Hiring in India Picks Up 35 percent from April to June: LinkedIn

LinkedIn, the world’s largest online professional network, today announced findings of the ‘Labour Market Update’, a monthly update on hiring trends and insights based on LinkedIn's Economic Graph, a digital representation of the Indian economy.

While the world continues to navigate different stages of the coronavirus, LinkedIn’s Economic Graph team has been closely monitoring the pandemic's disruptive impact across the global labour market. These findings are crystallized into the LinkedIn ‘Labour Market Update’, which highlights the hiring rate in India, overall hiring sentiment across industries, competition for securing jobs, and the top jobs and skills in demand. Findings show that there has been a significant hiring rebound as the country started 'unlocking' and more people returned to work. However, the pace of these gains are expected to slow down given the continued economic uncertainty.

1.    Between early-April to end-June, hiring increased by 35 percentage points: In India, hiring declines reached a low of below -50% year-on-year in April, before starting to slowly recover.  The hiring sentiment stands at -15% year-on-year as of the end of June. As risks of second-wave of infections emerge, some states have imposed lockdown measures again. Given this uncertainty, the recovery is expected to remain fairly flat in the coming weeks. 

*The analysis looks at the year-on-year changes in hiring rate, which is a measure of hires divided by LinkedIn membership. The analysis was conducted for the period of 11th Feb to 30th June 2020. 

Data also suggests that the gap between hires for males and females has narrowed from about 40 percentage points in February to around 30 percentage points in June.

This trend is observed across all sectors except for Manufacturing, Finance and Software & IT.

2.  Competition for jobs is heating up: Competition for jobs has doubled compared to 6 months ago, with the average number of applications per job posted on LinkedIn increasing from around 90 in Jan 2020, to 180 in June 2020.

3.  Recreation & Travel and Retail professionals are more likely to look for jobs in a different sector, compared to pre-COVID period: Compared to the pre-COVID period, data suggests that job seekers who are currently in the affected sectors (such as Recreation & Travel) are 6.8 times* more likely to look for jobs in a different sector, compared to pre-COVID times. Data further suggests that those in the retail sector are 2.4 times* likely to apply for a job in a different sector. The analysis looks at how job seekers in different industries are adapting to changes and adjusting their jobs search strategy. 

*The measure here calculates the likelihood that a member in a certain sector has applied for a job in a sector different to their own in June 2020 (post-COVID) compared to June 2019 (pre-COVID). A score of 2 here would suggest that a member in Industry A is twice as likely to apply to a job in an industry outside of Industry A. 

4.  The demand for disruptive skills tops the charts in June 2020: The Labour Market Update also highlights roles that are in demand today and are expected to remain relevant in the near future. These roles have the greatest number of job openings on LinkedIn, have seen steady growth over the past four years, pay a liveable wage, and require skills that can be learned online.

These are the top 5 in-demand jobs and skills:

1.    Jobs: 

·         Software Engineer

·         Business Development Manager 

·         Sales Manager 

·         Business Analyst

·         Content Writer

2.     Skills:

·         JavaScript

·         SQL 

·         Sales Management 

·         Team Leadership 

·         Recruiting

BPO and IT Sectors Lead Talent Demand Recovery with Double-Digit M-o-M Growth: RecruiteX

* BPO (15%), IT (10%) and BFSI (7%) emerged as the top three sectors with maximum M-o-M growth in talent demand in July 2020   

* BFSI – had shed most talent demand in June 2020 - picked up the pace and gained 7% growth in talent demand in July 2020 M-o-M study

* Customer Services/Tele Calling, Front Office/Administration and IT/Telecom were the most sought after job profiles in July 2020

* Vadodara (over 30% growth) and Hyderabad/Secunderabad (16%) were the top gainers for talent demand in July 2020 study

* Professionals with 5-10 years of experience were most in-demand in the review month

With ‘recovery’ as the key focus in ‘Unlock3’, talent demand is already picking pace as BPO and IT/Telecom sectors noted a double-digit growth in July 2020 analysis. TimesJobs RecruiteX noted that BPO (15%), IT (10%) and BFSI (7%) emerged as the top three sectors with maximum M-o-M growth in talent demand in July 2020.      

TimesJobs RecruiteX is a monthly recruitment index that records the demand and supply of talent at India Inc.

