EXPRESS COMPUTER · 2019-03-04 · EXPRESS COMPUTER AN INDIAN EXPRESS GROUP PUBLICATION VOLUME NO. 30, NO. 3, PAGES 12, MARCH, 2019, `75 INDIA’S LEADING IT MAGAZINE @ExpComputer

EXPRESSCOMPUTER

AN INDIAN EXPRESS GROUP PUBLICATION VOLUME NO. 30, NO. 3, PAGES 12, MARCH, 2019, ̀ 75

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4 | COVER STORYDr Manish Kumar, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, NSDC

5 | COVER STORYAjeenkya DY Patil , Chairman, Ajeenkya DY Patil Group (ADYPG)

6 | COVER STORYPrashant Gupta, Executive Director, Sharda University

10 | BFSI Tech Conclave: Pushing forward the digital agenda

EDIT |3EXPRESS COMPUTER | MARCH, 2019

Srikanth RP, [email protected]

Technology is evolving at such a rapidpace that students today are morecomfortable with smartphones andtablets than textbooks. In the face ofincreasing digitization, the educationsector is undergoing a dramatictransformation – with tablets, virtual

classrooms and online courses becoming the normrather than the exception.

This can also be seen from the rapid adoption ofMassive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). India is onlysecond to the US in terms of growth in enrolments.Internally, higher education institutes are automatingall their core business processes by using ERP. Forexample, in some institutions, key processes such asadmissions, fee payments, course planning and

scheduling, faculty and other teaching resourcemanagement, learning material distribution andstudent information tracking have been automatedusing technology.

The increased adoption of technology has enableddifferent institutions to create innovative use cases.For example, at IIM Bangalore, a lecture capturefacility allows students to review lectures outside theclassroom hours while electives are chosen using anonline bidding system. The institution uses digitallearning tools to enable anytime, anywhere learning

in a global classroom. The impact -- the learner basehas grown to about 10,00,000 learners from over 190 counties.

The ISBR Group of Institutions has a facility to livestream lectures. This enables students to have accessto a particular lecture video at any given point. Whilestudents can view videos of a particular subject by aparticular faculty at their convenience, the facultycan also use this platform effectively by sharinglecture notes, assignments, and PPTs with the students.

The Manipal Academy of Higher Education has aVirtual Class Room solution that enables theinstitution in Manipal to connect with its offshorecampus at Dubai and Manipal Group Universities atJaipur and Sikkim and enable the face to faceinteraction of students and faculty in real timethrough online live classes between these campuses.The institution also uses ePad (electronic writingpad) for its examinations. Fingerprint scanner andcamera allows student identification and monitoringduring the exam, while automated secure upload ofencrypted digital answer booklets to a cloud is doneafter completion of exams. Online evaluation ofanswer scripts, by faculty, on their PCs takes place onthe cloud with automated totaling and tabulation of scores

The National Skill Development Corporation(NSDC) has a counselling initiative, Skill Saathi, thataims to enable youth to make informed careerchoices. The progress of this initiative is monitoredthrough an app, which captures data which is time-and geo-stamped, and links this with a centralisedregistration database.

The potential for technology-enabledtransformation is bright. According to a report '40Million by 2020: Preparing for a New paradigm inIndian Higher Education' released by Ernst & Young,the higher education sector in India is expected towitness a growth of 18.0 per cent CAGR till 2020.India’s education sector will also see increased use oftechnologies such as cloud computing to virtualreality, as the sector shapes up to meet the demandsof a digital era.

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EXPRESSCOMPUTER

MORE INSIDE

India’s education sector will also seeincreased use of technologies such ascloud computing to virtual reality, asthe sector shapes up to meet thedemands of a digital era

4 | IT in Education

How technology is drivingNSDC’s skill developmentmission

5 | Ajeenkya DY Patil Universitybets big on CompetencyBased Transcript System

Digital technologyenhancing educationalexperiences at MAHE

6 | Sharda University: Tech enabled campus foracademic excellence

WeSchool: Bridging thedistance gap with Hybrid MBA

7 | ‘Use of AI in education will bea massive success’

IIMB: Creating a cohesivedigital ecosystem

Cutting-edge tech for mediatraining

8 | ISBR: Tech enabled holisticmanagement education

IIT Bombay sets abenchmark in innovative useof emerging technologies

Collaborative learning atWorld University of Design

9 | ‘We are working with someof the best tech partners’

Leveraging technology forsetting high academicstandards across CMR Groupof Institutions

‘Tech has transformed the traditional classroom’

COVER STORY

10 | BFSI Tech Conclave: Pushing forward the digital agenda

EVENT

Education sector at the cuspof a huge transformationenabled by technology

11 | Inside India’s first IoTimplementation in glass manufacturing industry

CtrlS wants India to beglobal hub for hyperscaledata centres

CASE STUDY

4 | COVER STORYEXPRESS COMPUTER | MARCH, 2019

Sudipta Dev

[email protected]

National SkillDevelopmentCorporation (NSDC)was set up as part of a

national skill developmentmission to fulfil the growingneed in India for skilledmanpower across sectors andnarrow the existing gapbetween the demand andsupply of skills. Since itsinception, NSDC has createdsignificant capacity forvocational training in thecountry. “We have facilitatedskills training for 1.9 croreindividuals across grant-based(including the government’sflagship scheme the PradhanMantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna(PMKVY) and fee-basedtraining programs. Given thevast scale of the programs, weextensively utilise technologyto achieve greater efficienciesand effectiveness, streamlineoperations and strengthen co-ordination amongst variousstakeholders,” says Dr Manish Kumar, ManagingDirector & CEO, NSDC. The keyinitiatives include SkillDevelopment ManagementSystem (SDMS) and SkillManagement & Accreditationof Training Centre (SMART),while technology interventionsplay a key role in initiativeslike PMKVY, fee-basedprograms, promoting overseasmobility of skilled manpower,and others.

Skill DevelopmentManagement System

The SDMS is a centraliseddatabase that tracks end-to-end life cycle of trainees acrossNSDC’s various programs.Starting from mobilisation andenrolment, the platformcaptures data uploaded byNSDC Training Partners (TPs)on various aspects related totraining, assessment,certification and placement.“The existing SDMS is beingreplaced by a newer, moreadvanced version – NextGen

SDMS – which will have aneven more comprehensivereporting capability. Variousother platforms being used atNSDC are in the process ofbeing integrated with this,”states Dr Kumar, adding thatthe NextGen SDMS will have aninterface with other front-endsystems, including those in thestates, to provide a betterpicture of the skill developmentefforts across the country.

Skill Management &Accreditation of TrainingCentre

Before being onboarded onto the NSDC ecosystem,training providers apply on anonline platform known asSMART, which is a one-stop,web-based portal for trainingcentre ‘accreditation,affiliation and continuousmonitoring’. “Each centreundergoes a rigorous processof verification before it canstart operations, includingself-reporting and physicalinspection by a third-partyindependent agency. Till date,7,500 centres have beenaccredited through SMART,”says Dr Kumar, informingfurther that there is also aframework for grading centresbased on quality parametersthat have been set by NSDCand Sector Skill Councils(SSCs). As the number of TCsis large, physical visits tomonitor operations are notalways feasible. Therefore, theSMART NSDC Training CenterApp is used to pushnotifications to TCs, askingthem to submit pictures oftraining infrastructure withinan hour of receiving thenotification.

Technologyimplementations: PMKVY

Given the scale of thePradhan Mantri Kaushal VikasYojana (PMKVY) scheme,streamlining operations andprocesses through technologyhas been critical for ensuringthat implementation meetsexpected standards. Dr Kumar

points out that PMKVY is thefirst scheme across ministriesto implement the AadhaarEnabled Biometric AttendanceSystem (AEBAS), which ismandatory for accreditationand affiliation of TCs (exceptfor centres in the North Eastand Jammu & Kashmir).AEBAS captures attendance ofstudents in real time and therecords are available on adashboard and mappedagainst the SDMS. Currently,8,000-plus organisations andover 16 lakh candidates areregistered on this. “Otherfinancial disbursements underPMKVY Short Term Training(STT) are done online directlyto the bank accounts of variousstakeholders such as TPs,SSCs, and candidates (thelatter is in the form of a DirectBenefit Transfer). The entireprocess is automated andlinked to the SDMS, and robustsystems with checks andbalances have been put inplace,” mentions Dr Kumar.

Also, under the KaushalBima scheme, NSDC hascollaborated with New IndiaAssurance (NIA) to provide aninsurance facility to PMKVYcertified candidates. This isbeing operationalised througha technical integration of theSDMS and NIA portal. Over 10lakh insurance certificateshave been generated as perthe SDMS records since April 2018.

“Among the variousinitiatives for creating moreinteractive and effectivelearning for students, we arecurrently piloting an English,Employability &Entrepreneurship Module(EEE). This would replace theexisting 40 hours of themandatory EEE Module with a155 hours module. Instructor-led training will be imparted onblended EEE modules througha Learning ManagementSystem (LMS),” affirms DrKumar, adding that the salientfeatures of the LMS include e-content for trainers andcandidates, online formative

and summative assessments,dashboard views for batch andcandidate-wise trainingprogress.

Assessment andcertification: Assessments arean essential part ofcompetency-based skilltraining. To make the processseamless and efficient, NSDChas set in place platforms toenable Aadhaar-basedvalidation of assessors, andonline tracking of assessmentschedules, scores and pendingassessments. “As per theSDMS data, the assessmentturnaround time (TAT) hasimproved from 21 days in FY17-18 to 16 days in FY 18-19. Inaddition, we have startedundertaking technology basedassessments – onlineassessments are currentlybeing done for 157 job rolesacross 24 sectors. We also offera ‘Digilocker’ facility, whereincandidates, who passassessments, can access theircertificates online – so far,19,000-plus certificates havebeen accessed through this,”remarks Dr Kumar.

Fee-based programTechnology intervention

plays a key role in the fee-based program, under whichNSDC supports private sectortraining initiatives through

operational, technical andfinancial assistance. “Forinstance, we maintain anonline directory and portfolioof NSDC’s TPs known as the‘TP Hub’. There is a self-reporting platform for TPs onwhich they describe theirconsolidated skilling portfolioand their profile is publishedon the NSDC website,” says DrKumar, indicating that the fee-based team uses the JIRAincident management tool, anautomated solution foreffective tracking,prioritisation and timelyclosure of issues and requestsraised by TPs. Also, an appknown as ‘TCVerify' is used forcenter verification andvalidation.

Overseas mobility of skilledmanpower

India International SkillCentre (IISC) is envisaged as anetwork of organisations thatare involved in the operationalvalue chain of placing skilledcandidates overseas,anchored at the national levelby MSDE through NSDC. DrKumar highlights that thisinitiative is also seeing varioustechnology interventions, “Forinstance, potential migrantscan register for Pre-departureOrientation Training (PDOT)on a dedicated online portal.

Further, as part of their PDOT,they can undertake basiclanguage skill trainingthrough online videos.Assessments conducted underthe IISC pilot were done ontablets, making reporting andresult generation faster andmore accurate.”

Enabling and support systems

The Training of Trainers /Assessors (ToT/ToA) programruns a portal known asTakshashila, which captureslife cycle data of trainers andassessors and is a location-and job role-wise database ofcertified trainers andassessors and of ToT/ToAcentres.

“The need to continuallycreate new standards fortraining and regularly updateexisting ones to stay in stepwith evolving technologies,new ways of working and thefuture of jobs is an importantelement of our efforts,” saysDr Kumar, elaborating furtherthat the skill training coursesare aligned to the NationalSkill QualificationFramework (NSQF), which isa descriptive framework thatorganises qualificationsaccording to a series of levelsof knowledge, skills andaptitude. NationalOccupational Standards(NOSs) are derived from theseand define what an individualperforming a task shouldknow and do. A combinationof NOSs forms theQualification Pack (QP) for a given job role.

Standards are translatedinto training content andcurricula by NSDC’s learningcontent team. “Among its keytechnology initiatives is theonline provision of learningresources. The team has rolledout Kaushal Mart, a classifiedsmarketplace for resourcessuch as books for trainers andtrainees, technical referencematerial and other items thatare used in training,” states Dr Kumar. Then there is the

Kaushal ePustakalaya, aneBookReader app that allowsPMKVY students to accesseBooks while on the move andto enhance access to content invernacular languages. Over200 eBooks have been releasedthrough this app.

