Pegasystems Inc., the software company empowering customer engagement at the world’s leading enterprises, today launched the Pega Digital Experience API, a set of design and application development capabilities that allows organizations to provide elegant and powerful digital experiences on any web or mobile channel. Part of the Pega Infinity™ digital transformation suite, the Pega Digital Experience API allows front-end developers to create consumer-grade user interfaces that seamlessly embed Pega’s industry-leading process automation and customer experience functionality — ensuring exceptional form and function in every digital customer interaction.
Developers face technological silos that make it challenging to deliver consistently superior experiences across digital channels. Too often, technology limitations force developers to hard code business logic into each individual channel — creating disjointed customer experiences and ongoing maintenance headaches. The Pega Digital Experience API enables organizations to create stunning front-end interfaces at every digital point of engagement while directly connecting them to the end-to-end processes that drive work across the enterprise. Pega gives developers the flexibility to leverage popular UI frameworks such as React and Angular together with Pega’s powerful UX design system to create connected customer experiences with their preferred tools.
The Pega Digital Experience API provides powerful design capabilities that enable developers to:
Unify with leading design technologies: Developers that prefer to use other UI frameworks such as React and Angular can leverage open APIs to dynamically use Pega design capabilities as a REST-enabled service to power their front-end UI framework of choice. The Pega Digital Experience API delivers a rich set of UX metadata so they can dynamically assemble an experience that seamlessly embeds business logic such as required fields, data types, validation rules, and more. UI elements changed using Pega’s no-code UX design system will be immediately reflected in the developer’s custom JavaScript framework without additional coding. It also includes starter packs and sample code to quickly integrate Angular and React into their workflows.
Enhance and extend existing interfaces with micro front ends: Pega makes it easy to embed responsive UI components directly into existing web pages or mobile apps leveraging Pega Mashup technology. Developers can add new functionality that seamlessly interacts with legacy interfaces, enabling them to adapt quickly to changing customer needs without recoding the entire UI.
Design effective and elegant interfaces jumpstarted with pre-built templates: Pega’s UX design system enables users to create responsive web and app designs that both grab the customer’s eye and allow for fast, accurate service. Reusable digital components plug seamlessly into existing digital ecosystems, while the drag-and-drop interface enables complete UI customization with no coding required. It provides 12 out-of-the-box templates for commonly used experiences with the ability to create additional templates to match any design.
Build seamless mobile apps: Pega’s open, responsive, and adaptive UI technology makes multi-channel deployment fast to build and easy to change. Users can build mobile applications completely in Pega, embed Pega into existing apps leveraging mashup, or seamlessly connect native mobile apps to Pega APIs by using the Pega Connect SDK. Pega handles all mobile OS updates automatically on the backend to ensure apps are compatible with the latest features and capabilities.
The Pega Digital Experience API is part of Pega Infinity, the next-generation digital transformation software suite that connects customer engagement applications to digital process automation (DPA). Today Pega Infinity powers customer experiences for more than 1.5 billion consumers for some of the largest and most successful brands in the world. By adding the Pega Digital Experience API to Pega Infinity, Pega now delivers both the form and function for digital engagement on a single unified platform.
Acer, the global leader in computer hardware technologies, is launching the annual grand campaign: Acer Day on July 21, 2018, which is their greatest promotion event of the year. With the successful promotion experience last year, Acer is launching the campaign in Pan-Asia region again this year, in hoping that through web site promotion, image advertising, channel experience, and event participation, Acer Day can build up the brand image of “Young, Trendy and Technology” in the mind of the consumers around Pan-Asia countries, whilst enhance the bonding between Acer and the consumers and raise the recognition of Acer among young generations.
Looking back the first Acer Day campaign in 2017, the campaign promotion video generated more than seven million clicks on video social networking sites altogether, and there were more than 2,500,000 page viewson the event website. Andrew Hou, President of Pan Asia Pacific says, “Acer day campaign not only improved the total marketing and the brand image of Acer, but also took the consumers and channel by storm. Therefore, we will continue to invest in Acer Day while at the same time broaden its scope, in the hope that Acer day will become the most representative annual campaign.”
The Acer Day 2018 will be held all across Pan-Asia region. In addition to China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Brunei, Mongolia and Cambodia has also join in the event this year, bringing the number of participating countries up to twenty. The theme of the campaign is “Play music together!”. Based on the belief that music is the best language, Acer hope to connect everyone on the Acer platform through music and color, regardless the limitation of boundaries and races.
Expressing excitement, Chandrahas Panigrahi, CMO and Consumer Business Head, Acer India, said, “We received overwhelming response from our customers for Acer day last year, we are thrilled to announce this year’s campaign as well. Our aim is to connect with the consumers on this annual event through amazing collaborative games and exciting offers to spread Acer’s spirit of young, trendy, lifestyle technology brand.”
The event website will be officially launched at July 21. The consumers can interact with people from around the world, create their original music or take some fun quizzes, and by doing so, they can earn some Cool Points which allows them to enter the giveaways of fantastic gifts like free Asia travel or Acer laptops. Acer is anticipating a larger participation and responds from the consumers with this well designed events.
To make the Acer Day even more grander, from August 3rd onwards Acer will mark Acer day by launching exciting offers like Easy EMI, Free Bluetooth speakers, 1st year accidental damage protection + 2 year extended warranty and Free Antivirus software on purchase of Acer products.
Edtech company Simplilearn announced the findings of the Career Impact Survey 2018, which is aimed at analyzing the impact of professional certifications and reskilling among working professionals in India. The findings reveal that Artificial Intelligence(AI) and Machine Learning(ML) are the most widely chosen (25% of respondents) domains for reskilling, followed by Big Data and Data Science (20%) domains.
Other new age categories such as Digital Marketing, Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity, DevOps, and Agile & Scrum together saw 55% uptake in reskilling among professionals. According to the survey, certification courses helped (31%) professionals to enhance their performance, gain manager and peer appreciation (29 %). 40 % of respondents who have taken certification courses, admitted to feeling more confident at work.
