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Published by ha1, 2019-12-17 06:45:26

Consulting Insight

Consulting Insight is a magazine dedicated to consulting industry and consultants.

Keywords: consulting,Big4,Consultants,Management Consultants,Engineering Consultants,FIDIC,Freelance consultants

www.consul nginsight.in

EVOLUTION OF CONSULTING
WITH THE ADVENT OF AI

AI-POWERED RFP RESPONSES –
CREATING THE WINNING PROPOSITION

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE:
TRANSFORMING THE FUTURE OF

PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

PRINTED & PUBLISHED BY CONSULTING INSIGHT

Ajay Sharma on behalf of
Solopreneurs Portal Private Limited
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Note to the Readers

The views expressed in the ar cles are those of the authors and do
not reflect the views of “Consul ng Insight”
Although all the efforts have been made to ensure accuracy of the
text, neither the editor(s) nor the publisher can take responsibility
for consequences arising from errors or omissions in the
informa on provided
Reproduc on in any manner without prior permission from
publisher is prohibited.

www.consul nginsight.in



CONTENTPage No.

6 Evolution of Consulting with
the Advent of AI
T V Ramachandran

14 AI-powered RFP Responses –
Creating the Winning Proposition
Bharti Maan

16 AI's not for the Techies Alone

Ajay Kumar Sahoo

21 Artificial Intelligence &
27 Consulting Industry
30
About The Conference

Artificial Intelligence: Transforming
the Future of Pharmaceutical Industry

Srinivasan Parthiban

Ai Powered Consultancy

Ashay Singh

32 Automated Intelligence for M&A
33 Due Diligence and Audit

Saud Meethal

Reflections for the Consultants

Sunil Godse

34 Transforming Education Industry
36 Ai As Catalyst

Soumya Behera

5 Factors for a successful
AI strategy in consulting

Consultancy.org

CONSULTING INSIGHT

EFrdtohimetor I am happy to share the inaugural edition of “Consulting Insight” with
you. I am sure consulting professionals would like to know more
popular and complex topics related to consulting industry and we will
be happy to bring specic topic based editions in the future.

A few months back, a new platform, Global Council for Development
of Consulting Professionals (GCDCP), was created to facilitate the
development of consulting professionals and the exchange of best
practices in the consulting industry. This platform will help consultants
grow and also help the newcomers in the industry to acquire the latest
tools and techniques required to become an effective consultant.

India, being the fastest growing economy with the second largest
population in the world has a signicant stake in the AI revolution.
Recognizing AI's potential to transform economies and the need for
India to strategize its approach, the then Hon'ble Finance Minister,
Mr.ArunJaitely, in his budget speech for 2018 – 2019, mandated NITI
Aayog to establish the National Program on AI, with a view to guiding
the research and development in new and emerging technologies.

Being a knowledge-based industry, the consulting industry will be
largely impacted as Articial Intelligence brings value to the
knowledge economy. The world keeps evolving and innovations are
shaping it for current and future needs. Articial Intelligence is one of
these innovations that unquestionably transform our world and
society. The Conference organized by GCDCP in August 2019 aimed to
bring together experts and stakeholders on one platform. The cross-
pollination of ideas between technology experts and consultants
brought some of the right diagnostic tools for understanding client's
issues

The Conference witnessed participation from Start-ups, Corporate,
Analytics rms, Government Advisory, and Consulting organizations
and deliberated on topics including Articial Intelligence and its
collaboration with the Consulting Industry in the coming future. The
conference threw light on new consulting skill sets, which may be
required in the near future and how to train the new generation of
professionals who are interested in seeking a career in consultancy. It
also threw light on new ways of thinking and problem-solving using
Articial Intelligence.

We have a very good contribution by eminent authors in this edition
and I would like to make a special reference to Mr. T V Ramachandran,
President at Broadband India Forum, for sharing deep insights into the
impact of AI on the consulting industry.

I also would like to thank Mr. Rajesh (Raj) Varkhedkar, Advisor at
"Get Me Experts" and a prime driver of AI conference and Consulting
Insight magazine, for providing his expert knowledge to give shape to
this publication.

Please share your comments and suggestion to us so that we can make
this magazine a state of the Art publication.

Please look forward to more insights from consulting Industry.

Ajay Sharma

Editor - Consulting Insight

www.consul nginsight.in 5 INAUGURAL ISSUE | 2019

Evolution of
Consulting with the

Advent of AI

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

With all the exci ng benefits that Ar ficial Intelligence T.V. Ramachandran
or AI can offer the world, there are genuine fears about its Hon. Fellow of IET (London)
poten al to render a variety of job posi ons redundant. President of Broadband India Forum
A er all, AI will very likely automate a variety of “white- Founder and CEO, Advisory@TVR
collar” jobs that comprise of professional, managerial, or Chief Mentor – Quogent Consul ng
administra ve work. Analysts predict that the field of

consul ng, being largely human-capital intensive, will

undoubtedly be impacted. This paper endeavours to

demonstrate that the AI-revolu on is inevitable and the McKinsey, Accenture, KPMG, and others, in an cipa on of

consul ng industry can reap its benefits if it rises to the an Ar ficial Intelligence-led future, have invested in

challenge and evolves along with the technology. acquisi ons in digital AI-powered pla orms and offer

AIrelated consul ng services.

Every innova on through history birthed

numerous new jobs and advantages into “The secret of change The global startup economy boom will also
existence – and AI is no different. Experts in is to focus all of your contribute to sustaining the consul ng industry.
the field predict that while specific lower- energy, not on figh ng Early- and mid-sized startups tend to maintain
to mid-level jobs will certainly be made the old, but on building lean teams to control overheads and rely on
redundant, AI will usher in novel job the new.” – Subject Ma er Expert third-party consultants for
descrip ons to suit the requirements of an a range of services from business strategy to
Socrates

AI algorithm-powered future. Research pera onal execu on.

indicates that the matured global consul ng

market is es mated to grow at 3% CAGR in the next five Experts es mate that the IT or so ware industry will grow at

years. While AI may not accelerate growth in the consul ng 11% CAGR in the next five years. Big data analy cs, cloud

sector, there will be tremendous internal transforma on. compu ng, robo cs, and AI will be the key drivers shaping

this growth. Due to the prolifera on of cloud compu ng,

The field of management and strategy consul ng, for so ware pla orm business models are already changing

example, is already pursuing a makeover. Boundaries from a SaaS (So ware as a Service) to XaaS (Everything as a

between IT or technology consul ng and Management or Service). XaaS models are one-stop-shop cloud-based

Strategy consul ng are fast disappearing. All the big players, product and service models that companies can leverage on

www.consul nginsight.in 6 CONSULTING INSIGHT

an as-needed basis and be billed accordingly. Consultants legal counsel familiar with the intricacies of AI products to
will be required to support business, and IT teams in various guide them through poten al issues.
organiza ons as they navigate the evalua on, selec on, and
implementa on of these offerings in a cost-effec ve and In short, innova on begets innova on. The introduc on of
the internet created the field of computer science,
mely manner. informa on technology, big data, Internet of Things, and
Ar ficial Intelligence. It also changed the face of more
India’s $167 billion IT-BPM industry will be transformed. It is tradi onal jobs. Doctors regularly need to update
reported that 60-65% of this labor force will be employed in themselves on technological advances to examine pa ents,
jobs requiring completely different skill sets. This means that diagnose, and treat them. Teachers need to use technology
significant up skilling is required and is in fact, already to research, prepare, and train students. These jobs have
underway. In an cipa on of AI-related disrup on, the not been eliminated. In fact, we now have more doctors
industry is already evolving to include AI, robo cs and teachers because the technology presented the
processing, and Machine Learning as key offerings. opportunity for more individuals to pursue these jobs.

The future belongs to the ‘gig’ or ‘project-based’ job The reality is that some jobs will be made redundant – the
economy. Consul ng firms and individual consultants who introduc on of cars affected the horse and bullock-cart
are mindful of this will need to pay a en on to the trends industry adversely. The inven on of the telephone
and upgrade their exper se and services accordingly. destroyed the telegram. However, as with every innova on,
Consultants, as they have always been, will need to be if the consul ng industry whole-heartedly embraces the
flexible, agile, constant learners, and adaptable to change in changes AI brings and discovers the opportuni es it
order to thrive. presents in their domain of exper se, there is tremendous
poten al to sustain the market.
The field of data science will con nue to accelerate with
data scien sts con nuing to be in high demand. Apart from INTRODUCTION
technology-related and management consultants,
a few other consul ng sectors will experience growth. While Ar ficial Intelligence or AI is expected to translate languages
AI offers significant advantages, it also presents its sets of be er than humans by 2024, write high-school essays by
challenges – and experts will be required to assist 2026, work in retail by 2031, write a book by 2049, and
organiza ons in naviga ng these complexi es. As businesses conduct surgery by 2053. At least according to a recent
become increasingly data-driven and rely more on Ai’s Oxford and Yale survey of over 350 AI researchers. Just last
predic ons for decision-making, Subject Ma er Experts will year, Chris e’s, the pres gious auc on house, became the
have to train AI and Data Scien sts in providing greater first to sell artwork generated by an AI algorithm (the piece
transparency into the decision-making process behind every sold for over $400,000). AI technologies will be all-pervasive
predic on an AI issues in order to build greater trust. The in the future and feature in every single industry – and all
issue of historical and inherent bias being introduced into AI new products and services by 2020 (Costello, 2019).
has been well-documented, and consultants to coach data
scien sts in elimina ng bias in their AI algorithms will be Small wonder that people all over the world in various
required. domains and roles, including the world of consul ng, are
beginning to wonder, “Will Ar ficial Intelligence replace
Addi onally, as organiza ons accumulate incredible me?” This fear is not without reason. It is also es mated
amounts of data, data governance consultants will be that AI would take over 47% of jobs in two decades (Frey
required to manage and maintain the quality to guarantee & Osborne, 2013) (Furman, et al., 2016). This includes a
a higher accuracy for AI predic ons. With every industry range of posi ons from entry-level to the highest level of
focused on digi zing, the issue of cybersecurity already is exper se. Ar ficial intelligence or AI refers to the ability
and will con nue to be a significant issue. Ethical hackers of a machine to think, learn, and gain near-human-like or
and cybersecurity experts will be relied upon by human-like “intelligence.”
organiza ons looking to secure their informa on.
AI is quickly capturing the market on low-level repe ve
With the growth of AI implementa on in all fields, the world tasks such as frontline customer query handling through
of trainers will con nue to grow. Experts skilled in data chatbots, scheduling appointments or mee ngs, obeying
fluency and communica on skills will be called upon to train basic commands (Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa), guiding us
employees and individuals in reading, interpre ng, and to our des na on analyzing traffic pa erns in real- me, and
leveraging the results of data analy cs powered by AI. cura ng our music, book, and movie recommenda ons, to
name a few.
AI pla orms are trained to gain more accuracy vastly
through sizeable historical data sets – which brings the issue Addi onally, AI is making inroads into transforming
of an individual’s right to data privacy into relevance. Several higherlevel execu ve posi ons as well. In Banking and
countries around the globe have already implemented data finance, AI can now evaluate loan applica ons and provide
protec on regula ons and laws, and others are following guidance on whether to approve or reject a loan. In
suit. These regula ons and laws will be updated Healthcare, AI can now “read” complex medical
con nuously and contested. Organiza ons of all sizes and informa on, such as all test and imaging results related to
individuals alike will rely on Subject Ma er regulatory and cancer, and make a diagnosis. AI so ware has even proven