“Further, we are promotingeLearning courses, and aneLearning aggregator portal isexpected to be rolled-out soonas a platform to engage withvarious eLearning knowledgepartners. We recentlylaunched the KnowledgeInitiation & Trainee Support(KITS) portal for TPs, anonline repository ofinformation about inductionkits and trainee handbooks,”shares Dr Kumar.

NSDC has a counsellinginitiative, Skill Saathi, thataims to enable youth to makeinformed career choices.“Progress of this initiative ismonitored through an app,which captures data which istime- and geo-stamped, and bylinking this with ourcentralised registrationdatabase, we ensure that thereis no duplication. The appmaintains records of thelifecycle of those who werecounselled under Skill Saathi,”he explains.

The Market Analytics teamundertakes application-oriented research andanalytics to generateevidence-based insights intothe skills ecosystem. For this,the team uses variousstatistical and econometrictools and techniques. Toincrease outreach to potentialcandidates, the media andcommunications team runs a‘call to action’ number thatacts as a missed call helplineservice. On average, within 2minutes of receiving a missedcall on a working day, theNSDC call center returns thecall and the team assists thecaller as required – forexample, to locate nearbytraining centers or provideinformation about differentschemes.

How technology is driving NSDC’s skill development missionNATIONAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (NSDC) aims to promote skill development by catalysing the creation oflarge scale, quality and for-profit vocational institutions. Dr Manish Kumar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer,NSDC highlights the diverse technology interventions enabling them to reach the objective of skilling up the people in India

Dr Manish Kumar Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, NSDC

| 5EXPRESS COMPUTER | MARCH, 2019

COVER STORY

Mohit Rathod

[email protected]

Technology has ensureddemocratisation ofknowledge. As one of the

largest universities in thecountry, the Ajeenkya DY PatilUniversity (ADYPU) isincreasingly focusing ontechnology-intensive,innovative education. Theuniversity is embracing thetwin engines of globalisation –technology and innovation.Technology is its key forenabling infrastructure besidesthe buildings and facilities.Annually, ADYPU spendsapproimately ̀ 5 crore on IT,including the subscriptions,software licenses andhardware addition. Year-on-year the university increasesthe allocation.

Role of ITADYPU’s academics,

through its standards basedcurriculum and studentcentred pedagogy, is managedby its own ERP system, whichintegrates and automates allthe academic and non-academic services/resourcesof the university in one singleinterface. It is a vital linkbetween the university,students and parents, whereinstudents are able to accessdata connected to theirperformance in real time.

Academic services includecredit registration for allprograms, students’ records,all academic session plansand students’ academicperformance. Students are notlimited to a set of courseswithin their ownspecialisation. They have thefreedom to choose courses

across the nine schools ofstudy. Students here receivecredits in multiple ways. Theyattend semesters at partnerinstitutions and they learnthrough MOOCs guided andevaluated by ADYPU’s faculty.This way, their world oflearning is not limited towhat’s provided from theADYPU platform or what isordained for them. Theydiscern, they choose, and theylearn what appeals to them inaccordance with their careergoals. All of these can betracked and managed by theERP, making it a blend of bothmanagement of academics aswell as academicperformance.

Speaking on what’s perhapsthe most unique IT initiativesby the university, AjeenkyaPatil, Chairman, Ajeenkya DYPatil Group (ADYPG), shares,“We are ushering in the mostimportant shift concerningstudent credentials. Thepractice everywhere is to issuea transcript at the end of asemester and then a degree atthe end of the program. Thetranscript is a basic form ofcommunicating theachievement of studentsreflected in terms of coursesstudied and grades obtained.The present day transcriptdoes not clearly reflect theknowledge and skills acquiredby a student during the courseof study. What is truly neededby a student is a document thatsignifies the learnings of thesubject matter, the evidences ofthe work done through theyears and the competenciesachieved across courses. I’mhappy to share that ADYPUhas pioneered a uniquecompetency-based transcript

combined with an electronicportfolio which documents thejourney of a student right fromthe first year to graduation.”

Besides the traditionaltranscript with a listing ofcourses attended by a studentalong with the grades, theuniversity will issue acompetency transcript foreach semester, which willdocument the skills attainedby a student. This will besupported by a link to anelectronic portfolio of astudent which would containthe evidences of the work doneby the student and the facultyassessment remarks on thesame. This link is shared withcompanies before therecruitment drives, to helpthem make informed hiringdecisions. This also gives thestudent an informedperspective, guiding them tomake sound career decisions.

“ADYPU is one of thepioneers in India to haveadopted the Scale-UpClassroom, which stands for‘Student-Centered ActiveLearning Environment withUpside-down Pedagogies’. It isa structural and pedagogicalapproach to delivertechnology driven learning,currently being used by over250 universities across the USand Europe. The approachhas been instrumental inincreasing studentparticipation andengagement,” informs Patil.

ADYPU also manages itsonline or blended learningprogrammes through videoconferencing and collaborationtools wherein students canattend classes online with anydevice in real-time throughweblinks provided by the

faculty, or they can access theirstored audio/ video datawhenever they want, using anydevice and from any place inthe world – provided they havebasic connectivity. They can bein multiple locations, and yetbe together in a virtualclassroom, interacting andengaging with each other,where all the features of atraditional classroom are notjust replicated, but alsoenhanced and magnified. Thesame setup enables theuniversity to organise lecturesby global experts.

“Having realised a need for a seamless tool thatamalgamates all media anddifferent platforms, wesearched for an effective teamcommunication andcollaboration tool. We alsowished to reduce the heavyreliance on WhatsApp kind oftools for messaging andreduce the email workloads of the modern workplace.Having diligently looked

through diverse options, weselected the tool Flock toensure real-timecommunication andmonitoring of activities, apartfrom helping to createchannels to organise allresources of a project withinone workspace,” he says.

With collaborative featureslike one-to-one and groupchats, file sharing, audio andvideo calling, and third-partyproductivity apps integration,Flock has made tracking theprogress of activities easierand communication betweenteams and team memberseffective. This cloud basedplatform helps the academicand non-academic staff, alongwith the management andother key stakeholderscommunicate seamlessly forcollaborative activities apartfrom assisting in trackingprogress and productivity oftasks and ensuring seamlesscommunication without itstypical barriers.

Patil is particularly proudof the Competency BasedTranscript System and the e-portfolio. He comments, “Tome, this is our academicinnovation which has a fewparallels globally. In ourcompetency based transcript,we have built in theknowledge, skills andattitudes required for aparticular domain. We hopethis will give all stakeholders ameasure of the effort that hasgone into developing talent. Itwill benefit all keystakeholders – the student, theindustry and the university.For the student, he is able tosee where he is vis-à-vis whatis required in the industry; forthe university, it is a measureof its academic rigourresulting in employability; andfor companies, it is the besttalent matched with their jobdescription.”

While, the academictranscript showcases theknowledge aspect, theePortfolio showcases ordisplays visually, the skillsaspect, and the PRI capturesthe behavioural/attitudinalaspect, together making it atool that will eventuallyrevolutionalise how companieshire talent from campuses. Thee-portfolio is a compilation ofthe evidence of what thestudent has done through theyears of the course of studyand provides a vital insight intothe student’s abilities which atraditional transcript is unableto demonstrate.

This combination ofcompetency based matrix ande-portfolio of student work,Patil feels, is one of ADYPU’smost ambitious projects whichis expected to have a profound

impact in years to come

Tech of the futureAnalytics pertaining to

learning and academics,according to Patil, is the nextbig thing to happen in theeducation domain. It willsignificantly impact howeducation is imparted andreceived. It will helppersonalise the delivery ofeducation and make it moremeaningful. Analytics willhelp improve student advisingand recommendations andimprove adaptive learning.While presently some of it isbeing used in delivery ofonline learning, it is startingto make its presence felt inclassroom learning as well.

Commenting on whatADYPU has planned for thefuture in terms of technologyimplementation, Patil adds,“We are betting heavily on ouruniversity’s uniquecompetency based matrix and digital portfolio. We aredriving significant financialinvestment and manual effortto make it happen. The effort ison to use artificial intelligenceto connect employer jobdescription with the studentcapabilities, thus reducing thegap between expectations anddelivery. It is a new area ofexploration and there aremany variables, which we aretrying to address one at a time.Success in this endeavour willnot only benefit studentswithin ADYPU, it might alsobecome a benchmark.Furthermore, we are currentlyin the evaluation phase forblockchain; we expect toexpect to implementblockchain within the next two years.”

Ajeenkya DY Patil University bets big on Competency Based Transcript SystemIN THE WAKE of increasing implementation of IT solutions in the education sector, Ajeenkya DY Patil University has set abenchmark in India’s education space with its unique Competency-based Transcript System. The university is also studyingthe blockchain technology for future implementation

Sudipta Dev

[email protected]

Manipal Academy ofHigher Education(MAHE) has been the

forerunner in implementingdigital solutions in variousfacets of education andhealthcare services. Dr H Vinod Bhat, ViceChancellor, Manipal Academyof Higher Education (MAHE)acknowledges with regards toIT, MAHE has been quick inrealising the potential benefitsof digital technology as a bigenabler in the effectivedelivery of higher education.According to Dr Bhat, MAHEhas innovatively used digitaltechnology with the followingobjectives:◗ Facilitate the discovery,preservation and sharing ofknowledge throughdigitalisation;◗ Extend the reach andeffectiveness of scholarlycommunications;◗ Enhance teaching andresearch through effective useof digital technologies anddata;◗ Empower staff and studentsthrough the provision ofdigital skills training;◗ Develop outreach, onlinelearning, educationalresources and studentsupport;◗ Sharing and implementationof best practice through thecreation of a university-widedialogue on digital innovation.

Digitalisation in thefollowing processes have been

implemented based on theabove objectives:

Academic management◗ Lecture Capture Solution:This is a comprehensive e-learning solution that brings about a paradigm shiftin the education deliverymechanism. The core featureof the solution is automaticrecording and distribution ofclassroom lectures. “Theaccess to recorded lecturesand other study materialthrough Lecture CaptureSolution provides students theability to virtually re-live theirclassroom experience onanytime-anywhere basis. Italso assists the teacher in self-improvement. LectureCapture Solution has a rangeof useful tools andapplications which make thelearning experience moreengaging and interactive forstudents,” says Dr Bhat,adding that the solution alsoincludes the new-ageLearning ManagementSystem (LMS) and supportsall the major platforms anddevices. It is available inoffline mode (through campusintranet) as well as onlinemode (cloud based) and hasrobust live streamingfunctionalities. It has manybenefits for both students andthe faculty and equips theuniversity with an effectiveand multi-purpose technologyplatform.◗ Virtual Class Room (VCR)solution: This connectsMAHE Manipal with itsoffshore campus at Dubai and

Manipal Group Universities atJaipur and Sikkim andenables face-to-faceinteraction of students andfaculty in realtime throughonline live classes betweenthese campuses. Also, theselive classes are archived in arepository for future use bythe students and facultyanytime on demand.◗◗ Robotics Lab: The roboticslab in the Department ofMechatronics Engineering isequipped with 6-axis ABBlrobot along with advancedadd-on like conveyor tracking,image processing, automatictool exchanger, and Robotstudio software for simulatingthe entire robot cell◗ e-Learning: Onlineeducation is an integral partof MAHE's unique learningexperience. “Students canlearn at their own pace, in amanner that suits their styleof learning. The coursesprovide one with lively andinteractive, multi-sensorylearning, combining thesimplicity of classroomteaching with a powerfulvisual medium that capturesone's imagination. This is awhole new realm ofeducational experience. Thecontent for e-learning isprovided by the faculty ofMAHE . Hence the experienceis like learning in a virtualclassroom,” states Dr Bhat. e-Learning is a webapplication that the studentscan access across the campus. ◗ ePad examination: Use ofePad (electronic writing pad)in examination was

introduced in MAHE in 2015.Fingerprint scanner andcamera allows studentidentification and monitoringduring the exam, whileautomated secure upload ofencrypted digital answerbooklets to “epCloud” is doneafter completion of exams.Online evaluation of answerscripts, by faculty, on theirPCs takes place on the“epCloud”, with automatedtotaling and tabulation ofscores.

