Judith McKenna Walmart CEO Visits Flipkart Campus in Bengaluru

Judith McKenna, President and CEO of Walmart International, on Friday visited Flipkart campus in Bengaluru and interacted with Flipkart Group leadership and employees to mark the first anniversary of Walmart’s partnership with Flipkart.

Judith was accompanied by Richard Mayfield, CFO Walmart International and Leigh Hopkins, International Strategy & Business Development Head.

Judith praised the creativity and passion of the team and commended the leadership for its commitment in bringing ecommerce to more Indian consumers. She was impressed with how Flipkart as a group is innovating to create world class experiences for customers using technology and making a huge difference to the whole ecosystem including sellers and manufacturers across the country.

Flipkart Group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said Flipkart’s partnership with Walmart is helping the Group better serve Indian customers and accelerate its growth with products and solutions that solve real problems in the country. These include supply-chain infrastructure that is disrupting the industry to benefit local consumers, suppliers and manufacturers.

Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore Remain Top Job Creators in India: Shine.com Jobs Report

IT/Software, Education/Training and BFSI sectors have shown promising growth since 2018; Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore remain top job creators in India

3rd, May 2019: In a bid to study the current dynamics of the jobs landscape, Shine.com, the second-largest online job portal in India, recently mapped the key growth areas in terms of hiring in April 2019 vis-à-vis last year. Leveraging its vast pool of data, the job search platform released its April Jobs Report that studies the sectors, functional areas and cities that are creating maximum jobs this year, in comparison with 2018.

Industry-wise growth in jobs:

An industry-wide demand analysis highlighted that the booming IT/Software sector reigns supreme by continuing to create the maximum jobs in the country. In a surprising development, however, the BPO/ Call Center industry has dropped down several places, forfeiting its 2nd position on the list to the Manufacturing industry, which has shown promising growth. Further, the BFSI and Education/Training industry has witnessed increased jobs creation, allowing them to retain their top spots in the list.

Functional areas displaying high caliber:

In terms of functional areas, the Production, Maintenance and Service sector has shown the most exceptional growth, shifting to the number one position on the top 10 list. As the manufacturing industry gains significant scale in the country, the sector’s shift to the top spot is not surprising. As the Hospitality industry in India continues to boom, the Restaurant/Hotel sector has earned a place on the list of top job creators. Additionally, with more and more professionals focusing on upskilling/reskilling themselves for new-age job roles, the Education, Training, and Language sector has also registered a significant the uptick, appearing high on the top 10 list.

In a significant movement, Sales/BD, a domain that created the most jobs in 2018, has dropped down to the 5th position on the list, as several areas such as Production, IT, Quality Testing and Customer Service take precedence over it. Furthermore, the survey registered a slowdown in job creation across numerous domains including Marketing/Advertising/MR/PR/Events, Administration/Front Office/Secretary and HR/Recruitment. These domains, which were a part of the 2018 top 10 list, were dropped out of the list in 2019 due to this slowdown.

Speaking on the changing trends, Zairus Master, CEO, Shine.com, said, “The increased focus on technological deployment across industries has truly accelerated the growth of job opportunities. We are witnessing a substantial increase in jobs in domains such as IT, education, training and language, and restaurant/hotels. While metro cities such as Bangalore and Delhi continue to flourish as top job creators, it is interesting to note the increase in job opportunities for professionals in tier 2 cities like Jaipur and Chandigarh,  a trend that will continue in the years to come.”

Top performing cities:

In a city-wise analysis, Shine.com found that Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi have retained their position as the top job creators in the country. While metro cities are absorbing maximum professionals, substantial growth in jobs is also being witnessed in tier 2 cities such as Chandigarh and Jaipur, proving that Tier 2 cities are also beginning to stake their claim in the jobs landscape. The high talent demand from emerging cities is expected to continue as these regional hubs accelerate technological deployment only to create a plethora of new, high-value jobs for skilled professionals.

Vodafone Idea Limited Strengthens Relationship with IBM to Drive Synergy and Enhance Customer Experience

Vodafone Idea Limited ("Vodafone Idea") announced signing a multi-million-dollar five-year agreement with IBM to deliver an enhanced customer experience to millions of connected consumers and businesses in India. In addition, this engagement will also contribute to Vodafone Idea’s merger synergy objectives by reducing its IT related costs.

The collaboration will provide Vodafone Idea with a hybrid cloud based digital platform to enable more intimate engagement with its over 387 million subscribers (as of December 31, 2018), enhancing business efficiency, agility and scale plus simplification of its business processes. We believe that this new infrastructure platform will remove constraints to the exponential growth of data usage driven by increasing consumption of video, streaming and digital commerce.

Vodafone Idea is collaborating with leading global technology partners including IBM to deploy new age technologies with built-in customizations and novel innovations. We believe that use of IBM’s Hybrid and Multicloud, analytics and AI security capabilities will accelerate Vodafone Idea’s progression to an open, agile and secure IT environment. It will also provide a platform for fast-track joint initiatives in AI and IOT.

“Delivering better customer experience through digital medium is one of the focus areas for Vodafone Idea, said Balesh Sharma, CEO, Vodafone Idea Limited, speaking about the renewed strategic relationship with IBM. “This five-year collaboration with IBM, opens new opportunities for us to partner together in domains like cloud, AI and IoT.  We will also be able to leverage collateral from the cloud partnership already announced between Vodafone and IBM in Europe. Achieving synergies post-merger from the combination of Vodafone India Limited & Idea Cellular Limited is a strategic priority for us and we continue to be ahead of track.”

All of Vodafone Idea’s customers, from consumers to enterprises, will have to embrace the challenge of digital disruption over the next years. We believe that this agreement builds the foundation for both companies to address these emerging opportunities, while ensuring a continued high level of service for its customers.

IBM will continue to seamlessly deliver enhanced services for Vodafone Idea leveraging its prior capabilities with Vodafone India and Idea Cellular. It will consolidate applications, and infrastructure including Data centers, Disaster Recovery Centers, and further accelerate existing Cloud usage. Solutions deployed by Vodafone India Limited and Idea Cellular Limited earlier will be merged and big data capabilities be enhanced.

Vodafone Idea will also leverage Dynamic Automation and Robotic Process Automation to drive efficiency and standardization across IT operations. AI and machine learning based Cognitive Solutions aim to provide Vodafone Idea with a secure environment ensuring regulatory compliance, intelligent threat detection, and data protection.

IBM is also supporting Vodafone Idea with an option of extended flexible payment plan structure for the term of the contract through IBM Global Financing, its wholly owned subsidiary.

Cinépolis Announces 90% Off on the Student Combo in Collaboration with Paytm and ‘Student of The Year 2’

Cinépolis, India’s 1st international and the world’s 2nd largest movie theatre circuit in terms of attendees has collaborated with Paytm and ‘Student Of The Year 2’, to provide an exclusive offer on the popular Student Combo. The blockbuster offer was announced in the presence of the supremely talented and spunky star cast of the much-awaited release, ‘Student Of The Year 2’. The excitement was heightened as the vibrant actors unveiled the second song of the movie.

Cinepolis in sync with the popularity of the sequel ‘Student Of The Year 2’ has curated this initiative to enhance the movie watching experience for the movie buffs. Tickets for ‘Student Of The Year 2’ can be exclusively booked via Paytm to avail the 90% off on the Student Combo. The offer will be available from 10th to 12th May, with advance bookings open from 5th May onwards, across 20 cities. The offer has been customized in line with Cinepolis’ constant endeavor to engage their patrons with interesting initiatives.

Devang Sampat, Director – Strategic Initiatives, Cinépolis India said “We constantly look out for enticing offers that will not only ease the accessibility to watching movies but also truly enhance the experience. Given that ‘Student of the year-2’ is anticipated to be one of the biggest release of 2019, we want to add to the excitement of the experience by providing the most demanded combo at an unbelievable price. We look forward to our patrons availing the exclusive offer.”

Siddharth Kadam, Head of Marketing, Dharma Productions added, “We have partnered with Cinépolis to create an exciting offer for all students. SOTY2 is an anticipated franchise film and we feel the student combo offer, available India wide, across Cinepolis theatres, will be like icing to their Summer movie delight. Hope the students enjoy the film and the combo!”