www.consul nginsight.in 7 INAUGURAL ISSUE | 2019

more accurate than radiologists in detec ng cancer lesions As AI con nues to evolve, how will it transform the world of
in medical images. consul ng? To understand this, let us look at the growth of
the consul ng industry thus far.
The most well-known AI, IBM’s Watson, defeated humans in
the popular game show ‘Jeopardy’ and can now “read” CONSULTING INDUSTRY - MARKET OVERVIEW
complex data such as medical tests and imaging, research,
and not only detect cancer, but also provide a diagnosis and The overall global consul ng market is expected to grow at
guidance on the treatment path forward. Researchers are 3% CAGR to $343.5 Billion by 2025 (Adroit, 2019). North
also training AI to “understand” human emo ons and offer America, together with Europe, the Middle East, and African
online therapy as online therapists. There is virtually no field markets, hold the majority 41% share of the consul ng
untouched by the advent of Ar ficial Intelligence. economy. This growth is a ributed to the rise in digital
business acquisi ons, boos ng the demand for technology
Advances in the field of Ar ficial Intelligence now allow it to consul ng (Gartner, 2019).
guide C-Suite execu ves with high-level business decisions,
offer greater insight into opera onal workflows and areas of
improvement, control large projects with resource and
budget management, and conduct various ac vi es related
to evalua ng job candidates and matching them with job
descrip ons for recrui ng purposes.

Some industries have been faster to leverage the benefits of Demand for consultants also stems from organiza ons in
AI than others. Banking, financial services, insurance, retail, highly saturated markets relying on third-party experts as
and consumer internet companies are early-embracers of AI they navigate strategic mergers and acquisi ons, and
technology. Wall Street has invested more in AI technology aggressively expand into newer business domains to stay
over the past few years than in human traders. AI-based ahead of the compe on.
investment or financial services apps are the future of
banking. In the insurance industry, AI evaluates customer Another contributor to the demand for consul ng exper se
applica ons, matches them with the right insurance plans, is the growth of the startup ecosystem. In 2019, the global
and handles billing and complaints. In banking and financial startup economy is a staggering $3 Trillion – growing 20%
services, AI tracks customer behaviour and personalizes from 2017 (The Next Web, 2019). As per the report by The
recommenda ons for products and services, and handle Next Web, “That’s the size of a not-so-small economy, larger
basic bank transac ons. AI in retail is expected to hit $4,337 than the GDP of the United Kingdom, France, or Brazil.”
Million by 2024 (Prescient & Strategic Intelligence, 2019) Early- and mid-sized startup teams are lean and o en rely
es mated to grow at a CAGR of 35%. Burdened by heaving on third-party consultants to assist with business strategy
fragmented data, regula ons, and legacy systems, the planning, market gap analyses, technology, hiring and
healthcare industry behemoth has been slower to jump on resource planning, and advice on legal and regulatory
the AI bandwagon – but is quickly beginning to catch up. compliance requirements.

The advent of big data analy cs, cloud compu ng, and AI While there will always be a need for strategy and
has provided a boost to the world of IT and Strategy management consul ng, analysts predict a decline in the
consul ng. Big consul ng players such as McKinsey, overall industry. This is mainly due to the maturing of the
Accenture, and IBM, and others have invested heavily in market segment, the trend towards greater automa on, and
acquiring several small- to mid-sized digital and AI pla orm the evolu on of technology.
providers to offer their clients a full range of technology
products and services. Due to this interest in AI and its On the other hand, the global Informa on Technology or IT
underlying founda on, big data analy cs, the field of industry is expected to hit the $5 Trillion mark by the end of
Informa on Technology or IT consul ng has enjoyed growth. 2019 and will con nue to experience growth (CompTIA,
Consultants currently assist in big data management, large- 2019). Since 2013, organiza ons of all sizes have been
scale data transforma on projects, technology upgrades, inves ng in data transforma on ini a ves to leverage the
data governance programs, and much more. Large numbers power of big data analy cs and cloud compu ng for more
of junior data consultants are employed with developing significant insights and greater agility. As an adjunct domain,
machine learning and deep learning algorithms for AI The IT or so ware consul ng industry was $157 billion in
applica ons and organizing and managing extensive data 2017 and is expected to grow from 2018 to 2025 at a CAGR
capabili es. over 11% (Grand View Research, 2018). IT consul ng offers
end-to-end solu ons for customers, including strategy,
However, once organiza ons implement more effec ve data design, execu on, technology selec on, analy cs, process
management tools, it is expected that the AI pla orms they op miza on, and more. With the popularity of cloud
use will eventually self-regulate their data – detec ng
missing, duplicate, or inaccurate data fields and then even
fixing the issues all on their own. How will this affect the
field of IT consul ng?

www.consul nginsight.in 8 CONSULTING INSIGHT

compu ng, there has been an evolu on in the so ware States and Western Europe are independent contractors
industry business model as a whole. or consultants (Petriglieri, et al., 2018). In an increasingly
digital world, successful companies will be the ones who are
While previously, So ware-as-a-Service or SaaS had been in- agile, flexible, and able to adapt to changing trends rapidly.
demand, cloud compu ng removed physical barriers to Addi onally, rising costs of acquiring, training, and retaining
storing and managing data. As a result, the industry has talent render it more a rac ve to hire skilled labour on a
graduated to an Everything-as-a-Service model or XaaS – project or task-related basis. Currently, Machine- and
where a plethora of tools and technology are offered as a Deeplearning contractors are in high demand.
service over the cloud without the need to own and host all
the so ware. With XaaS models, organiza ons can pick and As more sophis cated AI pla orms begin to evolve, a few
choose the services on an as-needed basis, and are billed consul ng jobs will indeed inevitably experience a lowered
based on this flexibility and usage per month. However, this demand. This includes very junior-level jobs with highly
type of model also means that it is harder for organiza ons repe ve tasks, frontline customer service, and such
to hire and train in-house IT personnel to support the en re posi ons. With greater automa on, global enterprises will
“buffet” of services offered on the cloud and some be able to handle entry-level func ons on their own at a
consul ng companies are quick to adapt to this evolu on. lower cost, and therefore, the offshoring industry will see a
For example, IBM Cloud On-Demand Consul ng provides decline, but there will s ll be demand for skilled IT labor.
deep subject ma er exper se for XaaS solu ons on an as- However, with progress and new technology, organiza ons
needed basis. Organiza ons can leverage their experts will face a slew of newer issues that require innova ve
monthly if preferred, and for the specific services needed. solu ons – and smart consul ng companies can seize the
opportuni es they present. Let us take a look at some of
In India, the $167 billion IT-BPM (Informa on Technology them.
Business Process Management) industry is was ng no me
in adap ng to the changing des. Services have been DATA SCIENTISTS & MACHINE LEARNING
redesigned to include AI, robo cs (RPA – Robo cs Process
Automa on), and Machine Learning (Nasscom, 2018). The Data Scien sts will con nue to be in high demand well into
merger between the IT-BPM industries in the first place also the future. There has been a buzz in the industry that by
heralds a reorien ng towards the future. All business genera ng algorithms that can think for
processes in the future will involve AI and technology in themselves, and eventually, generate
some form or the other. algorithms of their own, data
scien sts are in the process of
The past few years have seen a strong focus on ar ficial elimina ng their jobs. We are,
intelligence and the infrastructure to support it. Top however, quite far away from
consul ng agencies such as McKinsey have invested heavily achieving this level of AI
in expanding into this field. For example, leading firm autonomy for such complex tasks
McKinsey purchased QuantumBlack, a Machine-Learning and data, scien sts will be
(AI-based) analy cs startup. In a rapidly maturing field, needed to con nue to develop the
management consul ng has bet aggressively on AI and is next-genera on AI for every single
focused on acquisi ons of smaller- and mid-sized tech firms industry.
to complete their por olio of offerings. Will AI cannibalize
the IT consul ng industry, or can we adapt to meet the The role of the data scien st will evolve, as well. Currently,
demands of the future? most organiza ons face issues of fragmented data sets with
inaccurate, missing, duplicate, or incomplete informa on.
THE EFFECT OF AI ON THE CONSULTING They also face the challenge of integra ng or upda ng
INDUSTRY several legacy systems to run efficiently and maintain a high
quality of data.
The future of the consul ng industry has its unique
challenges as well as several things in common with other Currently, data scien sts spend a considerable amount of
domains as a whole. Task-based independent contractors or their me evalua ng and fixing the quality and usability of
labour is the wave of the future. This is also known as the an organiza on’s data sets prior to wri ng a line of code. In
“gig” economy. More than 150 million workers in the United the future, as data integra on ini a ves permit higher data
quality, data scien sts may spend more me genera ng
innova ve learning algorithms and fine-tuning their
predic ve analy cs, and less me on data scrubbing.

