Leveraging generative AI to power businesses in the digital age

Kaushik Sarkar, President of Collabera Digital, a leading digital transformation specialist, sheds light on the forces shaping tech landscape. Sarkar, a veteran with over 25 years at tech giants like IBM and TCS, explores the impact of trends like Generative AI, composable architectures, and deep decision engines. In a recent interaction, he delves into how Collabera Digital leverages these advancements to drive innovation and growth across various sectors, particularly in fintech.

 1.What are the key trends shaping the digital industry landscape today, and how are organisations navigating their challenges in the digital age?

The digital industry is currently being shaped by trends such as GenAI, machine learning advancements, cloud computing, cybersecurity concerns, and the increasing importance of data analytics. These trends are exciting, but they also present challenges. Organisations struggle to keep pace with the rapid evolution, requiring constant upskilling and adaptation. Most organisations are investing in digital transformation initiatives, upskilling their workforce, adopting agile methodologies, and prioritising customer-centric approaches to stay competitive in the digital age.

2. How is your organisation planning to leverage generative AI in its offerings, and what potential applications are you exploring for the future?

We have taken a 3-pronged approach to leverage Generative AI in everything we do as a company:

As a lens to reimagine and reinvent ways for our customers to deliver a new set of experiences, next generation of products and platforms and data insights.

Reinventing business models and platforms for financial services, leveraging expertise in financial services coupled with our recent acquisition of Digiterre.

Reimagining customer insights and engagement models for consumer industries, utilising platforms like Salesforce and MuleSoft coupled with AI and data analytics.

Re-creating data infrastructure to accelerate ROI and usage of Generative AI, collaborating with key partners like AWS, Microsoft, Google to develop prototypes and accelerators.

As a platform to enhance efficiency in our software engineering, talent sourcing and deployment, and service delivery and experience for our clients.

With clients increasingly seeking collaboration and co-creation, we created CoVE.aI – Collaborative Value Engineering.  Comprising experience, engineering, knowledge management and talent sourcing platforms, CoVE.aI enables rapid solution deployment through an AI-powered engineering and recruitment. It offers transparent self-service capabilities for clients to monitor performance, request services and, drive co-innovation. Powered by self-learning algorithms, CoVE.aI intends to achieve non-linear efficiencies and enhance client control, reporting and experience.

As an enabler of employee productivity and creativity and organisational effectiveness

We prioritise investing in our workforce to navigate technological changes  effectively. Our company-wide initiative, “Creative Minds, Generative Algorithms” focuses on empowering employees with– Creativity, Personality, Engineering & AI. Through programs like CREATE – Creativity Assessment Training and Enablement, we offer tailored training and advanced tools to  enhance problem-solving and solution design. Integrating engineering and AI knowledge boosts efficiency in core tasks defining talent of the future.

3. Looking ahead, what other emerging technologies is your organisation excited about, and how do these technologies fit into your overall strategic vision? Can you talk about future projections?

While the transformative potential of generative AI is undeniable, we are equally excited about other emerging technologies that align with our strategic vision to power customers to achieve business outcomes. As a digital-ready company, focused on value engineering at the speed of thought, we see immense opportunities to produce sustainable products that can change user experiences and drive core efficiencies. Here is where we are placing our focus on:

Composable Architectures: Embracing MACH + O principles for adaptable, modular systems utilising microservices and APIs to scale and integrate rapidly.

Deep Decision Engines: Envisioning intelligent systems that not only analyse vast data sets but actively recommend optimisation strategies, unlocking efficiencies and accelerating business outcomes.

4. What are some key initiatives or areas of focus that your organisation plans to prioritise to further enhance its contributions to the fintech sector and maintain its position as a leader in the digital landscape? Could you also share any models being implemented?

Our partnership journey with Fintechs and digital banks has been dynamic and evolving. In the initial stages, the focus was on innovation and customer acquisition, leading to the establishment of large customer and merchant base. Now, the emphasis is increasingly on sustainable and profitable growth, driven by key strategies

(a) Monetization of Data: Leveraging payments data for timely loan and investment products

(b) Building synergistic platforms:  Expanding offerings from B2C to B2B/ merchant segment

(c) Strategic partnerships and continued innovation: Developing use cases across payments, lending, insurance and investments.

(d) Enhancing CyberSecurity: Prioritising cybersecurity, fraud protection, eKYC & AML solutions, forbrand protection.

(e) DevSecOps optimisation: improving customer service and operational efficiencies with Generative AI & automation technologies.

We collaborate closely with our clients to innovate not just financial products & services, but also ‘beyond banking’ B2B and B2C solutions, fostering open finance ecosystems and enabling new operating and delivery models for profitable and sustainable growth.

5. Could you provide some specific examples of successful collaborations or projects where Collabera Digital has played a pivotal role in driving growth and innovation across verticals?

Collabera Digital has driven growth and innovation across industries by applying advanced technology solutions. Our work in banking, insurance, fintech, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, and hospitality has yielded significant business benefits and industry advancements. Examples include:

• Transforming a leading Philippines FinTech’s payment system, enhancing accessibility and inclusivity.
• Advancing a top British bank’s customer interactions and compliance through Open Banking.
• Improving an APAC insurer’s system efficiency with AI, reducing downtime and service tickets.
• Implementing data analytics for a telecom company, optimising business decisions.
• Enhancing customer engagement for an international hotel chain with Salesforce Marketing Cloud.