Cinépolis understands the importance of a quality culinary experience and thus focusses on constantly innovating their offerings. A new lip smacking menu handcrafted by the celebrated Chef Saransh Goila was recently launched to advance the premium immersive experience for its patrons. Adding to its list of initiatives for foodies, the blockbuster offer available on Student Combo can availed through bookings on the Paytm website https://paytm.com/  and App.

AI Technology Adaption will Face ‘Iron Triangle’ in Healthcare Test to Prove its Worth

By Sanjay Pathak - Head Healthcare and Insurance Solutions, 3i Infotech

Looking at the upcoming trends globally and across industry ‘Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML)’ tops the charts. Generally, first thing which comes to mind is machine/cyborg taking over human elements and this has been depicted to various degree in many sci-fi movies. While, the reality is far away from that, it will be unjust to ignore how healthcare is evolving and adopting AI in real life to reduce cost and improve patient outcomes.

In current context, AI means simulation of human elements by machines/computers, where they acquire information (learning), process it to reach reasonable conclusions (action) and adapt themselves to situations (course corrections). AI leverages various technologies like Machine/Deep learning, Vision, NLP, Robots or autonomous machines etc.

As per Gartner, most organizations are in early stage of AI adoption. Only around 6% have it in use and more than 60% organizations are still trying to understand it. It will take a while before real benefits of AI can be leveraged. Below are areas where AI has already made its way or can bring in difference in future.

Leveraging vision, deep learning on sensor based vital data, physicians will be better equipped to diagnose ailments. Medical imaging can be taken to new levels where AI on top can accurately diagnose and in some cases even predict diseases. Blood smears will use vision to count cells and anomalies. ECG & cardio data can pass through AI to predict outcomes and assist physicians in accurate diagnosis.
Hospital re-admission has been a grave concern and millions wasted due to lack of post operation care. AI can help predict situation like this and can assist providers take extra precautions.
Based on the patient case and required procedures, AI can help in planning surgery, help doctors in accurate measurements, and assist during surgery by tracking vital and other data. AI can help surgeons understand surgery outcomes better based on correlations from similar cases.
Using NLP and vision, AI can assist doctors with diagnosis, running pharmacy correlations with other drugs, allergy, food etc. AI can help physicians with transcripts and voice assisted case management. All these integrated with EHR system will bring in the best of the best values.
Virtual health assistants are tools like chat bots or a conversational service using smart speakers helping customer answer health related quires, symptoms checker or assist them with appointments etc.
AI can assist hospitals in better management of assets, emergency management and better planning of the hospital processes and functions.
In the field of telemedicine, AI can bring wonders by enabling accurate remote health monitoring, predictive diagnosis leading to cheaper & effective remote/rural health management.
If we flip to other side of healthcare, i.e., ‘insurance’, AI can bring many value added services together with care side to bring down the overall healthcare spending globally.

Outcome, risk and cost comparison for similar cases in different hospitals/cities will help insurance companies compare cost and better optimize the plans offered and their premiums.
Predictive element of care can assist providers in better reach out to patients and proactive care management, which can save significant amounts for both sides.
Predictive AI for care, claims and other information can also help providers come up with health plans, which are cheaper and more effective.
AI systems can sift through clinical and claims data to highlight errors in diagnosis, payments, frauds and workflow issues, thus providing a true value based care system.
The real test for AI system will depend on solutions’ ability to integrate with the hospital or doctors’ workflow. AI systems should not be perceived as extra process, as that will reduce the value such systems can potentially bring. Adoption of AI in healthcare, both clinical and insurance will be slow and will face some challenges like:

Ethical concerns due to reduction in Hu element - who takes the liability for a negative event?
Regulation & compliance will play a big role in adaption of AI as they will govern the process and procedures that are followed.
Initial adoption both by physicians and patients will see hiccups mostly related to trust factors, till the time both parties build confidence in such systems.
Lack of requisite skillsets for technology adoption, followed by trainings of end users.
Finally, AI or any new age technology adaption will face ‘Iron Triangle’ of healthcare (access, quality, and cost) test to prove its worth. For an industry which has always lacked skilled manpower to manage everyone’s health, AI can do wonders in times to come.

HSIL Limited Clocks Strong Growth Post Revenue of ₹ 2726 Crore for FY 2018-2019; Jumps 21.2% Y-o-Y

HSIL Limited, makers of iconic brand Hindware, reported revenue of ₹ 2726 crore for the FY 2018-19, as against ₹ 2249 crore for the corresponding year FY 2017-18, registering a growth of 21.2% Y-o-Y on account of excellent sales and attractive growth opportunities harnessed across all the businesses. EBIDTA grew by 22.7%, to ₹ 346 crore in FY 2018-19 from ₹ 282 crore of the previous year.

Commenting on the year, Mr. Sandip Somany, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, HSIL Limited said, “Over the years, we have grown our brand Hindware to expand into other businesses and product categories. This has proven to be successful, with more than 60 million people connected to us today, making Hindware one of the most reliable and vibrant brands in the country. We credit this growth to our belief in innovation, re-invention and transformation, and this is a reflection of our world-class products that are designed to deliver only the best to our valued customers. This, backed by robust marketing capabilities, expanding distribution network and dynamically talented and motivated business teams have translated into strong growth and returns for our stakeholders.”

“Our strategic investments in the Pipes business has emerged as a solid winner with a record sales of over ₹ 130 Crore in a short span of eight months since making its commercial launch. Additionally, our Consumer Business has achieved sizeable growth of 47.2% in revenue in this financial year. As we look ahead, HSIL is on its way towards achieving a greater degree of success by capacity streamlining, brand segmentation and product range expansion to enable us to cater to a wider cross-section of consumers,” Mr. Somany further added.

Achieving new frontiers of growth in FY 2018-19, few Business Division highlights are:

• HSIL’s Packaging Products Division’s revenue surged by 21.2%, growing to ₹ 1115 crores from ₹ 920 crores during the corresponding period last year
• Consumer Products Division made significant strides and its revenue increased to ₹ 305 crore in FY 2018-19, registering a 47.2% growth year-on-year
• Building Products Division grew by 18.7% to ₹ 1222 crore  Y-o-Y

HSIL’s significant investment in distribution network, brand segmentation and product differentiation has started to yield encouraging outcomes. The brand Hindware is now present across multiple businesses and product categories, ranging from kitchen to bathroom to living rooms, and the company is relentlessly focusing on expanding the brand further.

Virtual Desktops on Microsoft Azure Power Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance’s Sales Team Across 100 Branch

Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance (ABSLI), one of India’s leading private sector life insurance companies, is adopting cloud technology to enhance experience, productivity and process efficiency for its team of insurance sellers and distributors. As part of the initiative, ABSLI has implemented Virtual Desktops on Microsoft Azure cloud for 1,400 members of its sales team, at over 100 branch locations across India. This initiative is enhancing customer acquisition and revenue generation for ABSLI.

ABSLI has been operating for nearly two decades, and has developed an extensive network of branches and partner agents. Adoption of Virtual Desktops on Azure cloud has reduced the capital expenditure involved in hardware refresh of a distributed IT infrastructure, reduced usage costs as the Virtual Desktops are on a pay-as-you-use model, and enabled availability of infrastructure during seasonal business spikes. It has also enabled ABSLI sales force to access data and applications across branch locations seamlessly, thereby improving end-user experience and productivity. The replacement of old desktops with virtual desktops has also led to power savings.

The Virtual Desktop, also referred to as Desktop-as-a-Service, solution has been implemented by Microsoft partner, Anunta. The solution has been designed for 1,400 users and 1,000 end-points. It includes Citrix Xen Desktop and Firewall implementation, data and Office 365 migration, peripheral integration, monitoring and management of complete VDI (Virtual Desktop Integration) stack in the Azure environment. ABSLI is now planning to rollout this solution for its entire sales team, across India.