DATA GOVERNANCE & DATA QUALITY
MANAGEMENT

Data Governance refers to the management of data in an
organiza on. This includes maintaining data quality,
workflow, organiza on, storage, security, and access
through an organiza on regularly. Addi onally, regular
audits and con nuous improvements are integral to Data
Governance and Quality ini a ves.

www.consul nginsight.in 9 INAUGURAL ISSUE | 2019

Here is where the role of a data governance or data quality understand how AI pla orms work will be extremely
management consul ng team will be invaluable. As data valuable. For example, a legal or regulatory consultant who
sets grow and increase at a rapid pace, and are updated understands how AI algorithms work. Addi onally,
con nuously, there will always be the need for consultants consultants who are nimble, flexible, and quick to grasp
to help maintain the quality of data. This is significant informa on, iden fy issues, and recommend the path
because currently, and in the future, data is an forward will be the need of the hour in the future.
organiza on’s most substan al asset. Hence the popular
phrase, “data is the new oil.” Data is the fuel on which all IDENTIFYING & ELIMINATING AI BIAS
AI-pla orms run. If the data quality is suspect, the resul ng
AI analy cs will be untrustworthy. Another AI-related issue that will con nue to need human
subject ma er exper se on an on-going basis is the topic of
EXPLAINABILITY IN AI bias in AI algorithms. Machine- and Deep-learning
algorithms are o en trained on historical data sets and
As Ar ficial Intelligence has begun to provide guidance on iden fy trends and pa erns from those sets. If the original
financial, health, recrui ng, business strategy, legal, and data sets possess strong biases, the algorithms that train on
other such significant areas, the issue of explainability has them run the risk of incorpora ng and taking these biases
become a hot-bu on issue. Explainability refers to the forward.
ability to trace and understand how an AI pla orm arrived
at a par cular conclusion or recommenda on. Why is this Addi onally, the data scien sts that program the algorithm
important? add their weights and test their data sets and AI predic ons
for accuracy have their own inherent biases that may be
Consider the case of a cri cal care unit. AI pla orms can introduced into the AI either by design or inadvertently.
now monitor pa ents in the ward in real- me, and through Take the infamous case of Google’s facial recogni on
the power of AI predic ve analy cs, alert doctors to algorithm that came under fire for tagging images of African
pa ents at high-risk for cardiac events or sepsis before the American people as gorillas – simply because the data
adverse event occurs. It can also provide treatment scien st team was not diverse, and it was trained
recommenda ons. In this life-or-death situa on where predominantly trained on Caucasian image data sets.
every moment and every decision counts, the AI will needto Google corrected this bias a er the uproar, but the issue of
explain to the doctors how it arrived at its conclusion so bias in AI has not been eliminated – and we will always need
they can verify the right records in me and save lives. Subject Ma er Experts who understand the historical biases
Similarly, what if a self-driving car makes a wrong turn and and can iden fy and help guide and train data scien sts to
kills someone or gets into an accident? Who is at fault? correct for the bias.
How can developers save lives in the future if they cannot
analyze the reasoning and pathway to why the AI took a A massive area of concern where AI biases can lead to life-
par cular decision at the me? changing decision-making is in the criminal jus ce system
and the field of healthcare. For instance, the success or
These and other issues have given rise to the demand for failure of clinical trials for new drugs and treatments depend
XAI – or Explainable AI. Here is where skilled technology significantly on the popula on of pa ents chosen for the
consultant labor will be required. Cross-func onal studies. Bias can play a role in two ways here. AI predic ve
consul ng teams of developers, business intelligence analy cs can be beneficial by iden fying the types of
consultants, and perhaps even legal and regulatory pa ents for whom a specific drug or treatment plan proves
consultants will have to work together to create explainable most applicable, and thereby save millions of dollars poured
AI. into trials with the wrong pa ent pool. This can help
companies develop tailored, personalized drug and
Furthermore, consultants with intersec onal exper se in treatment plans and reduce the risk of failure. On the other
both domains and ver cals will be in high demand. This is hand, if predic ve analy cs is used to refuse treatment or
because Ar ficial Intelligence and technology will be the care to par cular segments of the popula on; it is an
backbone of every industry, and each ver cal will face its instance of AI used to promote underlying biases.
unique challenges. Subject Ma er Experts in specific
Industries that upskill and learn how to read and Consider even something less life-threatening but essen al–
the role of AI in recrui ng. AI algorithms are increasingly
being used to scour job applica ons, review, compare and
filter poten al candidates for recruiters to then engage.
However, if the algorithm primarily relies on historical data,
there is a strong possibility of gender or racial biases being
introduced into the system. Senior leadership posi ons
historically and even in the current day, tends to skew
towards male employees. Though the trend is changing,
what if an AI trained on historical data eliminates female
candidates at the first step? This could result in a vicious
cycle of perpetua ng and deepening the bias even further –
and fewer and fewer female candidates are interviewed and

www.consul nginsight.in 10 CONSULTING INSIGHT

hired for these posi ons. However, regular audits and data collec on, tracking, and monitoring. Consider an
evalua ons by trained Subject Ma er Experts can help incredibly me-sensi ve field like the world of online
reduce the bias. retail where each customer click means money. Businesses
o en have less than 15 seconds to make an impact and
CYBERSECURITY retain users on their pla orm or risk the consumer losing
interest. Consumer behaviour is o en tracked and analyzed
As the world becomes more and more in real me and changes to improve user experience will
digital, a genuine threat facing need to be implemented rela vely quickly. A er all, data-
consumers, organiza ons, and
government agencies is the driven companies are 19 mes more profitable than those
threat to cybersecurity. In fact, that are not and are 23 mes more likely to acquire
the world’s 13th largest economy customers (McKinsey Global Ins tute, 2014).
is the underground cybercrime
market (McGuire, 2018). So, does this mean that the role of business intelligence
Cybercrimes can cause damages will no longer be required with more sophis cated
es mated to be more than $6 trillion predic ve analy cs and data visualiza on tools? The answer
(Morgan, 2017).Several large organiza ons faced data is no. As with other func ons, this will merely evolve along
breaches in the recent past, and social media pla orms have with the technology. Consultants who upgrade their skills
come under fire for mismanagement of their user data accordingly can stay ahead of the curve. Business
through third-party firms. intelligence analysts who understand a certain level of how
the AI algorithm works, as well as possess ver cal-specific
Banks, financial ins tu ons, government organiza ons, and knowledge, will be
more have faced data breaches – with varying levels of in higher demand than data analysts who are familiar with
damages incurred. Even hospitals are not immune. only one or two tools.
Ransomware a acked the Na onal Health Ins tute in the UK
disrup ng 34% of pa ent appointments and surgeries DATA LITERACY
scheduled. Cybercriminals also target mid- and small sized
enterprises on a regular basis. A hospital in Indiana was Data literacy refers to the ability to read, interpret, and
forced to pay hackers a ransom a er Cybersecurity communicate data effec vely. With data-driven decision
consultants evaluated the case and determined no other making penetra ng all aspects of a business, every single
op on available to salvage the data. employee in all organiza ons will have to have some
measure of data literacy. This is where a whole new field of
To combat this, the field of Cybersecurity will only grow in consul ng is beginning to emerge – and consultants wise to
demand, and consultants who stay abreast of the latest and adapt will benefit greatly. The level of data fluency can
greatest in the field of Cybersecurity and data breaches will affect an individual’s employment opportuni es the same
be in high demand. There is currently and will con nue to be way the ability to communicate in English plays a role in this
a prolifera on of “white-hat” or “ethical” hackers – increasingly global economy.
individuals hired by organiza ons to find loopholes in their
systems to fix them as a preven ve measure. Google paid Data Literacy programs are the need of the hour as
white hat hackers over $15 million since 2010. In 2018, organiza ons ramp up efforts to train their employees to
white-hat hackers were responsible for helping companies read data and make business decisions that impact their
discover over 100,000 security risks. AI pla orms certainly role. An cipa ng this demand, data analy cs company Qlik
play a role even in this arena. AI bots can rou nely review an partnered with 1,700+ top er global firms to drive data
organiza on’s pla orms and repair issues, create patches literacy programs through organiza ons. These include
and updates to protect the product. However, there will technology solu ons providers, consul ng firms, business
always be a need for human verifica on as well. intelligence services, and more such as Accenture,
Cognizant, Capgemini, Tata Consultancy Services, CGI, and
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE Deloi e. Consultants who are highly data literate, possess
knowledge of gleaning business insights from data and are
Currently, the role of
understanding, organizing, and excellent facilitators, communicators, and trainers, will
presen ng business insights thrive in this environment.
gleaned from an organiza on’s
data lies predominantly in the REGULATORY & LEGAL COMPLIANCE
hands of business intelligence
and data analysts. However, in The field of regulatory and legal consultants will
the future, data-driven decision- con nue to be in-demand. Countries are con nually
making will be the cornerstone of upda ng their regula ons and laws to stay abreast of
all areas of an enterprise – and it will modern advances and changing governmental visions.
be impossible for a small team of analysts There is an added layer of complexity as most businesses
to carry the burden of analyzing data effec vely. are increasingly global in nature – and will have to comply
with the regula ons and laws of all the countries in which
The issue is compounded with the introduc on of real me they operate. In the U.S. and western countries where the
costs of maintaining large regulatory and legal teams in-
house are quite daun ng, it is quite common to support

www.consul nginsight.in 11 INAUGURAL ISSUE | 2019

small in-house teams that work with larger third-party are high, or large changes are in the works, and human
regulatory and legal firms. interac on is required to manage this change effec vely.

