How Krishna C. Mukherjee has Shaped the Computing Landscape

Technology has evolved at an incredible speed in the past three decades. Behind every technical innovation is an inventor who could envisage what others could not even imagine. Krishna C. Mukherjee is one of those few technology pioneers, inventors, and innovators who've shaped the computing landscape. He has functioned as Chief Software Architect and Engineer for Microsoft. The technical genius has been involved in the creation and development of world-famous products such as Windows, Office, and Visual Studio. During his professional career, Mukherjee made significant contributions in the areas of software architecture, artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud computing. 

Krishna C. Mukherjee is a distinguished alumnus of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). He earned his Bachelor of Technology degree in Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering from IIT Kharagpur and his Master of Technology degree in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Kanpur. As a student at the IITs, he specialized in AI and Robotics. In 1988, Microsoft Corporation recruited Mukherjee from IIT Kanpur to architect, design, and develop mission-critical products. Mukherjee was completing his Master's degree at that time. He received the degree with the highest distinction. Soon after that, he joined Microsoft at the company's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, USA. Mukherjee led the development of many popular features which include page layout, printing, proofing tools such as Spelling, Grammar and Thesaurus, WordBASIC, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE), Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) and Component Object Model (COM). Mukherjee introduced AI technology at Microsoft in the early 1990s. He oversaw the creation of features such as AutoCorrect, AutoFormat, Office Assistant, and IntelliSense.

In the late 1990s, workflow automation using AI was alien to the world. Krishna C. Mukherjee invented the Intelligent Filing Manager to improve the efficiency of business processes significantly. He says, "My idea behind creating the Intelligent Filing Manager was to provide a collaborative and efficient way to maintain frequently changing data and perform multi-jurisdictional filings. Prior to my invention, the banking, insurance, legal and medical sectors faced challenges managing data and workflows. The AI system provides a one-stop automated solution that eases high-volume forms publishing where large sets of varied forms need to be filed simultaneously. My invention automates workflows in a user-friendly manner. It enables enterprises to engage with their customers and become highly profitable effectively." 

Krishna C. Mukherjee's distributed architectures and domain-driven designs inspired the creation of advanced technologies for Windows and open-source platforms. Microsoft developed Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) and Blend under Mukherjee's leadership. In the 2000s, Mukherjee leveraged AI to establish the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model for transacting business across the Internet or the cloud. Microsoft released Windows Azure in 2010 and renamed it, Microsoft Azure, in 2014. Microsoft released Office 365 in 2011. 

Krishna C. Mukherjee created financial applications that are used globally. He directed the development of Bloomberg Valuation Service (BVAL), which utilizes scalable architecture, quantitative algorithms, and predictive models to price millions of financial instruments across different asset classes accurately. BVAL was released in 2008. In 2011-2012, Mukherjee developed the AutoPay platform, which facilitates online bill payments. Recently, he built SaaS applications for omnichannel retailing. Further, he has been designing Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and chatbot systems, which use natural language processing and machine learning to deliver outstanding customer experience.

In an illustrious career spanning over three decades, Mukherjee has made stellar contributions to business and technology. He received prestigious awards from industry stalwarts and international institutions. His work has created the foundation for future generations to build upon.