Impressions

Does Augmented Intelligence Boost Financial Inclusion? – A Discussion

Shahana T.
PhD Research Scholar (FT-URF)
Department of Management Studies

Pondicherry University

In my opinion, augmenting natural things is better than substituting with artificial in
general and in particular about human intelligence. Both artificial intelligence and augmented
intelligence are the two contemporary terms pertaining to human intelligence. True “artificial
intelligence”, is also known as “general and super artificial intelligence”. Augmented
intelligence, also referred to as intelligence augmentation (IA) and cognitive augmentation.
Most of us would be aware of artificial intelligence, as it is, was and will be of the subject
matter of academia’s as well as industrialists for long years. There exists both supporting as
well as opposing views, opinion, and attitude against artificial intelligence among them. Rather
common people also are highly concerned about this, I am not an exception, as it is all about
you and me, our employment and life itself. We are fear and panic about how it will affect our
employment and life and this distress is somewhat unrealistic too for some others.

The literature says that the significant tech leaders and innovators including Stephen
Hawking, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk have warned against the development of true artificial
intelligence and called for a ban on artificially intelligent, autonomous weapons, which are
already being developed. Moreover, literature call upon a public eye on the same. I don’t know
how many of us are afraid of it, but the three leading scientists and innovators in tech are afraid
of the near future that pure AI could bring. Which is why IBM has been focused on redirecting
the conversation around artificial intelligence to augmented intelligence. In simple word
augmented intelligence, is an alternative concept to artificial intelligence that focuses on
artificial intelligence assistive role, and it is designed to enhance human intelligence rather than
replace it.

Augmented intelligence (AI), also referred to as intelligence augmentation (IA) and
cognitive augmentation, is a compliment—not a replacement—to human intelligence. AI
emulates and extends human cognitive function through the pairing of humans and machines.
It is about helping humans to become faster and smarter at the tasks they are performing. At its
core, augmented intelligence is not technically different from what’s already being presented
as artificial intelligence. It is a rather different perspective on technological advances.
Augmented Intelligence systems use artificial intelligence techniques such as natural language
processing, spatial navigation, machine vision, logical reasoning, machine learning, and pattern
recognition in sectors such as Financial Services, Healthcare, or Digital Commerce.

How well-augmented intelligence is superior to artificial intelligence? The literature
says that IA-driven technologies and tools can augment the work of the employees to increase
efficiency and improve productivity. Further, augmented Intelligence systems are feedback-
driven, self-learning and self-assuring systems that emulate and extend human cognitive

- 43 -

abilities in software. They help make sense from messy, disparate first and third-party data and
help enterprises transform customer engagement, improve decision-making, deploy self-
learning and self-assuring business processes. IA is particularly good at analyzing huge reams
of data and finding patterns and correlations that would either go unnoticed to human analysts
or would take a very long time. It can find hidden meaning within all data and transform user
engagement by providing the right advice, at the right time, with the right evidence across any
contact point. This provides higher acceptance from industry as well as academia to the concept
augmented Intelligence over artificial intelligence. Augmented intelligent systems have already
been implemented at a large number of both large and small businesses. For example,
Microsoft announced a new health care division based on AI software. Dell Technologies
published its 2018 predictions, with one of them being that the future will be more about
human-machine partnerships than about replacing humans with machines.

Where we can apply the augmented intelligence and how it will work in that particular
area? According to my opinion, it can find the application at all nooks and corner where a
human is, and where their intelligence is required. For instance, in healthcare, an augmented
intelligence algorithm can analyse a patient’s symptoms and vital signs, compare it with the
history of the patient, that of his/ her family and those of the millions of other patients it has in
store, and help his/ her doctor by giving suggestions of what the causes might be. And all of
that can be done in a matter of seconds or less. Likewise, AI algorithms can examine radiology
images hundreds of times faster than humans, and they can help human experts in helping out
more patients.

Take another case, in education, augmented intelligence can do a lot, it can help both
teachers and learners. For instance, AI algorithms can monitor student’s reactions and
interactions during a lesson and compare the data with historical data they have collected from
thousands of other students. And then they can find out where those students are potentially
lagging, where they are performing well. For the teacher, AI will provide feedback on every
one of their students that would previously require one-on-one tutoring. This means teachers
will be able to make optimal use of their time and spend it where they can make the most impact
on their students. For the students, AI assistants can help them improve their learning skills by
providing them with complementary material and exercises that will help them fill in the gaps
in areas where they are lagging or will potentially face challenges in the future.