Currently, and in the past, a significant por on of the billable Apart from providing Subject Ma er Exper se and
work conducted by regulatory and legal firms involve data addi onal resources to an organiza on, Management
entry, record-keeping, si ing through paperwork and consultants also act as independent review bodies that can
historical records. However, as more organiza ons serve as the eyes and ears of an organiza on’s leadership
implement and maintain online records and transac ons, and provide an unbiased opinion. They also o en bring with
they can implement AI-based algorithms to gather required them handson knowledge of having conducted similar
informa on, analyze trends, anomalies, or flag high-risk opera ons in similar industries or other organiza ons. It is
areas to consider. Legal and regulatory teams will then be inevitable that eventually, any organiza on will fall prey to
more empowered to focus on higher-level analyses of the internal cliques and silos of thoughts – amongst ver cals,
changing regula ons, implement changes, or provide expert departments, and even the Senior Leadership execu ve
guidance related to their field. team. A CEO or CIO looking to make resource or significant
structural changes, add or remove an exis ng ver cal, or
Just the past few years have seen a sea change of regula ons seek guidance on Mergers and Acquisi ons can certainly use
being passed around the globe with regards to data, the AI-powered tools for business insights – but discuss and
most prominent among them, the European Union’s (EU’s) deliberate the path forward with external experts before
GDPR or General Data Protec on Regula ons released May finalizing a plan of ac on.
2018. The GDPR elevated every EU resident to the posi on
of Data Controller – in other words, each individual residing CONCLUSION
in the EU was to have control of their data and established
their fundamental right to data privacy. There are substan al As human beings, one of our greatest strengths is to
requirements for companies to submit informa on to a leverage personal knowledge and that of the collec ve
governing authority and to respond to individual requests human history to influence future decisions. This is a sign of
within a specific amount of me. It holds organiza ons that higher intelligence, and the field of Ar ficial intelligence
collect EU resident data accountable for erasing all records of aims to empower computers with human-like intelligence.
individuals who wish to exercise their right to privacy. In the near future, every single industry will be shaped by AI
Addi onally, the regula ons mandate that every single in some capacity, and while a few job posi ons will be
product that, in any way, collects, manipulates, or distributes eliminated, others, including the consul ng industry, will be
EU resident data, will need to prove it is designed with transformed.
privacy in mind. This involves a significant amount of
con nuing work for legal and regulatory companies and The global consul ng industry has aged and experiencing
consultants. consolida on. In an cipa on of the AI dal wave
domina ng every domain, top consul ng firms are inves ng
Other countries have quickly followed suit with regula ons heavily in AI-powered pla orms to expand their product and
and laws of their own regarding data privacy and security. service offerings. Similarly, all other segments within the
While the United States currently does not have an field of consul ng are being adapted to include the world of
overarching Federal law for data protec on, individual states technology and AI-driven predic ve analy cs.
have implemented or are in the process of manda ng data
protec on measures. These include the California Consumer Consultants in the field of machine learning, business
Privacy Act, Massachuse s’s stringent data protec on analy cs, cybersecurity, and data governance will
regula ons (MGL, 2010), and a few more. Canada and experience growth. Addi onally, with massive historical
Australia also have measures in place. India released a dra data sets training AI pla orms, there is a larger spotlight on
Data Protec on Bill last year and is expected to finalize it data privacy and protec on. Several countries have already
this year. The Indian Supreme Court granted every Indian passed regula ons and laws to govern the use of data, and
ci zen the right to privacy as a fundamental right. As always, they will be con nually updated and contested – which will
the majority of work for regulatory and legal experts in any fuel the need for regulatory and legal consultants who are
country resides in the grey or overlapping areas – where also well-versed in the nuances of machine learning
experts will be called upon to understand and debate the algorithms. The use of AI generates unique issues such as
finer points and nuances for various organiza ons. how infusing more transparency into an AI’s predic ve
analy cs process, and elimina ng bias in the algorithms –
As more products and industries become AI-driven with a and a new breed of consultants will be required to help
global customer base, there will be a strong requirement for organiza ons solve these problems.
consultants who understand not only global legal and
regulatory obliga ons but also the elements of product Apart from subject ma er exper se, the heart of the
design and development of sophis cated AI-led pla orms. consul ng industry is mostly driven by the power of
Management & Strategy Consultants communica on and rela onship-building. Consultants are
Analysts see a slowdown in the field of management and o en an external, independent counsel to senior execu ves
strategy consultants in the light of advanced AI-based and act as their eyes and ears on the ground when strategic
pla orms offering a similar service. However, senior changes are afoot – this will remain a driving force towards
leadership will always rely on an external “pair of eyes” to sustaining the lucra ve consul ng industry well into the
consult in certain instances – par cularly when the stakes future.

www.consul nginsight.in 12 CONSULTING INSIGHT

www.consul nginsight.in 13 INAUGURAL ISSUE | 2019

AI-powered RFP
Responses –
Creating the
Winning Proposition

Because it is not just about rendering the right
informa on,it is about telling a story to win the business.

Our face had sunburns and feet were s nging. My mind was Bhar leads the Innova on&Digital
blank as I took a seat in the jeep from Lohajung to catch the Transforma on Advisory at SAP.
train from Rishikesh. The expedi on to Ronty Saddle had le She has over 20 years of progressive
the whole group content and exhausted. I fell asleep even cross industry experience in digital
before we had crossed the village limits. We all did. When transforma on, intelligent
the driver woke us up, we were already at the railway sta on enterprise, enterprise applica ons
with just 5 minutes to catch the train. We don't know, how and system integra on.
we managed. The train had started moving when we climbed
down the stairs to the pla orm. It was a race between us BHARTI (GOYAL) MAAN She is a lead mentor with
and train and we managed to catch the train with all our “NASSCOM Deep Tech club” and
unconven onal luggage full of mountaineering equipment.
Pan ng and thanking our lucky stars, we made to our seats. also leads the SAP's Startup& Innova on Programs like

By the me we se led, the train was at full speed. My mind “InnovChallenge, Venture.io, Purpose.io”, enabling statups
too started its race. I revisited the exhilara ng and
challenging moments of the expedi on- the jokes we had and entrepreneurs transform the innova ve ideas into
cracked at dinners, friends who le on the way, the broken
ropes and gorges we had traversed. And then abruptly my profitable businesses in new markets and suppor ng teams
thoughts moved to my office. There was a lot to catch up,
but all I could think about were the pending customer RFPs. from the ar cula on of their ini al idea to its successful
And then this funny thought came to me. The RFPs seemed
like the peaks that we all aspire to conquer and the process commercializa on.
of responding is like the expedi on- o en rushed, ring,
chao c, full of surprises, no prepara on can be enough. She is also making contribu ons development of technology
More than o en it is also a me when the whole team eats standards and policies for Industry 4.0 as a member of
and treads together, and once concluded, it is a feeling no “Industrial Internet Consor um”.
less than conquering of Everest.
An alumnus of INSEAD France and DCRUST Murthal. She
helps businesses innovate through Design Thinking and
disrup ve technologies such as cloud, ML, AI, IOT and
analy cs.

AI to rescue AI-based RFP response pla orm uses NLP (Natural Language
Processing) and fills the response automa cally almost
My mind swayed to and fro connec ng the evolu on of replica ng the human intelligence, and in almost no me
expedi ons and RFP responses. using data from winning proposals (text, effort es ma on,

Paper maps of peaks and trails have been replaced by melines, costs, risks, legal) as the input. It appropriates the
advanced solar-powered GPS devices. The equipment is far RFPs and the knowledge that might be sca ered throughout
more sophis cated now than it was even 2-3 years back. mul ple organiza ons in the form of emails or documents in
With pre-packed food and availability of long term weather numerous containers. These are con nuous learning models
forecast, logis cs planning has become more predictable and so that the responses are in the 5C format- Clear, Correct,
simpler. Comprehensive, Concise and Complete.

For RFP responses too, we are now using an Ar ficial
Intelligence, machine learning and analy cs-based solu on.
AI, ML and analy cs together can manage the sca ered
informa on with elan to find the winning value proposi on
on me. It is even helping us with pre-qualifica on of RFPs
based on organiza ons business rules, policies and values.

www.consul nginsight.in 14 CONSULTING INSIGHT

Every RFPs is an opportunity effort es mate, melines, milestones, cos ng, risks,
dependencies, obliga ons, financial commitments and so
An RFP is an organiza on's opportunity to convey how it's on. The more complex the project, the tougher it is to pull
uniquely posi oned to serve a prospect's requirements. together a ra onal response in a short period.

As products and services evolve, having access to the most
recent data becomes a cri cal win factor. With knowledge
sca ered across mul ple pla orms, documents and emails,
the bid team o en lose track of this informa on. There are
documenta ons available, but if the por olio is huge, which
usually is the case then it becomes a complex search to find
answers to all ques ons. Bid teams have rou nely pointed to
another pain, this is a sca ered process, in the sense that,
“where do you go and whom do you ask” with so many
ques ons in an RFP. (Some of them might have already been
answered in previous bids)

Please send us your proposal. Experts as Curators,
You are invited to respond to the RFP.
not Creators
These are real buying signal from your customer; something
you have been wai ng for since long; something that tells Internal processes of the organiza ons face an innova on
that now is me to account for those sales numbers. And impera ve amidst intensifying compe on. There is an
however overwhelming the task might be, we need to increasing need for innova on and a necessity for innova on
differen ate and establish ourselves as the most competent to be repeatable and sustainable. What if we could have a
partner. system that is efficacious enough to redirect the younger
resources to be er content, faster. AI can ensure that, when
Managing RFP the RFP comes in, the team can quickly source 80% of the
materials all ready to go and can focus on rest of the 20%
challenge viaAI that needs to be customized for that par cular proposal.
Ques ons that it can efficiently tackle include
Organiza ons in B2B space, con nuously respond to RFPs in
an almost mechanical and “business as usual” manner. Most Informa on about your company
have dedicated bid management teams that work on RFPs.
Though manual templa sed responses rule the turf, AI has What makes you be er than compe tors
started transforming the way organisa ons respond to RFP.
Scope of work, products that we can implement from the
The bid management teams can tell that cra ing an effec ve por olio, gaps, fit
response to a formal RFP can be a tedious ac vity. The team
spends 40-300 hours per RFP and the large organisa on How you are uniquely qualified to succeed
receives 30- 100 high-value RFPs a month. A large customer
has a pre y long list of requirements which can be a list of Answers to any of the customer's specific ques ons
thousands of
specifica ons Your pricing sec on
organised as
mul ple dis nct Your "happy client" references
sec ons or
documents. Terms and condi ons

The first step in the Legal and compliance
RFP response is to
study the RFP Once the RFPs are filled, they will be sent to the domain
and to lay out all experts for the review and then to the Bid team which can
the specific now get involved with the customer quite early. This means
project requirements and ques ons. RFPs can be genuine RFP responses at a lower cost while subject ma er
considerably complex and it takes me to just highlight and experts and proposal writers can now focus on cri cal
extract the cri cal informa on like business need, technical, higher-value RFPs.
opera onal & performance requirements, eligibility criteria,
legal requirements etc. RFPs can o en come in last minute, Now that my train is approaching my des na on, I am happy
with firm deadlines for submission. The team then starts that we have chosen to implement the AI pla orm for RFP
working on the story. They prepare requirement compliance responses. There is now a huge difference to the way, we are
statements, project scope, bill of materials, resource plan, responding to RFPs. It is providing a significant compe ve
advantage and increasing efficiency and accuracy, crea ng
be er outcomes—to ul mately increase RFP win rates.

And the best part, I no longer have to cancel my holidays
for an RFP.

www.consul nginsight.in 15 INAUGURAL ISSUE | 2019

AI'S NOT FOR
THE TECHIES ALONE

Ajay Kumar Sahoo

Founder Director of Influer Ressource Humaine Solu ons LLP, a Delhi based Management and HR Consul ng
Firm, Ajay brings to table more than 35 years of Consul ng and Corporate experience in India and abroad.
In his last corporate assignment, he was the Global Group HR Head for Al Dobowi and Zenises group of
companies, based out of Dubai. Prior to that he was associated with large corporates and MNCs like NTPC,
Daewoo Motors, Eternit Everest and Lanco Infratech in senior leadership posi ons.
Apart from consul ng, Ajay loves to travel, read, run, play tennis, birdwatch, stargaze or generally laze around.