Some of the other keyimplementations includeOnline Screen Marking(introduced in 2014); onlineattendance/student feedback;Student InformationSystem(SIS); studentcomputing; faculty computing;MOOCs in association withCoursera; Student Life CycleManagement System (SlcM);

Library Management System;digital based MedicalSimulation Center (learningclosest to realistic clinicalexperience). “The MedicalSimulation Centre is unique inthat it provides learning byclose to realistic clinicalexperience. As theoreticalknowledge is immediatelysupplemented by practice, thelearning experience is morelikely to be complete.Management of simulated reallife scenarios will alsoimprove the confidence levelof the students when they arecalled upon to manage realpatients later in their career,”says Dr Bhat, informing thatstudents of all constituentcolleges under the universityincluding Medical, Dental,Nursing and Allied Healthcolleges are trained at theCentre. The Medical

Simulation Centre is the firstof its kind in a private Indianuniversity.

Research ManagementSystem

Research DataManagement System is an in-house database softwaredeveloped to deposit facultypublications and grant detailsusing their Manipal OfficialIDs. Dr Bhat explains thatfaculty can upload theirpublications and appliedgrant details in the ResearchData Management System.Option to search researcherdetails (for writing researchgrants and internalcollaboration) using differentoptions is available. Theuniversity has procuredresearch softwareapplications such as Sci Val(offering quick, easy access toresearch performance of morethan 11,000 researchinstitutions from 230 nations);Pure (a Research IntelligenceSolution).

“The Manipal -Schrödinger Centre forMolecular Simulations is thefirst-of-its-kind pact whereSchrodinger will provideguidance and training to thescientists of MAHE towardsbecoming a pioneer in thefield of molecular simulations.MAHE has subscribedSchrodinger package in total,being unique amongst theuniversities in the country,”he comments.

State-of-the-art data centre MAHE has setup a state-of-

the-art physicalinfrastructure for the datacentre that meets therequirements of industrystandard. “This Tier II (N+1)DC, spread over 3000 sq ft,houses the server park andalso the Network OperationCenter (NOC), hostingenterprise applications, e-learning portal, websitesand host of other services,”comments Dr Bhat, alsoreminding that Manipal hasestablished a very strong andreliable VPN infrastructureconnecting all Manipal Groupof institutions in India andabroad with high-performance MPLS (MultiProtocol Label Switching)backbone - committed step tomove towards “DigitalUniversity”.

The other importantimplementations includeOnline Degree CertificateVerification System (ODVC);Finance Management System;Event Management System;Wireless Campus; QualityInitiative Documentation andonline audit software; AlumniCentre Portal and managingplacements.

MAHE Admissions Officehas been using the latesttechnology to the fullestextent possible ways in all thestages of its process. OnlineEntrance Test; Online TestBooking System; Admissions& Student Information SystemSoftware; Online CounsellingSystem; and CustomerRelation ManagementSoftware; are some of the key highlights.

Digital technology enhancing educational experiences at MAHEMANIPAL ACADEMY OF HIGHER EDUCATION (MAHE) has been at the forefront of digital enablement in the education sector. Dr H Vinod Bhat, Vice Chancellor, MAHE speaks about how their digital initiatives are keeping pace with changingtechnologies, thereby providing the students the best of educational experiences

Ajeenkya DY Patil Chairman,Ajeenkya DY Patil Group(ADYPG)

Dr H Vinod BhatVice Chancellor,Manipal Academy ofHigher Education (MAHE)

WeSchool: Bridging the distance gap with Hybrid MBAPRIN LN WELINGKAR INSTITUTE of Management Development and Research (WeSchool), is a leading private B school withcampuses in Mumbai and Bengaluru. Prof Dr Uday Salunkhe, Group Director, WeSchool on how technology is helping intheir efforts to develop future business leaders


Sudipta Dev

[email protected]

Aleading UGC approveduniversity in Delhi-NCR, Sharda

University is a technologybased, global university, whichattracts students from morethan 80 countries. “The hightechnology pursuit to achieveacademic excellence inteaching, learning andresearch has attractedfootprints of different culturesand countries at ShardaUniversity,” affirms PrashantGupta, Executive Director,Sharda University.

The university providestechnology enabled campuswith all-round latestinteractive interfaces.“Sharda promotes a paperlessecofriendly environmentamong students, faculty andstaff in the growth ofacademic, research anduniversity activities. Studentsat Sharda are connected viadigital devices and utilisetheir devices for variousacademic, administrative andother activities,” states Gupta.

At Sharda Universityclassrooms are integratedwith technology to enhancebetter learning and teaching.The high-end classrooms areenabled with wireless andwired connectivity, projector,smart lecturing systems whichsupports interactive modewhere faculty provided hands-on lectures for programming-based subjects. “Students areprovided with customised LMSwhere each and every studentis connected with their subjectrelated material, details,documents, assignments,quizzes and faculty interface,”mentions Gupta, adding that atSharda, students are trainedfor their placements throughLMS based test series, whichstudents have to attempt in thetime slot provided.

The university is focused onproviding its studentsoutcome-based learning.Gupta explains that studentsdo hands on practices on theirsubjects, it is more likeworking on live projects.Students need to developprojects for every subject toshowcase their understanding

and skills for respectivesubjects. Furthermore, theyare involved with variousindustries for solving problemsspecified by the industries.

“Through,Technical Skilland Enhancement Program(TSEP) test series which are developed byinstitute/department,students are exposed to realtechnical problem practice asper industry requirementswhich helps them duringinternships and finalplacements,” he mentions.

Apart from theircurriculum, students arefocused on participating inMOOC courses for their betterunderstanding and skillenhancements in respectivesubjects. “These courses aremapped with their internalassessments so that they mayearn their credits while theylearn. At Sharda we followstrong mentor-mentee systemthrough the portal, which isproved as a distinct strengthin the holistic development ofthe students,” states Gupta,informing that another uniquestrength of Sharda University

is the utilisation of universityintranet through which eachand every student isapproachable and accessible.Using this easy and effectiveanalysis of student progressrelated to his presence,grades or sending updates to their parents, easy sharingof resources and semester-wise growth of the studentscan be monitored andmentored.

Sharda University offersproject-based learning andtraining to the students whereprojects on latesttechnologies like IoT, cloud,AI are offered as a part ofregular as well as industryoffered projects. Gupta pointsout that students are involvedin real-time industry projectswhere they are participatingin various developmentmodules at variousindustries. They alsoparticipating in consultancyprojects and other industrybased professional activities.

Lab facilities are provided24x7 to all the students.Importantly, theirentrepreneur zeal is

supported with ShardaIncubation Center which isone of the renowned and most-established incubationcentres in NCR. “Students aresupported to nurture theirbudding ideas in newpossibilities of businessprospects. A team of experts isavailable for the students toenable them to capitalise theresources,” informs Gupta.

Gupta believes that thefollowing emergingtechnologies will not onlymake a significant differencein how institutions areimparting education ratherwill impact culture, themarketplace and society themost over the next decade:◗ Artificial intelligence /machine learning / deeplearning

◗ Internet of Things, sensorsand wearables◗ Blockchain -cryptocurrencies, DistributedLedger Systems, DAOs, DApps◗ Big data - apps,infrastructure and predictiveanalytics◗ Robots including dronesand autonomous vehicles -consumer / commercial /industrial robots and robotics◗ Cybersecurity includingadaptive security - security,intelligence detection,remediation and adaptation◗ Voice assistants - interfaces,chatbots and NaturalLanguage Processing◗ Human-computerinteraction - facial/gesturerecognition, biometrics, gaze tracking.

The university iscommitted to continuesdevelopment of ITinfrastructure as per thelatest requirements. Most ofthe IT infrastructure isaccording to industrystandards, with regularinclusion of market-basedanalysis for development andexpansion.

Sharda University: Tech enabled campus for academic excellenceLOCATED IN GREATER Noida, Delhi NCR, Sharda University has a multi-discipline campus spread over 63 acres and equippedwith world class facilities. Prashant Gupta, Executive Director, Sharda University highlights the various ways technology isplaying a significant role in ensuring academic excellence at the prestigious institution

Sudipta Dev

[email protected]

WeSchool is among thetop B-Schools as perthe National

Institutional RankingFramework (NIRF) conducted

by Ministry of HumanResource Development,Government of India.Technology implementationhas leveraged marketingcommunication and campusoperations in Mumbai andBangalore, to a whole new

level. The role of technology onWeSchool campus has evolvedover the years internallythrough operations,academics, infrastructure andexternally through websiteand social mediacommunication.

“On the operations front,we are a digital campus and allour payments on campus aretransacted digitally. This isapplicable for Mumbai andBengaluru campuses as well.We have a dedicated onlineportal that acts an informationand feedback channels forstudents, faculty and staff. Forexample, schedule of lectures,student feedback, placementinterview status, takes placeon elearn,” says Prof Dr UdaySalunkhe, Group Director,WeSchool.

“From an academic point ofview, the Hybrid MBA reflectshow the role of technology hasmade higher educationaccessible to students whohave time and distancechallenges,” states Dr Salunkhe.

The infrastructure enablesstudents to connect to internetthrough Wi-Fi on campus andcomputer lab too. There is adigital library that is equippedwith e- books and mutli-mediacontent. According to DrSalunkhe, the WeSchoolLibrary is a modified libraryand has undergone a hugedigital transformation in thepast five years.

“The library collection hasgrown to more than 95,000books and more than 150 printperiodicals (Indian andforeign). The library collectionis developed according tosyllabus as well as currentindustry trends so thatstudents are industry ready,”he informs. The instituteprovides diverse e-resourceswhich are academic as well asresearch oriented. All the e-resources can be accessed on-campus as well as off-campus.There is access to over 25,000e-books and e-journals.

Speaking about the officialwebsite, Dr Salunkhe says,“The basic interface which isour official website is not onlyinformative but also interactiveespecially for thetechnologically adept studentcrowd. On our website, our corefaculty videos affirm the keyfeatures of our programseffectively than just text.WeSchool alumni testimonialsshowcase our former studentsnarrating their campusexperience and key take ways.”

WeSchool team catering toprospective students is highly

responsive on Facebook whichattracts high number ofqueries and comments prioradmission. “This year we haveintroduced a chat bot toanswer queries at apreliminary level. We are alsoorganising webinars for ourprospective students onFacebook,” mentions Dr Salunkhe.

In order to make thelearning effective, the teachingin the classroom is poweredwith internet access, LCD andOHP for teacher and studentpresentations. “We inspire ourstudents to use technology forcommunity developmentthrough WeSchool RedXInnovation Lab,” adds Dr Salunkhe.

As a step towardsimproving the learningexperience on campus, thereis an online feedback systemspecially designed forstudents. Here, the studentswrite online feedback about

faculty anonymously. Heinforms that the system ismandatory and is carried inregular cycles throughout theacademic year. Suchprocesses help facultyunderstand what interests thestudents and the response ofthe class. E.g. a student maysuggest more case studies tounderstand key lessons orrespond well to gamificationfor understanding financerelated concepts. “An onlinefeedback is vital especially fornew teaching faculty withcorporate experience.Students are notified about thecompanies visiting campus.Post campus interviews,students are notified abouttheir interview status on the e-learn portal. The same portalalso facilitates for internalAdmin HR processes forfaculty and staff.

An innovativeimplementation is for HybridMBA students queries, anonline student helpdeskfacility “We-Care” has beenintroduced in student login.This facility enables thestudent to get all their queriesresolved mostly within 24 hrs.

WeSchool has a strongfocus on distance education.Due to geographical barriersand the high cost factor,students from smaller townsoften find it difficult to attend aconventional MBA program.“Hybrid program fromWeSchool overcomes theboundaries of distance andcost and helps students fulfilltheir academics ambitions. Wecontinue to deliver quality

education, while providingdistance learners with theflexibility they need.WeSchool’s Post GraduateDiploma in Management(PGDM) can be availed in theHybrid Learning mode, whichoperates on a unique hybridstructure combining effectiveonline and offline studyformats to help people learnconveniently,” explains Dr Salunkhe, pointing out thatwomen with restrictedmovements due to familycommitments can acquireinvaluable professionallearning through WeSchool’sHybrid Programs.