The focus of this article is not on augmented intelligence and healthcare; as well on
education. Rather it focuses on augmented Intelligence and finance in general and financial
inclusion in particular. There are many financial services-specific scenarios where augmented
intelligence can add significant value, for example: reducing false positives in anti-money
laundering (AML) and sanction-screening alerts. Augmented intelligence can be used to
monitor all activity within your financial institution from a global view and link common “bad
actors” together. This drastically reduces false positive alerts without compromising
compliance with regulatory guidelines, optimizing management of non-performing loans
(NPLs). AI can streamline forecasting, flag corrective actions, and automate communications
to customers.

- 44 -

Here are some explanations on the application of augmented intelligence in finance in
general. Just look at how augmented intelligence would add value to the wealth management,
a core issue in finance. In wealth management, it helps financial advisors better understand
their clients, as well as provide an enhanced portfolio determination beyond the usual
aggressive, conservative or balanced choices. AI systems can derive relevant signals from
social media to give advisors insight into their clients’ current and potential future financial
needs. For example, information can be gathered about clients who may want advice on
retirement planning or others who are celebrating the birth of a child. With this type of timely
information, advisors can have important financial conversations with their clients at the right
time -- earning their trust for achieving financial goals.

When it comes to banks, augmented intelligence will help revolutionize the way they
gather information and interact with customers, as they use it to understand the stated and
unstated intentions of customers to enable better interactions. If so, I think we can control the
accumulation of NPAs in our country which now acts as a serious challenge in our economy
and further can boost our economic performance. The pairing of humans and machines also
enables banks to apply augmented intelligence to business process intelligence, ensuring
employees have the right answers and advice for the clients they serve. In the context of
financial services, it provides banks with an enormously powerful set of tools to transform and
streamline some of their most fundamental financial processes.

Let’s discuss how it better works in the financial inclusion, a dream agenda of our
government since decades. Financial inclusion is not a novel concept which calls for a lengthy
introduction here. You might be heard about Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Atal
Pension Yojana (APY), and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY). These are some
of the schemes have been launched over different years in our country towards the objective of
financial inclusion. In simple words, financial inclusion aims at providing banking and
financial services to every individual and every corner of society without any form of
discrimination. Financial inclusion wants everybody in the society to be involved and
participate in financial management judiciously. Its main focus is on poor and disadvantaged
groups in the economy

For several years, only the middle and high classes of the society procured formal types
of credit. There are many poor households in India that do not have any access to financial
services in the country. They are not even aware of banks and their functions. Even if they are
aware of banks, many of the poor people do not have access to get services from the banks.
They may not meet the minimum eligibility criteria laid by banks and hence, they will not be
able to secure a bank’s services. Banks have requirements such as minimum income, minimum
credit score, age criteria, and minimum years of work experience. A bank will provide a deposit
or a loan to an applicant only if he or she meets these criteria. Many of the poor people may be
unemployed without any previous employment record due to lack of education, lack of
resources, lack of money, etc. These are some demand-side reasons, apart from these there are
some supply-side factors which hinder the progress in the journey towards financial inclusion.

Financial inclusion also intends to spread awareness about financial services and
financial management among people of the society. Moreover, it wants to develop formal and

- 45 -

systematic credit avenues for poor people. It is evidenced by the literature that, in India, the
nationalization of banks in 1969 marks the beginning of the process of financial inclusion.
Following this, India adopted a number of other strategies such as setting up of regional rural
banks (RRBs), mandatory priority sector lending (PSL) by commercial banks, Lead Bank
Scheme, introduction of no-frill account, linking self – help groups to banks, Kisan credit cards,
provisioning of doorstep delivery of financial services through approved banking
correspondents and so on to promote financial inclusion.

Financial inclusion is the one area, have got abundance attentions from scholars and
academicians in all over the country in banking research. The focus of the available literature
pertains to the measurement and impacts of financial inclusion in our country. Also, there is a
number of studies available on index construction on both supply and demand-side factors. In
my observation there is one area where researchers’ attention is required is asset quality and
financial inclusion. As a Ph.D. Scholar, this is the area I have put my focus on. Now let’s back
to the discussion.