Overall, talent demand in July 2020 grew by 2% M-o-M, pushed largely by growth in high volume sectors like BPO, IT and BFSI.

Talking about the details of RecruiteX July 2020 edition, Sanjay Goyal, Business Head, TimesJobs and TechGig said, “The talent demand trends for July 2020 are heartening. Though the overall growth in July 2020 is only 2% since it’s based largely on high volume sectors as BPO, IT and BFSI, I’m very confident that this trend will continue in the coming months. I foresee the talent demand to pick up from here on as India Inc has actively started working towards the road to recovery. Smart companies are, now, focussing on constructive learnings from this difficult situation which would help them to grow in future. ”

Industry-wise (MoM growth):

Following its growth pattern of June 2020, the BPO sector saw an impressive 15% M-o-M increment in talent demand in July 2020 too. The IT/Telecom and BFSI sectors had witnessed (-6%) and (-2%) de-growth respectively in June 2020 but bounced back in July 2020. Here are the top three sectors for talent demand in July 2020:

·         BPO: 15%

·         IT/Telecom: 10%

·         BFSI: 7%

Functional areas:

Customer Services/Tele Calling job profile jumped from 4% growth in talent demand in June 2020 to 18% growth in July 2020. On the other hand, Front Office/Administration profile had clocked 21% growth in June 2020, but could only register 11% growth in July 2020 analysis of talent demand. Here are the top three job profiles as per talent demand in July 2020:

·         Customer Services/ Tele Calling: 18%

·         Front Office/ Administration: 11%

·         IT/Telecom: 8%

Location-wise:

Most talent demand in July 2020 was posted in Tier-II cities, with Vadodara recording a growth of over 30%. Among the metropolitan cities, Chennai saw the most growth with 10% increment. Mumbai and Delhi noted 8% and 1% growth in July 2020. Bengaluru noted de-growth of (-7%) in July 2020.  Here are the top three cities as per talent demand in July 2020:

·         Vadodara: over 30% growth

·         Hyderabad/Secunderabad: 16%

·         Ahmedabad: 11%

Work experience-wise:

Professionals with 5-10 years of work experience were most in demand, and this category noted 11% M-o-M growth in talent demand. Here are the categories of work professionals as per talent demand in July 2020:

·         5-10 years of work experience:11%

·         2-5years of work experience: 8%

Springboard Secures $31M in Series B Funding Led by Telstra Ventures

Springboard, a mentor-guided online learning platform that prepares people for in-demand careers, announced today it has raised $31 million in Series B funding, bringing its total capital raised to more than $50 million. This round was led by new investor Telstra Ventures, with participation from Vulcan Capital and SJF Ventures, and returning investors Costanoa Ventures, Pearson Ventures, Reach Capital, International Finance Corporation (IFC), 500 Startups, Blue Fog Capital, and Learn Capital. 

Springboard launched India as its first geography outside the USA in 2019 and has placed its learners in Fortune 500 and world-renowned companies such as Samsung, Salesforce, Visa, LinkedIn, Cisco. The latest round of capital will enable Springboard to double down on student employability in response to the current job market in India and globally, by creating new hiring-focused products and strengthening employer partnerships to help graduates land their dream careers. 

Since inception, Springboard’s programs were designed to be entirely online, yet heavily supported by human interactions with mentors and a network of career experts. The new capital infusion will help Springboard further support job-seeking graduates by building several innovative tools for India and global markets:

The Hireability Forecaster, which provides early indications of student success and potential employability roadblocks by combining the power of Springboard’s predictive technology and the insights from its global community of almost 1,000 industry mentors. With 80% of Springboard mentors indicating they would hire their mentee, mentors and coaches will have the ability to indicate student achievement and intervene to course correct if students fall behind. 

Springboard Introductions, which offers Springboard students personalized, targeted introductions and job referrals from its community of over 13,000 mentors, alumni, fellow students, and employer partners that collectively represent over 50% of the Fortune 500 across 108 countries. Candidates who are internally referred are 15 times more likely to be hired than those who apply on a job board.

Student-Job Fit Recommender, an AI-driven job matching tool, which recommends open roles at Springboard’s employer partners that match each student's unique background and skill set. 

