sincere, committed, delivering less manufacturing faults, and abstaining less from work,” sums up Karthik. 

The post Green tech for a greener world: An Indian company’s efforts to reduce e-waste appeared first on CIO Dimension.

The Generative AI (GenAI) wave is upon us. Every enterprise is buzzing about its potential, and investments are skyrocketing. But amidst the excitement, a crucial question remains: What truly separates successful GenAI projects from the rest?

In a recent visit to India, Jihad Dannawi, Regional VP – APAC, DataStax (a leading real-time vector database company) sheds light on the hidden complexities of AI projects. This exclusive interview with CIO Dimension delves into:

• The power of the right database in unlocking the true potential of Large Language Models (LLMs)
• Why developers are the backbone of GenAI and how to empower them
• India’s unique advantage in leading the GenAI revolution

Edited excerpts: 

DataStax positions Astra DB as the ‘go-to’ database for GenAI applications. Can you explain why Astra DB stands out as the best choice for GenAI applications compared to your competition?

For starters, we are a 14-year-old company that has built the most widely used enterprise-grade database. It has been delivering high scale, high performance, and high availability — even before Generative AI came in. 

We are at a stage where a lot of organizations are scaling GenAI from PoC to production. At PoC level, organizations are not looking at scale or performance. But when they move to production, they suddenly start to have performance issues. They need to be able to pull in massive amounts of data to increase the relevancy and accuracy of the models, which means that the database must be bigger.

But volume often comes in the way of performance at the production stage. When organizations move beyond entry level scenarios to more mature use cases, they need to have a database that can handle their speed, scale, and performance requirements      – all at a reasonable TCO. A lot of databases in the market struggle to balance these aspects. 

An industry benchmark clearly demonstrates that DataStax’s Astra DB Serverless (the cloud-native database service built on Apache Cassandra) significantly outperforms the competition in throughput, latency, relevance, and TCO.  

Another key offering from DataStax is RAGStack, which claims to reduce the complexity associated with Gen AI for developers? Could you elaborate? 

When it comes to generative AI, one of the key issues that the developer community faces – especially when they start building the big stuff for production – is that they don’t know where to start. Because there are so many components and tools available in the market, it’s hard to decide what to use –  especially when dealing with vector databases.   

That’s why DataStax built a layer for the developers called RAGStack. This helps them build production-grade retrieval augmented generation (RAG) Gen AI applications in a simpler and faster way – without the developers having to learn everything from      scratch. It’s fully open source, connected and improves developer productivity significantly. It drastically simplifies the process of implementing RAG – the process of providing context from outside data sources to deliver more accurate LLM query responses. 

RAGStack is part of our vision is to enable and empower developers to build GenAI applications in production more efficiently. We are helping developers and companies to quickly innovate.  Developers do not come with AI skills; they don’t know how to build LLMs. We firmly believe that the GenAI journey of an organization starts from the developer, and not the AI team. With RAGstack, they can start right away, without waiting to acquire new skills. 

Another major concern that organizations must deal with is the AI hallucination. How is DataStax working to ensure fewer hallucinations? 

Hallucination, or in other words the “context” for an LLM, is the tricky bit. Now technology allows you to launch GenAI very quickly, but GenAI is not always accurate. This is why retrieval augmented generation (RAG) is so important for enterprises building GenAI applications. They must be able to augment an LLM with relevant, up-to-date data so it can provide relevant, factual responses.

More data means better context. And this will also bring in the big competitive differentiator into the models and the eventual outcomes for businesses. This further emphasizes the point that many databases in the market that claim to be vector do not have the capacity to perform high volume data. 

Can you share some examples of how Astra DB has helped customers achieve significant business outcomes?

Through Astra, we have started to discover a lot of customers with smaller needs, who can move very quickly through the GenAI journey. When customers begin to deploy impactful GenAI in their business processes, we believe that we stand to gain.  

A great case in point is Skypoint, the Portland-based Gen AI healthcare company. They leverage Astra DB’s vector search to enhance their services, offering users real-time, contextual, and personalized AI agent solutions. 

Another key customer for us is India’s leading edtech player, Physics Wallah. This unicorn’s app has over 15 million downloads as of January 2024. Its personalized AI bot is built on Astra DB and assists students with their academic and support queries in a personalized manner. The database’s stability helped the company handle 50x traffic increase with zero downtime during a live demo with 1 million students.  

A lot of organizations are still in the experimentation stage. Our study shows that only 4% of GenAI projects have moved to production, so we are in the absolute beginning of the wave, a lot of the     projects in PoC will move in     to production this year.      

India’s GenAI market is predicted to reach a massive $17B by 2030 and India is reportedly ahead of the US in AI adoption by businesses. What will be the catalysts for this growth and what are DataStax’s plans to capitalize on this opportunity?

