MongoDB announced a partnership with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Ministry of Education, Government of India to give more than 150,000 Indian students access to virtual internships and to gain the skills required to use MongoDB Atlas—the leading multi-cloud developer data platform. 

This partnership with AICTE, the Indian government’s authority for the management of technical education, is part of the company’s ‘MongoDB for Academia’ initiative and will be supported by SmartBridge’s SmartInternz learning platform. Each internship will include 60 hours of experiential learning, hands-on bootcamps, courses, and project work, as well as simulated corporate environments where students can apply their learned skills, collaborate with peers, and receive mentorship. 

Launched in September 2023, the MongoDB for Academia in India program provides student training, curriculum resources for educators, credits to use MongoDB technology at no cost, and certifications to help individuals start careers in the technology industry. The skills and training provided through the program are particularly important, as many Indian organizations struggle to find developers who have the skills to build modern applications and take advantage of emerging technologies like generative AI, the company maintained. 

According to a report from NASSCOM, India’s technology sector will demand more than one million engineers with advanced skills in artificial intelligence and other capabilities over the next three years. Overall, the industry body expects there will be a need for around six million digital roles by 2028—and the available talent pool is forecast to be 4.7 million workers. This gap underscores the need for increased collaboration between industry and academia to upskill students and educators in India to meet the demands of the country’s large and growing economy. 

“In India, we have a massive opportunity with the current wave of AI and modern technologies that will transform our lives and economy in the coming years. But to take advantage of that opportunity, it is vital our developers have the right skills. We’re excited to partner with MongoDB to help make that possible,” said Dr. Buddha Chandrasekhar CEO, Anuvadini AI, Ministry of Education and Chief Coordinating Officer, AICTE, Ministry of Education, Government of India.

“We’ve seen great appetite and interest on our platform for modern database technologies like MongoDB. We want to equip students with knowledge of in-demand technologies so they have skills they need to become the job-ready candidates India’s organizations are looking for,” said Amarender Katkam, Founder and CEO at SmartBridge and SmartInternz. 

“India loves developers and so does MongoDB. I’m so proud of the work our MongoDB for Academia team is doing to empower Indian developers and to support the next generation of tech talent in this country,” said Sachin Chawla, Area Vice President, India at MongoDB.

As part of the program’s expansion, MongoDB also announced a new partnership with GeeksforGeeks, a platform for computer science resources in India. The collaboration will make the MongoDB Developer Learning Path available to all of GeeksforGeeks’ 25 million registered users.

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Avient Corporation, the global manufacturer of specialized polymer materials, recently opened its Global Delivery Center in Pune. The state-of-the art facility will act as a key enabler for the manufacturer’s digital transformation initiatives globally.  

With a core focus on key pillars such as ERP systems, IT infrastructure, and Global Business Services, the center aims to significantly strengthen Avient’s global service capabilities and support its innovation roadmap.

The center is also expected to create new job opportunities, specifically in Pune, as it plans to double its headcount in the next few months. 

Vikas Vij, Managing Director of Avient said, “The inauguration of our new Global Delivery Center in Pune marks a significant milestone for Avient in India. This facility will not only enhance our ability to serve our global customers but also create valuable employment opportunities in the region.” 

Dr. Yogesh Dadke, IT Delivery Leader, Avient, will be leading the facility’s operations and its strategic direction. “The establishment of our Global Delivery Center in Pune marks a significant milestone in Avient’s global expansion journey. This initiative not only represents a compelling growth story for our company but also demonstrates our strategic investment in the region’s talent pool. Our Pune center will serve as a hub for innovation, technological advancement, and operational excellence, underscoring our commitment to leveraging local expertise to drive global success,” Dr. Dadke added. 

Avient has been championing sustainability and innovative approaches to products for many decades. It leverages unique technologies to improve the recyclability of products and enable recycled content to be incorporated, thus advancing a more circular economy. Avient’s Dyneema is touted as the world’s strongest fiber and the company has been working with light-weighting solutions that replace heavier traditional materials like metal, glass and wood. 

Technology has been a key priority for Avient in driving many of these breakthroughs and the new global delivery center reinstates the company’s emphasis on technology.