Why augmented intelligence is a matter in financial inclusion? How it can augment the
performance of financial inclusion in our country? To deals with these, a small understanding
of the impediments in the journey towards financial inclusion is a must. Among the literature
it is observed that even though we are successful in financial inclusion, it is to an extent only,
still, we have to walk long since we are facing so many impediments in this journey. Some of
them are; malpractices with Jan Dhan Accounts, Difficulty in understanding formal language
by the customers as most of them are from rural illiterate, huge financial illiteracy, lack of
documents mandated by RBI to complete the KYC, inactive accounts, and account monitoring.
We cannot find a cent percent solution for all these problems through this partnership of
augmented intelligence and financial inclusion but it would generate greater efficiency since it
can offer solutions to the some of these problems.

Firstly, it can revolutionize the way they gather information and interact with
customers. Secondly, it can ensure that the employees have the right answers and advice for
the clients they serve. Third, it can better monitor each account efficiently and identify which
no-frill accounts are inactive, how long it is and can report properly to take the action. Next, it
can generate the communications in the local and regional language of the customers, thereby
we can manage all the direct and indirect issues in connection with the communication in
formal languages like ineffective communication, security issues, and workload.
Communicating through local and regional language is needed since financial inclusion focuses
on poor and underprivileged, they are basically illiterate. Also, it can work much better and
faster in developing financial literacy and account monitoring comparing to humans. Further,
it can work on improving the asset quality through the constant monitoring of accounts, and by
giving an early alarm of bad loans. This is highly demanding in the economy as there is growing
NPA at a faster rate and this financial inclusion effort also started to add bad loans at an
increasing rate. Another major thing it can offer is in the development of customized financial
products and services by analyzing the individual characteristics of individual customers
because it can easily manage a large volume of data within a fraction of seconds. It can help
the researchers in this field too by supplementing updated and adequate data and thereby it can

- 46 -

enhance the quality of research in this field. Moreover, it can boost the growth rate of financial
inclusion at a faster rate by augmenting the branch, deposit and credit penetration, thereby helps
to revamp the inequality issues in income to a greater extent.

__________

References:

1] JAN-WILLEM OPHOF. (2017, October 16). Starting the artificial intelligence journey:

scenarios for augmented intelligence in banking. Retrieved from

https://www.bankbazaar.com/personal-loan/financial-

inclusion.html?ck=Y%2BziX71XnZjIM9ZwEflsyHxJtndi%2FjD9k4FtXDwLbZCZC

0TqFEkhF6ljN6nbC1ZXXBwImSfaF7%2BS%0AmJOG7qYyyg%3D%3D&rc=1

2] Ganesh Padmanabhan. (2018, July 12). The future of finance is augmented intelligence

and the new-collar worker. Retrieved from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/07/12/the-future-of-finance-is-

augmented-intelligence-and-the-new-collar-worker/#6cb4a21cebe8

3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_amplification

4] Ganesh pandian. (2018, January 4). Industry-Specific Augmented Intelligence: A

Catalyst For AI In The Enterprise. Retrieved from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/01/04/industry-specific-

augmented-intelligence-a-catalyst-for-ai-in-the-enterprise/#302a3f551748

5] Akshay Sabhikhi, & Matt Sanchez. (n.d.). 10 questions about augmented intelligence.

Retrieved from https://www.cognitivescale.com/wp-

content/uploads/2017/05/Augmented_Intelligence_eBook.pdf

6] NICOLAS RAPP, & BRIAN O'KEEFE. (2018, January 8). Retrieved from

http://fortune.com/2018/01/08/artificial-intelligence-ai-companies-invest-startups/

7] Ben Dickson. (2017, December 4). What is the difference between artificial and

augmented intelligence? Retrieved from https://bdtechtalks.com/2017/12/04/what-is-

the-difference-between-ai-and-augmented-intelligence/

8] CHARAN SINGH. (2016, September 30). Challenges to financial inclusion. Retrieved

from https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/challenges-to-financial-

inclusion/article21704769.ece1

9] Financial inclusion. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.bankbazaar.com/personal-

loan/financialinclusion.html?ck=Y%2BziX71XnZjIM9ZwEflsyHxJtndi%2FjD9k4Ft

XDwLbZCZC0TqFEkhF6ljN6nbC1ZXXBwImSfaF7%2BS%0AmJOG7qYyyg%3D

%3D&rc=1

10] Molyneux, P. (2018). Developments in Banking Research and Areas for Future Study.