"India is witnessing one of its toughest challenges owing to the recent job losses that have impacted a large section of the workforce. It is therefore imperative for displaced workers to make the difficult transition into new, in-demand careers,” said Parul Gupta, Co-founder, Springboard. “Our remote-first, mentor-guided model is uniquely positioned to serve not only these individuals, but also universities and employers who need help navigating today's new economic reality. We're delighted to partner with a great group of investors, as we continue on our mission to transform over one million lives by 2030."

“Technology used to be a niche area but that’s no longer the case. As more and more companies are built on tech, the need to understand concepts like Data Science, AI, ML, UI/UX has become more homogenous. For learning to be meaningful, it needs to encompass state-of-the-art curriculum with real-world projects as well as mentorship and that is what Springboard stands for. With this funding we are in a good position to build on our strengths to provide in-demand job skills and holistic support at every step,” said Vivek Kumar, Managing Director, Springboard.

“The education sector is facing a tectonic shift. As enterprises and countries alike seek more and better talent with digital skill sets, the technology training market is set to explode,” said Albert Bielinko, Principal, at Telstra Ventures. "We invested in Springboard because the strong educational and job placement outcomes achieved by its students are a big differentiator. Springboard's highly personalised approach is built with the online learner in mind first, not as an afterthought, and offers a life-changing value proposition for Springboard's graduates.” 

Started by co-founders Gautam Tambay and Parul Gupta in 2013, Springboard pioneered a learning model that has enabled thousands of successful career transitions into the most in-demand technology fields via its job-guaranteed programs that are taught entirely online. Unlike most online learning companies that stop at teaching technical skills, Springboard focuses on employability -- 94% of eligible graduates secure a job within a year, earning an average salary increase of $26,000. Springboard’s unique strength is its remote-first yet human-centric approach that matches each student 1:1 with a personalized mentor—an industry professional working in their chosen field—who provides weekly feedback to keep students motivated and accountable. This approach has resulted in 330% student enrollment growth from June 2019 to June 2020. 

Furthering its commitment to student employability, Springboard is expanding its career services. It has tripled the number of virtual apprenticeship opportunities to build portfolio-worthy content and provide real-world work experience. The career services team has grown its career coaching capacity by 4x to provide more access to office hours, mock interviews, and a team of placement experts assigned to each student. To provide additional support during the job search, Springboard has extended its professional mentorship after program completion. 

In the coming months, Springboard plans to grow its industry-leading course offerings outside the high-tech industry to include additional skills gap disciplines. The company will also look to deepen its partnerships with universities and employers, enabling them to adapt to evolving reskilling needs in a post-pandemic economy.

Restrategize Your Workspace with Qpro by Qdesq Across India

Qdesq recently launched Qpro, a new vertical to accelerate the restrategizing of workspaces. As the world is amidst the battle with COVID-19, people who started work from home are still sticking to it post lockdown. The fear of the pandemic is restricting many professionals to step outside of their homes and sit out of office. 

Qpro provides on-demand dedicated desks and promotes work near home. You can book any number of desks and pay monthly. Qpro stresses highly on the word 'flexibility' and hence ensures no-security deposits and no lock-in period. 

The traditional days of having a single office are to be left behind. The new world workforce seeks flexibility to work from anywhere. The head office should be reformed as the place for top executives and conduction of data-sensitive operations. While the teams can work remotely from various managed offices. Qpro acts as the business contingency plan and creates a framework to segregate your team in various offices inter/intra city and puts your business back in action. 

"Qpro will enable all firms to have a financially prudent and productive parallel to work from home, having a fruitful workspace with no strings attached that too on-demand basis in terms of location and flexibility," says Paras Arora, CEO & Co-Founder, Qdesq.

All the offices booked through Qpro are affordable and aesthetically designed. The presence of premium facilities will increase the level of productivity. The managed offices have all the basic and advanced amenities like high-speed internet, transport accessibility, CCTV/security, cafeteria, centralized A.C., etc. One of the key advantages is all the spaces available for booking, abide by the COVID-19 precautionary and check measures, including regular sanitization, social distancing, and adherence for masks

"Qpro not only upgrades the performance factor of the quality but also applies on your financial front where you save capital in the form of no Capex, add of multi-year leases, add or removing a desk as per your requirement, zero fit-out cost etc. which makes it a viable option,” says Lavesh Bhandari, CTO & Co-Founder, Qdesq

Productivity and growth-oriented environment comprise various factors such as infrastructure, energy, and team collaboration. All of these traits are present in a good working milieu and will have a positive impact on your performance. The future of the workspaces is not working from home rather work near home. 