AI will impact the top line and bottom line of every business out there. India has a strong community of developers and GenAI starts with developers. So, India has the skills and the mass to innovate and drive more use cases. They      also have the right mindset – the ecosystem here loves to build and that’s a very positive mindset to have when it comes to AI. Because AI is not something you buy and turn on, it’s something you build. And with the right mindset, India will be faster to innovate. The GenAI wave is poised to trigger a paradigm shift, comparable to the impact of mobile and web technologies. India has the skills, capacity and the mindset to really benefit.  

From a DataStax point of view, India is a big market and we are definitely investing here. We are expanding our team to meet to the growing needs.  

The post India’s developer strength to drive GenAI advantage: DataStax’s Jihad Dannawi appeared first on CIO Dimension.

When Mitali Biswas left her highly fulfilling role at IBM to become the CIO of a leading hospital in Kolkata, she was led solely by her conviction. Four years later, after successfully navigating the COVID-19 crisis which came along rather unexpectedly, she has embraced the role of a CIO with all its virtuosity. 

The secret sauce is her inside-out approach to digital transformation with a firm focus on impactful outcomes. She is the sort of a technology leader who has seen the best of transformation programs globally and yet champions a more grounded approach while crafting a technology roadmap at CK Birla Hospitals. 

In this exclusive video interaction, Mitali takes us through her fascinating journey as a healthcare CIO and how the sector is set to transform itself with the help of AI, IoT, wearables and other technologies. 

The CK Birla group of Hospitals comprises esteemed institutions such as the Calcutta Medical Research Institute (CMRI), a premier multispecialty hospital located in Kolkata, alongside the renowned BM Birla Heart Research Centre in Kolkata and the Rukmani Birla Hospital in Jaipur. With a rich legacy spanning over 50 years, these hospitals have collectively provided care to more than 1.8 million patients.

Mitali believes that AI has the ability to revolutionize the healthcare sector and save more lives. 

“AI has potential to significantly transform the clinical decisions support systems, by helping doctors diagnose faster and more accurately using data. Radiology imaging is emerging as a strong use case today. Imagine AI being used to accelerate the diagnosis process of brain strokes using MRI images – we will be able to save a lot more lives this way,” she says. 

She discussed some key roadblocks to AI adoption in healthcare from an Indian context. “In healthcare, we are dealing with human lives and there must be the trust and evidence that the AI systems are 100 percent right. That’s the reason why acceptance and change management remain the biggest challenges.” 

Mitali also highlights some key challenges in implementing AI in healthcare including the prevalence of manual processes, and the data management & data sharing issues that CIOs face. “It’s important to get the entire ecosystem in the healthcare sector to work together. Government plays a key role here. I think we are heading in the right direction with the help of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission. Enforcement is the need of the hour,” she underscores.  

Watch the full video to learn more about the emerging use cases of IoT and wearables in healthcare and a lot more interesting insights from Mitali. 

The post Healthcare AI has the power to save more lives: Mitali Biswas, CIO, CK Birla Hospitals  appeared first on CIO Dimension.

Generative AI has made impressive strides in the last one year, taking the technology world by storm. Thanks to consumer- facing tools like ChatGPT, Bard, Claud and the like, there has been a huge perceptional change toward Generative AI – a technology that has been existing ‘silently’ for years! 

In fact, Generative AI or GenAI adoption has been faster than that of smartphones and tablets, according to Insider Intelligence. 

In the enterprise world, this technology has gained massive interest and acceptance in short order. A Box-sponsored IDC survey shows that two-thirds of executives have already deployed generative AI in some areas at their organizations, which is further evidenced by an IBM survey. About 42% of enterprise-scale companies surveyed by IBM report having actively deployed AI in their business. 

But what really lies beyond the hype? Are enterprises reaping real benefits out of their GenAI investments? We asked a few CIOs at the Tech Saga 2024 organized by CIO Klub Pune Chapter. 

“Business leaders are enamoured by the success stories of these technologies that often they tend to ignore the failures and the basic requirements that are associated with GenAI’Business leaders are enamoured by the success stories of these technologies that often they tend to ignore the failures and the basic requirements that are associated with GenAI.”

Shobhana Lele, CIO of Bombay Dyeing

2024 – A year of GenAI in production? 

2023, which could be considered the watershed year for GenAI, was all about experimentation and pilots, indicate studies. In a recent Gartner poll, about 45% of the 1,400 executive leaders surveyed reported that they are in piloting mode with generative AI. An IBM research estimates this figure to be around 40%. Interestingly, about 10% of them have put generative AI solutions into production and this figure is steadily growing. 

A sizable number of the enterprises in piloting mode are expected to shift their focus to practical implementation in the next one year– making 2024 a turning point in GenAI adoption. “For the 40% of companies surveyed stuck in the sandbox, I am confident 2024 will be the year of tackling and overcoming barriers to entry like the skills gap and data complexity.” Rob Thomas, Senior Vice President, IBM Software.