“Our new Global Delivery Center in Pune is a testament to Avient’s commitment to innovation and excellence. This center will be crucial in our ongoing digital transformation efforts, and we are excited to be building our team with talented employees in Pune,” said Zaneta Potoczny, Vice President, Global Business Services, Avient. 

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Indian CEOs place great importance on AI governance, with a significant 71% believing that trusted AI is impossible without effective AI governance in organizations. A global study of 3,000 CEOs conducted by IBM Institute for Business Value, in cooperation with Oxford Economics, reveals a number of interesting aspects about workforce, culture and governance challenges faced by Indian CEOs while navigating AI journeys. 

According to the study, 75% Indian CEO respondents say governance for generative AI must be established as solutions are designed, rather than after they are deployed. At the same time, the study also noted a contrast in actual adoption of AI governance policies with only 42% Indian CEO respondents saying they have good generative AI governance in place today.

The survey also highlights other key challenges around workforce. 75% of Indian CEO respondents say that inspiring their team with a common vision produces better outcomes than providing precise standards and targets. Yet 31% acknowledge that their employees don’t fully understand how strategic decisions impact them.

Sandip Patel, Managing Director, IBM India & South Asia said, “As Indian CEOs navigate AI-led transformations within their organizations, they recognize the need for AI guardrails so that they derive real business value responsibly for growth and competitive success. However, our study reveals a gap between their intention and actual implementation. This scenario highlights the complexity of implementing AI governance, hence making a strong case for partnering with trusted experts to develop and execute effective practices and policies.”

Other key study findings include:

People and skills are at the heart of successful generative AI adoption

• 71% of Indian CEOs surveyed say that succeeding with AI will depend more on people’s adoption than the technology itself
• 49% of Indian CEO respondents says they are hiring for Gen AI roles that didn’t exist last year
• CEOs surveyed from India say 34% of their workforce will require retraining and reskilling over the next three years – up from just 6% globally in 2021

Indian CEOs recognize it takes a cultural shift to successfully scale AI, but face organizational collaboration and adoption challenges.

• 70% of Indian CEOs surveyed say their organization’s success is directly tied to the quality of collaboration between finance and technology, yet nearly half (48%) say competition among their C-Suite executives sometimes impedes collaboration.
• Nearly half (48%) of those surveyed from India acknowledge that cultural change is more important to becoming a data-driven organization than overcoming technical challenges.
• 58% of Indian CEO respondents say they are pushing their organization to adopt generative AI more quickly than some people are comfortable with

Customer experience and product & service innovation are top priorities, regulatory constraints might be hindering long-term progress

• Indian CEOs surveyed ranked customer experience and product & service innovation as their highest priorities for the next three years
• 59% of respondents say they are willing to sacrifice operational efficiency for greater innovation.
• However, nearly half (48%) of Indian CEOs surveyed point to regulatory constraints as their top barrier to innovation.
• Today, only 32% of the Indian CEO respondents are primarily funding their generative AI investments with net new IT spend, with the remaining 68% reducing other technology spend.

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Deloitte has released its “2024 Financial Services Industry Predictions,” which outlines some of the most significant emerging trends across the financial services industry over the next three to five years. Among the most significant trends, the report highlights the impact AI could have on transforming retail investing, enabling deepfakes and fraud in banking and driving new insurance offerings. Climate change is also predicted to continue to increase insurance costs for commercial real estate property owners and impact profitability of insurers.

“The seismic shifts we will see in financial services as a result of emerging technology and innovation will likely be transformative and provide new opportunities for growth,” said Jim Eckenrode, managing director, Deloitte Center for Financial Services, Deloitte Services LP. “At the same time, financial services organizations will face new risks and resiliency challenges, including market volatility, impact from climate change, talent gaps and new regulations, and organizations should plan now for what’s on the horizon.”

Highlights of Deloitte’s 2024 Financial Services Industry Predictions include:

Retail investors may soon rely on Generative AI for financial investment advice: Deloitte predicts GenAI-enabled applications will likely become the leader in advice mind-space for retail investors, growing from its current nascent stage to 78% usage in 2028 and could become the leading source of retail investment advice by 2027ⁱ. 