“Going digital is indispensable for a company’s survival today and likewise, it has become crucial for professionals to proactively upgrade their skills to meet the latest industry requirements”, said Krishna Kumar, Founder & CEO of Simplilearn. “The survey outlines how impactful certification courses and reskilling are for professionals who want to acquire the right skills for career advancement opportunities.”
Impact on Career
The industry is ever evolving due to advanced technologies and is enabling more and more professionals to take charge of their careers through certification courses and reskilling. According to the survey, 44 % of the respondents said that reskilling and certifications impacted their pay raise during the performance appraisal cycle, while 24 % of the respondents said it impacted their promotions. Thanks to the benefit of reskilling , 32 % of the respondents were able to move to other departments within their organization. When it comes to job searches, majority of respondents (62 % ) found professional certifications increased their prospect of finding new jobs.
Future Demand for Reskilling
With organizations around the world adapting to digital transformation, professionals want to proactively hone their technology skills. Over the next three to six months, 67 % of the respondents want to collectively hone their skills in Big Data, Data Science, AI, Machine Learning and Cloud Computing. In addition to technology skills, 55 % of the respondents are keen to improve their managerial skills, followed by problem solving skills.
Hairline International Hair and Skin Clinic will now offer patients a range of therapies across 5 specialities of Trichology. Patients visiting any of the 7 centres of Hairline International can now avail of specialized care focused on Geriatric, Endocrine, Pediatric, Gynaecology-related and Psychiatric-related hair loss issues. Each of these specialities will be medically managed by in-house specialized doctors, with consultants being brought on board, based on need.
Speaking on the launch of these 5 specialities, Dr. Bani Anand, Founder and Managing Director, Hairline International Hair and Skin Clinic says, “The hair care needs of people varies at different stages in life and now Hairline International offers specialty treatment options in trichology catering to every segment. Eventually we will get to launching specific products which will also be used in therapies for each of these groups”.
Speaking on the specialities, Dr. Divya K G, Dermatologist, Hairline International Hair and Skin Clinic says, “These specialities allow us to examine each patient for specific issues that may be afflicting them based on their general health, age and gender. This allows for a more focussed approach to therapy protocols that we work out for them”.
Addressing the media on the importance of nutrition in Trichology care, Mansi Belani, Fitness Nutritionist, Hairline International Hair and Skin Clinic says, “While overall good nutrition may be common across age groups and genders, there is a need for customized dietary and nutritional approaches. Such approaches take into consideration age or gender specific ailments, personal health levels and more. Good nutrition is a very important factor to determine good hair and skin”.
Here is a look at each of the specialities
Geriatric Trichology: Besides male and female pattern baldness, alopecia areata and senescent alopecia there are several ailments that can lead to geriatric hair loss. This is particularly for patients in the age bracket of 60 years and above. These ailments can cause scarring alopecias likes LPP, Frontal Fibrosing Alopecia, Folliculitis Decalvans etc. There is also hair loss that is caused due to tumour metastasis to the scalp, commonly seen among breast cancer patients. Menopause can also cause hair loss. Overall hair loss among the elderly is multifactorial and warrants close inspection. Specialized treatments in the form of hormonal therapies, topical treatments, SMP as well as non-surgical options of hair weaving and bonding, in addition to hair transplants, will be offered to geriatric patients at Hairline International.
Endocrinal Trichology: Endocrinal ailments cut across age groups. It is a fact that hair growth is regulated by hormonal changes in the body. In this specialty, patients will be diagnosed through a series of thorough blood tests. Based on individual cases, nutritional counseling will be provided. Medications that specifically deal with endocrine-related ailments will be prescribed. Additional therapies such as micro-grafting, SMP as well as hair transplants and micro-grafting options will be offered under this specialty at Hairline International.
Pediatric Trichology: There are several medical reasons for hair loss in children (here considered till the age of 15 years) such as fungal infections, lice infestations, alopecia areata, Trichotillomania, tractional alopecia, Telogen Effluvium as well as endocrinal and nutritional deficiencies that can cause unusual hair loss among children. Non-medical reasons include new born hair loss, frictional hair loss as well as hair abuse. These require specialized attention, counselling as well as treatment therapies that will now be managed through the specialties at Hairline International.
Gynaecology-Related Trichology: There are several gynaecological reasons why hair may be affected, especially in the age bracket of 18-55 years of age. During pregnancy, an increased number of hair go into resting phase which is a part of normal hair loss cycle. It may occur due to vitamin or mineral deficiency. Most common period of hairloss is 3 months post-delivery or post-partum. Upto 60% of hair that is in the growth phase may enter the resting phase leading to acute or chronic Telogen Effluvium. Hairloss is also triggered by the change in theestrogen levels which is characteristic of the peri- and post-menopausal stages in a woman’s life. These changes in estrogen level can also affect hair in the post-menopausal stage. Each case will be examined and a personalized therapy approach will be created.
Psychiatric Trichology: Many psychiatric issues such as anxiety, depression, anorexia, bulimia, schizophrenia etc., can cause issues like Alopecia areata, Tellogen effluvium and Trichotillomania etc. These issues can affect any age group. These problems can be addressed by a psychiatrist, a nutritionist and a dermatologist at Hairline by providing aesthetic help to improve confidence, self-esteem and external appearances.
Each of these specialties will also involve intense focus on the diet of an individual and will be examined and prescribed by a qualified nutritionist. A psychologist will also be available at each of the 7 centers of Hairline International for counselling who will consult across all specialities.
Hairline International now offers appointments across its centres for consultation under each of these specialties, based on doctor consultation and advice.
Aeris, a technology leader in the Internet of Things (IoT) has said it has collaborated with Malaviya Centre for Incubation, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MCIIE) and Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi to establish a state-of-the-art ‘Internet of Things – Centre of Excellence’ (CoE) on the IIT BHU campus. All entities aim to jointly address the pressing need in India to develop workers’ skills, accelerate innovation and increase entrepreneurship in emerging technologies like IoT.
The global IoT market is expected to cross $200 billion by 2020, according to the McKinsey Global Institute. India now accounts for 43 percent or USD $1.5 billion of the global $3.5 billion IoT market, according to Zinnov Zones. This is expected to grow to $15 billion, with 5.6 billion devices in India by 2020, according to Nasscom and Deloitte. This presents a significant opportunity for Indian technologists, startups and service providers to help advance IoT technology adoption.