Catapulted by the increasing investments, the GenAI market size is projected to top USD 66.62 billion in 2024 with an anticipated yearly growth rate of over 20% through 2030.

Indian CIOs see more GenAI use cases evolving

Tech leaders in India are bullish about the prospects of the technology. India is already considered a front-runner in the adoption of GenAI, with as high as 81% of Indian organizations already integrating the technology into their operations (Elastic report).

What kind of promising use cases will emerge in 2024? Which industries will get touched the most? 

“GenAI use cases will grow quite exponentially in the coming years,” says Shobhana Lele, CIO of Bombay Dyeing, who is a passionate advocate of AI technology. She believes that the healthcare sector is poised to hugely benefit from GenAI. 

“Of all the mature use cases that will emerge, I find the technology’s impact on the Healthcare sector quite significant and far-reaching. It’s one sector with massive amounts of data and AI can accelerate use cases that are critical for the whole humanity, helping us find solutions for some of the pressing problems that have been around for decades,” she highlights. 

A NASSCOM study from 2023 states that the use of AI and data in healthcare might increase India’s GDP by USD 25–30 billion by 2025. 

Vinod Deshmukh, GM – IT, Haldiram Foods is already exploring various use cases of GenAI at the FMCG firm and believes that the FMCG sector stands to benefit significantly from the technology. “There are strong business use cases already emerging, which help FMCG companies improve product quality, predict outcomes, and increase the overall efficiencies,” he adds.

Generative AI in the banking and financial services sector, which is expected to create a massive USD 12 Billion market in the next 10 years, is another great opportunity. 

“Strong business use cases of GenAI are already emerging, which help FMCG companies improve product quality, predict outcomes, and increase the overall efficiencies.”

Vinod Deshmukh, GM – IT, Haldiram Foods 

“This is another sector that holds huge amounts of personal and sensitive data. AI will be critical in effectively leveraging this data to help consumers get the most out of their assets and investments while devising innovative ways of protecting their critical data,” says Shobhana.

Gen AI is now catalyzing a significant shift in the financial services sector, reports EY, with 78% of the firms implementing or planning Gen AI integration. Around 61% of financial institutions anticipate GenAI to have a profound impact on their value chain, enhancing efficiency and responsiveness, states the EY report.

Banking institutions across the globe are leveraging this technology to improve customer experience, provide personalized marketing and improve collections & recovery. Underwriting copilots are another big use case in the banking sector. 

Noteworthy is the fact that sectors that have been slow in adopting artificial intelligence are moving to a more proactive approach when it comes to GenAI. 

“GenAI is encouraging many brands to push the envelope – even those who haven’t yet considered AI use cases are exploring the possibilities of GenAI, says Vinod. He cites the example of manufacturing industry. In the manufacturing sector, GenAI will soon be leveraged in quality analysis, decision making and other core areas.”

Less than 20% of manufacturers have begun to implement AI technologies, reports suggest. However, GenAI seems to be moving the needle up, with the global market for GenAI in manufacturing expected to reach around $7 billion by 2032. 

GenAI challenges for CIOs

There are several challenges that tech leaders must tackle before they deploy genAI across key business functions. Data privacy and transparency are greater concerns for sure. So are the growing AI ethical challenges which require collaborative work across various stakeholders in the industry. 

Limited availability of AI skills is perhaps the top concern for CIOs today, Vinod emphasizes. “Access to the right skillsets is a challenge, especially for businesses in tier-2 & 3 cities. Tech leaders need to develop the right resources and technology capabilities to take this journey ahead,” he adds. 

The recent IBM Global AI Index highlights that nearly 35% enterprises report lack of skills for implementation is a big inhibitor for GenAI implementation. One-in-five organizations do not have employees with the right skills in place to use new AI or automation tools and 16% cannot find new hires with the skills to address that gap, the same research shows. 

To fill this gap in the current scenario, CIO will be expected to lead the task of reskilling and upskilling the existing workforce – especially because skills in data science, machine learning and MLOps are hard to come by. 

All in all, many CIOs want to take a cautiously optimistic path when it comes to taking GenAI to the next level. And reasonably so. 

“In my observation, many CEOs are gung-ho about implementing AI or generative AI, whereas the CIOs are a little cautious and apprehensive. There is a reason for this apprehension – Business leaders are enamoured by the success stories of these technologies that often they tend to ignore the failures and the basic requirements that are associated with GenAI,” Shobhana says. 

She believes that this perception leads to a lot of pressure on CIOs to start using these technologies with the expectation that it’s going to be successful. “But, every CIO has the responsibility to make the organization aware of AI/GenAI’s basic requirement – the relevant data sets, skillsets and the support. So, it’s a tightrope walk for the CIO,” she sums up. 

The post GenAI 2024: A closer look at progress, risks, and CIO strategies appeared first on CIO Dimension.