These programs vary informats from classroombased, virtual, hybrid (blend ofclassroom and virtuallearning), open programs, andcustomised programs bestsuited for privateorganisations for theiremployees. On weekends,experiential workshops areconducted on managerialskills development as well aslearning takes place through anumber of innovative modeslike, business simulationgames, movie learningsessions, industry visits, etc..

Dr Salunkhe avers thatcontemporary technologieslike Python, Tableau couldenable learning in BusinessAnalytics and Researchrelated topics. “Blendedlearning, which is acombination of online,classroom and experientiallearning is becoming popularin executive educationsegment. Most of the workingprofessionals are looking atadding skills and often run outof time. Customised educationcertificate courses and short-term programs are convenientand add value to experiencedprofessionals.”

WeSchool is constantlyexploring new technologiesthat would add experience andknowledge for studentsthrough e-learning platform.In addition to the Hybrid MBAprograms, the institute hasrecently added programs intwo years full time PGDM inResearch and BusinessAnalytics and eBiz, isgrooming young professionalsto work in an environment ofML and IoT across job rolesand industries.

Prashant Gupta Executive Director,Sharda University

Prof Dr Uday Salunkhe Group Director,

WeSchool

The instituteprovides diversee-resources, bothacademic as wellas researchoriented. There isaccess to over25,000 e-booksand e-journals

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COVER STORY | 7EXPRESS COMPUTER | MARCH, 2019

Mohit Rathod

[email protected]

Lovely ProfessionalUniversity (LPU) is well-known for its advanced

teaching structure. LPU isexalted for its infrastructure,teaching facilities,experienced faculties and aplace that yields industry-ready knowledgeablestudents. Technologicaladvancement is happeningexpeditiously and with thisdeveloping techno-industryenvironment, the expectationsof contemporary skills withinthe current era juvenescence,is growing at a massive pace.The world today requirescandidates equipped with newand on-growing technicalskills.

Aman Mittal, AssociateDirector, LPU, shares, “LPUbelieves in progressing withtime while adapting to newmethods and technologies,unlike many traditionaluniversities. Meticulous andregular refurbishment of thesyllabus, according to theglobal standards, helpstudents to not only becompetent within the nation,but to be able to competeglobally. The teachingexecuted in LPU is donethrough the most modernpedagogies. LPU’s UniversityManagement System (UMS) isa great leap forward in the eraof technologically advancededucation sector. From guardsstationed at the entrance ofthe university to transportpersonnel, from facultiesresponsible to impart andenlighten students withknowledge to wardens whotake care of them, everyonehas the access to thistechnology which brings anyand every information aboutthe university, at the click of a button.”

Tech playAudio and visual media is

used to support lectures andmake it more appealing andinteresting for students.Details of the lectures,syllabus, assignments, results,attendance – everything isuploaded on the UMS, whichenhances transparency infunctioning of the university,while helping studentseliminate the clutter and chaosfurther, to help them sanctionmore focus onto studies. LPU’slibrary is accessible from any

part of the world and is oncomplete RFID system. Thelibrary module providesstudents the flexibility tocheck the availability of booksonline.

Elaborating further on therole of technology at LPU,Mittal informs, “Safety andsecurity of students who arefar away from their homes,goes hand-in-hand witheducation. At LPU, all thecommunication (save class-lectures) with the students iscarried out by means of ITtools only. There are nearlymore than 25,000 students inthe university, and everystudent is provided withunique digital ID card and aseparate registration number,through which the student logsinto the university’s intranetand gain access to hostelfacilities. Without the card, noone can enter the university orany hostel. Even facultymembers can’t enter the hostel

premises if their University IDcard is not authorised toenter.”

Driving innovationThe use of AI within the

field of education and trainingis definitely going to be amassive success, feels Mittal.He says, “With rigorous use ofsmartphone technologies andimplementation of miraculoussolutions to umpteenproblems, education can befacilitated with construction ofapplications and software tocurb the unwanted and notneeded chaos. IT has beenhelpful in addressing severalchallenges that universitiesface during their formativeyears. With IT enabledprocesses, things may becomemore transparent andefficient. The process ofsearching the recorded historyof students and processing therequest can be engulfed intoseconds, which, in today’s

world, takes hours to process.”Infusion of IT has done

wonders in all the sectors,where it has been tried – be itbanking, railways, aviation,development sector, publicservices – everywhere.Naturally, the education sectorcannot be allowed to remainbereft of the benefits of thetechnology that pledgesincreased efficiencies andaugmented productivity.

“LPU is proud to beperhaps the only university inthe nation that takes lessthan five minutes to processsuch requests due to its UMS.The best part is student cando most of the processeshimself/herself, thusensuring swift informationflow as well saving a lot on themanpower cost. To beperhaps the first university ofIndia who made all itsprocesses 100 per centpaperless, LPU is redefiningthe strong amalgamation ofeducation and technology.Moreover, IT promises toextend the cover of educationto a large section of societywhich has remained bereft ofthe gains of education, in acost-effective manner. So, itwon’t be a hyperbole, if it’ssaid that powered by IT, wecan compete with the world’sbest – if not today, certainly inthree-five years times. India,beyond doubt, has one of themost potent student-massesin the whole world - a fact thathas been corroborated byleading academiciansworldwide. The need is toharness the possibilities thatthis mass throws, and Ibelieve that this is where IThas a role to play,” he adds.

‘Use of AI in education will be amassive success’AS ONE OF the renowned universities in India, Lovely ProfessionalUniversity has taken multiple initiatives in implementing IT. Aman Mittal, Associate Director, Lovely Professional University, elaborates more

Sudipta Dev

[email protected]

IIM Bangalore’s smartcampus is probablyamong the most

technology enabledcampuses in India, both interms of IT infrastructureas well as academicinfrastructure. “The visionis to create a cohesivedigital ecosystem tomanage both theadministrative academicinfrastructure across thestudent life cycle in aseamless manner,” saysProf P D Jose, Chair, IIMBDigital Learning & FacultyStrategy, IIM Bangalore,adding that the campus isfully Wi-Fi enabled, an ERPsystem has beenimplemented to cover bothadministrative as well asacademic activities,including library access as well asconducting exams withvirtual proctoring.

Administratively, theimplementations have madeit easier for the students tomost effectively utilise theirtime on the campus – fromthe lecture capture facilitythat allows them to reviewlectures outside theclassroom hours toelectives chosen using anonline bidding system.“Students can bring in theirdigital devices to thecampus and or lessseamlessly connect to theinstitute's IT systems,” addsProf Jose.

In recent times, IIMB hasbeen looking at the use oftechnology to improveprogram delivery as well asreach and scale. Prof Joseremarks that a goodexample of this is the leadthat IIMB has in offeringMassive open OnlineCourses (MOOCs). Theinstitute has built recordingstudios as well as virtualclassrooms to facilitate this process.

Online learningAt IIMB, the online

learning design includeshands-on exercises for bothstudents and teachers to getinvolved, and an activelymaintained discussionforum for students to feelsomething like a classroom

connect. “The institute alsohas adopted a blendedapproach to learning, wherethe classroom experience isintegrated with onlinemodules – giving students agreat deal of flexibility, andtime for holistic discussionsin class,” mentions ProfJose, pointing out that aninteresting variation of thisis the Flipped Classroom,where theoretical materialor case studies are studiedby students outside theclassroom using onlineresources, and the physicalclassroom is a place fordiscussion and de-brief.Another interestinginitiative is the case classrecording lab, which againuses the concept of blendedlearning to allow studentsto have a hands-onexperience.

Highlighting IIMB’sdigital initiatives program,Prof Jose remarks thatIIMBx is founded on thephilosophy that everyone –irrespective of financial orlocational constraints –should have access toquality education. “Led byIIMB faculty, IIMBx usesdigital learning tools toenable anytime, anywherelearning in a globalclassroom. What started asan idea to go digital has nowgrown into one of thecountry’s most significanthubs for online learning,”states Prof Jose, informingthat the first course wasoffered on edX in 2015. In2016, IIMB was appointedas a National Coordinatorfor management courses on

SWAYAM, the nationallearning portal launched bythe Ministry of HumanResources Development.Simultaneously, IIMB alsostarted offering courses onthe IIMBx Open edXplatform. Since then thelearner base has grown to about 10,00,000 learners from over 190counties.

Prof Bose believes thefollowing technologies willplay a significant role in theeducation sector: ◗ Artificial intelligence:From supporting studentsto giving insights to learnerengagement to teachers, AIwill transform the learningprocess ◗ Augmented reality:Providing visual simulationwhich gives the students’experiences of objects,places and theories in awhole new way◗ Learning technologiesto help disabled learners: Audio books,Amazon Echo and Googleplay interacts with students and facilitateslearning◗ App-based learning:Learners want theirlearning needs on the gowhich works offline as welland mobile app is theanswer

A few of the technologiesIIMB is looking at in thenear future: End-to-endprogramme managementvia a robust platform;artificial intelligence; appbased learning and moreeffectively migrating on tothe cloud.

IIMB: Creating a cohesivedigital ecosystem PROFESSOR P D JOSE, CHAIR, IIMB DigitalLearning, and Faculty in the Strategy area at IIMBangalore highlights the focus on online learningand how the use of technology has improved program delivery as well as reach and scale

Sudipta Dev

[email protected]

Indian Institute of MassCommunication (IIMC) hasbeen one of the country's

premier media educationinstitutions since last fivedecades. Headquartered inNew Delhi, IIMC has fiveregional centres - at Aizawl(Mizoram), Amravati(Maharashtra), Dhenkanal(Odisha), Jammu (J&K) andKottayam (Kerala). Theinstitution has a Wi-Fienabled campus and state-of-the-art technology for itscomputer labs, radio and TVdepartment and digital medialab. “In addition to this, wehave our own communityradio station - Apna Radiowhich is in the process ofbeing upgraded into a state-of-the-art model communityradio station,” says KGSuresh, Director General,

IIMC. To streamline all theadministrative work, an e-office is in the pipeline.

IIMC is in the process ofhaving its own online teachingplatform where nicheprograms will be offered. “Weare planning to convert allclassrooms into smartclassrooms. We are in processof setting up a New Media Labwhich will house latesttechnologies which are beingused in the field ofcommunication,” statesSuresh, adding that theinstitution is in the process ofsetting up a state-of-the-artNational Centre forExcellence in Animation,Visual Effects, Gaming &Comics in Mumbai. “The ideais to produce specialists tocater to the growing demandsof the industry,” mentionsSuresh, adding thattechnology which will make asignificant impact in the

education industry willcreating an immersivelearning environment,educational games, MassiveOpen Online Courses and thedigital tools that maketeaching-learning processmore engaging andinteractive.

The tech implementationsat IIMC enable students towork on online projects whichare collaborative in nature.“Students are introduced toLearning ManagementSystems like Moodle andedmodo. Online classroomsare also created to ensurecontinuous interactionamongst students and faculty.Student blogs, social mediahandles, lab journals usinglatest software, mobilejournalism, data analytics arein place. We also organisespecial sessions on dronejournalism, robotic processes,artificial intelligence and

mobile journalism for thebenefit of our students,”states Suresh. This apart, thecommunity radio stationprovides platform to thestudents to create and

disseminate socially relevantmessages. IIMC also conductssessions on robotics which arebased on augmented realityand virtual reality.

Suresh is particularly

proud of the Digital Literacyand Fact-checking andVerification Project initiatedby the Department of NewMedia. He shares the reasonwhy, “Apart from the focus ontraining media students, weare planning to reach out tothe community to createawareness on fake news. Werecently conducted aworkshop on digital media forthe differently-abled incollaboration with Facebook toenable them to harness thepower of social media tohighlight their aspirations andgrievances. Many of ourfaculty members are Googletrained.” IIMC is among thefirst institutions in the countryto be a part of the Google NewsLab project.

“Our students will be thetruth warriors and they will beconducting training for thevarious groups. We will also beutilising services of our

community radio station tocreate awareness on thesame,” asserts Suresh.

The institution conductstraining for Indian InformationService Officer Trainees, whowill be the future InformationOfficers of the government.“We are also training seniorofficers of the armed forces asalso mid-career journalistsfrom developing countries,”informs Suresh.