With IoT converging different technologies, multi-disciplinary skillsets are the key requirement for filling new job roles. More than 220,000 new engineers will be needed globally every year for the next 10 years to keep up with the IoT technological surge, according to Cisco. More than 500,000 program managers and 4.5 million IoT developers will be needed by 2020, reflecting a 57 percent compound annual growth rate.
The collaboration between Aeris and IIT BHU, one of the top engineering institutes in India, will enable the creation of indigenous and innovative IoT solutions, supporting the “Digital India” mission and “Make in India” initiative. The Aeris® IoT platform will be deployed at the IoT-CoE as part of the MCIIE and will be used by IIT-BHU scholars for projects of academic interest, as well as serving as an incubation platform for startups for the development of connected and integrated smart solutions. Aeris employees from India and USA will provide training and hands-on experiences in IoT technology.
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Dr. Rishi Bhatnagar, President, Aeris India remarks, “With more than two decades of IoT experience globally, Aeris has been a significant IoT solutions provider for more than two years in India. We are committed to helping increase IoT knowledge and skills so that our country, India, develops homegrown IoT solutions for meeting its own unique challenges and adoption of the technology. The Aeris IoT Centre of Excellence with IIT BHU is a step in that direction. We will work closely with IIT BHU teams to train them on using Aeris’ own proven IoT technology for developing relevant and affordable IoT solutions for different industry verticals. I believe that the campus will become the hub of the best talent for IoT in the coming years.”
Professor Pradeep Srivastav, IIT (BHU), Varanasi said, “The relationship between MCIIE and Aeris will allow IIT BHU students and entrepreneurs to work more efficiently in the area of IoT and cloud-based ideas, also enable us to create an ecosystem of low-cost IoT-based technologies, which will help our Purvanchal region. This initiative will bring significant benefits to the state’s regional and rural farmers, schools, businesses and local government including greater efficiencies and productivity through young entrepreneurs. This partnership is particularly timely for MCIIE in Varanasi and Purvanchal as the cost to create solutions are seen as a major impediment to economic growth of the region.”
Professor P.K. Mishra, IIT (BHU), Varanasi sayx, “We believe that two highly-faced paced organizations, Aeris and MCIIE working together, will make a difference in the area of Internet of Things through startups that have employees with the knowledge and skills to succeed.”
The e-commerce revolution and the upsurge in digital technologies are fundamentally transforming shoppers' expectations. This is transformation also has a major bearing on the function of brick-and-mortar stores, which now need to render more useful and entertaining customer experiences. As trends advance globally, mall operators are forced to rethink and re-strategize as to how they must design, enable and operate their physical stores.
The Advent of 'Smart' Stores
In today’s digital era, physical stores are getting ‘smarter’ by using technologies like robotic intelligence, analytical data and consumer-centric platforms such as Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR) to attract customers and give them an impactful experience.
By uniting conventional methods with key success elements of the digital ethos, brick-and-mortar retailers, in fact, have an advantage over e-commerce, as they can offer mall visitors an experience that vastly surpasses that of online shopping. Information technology can be effectively used to tap into tech-savvy consumers' predilections with appropriate tech-enabled in-shop 'responses'.
Numbers suggest that consumer expenditure in India will rise to US$ 3,600 billion by 2020 from US$ 1,595 billion in 2016. If mall operators and the retailer tenants get their strategy right, they are definitely poised for retaining and adding customers. Today, a tech-enabled retail environment equals repeat visits, increased footfalls and higher sales.
Tech Adoption Done Right
A classic example of creating a differentiated experience for consumers is seen in Kochi's Lulu International mall, which numbers among the largest malls in India. This mall uses advanced technologies Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), geo-fencing and digital beacon technology to engage with mall visitors and inform them of the latest promotional activities and deals available in the mall.
Consumer-centric tech platforms like AI (artificial intelligence), AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) add similar value by enabling personalized and engaging experiences. These technologies help in building malls’ connection with consumers via product visualization, behaviour analyses, communication with customers, creating real-time merchandising, marketing, advertising, and promotional opportunities.
Increasing demand for experiential retail coupled with the stores’ ability to be different is, in a way, fueling demand for new technologies. In fact, we may soon start seeing holograms being used in malls, in place of the traditional promotional standees and flex boards. With the right kind of technology, holograms can even go from being mere static visuals to interactive ones.
Retail on the Information Highway
Already, we have at our disposal varied digital communication tools, from bots like Kik Bot Shop and WeChat to voice-activated AI agents like Google Now and Amazon’s Alexa. Mall operators and tenants need to leverage these personalized digital ecologies when shoppers are either in or away from their centres.
For instance, DLF Cyber Hub offers a unique AI-based 'Phygital' experience with Huber, a virtual concierge, Shoppers can talk to Huber to find out about the next event, navigate through physical space while adding to the ‘discoverability’ of available brands and experiences, reserve a table, check out menus, etc. During the conversation, Huber gets to know about the customer and can make personalized recommendations.
Also, with shoppers' mobile devices connecting to the mall’s Wi-Fi network, a new channel of communication has opened between the mall operator, retailer and customers. This avenue gives shoppers relevant information right from where to park the car to various offers and enticements like discounts. This makes the shopping experience more personal, convenient and enjoyable.
Interestingly, today's tech-savvy consumers are now open to sharing some personal data via digital interaction. According to Accenture, more than 50% of consumers are willing to divulge personal information in return for more customized offers.
Conclusion
The retail world today is nothing short of an ongoing war of sorts - the war to win customers over from the competition and to retain them. As can be expected in any war, there will be victors and losers; and in the case of technology adoption, it is no longer about the in-store use of innovative technologies.
While the dominance of technology is explicitly seen across modern brick-and-mortar stores, the winners will be those who can strike a balance across multiple platforms and create an omni-channel for tech-savvy consumers.
Mall operators and retailers who are agile enough to adapt and navigate their way through these changes will continue to grow and thrive. And as we have seen in many other real estate verticals, players who are unable to overcome their change resistance (and make the necessary investments in technology) will eventually lose out.