Generative AI expected to magnify the risk of deepfakes and other fraud in banking: Hyper-realistic fake content has never been easier to create—or harder to catch. As threats grow, banks should invest in AI and other technologies to help detect fraud and prevent losses. Deloitte predicts GenAI could enable fraud losses to reach $40 billion in the US by 2027, up from $12.3 billion in 2023ⁱⁱ.

Providing insurance coverage for AI may be a blue ocean opportunity: Regulatory guidance, large losses and market demand may drive the need for AI insurance, and some insurers and insurtech startups are already developing products in this space. While the opportunity is massive, insurers will likely also face difficulties in assessing and pricing the complex and evolving risks of AI. Deloitte predicts that by 2032, insurers can potentially write ~$4.7 billion in annual global AI insurance premiums, at a compounded annual growth rate of around 80%.

Climate change to increase commercial real estate insurance costs: The links between climate change, extreme weather and insurance costs will likely remain for the foreseeable future. Deloitte predicts that the average monthly cost of insurance for a commercial building in the US could increase from $2,726 per month in 2023 to $4,890 per month in 2030, at an 8.7% compound annual growth rateⁱⁱⁱ. For states with the greatest extreme weather risk, current monthly costs could more than double.

Climate change and homeowners’ insurance: Similarly, climate change and severe weather events are also dramatically affecting the profitability and sustainability of the US homeowners’ insurance sector. Deloitte predicts that if insurers, in partnership with government agencies and policyholders, invest $3.35 billion in residential dwelling resiliency measures, the two thirds of US homes that are not currently built to code could be made resistant enough to reduce many weather-related claims losses. These actions could, in fact, save insurers as much as $37 billion by 2030^iv.

Additional trends included in the report that are expected to shape the financial services industry:

In-app payments expected to take social commerce to the next level: Social media platforms are transforming into the new “storefronts” for consumers, who can discover and buy products within the apps. Deloitte predicts that in-app payments on social media sites could grow at a compound annual growth rate of about 30% from $19.1 billion in 2024 to $94.5 billion in 2030^v.

AI can accelerate the portfolio valuation process: AI can help private investment firms increase the frequency and transparency of their portfolio valuations and attract more retail investors. There will be benefits and challenges of using AI for portfolio valuations, such as mitigating the denominator effect, satisfying limited partners’ information needs and complying with regulatory requirements. Deloitte predicts as many as 25% of private equity firms will be using AI to augment their portfolio valuations^vii.

“As financial services firms face an ever-changing landscape, they should think about what’s on the horizon,” said Monica O’Reilly, Vice Chair, US Financial Services Industry Leader, Deloitte & Touche LLP. “Market pressures and emerging risks as well as new growth opportunities will shape business strategies, and financial services firms should prepare for that now.”

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UST, a digital transformation solutions company, has launched a massive new initiative to train over 25,000 of its employees globally in Generative AI (GenAI) and provide opportunities for career advancement. This ambitious program underscores UST’s ongoing efforts to comprehensive workforce training and upskilling, keeping its talented personnel future-ready, the company stated. 

The program comes just months after the unveiling of UST AlphaAI, which consolidates the company’s AI offerings to enhance business agility, streamline operations, and accelerate digital transformation journeys.

UST will offer a range of GenAI training programs that are specifically tailored to its employees and their different roles and responsibilities, improving efficiency while helping each employee reach their own unique potential. 

The training program will build upon insights gained through UST’s collaboration and partnership with AI researchers from renowned academic institutions such as the MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. This legacy of close collaboration with leading researchers will help UST expand on its culture of continuous learning by bringing the latest academic breakthroughs to its workforce, according to a press release issued by the company. 

“Our comprehensive GenAI training initiative will set a new industry standard and bring over 25,000 employees up to speed on everything from foundational GenAI concepts to cutting-edge applications. Adaptable and customizable for each participant, the flexible training program provides hands-on experience with industry-leading tools and platforms like GitHub Copilot, setting our employees up for future success by ensuring that they can apply GenAI capabilities across diverse domains, said Sunil Balakrishnan, Chief Values Officer and Global Head – Development Canter Operations, UST.

