Cloud transformation clears businesses for digital takeoff

Rajeev: Positive. I believe today none of those conversations might be full with out speaking about AI and gen AI. We began this early exploratory section early into the sport, particularly on this a part of the world. However for us, the hot button is approaching this based mostly on the client’s ache factors and enterprise wants after which we work backward to establish what sort of AI is finest appropriate or related to us. In Cathay, at present, we deal with three important kinds of AI. One is after all conversational AI. Basically, it’s a type of an inner and exterior chatbot. Our chatbot, we name it Vera, serves clients immediately and may deal with about 50% of the inquiries efficiently. And nearly two weeks again, we upgraded the LLM with a brand new mannequin, the chatbot with a brand new mannequin, which is ready to be extra environment friendly and way more responsive when it comes to the human work. In order that’s one a part of the AI that we closely invested on. 

Second is RPA, or robotic course of automation, particularly what you are seeing is throughout the pandemic and post-Covid period, there’s restricted sources out there, particularly in Hong Kong and throughout our provide chain. So RPA or the robotic processes helps to automate mundane repetitive duties, which does not solely fill the useful resource hole, but it surely additionally immediately enhances the worker expertise. And thus far in Cathay, we have now a few hundred bots in manufacturing serving numerous enterprise models, serving roughly 30,000 hours yearly of human exercise. So that is the second half. 

The third one is round ML and it is the gen AI. So like our digital staff or the information science staff has developed about 70-plus ML fashions in Cathay that turned the group knowledge into insights or actionable gadgets. These fashions assist us to make a greater resolution. For instance, what meals to be loaded into the plane and particular routes, when it comes to what amount and what sort of product gives we promote to clients, and together with the fare loading and the pricing of our passenger in addition to a cargo bay area. There may be plenty of exploration that’s being performed on this area as nicely. And a few examples I may relate is for those who ever occur to come back to Hong Kong, subsequent time on the airport, you may hear the general public announcement system and that’s additionally AI-powered lately. Prior to now, our employees used to manually make these bulletins and now it has been moved away and has been moved into AI-powered voice know-how in order that we could possibly be constant in our announcement. 

Megan: Oh, incredible. I will should pay attention for it subsequent time I am at Hong Kong airport. And you have talked about this subject a few instances within the dialog. Look, once we’re speaking about cloud modernization, cybersecurity is usually a roadblock to agility, I suppose, if it isn’t managed successfully. So may you additionally inform us in a bit extra element how Cathay Pacific has built-in safety into its digital transformation journey, notably with the adoption of improvement safety operations practices that you’ve got talked about? 

Rajeev: Yeah, that is an fascinating one. I take care of cybersecurity in addition to the infrastructure companies. With each of those essential features round my hand, I should be conscious of each features, proper? Sure, it is an fascinating one and it has modified over the time frame, and I totally perceive why cybersecurity practices must be inflexible as a result of there’s plenty of compliance and it’s a extremely regulated operate, but when one thing goes mistaken, as a CISO we’re held accountable for these faults. I can perceive why the staff is so inflexible of their practices. And I additionally perceive from a enterprise perspective it could possibly be perceived as a street blocker to agility. 

One of many key features that we have now performed in Cathay is we have now been following DevOps for fairly quite a lot of years, and lately, I believe within the final two years, we began implementing DevSecOps into our STLC [software testing life cycle]. And what it primarily means is slightly than the core cybersecurity staff being answerable for most of the safety testing and people types of features, we need to shift left a few of these capabilities into the builders in order that the individuals who develop the code now are held accountable for the testing and the standard of the output. And so they’re additionally enabled when it comes to the cybersecurity course of. Proper? 

In fact, once we began off this journey, there was an enormous resistance on the safety staff itself as a result of they do not actually belief the builders attempting to do the testing or the testing outputs. However over a time frame with the introduction of assorted instruments and automation that’s put in place, that is now getting right into a matured stage whereby it’s now enabling the upfront groups to handle all of the features of safety, like menace modeling, code scanning, and the vulnerability testing. However on the finish, the safety groups could be nonetheless validating and act as a type of a gatekeeper, however in a really gentle and inbuilt processes. And this manner we are able to make sure that our cloud functions are safe by design and by default they’ll ship them quicker and extra reliably to our clients. And on this total course of, proper? 

Prior to now, safety has been all the time perceived as an accountability of the cybersecurity staff. And by enabling the builders of the safety features, now you have got a greater possession within the group in relation to cybersecurity and it’s constructing a greater cybersecurity tradition throughout the group. And that, to me, is a key as a result of from a safety facet, we all the time say that persons are your first line of protection and sometimes they’re additionally the final line of protection. I am glad that by these processes we’re capable of enhance that maturity within the group.