Bentley Systems, Incorporated, a leading global provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing infrastructure, presented Synchro, a 4D construction modeling solution, yesterday at Microsoft Inspire, Microsoft’s annual partner conference in Las Vegas. The use of Synchro as part of a mixed reality construction management solution for FC Barcelona’s Espai Barça sports stadium project was featured during the Mixed Reality (MR) and the Cloud session at the conference.
The Microsoft Inspire session, led by Microsoft’s Nancy Li, detailed how Bentley’s Synchro, a cloud-based 4D construction modeling solution, will be used for FC Barcelona’s major renovation to the Espai Barça sports arena in Barcelona, Spain, which when completed will accommodate more than 100,000 fans. In conjunction with time-lapse monitoring footage of the construction site provided by EarthCam, Bentley’s Synchro will help the stadium project team to visualize and compare construction progress with the 4D construction model.
Greg Demchak, technical architect for Bentley, said, “The scope of this project demands that we look for new solutions, and for this, we turned to Microsoft. Using Azure infrastructure, HoloLens technology, and Cognitive Services, multiple users can interact with a holographic representation of the stadium data at any moment in the construction process. We are also leveraging machine learning and on-site images to digitally track actual progress with Synchro.”
Bentley Systems is a Mixed Reality and CityNext partner with Microsoft, and will receive the 2018 Microsoft CityNext Partner of the Year Award during this year’s Microsoft Inspire Conference for its Azure-enabled software solution for Mass Rapid Transit Corporation’s world-class, Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya high-speed railway project in Malaysia.
Kalyan Jewellers, one of India’s largest jewellery brands has launched its new TVC featuring brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan along with his daughter Shweta Bachchan Nanda. For the first time, the audience will see the off screen father daughter duo playing onscreen father daughter in a rural North Indian small town setting. The TVC emphasizes the values of Trust that the brand attributes itself to.
Speaking about the campaign, T. S. Kalyanaraman, Chairman and Managing Director, Kalyan Jewellers says, “We have a long association with the Bachchan family. They have successfully represented our brand over the years and we are extremely excited to have Shweta Bachchan Nanda on board our latest campaign. As a brand, Kalyan Jewellers stands for Trust, and this TVC successfully showcases our ideology of standing up for what is right.”
The father-daughter duo who will be seen together onscreen for the first time had attracted a lot of eyeballs and fans of Sr. Bachchan from across the country made their Behind the Scenes video viral across social media platforms. The ad film features Big B as an honest retired government servant whose fight for what is right is captured.
Speaking about the ad film, Kartik Smetacek, Executive Creative Director, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi says, “The insight came from a very rich space. Trust does not just mean being honest when everyone is watching, but it is also about being truthful when no one is looking. It is about a deep rooted sense of right and wrong and not being a part of anything that would shake ones trust – not even the smallest of the things.”
The brand which opened its first showroom back in 1993 celebrates its silver jubilee i.e the marvellous 25 years in the India jewellery market with this very special TVC. Kalyan Jewellers has operations across 122 locations globally, and will be launching its 100th Indian showroom in August.
Vivo, the global premium smartphone brand, today unveiled its latest flagship- NEX. With an almost bezel-less 91.24% screen-to-body ratio and benchmark-shattering features, the NEX breaks industry conventions for selfie cameras with the world’s first elevating front camera and Ultra FullView screen design. Embodying the “next” era in smartphone technology, NEX will usher in a new concept for smartphones, allowing users to experience the future and innovation beyond imagination.
Priced at MOP Rs 44,990, NEX will be available in Black colour across select offline stores from July 21. The device will also be available online on shop.vivo.com/in and Amazon.in with exciting launch offers such as:
1. Instant cashback of Rs 4000 on HDFC Credit Cards (EMI & Non-EMI) & Debit Cards (EMI)*
2. One Time free screen replacement*
3. No cost EMI upto 12 months
Commenting on the launch, Kent Cheng, CEO, Vivo India said, “Vivo has always believed in exploring the unknown, undertaking new challenges and providing our consumers with smartphones that push the boundaries of both technology and user experience. We are optimistic about NEX’s capability to change the way the world perceives smartphone design, performance and ergonomics.”
Recalling Vivo’s journey so far, he further added, “Creating an industry first with our Hi-Fi audio chip to launching the world’s thinnest smartphone, and providing consumers the first In-Display Fingerprint Scanning Technology, Vivo will continue to further introduce the best of technology in its products.”
In line with its commitment towards "Make in India" initiative, the flagship device is being manufactured at the company’s state-of-the-art facility in Greater NOIDA.
Futuristic Design and display to impress
The Vivo NEX sets new industry standards with a 16.74 cm (6.59 inches) Ultra FullView screen resulting in 91.24% screen-to-body ratio and an in-display fingerprint sensor technology. The display is notch-free and offers an almost bezel-less 91.24% screen-to-body ratio with bezels of 2.16mm on the top; 5.08mm on the bottom; and 1.71mm on each side. Every millimeter of the 16.74 cm (6.59 inches) Super AMOLED display is devoted to creating an enhanced visual impact.
The smartphone comes with a premium glass back with curved edges and rounded corners, which rests comfortably in one hand. Ensuring a blend of futuristic design and ergonomics, a nano-precision laser has been used to engrave tens of thousands of dynamic color diffraction units onto the back cover.
Innovative and elevated photography experience
The smartphone introduces consumers to the world’s first Elevating Front Camera. The NEX is equipped with an 8MP front camera and a 12+5 MP rear camera set-up with Dual Pixel Technology, which enables superior shots every time. Unique in its functionality, the front camera emerges from within a slot on the top of the smartphone and retracts once the selfie has been clicked. Meanwhile, the rear cameras are equipped with OIS technology enabling NEX users to shoot blur-free and well-focused pictures and videos even in conditions where the subject or the photographer is moving fast.
Leveraging the AI technology, the NEX’s camera is able to enhance each shot by detecting the photo conditions. Over time, the NEX’s artificial intelligence ‘learns’ to increasingly create accurate pictures. The AI suggests stylish filters after identifying photo scenes. Features such as Live Photo, Face Beauty, Backlight HDR, Portrait Bokeh, Panorama, AR Stickers, Filters, Slow motion, Backlight, Time lapse etc. makes the photography experience varied and interesting.