“At UST, we recognize that the key to staying competitive in today’s fast-paced digital landscape lies in the continuous upskilling of our workforce. As GenAI continues to revolutionize industries and transform business operations, we remain dedicated to equipping our employees with the tools and knowledge they need to leverage these cutting-edge technologies effectively,” said Dr. Adnan Masood, Chief AI Architect, UST.

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Despite the global economic uncertainties, worldwide IT spending is expected to total $5.06 trillion in 2024, an increase of 8% from 2023, according to the latest forecast by Gartner. This is a slight revisal of the market research agency’s earlier forecast of a 6.8% growth and puts worldwide IT spending on track to surpass $8 trillion well before the end of the decade. 

The latest number reflects a considerable surge in the overall IT spending growth rate, which was a meagre 3.3% in 2023, only a 0.3% increase from 2022. Gartner had highlighted that the slump in spending in the past year was largely due to change fatigue among CIOs, as they hesitate to sign new contracts, commit to long-term initiatives or take on new technology partners.

Talent gap might be fueling demand for IT services 

IT services spending will continue to witness strong growth according to the agency with close to 10% growth. This growth, according to Gartner, is largely driven by the fact that enterprises will rely heavily on IT services firm for their IT talent needs, instead of investing on internal staff – a strong indicator of the persisting talent shortage in the industry.

“Enterprises are quickly falling behind IT service firms in terms of attracting talent with key IT skill sets. This creates a greater need for investment in consulting spend compared to internal staff. We are at an inflection year for this trend, with more money being spent on consulting than internal staff for the first time,” said John-David Lovelock, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner. 

GenAI to see more execution in 2025

GenAI is expected to drive substantial data center systems spending in 2024, as more organization move to execution phase in 2025. Gartner predicts that spending on data center systems is expected to see a notable jump in growth from 2023 (4%) to 2024 (10%), in large part due to planning for generative AI (GenAI).

“We are seeing a cycle of story, plan, execution when it comes to GenAI. In 2023, enterprises were telling the story of GenAI and in 2024 we are seeing most of them planning for eventual execution in 2025,” said Lovelock. “Technology providers are required to be a step ahead of this cycle and are already in the execution phase. They are bringing GenAI capabilities to existing products and services, as well as to use cases being identified by their enterprise clients. 

“There is also gold rush level spending by service providers in markets supporting large scale GenAI projects, such as servers and semiconductors,” said Lovelock. “In 2024, AI servers will account for close to 60% of hyperscalers total server spending.”

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AI and data consulting firm 66degrees has appointed Pankaj Chugh as President and Chief Operating Officer. In this role, Chugh will oversee the company’s sales, marketing, alliances, and solutions. 

Chugh most recently served as an Executive Vice President at LTIMindtree where he ran the Retail & Consumer business, scaled some of the largest clients in Tech industry, set up delivery centers in India and US, ran the global Digital Product & Platform Engineering business, and incubated and rapidly expanded the Google Cloud business. Prior to this, at Infosys he ran and grew different industry portfolios across Europe and Americas, and led growth strategy and M&A for Infosys’ Europe and global Hi-Tech and Manufacturing verticals. 

“Pankaj’s expertise in building technology services businesses, scaling global teams, and serving as a key client advisor will serve as a great complement to our talented team, allowing us to continue to scale and better serve our existing accounts,” said Ben Kessler, CEO.” With his arrival at 66degrees, Pankaj immediately adds to three of our 2024 strategic pillars: setting client success as our north star, bringing solutions and accelerators to market, and building our global delivery team.”

Pankaj Chugh said, “Every industry is rapidly becoming a digital-first industry. Cloud, AI and data have created renewed urgency to embrace the disruption. Clients have already been asking 66degrees to help navigate the change, and this is a great opportunity to support them leapfrog. I am very excited to be a part of one of the brightest technology and business minds in the services industry.”

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Global pharma major Lupin announced the appointment of Rakesh Bhardwaj as Chief Information Officer (CIO). He will be based in Mumbai and lead Lupin’s global Information Technology function and spearhead the company’s digital transformation.