International Journal of the Economics of Business, 25(1), 167-179.

doi:10.1080/13571516.2017.1399654.

Jyoti Prasad Mukhopadhyay (2016). Financial Inclusion in India A Demand – Side
Approach. Economic & Political Weekly, L1 (49), 46 – 54.

- 47 -

Role of Augmented Intelligence in Transforming the Workforce

S. Pavithra, II MBA

Augmented intelligence is an emerging technology, a branch of Artificial Intelligence
which takes up an assistive role in enhancing the human intelligence, rather than replacing it.
It is denoted as IA (Intelligence Augmentation) in order to differentiate it from Artificial
Intelligence (AI). Augmented Intelligence aids in collective decision making by AI and Human
workforce.

In managing Human Resource, Augmented Intelligence may prove to add value to the
processes of recruitment, training and development, people analytics and help in the process of
reducing employee attrition rate.

During the selection process, the candidate’s ability to learn and develop the skills
necessary for the job, their experiences, their engagement, their behavioural traits etc., can be
analysed and measured by the use of technologies like chat bots, and hence the process of
selection may be smoother and yield better results. By enabling the organisation to find the
best candidate for the job, the ROI is also increased.

By learning about the behavioural aspects of humans based on the data collected from
their social media accounts and other public data sources, and comparing them, can help the
AI comprehend the workforce better. This tool may be of great importance in reducing
employee attrition and also to find the optimal mix of machine and human talent in the
workforce.

The ever-changing nature of the business landscape also poses a threat to the
organisations. The workforce has to be constantly updated in terms of knowledge, skills and
technology in order to thrive in the prevailing environment and also to be prepared to face
future challenges.

Implementing AI, leads to redefining the work as well as reskilling and upskilling the
workforce. The AI may be implemented to complete regular and structured task and also assist
in the decision-making process while human workforce may focus on the unstructured tasks
and value addition of the business. However, the workforce has to be prepared to work along
with AI machines.

However, the organisation must take into consideration the following before
implementation of AI:

1. Investment in Reskilling: While the organisation invests heavily in evolving
technologies and AI, they also must invest in reskilling the workforce to work with the
new systems implemented. Only then, the maximum potential of both human and AI
workforce may be achieved. This may be achieved by analysing the skill gap existing
within the organisation and employing AI in the process of training and development
of the employees to bridging the same.

- 48 -

2. Leveraging AI: AI is merely regarded as a tool in improving the efficiency of the
organisation rather than a lever in amplifying its workforce. This can be changed by
redesigning the team to be risk-hungry and autonomous while working in an AI driven
business model.

3. Willingness of the workers: The organisation should clear the workers’ misconceptions
about AI replacing their position in the organisation. The workers should understand
that the AI is not a threat, on the contrary, it is a tool to enhance their skills and
capabilities to serve the organisation more effectively.

AI is a powerful tool which holds unprecedented potential in aiding the transformation of
the workforce. Therefore, leveraging this tool in an efficient manner will help the organisation
to be a pioneer in the industry in terms of utilizing its resources, return and workforce.

- 49 -

Transforming Talent, Technology and Ideas

Ragavi. A, I MBA

Augmented Intelligence is an application of Artificial Intelligence that guides humans
to reach a decision rather than making the final decision for the human. With intelligent
machines enabling high-level cognitive processes like thinking, perceiving, learning, problem
solving and decision making, coupled with advances in data collection and aggregation,
analytics and computer processing power, an augmented intelligence presents an opportunity
to complement and supplement human intelligence and enhances the way people live and work.
Augmented Intelligence systems are best useful for the businesses that face the challenge of
making complex decisions involving fast-changing customer expectations, rigid security,
regulatory requirements, as well as over-burdened employees and staff. Augmented strategies
include analysing work processes and finding out, which aspects could be done by machines -
and which opportunities open up for human beings.

Though the idea once belonged to science fiction, in the past couple of years, as the
technology has improved, organizations and businesses in diverse sectors have started to
experiment with the different ways that intelligent machines can assist human beings at work.
Rather than focusing on the threat of automation, we need to seek the opportunities that will
arise from "augmented" workplaces – where thinking machines assist us. Machines are good
at crunching vast reams of data quickly, picking out patterns from which they can form a
hypothesis. Two centuries ago, during the Industrial Revolution, the textile workers known as
the Luddites began destroying the machinery that they believed would demolish their
livelihood. But as more of the tasks in the weaving process became automated, the workers
were able to focus on managerial and operational tasks. This led to a surge in output, which in
turn created more jobs.