Exemplary Music and Sound
The Vivo NEX comes with the innovative Screen SoundCasting technology, where the speaker system is inbuilt, as part of the screen display with no visible apertures or speaker mesh. This technology results in reduced bezel size and enhanced sound quality, without any distortion, while listening to music or taking calls. The Vivo NEX is also packed with groundbreaking Hi-Fi audio technology, three amplifiers and a DAC. The smartphone also features an OLED panel which serves as an earpiece.
Power Packed Performance
The Vivo NEX is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Octa Core processor paired with 8GB of RAM and will run on Android 8.1 Oreo for a seamless usage experience. These powerful specs ensure a smooth user experience while running any application. The enhanced 128GB storage space offers ample on-device storage for applications and other content.
Jovi Artificial Intelligence – The route to future
NEX features a left-side AI button for Jovi strictly dedicated to a full range of AI services. Press and hold this button and the AI Assistant is at your service. For AI Image identification, just point out the camera at
Vivo NEX Specifications
· 16.74 cm FHD+ (6.59 inches)
· Front Camera 8MP, Rear camera - 12MP + 5MP
· Weight - 199g
· Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Octa Core processor
· 8 GB RAM/128 GB ROM
· 4000 mAh battery
· Type C Charging
· Android 8.1
Pegasystems Inc., the software company empowering customer engagement at the world’s leading enterprises has announced it has been named a Visionary in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation report.
In the report, Gartner evaluated 15 vendors of sales force automation (SFA) technology, which the firm defines as applications that support the “automation of sales activities, processes, and administrative responsibilities for an organizations’ sales professionals.” The report further states: “The core functionalities of the SFA market include: account, contact, and opportunity management; sales activity management; sales forecasting; mobile applications; reporting; partner relationship management; and platform capabilities.” Gartner assessed Pega based on its completeness of vision and ability to execute.
Pega Sales Automation is an industry-leading sales engagement and enablement tool that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to predict and drive the right insights, content, and actions for every sales situation. Part of Pega Infinity, Pega’s next-generation digital transformation suite, it helps organizations sell smarter, bust quotas, and simplify sales.
This recognition builds on Gartner’s other recent recognitions of Pega, including being named a Leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Engagement Center report and a Visionary in the 2018 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Multichannel Marketing Hubs, as well as receiving the highest scores in two use cases in Gartner’s December 2017 Critical Capabilities for the CRM Customer Engagement Center report.
“In a world where customers are inundated by irrelevant sales pitches, organizations must ensure their sales channels provide value, and not just create additional noise,” said Don Schuerman, chief technology officer, Pegasystems. “At Pega, we are dedicated to empowering organizations by turning powerful technologies like AI into pragmatic tools that ensure salespeople can have optimal customer interactions that drive results. We believe this latest recognition from Gartner reinforces Pega’s continued leadership in enabling the world’s top organizations to create more meaningful customer relationships.”
Genpact, a global professional services firm focused on delivering digital transformation, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Barkawi Management Consultants, a leading supply chain management consultancy with operations in the U.S. and Europe that is part of the Barkawi Group. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
As part of its ongoing strategy to drive digital-led transformation along with digitally-enabled intelligent operations for clients, Genpact is investing in leading capabilities, such as supply chain transformation. This is a critical lever for driving growth in many enterprises because companies need agile operations that quickly respond to fluctuating demand levels, market changes, and increased supply chain complexity.
Genpact’s focus on building supply chain centers of excellence and investing in digital technologies as well as supply chain analytics – particularly for clients in the consumer packaged goods, industrial manufacturing, and hi-tech industries – has continued to expand its ability to help clients drive significant transformative impact in their operations. The addition of Barkawi Management Consultants’ consulting expertise and leading supply chain technology services is expected to enable Genpact to deliver to clients global, end-to-end supply chain services bolstered by domain, digital, and data science expertise.
Barkawi Management Consultants specializes in providing both strategic and operational supply chain management services, including areas like supply chain strategy design and execution, demand planning, supply planning, sales and ops planning, distribution strategy, and design. Their broad solution footprint allows Barkawi to help clients improve many important areas of after sales/aftermarket services including services strategy, parts pricing, failure forecasting, repair management, and warranty management, which drives considerable strategic value for clients through improved operations, risk reduction, and lower costs. Additionally, Barkawi Management Consultants’ key partnerships with leading supply chain technology providers and implementation expertise will complement Genpact’s proprietary planning and control tower solutions, providing comprehensive digital capabilities to clients.
“Supply chain management is incredibly strategic to our clients since it directly impacts their competitive differentiation, revenue, and operating margins. This is a key area where we’re investing,” said Shantanu Ghosh, business leader, Enterprise Services, Genpact. “With Barkawi Management Consultants, we will be adding market-leading supply chain strategy and technology consulting capabilities, as well as terrific talent to our existing domain expertise, digital investments, and managed services base. We have already seen the power of this complementary and unique combination drive significant value by enabling an end-to-end scalable transformation proposition in client engagements where we have recently partnered with the firm.”
“This transaction is a great fit for our consulting entity, given Genpact’s strong domain expertise, focus on innovation, digital and analytics capabilities, and global scale,” said Karim Barkawi, founder and CEO, Barkawi Group. “Barkawi Management Consultants clients and Genpact clients will have a much stronger, unified partner to help them achieve transformative results in their supply chain management operations.”
Mike Landry, who has been president of Barkawi North America, will lead the integrated Genpact global supply chain business.
Mindtree, a global technology services and digital transformation company, guiding its clients to achieve faster business outcomes, is making a $2M gift to Stanford University’s School of Engineering to establish in perpetuity an endowed Faculty Scholar position with a preference for faculty whose academic focus is in artificial intelligence (AI). Faculty Scholar appointments acknowledge the accomplishments of early career faculty, whose commitment to innovation is vital to fulfilling Stanford School of Engineering’s mission to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Dean Jennifer Widom has appointed Professor Silvio Savarese the inaugural Mindtree Faculty Scholar. Silvio Savarese is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University and director of the SAIL-Toyota Center for AI Research at Stanford. His research interests include computer vision, robotic perception and machine learning.