Mohan Shetty, Senior Vice President IT, Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance said, “Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance is championing implementation of people-centric digital solutions that can ease the way our end-users perform their day to day operations. We wanted to implement cloud-based solution that could enable anytime, anywhere accessibility of data and applications for our large number of sales-force across branch locations in India. Anunta’s innovative EUC solution implementation on Azure Cloud enabled us to adopt secure cloud hosted desktops and has resulted in significantly enhanced end-user productivity, reduced power consumption, increased mobility of sales-force with access to data and applications anywhere, anytime, and enhanced end-user experience.”   

Rajiv Sodhi, General Manager, Partner Ecosystem Microsoft India said, “It is a delight to see how organizations with operations across the length and breadth of India are embracing digital innovation to drive business outcomes. The Virtual Desktops on Azure solution from Anunta is a first of its kind implementation, enabling Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance to empower its field-force by ensuring anytime, anywhere access to core business applications, securely and in a cost-effective manner. The solution is improving end-user experience and process efficiency, and with seamless integration with legacy systems, is leading to enhanced productivity.”

Sivakumar Ramamurthy, COO, Anunta added, “ABSLI’s use of digital technologies has been exemplary and we are happy to have been a part of this journey. Using DaaS on Microsoft Azure, the company will be able to derive higher satisfaction for its customers as well as salesforce.”

“We are proud to see ABSLI pioneer DaaS on Azure solutions in the financial services segment by porting our virtual apps and desktop licenses on Microsoft Azure (IaaS). Being a business-critical project, this will enable Aditya Birla Sun Life in augmenting its digital transformation initiatives. The project has been successfully deployed for more than 1400 users across 100 branches ensuring a great end-user experience. Thanks to our partner, Anunta for successfully enabling ABSLI with a secure implementation and seamless transition in an extremely short duration,” said Dixit Roy Mahidhara, Regional Director, Citrix.

Persistent Systems Extends Partnership with Trend Micro from Endpoint Security to Virtual Server Security

Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, recently announced that it has been appointed by Persistent Systems to secure its VMware environments, after a successful endpoint security deployment for nearly a decade.

The solutions chosen are Deep Security, Trend Micro’s signature server security solution, and Apex One endpoint security, which Persistent Systems has been using to protect its 11,000 endpoints across the globe for almost ten years.

Featuring a blend of cross-generational security techniques, Deep Security provides multilayered, automated protection and comprehensive visibility needed for today’s increasingly complex IT security tasks. It is also tightly integrated with VMware, allowing it to intuitively protect the VMware infrastructure and automatically shield virtual machines (VMs) from malware and ransomware attacks.

“We were on the lookout for an agentless virus protection solution for our VMware virtualized environment. Trend Micro’s Deep Security helps us protect all the VMs from advanced threats and virus attacks without compromising VM performance. The product has helped us significantly reduce the admin overhead without compromising VM security,” said Sandeep Deshmukh, senior general manager, Technology Excellence, Persistent Systems.

“We were looking for a tool that would reduce operational efforts and achieve cost-efficiency. Trend Micro’s Deep Security really works for us and allows us to reduce operational efforts, and protect virtual machines from malware,” said Parag Karhadkar, senior general manager, Service Excellence, Persistent Systems.

Nilesh Jain, vice president, Southeast Asia and India, Trend Micro said, “We are extremely proud that our solutions are able to meet Persistent Systems’ high standards for endpoint and VMware server security. In addition, we also make our Premium Support Program (PSP) available to Persistent Systems, so they can receive prompt guidance for urgent issues and minimize issue escalations.”

Trend Micro’s position as a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms since 2002, and in The Forrester Wave Endpoint Security Suites Q2 2018 Report, along with earning the rank of ‘most effective recommended breach detection system’ for two years running by NSS Labs, prompted Persistent Systems to choose Trend Micro over other solutions.

vivo Y91 and Y91i Available at Exciting New Prices Across India

vivo, the global innovative smartphone brand, today revised the prices of two smartphones in its Y series - Y91 and Y91i.  These power packed devices deliver the best of smartphone technology at an even more affordable price point. The devices are equipped with a high capacity 4,030 mAh battery further complemented by an exclusive smart power management system so that users don’t have to worry about running out of power. With the 13MP + 2MP dual Camera in Y91 and rear 13 MP camera in Y91i, the devices let you click pictures the way you want and the 8MP Front Camera ensures the perfect selfie shot. Additionally, Y91 has AI face beauty which detects gender, age, skin tone and lighting for beautiful pictures. The smart Y91and Y91i are available at a best buy price of Rs. 8,990 /- & Rs. 7,990/- respectively.

The stylish Y91 and Y91i smartphones come with an IPS LCD display and screen that can vividly display over  16M colours. Both the devices are equipped with powerful 2 GHz Octa core processor and 2GB RAM that enables the user to multitask smoothly. Y91 and Y91i run on Android Oreo 8.1 and comes with a 32GB memory expandable up to 256 GB.

The smartphones are a great blend of style and class which makes the smartphone appear very sleek. Connectivity options include 4G, VoLTE, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB On-The-Go and GPS. The unique finger print scanner feature provides the smartphones with an impenetrable security that can be surpassed only by the user. vivo Y91 and Y91i will be available through  all brand outlets across the country.

IT Services Major Cognizant Reported Disappointing March 2019 Quarter on All Counts

CTSH delivered weak revenue growth, missed margin targets and reported decline in cash generation in March 2019 quarter. CTSH has cut CY2019 c/c revenue growth guidance to 3.6-5.1%, down from 7-9% at the beginning of the year citing weakness in banking, healthcare and weaker execution. Delivering on medium term goals laid out at the analysts’ day seems challenging. Turnaround themes have their set of challenges; CTSH seems to be going through one with broad-based slippages.

Cognizant misses revenue growth guidance for March 2019 quarter

CTSH reported constant revenue growth of 6.8% in c/c, lower than guidance range of 7.5-8.5% for March 2019 quarter. On organic c/c basis growth was 4.2%. On a sequential basis, CTSH reported revenue decline of 0.5% to US$4.11 bn. Management indicated that revenue growth started weakening towards the second half of the quarter. The magnitude of miss for the quarter was surprising noting that guidance was laid out in the first week of February. The revenue miss was contributed by the slowdown in growth to a trickle in financial services (0.2% yoy c/c growth, 1.5% qoq USD revenue decline) and healthcare (+4.6% yoy in c/c, negligible excluding Bolder acquisition and down 3.1% qoq in USD terms). Other vertical continued robust performance. GAAP EBIT stood at 13.1% and had 290 bps impact from the recent Supreme Court of India ruling on Defined Contribution Obligation; CTSH has accrued impact of the ruling assuming retroactive application. Adjusted EBIT margin of 16% fell short of guidance primarily due to flow through impact of weaker revenue growth.

Steep cut in CY2019 revenue growth guidance, adjusted EBIT margin guidance band cut 17%

CTSH has cut CY2019 revenue growth guidance to 3.6-5.1% in c/c (guidance includes inorganic component), down from 7-9% growth guidance set out at the beginning of the year. Revised guidance bakes in 170 bps contribution from inorganic growth. Cut in guidance captures—(1) slowdown in the financial services vertical (35% of revenues) that was broad-based. Revenue decline from three of the five large banking clients continued. Regional banks are turning more cautious on spending outlook. M&A in regional bank client base also impacted revenue growth outlook. Guidance does not assume any recovery or deterioration in the financial services business and (2) healthcare vertical (28% of revenues) was impacted by M&A in the client base, accelerated movement of work to a captive center at a large North American client. Revised guidance assumes 0.5-2% sequential revenue growth in 3Q-4Q of CY2019. CTSH also cut adjusted EBIT margin guidance to 17% from 19% for CY2019. The company attributed the entire shortfall to weaker revenue growth outlook relative to initial expectations. EBIT margin expectation for 1HCY19 stands at 16% with recovery expectation in 2HCY19 (implied closer to 18%). CTSH cut CY2019 adjusted EPS guidance by 10-12% with a revised number that stands in a range of USD3.87-3.95/ share. CTSH expects to deliver 3.9-4.9% revenue growth in constant currency for June quarter.