This story goes back almost four and a half decades. In a opposed to Ar ficial Specific Intelligence, the technological
village, in a remote part of India, there was an old haunted advancement in the other AI – Ar ficial General
railway sta on. Haunted for years. The villagers would avoid Intelligence, where the machine can do anything that a
going anywhere near it a er nigh all. Some villagers would human can do or more – hovers around the greatest
swear they heard hushed voices coming from it, some mes contribu on of India to the world – zero. And it will take
a scream as well. Some even had small stones hurled at may be decades or even centuries to get there. So, rest
them when they approached too near the building, causing assured, no killer robots in the near or foreseeable future.
them to retreat immediately. And, the scary part is, all this
was true! This con nued for years. And then, one fine day, Machine Learning is the field of study that gives computers
the police led away a gang of four who were opera ng their the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed
illegal business from the abandoned building and kept the (Arthur Samuel). Data Science is the science of extrac ng
ghost story alive. knowledge and insight from data.An ar ficial Neural
Network is just a big mathema cal equa on that tells it,
Now, AI has become the ghost story of the new millennium. given the inputs 'A', how do you compute output 'B'.Neural
Not only have the “killer robots” of the Terminator series, Network and Deep Learning are essen ally the same thing.
and other movies of the same genre, provided ready fodder
for the collec ve fear psychosis, but some peddlers of the The most commonly used type of machine learning is a
new tech (the so called AI brahmins) too are guilty of being type of AI that learns A to B, or input to output mappings.
hand in gloves to keep the AI monster alive so that the This is called Supervised Learning.
general public and non-techies don't go anywhere near it
and they can write their own pay checks. (In fact, this is • Spam Filter :
what some ML engineers did when they were signed on Input A = an email
from abroad at unheard of salaries by a few Output B = It is a spam or not
Indiancorporates who were too eager to start their AI
journey and steal a march over their compe on.) • Speech Recogni on:
Input A = Audio Clip
Ar ficial Intelligence, or to be more precise, Ar ficial Output B = Text Transcrip on
Specific Intelligence, is a catch all term using, to a more or
lesser extent, Machine Learning, (Ar ficial) Neural Network • Machine Transla on :
/ Deep Learning and Data Science. Ar ficial (Specific) Input A = English
Intelligence (e.g. Smart Speakers, Self Driving Cars, sundry Output B = A different language eg.
chatbots) are just one-trick-ponies good at one, and only Chinese, Spanish
one, thing they have been trained for and nothing else. As
• Online Adver sing:
Input A = Some info about an ad and
some info about you
Output B = Figure out will you click on this ad or not

www.consul nginsight.in 16 CONSULTING INSIGHT

McKinsey Global Ins tute es mated that by 2030, AI would Andrew Ng, an adjunct professor at Stanford University and
be adding 13 trillion dollars of value to world economy – a co-founder of Google Brain and former Chief Scien st at
China every year. But, be that as it may, the obvious Baidu, building the company's Ar ficial Intelligence Group,
ques on that arises is 'Why should I bother about AI? It is has wri en an AI Transforma on Playbook
(or should be ) the IT department's baby'. Nothing can be (h ps://landing.ai/ai-transforma on-playbook/)
farther from truth. Now AI has become all pervasive,
affec ng all industries, all func ons. which lists the steps as under:

• Sales e.g. Execute pilot projects to gain momentum
Sales Funnel Op miza on (Data Science)
Leads sor ng and priori za on (Machine Learning) Build an in-house AI team

• Manufacturing e.g. Provide broad AI training
Analyzing defects in manufacturing (Data Science)
Visual inspec on (Machine Learning) Develop an AI strategy

• HR e.g. Develop internal and external communica ons
Recruitment Funnel (Data Science)
Automate resume screening (Machine Learning) But while execu ng an AI project, one must steer clear of
the following pi alls :
• Marke ng e.g.
A-B Tes ng (Data Science) Don't expect AI to solve everything
Customized product recommenda on
(Machine Learning) Don't just hire 2-3 M/L engineers and count solely on
them. You should pair engineering talent with business
More o en than not, it is a cross func onal team consis ng talent and work cross func onally to find feasible and
of domain experts and AI engineers who conceive an AI valuable projects
project, collect data, train the model, deploy it and iterate to
make it more robust. The domain experts tell whether an AI Don't expect AI project to work the first me
project will be valuable to the organiza on. The AI engineers
tell whether it is going to be technologically feasible. Don't expect the tradi onal planning process to apply
without changes
One should pick up an AI project for implementa on that
lies at the intersec on – it should be valuable to the Don't think you need superstar AI engineers before you
organiza on and also technically feasible. can do anything

While star ng off on an AI journey, it is always advisable to

Technically Valuable
Feasible

pick a project which has greater chance of success rather Take a small step today. And you'd have taken a giant step
than one which is most valuable for the organiza on. towards insuring your career and your con nued relevance
in the foreseeable future.
3PRINCIPLES OF CHOOSING
AN AI PROJECT

Think about automa ng tasks in stead of
automa ng jobs

Find out what are the main drivers of business value

Find out what are the main pain points in your
business

www.consul nginsight.in 17 INAUGURAL ISSUE | 2019

ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE

&
HUMAN
RESOURCES

Next Edition of “Consulting Insight” will focus on role
of Article Intelligence in improving HR function. will it

be Human Assisted AI or AI assisted human

SKILL PERFORMANCE
REQUIREMENTS IMPROVEMENT

LEARNING & Papers Invited
DEVELOPMENT

EMPLOYEE RECRUITMENT &
EXPERIENCE SELECTION

SAHRE YOUR ARTICLES/PAPERS IN
1500-2000 WORDS ON HOW AI WILL

IMPACT ABOVE SUB-FUNCTION

31st January, 2020

[email protected]



HIRE
CXOs
ON-DEMAND

www.consul nginsight.in CONSULTING INSIGHT

CONFERENCE ON ARTIFICIAL

INTELLIGENCE & CONSULTING INDUSTRY

AUGUST, 2019, NEW DELHI-INDIA

Is consul ng industry ready to embrace the power of SUMMARY
Ar ficial Intelligence and move up in the value hierarchy?
This is what the moot point was during the Na onal Dr. Omkar Rai, DG, STPI India said “AI is a new
Conference on Ar ficial Intelligence & Consul ng Industry revol-u on in Consul ng Industry and it is the
organized by Global Council for Development of Consul ng demand of New India”. Other panelists also
Professionals (GCDCP) at Holiday Inn, Aerocity on August 10, gave emphasis to the maximum u liza on of AI
2019. A galaxy of professionals from Ar ficial Intelligence, in the consul ng Industry in their speech. T.R
Analy cs, and Consul ng fields a ended the day-long event Dua said, collaborate between ar ficial
to brainstorm, discuss and come out with some strategies Intelligence and Consul ng Company will
with respect to the adop on of Ar ficial Intelligence in the change the Consul ng industry and will play a
Consul ng Industry vital role in noted growth of the Industry. Vinod
Sood said the use of AI in the consul ng
Dr. Omkar Rai, DG, STPI India was delivered the keynote industry is very cost-effec ve. Ms, Bhara Maan
address. The Conference was also addressed by Nishith said AI plays a major role in Data analysis, data
Pathak who is India's first and only Ar ficial Intelligence (AI) collec on and me-saving in the consul ng
Most Valuable Professional (MVP) and Microso Regional Industry while Mansoor khan presents a road
Director (RD), TV Ramachandran, President, Broadband map of the importance of AI in the Consul ng
India Forum, Shivom Aggarwal, Chef de Projet R&D/ Data Industry.
Scien st, EURA NOVA, France, Avik Sarkar, Data Scien st, AI
& Public Policy Expert, Pankaj Khurana,Partner, PwC India,
Mansoor Khan, CEO, Wavelabs, T.R Dua, Director General-
TAIPA, Chairman– ITU APT Founda on of India, Vinod Sood,
MD, HSC, Ms. Bhar Maan, ML Expert & Mentor –
Entrepreneurial & Innova on Program and many other
prominent experts from AI and consul ng Industry.

www.consul nginsight.in 21 INAUGURAL ISSUE | 2019



saliant points emerged
during the conference

Ajay Sharma Mr.Ajay Sharma, Founder, Get Me Expert& FlexiOrg
and organizer of AI Conference said, “The world keeps
FOUNDER evolving and innova ons are shaping it for current and
GET ME EXPERTS | FLEXIORG future needs. Ar ficial Intelligence is one of these
innova ons that unques onably transform our world
Ajay Sharma is an Industry veteran with and society. It is already significant in the fields of
29+ Years of Experience in HR, Business Consul ng, Engineering, Medicine, Finance, and
Strategy, Semiconductor and IoT & is a key Driver Marke ng. At the Conference, GCDCP aims to bring
for concepts like “Experts on-Demand”, Future of together experts and stakeholders on one pla orm. The
Work, Gig Economy, managing performance for cross-pollina on of ideas between technology experts
project based resources. and consultants would bring in the right diagnos c tools
for understanding client's issues.”

Dr. Omkar Rai, while giving keynote address said Dr. Omkar Rai
that there is a need to bring consultants on one
pla orm and he said that he had the pleasure of the DIRECTOR GENERAL
company of finest minds in the consul ng industry SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY
during the conference on AI and Consul ng Industry
organized by Global Council for Development of PARKS OF INDIA (STPI)
Consul ng Professionals ( GCDCP). He stressed that
the Government of India has developed a roadmap Dr. Omkar Rai is Director General,
for the introduc on of AI in different sectors and So ware Technology Parks of India (STPI) which is
consultants will play a major role in the the premier government organiza on working for the
implementa on of AI vision for India.
promo on of IT/ITES/ESDM industry in India

Bhar Maan Bhar Maan brought an important point
“Which is more expensive- one hour of elite
MACHINE LEARNING EXPERT, consul ngor 10 gm of gold? Very obvious,
MENTOR- ENTREPRENEURIAL & consultants bring lots of insights“.
INNOVATION PROGRAMS

Bhar Maan is a Senior Business leader
with 22 + years of proven track record- Capable of
opera ng at both a management level and also
rolling up sleeves up to get the job done.

