Indian businesses are preparing their present and the future to be more resilient at a time when technology, and more specifically, AI, has become second nature of our lives. According to a new survey, Indian businesses and decision-makers are more geared towards using technology and artificial intelligence to automate and augment their processes. Here's how India stands up to the US and UK in terms of using technology in its businesses. Artificial intelligence, or AI, has been one of the core aspects of digital transformation of businesses. From making more informed decisions to improving operational efficiencies, AI has been a net positive for modern businesses.

Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has announced a Google for India Digitisation Fund through which the company will invest Rs 75,000 crore, or approximately $10 billion, over the next five to seven years to drive digital transformation in the country. "We'll do this through a mix of equity investments, partnership investments, and operational, infrastructure and ecosystem investments. This is a reflection of our confidence in the future of India and its digital economy," Pichai said during the Google for India virtual conference. The fund will focus on four areas that are important to India's digitisation. These include enabling affordable access to the internet and to information for every Indian in their own language and building new products and services that are deeply relevant to India's unique needs including consumer tech, education, health and agriculture.

Given the pace and kind of digital disruption underway, businesses understand that cloud is now a prerequisite for success. A burgeoning data wave coupled with superfast computing power (where you can scale up processing power real-time via the cloud) to crunch this deluge of data makes AI/ML a very effective enterprise growth enabler. I therefore believe cloud is the foundation for most emerging technologies like AI/ML, blockchain and chatbots. Speed is an important factor that enterprises need in order to retain/grow their customer base and maintain their success trajectory. That's where AI/ML make all the difference.