“Deploying AI based technologies is now mission-critical for any business that wants to run its operations more efficiently, better understand and predict customer behavior, and bring customized products and services to market faster,” said Rostow Ravanan, CEO and Managing Director of Mindtree. “We’re proud to support Stanford School of Engineering to further accelerate the development of AI to solve complex problems facing businesses and society today.”
Mindtree has deep expertise in artificial intelligence technologies and works with numerous enterprise clients across industries to implement and capitalize on the opportunities of AI and machine learning. Some examples include utilizing AI technologies to enable consumer packaged goods companies to optimize their supply chain, helping insurance companies to leverage chatbots or virtual assistants to drive customer engagement, and working with airlines to deploy AI to better predict customers’ travel choices and make more personalized offers. Mindtree has incorporated AI across its own business as well, employing a variety of AI based virtual agents to work alongside its more than 17,000 Mindtree Minds and automate IT infrastructure management, data entry in human resources and financial workflows.
“AI will play a transformative role in reimagining enterprises in many industries and in significantly enhancing the quality of life for people around the globe,” said Dr. Satya Ramaswamy, Executive Vice President, Enterprise Re-imagination Business at Mindtree. “We’re excited to support an institution with the global prestige of Stanford School of Engineering as they develop the full potential of AI.”
Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in cyber security solutions, through its Connected Threat Defense will help offer users an effective way to protect, detect, and respond to newer threats. With its layered approach, it will provide improved visibility and control across the organization at the same time. With a 360-degree monitoring of network traffic, Trend Micro’s Connected Threat Defense is powered by XGen™ security and currently supported and leveraged by all three Trend Micro solutions - User Protection, Network Defense, and Hybrid Cloud Security; and supported by their products which include Deep Discovery, Deep Security, OfficeScan, ScanMail Exchange, Control Manager and InterScan Messaging solutions.
The all-encompassing Connected Threat Defense has three stages to it: Protection, Detection and Response. The Protection quadrant proactively protects networks, endpoints, and hybrid cloud environments. The Detection quadrant includes network inspection and custom sandboxing. The Response phase delivers real-time signatures and security updates to the other quadrants to prevent future attacks, identify root cause and speed up remediation. The Central Visibility and Control provides a comprehensive view of the security of networks, endpoints, and hybrid cloud environments, and simplifies threat investigation and day-to-day management tasks.
Nilesh Jain, Vice President – South East Asia and India, Trend Micro said, “The need for a Connected Threat Defense has emerged because the traditional model is no longer sufficient to defend against today’s attacks and threats. Organizations often use a variety of security products where managing the complexity and volume becomes a daunting task, and the threats growing across the network may remain undetected. With multiple security techniques, Trend Micro’s Connected Threat Defense provides scanning and disinfection of any incoming malware. If an attack is detected, targeted intelligence covering malicious files, IP addresses, and C&C communications is shared across products and environments for protection and these objects are blocked automatically when they are encountered next time which is a benefit of Connected Threat Defense.”
Several organizations across India have deployed Trend Micro’s comprehensive Connected Threat Defense offering, allowing them to take advantage of the latest advanced threat protections and a range of cross-generational threat defense techniques that are coordinated and integrated across networks.
India’s Largest Bank State Bank of India Runs Endpoint Security Solutions from Trend Micro Across its 26000 Branches in and Outside India.
On their deployment, Mrutyunjay Mahapatra, DMD and CIO, SBI said, “We have partnered with Trend Micro for their Endpoint, Gateway and Data Centre Security solutions. To secure our ‘crown jewels’ that are going to be hosted on these virtualized servers, we are also in the process of securing Trend Micro’s Data Centre Security solution – Deep Security that provides host based security capabilities such as Virtual Patching that detects and patches vulnerabilities automatically across all OS and Applications on the fly. This solution requires no down time to deploy and can be used across physical, virtual and cloud platforms.”
Some of the other clients of the Connected Threat Defense solution provided by Trend Micro are Lupin Pharma, LIC Mutual Fund, Eli Group, BookMyShow, Anandabazar Patrika, Evalueserve etc.
Mindtree Makes $2M Endowment to Stanford University’s School of Engineering in Artificial Intelligence.
The board of ONGC has approved exiting helicopter service provider Pawan Hans by selling its entire 49% stake, as it looks to cut debt and consolidate resources in core oil and gas business, officials with direct knowledge of the development said.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) wants its interest to be clubbed with the 51% government stake that is already on offer for sale, they said.
The Department of Disinvestment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), which floated the offer for sale for the government’s 51% stake in Pawan Hans twice in the last 10 months, is likely to issue an amended Expression of Interest (EoI) shortly.
Officials said that ONGC of the view that its investment in Pawan Hans is no longer strategic as it charter hires helicopters to ferry staff to its oil and gas locations, mostly in offshore, through competitive bidding. Of the 22 helicopters it currently has on hire, just seven or less than a third are from Pawan Hans. Pawan Hans owns a fleet of 46 helicopters.
“The board of directors of ONGC, at the 308th meeting held on June 29, accorded its in-principle approval for exploring options for the restructuring of ONGC group companies including exiting some with a view to consolidating business,” an official said.
“The idea being to focus resources on core oil and gas exploration and production business and not scatter bandwidth of management in unrelated businesses,” the official added.
Officials said when the government had first floated an offer to sell its 51% stake in October last year, ONGC made an offer to DIPAM that its 49% stake be also sold on same terms.
At that time, the company was told to get its board approval.
Meanwhile, the government in early April withdrew its offer for sale as only two bidders including Indian helicopter major Global Vectra Helicorp and US-based Continental Helicopters made an offer.
Tata Motors, one of the leading global automobile manufacturers, today announced that it will supply Tigor Electric Vehicles (EVs) to Cognizant, a leading professional services company that helps clients worldwide to transform their business, operating and technology models for the digital era. Cognizant will deploy the EVs in its Hyderabad campus as part of its commitment to a sustainable environment. Tata Motors has partnered with Volercars, a leading mobility solutions company that will be delivering this integrated solution with the value added service to Cognizant including on ground operations & fleet management. A batch of 10 vehicles was handed over by Tata Motors team to Cognizant officials, at an event held in the company’s Hyderabad campus.