Turnaround themes are difficult; CTSH has a few challenges at hand

CTSH’s poor performance surprised us. Weak revenue growth and guidance cut reflects execution challenges at CTSH rather than industry wide growth slowdown. The transition to a profitable growth model initiated a couple of years back had its share of challenges which have been compounded by slippages in execution. The new CEO has a challenge at hand. We would not be surprised with a few leadership changes, common in any turnaround effort. Against this backdrop, ability of the company to deliver board-backed medium term revenue growth target of 7-11% and EBIT margin of 19% with 10 bps expansion every year seems unrealistic to execute in the near term.

Timing the turnaround themes is challenging. CTSH stock may seem inexpensive after the potential correction in stock price but will have its share of bumps in performance and disappointments.

Read through for other IT services companies

Large part of the slippages seems specific to CTSH and not representative of growth across the industry. However the risk to industry growth from the financial services vertical cannot be denied. Clients in the capital market segment of banking have turned a bit more cautious in spending outlook. In addition spending by regional banks in the US is also turning cautious. Other segments of financial services are steady in our view.

Key highlights from earnings call

* Commentary on BFSI: BFSI vertical registered flay yoy growth in constant currency. The vertical is affected by insourcing among CTSH’s BFSI clients. The company reported conservatism in spending among several regional banking clients in North America with some banks impacted by M&A activity. Slowdown in decision making particularly around larger deals in the pipeline due to executive transitions in several clients impacted growth in insurance. Softness in three out of the top five clients is expected to continue in the near term. Management expects pressure on banking spends in 2HCY19 due to moderating growth outlook in the business.

* Life sciences and healthcare. M&A related activity accelerated movement of work to captives in a large client and ramp down of an account in which CTSH is a subcontractor impacted growth in the vertical. The company expects further deterioration in the next quarter and reported sluggish outlook for the full year. Softness was mainly in the healthcare payers business. The company reported strong double-digit growth in life sciences sub-vertical.

* Commentary on products and resources and communication & media verticals. The company reported strong double-digit constant currency growth in retail and consumer goods, travel and hospitality as well as in manufacturing, logistics, energy and utilities. Retail sub-vertical was strong despite bankruptcies in a few smaller clients. Growth in digital services for media and entertainment clients offset slower growth in the communication industry which is affected by consolidation trend.

* Margin levers. The company expects margins to improve in 2HCY19 on the back of procurement optimization, better utilization, improved pricing, simplification of business unit overhead structure, rationalization of delivery costs and shift to higher value services such as digital

* Digital. Digital business now accounts for 33% of overall revenue and is the primary driver of growth. Digital revenue growth in the quarter was strong at 20+%. Core modernization, digital engineering, AI and analytics, intelligent process automation, platform solutions, interactive customer experiences and IoT form the core of Cognizant’s digital strategy

* Senior management. Ex-CEO Frank D’ Souza who is currently in the role of Executive Vice Chairman will transition to Vice Chairman of the Board at the end of June 2019. Raj Mehta has stepped down as president. Malcolm Frank has been appointed as the new President of Cognizant’s digital business. Prasad Chintamaneni, EVP and President of Global Industries and consulting will additionally manage the banking business on an interim basis.

Week-Long Bamboo Art Exhibition by Uravu Inaugurated at Karnataka CKP Until May 7

‘Hiraeth: A Pining for the Past’, a first of its kind 6 day exhibition of bamboo installations organized by ‘Uravu Indigeneous Science and Technology Study Centre’ was inaugurated by internationally acclaimed painter and Artist-CuratorShri Bose Krishnamachari. The exhibition will be open to the public until May 7th at Karnataka Chitra Kala Parishat, Bangalore.

‘Hiraeth’ is an exploration in bamboo that aims to reinforce the credentials of bamboo as a sustainable medium of art. Lenin.CP, the chief designer at Uravuaims to recreatethe forms and frames of life in bamboo. He expresses it through the idea of water and the flora and fauna of watery village lives.

‘Hiraeth’ is expected to set a platform for a series of exhibitions to be held at Chitra Kala Parishat, Bangalore, to showcase distinct artistic possibilities in bamboo that that would establish bamboo’s potential as a serious material of art. Hiraeth is presented by Eleganz Interiors pvt ltd

Uravu is a not for profit, non-governmental organisation that strives for rural empowerment through sustainable solutions. Established in 1996, URAVU works with people, governments and businesses to facilitate initiatives with the   prime motive of sustainable development and implements focused end-to-end programs in the bamboo sector.

Linium Receives Award for Delivering Outstanding Value in Digital Transformation, innovation

Linium, a Ness Digital Engineering Company and a leading provider of digital business, engineering, experience and transformational consultancy services, has been recognized by ServiceNow as the 2019 ServiceNow Americas IT Workflow Partner of the Year. The achievement is the result of demonstrating overall excellence in expanding the breadth and depth of its IT Transformational Cloud Practice size.

The ServiceNow Global Alliances and Channel Ecosystem recognizes the achievements and contributions of its best in class partners who have successfully grown its ServiceNow business through transformation or innovation in business, technology and customer success. This year's awards are based on partner performance in 2018 – a combination of revenue contribution, product line expansion, workflow and skill growth, and business innovation or transformation.

“Always doing the right thing for our customers, employees, and partners is core to Linium’s culture and integral to sustained success,” said Joe Burke, president, North America at Linium. “This award reflects our comprehensive approach to helping our customers leverage ServiceNow as part of their overall digital business strategy. Our deep roots in software engineering help us guide our customers and take into account a range of areas from data and analytics to DevOps and automation. Today’s organizations need to elevate employee experiences and reshape customer service, and Linium is fully committed to making this a reality for our customers.”

With over 3,500 successful enterprise transformations since its inception in 2000, Linium enables modern workforce experiences and empowers organizations to make better decisions faster by enhancing collaboration, reducing manual tasks, aligning work to business priorities, and resolving issues quickly and proactively. Converging 4,000+ strategic thinkers, exceptional technologists, and user experience experts from around the globe, Linium is dedicated to creating the most value-driven experience for its customers by applying non-traditional thinking to solve traditional business challenges. From designing cutting-edge modern service experiences to mitigating compliance risk; gaining financial visibility to resolving security threats; building custom applications to managing operations, Linium solves complex business challenges across the enterprise.

JK Tyre Unveils Blaze Rydr for Premium Indian Motorcycles

Indian Tyre Industry major, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd has launched a new variant in their motorcycle range - ‘BLAZE RYDR’ for premium motorcycles, fulfilling the aspirations of riders to experience advanced quality, attractive design and better performance. BLAZE RYDR comes with rigid shoulder design for better grip, cornering stability and a specialized tread pattern for better traction and smart water channeling.

The BLAZE RYDR BR43 has been developed in size 140/70-17 Tubeless for performance oriented customers who are riding in the cities and highways. The new tyre has advanced cross over groove pattern for enhanced performance, and is developed with superior tread rubber. The tyre will allow the riders to experience comfortable ride with TOTAL CONTROL.

Mr. Vikram Malhotra, Marketing Director, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd, said, “We develop products that enhance our customers’ driving and riding experience. We have entered the two-wheeler tyre segment recently and the response from the market has been very encouraging. The BLAZE RYDR BR43 is another addition to fulfill the requirements of higher CC motorbike riders and we are confident that it will further improve the riding experience of customers. This further reinstates our commitment to meet the emerging needs of the market and introduce tyres that help to maintain pace with changing market requirements.”

The BLAZE RYDR BR43 is available across JK Tyre authorized dealers in the country.

JK Tyre’s BLAZE range is 100% run-out tested against Vibration and Wobbling. These tyres have been tested in rigorous ride and handling conditions on the race tracks by professional Riders to determine speed, precision and consistency. The complete Blaze 2W Tyres range comes with Lifetime Warranty against manufacturing and non-manufacturing defect under terms and conditions.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Sells 11413 Units in the Month of April 2019

In the month of April 2019, Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold a total of 10,112 units in the domestic market. The company exported 1301 units of the Etios series this month thus clocking a total of 11,413 units.  Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold a total of 13037 units in the domestic market this month of April 2018. The company exported 834 units of the Etios series this month thus clocking a total of 13871 units.

Commenting on the sales performance, Mr. N. Raja, Deputy Managing Director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor said, “The industry is currently experiencing a slowdown due to uncertainty of upcoming general elections that looms over the market and this slow pace is expected to continue until the new government is formed. Consumer sentiments has currently dampened due to several factors like tight liquidity, high insurance, high costs.

