For ManageEngine, the IT management division of Zoho Corporation, the next quarter would be all about cybersecurity, Shailesh Kumar, the company’s co-founder and VP of engineering said. Kumar explained that AI/ML was crucial to protect operations from the increased threat of cyberattacks. Kumar has been working with large-scale data handling at ManageEngine while revitalising engineering processes across the organisation. 

In a chat with Analytics India Magazine, Kumar brings forth ManageEngine’s fresh perspective on a variety of issues, including how AI/ML isn’t just a buzzword with IT organisations anymore. 

AIM: ManageEngine plans to leverage AI/ML and analytics heavily in the future. In what areas is it currently used?

Kumar: ManageEngine uses embedded AI/ML in all segments, including product platforms, IT operations, service management and IT analytics. From an IT perspective, AI/ML can be applied in multiple ways but we at ManageEngine believe that AI/ML doesn’t have to be an additional feature, it is augmenting the existing product. This means AI/ML functions are already included in the product and the end user doesn’t have to pay separately for it. 

The journey of AI/ML can be described in three main terms – descriptive, predictive and prescriptive. Descriptive is when the system can tell what is happening from going through the data, prescriptive is when the system is able to convey what will or might happen and prescriptive is when the system can come up with the right action that must be taken. 

When an organisation matures, it shifts from descriptive to predictive and prescriptive analytics. Obviously, we can’t just rely on what the model says and normally involve another person in the loop if the action itself is complex and sensitive.

In IT analytics, we take data from multiple IT systems and combine it with business data to produce a report which can give real insights. This is an area where analytics can really play around because you can look at the data, search for the anomalies and make the prediction.

Nowadays of course, we have a variety of statistical, deep learning and ML algorithms, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, and then apply AutoML. So the system can identify the technique and use a mix of whichever method works best. 

The other area where AI/ML has scope is service management. The system has to understand the ticket or the issue that has been raised, understand customer sentiment and search for a similar issue that was raised in the past. The system then shows this to the customer so that they have the option for self-servicing. Or else it can help the customer service agent be more efficient by pointing out what can be done. 

The other important area that ManageEngine is now looking at is security because analytics can really look back and tell you what and where things went wrong. 

AIM: Is hiring in India a problem for specialised AI/ML roles? Does ManageEngine have hiring plans? 

Kumar: ManageEngine’s policy is that it always hires for the next year. So we take in talent and then train them. Be it data science or learning any of the new programming languages, we give them the time to learn. There’s obviously a lot of demand for data scientists around the world and India being the main area where services are done, AI/ML now has applications in every part of IT. So, yes there is a talent crunch but I believe we have been able to manage well.

Currently, we are in an earthquake zone so we’re still figuring it out on a monthly basis. We are just in the fourth-quarter, so depending on whether the first-quarter is looking up, we will be able to determine the numbers and start hiring. 

AIM: What are some of the most important lessons you have learned over the span of your career? 

Kumar: IT has been evolving at a respectable pace for the past few years, be it with newer programming languages, deployment patterns, programming for particular devices, or ways of using services – the transformation is happening. Hence, it is vital to have a thorough understanding of the environment and the underlying principles behind it. Making time to test various technologies, grasping their fundamentals, comparing and contrasting amongst the various options, maintaining the spark, and staying hungry for knowledge are all positive traits to have as a young professional. It might or might not result in monetary gains, but it will undoubtedly result in a more interesting daily existence. 

Additionally, it is also important to have a solid reading routine. It genuinely opens one’s mind to newer ideas and aids in evaluating your own ideas. Reading doesn’t have to be exclusively on technology. It might be from a variety of subjects, including technology, literature, history, economics, or self-help books, but cultivating that habit is a good one.  It really opens you up for a life of constant exploration.

AIM: What advice would you give to the budding professionals in the industry? 

Kumar: An important thing to bear in mind for young professionals just starting their career, whether in tech or not, is that a business exists because of paying customers. When the customer pays for your product or service, reads your marketing copy, gets a response from your customer service team, or in simple terms consumes your output – that is the moment of truth. Everything around you exists because the customer has agreed to pay for it.  It will always be a good idea to keep the customer in mind as you go about your regular business for it will empower you to constantly offer your best effort and give your daily tasks a greater significance.