The Robot Takeover Is Coming: Machines Will Do Half Our Work by 2025

Machines and automated software will be handling fully half of all workplace tasks within seven years, a new report from the World Economic Forum forecasts. But the group said technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and precision medicine, could create more jobs than they threaten.

In a study of executives and specialists across 12 industries, published Monday, the WEF concluded that this so-called “Fourth Industrial Revolution” could create 133 million jobs globally, while 75 million workers may be displaced.

Saadia Zahidi, head of the WEF’s Center for the New Economy and Society, said companies had “a moral and economic imperative” to invest in retraining and continuing education for their employees. “Without proactive approaches, businesses and workers may lose out,” she said.

The report is the latest in a series of efforts by academics, consultancies and governments to assess the impact of new technologies on employment. Previous studies, including an earlier one by the WEF, have generally forecast automation will destroy more jobs than it creates.

The scale of projected displacement varies enormously between research groups, however. A Bank of England study in 2015 produced some of the bleakest figures, forecasting that as many as 80 million jobs in the U.S. and 15 million in the U.K. could be lost by 2035. A McKinsey report in December produced one of the rosier assessments, forecasting jobs lost and created by new technology might be about equal by 2030.

In its latest analysis, the WEF said the effects of automation may vary substantially across industries, and predicted job losses to be heaviest in mining, consumer, and information technology companies, and less within professional services firms.

Many new jobs may be less secure than in the past, as businesses are increasingly turning to contractors and freelancers, the Swiss foundation said. It warned there’s a significant gap between the skills workers currently have and those that may be required for future new roles.

It estimates more than half of employees at large companies would need significant retraining in order to take advantage of new opportunities created by digital technology. But it said half of all companies plan retraining only for “key roles,” and only one-third say they plan any retraining for at-risk workers.

Best known for throwing an annual summit of business and government leaders in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, the WEF said it based its forecast on a survey of senior executives, strategy officers and human resource specialists at 300 global companies, spanning 20 different countries. It said these companies represented more than 15 million employees and their economies represented 70% of global GDP.

-GoITWay

Kochi-based company develops India's first underwater robotic drone

KOCHI: India’s first underwater robotic drone developed at Maker Village here, which can send real-time video of ships and other underwater structures to help with their repair and maintenance, was launched on Friday.

The first commercial remotedly operated vehicle (ROV)/ underwater drone, Eyerovtuna, was developed by EyeROV Technologies, a company incubating at Maker Village which is the largest hardware incubator in the country. NPOL, a laboratory of Delhi-headquartered defence research and development organisation (DRDO), made the first order of the product.

The robotic drone,can be navigated up to a depth of 50 meters to take real-time HD video images to examine ship hulls or undersea cables or bridge moorings, eliminating the need for costlier and riskier manual inspection by divers.

EyeROV, which was tested on India’s first solar ferry in Kerala’s Vaikom, offers high manoeuvring capability at low cost and can be put to uses ranging from inspections of ship hulls, ports, dams and nuclear power plants, to search and rescue, naval mine detection and ocean studies.

The development of the product of EyeROV was largely supported by Kerala Start up Mission (KSUM) through various schemes.

C Balagopal, Founder, Terumo Panpol launched the product. NPOL Director S Kedarnath Shenoy received the ROV from Dr Saji Gopinath, CEO Kerala Startup Mission. The drone will be used by NPOL for research and development activities which in turn would result in commercial product for defence purposes.

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Cognizant offers 'skills premium pay' to employees, here's what it means

In a first for the IT industry in recent times, Cognizant has rolled out a skills premium allowance. This year, it has been given to 40,000 digitally-savvy employees. The move, designed to encourage employees to build and improve their skills in newer digital areas like machine learning and artificial intelligence, is applicable to levels up to that of manager.

James Lennox, global chief people officer in Cognizant, told TOI the world's technology dependence is increasing exponentially and definition of digital is broadening to encompass new technologies and skill sets. "Global demand for the skills we specialise in is increasing even as the tech talent shortage is growing. Skills premium allowance is one of the means towards that end and has come to include a wide range of digital skills and growing number of employees. It has helped us make compensation more competitive for associates with niche skills," he said.