IIMC recently collaboratedwith AYUSH for a workshop tohelp their research scholarsreach out to disseminateinformation pertaining toalternative medicine to awider audience. Theinstitution is also offering anonline course on HealthCommunication incollaboration with UNICEF,Oxford and ThompsonReuters for journalists, whichfocuses on evidence basedreporting.

Cutting-edge tech for media trainingK G SURESH, DIRECTOR GENERAL, Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) shares how his institution is setting global standards for media education, research and training, using technology, with focus on verification and fact-checking

Prof P D Jose Chair, IIMB DigitalLearning & FacultyStrategy,IIM Bangalore

Aman Mittal Associate Director,Lovely Professional University

K G SureshDirector General,Indian Institute of MassCommunication (IIMC)


Sudipta Dev

[email protected]

ISBR is a leading businessschool with campuses inBangalore and Chennai.

Focused on imparting holisticeducational experience to itsstudents, the institution hasstate-of-the-art technology andmodern pedagogy to ensurethat they get the best educationpossible. “With advancementsin technology, computercompetency is a must tosucceed in any sector. To keepabreast of this development,computer labs are equippedwith the latest facilitiesincluding high-speed internetand multimedia. Ourworkstations have the latestsoftware and hardware withbroadband connectivity for 24-hour internet access,” saysManish Kothari, Founder &Managing Director, ISBRGroup of Institutions.

The infrastructure at ISBR(seminar halls, boardrooms,discussion rooms andclassrooms) is well equippedto provide live video streamingof lectures. Regular livewebinars are conducted sothat students can accessremotely. Kothari informs thatISBR’s smart, digitalclassrooms bring learning intothe 21st century, “Ourclassrooms are equipped withthe latest teaching aids andaudio-visual equipment tomake learning at ISBR a trulyinteractive experience. Wehave also implemented an ERPplatform that can be accessedby students and faculty toassign and share assignmentsas well as keep a track onattendance. It's not just ourclassrooms that are learning-ready. We have ensured thatthe entire campus, as well asour student hostel, is Wi-Fienabled to provide a seamlesseducation experience.”

ISBR boasts of an extensiveknowledge centre thatincludes a well-stocked digitallibrary with over 10,000 titleson management and over 50leading management journalssuch as Harvard BusinessReview, Sloan ManagementReview, etc.

The ERP system ensures transparency inadministration - from payingfees to tracking progress,

students are well informedabout their education journeyat ISBR. “We also conduct livewebinars, inviting corporateleaders to interact with ourstudents to discuss and impartthe knowledge of currentindustry trends. Through oureasily accessible dashboards,students can view case studiesand presentations on severaltopics,” mentions Kothari.

ISBR believes in providinga holistic educationalexperience to students. Oneof the many innovativetechnology implementationsis the introduction of acomprehensive ERP systemthat supervises andmaintains the database ofthe entire institution.“Through this system, weaddress all concerns, rightfrom the management offinance, admission,attendance, to announcingexamination results.

Students can log into theiraccounts and get informedabout the various eventsbeing held at the institute aswell as get access toimportant communicationfrom the faculty. Through theplacement portal on the ERPsystem, students get notifiedwhen a company expressesinterest to hire them,” statesKothari, adding that thesystem is not only limited tostudents, but also extends tothe faculty of the institute.

ISBR faculty use the ERPsystem to access the campus,from any location, on theirmobile devices. This ensuresthat there is no lag ordisconnect in communicationbetween the faculty andstudents. “The ERP systemensures smooth interactionbetween departments such asacademics, placements,alumni, accounts, examinationmodule, attendance, studentportal, SMS and mailconfigurations, hostels,research, PhD modules, peerevaluations, careers, andreport generation,” affirmsKothari.

Kothari highlights a projectthat has given the studentsadequate tools to succeed notjust in academia, but also toprepare them for the corporateworld. ISBR has implementedlive streaming of lectures. Thisenables students to haveaccess to a particular lecturevideo at any given point.“Students can now view videosof a particular subject by aparticular faculty at theirconvenience. Faculty can also

use this platform effectively bysharing lecture notes,assignments, and PPTs withthe students. It also allows forinteractive online discussionforums where students canpose queries to the faculty andmanagement,” explainsKothari.

With smartphones and theinternet becoming more andmore advanced, ISBR isleveraging this technology tofurther improve on student-faculty interactions. Kotharibelieves that a two-waycommunication enablerbetween the student and theinstitute paves the way formore interactions andtransparency. “We offer anarray of app-based learningand value added certificationprogram that furtherenhances the learningprocess. The app enableseffective and customisedstudent communication.Students can also avail accessto critical support resourcesin the palm of their hand. Theycan also view the variousonline courses that areavailable and apply to them,”he remarks, adding that theapp also fosters andencourages peercommunication andengagements as well as facilitate alumni connect.

Reminding that educatorstoday are increasinglyrealising the value oftechnology, he says, “By usingsmart classes, education isspreading to regions that hadno access to basic learning. Forinstance, Google Classroom isa very popular tool that someschools in the country areusing to enhance the educationprocess. 3D printing andvirtual reality technologiesalso are shaping the industry,thereby having a domino effecton what is taught in institutes.The internet has changed andshaped the way education isimparted and its prevalencehas truly made the world aglobal village.”

Kothari foreseestechnologies like cloudcomputing, mobile learning,virtual laboratories, artificialintelligence and blockchain,making a significant differencein how institutions areimparting education.

ISBR: Tech enabled holisticmanagement educationEMERGING TECHNOLOGIES ARE paving the way for the future ofeducation. Manish Kothari, Founder & Managing Director, ISBR Groupof Institutions, speaks about how technology is leading to best-in-classand contemporary management education at ISBR

Mohit Rathod

[email protected]

IIT Bombay (IITB), one ofthe most respectedtechnology institutes in

the country, provides greatemphasis on research anddevelopment to emerge as aglobal leader in advancedtechnology, as well as toreach out to the national andsocial needs of the country.Some of the examples ofinnovations and technology-enabled educational projectimplementations of IITBinclude Centre For DistanceEngineering EducationProgramme (CDEEP),National Programme onTechnology EnhancedLearning (NPTEL), Parimaland Pramod ChaudhariCentre for Learning andTeaching (PPCCLT), SpokenTutorial, T10KT andIITBombayX.

“IITB is one of the fewpremier institutes in thecountry with a strong inter-disciplinary Programme inEducational Technology(ET), working towardsimproving teaching andlearning practices ineducation. ET is a broadfield, which involves the useof technology to eithersupport existing practices inhelping people learn, ordiscover new ways tosupport learning, thatweren’t possible withoutfacilitation of technology,”informs a spokesperson of IITB.

The research goals of thedepartment of ET at IITB arecategorised into differentfocal areas. One of the keyfocal areas, namedTechnology-EnhancedLearning of Thinking Skills(TELoTS), focuses onbuilding students’ thinkingskills, which can betransferred acrossdisciplines. Thinking skills,such as design skills orestimation skills, whichmanifest differently in

various disciplines, have acommon abstract nature,which is imparted throughcreation and implementationof interactive learningenvironments built forstudents.

“Remarkable efforts have been made by thedepartment in training ofteachers across India as apart of another focal area,named Teacher Use ofEducational Technology(TUET). More than 1,77,000teachers have been trainedthrough workshops orMOOC initiatives onresearch-based teachingstrategies, which have beenknown and established to beeffective both with andwithout technology,” thespokesperson says.

Modern technologiessuch as augmented reality,virtual reality, eye tracking,GSR, etc, are beingemployed by ET researchersat IITB to augment learning,and to understand thecomplex interplay of effect,cognition and motivation inthe teaching-learningprocess. Several emergingtechnology applications,grounded in establishedlearning theories, are beingdeveloped by the group tofacilitate technology-enhanced learning.

Some of these projectsinclude ‘Speak Up’ toimprove oral presentationskills for anxious speakersusing virtual reality,‘Geometry via Gestures’ toenable learners to build 3DGeometric abilities,‘Stereochemistry viaAugmented Reality’ toenable learners to spatiallyvisualise and interact with3D molecular models, and‘Corrective Myo BandBadminton Trainer’ to helpnovice badminton learnersin visualising musculareffort and swing of the arm.

“The applications of thesevarious emerging researchareas in ET are graduallyaddressing thecontemporary challenges ofschool and universityeducation. In the comingyears, the multi-disciplinarynature of technology-enabled learning analytics ofeducational data will providericher insights into learningbehaviour, and will furtherinfluence the existing andfuture education models.Moving forward ineducational technology, oneof the common visions of ETresearchers is the effectiveintegration of technology asan integral part of a strongpedagogical model,” thespokesperson adds.

IIT Bombay sets abenchmark in innovativeuse of emergingtechnologiesONE OF THE MOST sought-after engineering institutes in India, IIT Bombay has been activelyimplementing new and emerging technologies.Express Computer delves further into the innovative use cases at the institute

Sudipta Dev

[email protected]

World University ofDesign (WUD) inSonepat, Haryana, is

India's first and onlyuniversity dedicated toeducation in the creativedomain of fashion, design,communication, art,architecture, media,management and humanities.The sprawling WUD campushas been designed keeping inmind the future, withtechnology playing a majorrole in teaching practices. “Wehave already moved tointeractive learning viasatellite classes which are alsowell equipped AV hallstructures that enableteleconferencing and remotelearning via internationallearning opportunities. Wehave tied up with Adobe for theAdobe Digital TechnologyAcademy to impart new agedigital creativity skills to

students in order to enhancetheir employability prospectsas per the demands of theindustry today,” says Dr Sanjay Gupta, ViceChancellor, WUD .

The campus has AdobeCreative enabled labs withMacintosh and Windowsmachines, and librariesequipped with onlineresources for digitalresources for variouspublications. The academiccampus is Wi-Fi enabled, andthe hostels which have goodspeed internet that enablesstudents to complete theirprojects uninterrupted. Therobust LAN system connectsthe campus through an ERPsystem. There is also a wellequipped server. “We areconstantly exploringupcoming technologyinnovations that will furtherenhance our rapid prototypingand testing facilities. Studentshave access to facilitiesincluding high-tech labs and

workshops - model makingworkshop, Apple iMAC basedCAD rooms. Our uniqueteaching pedagogy involvesadvanced interdisciplinaryresearch and internationalcollaborations wherein wefollow a unique curriculumthat encourages research,academic excellence, industrypreparedness and socialinnovation,” states Dr Gupta.

At WUD expert lectures areregularly conducted on newtechnologies and innovationsin order to enable a healthycollaboration between design,technology and businessrequirements. “This makes thecareer path for the student’spursuing the program full ofcompetitive research andhands on industry training,”remarks Dr Gupta.

A major project is theGlobal Goals Jam – a globaldesign thinking event thatWUD has been hosting at itscampus for past two years. DrGupta informs that the event

is simultaneously held in over60 locations around the worldwith more than 300 teams ofdesigners and design thinkersconstantly in touch with eachother through various ICT,enabling innovative solutionfor UN’s sustainabledevelopment goals.

“If there is one reality thathas emerged in the relativelybrief history of ICT use ineducation, it is not thetechnology, but how you use itthat matters. Unless ourthinking about educationchanges along with thecontinuing expansion of ICTsin the classroom, ourtechnology investment willfail to live up to its potential,”says Dr Gupta, adding thatwhile WUD is looking at allthe technology optionsavailable today and theirintegration into its variousprograms, it is also true thathigher education institutionsin tier II towns and cities arestill struggling with supply

related issues of electricity,telephony and internet,availability of technicalsupport specialists andcontent developers.

Dr Gupta highlights thatemerging technologies like ARand VR are making teaching

and learning experiences richand exciting, and are openingup endless possibilities.“Cloud technology will makelife easier both for studentsand teachers, as documentsand files will be stored andaccessed easily. This will help

the management in a big way, cutting down oninfrastructure costs. IoT willcreate a network of varieddevices that will also lead to apooling of varied types of data.Similarly, big data will makeassignments, evaluations,tests and projects moreresults-driven,” he says,reminding that in the sameway as analytics is helping fin-tech companies, studentperformance can be improvedthrough big data. Teacherscan make use of the dataefficiently to monitor andguide students, customiseprograms, reduce drop-outs,target international recruitingand do career prediction.Highly engaging classroomswill lead to better results.These can transform thetraditional methods oflearning, breaking down thewalls of classrooms andmaking students to think out-of-the box and pilot newinnovations.