Leveraging the One Tata solution for EVs, Tata Motors will collaborate with other Tata Group companies to provide a consolidated solution with respect to vehicles, charging infrastructure, maintenance services and financial assistance for procurement and functioning of the Tigor EVs. As part of this order, Tata Power will supply and install two fast charging stations at the Hyderabad campus of Cognizant while Tata Motors Finance will provide the financial assistance need to procure the vehicles.
Commenting on the deployment of Tigor EVs, Shailesh Chandra, President –Electric Mobility Business and Corporate Strategy, Tata Motors said, “We at Tata Motors, are extremely committed to the Government’s vision of e-mobility in India. We are excited to be associating with Cognizant to provide them with a comprehensive solution towards the goal of a sustainable future, with our ‘One Tata’ approach, involving our other group companies. We will continue to strengthen our portfolio of EV offerings across our passenger and commercial vehicles, to meet future requirements.”
Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, Executive Director, India, Cognizant, said, “At Cognizant, reducing our carbon footprint through efficient use of energy and protecting vital, irreplaceable resources are at the heart of our environmental stewardship initiatives. We are proud to lead by example and be one of the first companies in India to embrace the potential of electric vehicles as an innovative meeting ground of energy and mobility.”
Tata Power is the first company to set-up public EV charging stations in Mumbai and make Mumbai EV ready. With the installation of these Electric Vehicle chargers, the company is working towards encouraging the customers to shift from fossil fuel based vehicles to EV. It would be the first time that Tata Power will be setting-up an EV charging station outside Mumbai.
Praveer Sinha, CEO & Managing Director, Tata Power said, “With the deployment of the fast charging EV stations in Hyderabad we are happy to make the city more conducive towards a pollution free environment. This is in line with our endeavor to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles across the country by providing the much-needed mobility infrastructure to support EV growth.”
Tata Motors, in collaboration with other Tata Group companies, has begun its journey in boosting e-mobility to encourage and promote the development of the necessary ecosystem required for green mobility solutions. Tata Motors will continue to work in a collaborative manner with all concerned authorities to facilitate faster adoption of electric vehicles and to build a sustainable future for India.
Signifying active support to the most exhilarating fitness trends, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) organized its much-awaited EKIDEN 2018 (Relay Marathon) with over 4,000 fitness enthusiasts. Themed #TooFitToQuit, the run was flagged off within the company’s Bidadi plant premises, spanning a stretch of 15.4 kms.
EKIDEN is a relay marathon that started in Japan to encourage people to improve their health and teamwork. In India, Toyota Kirloskar Motor has been conducting the event since 2005, aiming to foster well-being and team spirit among its employees.
The winning team, representing “Plant2 Body Manufacturing section” consisting of team members R Manjunath, Yogisha Devadiga, Basavaraj Mahadev Kolekar, Sanjayakumar S, Subramanya, Madhu K M, M Y Sandeep Kumar, H R Sumanth, were honored by Akito Tachibana, Managing Director - Toyota Kirloskar Motor. One of the team members from the winning group will represent Global Toyota Affiliates Team to compete further in Japan this year. The final winning team member selection round will conclude shortly.
As an organization, Toyota strongly believes that every employee should be a health ambassador and be a flag-bearer of Toyota’s customer-first approach. Toyota believes in Healthy Body, Healthy Mind connection which is the key to happier life amongst its team members, happier employees can positively contribute to the working environment of the organization. This year EKIDEN was dedicated to build awareness on the importance of staying healthy and fit, leading a fulfilling life. A number of other sport activities were set-up at the fitness zone such as Squats, Planks, Crunches, Push ups, etc., set the tone for the rest of the event with its participating employees competing as a team. Toyota’s top management’s enthusiastic participation in the various fitness activities added to the enjoyment.
After an invigorating run, Sailesh Shetty, Vice President - Toyota Kirloskar Motor said, “Every Corporate is as efficient as its every single member. We promote all round fitness including both mind & body. Today the atmosphere is full of energy, festivity & bonding, promoting One Team, One Goal.
Toyota’s corporate sport is to promote good health amongst its employees & take it further to their families and social circles with an aim to outreach the importance of fitness to larger masses. Such culture will further support the employees to develop as sports ambassador sensitizing people to be more active and build happier community.”
Aon has partnered with Child Rights and You (CRY) one of India’s leading NGOs to promote sports for underprivileged children. Aon the leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions, which was one of the prime sponsors of ‘Manchester United’, has confirmed its allegiance with a grant to support sports as a tool to fight child rights issues.
Building up the right skills and giving the child the optimum exposure not only hones their talent but also acts as an encouragement for them to continue education and stay away from the clasps of child labour, child marriage or other such regressive practices. This alliance will target 6282 number of children from 52 villages to get uninterrupted education with better sporting facilities in their community.
“We are extremely glad to have Aon’s support in our relentless effort to reach out to the last child and ensure its right to childhood. Sports impacts a child in a positive way and we have seen over the years motivating stories come out from the most challenging communities-Vysarpadi, the largest slum in Chennai which formed the genesis of the event. It is our continued effort to see a lasting change in the lives of children and sports is a great facilitator of that change which we want to harness through partnerships like this,”said Ms. Suma Ravi, Regional Director, CRY (South)
Tarandeep Singh, Partner and Asia Pacific Middle East Leader, Aon Assessments, said, “Aon and its subsidiary, CoCubes, are proud to be associated as Title Sponsors for Aon CRY Soccer for Child Rights – a unique initiative from CRY to provide equal opportunity for education to children.
At Aon CoCubes, our goal is to provide equal opportunity for every deserving candidate for a fulfilling career. Our goals are aligned, and complement the lifecycle of the young – Education and Employment. We have come together to meet this goal with a goal of another kind – Soccer.”
This partnership comes in the wake of CRY’s annual event ‘Soccer for Child Rights’ which steps onto its 3rdyear in Bangalore. The event has been a great ambassador of unison. Lines get blurred here as representatives from the corporate houses and the underprivileged children share the same joy, passion and happiness through a common language of sports.
