The global artificial intelligence market size is expected to grow at a CAGR of 42.2% from 2020 to 2027, as per a report. At SkillUp 2021, Amar Saxena, Associate Professor, IIM-Amritsar, spoke about the changing dynamics of organisations and the necessary skills required to survive in an AI dominated world.

Data science boom

Talking about the data science boom, Amar recalled how SAP training used to be the be-all and end-all to land a well-paid job in the past. He then went on to give the audience a layout of the data science ecosystem. He spoke about the demand-side and the changing dynamics.

Demand is definitely there, and the number of opportunities is increasing at a very large scale. Life is changing at a rapid pace. The Internet is all around us, we are consuming a lot of content, and many startups are popping up, said Amar. He also talked about different scenarios to be looked at to understand the changing dynamics. For instance, he mentioned the claim processing time averaged around 7 to 10 days for the insurance sector, but now it can be done within 15 minutes. He also spoke about how a smart camera system can enhance the customer experience in banking.

Amar talked about how popular brands such as Apple and Nintendo V are doubling down on product experience. “For any company to survive in the world in the future, it’s all about product experience,” said Amar.

Change is the only constant

“Twenty years back, companies were talking about Six Sigma process, lean control, process organisation etc. That’s changing. Companies have to reimagine themselves continuously. It could be blockchain, automation or design thinking,” Amar said.

“It’s not the incremental gains that I am looking at. As an organisation you need to move to a learning culture. We have to reinvent things, and data is at the centre of it,” said Amar.

The pace of change has bred uncertainty. Amar said, “You have to prepare yourself for an uncertain world.”

“Moreover, one needs to be equipped with a set of both hard and soft skills: good mathematical and statistical skills; programming languages like Python; popular algorithms, especially, logistic regression, neural network etc. More importantly, practice what you learn,” he further added.

“It’s not about what you do in the job; it’s about how you approach the job. These soft skills determine what you are. Critical thinking is what differentiates a leader in any field. Creative skill is yet another area one should focus on, and the other being the networking skills,” said Amar.

AI is everywhere and is here to stay. Individuals and business organisations need to adapt to the changing scenarios in data science to keep up.

Check out the talk here. 

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