Avik Sarkar said “Govt. has the vision, Dr. Avik Sarkar
makes policy decisions. Consultants will
make the rubber meet the road. Make AI & DATA SCIENCE ANALYST |
implementa on happen.”. INDIAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

With core strengths of analy cs,
sta s cs & machine learning, Avik

bring value to iden fy, architect &
implement the appropriate solu ons for the

specific business need.

www.consul nginsight.in 23 INAUGURAL ISSUE | 2019

Vinod Sood Vinod Sood said, “For the consultant industry to stay
relevant, they have to build capability and also collaborate
MANAGING DIRECTOR | HUGHES with Ar ficialIntelligence providers”. Pa ern recogni on by
SYSTIQUE CORPORATION Ar ficial Intelligence is something even Smart Consultants
cannot easily complete”. He further stressed that
Vinod is a veteran of hi-tech so ware consultants are having “Know it all” a tude, AI will sha er
industry, during his career span of 30+ years he has that myth, “the ability to adapt and imbibe technology
built high performance teams at premier R&D solu ons quickly needs to be addressed in today's age of
organiza ons in India. Ar ficial Intelligence and that is true for consultants also.
Vinod Sood further emphasized that “Ar ficial Intelligence
is going to help consultants, replacing rou ne tasks with
data gathering and analysis and help them focus on their
deep industry knowledge”,

Shivom Aggarwal who par cipated from France over Shivom Aggarwal
the video-conferencing said that “Ar ficial Intelligence
can help telecom companies get back churned DATA SCIENTIST | EURA NOVA, FRANCE
customers with inside on right plans and right channels”
Shivom serves as the Head of R&D
Projects for Eura Nova, a global AI R&D

company in Marseille, France. His main
research areas include Big Data, Smart ci es, cloud
compu ng, knowledge management and deep learning

T. R. DUA TR Dua shared his views during the conference as
“whether employer, employee or consultants - all will
DIRECTOR GENERAL- TAIPA | need to reskill and reac vate in today's
CHAIRMAN– ITU APT Ar ficialIntelligence age”. He also said that
FOUNDATION OF INDIA “Ar ficialIntelligence will be a great tool for corporate
OPEX and CAPEX op miza on”.
T. R. Dua has an experience of over
35 years in the telecom sector which
includes all facets of telecom be it Product
Development, Business Development, Regulatory
issues & Spectrum Management.

Mansoor has Experience in diverse func ons Mansoor Khan
spanning Strategy, M&A, P&L Mgmt, Business
Dev, Sales / Sales Mgmt, Marke ng, Product CEO | WAVELABS
Mgmt & Opera ons built around strong Business
Incuba on & Expansion skills Mansoor has Experience in
diverse func ons spanning
Strategy, M&A, P&L Mgmt, Business
Dev, Sales / Sales Mgmt, Marke ng,
Product Mgmt & Opera ons built around strong

Business Incuba on & Expansion skills

www.consul nginsight.in 24 CONSULTING INSIGHT

Maj Gen Neeraj Bali Neeraj Bali, Head – HR & Corporate Affairs of Rodic
Consultants said: “Some people love the status quo long
HEAD CORPORATE AFFAIRS & HR | a er the status has le quo”.He ques oned that “Will
RODIC CONSULTANTS PVT LTD pricing of consultants also change with evolving Ar ficial
Intelligence models?”. Ajay Sharma Replied that pricing will
Maj Gen Neeraj Bali is an Indian Army be now based on the value addi on ( outcome) by
Veteran. He is currently Head Corporate consultant instead of effort-based manhour cos ng. AI will
Affairs & HR of Rodic Consultants Private Limited. bring down the pricing of consultancy which is just based
on some data gathering and analysis.

Nishith pathak said “If data is the new oil for Nishith Pathak
every organiza on, Ar ficialIntelligence is
the new refinery”. INDIA'S 1ST AI MVP | MICROSOFT
REGIONAL DIRECTOR

Nishith Pathak is India's 1st and only
Ar ficial Intelligence(AI) Most Valuable
Professional(MVP), a Microso Regional
Director (RD), Lead architect, speaker, AI
thinker, innovator, and strategist.

Anuradha A Anuradha A says “Ar ficial Intelligence will
hugely enable personalizing designs to match
TECHNOLOGIST AND the taste of regions and countries in the
TRANSFORMATION LEADER fashion industry”.

Anuradha is a senior leader with
28+yrs of Industry experience, has been
a Technologist focused on complex enterprise
transforma on and large Prac ce building,
accelera ng business outcomes for clients.

Berry Libert, ex- Mckinsey Management consultant, CEO of AI Ma ers, a noted expert in the
consul ng domain shared his views on the theme of the topic through his video message. He
said that with the adop on of Ar ficial Intelligence, consultants should adapt themsleves with

the emerging gig economy and machine economy as they will bring the cost of consul ng
lower in many specific areas.

www.consul nginsight.in 25 INAUGURAL ISSUE | 2019



Artificial Intelligence:
Transforming the Future of
Pharmaceutical Industry

Parthiban Srinivasan is an experienced data scien st, earned his PhD from Indian Ins tute of Science,
specializing in Computa onal Chemistry. He holds dual Masters Degree- one in Science and the other in
Engineering. A er his PhD, he con nued the research at NASA Ames Research Center (USA) and Weizmann
Ins tute of Science (Israel). Then he worked at AstraZeneca in the area of Computer Aided Drug Design for
Tuberculosis. Later, he headed informa cs business units in Jubilant Biosys and then in GvkBio before he
floated the company, Parthys Reverse Informa cs. Now his recent venture is VINGYANI, a data science
company which deals with Informa cs 2.0, that is, Ar ficial Intelligence for Drug Discovery and Health.

Current drug discovery is long, costly and high failure

Is there a better way to get medicines to patients?

Drug
Discovery

10,000 Preclinical Clinical Trials FDA Review

Compounds 250 5 Compounds 1 FDA
Approved
Compounds
Drug

~6.5 Years ~7 Years ~1.5 Years

Artificial Intelligence (AI), and, in Particular, deep learing as a subcategory of AI,
Provides opprtunites for the discovery and development of innovatives drugs,

www.consul nginsight.in 27 INAUGURAL ISSUE | 2019

New medicines are a cornerstone to con nuously
improve healthcare, to treat diseases be er and to
increase our health- and lifespan. Finding the right
new molecules that eventually become new medicines,
however, is a very complex, expensive, and long process. It
typically costs 2.6 billion USD and takes 12 to 15 years. How
to decrease the costs and speed up new drug discovery has
become a challenging and urgent ques on in industry. Big
breakthroughs happen when what is suddenly possible
meets what is desperately needed. What is suddenly
possible now is AI. When new technologies become easier
to use, they transform industries.

Discovering a new drug pharma/biotech investors wonder whether they should
jump on the bandwagon or wait and see. In an innova ve
goes as follows: environment like drug discovery, staying behind is not an
op on. First-movers enjoy a huge compe ve advantage.
Given a medical need, iden fy the underlying biological Indeed, AI in drug design is experiencing a wave of
mechanism, and design a molecule ac ng via this excitement not seen since the emergence of computa onal
mechanism to produce the desired effects. This sounds chemistry in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
simple, but in truth it's not easy at all. Leaving aside biology, Now, there are two schools of thought on AI. One is that AI
an important part of the problem is the chemistry: there are has come of age, offering drug developers a chance to
just too many molecules to choose from, perhaps as many harness AI technology to guide research work, offering a
as 10 to the power of 60 for all drug-like small molecules. much greater chance of success through Phase III. The other
Any failure is an enormous financial damage, and in fact, side says this is just the latest over-hyped fad that will
failures in drug discovery research are not rare. inevitably fade into the background as large and small
companies con nue to rely on tradi onal methods for
Here comes a disrup ve idea: can we automate the process finding and advancing the next-genera on of drugs. We
and take the chemist out of the equa on? Recent research need to evaluate both sides of that argument, debate over
suggest that this might become possible using ar ficial the future of AI in R&D and where we are headed over the
neural networks, by which a so ware first learns from next 5 years.
training data, and then is able to perform complex tasks or
predic ons. Indeed, AI methods bring promises to the pharma industry,
but also bring many ques ons. Can AI help us screen and
AI is a new digital fron er that will have a profound impact select the right compounds and assist with iden fying
on the world, transforming the way we live and work over successful targets? How can AI help avoid the failures in
the next 10 years. AI has been described as the 'fourth phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials? Is AI always going to be
industrial revolu on'. It will lead us to self-driving cars, limited by data and is collabora on the key to tackle this
computers understanding human language, and automated Issue? How to ensure we are using AI the “right” way?
drug discovery. The 3Ds powering AI in drug discovery are When and where is the right me to use AI? Will we be able
domain exper se, deep learning and data. to lower drug discovery costs, reduce me to market and
develop pharmaceu cals in a way that has never been done
Investments in AI for drug discovery are surging. Big before – is AI the answer and is this the future? With AI at
Pharmas are throwing big bucks. They have started to the peak of its hype curve, can machine learning live up to
explore what the algorithm behind voice and face expecta ons?
recogni on can do for drug discovery. Sanofi signed a 300
Million dollars deal with the startup Exscien a, and GSK the
same for 42 Million dollars. The Silicon Valley VC firm
Andressen Horowitz launched a new 450 Million dollars bio
investment fund, with one focus area in applica ons of AI to
drug discovery. Roche acquired Fla ron Health for $2.1
billion, with focus on real world data. In this craze, lots of

www.consul nginsight.in 28 CONSULTING INSIGHT

Many researchers at Biosciences conferences discussed in pharmaceu cal companies is an exis ng or emerging
the last couple of years about the great poten al of AI, but barrier to achieving expected results from digital
equally so about the pain of “wrangling” the meagre data technology ini a ves. Although the data and analy cs
available. AI needs data, and this is the weak point when talent pool are expanding, organiza ons are struggling to
trying to apply 'AI' to the drug discovery field. This is not find candidates with the right balance of technical skills,
object or speech recogni on, where we have a huge amount biopharmaceu cal domain knowledge, and business
of both labelled and unlabelled data. The problem is that strategy. As a result, the en re innova on landscape is
drug discovery is a very different beast. changing, both in terms of Mergers and acquisi on as well
as partnering with startup companies.
It is not the first- me drug makers have turned to high-tech
solu ons to boost R&D produc vity. First it was in the late Pharmaceu cal industry is evolving. Un l the end of last
1970s and early 1980s when the computa onal methods century, most of the work was done internally, very
raised much enthusiasm and gained broad adop on. Then few partners worked from outside. Since the
with the arrival of combinatorial chemistry in early beginning of 21st century, we have been
90s and human genome projects in early 2000s, seeing many changes such as mergers and
once again computa onal methods gained acquisi ons. Also, we have seen that much
momentum. Unfortunately, these early of the work is ge ng done externally, we
computa onal methods failed to deliver may call this as research externaliza on.
what they have promised, and the field of In a way, contract research organiza ons
computa onal drug discovery went and other service providers/partners have
through a sort of “AI Winter.” made the innova on landscape complex.
The future will be much more complex
According to many observers, the current and this view is supported by the fact that
AI boom began about seven years ago. But several startup companies are beginning
many pharmaceu cal companies retained to partner with big pharmaceu cal
ins tu onal memories of the failure of the companies. In pharma's eyes these
previous waves of computa onal drug companies are essen ally digital biotechs
discovery. Also, the link between AI and that they can strike partnerships
drug discovery isn't obvious at first with and which help feed the
glance. Early presenta ons pipeline. If the AI
to the pharmaceu cal technology really proves
industry on the itself, we may start to
advances in deep see a closer
learning in 2014 and integra on of these
2015 resulted in AI engines into
skep cism and were pharma R&D.
discarded. In 2016,
Google' Alpha Go In every
based on AI beat technological shi ,
world champion Lee some industries
Sedol in Go game. respond more
Things started to quickly and
change. Since 2017, aggressively than
many pharmaceu cal others. The AI
companies started revolu on is
partnering with AI following the same
startups and academics pa ern, some
or started internal AI industries are
programs for R&D. leading, whereas
Funding and enthusiasm for others are lagging.
computa onal methods have The good news is that
once again returned. To simply biopharmaceu cal investors
put if AI can play Go or drive see the value in applying AI,
cars, it must be able to help solve problems in areas like machine learning, and deep learning techniques to solving
medicine. With this op mism, the pharmaceu cal the drug discovery challenges. For the moment, almost
companies are focusing on AI to dras cally reduce costs by every AI-based solu on requires “humans in the loop.”
billions and reduce me to market by years. The rising popularity of AI-based solu ons is crea ng an
insa able need for people with data science skills,
A technology that has arrived, then what is the issue? Why business knowledge, and domain exper se. We are truly
the biopharmaceu cal industry is s ll lagging behind other at the opening stages of a rare paradigm shi !
industries in adop ng AI. The answer is shortage of data and
analy cs talent. Lack of properly skilled teams within the