From a single desk to an enterprise solution, Qpro believes in flexibility and productivity for you and your team. It currently caters to Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR, and key micro-markets in other cities. 

QuEST Global Rolls Out a New Equity Compensation Plan Globally

* The plan will be rolled out to eligible employees

* Aims at developing and retaining future leaders of the company

QuEST Global, a global product engineering and lifecycle services company, today announced a broad-based equity compensation plan for its employees globally. The plan, aimed at increasing employee ownership in the organization, comprises of Employee Stock Options (ESOPs) which have the potential to provide significant benefits to the participants. ESOPs will be rolled out to eligible employees - selected based on roles, performance, and growth potential - in the coming weeks.

The ESOP grants vest over a future period - typically 3-5 years and will provide employees with a financial interest in the future success of the business. Along with this, the ESOP will also enable the company to develop and retain its future leaders as equity plans help align the interests of the shareholders and the employees.

Calling it a significant business decision, Ajit Prabhu, Chairman & CEO, QuEST Global said, “The well-being of the company is in the hands of our loyal, long-term employees and clients who rely on them. Over the last two decades, our belief in the power of people has led us to build an organization that employs over 11,000 talented engineers across the globe. It is not just the founding families and private equity firms who are the owners of the company but also our employees, who double up during crises to rebuild the business. It is befitting to reward them with ownership by rolling out ESOP for their loyalty and commitment, providing them with a great opportunity to participate in generating and sharing the wealth.”

Ajit also said that he is grateful to all the employees, shareholders, and investors who supported the organization during this unprecedented situation as the COVID-19 pandemic hit businesses worldwide. “The year 2020 has been tough. With the strong support of our shareholders and investors, who continue to believe in us, along with the positive spirit demonstrated by our employees, we have been successfully sailing through the trying times. With their support, we will continue to build an organization where we have put purpose over profit, empowerment over control, networking, and engagement of employees over control and command. The culture and employees are truly the greatest assets of QuEST, and it will lead us to a bright and successful future,” he added.

Niketh Sundar, Global Head – People Function and Culture, QuEST Global, said, “The founders of the company always believed in greater employee ownership and participation. This has translated into us going deeper and enrolling a lot more employees across multiple levels than what is typically expected of such plans in the industry. This strategic move will also help us groom experienced and dedicated engineers who can solve problems for our customers, while they directly benefit from the continued success of the company. At QuEST, we are very excited about the future.”

Over the last two decades, QuEST has seen multiple equity-linked incentive plans, and this is the company’s fourth ESOP grant cycle following grants in 2004, 2011, and 2017. The new plan will enroll almost twice as many participants as compared to previous years; providing greater flexibility and adopts several good practices in terms of design – be it around plan vehicles, vesting, and performance conditions.

How women are Making it Big in Business Via WhatsApp-Based Social Commerce?

By Varun Khurana, Founder, Otipy ( India’s fastest growing social commerce venture)

 

Social commerce is not a new concept in the country major chunk of social commerce existed only in the fashion, beauty, and retail industries. Today, social commerce is gaining popularity for one of the fundamental aspects of life – fresh food. Fresh produce such as fruits and vegetables have become the most in-demand products as people switch to healthier ways of living and are eager to know the source.  

 

A USD 200 Billion fresh produce category is now witnessing major disruption through social commerce. It is garnering the attention of consumer, entrepreneurs, and investors, . In fact, consumers are increasingly preferring their food sourced through social commerce for various reasons such as higher credibility, rational price and most importantly, fresher produce (delivered within a day straight from the farms sometime within 12 hrs). For women looking to be a part of the business environment without monetary investment, social commerce within the food category is the ideal solution. Let us take a look at how social commerce is playing a key role in helping women make it big in business.

 

The rise of social commerce

Increasing internet penetration and social media usage have paved the way for the rise of social commerce. A majority of the population today uses and is in fact hooked onto social media and brands are leveraging this aspect. With the rise in demand for fresh produce, women are joining hands with brands to become resellers within their community to make a mark for themselves in their community by leveraging social commerce. Currently, fresh produce is a supply-led model and social commerce is flipping it to demand-led model that further helps in solving the problem of middlemen and wastage (since there is no inventory). Apart from this, it helps resellers connect with their customers-base efficiently and offer real-time feedback to the farmers regarding the quality of the produce.

