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Tech Leaders Back Ola CEO Amid LinkedIn Controversy

Edtech company Unacademy CEO Gaurav Munjal earlier posted that this is so “f***** up on LinkedIn’s part”….reports Asian Lite News

Indian tech industry leaders have come out in support of Ola Founder and CEO, Bhavish Aggarwal, after his tirade against Microsoft-owned LinkedIn for deleting his posts and “bullying Indians” into agreeing with the Big Tech platforms or cancelling them out.

Homegrown IT software company Zoho’s CEO Sridhar Vembu agreed with Aggarwal, saying “we in India have to strongly resist this woke imperialism”.

“It is best understood as a fanatical religious doctrine that masquerades as a socio-political movement,” Vembu posted on X social media platform.

Edtech company Unacademy CEO Gaurav Munjal earlier posted that this is so “f***** up on LinkedIn’s part”.

An angry Ola CEO on Saturday announced the termination of Microsoft Azure cloud’s services and moved the entire workload of his company to his own AI venture called Krutrim.

“We’ve decided to move our entire workload out of Azure to our own Krutrim cloud within the next week,” he said in a blog post.

When reached, LinkedIn or Microsoft did not comment on Aggarwal’s blog post.

The tussle began when Ola CEO shared his thoughts on gender pronouns, with a LinkedIn post on “pronoun illness”.

The LinkedIn AI chatbot used “they” and “their” to address the founder.

The professional networking platform later deleted Aggarwal’s posts “without notifying him”, leading to an outburst from the Ola founder.

“Proud of you Bhavish. When CEOs like you show the way, I’m sure many will emulate you. It is one thing to coax people to be inclusive but quite another to use bullying and cancelling techniques to impose a fake inclusiveness with dubious benefit. May Dharma always guide you,” Author Sahana Singh posted on X.

Aggarwal has said he will work with the domestic developer community to build a digital public infrastructure (DPI) social media framework and the only ‘community guidelines’ should be the Indian law.

“Woke” was a word earlier used within Black communities in the US to refer to an “awareness of inequality”.

It is now being frequently used in political parlance to describe anything that appears too liberal or progressive.

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Business Tech Lite Technology

Ola Founder Takes on Big Tech Bullying

Ola Founder further said that he will work with the Indian developer community to build a digital public infrastructure (DPI) social media framework….reports Asian Lite News

In a hard-hitting post, Ola Founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal on Saturday said that Big Tech platforms like LinkedIn will bully Indians into agreeing with them or cancel them out and if they can do this to him, “I’m sure the average user stands no chance”.

After a sour experience with Microsoft-owned LinkedIn which deleted his posts where he shared his thoughts on “gender pronouns”, Aggarwal took on the professional networking platform.

“Clearly, Linkedin has presumed Indians need to have pronouns in our life, and that we can’t criticise it,” he wrote on a blog post.

“They will bully us into agreeing with them or cancel us out. And if they can do this to me, I’m sure the average user stands no chance.”

He further said that he will work with the Indian developer community to build a digital public infrastructure (DPI) social media framework.

“DPIs like UPI, ONDC, Aadhaar etc., are uniquely Indian ideas and are even more needed in the world of social media. The only ‘community guidelines’ should be the Indian law. No corporate person should be able to decide what will be banned,” said Ola CEO.

Ola has one of the largest ‘women only’ automotive plants.

“Regarding gender inclusivity, we don’t need lectures from Western companies on how to be inclusive. Our culture didn’t need pronouns to be inclusive for thousands of years,” he noted.

He pitched about the need to build homegrown Indian tech platforms.

“I’m not against global tech companies. But as an Indian citizen, I feel concerned that my life will be governed by western Big Tech monopolies, and we will be culturally subsumed,” said Aggarwal.

Taking on Satya Nadella-run Microsoft after a frustrated experience with LinkedIn, Ola Founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal on Saturday announced to leave the tech giant’s Azure cloud services and move the entire workload of his company to his own artificial intelligence (AI) venture Krutrim.