The Nasdaq-listed firm said its average hikes this year are among the best in the past five years. The average increment is around 7%-8% for offshore employees. The second cycle for senior managers and above will be announced in October.
One reason for the attractive rewards is Cognizant's relatively high attrition levels in recent quarters. In the first quarter of 2018, its annualized attrition rate of 20.3% was higher than what it has traditionally seen in that quarter. Most IT companies, however, are beginning to sharply differentiate salaries, with top talent being rewarded handsomely.

Unmesh Pawar, partner and head of people (performance and culture) at KPMG India, said companies are making strategic choices to reward hard-to-hire talent. "A few years ago, developers specialising in SAP were given a hot skill bonus. Today, companies are placing a premium on those trained on S/4 HANA implementation or Success-Factors and these digital skills are shaping reward strategies," he said. Pawar said with digital being the new normal, an organisation's agility is key to business success and companies are building a practice to grow its digital talent pool.

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Rupee fall may boost IT companies' margins: Analysts

Indian IT services companies could see improvement in margins by as much as 100 basis points in their second quarter results due to the depreciating rupee against the US dollar, based on factors such as level of offshoring and hedging policy, say analysts.

Companies such as Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies, Wipro and Tech Mahindra and Mindtree each have different hedging policies and that is one of the key factors to determine gain from a fall in the Indian currency.
A higher exposure to offshoring also results in immediate gains due to the depreciating India currency.

On Monday, the Indian currency closed at a record Rs 72.46 after touching an all time low in intra-day trading at Rs 72.67 against the dollar. “There are multiple aspects and not just the hedging policy; one for example is the level of offshoring you have, more offshoring means lower natural hedge and that means higher benefit to currency depreciation. Second is margin profile, let’s say TCS has rupee depreciation benefits of 25 basis points. Now their margin is also 25%. This means 1% benefit to absolute EBIT. Whereas if I look at Tech Mahindra, they have 35 basis point sensitivity on 13% margin, so the delta is 2.5 to 3 times, unlike TCS, where the delta is one time,” said Kuldeep Kaul, an analyst at ICICI Securities.

While a weaker rupee helps in short-term gains for companies, the business fundamentals is the key for determining a company’s value, he added.

Infosys, TCS, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and HCL Technologies declined to comment for this story.

Analysts at the Kotak Institutional Equities (KIE) said: “Infosys, TCS and Mindtree do not have meaningful cash flow hedges and will benefit immediately from INR depreciation.”

“LTI, Tech Mahindra and Mphasis are aggressively hedged and will not derive meaningful near-term upside,” they added.

-GoITWay

IT policy unveiled, Goa hopes to get five MNCs

With a vision to create a globally competitive information technology ecosystem in the state, the government on Sunday unveiled the Goa IT Policy 2018, replacing the IT policy which was released in 2015. Through the policy, the government plans to attract at least five large multinational IT companies and help create 8,000–10,000 jobs for locals.

 IT minister Rohan Khaunte said the IT policy would be hinged around  development, financial incentives, governance and human resource development.

Union minister for electronics and information technology Ravi Shankar Prasad released the state IT policy and schemes in the presence of chief minister Manohar Parrikar.

“This is a policy where we had lot of interactions with stakeholders. They shared their requirements and the problems they faced,” Khaunte said.

The policy, which was released along with nine financial schemes, is expected to benefit existing IT companies and new companies that want to set up in Goa. While most of the schemes in the policy are similar to the earlier Goa IT Investment Policy of 2015, the revised policy aims to remove bureaucratic hurdles by ushering in government reforms.

The policy exempts new and existing IT companies from labour laws and permits companies to function around-the-clock in three shifts. The firms would also be exempted from inspections and would be permitted to file selfcertifications to ensure compliance under labour laws.

Continuing with the ease of doing business reforms, the Goa IT Policy 2018 also promised time-bound approvals of investments and incentives, within a 90-day period. “Come to Goa to create and run your business. Goa cannot be a place only for tourism. This policy is a balanced approach to keep our ethos and traditions alive even while we create opportunities in the IT sector,” Khaunte said.

The Goa IT Policy found favour among industry leaders with co-founder of NASSCOM Ashank Desai saying that Goa had the right culture for the IT industry to grow. “Places like Bengaluru, Pune and NCR (national capital region) are getting saturated, and the next $60 billion of the IT industry has to come from new places like Goa,” he said.

-GoITWay