We hope the sales growth momentum to pick up in the upcoming months post election results are out.”

Experience Dubai's Different Light this Summer with My Emirates Pass

Emirates customers across India will be able to unlock the best Dubai has to offer for less this summer with the return of My Emirates Pass. Passengers traveling to the booming metropolis will be able to use their Emirates boarding pass as an exclusive membership card providing travelers special offers and discounts of up to 50% off in more than 500 leisure and retail outlet locations across the UAE.

Passengers flying to and through Dubai between 1 May and 31 August 2019 can take advantage of My Emirates Pass by simply presenting their boarding pass and a valid form of identification* in any of the participating outlets.

Dubai offers some of the best retail and shopping options in the world and the My Emirates Pass makes those options even more attractive; passengers can redeem up to 30% off at international retail outlets including popular fashion and fitness brands. Going beyond retail the pass confers benefits at spas, restaurants and wellness centers. Boarding pass holders can redeem up to 50% off in over 400 fine dining restaurants and luxury wellness centers.

The pass also allows travelers to throw themselves into Dubai’s diverse and delicious dining scene.  And once they have eaten their fill passengers will find discounts on activities like indoor skiing and water amusement parks unlocked by the My Emirates Pass. There is no better way to get to the heart of all Dubai has to offer.

Mohammad Al Hashimi, Emirates’ Vice President, Commercial Products Dubai, said: “The Emirates Pass puts Dubai’s ever-growing list of attractions and experiences at our customers’ fingertips. Whether they are here for a week or weekend, there is something for everyone to experience and see – for less.”

Dubai is an ideal stopover and holiday destination for families and solo travellers. Visitors to Dubai will be awed by the eclectic buildings, iconic landmarks, world-class shopping and delicious international cuisine.

Essa Sulaiman Ahmad, Emirates’ Vice President, India & Nepal said, “We are thrilled to bring the My Emirates Pass to our Indian customers. We know they will be excited about this offer – they know how much Dubai offers – but even for those who think they know the city this year’s My Emirate Pass will allow them to discover more and go further than they have before.”

Emirates connects its passengers to more than 150 destinations, in 86 countries, across 6 continents via a seamless stopover in Dubai. Passengers travelling in all classes can enjoy regionally inspired meals, 4,000 entertainment channels on ice – the airline’s award winning in-flight entertainment system - and up to 20MB complementary Wi-Fi to stay connected with friends and family during the flight.

For more information on Emirates, including how to book flights and a complete list of terms and conditions for this offer, visit www.emirates.com.

*Local terms and conditions apply 

Buzz About 5G and What It Means for Cybersecurity?

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The buzz around 5G is reaching a fevered pitch – barely a day goes by where it isn’t in the news. We’ve heard about the data capacity and speed increases, lower latency and lower power consumption. But what exactly does 5G means?

According to Babak Beheshti, IEEE Member and Interim Dean, College of Engineering and Computing Sciences, New York Institute of Technology, “The very design philosophy of 5G is based on network heterogeneity. This means that the network can be a combination of technologies such as Wi-Fi® and LTE.”

The meaning of 5G depends on the context of the discussion, but it’s likely to include a combination of technologies. This heterogeneity makes security more complex. However, there are already some exciting developments in the pipeline for 5G and IoT device security.

“According to T-Mobile US, 4G information being carried across mobile networks was not always encrypted. In 5G, end-to-end encryption is intended to provide much stronger safeguards for data privacy,” Beheshti says.

“Since IoT devices don’t often have robust user interfaces, using a QR code lets manufacturers create security protocols that can be operated without the use of a keyboard. The QR code is just a way to encode data. Basically, you’re encoding a public key that then can be used to establish and bootstrap trust. Only the peer device that has the private key can decode that”, says Dorothy Stanley, IEEE Member and Chair of the IEEE 802.11 Working Group

So upcoming security technologies are promising. What can consumers do to make sure their current IoT setups are secure?

For Kayne McGladrey, IEEE Member and Director of Security and Information Technology at Pensar Development, “Consumers should use the ‘guest’ network of their home Wi-Fi routers as a dedicated network for IoT devices, so if one of those devices were compromised, the threat actor can’t easily pivot to more valuable data.” That’s the case for newer devices, he says. “For older, cheap, IP-based security cameras and digital video recorders (DVRs), the easiest way to secure them is to recycle them responsibly as there often are no security updates available.” The ability to update devices over their lifetime is essential to security, and should factor into buying decisions, he says.

Han Guangjie, IEEE Senior Member and professor at Hohai University, seconds this point: “Check and update the IoT device firmware. If IoT devices have exploitable vulnerabilities, manufacturers often identify and fix problems before the hacker can access the device’s environment.”

The XZ+ Variants of Tiago and Tigor Now Compatible with Apple CarPlay

Tata Motors’ best-selling hatchback – Tata Tiago and much-celebrated sedan, the Tigor are now being offered with Apple CarPlay. The update has been made available for the XZ+ variants for the both the cars. Existing owners of these variants can visit the nearest Tata Motors Service Center to get their infotainment systems upgraded with the latest version of the Apple CarPlay.

This new update has now equipped both these vehicles with a holistic connectivity experience. Tata Motors launched the new Tata Tigor and the XZ+ trim of the Tiago last year with a 17.78cm touchscreen infotainment unit, which was compatible only with Android Auto until recently. These cars also saw the additions of attractive headlamps and alloy wheels, among other features. With Tata Motors rolling out Apple CarPlay compatibility for the infotainment system, iPhone users can now explore their car’s connectivity features to the fullest.

The Tiago XZ+ price starts from Rs 5.71 lakh, the Tigor XZ+ price starts from Rs 6.75 lakh (all prices ex-showroom Delhi).

TECNO Celebrates Free Spirit of Youth in its First Brand Campaign of 2019 ‘Shine in AnyLight’

TECNO the fastest growing offline camera-centric smartphone brand of TRANSSION Holdings with presence in over 50+ countries, made its inroads in the country in April’17. As the brand is celebrating its two-year anniversary in the Indian market today it announced the commencement of the first brand campaign for the year viz. “Shine in Any Light” on the back of the recently launched CAMON i4. The 360-degree marketing campaign will start from 2nd May’19.

The campaign ‘Shine in Any Light’ includes a series of three documentary style films featuring Vicky Roy - A Rag Picker turned street photographer, Chandani Srivastava - A Street Dancer turned Choreographer, and Toshada Uma - The Hairless Style icon celebrating individuality and strength of mind and people who believe in paving their own way in life against all odds.  Each films visuals are a storytelling of ‘Shine in AnyLight’ factor of these individuals for whom Life is all about living their passion and following their dreams no matter the darkness.  The first film to go on-air is of Vicky Roy, the Ace Photographer and rest two will follow shortly.

Conceptualised & executed by CreativeLandAsia, the campaign is targeted towards the youth of the country that is free and open-minded. They are the ones that do not get influenced and are rather liberal about the choices they make in life. It is from this attitude that stemmed the core campaign idea of 'Shine in any light’ focusing on the belief that for Indian youth life is not just lived, it is performed. Deep inside everyone there is piece of extraordinary waiting to be seen which can be discovered through TECNO’s ‘AnyLight camera’ lens, which help the consumer shine their best in any circumstance.

Commenting on the launch of the TVC Mr. Arijeet Talapatra, CEO, TRANSSION India said, “TECNO being a consumer-centric brand, listening and understanding the voice of our customers forms a part of our very DNA. We are committed to design products for the youth for whom ‘Life is a performance’ and this performance needs to be presented to the world in the best possible way. With CAMON i4, we have brought the best of smartphone camera technology to our consumers with a unique proposition of capturing superb photos with the help of a 16MP AI selfie and AI triple rear camera powered by Night Algorithm 2.0 and Super Quad Flash light making photos shine brighter no matter what the darkness. To strengthen the product launch we are kick starting our brand campaign #TecnoShineInAnyLight from 2nd May.  The campaign celebrates the free spirit of ordinary individuals who braved all odds to become successful in their passion areas and that TECNO smartphones enable the consumers to shine, no matter the darkness. No matter what light, you always keep shining.”