Rakesh brings to Lupin rich experience of over three decades in building and managing cutting edge global IT teams and systems for some of the largest enterprises in the world. His last assignment was with Ola as Group Chief Information Officer, where he spearheaded the development of Ola’s Automotive Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) model, significantly impacting India’s electric vehicle (EV) sector by establishing over 900 Omni-channel Experience Centres.

He was also the Global CIO of Cognizant between July 2016 and January 2021, prior to which he has held leadership positions with Micro land, General Electric and BISIL. Rakesh holds a bachelor’s degree in Engineering in Computer Science from Gulbarga University, Karnataka.

Commenting on the appointment, Ramesh Swaminathan, Executive Director, Global CFO and Head – Corporate Affairs, Lupin said, “Information Technology plays a critical role in advancing and expanding our horizons as a global pharmaceutical leader. We are pleased to welcome Rakesh to Lupin, further enhancing our IT foundation. With his expertise, he will drive our efforts in digitalization, process automation, data management and analytics, all of which will reinforce Lupin’s position as a frontrunner in innovation and excellence within the industry.”

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Palo Alto Networks has roped in Kunal Ruvala as Senior Vice President and General Manager for India. Kunal will lead the company’s India Development Centers with responsibility across all areas of the Network Security Product function and will oversee the next phase of growth and innovation for Palo Alto Networks India.

Kunal reports to Anand Oswal, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Network Security. In this role, he will partner with Anil Valluri, MD and VP, India & SAARC, who continues to lead the go-to-market efforts across the region. Kunal will also oversee partnerships with India’s higher education ecosystem to drive co-innovation in R&D efforts. 

Kunal has deep experience driving innovation at scale and leading growth initiatives at several organizations including Dell, RSA and EMC, and most recently as President of Honeywell Technology Solutions. He’s also been involved in Employee Resource Groups and is an inclusion and diversity champion.

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A new forecast from Gartner indicates that Generative AI is all set to transform the cybersecurity space in India. The emergence of generative AI (GenAI) has caused one of the biggest disruptions in digital and business sectors in the last couple of years. “Through ethical, safe and secure implementation of this technology, CISOs can improve the performance of their security functions and enhance organizational resilience,” said Abhyuday Data, Director Analyst at Gartner. 

While managing GenAI presents inevitable challenges, there are also external factors to consider, such as regulatory concerns and the rapid adoption of cloud computing.

To effectively handle the combined impact of these forces and enhance their organization’s cybersecurity program in 2024, Gartner recommends that CISOs in India must prioritize two top cybersecurity trends:

GenAI Transforming the Cybersecurity Market: GenAI introduces new attack surfaces requiring  changes to application and data security practices and user monitoring. Gartner predicts that by 2025, GenAI will cause a spike in the cybersecurity resources required to secure it, causing more than a 15% incremental spend on application and data security.

Gartner analysts said organizations should conduct proof of concepts before incorporating GenAI into their cybersecurity programs, beginning with application security and security operations. A policy for overseeing the introduction of GenAI-based products into the organization must also be established, to ensure that all internal teams using this technology understand and adhere to a set of unified policies.

Bridging the Communications Gap with Cybersecurity Outcome-Driven Metrics: Outcome driven metrics (ODMs) are central to creating a defensible cybersecurity investment strategy. They provide a credible and defensible expression of risk appetite that supports direct investment.

“ODMs enable SRM (security & risk management) leaders to convey the value of cybersecurity investment beyond the importance of regulatory compliance,” said Data. “Organizations seeking an approach to measure cybersecurity value that resonates with executives and supports practical investment decisions must adopt ODMs.”

Spending in security to grow

Gartner forecasts that end-user spending on security and risk management (SRM) in India is expected to total $2.9 billion in 2024, an increase of 12.4% from 2023. 

Indian organizations will continue to increase their security spending through 2024 due to legacy IT modernization using cloud technology, industry demand for digital platforms, updated regulatory environment, and continuous remote/hybrid work.

In 2024, cloud security spending in India is projected to record the highest growth. The adoption of cloud and multi-cloud presents security challenges, causing an increased focus on cloud security by Indian organizations.

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