Machines need vast volumes of data to make predictions, whereas humans are able to
connect threads to solve problems not previously encountered. As machines take over in
frequent, high-volume work, people will migrate to roles that call for critical thinking,
creativity, judgment and common sense, and that extends to the top tiers of management.
Organizations have an opportunity to use Augmented Intelligence systems to become cognitive
businesses: those that adapt in real-time, find the hidden meaning amongst all available data,
and use this knowledge to rapidly transform the way of engaging customers by deploying self-
learning, self-assuring business processes.

There is a bright future for people who are willing to change their skills and who are
willing to add their work to smart machines, work alongside them, manage them or to do
something that they can't do. There is an emergent need for transforming the existing workforce
and developing future talent in accordance with the changing needs of the job market. There is
a need for tomorrow's managers to develop a different skill set. Their role is going to massively
change from being good at understanding the situation to being good at observing the world
and observing their business.

- 50 -

Workplace Automation:
Present Scenario and Future Possibilities with Limitation

Rahul, I MBA

Before understanding the term Workplace Automation, we understand what is the
meaning of Automation? The term automation, inspired by the earlier word automatic was not
widely used before 1947, when Ford established an automation department. It was during this
time that industry was rapidly adopting feedback controllers, which were introduced in the
1930s.

Automation is the technology by which a process or procedure is performed without
human assistance. Automation or automatic control is the use of various control systems for
operating equipment such as machinery, processes in factories, boilers and heat treating ovens,
switching on telephone networks, steering and stabilization of ships, aircraft and other
applications and vehicles with minimal or reduced human intervention. Some processes have
been completely automated. In the modern factories, airplanes and ships typically use all these
combined techniques. The benefit of automation includes labor savings, savings in electricity
costs, savings in material costs, and improvements to quality, accuracy and precision.

Now we understand Workplace Automation, using the automation in work is called
Workplace Automation. And The World Bank's World Development Report 2019 shows
evidence that while automation displaces workers; innovation creates new industries and jobs.

For instance, researchers at Oxford University, collaborating with Google’s Deep Mind
division, created a deep-learning system that can read lips more accurately than human lip readers-
by training it, using BBC closed-captioned news video. Similarly, robot “skin” is able to “feel”
textures and find objects by touch, and robots are becoming more adept at physical tasks that require
fine motor skills.

Examples of Present Workplace Automation:

1. Employee analytics
2. Hiring process
3. Employee help desk support
4. Meetings
5. Form auto fill

- 51 -

6. Facility management
7. Office design
8. Customer support
9. Digital signatures
Management and leadership development will be a critical issue for companies of all sizes
over the next three years; we know strong leadership is a key driver of employee engagement,
culture and retention. But in the face of rapidly changing work automation and increasing use
of contingent talent, companies will need to develop leaders and managers differently.
The Global Future of Work Survey found that Asia Pacific companies expect automation
will account for on average 23% of work being done in the next three years.

That compares with 13% of work companies say is being done using AI and robotics
today, and just 7% three years ago. Among companies that are already using AI and robotics,
85% will expand their use of automation in the next three years. More than half (56%) believe
leaders will need to think differently about the requirements and skills for successors and
succession management as a result of automation.

But there are still limitations. Machines lack common sense, can’t always pick up on social
and emotional cues, and still struggle to understand and generate natural language. Probably not
that close in terms of full-blown personality, but a partial robot presence is just around the
corner. You only have to look to the movies to see fanciful innovations becoming real.

While we will never seek to completely automate the entire human workforce— despite
any suggestions of the third (or perhaps even fourth) industrial revolution — we need to be
able to define (or at least get some compass bearing upon) the areas when organizations can
create environments that support people to be more creative, productive and engaged.

When we know more about the breadth, scope, and total potential of automation
intelligence – at what point can we all reapportion ourselves so that we can start to be more
productive in the work that we actually do?

- 52 -

Workplace automation:
Impact on human employment

Kishore Kumar. V., I MBA

With surplus development in Automation and Artificial Intelligence, the serious
question running in the minds of the people is that, whether this Automation will be a serious
threat to employment?