On the launch film Ms. Sudeepa Ghosh, Executive Creative director said, "The new campaign 'Shine in any light' speaks about three people who have struggled their way through adverse situations and have reached a point in their lives where they've become an inspiration for countless others. In a land of 1.3 billion people, there are those hiding behind their dreams, fighting for some bytes on social media. And then there are those who shine with perseverance, talent and grit."

To build the awareness for the #TECNOShineInAnyLight campaign and reach out to our core audience the brand has taken an aggressive approach of launching the campaign across touchpoints of TV, digital, on-ground & retail. The TV campaign will be available across 28 channels covering news, entertainment, movies like Colors, Sony Sab, &TV, Sony Max and regional channels like ABP Bangla, Star Jalsha to name a few.  The campaign will be further amplified on Social and digital platforms. To help consumers get a first-hand experience of the “AnyLight” camera smartphones the brand will carry on-ground activities covering 100+ towns enabling direct face-to-face engagement with 1 mn + consumers on-ground through-out the campaign period.

Amazon Global Selling Program Targets $5 Billion in E-commerce Exports from India By 2023

At the launch of the second edition of Amazon Exports Digest, Amazon has announced that its Global Selling program has now achieved the significant milestone of crossing $1 billion in e-commerce exports sales from India in just three years since its launch in the country! Launched with just a few hundred sellers in May 2015, more than 50,000 Indian exporters are now part of the Amazon Global Selling program, selling over 140M ‘Made in India’ products to Amazon customers across the globe through its marketplaces worldwide such as Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, etc.

“Six years ago, we started operating in India with a vision to enable every motivated Indian seller to reach customers across India and every country in the world. Amazon launched the Global Selling program in India four years ago, aligning with this vision. The program has scaled up extensively since then and has reached a cumulative $1 billion annualized from India. This program is helping government’s vision on exports, encouraging ‘Made in India’ products go global and enabling over 50,000 Indian MSMEs to reach the doorstep of 300MM+ global customers without leaving their homes. Over the next five years ‘India to Global’ has the potential to become huge and Amazon is confident that the Global Selling program will hit the $5 billion mark by 2023 fueling the growth of lakhs of Indian manufacturers, exporters and small enterprises.” said Amit Agarwal, Senior Vice President and Country Head, Amazon India.

He added, “The multiplier impact of this growth on the Indian economy will be significant with new infrastructure built-up, employment generation especially as the successful micro, small and medium-sized enterprises will in-turn reinvest in their local communities – creating jobs and supporting local economy- and thus boosting the entire ecosystem around them.”

Amazon today released the second edition of its annual Export Digest, revealing a growth of 56% in the number of global sellers from India in 2018. Amazon's international marketplaces also saw a rise of 55% in the selection of Indian products offered globally and 71% growth in sellers who are part of Fulfilled by Amazon program this year vis-a-vis last year. Amazon Exports Digest in its second edition, reveals interesting insights and reflects significant increase in demand for Indian products across global marketplaces, growth of Indian exporters selling globally, and most popular and emerging product categories offered by Indian exporters abroad.

This year’s report also includes performance numbers about growth of Indian sellers exporting to Australia, a new marketplace for Indian sellers which was added as part of Global Selling Program in 2018. Within a short span of time, more than 500 Indian exporters are now offering over 12M products to customers across Australia. The report also highlights the growth of the Global Selling B2B program which allows Indian exporters to serve business customers across the globe. The Global Selling B2B program in just one year has over 6000 Indian B2B sellers.

The Annual Exports Digest showcases top Indian states & cities with international exporters and most popular product categories abroad. Delhi, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana emerged as the leading states with most international exporters on Amazon in 2018. Home, Books, Apparel, Jewelry, Kitchen and Health & Personal Care witnessed a huge demand from international customers across ethnicities.

2018 has been a breakthrough year for the Amazon Global Selling program in India which accelerated with partnerships with various trade bodies such as FICCI, CII, FISME and with export associations from Tiruppur, Karur, Agra, Surat, Guwahati and other towns and cities to empower micro, small & medium enterprises. Connecting Indian sellers to customers worldwide, Amazon has a dedicated team as part of the Global Selling program which currently enables thousands of exporters of all sizes and scale to sell across eleven Amazon marketplaces worldwide.

Gopal Pillai, Vice President, Seller Services, Amazon India said, “Amazon Global Selling program is a unique initiative that enables MSMEs to reach over 300MM global customers, empowering them with tools and technology and leveraging Amazon infrastructure in destination countries. It’s interesting how the program has scaled in the country, with more than 80% of these exporters coming from non-metro and tier 2 and below cities. Amazon wants to expand and grow the program further to bring more and more small businesses to unleash the potential of ‘Make in India’ initiative by enabling e-commerce exports and leveraging global customer access.

Amazon Exports Digest 2019 highlights-

Overall growth:
• Amazon witnessed a growth of 56% in the number of e-commerce exporters from India in 2018
• Amazon's international marketplace saw a phenomenal increase of 55% in selection of Indian products offered globally
• 71% growth in Indian exporters using Global Fulfilment by Amazon (Amazon’s own fulfillment channels)
• Delhi, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh emerged as the top 5 states with most e-commerce exporters
• New Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai, Indore and Surat topped the charts with most e-commerce exporters along with emerging cities such as Cuttack, Darjeeling, Kankroli, Peermade, Rampura Phul with exporters selling globally
• Emerging product categories- Art and Crafts, Musical Instruments, Baby Products, Video DVD, Pet Products
• Major sale events – Prime Day saw an increase of 69% in number of sellers, Cyber Monday saw an increase of 30% in seller base and Black Friday also witnessed an increase of 30% in seller numbers

Region-wise top emerging categories exported:

• North India – watches, camera, pet products, outdoors, home entertainment
• South India – board games, shoes, home entertainment, sports gear, camera bags
• East India – watches, furniture, personal care appliances, tools, electronics
• West India –  Arts & Crafts, Music, Luggage, Videos & DVDs, Personal Care Appliances

Top 5 cities in the US from where Indian sellers are receiving maximum global orders from and the top Indian products bought in the US:

• Top 5 cities - New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Brooklyn, Houston
• Top Indian products – Home, Health & Personal Care, Books, Beauty, Apparel

Top 5 cities in Europe from where Indian sellers are receiving maximum global orders from and the top Indian products bought in Europe:

• Top 5 cities –London, Manchester, Berlin, Madrid, Rome
• Top Indian products – Home, Health & Personal Care, Books, Office Products, Wireless

Top 5 cities in Asia Pacific from where Indian sellers are receiving maximum global orders from and the top Indian products bought in Japan:

• Top 5 cities – Tokyo, Beijing, Osaka, Busan, Seoul
• Top Indian products – Sports, Toys, PC, Musical Instruments, Health & Personal Care

Top 5 cities in Australia from where Indian sellers are receiving maximum global orders from and the top Indian products bought in Australia:

• Top 5 cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Portland
• Top Indian products – Books, Home, Beauty, Apparel, Health & Personal Care

Amazon unveiled its Global Selling program in India in May 2015 in an attempt to provide transformative opportunities for Indian sellers and help them grow & scale through e-commerce exports.  Currently, over 50,000 Indian manufacturers, traders and brands are using this platform to sell their offerings across eleven Amazon marketplaces worldwide. Through the program, Amazon provides the most comprehensive suite of services to sellers of all sizes and scale to enable them to sell across the globe. These services have been created to meet their specific requirements at every stage of their business lifecycle.

To smoothen the selling experience for MSMEs, Amazon offers fulfilment services under the program that allows sellers to focus on their product and pricing, offers imaging and cataloging support to sellers by getting their photo shoots done as per Amazon standards at nominal costs, provides access to third parties that can provide tax guidance services and other export related modalities by connecting them to concerned advisory agencies.

Furthermore, through its various spike sale events across the world, Amazon provides a lucrative platform for Indian sellers to engage with global audiences. Whether it’s Prime Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, Amazon enables thousands of sellers to delight global customers with wide selection, greater value and a reliable and trustworthy shopping experience.