www.consul nginsight.in 29 INAUGURAL ISSUE | 2019

AI Powered
Consultancy

Ashay Singh is currently in his last year of Undergraduate program in Computer Science
Engineering. His interest in AI was mainly due to the cross-field applica ons of the
technology and the vast set of problems that the technology can address. He has also
been working in the research fields of Machine Learning publishing research papers in
Journals and presen ng them in conferences.

He is passionate about Deep Learning and Differen al privacy. He aspires to work
towards securing AI-based tools for society. In his spare me, Ashay loves to read
books and a end the college Mar al Arts club or helping his juniors in the field.

Name: Ashay Singh | Email: [email protected] | Phone No.: 9170143309
LinkedIn: h ps://www.linkedin.com/in/en-ashay/ | Title of Publica on: AI Powered Consultancy

Synopsis: The power of AI does not cease to amaze people in which can deal with a large number of customers queries
simultaneously, so they perform be er during high traffics of
any field of life, and Consulta on industry is also no different. It requests as compared to human support Also, with the latest
can help by proving be er recommenda ons to both the advancement in Natural Language Processing, it is now
candidates and the consultancy. Some techniques with their possible to convert a person's speech from one language into
probable applica ons are: different other languages within seconds. It can be used to
expand the support of various other countries and open
Collabora ve Filtering and Recommenda on -: The more doors for opportuni es.

technology is useful in advanced filtering and be er Remove Human Bias: The Ai is not designed to be biased
recommenda ons.
towards a par cular region, firm, or person. So it can help in
Forgery Detec on-: AI can be deployed for forgery promo ng equality and righ ul selec on of candidates and
diversity of op ons for the company.
detec on too. Once a case happened at my friends firm which
was responsible for doing hirings for some companies. Some of Infrastructure Development: Various Reinforcement
the employees started faking the candidates' documents and
modifying his por olios to increase his chances of selec on based techniques can be tuned for infrastructural design too.
and thereby increasing their performance to receive extra They can be specified according to par cular Policies and
incen ves. But the case was found out with the help of a Reward func ons to test the performance of various
candidate when he declined to the informa on provided about methods to select the best fit among the given ones like
him to be true. All this can be easily prevented with the help of comparing the op mal resources required to check the
AI. AI can be used to detect any forgery in the documents or candidates' Conceptual Knowledge vs. His interpersonal
changes made from the original records. skills can be decided to use the current company resources
op mally.
Mul lingual Customer support: The customer support

can be made be er by the use of advanced Q/A based chatbots

www.consul nginsight.in 30 CONSULTING INSIGHT

euphoric ad

www.consul nginsight.in 31 INAUGURAL ISSUE | 2019

AUTOMATED INTELLIGENCE FOR
M&A DUE DILIGENCE AND AUDIT

Saud Meethal, Data Scientist BDO in India.

Base Objec ve: Crea ng a connected analy cs ecosystem how good of a sample data is considered. But u lizing the
for con nuous opera onal and financial analysis of the complete popula on of data eliminates any chances of
organiza on which can be used for Due Diligence, Audit, misinterpreta on due to poor sampling.
Management etc.
• Flexible and Efficient Change Request
The data that flows around in the formal and management: As the ac vity of analyzing is
informal system whether digi zed or not, done on tradi onal tools like excel, which at
can provide a plethora of ac onable mes gets cumbersome, o en the team
insights, if, the data is digi zed, needs to decide on what type of analysis they
structured, cleansed and analyzed in an require and then build reports based on
ideal manner. The whole process of those points. With BI tool capabili es at their
automa on of such data processing can disposal, the team would have the flexibility
enable the capabili es of assessing to drill down the data from many more
complete data and handling con nual perspec ves and combina ons and create
changes to requirements efficiently.
customized KPIs, which wasn’t feasible earlier due
STRUCTURING AN ANALYTICS ECOSYSTEM: to limited me. This would also address any report
changes due to the changes in the underlying data, in a very
Could be generalized to, as per the domain. Implemented by effec ve manner.
consultancy firms
Recurring projects analyzed instantly: At mes, the same
STEP 1: GETTING THE DATA RIGHT team is required to carry out the Due Diligence or the
Audi ng ac vity. In such cases, depending on how
The quality of the architecture of an well the data sources are synchronized during
organiza on’s opera onal and financial “Step 1”, the BI reports used earlier can simply
data stores has a direct impact on the be updated in an instant. The team would
ability to analyze and automate the require working only on new requirements, if
data. Hence it is pivotal to digi ze and any.
process all the relevant data points
into a logically structured data • Replicable to mul ple organiza ons:
warehouse. Consultancy firms can not only reu lize the BI
architecture, but also the reports and
STEP 2: DEFINE THE DESIRED dashboards can be referenced for other projects
ANALYSIS belonging to the same domain. Domains here can be
defined as categories like Manufacturing, Sales, Payroll,
Incorpora ng the rules and regula ons of the Micro Finance etc. The reports may not exactly be the same,
government, organiza on and considering other domain but the scripts used to analyze can expedite the
standards in the report design. Example: For Due Diligence development me for the new project. Hence the more
of a micro finance firm we need to consider ever greening types of domains consultants address, the be er the
analysis, drop-out analysis, government rules and repository they create. This ul mately widens their
regula ons as an integral part of the design template. spectrum of domain exper se by every project. The
exper se can also be retained by the
STEP 3: IMPLEMENTATION consultancy firm in the form of BI templates,

Automate using BI tools like Power BI, even when the team has experienced some
Tableau, Qlik View etc. Create predic ve a ri on.
analy cs models using basic machine
learning and me series analysis, • Customized KPI for many other
wherever required. requirements: The generalized reports of any
par cular domain may cater to the majority of
BENEFITS OF AN AUTOMATED the requirements but may not always be
INTELLIGENCE: sufficient. But as all the available data has been
processed at “Step 1” it would not be a paramount
• Quality of Due Diligence and Audit: As big data task to cater to any specific analysis required by the
cannot be processed in excel, only a sample of data is stakeholders.
analyzed. This may create an opinion of the data based on

www.consul nginsight.in 32 CONSULTING INSIGHT

Reections for
the Consultants

Sunil Godse has 34 years of experience in So ware industry. The experience spans R&D,
Sales, Marke ng and P&L Management.

He has completed B. Tech (Electrical) and M. Tech (Computers) from IIT Kharagpur.

His interest in AI goes back to 1985 when he developed the first AI-based system for the
analysis of the Electrical Circuits.

He has immense interest in Data Science/AI techniques. His company Klugheit So ware's
goal is to 'Convert Data for the Business Value'.

The Mahabharata Epic has a story of Arjuna. Radiologists are pressured for me. MRI reports can have
100+ image slices. So, that is lot of work. Hence, it makes
Arjuna was tasked to use bow-arrow and hit the sense to get an idea of the background of the pa ent and
narrow the inves ga on. Do they miss out something the
eye of the fish by focusing on its reflec on. The fish process?

was swimming in a bowl at the top and reflec on In read another paper**on Radiology. The paper states that at
mes, Radiologists end up missing few cri cal points. This
was seen below in the water. Arjuna focused on
neither inten onal or nor incompetence in the part of
the image in the reflec on, used his archery skills Radiologists. This happens due to natural bias, etc. The paper
has more details.
to hit the fish.
With this, I spo ed the reflec on of the problem. Why don't
I see the analogy between this story and what consultant we use AI's deep learning technology to iden fy set of
would be doing in the age of AI. anomalies in the image? These anomalies can be presented as
Nowadays, data is captured from all sort of ac ons. The data a checklist for the Radiologist.
thus captured, reflects the reality. The consultants have an
opportunity to spot these reflec ons, collaborate with the Here is another example. Once, I was in discussion with the
Data Scien sts and arrive at the interes ng Senior Manager in an automo ve company. While describing
solu ons.
The engagement between customer & his opera on, he talked about their high-end CNC
consultant is the key. The discussions, machines. They have hundreds of those
factory visits, end user interviews machines. Each such machine has 10-15
provide an opportunity to tools. These tools cut the incoming
consultants to keenly observe metal block to a specified shape.
and spot the areas where data Each tool has a specific life span,
science can be applied. that depends on tools u liza on.
Let me give a couple of real-life Some of these tools can work
examples. effec vely up to8 hours, some
In past, I have interviewed a set for 48 hours and so on.
of Radiologists to understand
how deep learning can be applied Thus, the factory had thousands
to the Radiology. In my first of these tools, spread across
discussion with a Radiologist, I hundreds of CNC Machines.
pointed to a Chest X Ray laying on his Depending on the workload and
table and asked him how he will diagnose the type of cu ng requirements,
this. He said, “I start by reading the prescribing these tools will need replacement at
doctors report. The report has pointers to the varying me. If not replaced on me,
problems that pa ent may have. “ the quality of the end-product will be
I immediately wanted to ask him: Why do you need to read impacted. Currently, this replacement is
that report. Why can't you look at the X Ray and state your managed by the machine operator and is prone to
observa ons. With me, I have learned, to exercise cau on. the errors.
At mes, such ques ons are foolish and at mes, they are not
poli cally correct. I kept quiet. With this, I saw the reflec on of the problem in the data. Each
This pa ern was repeated with few more Radiologists. machine has the complete data on the u liza on of the tools.
Subsequently, I was in a discussion with a senior doctor who Why not capture this data, centralize it and use it to iden fy
heads the Radiology Diagnosis Centre. He said that the the tools that need replacement?