 

The emergence of women as dominant sellers

 For the first time, women are taking the center stage in spurring the adoption of e-commerce and helping the industry as well as themselves progress. The advent of technology, rapid digitization of businesses, and easy access have helped drive this change. For women sellers, a slew of features aided by cutting-edge technology such as voice chats/chatbots, real-time updates and feedback to the farmers, and most importantly, WhatsApp-based marketing is coming handy to open more doors to become micro-entrepreneurs.         

Additionally, women sellers also have a higher average order value, better retention and repeat orders, making them more suitable. In fact, not just urban cities, but women resellers hail from tier-II and tier-III catchment areas are hopping on the fresh produce social commerce bandwagon to fulfil their goals and achieve financial independence with almost no investment. A whopping 68% of women in most platforms sell from tier-II and tier-III cities.

 

Women sellers also help customers gain the trust factor for unbranded products since they usually tend to lean towards known/established brands. In return, social commerce platforms offer easy access for women to build an entrepreneurial empire of their own through community engagement without hindrances. Particularly in vernacular language-led social commerce platforms, women are dominating the space, even though the concept is still at a very nascent stage. They are learning the tricks of the trade and are keen on flourishing in the competitive business environment.

 

Social commerce is quickly becoming a multi-million-dollar market in India. However, the country has a largely unorganized market, particularly in tier-II, tier-III and tier-IV cities, especially for the fresh produce category with millions of farmers scattered across the country. Additionally, shopping for fresh produce is a social concept of sorts. Since the pandemic has forced us to adhere to social distancing norms, social commerce is flourishing and women are leading the way. With technological advancements, greater digitization and the availability of regional languages providing easy access and seamless experience, the rise of women entrepreneurs through social commerce is inevitable.  

Rgyan App Helping Young India To Create a Socio Spiritual Networking Platform

Empathy and compassion can provide healing and solace to our beautiful mind in these turbulent times.

If data of suicides is taken into consideration during the lockdown and Unlock 1.0, because of depression, The mental isolation is proving more dangerous than coronavirus these days. 

Also, some days back, the news of the banning of Tiktok and other 59 chinese apps was in the discussion, but in the meantime, cases of suicides have also increased. It is also being said that people, especially teenagers were being very upset due to the banning of Tik-Tok and because of it, some committed suicide. 

What is this depression actually? Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Also called major depressive disorder or clinical depression, it affects how you feel, think and behave and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. You may have trouble doing normal day-to-day activities, and sometimes you may feel as if life isn't worth living.

When the Indian Government banned 59 Chinese apps including TikTok, many questioned what would happen to those who used TikTok as a platform to share their content and made some money from it? Well, there is an Indian version of the app, “RGYAN”, which unlike its existing social media platforms which produces minimal thoughtful content, it is a “Social Spiritual Networking Platform which helps in creating a community of intellectuals and motivated individuals seeking truths about life”. 

It is a socio-spiritual technology startup founded on the belief of empowerment of participation by creating a spiritual social network. It can also be compared to “Spiritual Instagram with a touch of Quora”. Rgyan promotes thoughtful content on various non-trivial topics necessary to find important truths about life. It expects to do so by facilitating sharing of thoughts on various subjective matters. Amidst social media sites that promote banality and silliness, Rgyan stands out as a platform where meaningful content is shared and discussions are heard. It is available on both web as well as a mobile application on android play store in English and Hindi Languages. 

To use Rgyan, users can log in by creating an account using a registered phone number or explore its services as an anonymous user. The app allows users to express and share their thoughts through pictures, videos, text, GIFs, or as real-time discussions. Content shared on Rgyan is centred around spirituality, health and wellness, motivational quotes and various other pertinent topics. The Rgyan app offers the flexibility of a User Generated Content Model (UGC) with that of curated content available on Divinity, Daily Horoscope, and aggregated news on spiritual and social matters.

Speaking about this Made in India App, Rgyan’s success, Mr. Debjit Patra, Founder and Chairman, Rgyan said “There was a need for such a meaningful social platform where people can get knowledge as well as they can share their thoughts on various meaningful matters which Rgyan is giving right now. Starting back in 2016 with just a vision and now having more than 1 million monthly views on the platform, we have come a long way,  but this is not the limit as we know in the coming time more and more people will love Rgyan ''.