To enable sellers to familiarize themselves with the tastes & preferences of the destination country and to launch relevant selection, Amazon’s global teams also help sellers understand the demand patterns in various countries. The team also gives guidance on how sellers can improve discoverability of their products on each marketplace. Some of this includes guidance on the type of deals they can run, the kind of advertisements they can run on these platforms and how they can use social media channels to drive awareness about their listings on the various marketplaces. 

First of its Kind Bamboo Art Exhibition to be Held by Uravu in Bangalore

‘Hiraeth: A Pining for the Past’, a first of its kind 6 day exhibition of bamboo installation organized by ‘Uravu Indigeneous Science and Technology Study Centre’ will be held from May 2-7 at Karnataka Chitra Kala Parishat, Bangalore. The event will be inaugurated on May 2 at 4 pm by internationally acclaimed painter and Artist-Curator Bose Krishnamachari. The event is presented by Eleganz Interiors, pioneers in the general contracting business.

‘Hiraeth’ is an exploration in bamboo that aims to reinforce the credentials of bamboo as a sustainable medium of art. Lenin.CP, the chief designer at Uravu aims to recreate the forms and frames of life in bamboo. He expresses it through the idea of water and the flora and fauna of watery village lives.

‘Hiraeth’ is expected to set a platform for a series of exhibitions to be held at Chitra Kala Parishat, Bangalore, to showcase distinct artistic possibilities in bamboo that that would establish bamboo’s potential as a serious material of art.

Uravu is a not for profit, non-governmental organisation that strives for rural empowerment through sustainable solutions. Established in 1996, URAVU works with people, governments and businesses to facilitate initiatives with the   prime motive of sustainable development and implements focused end-to-end programs in the bamboo sector.

‘Hiraeth: A Pining for the Past’ is presented by Eleganz Interiors. Eleganz is a strategic management company specializing in interior solutions on a pan-India level pioneering in civil interiors and allied services.

Companies Empowering SMEs with Superior Technology in India

Technology has emerged as a key enabler in the economy today, helping businesses achieve economies of scale and scale up their ventures. However, while India is covering significant leaps in digitalisation and other advanced technologies, not every business enjoys an easy access to the same. To bridge the gap between the burgeoning Indian enterprises and the latest technology, several tech companies have come up with their unique offerings.

Let’s take a look at these ventures that help small businesses successfully ride the growing wave of technology and achieve business growth.

Cybage: Ensuring Digital Excellence & Better Value per Unit Cost

Catering to the enterprise business segment, Cybage works at applying digital platforms, techniques and technologies to enable more profitable business models. It solves complex problems for businesses by using new-age advancements in cloud, data analytics, mobility, social collaboration, and e-commerce. Furthermore, the tech enterprise helps small businesses through its scientific, data-driven system called DecisionMinesTM that removes the risks in the methodology and provides more predictable outcomes while ensuring better value per unit cost.

Till date, solutions by Cybage has yielded successful results for industries in diverse verticals like Media & Entertainment, Online Retail, Travel & Hospitality, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Logistics and Supply Chain Management, and Technology. Cybage a worthy partner to technology startups, mid-size companies, and Fortune 500 corporations alike, and a proud partner of several industry leaders like Microsoft, AWS, Adobe, and Oracle.

Qlik: Empowering businesses through data management & analytics

Helping businesses make complete sense of business data, Qlik offers an end-to-end businesses intelligence, data management and analytics platforms. Solutions offered by Qlik have been instrumental in achieving a deeper understanding of customer behaviour, reimagining businesses processes, discovering newer revenue streams while balancing the risks with rewards.

With Qlik Sense Enterprise, enterprises have access to a full-spectrum of flexible and scalable analytics use-cases on a modern multi-cloud platform and Qlik Sense® Cloud enables your group or team to get analytics up and running fast. Qlik has its presence in more than 100 countries and serves over 48,000 customers in key Verticals including Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, BFSI, amongst others, and its clients include TCS, United Nations, HDFC Life, Lupin Pharmaceuticals and more.

Telebu: Enterprise Communication Made Easy

Telebu solves the critical need of timely and efficient communication for the fast-growing enterprises. Even if the teams are remotely spread out, Telebu’s complete suite of enterprise communication products including audio conferencing, bulk SMSs etc. ensure time- and cost-efficient communication without any lags.

With its marquee product and audio conferencing solution, grptalk, Telebu allows instant conferencing (dial-out calls) for enterprises with 3 to over 10,000 participants. The cost-effective solution removes any delays in conference calls, with the participants only having to answer the call from the bridge, not requiring any pin code, password etc.

Other enterprise solution products by Telebu include bulk text and voice SMS solution, in-bound and out-bound call centre software, emergency alert system, and API platform. The technology solutions by Telebu serve businesses of varying scale, right from start-ups, MSMEs, to multinational conglomerates.

Amplify.ai: AI-driven Virtual Assistants

Being the industry’s first and only enterprise-class AI-driven engagement platform, Amplify.ai provides conversational virtual assistants to digital businesses. The global platform has tied up with a number of social media platforms including Facebook, FB Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram, and so on for seamless deployment of virtual assistants over these platforms. The same can also be deployed to proprietary website of a business using its API (Application Program Interface).

The virtual-assistant-led approach helps businesses to drive better engagement with their customers as compared to conventional marketing channels such as emails and phone calls. Lately, the brand has also partnered with Google’s AdLingo to further bring conversational AI to display advertising. Till date, the Silicon-Valley-based start-up has led more than 2 billion engagements with more than 100 million end-customers across the globe.

HT Media Ltd Acquires 51 Percent Stake in Next Mediaworks Limited

HT Media Limited (HTML) has acquired 51% majority stake in Next Mediaworks Limited (NMW), which operates seven FM radio stations across major metros [through its subsidiary Next Radio Limited (NRL)], under the brand “Radio One”, including some in international genre. NRL’s FM stations across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune and one more have now come into HTML fold.  This has positioned HTML as the strongest radio player, with three stations each in the biggest metro markets of Delhi & Mumbai and two stations each in Bengaluru, Chennai & Kolkata. Apart from the above, key metro market of Pune has also got added to the network.

HT Media Limited, along with Next Radio Limited, now has 22 stations, and a national footprint spanning 15 cities.

Harshad Jain, CEO – Radio & Entertainment Business of HTML has been named as CEO of NMW/NRL. He will lead all the three brands of Fever FM, Radio Nasha and Radio One. Talking about the development, Mr. Harshad Jain said, “This acquisition aims to provide the widest array of content, music and advertising options for our listeners and advertisers. Needless to mention, the combined set-up will provide growth opportunities for the talented employees on both sides. The company is now detailing the synergies of operations both at the front and the backend.”

While Fever FM and Radio Nasha are leaders in the Hindi contemporary hit radio (CHR) and retro radio space respectively, Radio One is a pioneer in the international format.

HT Media Limited is the printer & publisher of three leading dailies of the country viz. “Hindustan Times”,  “Mint” and “Hindustan” (through subsidiary company), and operates popular Hindi FM Radio channels “Fever FM” and “Radio Nasha”. 

17 High Schoolers from India Live Like Astronauts for Two Weeks at US Space Camp

Honeywell has announced that 17 Indian students were among 292 students from 41 countries to attend a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience at the Honeywell Leadership Challenge Academy (HLCA).

This two-week long unique leadership program at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center (USSRC) in Huntsville, Alabama, encourages students to pursue science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers through real-world, hands-on challenges in coding, computer sciences, and astronautics.

Sakshi Bhavsar, a student-participant from Pune said, “At the academy, I sat in the cockpit of a flight simulator, learned how to fly a jumbo jet, and launched a model rocket – is there anything cooler than this? I felt as if I was part of a Mars exploration mission!”

At the academy, students between 16 to 18 years participated in numerous team-building challenges like assembling, coding and testing rockets, and participating in simulated astronaut training, shuttle missions, and a moonwalk. Students also met scientists, engineers, and former astronauts who reinforced core leadership competencies and shared their first-hand professional experiences.

“Engaging students in science and engineering is now as fundamentally important as learning to read and write,” said Dr. Deborah Barnhart, CEO and executive director, USSRC. “By investing in these young students, Honeywell is helping to prepare them to become the global STEM-literate citizens who will change our world.”