Collaborative learning at World University of DesignWORLD UNIVERSITY OF DESIGN empowers its students to push the boundaries and experiment. Dr Sanjay Gupta, ViceChancellor, World University of Design explains how his institution is enabling a healthy collaboration between design, technology and business requirements

Manish KothariFounder- ManagingDirector, ISBR Group ofInstitutions

Dr Sanjay Gupta Vice Chancellor,World University of Design

An innovativetechnologyimplementation is a comprehensiveERP system thatsupervises andmaintains thedatabase of theentire institution

COVER STORY | 9EXPRESS COMPUTER | MARCH, 2019

Sudipta Dev

[email protected]

Global IndianInternational School(GIIS), established

under the guiding principlesof the Global SchoolsFoundation, is aninternational network ofaward-winning schools with20 campuses across sevencountries, includingSingapore, Malaysia, Indiaand Japan. GIIS has a strongfocus on using technology forenhancing the students’learning outcomes inacademics and sports.“Technology hastransformed the traditionalclassroom. The style ofteaching is also beingrevolutionised with modernday classrooms providinghigh-tech teaching andlearning environment. 21stcentury learning techniqueslike the use of smart boards,power point presentations,and video-based learninghave enhanced the student’slearning experience.Complex topics are taughtwith the help of graphical andvisual representation thatkeeps students engaged andmake learning easy,” statesRajeev Katyal, ChiefOperating Officer, GlobalSchools Foundation.

The most innovativesolution that has helped GIISin streamlining operations isthe use of ZOOM class. “It isone of the mostfundamentally uniqueproducts that allow aninstructor to teach online toabout 100 students that canbe scattered around theworld. It allows theinstructors to share theirscreens and displaypresentations or PDF filesthat are to be used forreference,” explains Katyal.

The students today, will beleaders of tomorrow andneed to be equipped with theskill-sets that help themcarve their own niche in the21st century. GIIS hasimplemented specialised

programs across itscampuses to inculcate theseskills with the help of IT,robotics and research-basedlearning. Teachers have beenenabled to assess students’requirement, knowledge andunderstanding of the subjectsby specialised assessmenttools. Katyal gives detailedinformation about some ofthe implemented specialisedprograms across GIIScampuses – ◗ STEM-based learning &robotics: STEM-basedlearning focuses on Science,Technology, Engineering andMathematics that helps tofoster scientific and logicalbent of mind in students.STEM helps to incorporateindustry-defined skills,talents, and specialisationsin children, so they canpursue careers which aremost in demand.◗ Integrated technology inlearning: GIIS has organised‘virtual classes’ between allits global campuses to give anopportunity to the students tobe taught by the experts atother GIIS campuses. It alsohas established software labsfor various subjects likeMaths and English to makelearning easy and interactive◗ Google classroom:Implementation of GoogleClassroom in all itscampuses, which helps in

facilitating a seamless andpaperless communicationbetween teachers andstudents.◗ Social media and audio-visual tools: GIIS’ GlobalKnowledge Exchangeprogram enables cross-campus teaching andlearning through virtualinteractions. Students fromvarious campuses alsointeract over a videoconferencing or a WebEx todeliver the final presentationsand exchange ideas.

Augmented reality incombination with liveinstructors will drive real-time problem solving projectsin schools, believes Katyal.“The EdTech sector hasevolved over a period of timeand is now growing withvarious innovative startupsas they see enormouspotential,” he says, pointingout that for years now,schools have functioned withtwo pre-set goals in mind – tocustomise learningexperiences for eachindividual based on theirability, and to personaliseinstructions. But to achievethis goal, schools need tohave more data that canpredict a student’sability/potential in aparticular task. That’s whenbig data and analytics comeinto play.

‘Tech has transformed thetraditional classroom’RAJEEV KATYAL, Chief Operating Officer, GlobalSchools Foundation speaks about how at GlobalIndian International School, technology is enhancing learning experiences of studentsacross its network of 20 campuses

Sudipta Dev

[email protected]

The CMR Group ofInstitutions (CMRGI) isknown for being a

pioneer in the field ofeducation. Technology is alarge part of enabling andimplementing qualityeducation and makinglearning an enjoyable andefficient process. “The focusof technology across the groupis on using technologyintelligently and relevantly,thereby aiding the process ofeducation. New technology isintroduced only when there isa specific need or a compellinguse case across ourinstitutions. Technologyenhances the students’learning process and makes iteasier for educators to teachbetter and make educationmore enriching. We also usedata and analytics to enablecustomisation of the studentlearning processes.Furthermore, technology isused to ensure that theprocess of instruction andassessment are also madeseamless and more effective,”says Dr Tristha Ramamurthy,Vice President, CMR Group ofInstitutions, Founder andManaging Director, EkyaSchools.

Technology complementsthe process of enablingacademic excellence acrossCMRGI. “It is also used toenable our students to haveaccess to the best of resourcesto enable them to excel ineverything they do,” remarksDr Ramamurthy, givingdetailed information aboutEkya Schools, a part of theCMR Group of Institutions.

“At Ekya Schools, we havealways believed in giving thebest of tools and technology toour teachers and studentswith the sole intention ofenhancing the overall learningexperience. We also stronglybelieve that any technologyintervention shouldcomplement the learning

process and what the teacherteaches in a classroom.Hence, we introduce atechnology solution only whenthere is a strong need and acompelling use-case,”mentions Dr Ramamurthy.

Ekya Schools was one ofthe earliest schools in thecountry to launch GoogleSuites (earlier known asGoogle Apps for Education) toall teachers and students. Allstudents from Grade 1onwards have an officialschool email address forthemselves that they use forinteracting and collaboratingwith peers and teachers.“Over the years we havepartnered with few of the mostprogressive technologyplayers in different facets ofeducation spanningadministration, curriculumdevelopment, andprofessional development.These are truly cutting-edgesolutions that have a proventrack record globally,” affirmsDr Ramamurthy.

At Ekya Schools, the in-house curriculum developedby the curriculumdevelopment team is based oninternational practices. “Weuse an advanced technologyplatform to design andmanage our curriculum. It is agreat platform connecting our

centralised curriculum teamwith the teachers seamlessly,for sharing curriculum plans,and seeking feedback oncurriculum from theteachers,” she says. The newsoftware facilitates acentralised instructionalprocess for Ekya, bringingtogether student informationsystem, assessment, learning

and grading into a singleunified platform.

Each of technologyimplementation complementsthe other and has been veryeffective in streamliningoperations. “Google Suitesproducts have allowed theinteraction between the threemain stakeholders, the schoolfaculty, the student and theparent to be seamless.Communication andinformation sharing has beenmade easier and moreeffective through thisplatform,” mentions DrRamamurthy, adding thatanother key technologyresource is a teacher trainingplatform that aids schoolleadership in identifyinggrowth areas and bestpractices in a systematicmanner. The analytics heremake it easy to identifyteachers’ growth needs sothat leaders can provide data-driven professionaldevelopment and timelysupport.

Ekya Schools is nowfocusing on data drivenanalytics to enablecustomisation of the learningprocess for each student.“Data is paramount in today'sworld and Ekya Schoolsinherently uses this tounderstand each student’sindividual learning pattern.Understanding individualstudent learning curves, classlearning patterns and theareas of learning using dataand analytics allows forteaching methodology andlesson plans to be tailored toperfection,” explains DrRamamurthy.

Technology is being used tounderstand impact andeffectiveness of curriculum,instruction, assessment andlearning patterns. Technologyis also used to ensure that theprocesses of instruction andassessment are alsostreamlined and deliver theresults that have beenspecified for the lessondelivery.

Leveraging technology for settinghigh academic standards across CMRGroup of Institutions THE CMR GROUP of Institutions is a Bangalore based education conglomerate comprising a number of institutes of higher education andschools. Dr Tristha Ramamurthy, Vice President, CMR Group ofInstitutions, Founder & Managing Director, Ekya Schools highlights theintelligent and relevant use of technology to aid the process of education

Sudipta Dev

[email protected]

Mumbai basedWhistling WoodsInternational is

one of Asia’s premier film,communication andcreative arts institute. Theinfrastructure at WhistlingWoods has been designed anddeveloped considering everyaspect of film-making. Theinstitute takes great pride inits technical facilities, whichare at par with internationalstandards. There are twofocus areas for digitalimplementations at theinstitution:◗ Within academics:Whistling WoodsInternational has been amarket leader for about adecade and a half to ensurethat the latest in technology isbeing implemented forstudents, in order for them toexecute, learn and excel sothat once they graduate theyare about six months to ayear ahead of the industrystandards, says Chaitanya

Chinchlikar, ChiefTechnology Officer & VicePresident, BusinessDevelopment, WhistlingWoods International. “At themoment, we are working withsome of the best techpartners in the media andentertainment space such asSony, Apple, Google, RedCameras, Adobe and manymore. We also have some ofthe best brands in the newage space of virtual reality,VFX, sound design,animation and many more.Our aim is to build a roadmapfor our students to be able tobe ahead of the curve so thatwhen they start their careersthey can take the industryforward,” he adds.◗ To make the teachingmethodology better: At theinstitute's digital library a lotof teaching happens throughaudio visuals; a significantnumber of feature films, shortfilms and other forms ofvisual content has beendigitalised. “This aids ourteachers to get access to thecontent whenever required

for educational purposes,”remarks Chinchlikar.

He mentions that almostthe entire campus isstructured to be tapeless,wireless and completelydigital, “We also have an on-campus learningmanagement system whichenables students to see theirassignments online, keep atrack of their attendancerecords and it also enablesthem to submit their workonline.”

Informing how theinstitution is providing aninteractive learningenvironment for students,Chinchlikar states, “Beingable to cut down on classroomtime wastage, audio visualcontent is shared online sothat multiple students getaccess to the material sharedin order for them to getfeedback and ask questions.This also enhances andsmoothens out classroomexperience. Almost all ourcomputers are in sync withthe latest in technology inorder to ensure that students

don't have to compromise ontheir learning experience.”

The Learning ManagementSystem is one of theinnovative implementationsrolled out. Teaching, learning,assignment submission andattendance system is nowcompletely online. “TheLearning ManagementSystem also helps teachers

grade and accessassignments better. Thissystem helps eliminate anyoffline errors and mistakesthat can happen. It has been alife changer to helpstreamline our systemsbetter,” says Chinchlikar.

Many new technologiesare being introduced intospheres of film making,

animation, journalism andmany other courses that theinstitute offers.

Sharing his thoughts abouthow technology is making adifference in the educationsector, he says, “In academicsalmost every month there issomething new vis a vis VFX,SFX, etc. Cameras are gettingupgraded almost every day.Computing will continue to getfaster. Virtual reality is takingoff in a big way and there willbe a lot to see in the decadesthat follow. There will be newertechnologies that will beimplemented on the backendwhen everything goes digital.There will be audio over IP,video over IP. All analogues willbe replaced with their digitalcounterparts. There will bebigger transformations thatone will be witnessing in theteaching methodology as well.A lot of AI will start enteringacademia.” He also believesthat one will be able to work onneural network building;feedback shared with studentswill be better streamlined.Also, educationists will be able

to analyse studentsubmissions better. “Facialrecognition will also beimplemented into education,streamlining systems such asattendance and various otherthings. The teacher’s role isgoing to change significantlyover the next decade thanks toa drastic evolution in IT,” heavers.

As the new generationstarts entering highereducation, there will be a bigchange in the way in whichthese youngsters learn andthis will eventually changethe manner in whicheducation is being imparted,feels Chinchlikar. “One needsto have teachers that are ableto impart knowledge throughnewer modes ofcommunication in order tostreamline systems andspread information andknowledge through modesthat are more conducive innature with the changingtimes and AI is going to play ahuge role in education vis avis imparting education,” he concludes.