The decision came after Aggarwal slammed the Microsoft-owned professional network LinkedIn for deleting his posts without notifying him.

“Since LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft and Ola is a big customer of Azure, we’ve decided to move our entire workload out of Azure to our own Krutrim cloud within the next week,” he said in a blog post.

“It is a challenge as all developers know, but my team is so charged up about doing this,” the Ola CEO added.

Aggarwal also told developers who want to move out of Microsoft’s Azure cloud to offer them “a full year worth of free cloud usage, “as long as you don’t go back to Azure after that”.

He had criticised LinkedIn, saying their AI tool was imposing a political ideology on Indian users which is unsafe and sinister.

There was no immediate word from either Microsoft or LinkedIn on Aggarwal’s announcement to drop Azure Cloud for his own Krutrim cloud.

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Social Media Tech Lite

LinkedIn unveils new generative AI features

LinkedIn.

Sales Navigator provides sellers across more than 110 million LinkedIn members in India with real-time search results…reports Asian Lite News

Microsoft-owned professional networking platform LinkedIn on Wednesday introduced new Generative artificial intelligence (AI) features as pilot in its Sales Navigator tool in select markets, as 73 per cent of India’s sellers look to increase the use of AI.

Sellers are welcoming the rise of AI as 69 per cent of sales professionals worldwide are expecting a surge in AI use in the next six months.

Abhai Singh, Head of Sales Solutions, LinkedIn India, said in a blog post that LinkedIn Sales Solutions is reimagining how sellers can use Sales Navigator with a pilot of two Generative AI features — the AI-assisted search and Account IQ.

“With these new features, we’re making it faster and easier for sellers to discover crucial account and prospect details, so they can connect with the most relevant contacts, build stronger relationships, and gain a competitive advantage in this new era of selling,” said Singh.

The generative AI features for Sales Navigator are available to a limited number of customers in North America, Asia Pacific and Latin America in the initial pilot.

Sales Navigator provides sellers across more than 110 million LinkedIn members in India with real-time search results.

Kaustubh Chandra, CMO and SVP, Digital Sales Group, Airtel Business, said that they incorporated LinkedIn Sales Navigator into the DNA of Airtel Business’s Digital Sales Group.

“It has assisted us in developing a data-driven approach, resulting in higher prospect engagement and deeper relationships with our clients. With the assistance of Sales Navigator, the approach has moved from cold outreach to intent-based outreach with measurable KPIs,” Chandra noted.

Harnessing the power of more than 950 million LinkedIn member community, Sales Navigator’s popular search feature has taken a leap forward with AI-assisted search, said the company.

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LinkedIn launches AI Copy Suggestion feature

LinkedIn.

The company is rolling out this feature in a pilot in North America in English and plans to increase functionality…reports Asian Lite News

Professional social networking platform LinkedIn has introduced an AI-generated Copy Suggestions tool that uses generative AI to create high-performing intro text and headlines for ad creatives by leveraging data from an advertiser’s LinkedIn Page.

“We’re developing AI-generated Copy Suggestions that use advanced OpenAI GPT models to leverage data from your LinkedIn Page and Campaign Manager settings, like objective, targeting criteria and audience, to suggest ad headlines and copy to help you jumpstart your campaigns,” LinkedIn said in a blogpost.

The company is rolling out this feature in a pilot in North America in English and plans to increase functionality, languages, and availability in the coming months.

The new AI tool will offer up to five headlines and ad copy recommendations in Campaign Manager that users can edit to align with their brand’s voice.

“AI Copy Suggestions can help jumpstart your creativity and reduce the time you spend on your day-to-day tasks so that you can continue to focus on what matters-continuing to produce memorable campaigns and building your brand,” Abhishek Shrivastava, VP of Product at LinkedIn, said.

