Introducing The Indianaut Chronicles
A Conversation With Kunal Kislay (Co-founder and CEO, Integration Wizards Solutions)
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Introducing, 'The Indianaut Chronicles', a fortnightly interview series where we sit-down with some of the most accomplished entrepreneurs, CXOs, leaders, innovators and visionaries to figure out what makes them tick and how they're spearheading the next wave of Indian innovation.
Co-founder and CEO of Integration Wizards Solutions, Kunal Kislay is a B.Tech IIT Bombay alumnus with over a decade of experience in enterprise mobility, Internet of Things, AI, Neural networks and Machine learning. Creating solutions for a vast array of verticals made him understand the pulse of technology and its changing paradigms. Integration Wizards Solutions owes its easy adaptation of the most advanced technologies to him.
Mentoring a team to tackle impossible challenges is integral to his nature, a trait he actually prides himself on. He led the creation of their flagship product - IRIS, an AI computer vision platform for enterprises. A smooth combination of fearless and fun, working with Kunal is an adrenaline rush for those passionate about technology.
Falguni: What is Integration Wizards Solutions’ ‘Indianaut’ origin story?
Kunal: I co-founded Integration Wizards Solutions along with Saquib Khan and Kumar Raman in 2014 in Bangalore. It is a bootstrapped company that has grown organically from a team of 3 to over 70 employees now. It offers computer vision and enterprise mobility-based solutions. Integration Wizards Solutions helps enterprises determine actionable intelligence from images, videos, and data captured live.
Our flagship product, IRIS is an AI platform that helps organisations derive actionable insights using their existing CCTV infrastructure. It is agile and can be quickly adapted to suit new requirements. IRIS was created for detecting PPE non-compliance in industrial spaces.
Falguni: Where did you find the gap in the existing ecosystem which you are trying to bridge at Integration Wizards Solutions?
Kunal: CCTV Cameras have been the most underutilized infrastructure investment, used mostly for the securing premises. We realized that we can transform CCTV cameras to active surveillance tools, enabling preventive maintenance. We created IRIS - an AI platform that uses an existing CCTV feed and creates real-time alerts in case of any non-compliance. It enables customers to onboard CCTV cameras across multiple sites, build AI pipelines and visualize the resulting KPIs on dashboards. IRIS utilizes deep neural networks to process data from live video feeds from cameras.
IRIS can analyze images at a very high fps real-time to provide up to 99.5 percent accuracy in most scenarios. We have a very successful track record in several large-scale deployments. World’s 2nd largest two-wheeler manufacturer uses our solution to track movement of vehicles in its manufacturing plant, a large solar power plant uses our solution for intruder detection. IRIS helps in ensuring Zero Negligence in Hospitals, Safe shopping at Retail stores, Optimizing Warehouse Operations and using Facial Recognition for contact-less attendance.
Falguni: There has been an increasing interest in AI, both from the private sector and public sector. How can India leverage its position as a software solution provider to become the hub of AI technologies? What does the future of AI in India look like?
Kunal: According to Accenture, AI can add US$957 billion (15% of current gross value added) to India’s economy by 2035. The future of AI in the Indian, as well as the global ecosystem, looks promising.
India's first step to achieving this long term vision is to harness the power of research & development (R&D) in domains of AI, IoT and Computer Vision, among others. NITI Aayog, India’s planning body has started to examine social applications of AI in sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, and education. The goal is also to attract foreign and angel investment in the Indian AI startup ecosystem.
India has one of the largest number of software developers in the world. The demand for AI developers has surged and led to many of Indian developers up-skilling to learn AI.
Falguni: Amid the ongoing pandemic, we have seen adoption of new technologies at a blistering pace. Whether its offices, warehouses, logistics or even our homes. How does your technology help industries combat the pandemic and build a more resilient business model?
Kunal: Government has mandated wearing masks and maintaining social distancing along with a compulsory thermal screening. Our flagship product IRIS is an AI platform that can plug into an existing CCTV network to analyse live camera feed. It detects social distancing and mask violations real-time and raises alerts in the form of whatsapp messages, buzzer sounds and PA system announcements. IRIS’ facial recognition works even with masks on, enabling contactless attendance. Monitoring of premises for mask and social distancing non-compliance has been proved to bring about a stricter adherence to the rules. IRIS keeps enterprises safe, helping them restart their activities.