‘We are working with some of the best tech partners’WHISTLING WOODS INTERNATIONAL, the leading film, communication and creative arts institute implements the latesttechnologies to ensure that its graduates are ahead of the market standards, says Chaitanya Chinchlikar, Chief TechnologyOfficer & Vice President, Business Development, Whistling Woods International

Rajeev KatyalChief Operating Officer,Global Schools FoundationDr Tristha Ramamurthy

VP, CMR Group of Institutions,Founder & MD, Ekya Schools

Chaitanya ChinchlikarChief Technology Officer & VicePresident, Business Development,Whistling Woods International

We also use data and analyticsto enablecustomisation ofthe student learningprocesses.Furthermore,technology is usedto ensure that theprocess ofinstruction andassessment are alsomade seamless andmore effective

The BFSI sector isamong the pioneersin adoption of latesttechnologies. This is

driven by multiple factors;one of the primary factorsbeing the increasingcompetition and the need toprovide the best customerexperience. The 2019 editionof Express BFSI TechnologyConclave encapsulated allthat’s happening in the BFSIsector today, and what thefuture will bring for the sector.The conclave witnessedparticipation of renownedindustry stakeholders.Spread over two days, theconclave also honouredinnovative implementation oftechnology by BFSIorganisations, with BFSIDigital Innovation Awards.

Direct from industryIn his keynote session,

Ritesh Pai, Chief Digital Officer,Yes Bank, expressed that therehave been many changes in thepast few years andorganisations need to be agile,otherwise they will be leftbehind in the industry. He said,“Today, 4 D’s are the drivingthe banking sector, namely,developmental initiatives bythe government,demographics, de-regulationsand disruptive technologies.Today, internet banking isconsidered among the mostbasic services. This is followedby payments services andvalue-added services.”

Emphasising on Yes Bank’sefforts, Pai said the bankensures that digital helps incustomer acquisition,payments and transactions,and customer service. “At YesBank, we build alliances andrelationships with

technology,” he said.In another keynote address,

Shiv Kumar Bhasin, CTO &COO, pointed that AI andblockchain have been movingbeyond the nascent stage.Citing that volume of internettraffic doubles every 12-18months, he said that NSEhandles on an average, onebillion trades per day. Hecommented, “The BFSI sectorpossesses vast data; however,to get insights from this data,all the necessary attributes fordeep learning must be madeavailable. We need to shift ourfocus from collecting data toembedding analyticalfunctionality in existingapplications.”

Sharing his views, GururajRao, CIO, Mahindra Finance,stressed on the necessity toembrace the concept ofecosystem and partnerships.He said, “Physical and digital;both worlds are today mixedup. RPA and blockchain aretwo of the most crucialtechnologies at present.”Citing that Mahindra Financeis banking on blockchain forsupply chain financing, heemphasised the need tooptimise processes beforedeploying automation.

Speaking on ‘How to attractmore investment intechnology’, Ekhlaque Bari,EVP, CTO, Fullerton India,said, “Technologyambassadors in organisationsmust continue to talk aboutbusiness, and divide processesinto business. Innovations areabout a lot of experiments, butthey should be inverselyproportional to the cost of theinvestments.”

One cannot improve thebusiness processes until thebusiness cannot be measured.

The IT leaders have to talk ofbusiness first, have data ontheir functions and thensimplify IT. Further Bari addedthat, while delivering thecritical projects, the businessthinks of IT as an expresswayand every IT employee isstretched by 2.76 times at theworkplace. Tools andtechnologies are alwaysrequired to win a battle hencecompanies should continue toinvest in technology.

Knowledge exchangeA panel discussion titled,

‘Best practices fromdigitisation - Lessons fromthe masters,’ wasmoderated by Srikanth RP,Group Editor, ExpressComputer & CRN India. “Wecollect specific data in orderto simplify customerjourney and takemeaningful insights. Ourmantra is to simplify theproducts and faster claims,”said Gautam Dutta, CI&TO,Bajaj Allianz GeneralInsurance. Other panelistsincluded Gangadhar S J, Head -Technology, Digit GeneralInsurance and Gaurav Zutshi,CDO, Aditiya Birla Capital.

Organisations have to beagile and should encouragefrictionless banking. Whilediscussing the best digitalpractices, Zutshi stated,“Business models and digitalstrategies should be designedin unit economics, andorganisations must createsmall use cases. Beforebeginning the digital journey,one has to identify the businesspain-points and understandthe need of the last mile.”

Further to discuss aboutidentifying the right leadershiproles to complement emerging

technologies, the conclavefeatured a panel discussion on‘Competing in the digital era:Perspectives from digitalthought leaders,’ moderated byRitesh Pai. As a panelist,Prasanna Lohar, Head -Innovation & Architecture,DCB Bank, highlighted the fivepillars of digital – enhancingthe existing processes,adopting the latesttechnologies andunderstanding customerbehaviour, adopting thechanging regulations,

identifying the right leadershiproles, and collaborating withfintech and startup companiesfor agile and innovative ideas.

“Conventional banking willtake an important turn in theindustry and DevOps processwill continue to be the criticalpillar for digital,” opinedBiswabrata Chakravorty, CTO,IndusInd Bank. Geeta Singh,DGM - IT, Punjab andMaharashtra Co-operativeBank and Balakrishnan A,Executive Director, GeojitFinancial Services wereamong the other panelists.

Another panel discussiontitled, ‘How to deal proactivelywith emerging threats’, wasmoderated by Joydeep Dutta,

ED and Group CTO, CDSL. Asone of the panelists, MilindMungale, Executive VP & CISO,NSDL, said, “Security shouldhave a proactive approach.CISOs must identify the criticaldata, where does it resides andvalue of data, in order to actproactively.”

CISOs and business shouldlook at security as insurance,and information securityshould be kept parallel tobusiness. “Have basic hygieneand security parameters inplace, and make them

absolutely non-negotiable.Also new technologiesshould be put in theregulator’s checklists”commented Maya R Nair,CISO, Reliance Capital.Sayyad Salim, Head – ITInfrastructure & CyberSecurity, Bajaj Finance;Shashank Bajpai, CISO,ACKO General Insuranceand Shiju Rawther, Head -Tech Infra Operations &Security, TransUnionCIBIL were among theother panelists.

Tech talksThe conclave also

witnessed numerouspresentations by leadingtechnology infrastructure andsolution providers. Speakingon data management andcompliance in the cloud era,Pete Yamasaki, Regional VP –APAC, Druva Data Solutions,shared an interesting insightindicating, by 2020, 50 per centof the data will reside out thedata centres in mostindustries. Highlighting theneed to be aware of where thedata travels, he said that thecompany sees good acceptanceof cloud in India.

In his session titled, ‘Accops

enabling trust with zero-trustnetworks,’ Mohan Bhat, MD ofAccops, opined that everyorganisation needs to build azero-trust environment. Hefurther said, “Security is aboutpreparedness and working asa business enabler. We needtechnologies that are able toalarm and notify in differentsituations.”

Speaking on ‘Going beyonddigital,’ Nilesh Marathe, DigitalEngagement Solution SalesLeader, Avaya India, was of theview that innovation is all aboutstaying relevant. He furtheradded, “The digital workplaceand digital marketplace needsto be focused upon, in order toensure greater customerexperience. Voice andmessaging have emerged asnew user interfaces,” whilestating that 71 per cent ofconsumers would like tobypass identification andverification questions by usingvoice biometrics. During thesession, Marathe alsodemonstrated a voice-baseduse case on policy renewal.

In another session,Ravinder Pal Singh, Director –Cybersecurity, DigitalHealthcare & Digital Cities,Dell EMC, stressed on Edgesecurity, as 95 per cent of theattacks happen at the last mile.“Today, the challenge is thatinformation is spread acrossmultiple platforms. Anotherchallenge is machine-humaninteraction. Dell looks atsecurity as the fourth pillar ofdigital transformation.”

Powerful discussionsA power discussion hosted

by Qlik was titled, ‘Paving theway of data-driventransformation’ and wasconducted by Nilesh Kulkarni,

Pre-sales Manager India, Qlik.Kulkarni hightlighted thestruggles that enterprises facewhile transforming the datainto business results. “Businessintelligence has the capabilityto optimise the human datawhen the enterprises harnessthe collective humanintelligence,” he said.

Themed ‘Digital disruption2.0 with AI,’ the powerdiscussion conducted by DellEMC, affirmed the the servicessegment is the biggestbeneficiary of digitaldisruption, but this has alsobrought large amounts ofthreats. Dell EMC team pointedout that progressingeconomies are embracing newmodels and India is at the cuspof digital transformation, withinitiatives such as StartupIndia, Skill India, Digital India,Smart Cities and more.

In a power discussion byCrowdStrike, the company’srepresentatives addressed thevarious concerns raised by theaudience, which includedvarious security solutionsworking in silos and the needto have one solution for theendpoint. Another participantpointed out the need to secureapplication with a centralisedsecurity approach.

Another power discussiontitled, ‘Smart data on a digitalworld’, was led by ManishMirajkar, Sales Engineer,Netscout, who spoke about thefactors and criticalities drivingthe digital transformation.This was followed by a powerdiscussion hosted by BakshishDutta, Country Sales Manager- India & SAARC, Druva. Dutta highlighted the riskassociated with emergingtechnologies and ways toprotect sensitive data.

10 | EVENTEXPRESS COMPUTER | MARCH, 2019

BFSI Tech Conclave: Pushing forwardthe digital agendaTHE FOURTH EDITION of Express Computer's flagship BFSI conference, BFSI Technology Conclave, brought together IT decision makers from the banking, financial services and insurance sectors. Held in Pune, on January 18 and 19, the conclave served as a platform for technology deliberations pertaining to the BFSI sector

Panel discussion : Best practices from

digitisation - Lessons from the masters

Mohan Bhat, MD,Accops Panel discussion : Competing in the digital

era - Perspectives from digital thought

leaders

Ritesh Pai, Chief Digital Officer,Yes Bank

Gururaj Rao, CIO, Mahindra Finance Power discussion by CrowdStrike Power Discussion by QlikInauguration Pete Yamasaki, Regional VP - APAC, Druva

Data Solutions

Shiv Kumar Bhasin, CTO & COO, NSE Nilesh Marathe, Digital Engagement

Solution Sales Leader,Avaya India

Ravinder Singh, Director - Cybersecurity,

Digital Healthcare & Digital Cities, Dell EMC

Power discussion by Dell EMC Power discussion by Netscout Power discussion by Druva

Winners of BFSI Digital Innovation AwardsEkhlaque Bari, EVP, CTO, Fullerton India Panel discussion: How to deal proactively

with emerging threats

CASE STUDY | 11EXPRESS COMPUTER | MARCH, 2019

Srikanth RP

[email protected]

Research firm, Gartner,predicts 14.2 billionconnected things will

be in use in 2019, and the totalwill reach 25 billion by 2021,producing immense volume ofdata. Similarly, IDC ispredicting that worldwidespending on IoT will reach$1.2 trillion in 2022, growingat a CAGR of 13.6 per cent overthe 2017-2022 forecast period.India too, is in the midst of ahuge wave of digitaltransformation. Besides thegovernment accelerating upthe digital agenda, almostevery sector is activelyadopting digital technologies.This is spurring the need forramping up of data centers inIndia, and is estimated toreach values of approximatelyUS$ 4 billion by 2024, growingat CAGR of around 9 per centduring 2018-2024 (Source:ResearchandMarkets.com).

While the growth remainspositive, demands from data

centre players have alsoincreased significantly.Performance demands haveincreased exponentially, andthe time for delivering anoptimum IT infrastructure hasdecreased considerably. Thishas led to increased demandfor hyperscale data centres.Hyperscale refers to theability of an IT architecture toscale quickly andexponentially to respond todemand that is increasinglyheavily. In an app-drivenworld, where everyone wantseverything instantly,hyperscale data centres scoreheavily thanks to theirunmatched scalability toquickly expand or contractwith changing businessdynamics and mostimportantly withcomparatively lower softwareand hardware costs.

Hyperscale data centresoffer mega capacities (such as50 MW and upwards withability to collocate 50,000servers and more) and providea new approach to the way

data centres are designed,operated and managed tohandle the complexity of newworkloads and the increasingdemand on IT services.

