eGeneration Ltd., one of the top IT consulting and software companies in Bangladesh, recently organised a roundtable on blockchain technology and artificial intelligence for the financial sector, said a statement.
The roundtable titled "Blockchain and AI: Game Changer in Financial Services" was co-organised by CTO Forum and Information Security Alliance. The expediency of blockchain and AI and how these technologies can be applied in local financial sector to bring groundbreaking advancements were discussed at the roundtable held at the BASIS boardroom in Kawran Bazar of the capital.
The roundtable was chaired by Chairman of eGeneration Group Mr. Shameem Ahsan. President of CTO Forum Tapan Kanti Sarkar; Executive Vice Chairman of eGeneration Group SM Ashraful Islam; Director; Vice President of CTO Forum Debdulal Roy; Secretary General of CTO Forum, Dr. Ijazul Haque; Joint Secretary General of CTO Forum & IT Manager of a2i, PMO, Arfe Elahi Manik; ICT expert, Mr. Musfique Ahmed, Head of IT of Meghna Bank Ltd., Mr. Abul Kashem Mohammad Nazmul Karim; Deputy General Manager of IT, Agrani Bank Ltd., Mr. Enamul Mowla; A M Shariar Majumder from ICB Islami Bank Ltd., Head of IT and high officials of various government and private banks were also present at the roundtable.
Shameem Ahsan said, blockchain and AI in fintech have the potential to help developing nations leapfrog to more-developed economies. Locally, eGeneration and few other IT companies have developed expert skills in cutting edge technologies like artificial intelligence, IoT, data analytics, blockchain and cyber security. As financial services in our country are rapidly becoming a technology-driven sector, financial sector remains as one of the largest in our client portfolio. Apart of supporting major local banks, eGeneration is also providing solutions to global clients. We have been working continuously with an aim to transform Bangladesh from low cost service provider towards innovation led solutions provider.
Tapan Kanti Sarkar said, Bangladesh faces daily challenges in this rapidly changing world. Blockchain and AI can play a significant role in eliminating and easing these problems and complications. There are huge possibilities for Bangladesh in global AI market.
"We have immense opportunities to use AI in public health, agriculture, traffic management, national security, production activities and services sector, which we must develop. Blockchain will play a big role in copyright protection. There are opportunities for blockchain in land record management in our country. The fourth industrial revolution will bring a radical change in our lives. If we fail to adopt this change, we will lag behind.
SM Ashraful Islam said, Bangladesh is a densely populated country. A huge demand is being created for skilled human resource in blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics in the global market. By 2020, the global market size of Blockchain will stand at $ 1430 million and the AI market at $ 47 billion. Consequently, soon there will be a lot of manpower demand in these two sectors. Bangladesh should be aiming at developing skills in such technologies.
Musfique Ahmed said, Bangladesh is on the cusp of a new connected age, which is sure to surpass the industrial revolution. Bangladesh is primed to take advantage of youth, curiosity to leapfrog development efforts.
Blockchain is a safe and open method to store data. The process allows to store data in consecutive blocks, like a chain, and the data ownership is secured. The data stored in this method is safer as if anyone wants to manipulate the data, changing data of every single blocks becomes impossible. On the other hand, artificial intelligence is a field of information technology that gives machine the ability to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence.
-rmc//