Early detection can protect the country from the human and economic loss. A computer vision platform enables transparency and builds trust between co-workers. It eradicates the need to raise manual complaints. An employee will feel safer at work knowing 95% of people wore masks and maintained social distancing during their shift.
Besides, our platform provides a dashboard with details of cameras, the current percentage of people wearing masks etc and raises alarms when a non-compliance is detected, sending a notification to the right authority.
Falguni: What new developments have taken place at Integration Wizards Solutions in 2020? What does the future hold for your company?
Kunal: IRIS was trained for identifying PPE in manufacturing, warehouses etc. Post Covid, we trained the algorithm to identify people wearing masks and maintaining a distance of 1 metre and also incorporated thermal screening. The complete solution can be scaled up or down as required. Our platform works with any existing CCTV network and can be deployed with very little downtime.
We trained the platform for facial recognition technology at high throughput. To enable contactless attendance, we further trained the algorithm to identify people with masks on. One of the largest construction companies in India uses our solution for contactless attendance to log-in the entry of its people at the beginning of their shift. IRIS is deployed at a site that witnesses 2,500 people coming in between 7:45 AM and 8 AM. The fact that they do not have to stop and look at the camera for the face to be recognised saves a lot of time for the organization. IRIS’ facial recognition works even with masks on, reducing the chance of catching Covid in a high density area like the entrance.
Integration Wizards Solutions Europe is the latest addition to the organization, which is our official expansion into the European market.
Falguni: Technology today permeates every aspect of human life. Everything seems to be becoming ‘smarter’ and ‘connected’, however our data privacy law haven’t kept up with these developments. What are your thoughts on the data privacy ecosystem of our country? How do you ensure the same for your end users?
Kunal: India’s Parliament needs to pass the Personal Data Protection Bill as soon as possible. Currently there are no specific laws for personal data protection. Though personal information is safeguarded under Section 43A and Section 72A of The Information Technology Act and Right to privacy is a Fundamental Right protected under the Indian Constitution.
As a company that provides AI based solutions, we mitigate concerns by ensuring that personal data does not leave the premises by running the inferences on-premise. We have additional safeguards that allow organizations to redact/blur the faces to ensure the identity of the person is not revealed. The platform also allows organizations to turn on/off features our monitoring of personnel efficiency to suit the existing labour laws.
Falguni: How has COVID-19 impacted your business? What innovations have you had to incorporate?
Kunal: COVID-19 had a significant impact, several of our existing customers ended up downsizing our project scope and budget due to the global economic situation.
Our platform was trained for identifying PPE like helmets and vests. We trained the algorithm to detect face masks and measure distance between people. Later we also trained the model for facial identification even with a mask on to enable contactless attendance.
This pandemic kicked in the survival instinct for enterprises, big and small, and brought about the acceptance of the latest technology. Our solution helped enterprises create a safe workspace for their employees.
The nationwide lockdown also demonstrated the resilience of our team that worked from home, collaborated and built a new product in a very short time. Currently, our team is remotely deploying our platform at different clients’ offices/manufacturing plants etc., problem-solving by talking to vendors and clients that are new to the very advanced technology used.
A lot of our existing clients have also onboarded the Covid solution. Being a socially responsible organisation, it gives us peace of mind to know that our platform is helping enterprises combat the economic slowdown by safely restarting manufacturing premises, warehouses, tech parks, and malls.
With an accuracy up to 99%, IRIS algorithm is infrastructure agnostic, i.e. it can be integrated with any existing CCTV infrastructure. The results are quick and cost-effective as compared to other solutions that rely on infrastructure overhaul. IRIS works with Azure, AWS, Google, or any other cloud platform with an on-prem deployment option available. This flexibility suits various requirements across geographies.
Falguni: What one piece of advice would you like to give to the aspiring 'Indianauts'?
Kunal: My advice would be to focus on product quality first before trying to achieve scale.
Falguni Chaudhary is a PR specialist and communications strategist. She has previously worked as a consultant for startups in the AI, sustainable fashion, ed-tech space and was previously a contributing editor at NewsD, Youth Incorporated Magazine and Feminism in India.