About Rgyan

Rgyan is a  socio spiritual tech startup started in the year end of 2016 with the classification of curated content on Divinity, Daily Horoscope and aggregated News on spiritual and social matters. Slowly it has evolved into a complete Spiritual Social Networking platform through which users can express and share their thoughts/content (Through Pics, Videos, Text, GIF or in a discussion manner) related to spiritual matters, health tips, motivational Quotes and many more meaningful categories.

UNICEF India, SAP India Partner to Improve Employability of the Young

On World Youth Skills Day, UNICEF India today announced its partnership with SAP India to provide career counselling to young people in the country that will improve their employability skills in a COVID and post COVID era. UNICEF is collaborating with YuWaah (Generation Unlimited) under this initiative to provide digital education and occupational skillset to the underserved young people of the country.

Under the collaboration UNICEF – YuWaah – SAP will strengthen the following:

* Improve digital skills and life skills for young people

* Provide young people with career options.

* Reimagine the model in other states with the Government of India

* Impacting one million young people by the end of 2022

Young people living in rural areas are particularly vulnerable when it comes to career and employability opportunities due to limited access to information, training, opportunities or the skills to participate fully in India’s modernizing technology-driven economy. The national aggregate on learner-computer ratio is reported to be 1:89, suggesting an inequitable access[1] in rural schools. Evidence[2] suggests that technology solutions can be optimized better to address poor learning levels, low retention rates, poor life-skills, and gender inclusion.

“Quality education and digital inclusion have never been more important. COVID-19 has exposed the fragility of access to education and this couldn’t be more relevant to India which has the highest number of young people, said Alexandra van der Ploeg, Head of CSR at SAP. “Together with UNICEF in support of the UN’s Generation Unlimited initiative, we can use the power of innovation to solve social issues and help our youth through education, workforce readiness, and entrepreneurship. In true SAP spirit, our unique partnership with UNICEF will not only maximize our collective impact but inspire young people in India and across the globe to help the world run better. After all, if our young people aren’t given the opportunities for skill development, they won’t be able to associate and support social causes that help in development of a nation,” she said.

“COVID-19 has led to disruptions in educational, economic and social spheres of life, that has thrown up many challenges for young people. The UNICEF – YuWaah – SAP India partnership will empower young people to help them harness their creativity, problem-solving and leadership to make a difference in their lives and in their communities. This partnership will address urgent challenges young people face by equipping them with life skills, social innovation and career guidance,” said Dr. Yasmin Ali Haque, UNICEF Representative in India.

ServiceNow and Deloitte Extend Strategic Alliance Agreement to Transform Employee Experiences for the Next Normal

ServiceNow and Deloitte announced that the two organizations have extended their strategic alliance to help customers accelerate their HR Service Delivery (HRSD) efforts and provide employees with exceptional digital experiences, anywhere. Together, ServiceNow and Deloitte will conduct joint go-to-market activities to support ServiceNow’s HRSD solution through global sales, enablement, and training activities. Leveraging its demonstrated track-record of success with ServiceNow and other Human Resource technology solutions, Deloitte will collaborate with ServiceNow to expand product features and functions which create business value at scale for joint customers.  

The need for business functions to work together has never been more important. ServiceNow’s HRSD solution complements Deloitte’s market-leading Human Capital and HR Transformation consultancy offering to unlock enterprise productivity and streamline a unified, omnichannel employee experience to manage their work needs, access important resources and raise inquiries. By eliminating silos across the workplace and allowing engagement with HR, IT, Legal and Workplace Services in one place, the Now Platform reduces friction for a truly unified employee service experience, so employees can focus on the meaningful work they were hired to perform.

“We looked to ServiceNow and Deloitte to help simplify our global HR processes while accounting for country-specific localization requirements that would enable Citibank to digitally transform our HR operations,” said Jeff Bienstock, Global Head of HR Technology, Citibank. “The joint expertise enabled us to offer easy access to information for employees and HR agents globally so we can continue to deliver world-class service with minimal disruption.”

As many organizations shift from a “work from home” to a “work from anywhere” model, ServiceNow’s HRSD solution enables them to better manage inquiries across a remote workforce and ensure critical events like virtual onboarding, offboarding and transitions are seamless. Deloitte will use ServiceNow HRSD to deliver a world-class digital employee experience solution to help clients transform their HR Service Delivery Functions and enterprise-wide Employee Experiences.