ZestMoney, India’s fastest-growing digital lending platform for retail consumers is aggressively increasing its focus on non-metro (tier-II and tier-III) cities to better address the fast-growing demand for e-commerce coming from them. Recognising the specific needs of non-metro consumers, ZestMoney has started using regional language-based communications and are seeing a positive response to this initiative.
Speaking about the success and huge adoption among non-metro city consumers that ZestMoney is witnessing, Lizzie Chapman, Co-Founder and CEO, ZestMoney, said, “We want to empower aspiring Indians to buy products that they wish or need when they want. The easy EMI options offered by ZestMoney make shopping affordable for the masses of India. ZestMoney aims to serve 300 million households who are currently not serviced by traditional financial services companies.”
To ensure this, ZestMoney has recently partnered with popular online retail brands in India like Xiaomi and Flipkart. They work with more than 200 retail partners and enable financing options at the checkout, enabling EMI without credit card. ZestMoney customers are empowered to afford the things they need and spread the cost over up to 36 months. Zestmoney users buy smartphones, kitchen appliances, headphones, televisions and pay for their education needs using their easy loan facilities.
Yes Bank, India’s fourth largest private sector bank, along with 12 global leaders is set to launch the 7th edition of YES BANK Transformation Series to address India’s Urban Development Challenges through ‘Collaboration as a service’ (CAAS). This is the largest and most innovative & expansive effort by the BANK to bring together global brands, students from premier educational institutes and the Government to work on identifying solutions for pressing issues faced by Smart Cities, thereby helping accelerate their development.
Given that technology is the building block of societies today, YES BANK through the partnership with tech giants such as Microsoft, Cisco, IBM and Adobe aims to explore the opportunities of utilizing technology to address bigger societal issues, while ed-tech major Coursera will explore the challenge of using MooC as a platform to provide ‘Education for All’. Among the various issues identified, issues related to over-utilization of plastic and declining air quality in the cities will be addressed in tandem with global majors such as UNDP and Shell. India’s top startups and ecosystems such as Urban Ladder, Big Basket, Sportz Interactive, Bookmyshow and T-Hub have also joined the efforts.
Commenting on the same, Rana Kapoor, Managing Director and CEO, YES BANK said, “Today businesses and enterprises cannot function in silos and therefore, collaboration within or across industries is inevitable. As such, YES BANK’s unique effort, ‘Collaboration as a Service’ (CAAS) is an extension of the Bank’s A.R.T philosophy – Alliances and Relationships driven by Technology and will provide creative solutions to pressing issues of national importance. We are extremely excited to leverage the skills and insights from the students and our 12 global partners, in collaboration with the Government to address India’s pertinent Urban Development Challenges.”
Since its launch in 2010, Transformation Series has engaged with over 75,000 students across institutions. The Transformation Series was rated as the second most prestigious B-School competition of the year 2018 by Dare2compete. This year Transformation Series invites students to present technology driven business solutions.
The top 15 teams, selected basis their round one submission, will get to work on a case of national importance in partnership with NITI Aayog for the second round. Thereafter, the final presentation will be made to an esteemed panel comprising of eminent business leaders and visionaries, at a grand ceremony to be held in November, 2018. Previously, the Bank had partnered with Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to work on innovative solar energy solutions.
The cash prize for the winners are Rs 5 lakh, 3 Lakh and 2 lakh for first, second and third places respectively. Apart from this, the finalists will also get an opportunity for Pre Placement Interviews with YES BANK.
The application process is open from July 18 to August 24, 2018.
Ashok Leyland, a flagship of the Hinduja Group, launched the "eN-Dhan" fuel card in Bengaluru, in partnership with HPCL Drive Track Plus" program, to provide best-in-class savings in fuel to customers. This initiative with HPCL was developed by the Customer Solutions Business of Ashok Leyland, which aspires to develop a lifetime engagement with customers and to positively impact all facets of their business by offering customized solutions. For the first time in India, an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and an oil marketing company (OMC) have collaborated to create a co-branded card, which is expected to result in annual savings in the range of Rs 50,000 per annum per truck especially for customers in the medium and heavy commercial vehicle (M&HCV) segment.
The eN-Dhan cards are free of charge and will be available in all Ashok Leyland dealerships in Bengaluru and across the country and can be used in all HPCL Fuel Stations.
Speaking about the eN-Dhan fuel card, Vinod K. Dasari, Managing Director, said, “Ashok Leyland's brand signifies innovation not only in its products but also in its solutions. Exemplifying our brand philosophy, ‘Aapki Jeet, Hamari Jeet’, we are constantly evaluating opportunities to help our customers be more efficient and profitable. Our analysis shows that the current fuel spends on a commercial vehicle in India is between 35% and 60% of its lifecycle cost. Since fuel cost is the major expense, we came up with this fuel card program to help vehicle owners save on this expense and optimize total cost of operations (TCO). Every rupee saved is an opportunity to plough back the profits to grow the business. Besides savings in fuel cost, the card will promote digital payments and offer enhanced insurance benefits to drivers.”
Speaking about this industry-first partnership, G S V Prasad, Executive Director – Retail HPCL conveyed that “HPCL-Ashok Leyland partnership is essentially for serving the common customer - the trucker, who buys chassis from Ashok Leyland and buys fuel from HPCL. This is first of its kind partnership wherein an Energy Major is partnering with an Automobile Major for fueling the vehicles from the time it is rolled out of the Factory.”
“HPCL believes in improving the logistics efficiency of the vehicles by providing superior quality Fuels and Lubricants to the Customers/Fleets owners. The co-branded card “eN-Dhan” will be accepted at all HPCL outlets and going forward we would like to take the entire business on to a card less platform which is in sync with the “Digital India” initiative of the Govt of India. HPCL also is a pioneer in Retail Automation and is embarking on a plan to automate all its 15100 retail outlets pan-India by December 2018 which will also be integrated with digital transactions.”
With the launch of this innovative solution, Ashok Leyland has once again lived up to its brand’s philosophy “Aapki Jeet, Hamari Jeet”. Customers can enrol for the eN-Dhan program at any Ashok Leyland dealership.