“Automation" often conjures fears of a robot workforce displacing humans, inevitably
leading to mass unemployment. The automated economy, much like the industrial revolution,
will remake the workforce of tomorrow and offers much in the way of doing away with
mundane tasks and providing additional layers of context to the decision-making process.
Everything from payroll and purchase orders to manufacturing and customer service is ripe for
automation, and there are numerous companies working on new solutions to streamline tedious
tasks and improve current operations through the provision of additional information.

Augmented Intelligence:
Augmented Intelligence is an alternative conceptualization of Artificial Intelligence

that focuses on Artificial Intelligence’s assistive role, emphasizing the fact that it is designed
to enhance human intelligence rather than to replace it. It mainly focuses on providing more
interesting and challenging jobs to humans. Augmented Intelligence will improve the
productivity of many jobs, eliminating millions of middle and low-level positions, but also
creating million more new positions of highly skilled, managerial jobs. Augmented Intelligence
helps in transitioning the level of jobs where humans are a part of workflows. It is called
“Human in the Loop”. The idea is that, including humans for tasks that are more suited to
complete can provide a higher quality service overall. For example, many consumers still prefer
to interact with a knowledgeable sales associate when visiting a store, particularly in
specialized areas such as home improvement, drugstores and cosmetics, where informed
associates can make a significant impact on customer satisfaction. Though they will reduce
labour used for check-out and other operational activities, retailers will find it difficult to
eliminate traditional sales advisors. Augmented Intelligence is suitable for dynamic business
processes where there is a high variability of data patterns.

Automation enriches employment:
Over the past centuries the development in automation has enriched the number of jobs

for humans rather than depleting it. For example, the employment of humans after the invention
of computer is more when compared to the period before its invention. Computers are still
assisting humans in doing their jobs and they have not caused the mortality of any jobs. As
automation spreads and robots take over the mundane aspects of manufacturing, there is also
an opportunity for industrial workers to spend more of their workday tackling higher value-
added tasks. These are critical tasks that robots and Artificial Intelligence cannot easily
replicate like breakthrough product innovations and efforts to enhance customer satisfaction
that can give an organization a leg up over the competition. Companies must also invest in
training to build new skill sets among their high performing workers. In order to succeed in an

- 53 -

Industry 4.0 world, industrial workers will need both job specific knowledge and digital skills
like creating spreadsheets, working with new technology interfaces and even programming.

It is a fallacy to think that industrial robots, Artificial Intelligence and machines will
eliminate the need for industrial workers. By placing too much credence on this fantasy we risk
neglecting our most important resource i.e. human potential. It is human-centric Industry 4.0
where industrial workers are connected, supported and augmented by technology and are
equally crucial for success. It is the man-machine collaboration that will ensure factories to
reach new levels of efficiency, competitiveness, innovation, safety, and productivity.
Conclusion:

In an era when robots are hitting their stride, humans are still very much necessary. The
ideal way forward, is to create a convergence of technology with human skill and intelligence,
synergized into a composite whole shaping- what is termed as an “Augmented Intelligence”
system. Technology must harmonize the interplay between computing and human
interpretation capabilities, thus allowing organizations to leverage data and make informed
business decisions.

- 54 -

Building Agile Workforce
Atchayaa Sri, II MBA

The business world now is loaded with continuous challenges and heavy competitions.
Hence placing the right people at right places and in right time is not sufficient, which as
it is defines Manpower Planning.

Agility is ability to adapt or respond to changes to an outer stimulus in a speedy yet
effective manner “An organization is agile only when its workforce is agile”
Here are the various crucial things to be looked into while building as agile workforce:
Giving Space for Innovation

Innovation and Experimentation plays a very important role in building an agile
workforce, as it prepares the workforce to think and come up with new ideas in short time.
You can dig out several examples like Google, Apple and Facebook which has made
innovation as part of their routine resulting in massive brand value and growth of
organization.

Developing Alternative Competence
Earlier days confining to a particular competence and working accordingly was in trend,

whereas in today’s scenario it is very important to focus on developing serial competence,
which encourages employees to move out of their comfort zone. Hence identifying the
alternative interests, encouraging them to pursue them can help extensively in building an
agile workforce.

Driving Employee Collaboration
Agile organization understand the need for driving employee collaboration

Times have changed; the customer base is also multigenerational where it is not possible
to rely on the competence of only one generation. A mix of multiple generations gives a
way to combine strength with wisdom, force with experience and freshness with maturity

Change is only constant thing: So, when your employees are no longer afraid of change
your company is already to face the changes.

