Everyone’s lives would be better if we were rid of spam calls and messages, but we don’t live in that reality. So most people rely on caller-ID apps or services to save themselves from the ordeal. In September last year, Bharti Airtel launched a spam fighting network free of cost to all users who have a VoLTE-enabled smartphone.

Airtel says its AI-powered systems come across a call or message that seems sketchy based on call patterns, frequency, duration and other parameters to flag them as ‘suspected scam’.

But like any anti-spam service, it has been showing a few cracks—all of which have consequences for both businesses and customers.

Legitimate calls from businesses are flagged as suspected spam by its system, while calls from similar businesses are not. The other troubling problem is that it’s a one-way system where the customer can’t do anything about it. They cannot opt out of the service either.

If your network operator says it's a suspected spam call when there's a number flashing on your screen, are you going to pick it up?

And then there are businesses like Truecaller, which built their business using the crowdsourcing model and built a two-sided business where they made money from both individuals and businesses trying to reach these individuals. Truecaller helped legitimate businesses which were being marked as spam be validated as verified businesses for a fee.

Something in all of this feels broken. What should ideally be free and reliable to save all customers from being scammed is not fully reliable or free.

What’s at stake? Where are the solutions?

In episode 31 of Two by Two, hosts Rohin Dharmakumar and Praveen Gopal Krishnan try to find the answers with our guests for the week—Parag Kar, former vice president of government affairs at Qualcomm India and Southeast Asia; Chaitanya Chokkareddy, co-founder and CTO of Ozonetel, a cloud-based communication platform providing call-centre solutions for businesses; and The Ken reporter Rounak Kumar Gunjan.

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Additional reading -

Truecaller beat Trai to the punch with spam-call fix

Airtel finds the gap between Truecaller and Trai

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Help us find interesting women guests by filling out this survey - https://theken.typeform.com/to/KH0EOLGo

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What you listened to is just the first 30 minutes of the conversation. If you'd like to listen to the full episode, you can do so by becoming a Premium subscriber to The Ken or by subscribing to Two by Two on Apple Podcasts via a separate standalone subscription.

This episode of Two by Two was produced by Hari Krishna. Rajiv CN, our resident sound engineer, mixed and mastered this episode.

If you liked this episode of Two by Two, please share it with your friends and family who would be interested in listening to the episode. And if you have more thoughts on the discussion, we’d love to hear your arguments as well. You can write to us at twobytwo@the-ken.com.

“The future of consultants is intricately linked to the future of consulting”

That’s what one of the guests had to say about the future of consultants and the promise of consulting careers.

Being a consultant at any of the big three consulting firms—McKinsey & Company, Bain & Company, and Boston Consulting Group(BCG)—meant one thing: The opportunity to work on cutting-edge projects with big, innovative companies. It allowed the people who worked at these companies to have career opportunities, which would allow them to be prepared for even more challenging and rewarding roles in the world of startups.

The accelerated learning, prestige, community and great pay packages that these companies offered ensured the best talent lined up to work for them.

The first two years of a career in consulting are gruelling, demanding and difficult and often involve “low-value work”, like making presentations, data analysis and sending requests for proposals to really annoying clients.

However, people still rush and fight to do it with the expectation that the payoffs compound later. It gives them a broader view of how companies work and operate.

It acts as a training ground for building startups and laterally jumping into senior executive roles at fast-growing companies or even going higher up the consulting ladder.

Today, that trade-off equation looks a bit distorted for students because it's never been easier to start a company.

It's also been very easy to find post-MBA roles in companies that are more strategic in nature, and ESOPs look much more real and valuable because companies are going public.

So the question becomes: Will students continue to chase consulting firms as a lucrative and promising career option? And does a career in consulting hold the same promises as it used to?

Joining hosts Praveen Gopal Krishnan and Rohin Dharmakumar for the episode are Rahul Chaudhary, co-founder of Treebo, ex-McKinsey & Company and Pragya Batra, co-founder of Quirksmith, ex-Bain & Company.

Welcome to episode 35 of Two by Two.

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Help us find interesting women guests by filling out this survey - https://theken.typeform.com/to/KH0EOLGo

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Additional listening:

If B-schools were invented today, would students run placements? - https://the-ken.com/podcasts/two-by-two/if-b-schools-were-invented-today-would-students-run-placements/

AI comes to annihilate India’s SaaS companies - https://the-ken.com/podcasts/two-by-two/ai-comes-to-annihilate-indias-saas-companies/

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This is a free 10-minute trailer streaming on all podcast streaming platforms. If you'd like to listen to the full episode, you can do so by becoming a Premium subscriber to The Ken or by subscribing to Two by Two on Apple Podcasts via a separate standalone subscription.

This episode of Two by Two was produced by Hari Krishna. Rajiv CN, our resident sound engineer, mixed and mastered this episode.

If you liked this episode of Two by Two, please share it with your friends and family who would be interested in listening to the episode. And if you have more thoughts on the discussion, we’d love to hear your arguments as well. You can write to us at twobytwo@the-ken.com.