Finally, do all such discoveries always result in the business
value. The answer is not necessarily. It depends on mul ple
factors such as quality & quan ty of data, ability of the
organiza on to embrace the change.

www.consul nginsight.in 33 INAUGURAL ISSUE | 2019

Transforming

Education Industry-

AI as Catalyst

Soumya Behera

Ar ficial Intelligence is now a part of our normal lives. We contextual course recommenda ons. This tech-led
are surrounded by this technology from automa c parking interven on enables online learning pla orms to act as
systems, smart sensors for taking spectacular photos, and guides and advisors to a candidate's upskilling/reskilling
personal assistance. Similarly, Ar ficial Intelligence in journey and helps job seekers accelerate their career growth
educa on is being felt, and the tradi onal methods are and access much be er professional opportuni es by
changing dras cally. The academic world is becoming more gaining relevant, in-demand skills.
convenient and personalized thanks to the numerous
applica ons of AI for educa on. This has changed the way Global Learning
people learn since educa onal materials are becoming
accessible to all through smart devices and computers. Educa on has no limits, and AI can help to
Today, students don't need to a end physical classes eliminate boundaries. Technology brings
to study as long as they have computers dras c transi ons by facilita ng
and internet connec on. Now is the the learning of any course from
anywhere across the globe and
me to discuss the transforma ons at any me. With more
brought by AI in educa on. inven ons, there will be a wider
range of courses available online
More and with the help of AI, students
will be learning from wherever
Personalized they are.

Learning New

Experience Efficiencies

When AI is introduced, teachers are AI can also be used in the
not necessarily replaced, but they are modelling of complex data to enable the opera ons
in a posi on to perform much be er by department to create data-driven forecasts. This, in turn,
offering personalized recommenda ons to each pupil. AI allows proper planning for the future, for example assigning
customizes in-class assignments as well as final exams, seats during school func ons or ordering food from local
ensuring that students get the best possible assistance.Top cafeterias. Speaking of which, schools can avoid a lot of
online learning pla orms are using these cu ng-edge wastages caused by over-ordering thereby saving costs.
technologies to gauge each user on their skillsets,
capabili es, and interests before making the most

www.consul nginsight.in 34 CONSULTING INSIGHT

Probably one of the most revolu onary parts of AI in gramma cal prowess as their human counterparts, and this
educa on will be its ability to improve weaknesses in the technology has finally reached the classroom.Smart content
classroom. Rather than having to wait for the results of also includes virtual content like video conferencing, video
exams to see how students are doing, AI will allow teachers lectures. AI systems are using tradi onal syllabuses to create
to see how students are learning throughout the lessons. customized textbooks for certain subjects. As a result,
Teachers will be able to monitor progress easier and more textbooks are being digi zed, and new learning interfaces
regularly. Also, AI will recognize when a lesson needs to be are being created to help students of all academic grades
retaught, such as when a majority of students and ages. Virtual content such as digital lectures and video
do not master a certain skill or miss a conferences are also a reality now thanks to AI.
type of ques on.

It could Data powered by

change AI can change

the role of how schools

teachers find, teach,

There will always be a role and
for teachers in educa on,
but what that role is and support
what it entails may change due
to new technology in the form of students.
intelligent compu ng systems. In most
cases, however, AI will shi the role of the Data mining systems are already
teacher to that of facilitator. Teachers too would be able to playing an integral role in today's higher-ed
monitor and analyse the con nuous progress in real- me, landscape, but ar ficial intelligence could further alter
based on student's progress, without the need to wait for higher educa on. Ini a ves are already underway at some
Unit/Annual exams. AI will also be able to send schools to offer students AI-guided training that can ease
recommenda ons to teachers, as to which specific chapter the transi on between college and high school. Who knows
needs to be reemphasised or retaught, in case its smart but that the college selec on process may end up a lot like
analy cs engine concludes that majority of students did not Amazon or Ne lix, with a system that recommends the best
contemplate or master certain key areas of a concept, or schools and programs for student interests. For instance,
missed important ques ons.AI-based devices can be new age edtech pla orm like Toppr is helping its users to
designed to save a teacher's me by doing some of the clear their doubts 24x7.
rou ne tasks of a teacher, such as taking a endance,
presen ng study material on connected display screens as A study published by eSchool News indicates that by 2021,
per the instruc onal schedule and helping teachers navigate the applica on of AI in educa on and learning will be
through the displayed content with ease. increased by 47.5%.In a report by Google and KPMG, the
online educa on industry in India is poised to grow eight
Simplifying
mes to become a $1.96 billion industry by 2021 as an
Administrative Tasks increasing number of students consume content through e-
routes. Ar ficial Intelligence might inform the students how
AI can automate the expedi on of administra ve du es for their career paths look like depending on their goals thus
teachers and academic ins tu ons. Educators spend a lot of assis ng them beyond academics. Only me can tell the
ul mate impact of AI in the educa on industry.
me on grading exams, assessing homework, and providing
valuable responses to their students. But technology can be
used to automate the grading tasks where mul ple tests are
involved. This means that professors would have more me
with their students rather than spending long hours grading
them.

Smart Content

The concept of smart content is a hot topic now as robots
can create digital content with the same degree of

www.consul nginsight.in 35 INAUGURAL ISSUE | 2019

FACTORS

5 FOR A SUCCESSFUL
AI STRATEGY IN
CONSULTING
by Consultancy.org

36

AI will change the consul ng industry, helping deliver In order to help firms facilitate AI transforma on

quicker, more accurate insights to clients, while reducing programmes, Consultancy.uk has outlined five topics

costs. Introducing the new technology can be easier said consul ng partners should consider when dra ing their

than done however, and firms should bear in mind five own internal AI strategy.

key factors if they are to succeed in their

1transforma ons. PRO-ACTIVE PLANNING

Ar ficial Intelligence (AI) and automa on are disrup ng As many as 70% of companies will adopt at least one
businesses across the globe. As these new technologies
develop, many companies are increasingly thinking form of AI by 2030, and according to McKinsey &
about integra ng AI or at least automa on into their Company analysis, AI technologies could lead to a
opera ons. The consul ng industry is no different, and performance gap between front-runners, those who
AI is already revolu onising the way consultants explore scramble to keep up, and those who simply reject the
technology. The cumula ve change per company could
data, among a number of other aspects of their work.
be as much as 122% for early adopted, compared to just

Beyond helping consultants to crunch numbers quicker, 10% among followers, or -23% among the non-adopters.

it can also improve the accuracy of their analysis, to give Should consultancies fall prey to excep onalism,

be er insights to clients. This will allow for major believing their industry will not be disrupted by new

improvements to internal opera ons, and as a result, machinery and business models, they will be in for a

staff will have more free me to concentrate on value rude awakening then.

adding tasks. With this in mind, consultants simply Instead, firms must be pro-ac ve, and iden fy at the
cannot afford to miss this bandwagon – and will forfeit earliest opportunity where there is a business case for AI
their place at the forefront of consul ng if they fail to enabling and augmen ng their offerings. This is not to
embrace technology now.

www.consul nginsight.in 37 INAUGURAL ISSUE | 2019

say consultants should invest in the technology for fear AI capabili es. The key is to look outwards to augment
of missing out, but should work to iden fy where AI the consultancy’s skills set, so firms should explore the AI
solu ons will have the quickest and most decisive tech landscape to see what is available, before striking
impact in the firm’s internal opera ons. Ul mately, this partnerships with firms that can add to their offering.

will have a major impact on the capabili es of the

workforce to concentrate on the human aspects of TRAIN ALL CONSULTANTS ON
persuasion, mo va on, and coaching which are the OPPORTUNITIES

4major areas of value added by consul ng.
Using the new talent brought on board by hiring

2INVEST IN CAPABILITIES campaigns, M&A ac vity, and partnerships to buy firms
Consultancies cannot afford to scamp on inves ng in some breathing space in the short-term, consultancies
should look to use that leeway to quickly train their

their AI efforts. This is a two-fold commitment, na ve workforce. While AI consultants will always be
consis ng of the more obvious aspect of inves ng in needed to specialise in the ma er, the future of the
technology, but arguably more importantly, of inves ng industry will see AI skills become essen al for all manner

in people. Either organically or through mergers and of work in some aspect.
acquisi ons, consul ng firms must enhance the human
element of their AI offering if they are to succeed. All consultants can benefit from data science, as clients
increasingly see data as the new gold. Using AI will allow

them to be er leverage their teams for impact.

Ul mately, new training of staff to teach them how to

take advantage of AI can help them spend less me

having to clean data and build analy cs models, while

focusing wholly on influencing business leaders and

helping them change their firms.

5MONITOR AND MARKET
Like any aspect of transforma on, keeping tabs on the
impacts of AI change is vital to make sure consultancies

Leadership from the top is essen al to a successful AI are moving in the right direc on. While AI has clear
implementa on, and if a consultancy’s board does not benefits, its effects are not always material or tangible
have independent directors who understand AI and without monitoring its performance. As such, it is
pla orm business models, changes may be doomed to important to keep an eye on AI investments. Firms
failure. Firms should therefore seek to recruit new should look at the spending on AI solu ons to see what
digitally savvy leaders to boards and C-suite. At the value they add to their firm, while feeding their findings
same me, in the broader firm, consultancies should back into a constantly evolving strategy. This will also

look to launch an AI service line. This would enable them

to bring on board data scien sts and AI experts to both

develop AI offerings which will yield new clients, and

make sure AI is properly embedded throughout the rest

of the consultancy.

3PARTNERSHIPS help firms to demonstrate the effec veness of a firm’s AI
To make the most of AI as soon as possible, firms do not offering to clients.
have me to implement a trial-and-error learning
process. No consul ng firm can magically develop AI This feeds into helping posi on a consul ng firm as a
exper se internally – external forces are always going to perceived AI expert with clients. Thought leadership can
be needed to teach and rapidly up-skill the workforce. If also help with this, as can the branding of a separate
a firm is looking to implement AI at pace, partnering label within a company, such as McKinsey Digital, or BCG
with a firm well-placed to help that occur can therefore Gamma. This helps define towards clients how AI
make all the difference. offerings sit within a consul ng firm, and is a dis nct field
of specialism present in the organisa on.
Just as consul ng firms have increasingly promoted
partnerships where they share the risks and rewards of
a project with a client, this can yield a rapid and
rela vely low-cost fix to a consul ng firm’s ini al lack of

www.consul nginsight.in 38 CONSULTING INSIGHT




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