- 55 -

Artificial Intelligence Competitive Intelligence:

A Unique Business Strategy

Kumar Anadi Anant, II MBA

Artificial Intelligence refers to the ability of machines to perform cognitive tasks like
thinking, perceiving, learning, problem solving and decision making. Initially conceived as a
technology that could mimic human intelligence, Artificial Intelligence has evolved in ways
that far exceed its original conception. With incredible advances made in data collection,
processing and computation power, intelligent systems can now be deployed to take over a
variety of tasks, enable connectivity and enhance productivity. As Artificial Intelligence’s
capabilities have dramatically expanded, so have its utility in a growing number of fields.

While Artificial Intelligence has the potential to provide large incremental value to a
wide range of sectors, adoption till date has been driven primarily from a commercial
perspective. Technology disruptions like Artificial Intelligence are once -in-a-generation
phenomenon, and hence large-scale adoption strategies, especially national strategies, need to
strike a balance between narrow definitions of financial impact and the greater good. Adoption
of Artificial Intelligence across the value chain viz. startups, private sector, PSUs and
government entities, will truly unlock the potential by creating a virtuous cycle of supply and
demand. The barriers to Artificial Intelligence development and deployment can effectively
be addressed by adopting the marketplace model - one that enables market discovery of not
only the price but also of different approaches that are best suited to achieve the desired results.

The market system is challenging since it makes possible diffuse interpretations and
involves the competencies’ management in the technological, management and marketing
areas. Its understanding and its practice take time, dedication and investment, plus truly
significant innovations. Being significant means to contribute for the organization growth and,
at the same time, present value to customers as well making sure that these innovations are able
to prove that value. It can be concluded that cultural and behavioural changes represent decisive
factors in the efficient and effective implementation and maintenance of both, the Competitive
Intelligence System as well as the Market Orientation in the Company.

It is worth making a few additional remarks. It is noticed a need for commitment of the
hierarchical business employees who wish to lead their business tilted toward the market. As
the use of competitive intelligence leads naturally to the adoption of information technology,
it is important to understand the company’s information technology area setting. Its
understanding demands time, dedication, investment and brings to the surface factors such as
the company employees’ lack of involvement and mainly the senior management lack of
involvement. The absence of targeting, as well as, the excessive emphasis on obtaining
information and lack of ethical guidance, are factors that must be examined at the process of
adopting any management model of information technology which will support the CI. On the
other hand, the key aspects for the information technology implementation are not exclusive to

- 56 -

only the art of designing the process. It is necessary previously to tool up the company so that
it can get a suitable internal environment for the process insertion. The environment adequacy
refers to the cultural changes as much as to the strategic management and information
distribution and thus to the CI.

- 57 -

SYNAPSE ‘18 Committee

Prof. S. Hariharan, Convener, Synapse ‘18
Prof. B. Charumathi, Co-Convener, Synapse ‘18
Amit Kumar, II MBA, Students Chairman, Synapse ’18
Sunethraa, I MBA, Students Representative, Synapse ’18

PANEL HOSPITALITY MARKETING & PR
& TRANSPORT
Sameer Kumar Mohd. Shafaq
Mohd. Shafaq Kumar Anadi Anant Mohd. Anas
Kumar Anadi Anant Mohsin Shilpa. P
Anand Manimaran Anees
Amitava Singha
Pavithra Abdul Rahman Jamsheed. P
Kanimozhi Karpaga Moorthi Junaid
Gulshan Kumar Ishaq
Dinkar Pratap Singh Nisha Thanseer
Rahul Praveen Katke
SOCIAL MEDIA Suman Shilpa. M
Tauseef Gopika
Jithu. M Shantnu Banerjee Alphy
Keerthi
Athira OPERATIONS COMPERING
Sravan Suresh
Pratik Anurag Swethshree Patnaik
DESIGN Alok Arulmozhi
Devanathan
Amit Kumar Akshay Kumar Suneetharaa
Ilavarasan. E Abhishek Anwesha
Sasidharan. I Jwptha
JegatPriyan. D STAGE DECORATION Hiba
Asmita
HR Abhijit Bramha Kishore
Sanjay Giri Joy
Dhivya Shankar Wanpyn Lipsa
Dhivya Suresh Dahun Jaykumar
Purelin Manish
Shibu
Praveen Katke