Rohith Tirumalasetti, a Hyderabad participant, who was among the eight students selected globally as ambassadors and mentors to the U.S. Space Camp, said, “Not many students get an opportunity to return to the Space Camp as a student-mentor. I am privileged to have relived my dream of being in a space mission again! Last years’ experience was phenomenal, and this year I was thrilled to share tips with my friends, helping them achieve their goals.”

“Fortune favors the bold! This camp has instilled leadership abilities in me that will help me in the future. It also taught me how to be independent in life,” said Srikar Desu from Bengaluru.

Echoing a similar sentiment, Tanmay Taneja from Gurugram, said, “Meeting students from around the world who share the same passion for rockets, jets, space shuttles, and the moonwalk was extremely exciting. What’s really great is the program combines science and engineering with fun and friendship for life.”

This year, Honeywell chose seven students from Bangalore, eight students from Pune, and one each from the Delhi/NCR and Hyderabad.

“As a world leader in software and industrial technology, Honeywell sees the need to increase educational opportunities for students by blending technical knowledge with team-building, communication and leadership skills. The Honeywell Leadership Challenge Academy aims to do that,” said Mike Bennett, President, Honeywell Hometown Solutions. “In partnership with the USSRC, we’re pleased to offer this program to our future leaders.”

Since 2010, Honeywell Hometown Solutions, the company’s corporate citizenship initiative, has awarded 2,709 scholarships to children of Honeywell employees. Students are selected through a rigorous application and review process based on academic achievement and community involvement. Honeywell and its employees help fund the scholarships, which cover the cost of tuition, meals, accommodations and program materials.

About Honeywell Hometown Solutions India Foundation

Honeywell India is committed to improving the world we live in by creating, supporting, and nurturing outstanding corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs and initiatives that make real, sustainable, and measurable impact on communities that Honeywell serves. Honeywell Hometown Solutions India Foundation (HHSIF) is a not-for-profit organization that deploys Honeywell India’s CSR efforts. Working within the government’s guidelines and the company’s CSR framework, HHSIF builds programs that deliver results it can quantify: one community, one home, one teacher, and one student at a time. To learn more, visit https://www.honeywell.com/worldwide/en-in/csr at a time. To learn more, visit https://www.honeywell.com/worldwide/en-in/csr

New MCAfee Research Reveals 61 Percent of I.T. Professional Have Experienced a Sserious Data Breach

Key Findings

Top three vectors used to exfiltrate data are database leaks, cloud applications and removable USB drives
Nearly three-quarters of all breaches require public disclosure, putting brand reputation at risk
Eighty-one percent of IT professionals report separate policies or management consoles for cloud access security broker (CASB) and data loss prevention (DLP)
Intellectual property (IP) surpasses payment card data to tie personally identifiable information (PII) as top target for thieves

McAfee, the device-to-cloud cybersecurity company, today released Grand Theft Data II – The Drivers and Shifting State of Data Breaches, which revealed that despite improvements in combating cybercrime and threats, IT security professionals are still struggling to fully secure their organization and protect against breaches with 61 percent claiming to have experienced a data breach at their current employer. Adding to this challenge, data breaches are becoming more serious as cybercriminals continue to target intellectual property putting the reputation of the company brand at risk and increasing financial liability.

McAfee’s study demonstrates the need for a cybersecurity strategy that includes implementing integrated security solutions combined with employee training and an overall culture of security throughout the organization to reduce future breaches.

“Threats have evolved and will continue to become even more sophisticated,” said Candace Worley, vice president and chief technical strategist at McAfee. “Organizations need to augment security measures by implementing a culture of security and emphasizing that all employees are part of an organization’s security posture, not just the IT team. To stay ahead of threats, it is critical companies provide a holistic approach to improving security process by not only utilizing an integrated security solution but also practicing good security hygiene.”

The McAfee report highlights the following:

Savvier thieves: Data is now being stolen by a wide range of methods, with no single technique dominating the industry. The top vectors used to exfiltrate data are database leaks, cloud applications and removable USB drives.

IP tied for 1st: Personally identifiable information (PII) and intellectual property (IP) are now tied as the data categories with the highest potential impact to 43% of respondents. Notably, PII is of greater concern in Europe (49%), most likely due to the recent enforcement date of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In Asia-Pacific countries, intellectual property theft is of greater concern (51%) than PII. 

Blame game: IT is looked at as the culprit with 52 percent of respondents claiming IT is at fault for creating the most data leakage events. Business operations (29 percent) follows as the next most likely to be involved. Highly regulated internal groups including finance (12 percent) and legal (6 percent) were the most secure.
The great divide: Security technology continues to operate in isolation, with 81 percent reporting separate policies or management consoles for cloud access security broker (CASB) and data loss prevention (DLP), resulting in delayed detection and remediation actions.

Taking responsibility: There is a rift in regard to accountability – 55 percent of IT professionals believe that c-level executives should lose their job if a breach is serious enough, yet 61 percent also state that the c-level executives they work with expect more lenient security policies for themselves.
Future proofing: IT professionals are taking action, with almost two-thirds stating they have purchased additional DLP, CASB and endpoint detection solutions over the last 12 months. Respondents believe that between 65 and 80 percent of breaches experienced would have likely been prevented if one or more of these systems had been installed.

The stakes are higher as multiple attack methods are now used in a breach as cybercriminals continue to target personal data and intellectual property. Furthermore, IT security teams are increasingly concerned about external threat actors compromising their network, which has forced more organizations to publicly disclose when breaches occur. The severity of publicly disclosing breaches results not only in financial repercussions but damage to brand and reputation as well.

Resources

Report: Grand Theft Data II – The Drivers and Shifting State of Data Breaches
Executive Summary
Infographic
2015 Report: Grand Theft Data
McAfee MVISION Cloud
McAfee Data Protection
McAfee Database Security
McAfee MVISION EDR
McAfee Secure Web Gateway

Study Methodology

This study was conducted by MSI-ACI Europe, on behalf of McAfee. Survey respondents had to have experienced a serious data breach incident sometime in their career as an IT professional. Data was collected via online interviews between December 12 and 31, 2018. To qualify for the survey, organizations had to have more than 1,000 employees, and were evenly split between commercial (1,000 to 5,000 employees) and enterprise (more than 5,000 employees). The resulting global group represented the Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Singapore, the U.S., the U.K., and a wide range of industries.

A 28 Year Old Girl Suffering from Wilson Disease Successfully Underwent a Liver Transplant at Fortis Hospital

A 28 year old girl suffering from Wilson’s disease successfully underwent a liver transplant at Fortis Hospital, Bannerghatta road. Wilson disease is a rare inherited disorder that causes copper to accumulate in liver, brain and other vital organs. The team of doctors was led by Dr. Mahesh Gopasetty- Sr. Consultant Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary and Liver Transplant Surgery, Fortis Hospitals, Bangalore.

The patient came with a complaint of inability to consume food and water. Being specially-abled since birth, the patient was also unable to perform her daily chores. Further it was diagnosed that she had repeated infections and there was water accumulation in her body. The patient’s condition was deteriorating and there was an urgent need for liver transplant, so a cadaver liver transplant procedure was followed for her.

Dr. Mahesh Gopasetty, Sr. Consultant Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary and Liver Transplant Surgery, Fortis Hospitals, Bangalore, said, “It was a complex case for us as the patient has Wilson disease. It was difficult for us to understand the symptoms, as mostly in such cases, patient with wilson disease also suffer from neurological and psychological disorder. In this case also, the patient had psychological issues since her birth. On diagnosis, we found out that there was copper accumulation in her liver, so we had to perform immediate liver transplant surgery. Post consent from the family, we went ahead with the liver transplant and the patient withstood the procedure well. We hope that with this transplant, she would have a healthy life ahead.”

Ms Hemalatha (name changed), Mother of the patient said, “We are grateful to the doctors, staff and Hospital who guided and treated my daughter well. We are fortunate enough to get the liver transplant done successfully.

According to reports by NCBI, “Approximately Wilson disease affects 1 in 30,000 to 40,000 individuals. Around 15-20 cases are registered annually, out of which two-thirds are a cause of acute liver failure.”