“The Now Platform has become the industry standard for digital transformation, and our customers are embracing technology to help them create simple, unified digital experiences for employees, from anywhere,” said Blake McConnell, SVP of Employee Workflow Products at ServiceNow. “Our strategic alliance with Deloitte will help accelerate the ‘next normal’ workplace so employees can stay connected and productive while working from home. As an Employee Experience leader, ServiceNow can cut across multiple G&A functions, providing employees with seamless, integrated solutions that help to empower their safe return to the workplace.”

“In recent months we’ve seen the needs of HR technology and workforce experiences rapidly evolve as organizations adjust to a virtual workforce. This shift has underscored the importance of operating in a digital-first environment to improve productivity and the flow of work while minimizing disruption across internal functions,” said Michael Stephan, Principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP, Leader of Deloitte’s US Human Capital practice. “Today as we expand our collaboration with ServiceNow, we do so with the work and workforce in mind, bringing more HRSD solutions to market to provide integrated digital experiences and reduced silos and help our clients transition to the future.”

In 2019, Deloitte and ServiceNow announced a strategic agreement to accelerate organizations’ enterprise digital transformations. The companies jointly developed new products, assets and solutions built on the Now Platform to help joint clients deliver seamless digital experiences across the enterprise, improve workflows and enhance productivity. In January, ServiceNow announced that Deloitte is the strategic go to market partner for its Financial Services Banking solution where ServiceNow and Deloitte will transform the way banks operate.

Strong reactions by CEOs on BJP IT vision document

As most election manifestos go, BJP's IT Vision Document, recently put up on its official website, promises a lot - ranging from generating 1.2 crore new IT-enabled jobs in rural areas, introducing IT in education and healthcare services, to making available laptops at Rs 10,000 to 1 crore students and setting up Digital Security Agency.

Following are some of the reactions to the vision document from CIOs and CEOs CXOtoday spoke to.

Vivek Kulkarni, former IT secretary of Karnataka, who is now the chairman and CEO of BrickWork India, said, "The IT vision of BJP will really come handy for creation of new job opportunities in the IT and ITeS sector in India where we still have a large percentage of unemployed graduates struggling to provide their services for the growth of the country."

Sudhindra Mokhasi, founder & CEO of e-Sutra, sees the document as overall a comprehensive and ambitious statement of intent, especially the open source preference, e-governance thrust, wider last-mile internet access, 100 million low-cost computers, education and financing.

"In a few cases it's probably better to let the incremental approach like converting post offices into e-service centers and creating higher density of Internet kiosks to take root before attempting ambitious plans like smart phones for bank access for all BPL population," Mokhasi said.

Similarly more robust envisioning needs to be done to ensure that providers of the solutions are predominantly Indian IT companies so there is a full 360 degree of benefit to the Indian society," said Mokhasi.

In all, however, most of these vision statements are significantly focused on the infrastructure supply, education and empowerment side of the divide," he said.

Terming the document a positive intent, Ramakrishna Voruganti, managing director of Barracuda Networks (India), said, MNIC will help traceability of transactions and will result in better tax collections.

"Having an open standard and adaptation of open source will level the playing field for enterprises. The cyber security initiative and the establishment of DSA will provide enormous possibilities for Indian IT security professionals while providing opportunities for organizations like Barracuda Networks, who have been in the forefront of countering cyber threats," Voruganti said.

Ajay Dhir, CIO of Jindal Steel, said the multipurpose national identity card (MNIC) with unique citizen identification number for every Indian citizen is a good initiative. "Besides, the other schemes like IT-enabled jobs in rural areas, 1 crore students to get laptop computers at Rs 10,000 are all good schemes. Overall, one can say that it is a progressive vision."

The initiative to provide IT-enabled jobs was also welcomed by Voruganti especially since the government is acting a catalyst rather than as an agency.

"The linking of PHCs, schools and colleges, use of IT in agriculture, rural development, SMEs, retail trade, informal and unorganised will greatly impact at the grassroots, will improve the off-farm employment in the villages, and prevent labour migration," he said.

Some of the measures are populist, but that is expected during the polls, was the general sentiment about BJP's IT Vision Document.

CXOtoday