Hyderabad-based CtrlS, isbetting heavily on thisemerging market, and iscounting on India’s traditionalstrengths in services andtalent to be a big player in thissegment, through its plan tobuild 3 Tier-4 hyperscale datacentres, 100 MW (1 million sq.

ft.) data centre in Mumbai, 150MW (2 million sq. ft.) datacentre in Hyderabad and a 70MW (1 million sq. ft.) datacentre in Chennai. This ispegged to be the largestfacility in the country with 5million square feet in the laterpart of 2020. Says SridharPinnapureddy, Founder andCEO, CtrlS Datacenters,“CtrlS is investing ̀ 2,000crores in setting up 3hyperscale data centres in

India. With this, we willemerge as the world’s largestTier-4 data centre player with5 million square feet of totaldata centre space spreadacross 10 data centres inIndia.” As part of these plans,it is working on setting upthree hyperscale data centresin Hyderabad, Mumbai andChennai, while it currentlyhas six data centres spreadacross Hyderabad, Mumbai,Noida, Bengaluru andChennai. CtrlS is alsolaunching its second Tier-4data centre in Mumbai – thisfacility is powered by 15MWPower and spread across150,000 square feet.

CtrlS has also been trying to improve itscompetitiveness in this sectorby ramping up its energyefficiency ratios. It ispowering its hyperscale datacentres with solar panels. Thebuilding exterior shall becovered by solar panels –making it a hybrid data centrepowered by both solar andconventional power.

With the expected surge indata and connected devices, itis expected that the demandfor hyperscale data centreswill also rise significantly.Cisco, for example, estimatesthat by 2021, traffic withinhyperscale data centres willquadruple, and hyperscaledata centres will account for55 per cent of all data centretraffic by 2021. “The newtechnologies (such as cloud,IoT, Big Data, AI, Analytics)combined with datalocalisation will drive growthof hyperscale data centres inIndia. In fact, today there arejust over 25 Tier-4 data centreoperators across the globe.Compared to the largest Tier-4player who would have afootprint of approximately onemillion square feet, we willsoon enjoy a cumulativefootprint of 5 million Tier-4data centre space spreadacross 10 data centres inIndia,” says BS Rao, VP-Marketing, CtrlS Datacenters.

The Indian government’sfocus on data localisation will

also encourage every businessentity to host their data locallyin India — which in turn willtrigger off a wave of newinvestments in ramping updata centre capacity — allfactors which present bigopportunities for a data centreplayer such as CtrlS.

“Thanks to the IndianGovernment, data localisationwill soon become a reality. Infact, most of the businesseswill now have to host the datalocally in India, be it a bank,insurance, financial servicesor an ecommerce company –they will now have to complywith the guideline of RBI andGovernment of India. This isone of the key drivers forgrowth in India. We arewitnessing growing demandfor data centre colocationinfrastructure – this will turnIndia into a cloud data centrehub, perhaps the largest in theAsian region. Indian datacentre capacity is likely to surpass 20 million square feet by 2025,” statesPinnapureddy.

CtrlS wants India to be global hub for hyperscale data centresCTRLS IS INVESTING `̀2,000 crores in setting up 3 hyperscale data centres in the country

Piramal Glass, a globalspecialist in design,production, and

decoration of glass packaging(flaconnage) solutions forpharmaceutical, cosmetics andperfumery, and specialty food &beverage industries, hasdeployed Microsoft’s Azure IoTplatform to digitally transformits manufacturing operations.An early adopter of thetechnology, Piramal Glass hascurrently implemented thesolution, Real-TimeManufacturing Insights(RTMI), on 46 production linesacross their four plants atKosamba and Jambusar inGujarat, India, Sri Lanka andthe United States of America.The plants have an overallcapacity of 1375 tons per day,with 12 furnaces and 60production lines, all of whichrun on a 24/7 basis.

Piramal Glass has leveragedIoT to get real-time visibilityinto its line manufacturingoperations and to analyseproduction line losses atvarious stages. Using AzureIoT Hub, Microsoft helpedPiramal Glass acquire datafrom sensors on productionlines to identify qualityparameters at each stage andget insights on line efficienciesin real-time. This resulted inimproved production efficiencyand cost reduction up to 70 percent as compared to a glassindustry manufacturingexecution system (MES).

The RoI from IoT has beenimpressive. “The productionefficiency has been enhancedby 1 per cent, which means theproduction lines (each of thefive plants) are able tomanufacture 1 per cent more,which amount to '20 crore inmonetary terms, since thetechnology started working inall the plants over nine monthsback. It has also resulted in 70per cent reduction in TCO,”says Vijay Shah, Director -Piramal Glass & Executive

Director - Piramal Enterprises. As one of the the world’s

largest supplier of glasspackaging solutions, PiramalGlass is committed tocontinuously adding value to itscustomers. “We are happy tohave collaborated withMicrosoft on our journeytowards digital transformationand business critical futurereadiness. Glassmanufacturing is a complexprocess with many interactivevariables. Combining digitaltechnologies with precisionhigh-quality glassmanufacturing, has helped usfortify our accelerated growthpath.” says Poorav Sheth, CDO,Piramal Glass.

The Azure IoT platformenabled Piramal Glass toconnect and monitor theirequipment to gain real-timevisibility into operational datathat was previouslyunavailable. The technologyintegration was designed forfast and easy set-up to rapidlyshowcase the results and buildon its existing sensors,equipment, systems, and data.

To facilitate thistransformation, Precimetrix, aMicrosoft partner, brought inits Plant Monitoring Systemhosted on Microsoft Azure. Thesensors on high speed conveyorlines were interfaced with dataacquisition devices that recordthe key metrics, as the bottlesmove along the production line.This data is aggregated on anedge gateway and then pushed to Precimetrix’s Plant Monitoring System on the cloud.

A custom solution wasdeveloped on top of thisplatform to provide stage-wiselosses, production reports,quality control workflows aswell as role-specific KPIs onPCs and smartphones of plantpersonnel. Actionable alertsare sent through SMS, emailand push notificationswhenever there is an anomaly

detected or the productionefficiency drops. In summary,RTMI has democratised real-time information availability toall plant stakeholders, enablingthem to take faster decisions.

The RTMI program willpositively impact the planthead, production employees,which include employeesmanning the machines,supervisors, HoDs, QualityControl, Quality Assurance,logistics, furnace / engineeringteams. About 90 per cent of thestakeholder departments willget impacted. “The overall costfor RTMI was less than 1/3rd ofthe MES software procuredfrom a European company,which is used by most of theglass companies globally.However, it was implementedat just three production lines,when i joined the company,”says Sheth.

RTMI results in lesser bottle rejections

Glass manufacturing hascomplex processes with aconsiderable rejection rate. Itcan range from 8 per cent upto20 per cent. IoT can catch theerrors in the manufacturingcycle early, using sensors. Thedata can be providedinstantaneously to avoidfurther rejections due tosimilar reasons.

The business is highlyinstrumentation heavy andthus capital intensive. Realtime communication of theproduction data generated atthe glass manufacturingassembly line can impactoperational efficiency. Ascompared to the data providedwith a certain time lag.Employees on the shop floor,when powered with real timedata can take correctiveactions and avoid leakages,wastage. Energy cost is veryhigh. It is over 25 per cent ofthe total costs incurred onmanufacturing. IoT helps saveenergy costs by controllingtemperature, air blown duringmanufacturing, regulatingmachine speeds, etc. It’s notonly the IoT that is influencingthese benefits but it’s done byintegrating IoT with otheroperational technologies likeSupervisory Control and DataAcquisition Technology(SCADA). “The way it happensis - in the ascending order -massive data collection, fasterdata transfer followed byoverlaying AI, ML to extricateintelligence out of the data.The plan is also to make themachines read the data,understand and take decisionsby itself rather than humanscorrecting the temperature,for example,” states Shah.

Data flowThe data flows from the

sensors of the machines to theintermittent devices providedby Moxa, from where it relaysto the field gateway, which isbased on-premise, in themanufacturing plants. It’s acomputing device, where thedata is aggregated and cleanedup. Subsequently, quality datais pushed to the MicrosoftAzure cloud. This happens inreal time.

The furnace part of themanufacturing process hasthe most amount of sensorsattached followed by theinspection machines, wherethe photo of every bottle istaken to check for defects.There are close to 300 bottlesthat pass every minute on theinspection line. Photo andcamera based sensors, bothwork together. There are over20 different kinds of sensors,which are temperature ratedand can withstandtemperatures of upto 90degree celsius. The sensorshave been bought from the German sensormanufacturer ‘Sick’.

Successful PoCThe company floated an

RFP for the IoT technology. Amix of companies submittedthe bids, which had largecompanies and startups.Microsoft won the race alongwith their partner Precimetrix.Microsoft provides the IoTcloud platform for dataprocessing and Precimetrixdoes the plant monitoring,which includes not only IT butoperational technology (OT),too. It basically involvesintegration of the IT elementwith the legacy machinesinstalled in the production line.“We have also done customdevelopment specifically for our requirements,”mentions Sheth.

Piramal Glass began a PoCon RTMI i.e IoT, in June 2017

for three manufacturing lines.Overall there are 60manufacturing lines acrossfour (two in India and oneeach in USA and Sri Lanka)manufacturing locationsglobally. The sensors areembedded from the furnacelevel of the manufacturing lineuntil the bottles are packed.The raw material, sand, sodaash, etc., is poured into afurnace at over 1500 degreecelsius temperature. The rawmaterial gets melted here toform what is known as moltenglass. In the furnace process,there are about 150 variables(temperature, air flow,oxygen, humidity, etc), whichare monitored using thesensors. Hitherto theparameters were recorded ina paper based log book.

The PoC was monitored forthree months, until September.The results were impressive.

“We were able to find out,where the defects in the bottlewere originating from; areasof defects and the reasons.This resulted in getting us therequired buy-in from theoperations team. They alsosuggested us additionalfeatures. Thus enhancementswere added from Septemberto November 2017. A phasetwo rollout was conducted inthe same three productionlines. The respectivepersonnel were invited to viewhow RTMI worked, the datagathered, etc. They gotconvinced of the viability andeffectiveness of thetechnology. A whole hogrollout began in February 2018and thus far RTMI has beenimplemented in 46 productionlines. In the past two months,data is getting acquired fromclose to four thousandsensors. Up until now, we haveanalysed close to 2 mndatapoints,” explains Sheth.In the USA plant, there is aUS$ 20 mn automation projectthat is planned and therefore,

the IoT rollout will be donelater. New equipment rollout isawaited in the USA plant,which will requirereconfiguration of themanufacturing plant.

Employee training, awareness and ideationworkshops

An extensive training of themanpower was also carriedout for the approximately 900employee base using the RTMIsystem. Both classroom andhands-on training wasconducted. The UX of thesystem has been customisedfor the semi-educatedworkforce. Many of them arenot even literate, so thechallenge was to have a UXthat will mean the same for allkinds of users. “I organised a72 hour UX challenge on acrowdsourcing platform viz.Topcoder. Twenty companiessubmitted their designs fordata entry and report screens,and i chose the design from aspanish company, which wasawarded with a prize money.The point is the UX wasdesigned and ready to use inthree days,” says Sheth.

It is important for theemployees to get a feel of thetechnologies available and howwill they have in case, they areimplemented. “We hired avendor and did roadshows inall the companies, givingdemonstrations of AI, IoT, VR,AR and many othertechnologies. Moreover, anideation workshop wasorganised for the employees onhow would they like to seethese technologies change theirfunctions. On the basis of thesuggestions, received, about 50ideas have been prioritised anda roadmap has been created toimplement the ideas over aperiod of three years. We are atthe year two of the roadmapand about 17 ideas have been implemented already,”says Sheth.

Inside India’s first IoT implementationin glass manufacturing industryAFTER IMPLEMENTING THE Real Time Manufacturing Insights at Piramal Glass, the production efficiency has beenenhanced by 1 per cent, which means the production lines (in five plants) are able to manufacture 1 per cent more, amountingto ` 20 crore in monetary terms, since the technology started working in all the plants over nine months back. EC’s AbhishekRaval speaks with Vijay Shah, Director - Piramal Glass & Executive Director - Piramal Enterprises and Poorav Sheth, CDO,Piramal Glass

(L - R) Poorav Sheth, CDO, Piramal Glass and Vijay Shah,Director - Piramal Glass & Executive Director - Piramal Enterprises

Feature

Sridhar Pinnapureddy, Founder and CEO, CtrlS Datacenters

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EXPRESS COMPUTER · 2019-03-04 · EXPRESS COMPUTER AN INDIAN EXPRESS GROUP PUBLICATION VOLUME NO. 30, NO. 3, PAGES 12, MARCH, 2019, `75 INDIA’S LEADING IT MAGAZINE @ExpComputer