Earlier this week, LinkedIn introduced its identity verification feature for Indian users.

“Having an ID verification means that the individual’s government-issued ID is verified by one of LinkedIn’s verification partners,” Ashutosh Gupta, Country Manager at LinkedIn India, said in a blogpost.

In India, HyperVerge, a third-party identity verification service which uses DigiLocker — an online wallet for Indian government-issued IDs like the Aadhaar Card — handles ID verification.

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Business India News

LinkedIn cuts 716 jobs, shuts China app

LinkedIn.

The company’s CEO Ryan Roslansky said in an email to employees that the move was aimed at streamlining the company’s operations…reports Asian Lite News

Microsoft-owned LinkedIn has laid off 716 employees, as the company makes changes to its Global Business Organisation (GBO), along with shutting down its InCareer app in China.

The company’s CEO Ryan Roslansky said in an email to employees that the move was aimed at streamlining the company’s operations.

“As we guide LinkedIn through this rapidly changing landscape, we are making changes to our Global Business Organization (GBO) and our China strategy that will result in a reduction of roles for 716 employees,” he wrote late on Monday.

“If your role is directly impacted by this decision, you will receive a calendar invitation within the next hour for a meeting with a leader from your team and a representative from our GTO,” he added.

He admitted that while the platform is making meaningful progress creating economic opportunities for its members and customers and experiencing record engagement on the platform, “we’re also seeing shifts in customer behaviour and slower revenue growth”.

“In an evolving market, we must continuously have the conviction to adapt our strategy in order to make our vision a reality,” said the CEO.

LinkedIn saw record engagement in the March quarter as more than 930 million members globally now turn to the professional social network to connect, learn, sell and get hired.

The LinkedIn revenue increased 8 per cent in the March quarter for the tech giant. In 2016, Microsoft acquired LinkedIn for more than $26 billion.

The company was also in the process of discontinuing product and engineering teams in China and the downsizing of corporate, sales, and marketing functions.

Roslansky said that they will focus China strategy on assisting companies operating in China to hire, market and train abroad.

“As we plan for FY24, we’re expecting the macro environment to remain challenging. We’re adapting as we have done this year and will continue to operate with the ambition we need to deliver on our vision and the pragmatism required to run the business well,” said the CEO.

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Business India News

LinkedIn crosses 100 mn members in India

LinkedIn.

India has solidified its position as the second largest market for Microsoft-owned LinkedIn globally….reports Asian Lite News

Professional networking platform LinkedIn on Wednesday said it has crossed 100 million members in India, a 56 per cent growth in its member base over the last three years in the country.

India has solidified its position as the second largest market for Microsoft-owned LinkedIn globally.

The largest share of members in India are from software & IT, followed by manufacturing, corporate services (consulting, accounting and HR), finance, and education industries, the company informed.

“Our 100 million member community in India is using the platform extensively for more than jobs now. They are over-indexing on networking, messaging, and learning more than any other region globally,” said Ashutosh Gupta, India Country Manager, LinkedIn.

“As we look to welcome the next 100 million professionals, we aim to be a true partner in the lives of professionals as India continues to build a skills-first labour market,” he added.

As jobs and career paths become increasingly non-linear, companies in India are adopting a skills-first approach to hiring with more than 50 per cent of recruiters on LinkedIn explicitly using skills data to fill their roles, which is higher than the global average of 45 per cent.

In 2022 alone, professionals in India spent 4.6 million hours learning on the platform, which is nearly 2x the learning hours spent on LinkedIn in the US.

“Despite tough macroeconomic conditions, learning in-demand skills will be critical for professionals to become more employable in any job market and reach their career goals in 2023,” said the platform.

This year’s list of LinkedIn’s top 10 most in-demand skills in India features management (1st spot), communication (4), and sales (10).

Tech skills such as software development (2), SQL (3), and Java (5).

Leadership (6) and analytical skills (8) also feature on the list as important soft skills needed across various job functions.

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