Waste Management - IGG Now On Cloud Platform

Mindtree, a global technology services company, today announced the launch of ‘I Got Garbage’ (IGG - www.igotgarbage.com), a cloud-based platform aimed to simplify waste management and transform every waste picker in Bangalore, India into an entrepreneur through a structured and governed waste management framework.

India’s garbage is mixed waste and the lack of segregation makes it difficult for efficient recycling. Fragmented communities of waste pickers manage waste by working in hazardous and inhuman conditions. Today, waste pickers go to the garbage heaps, segregate it and sell it to the waste collectors for recycling. The unhealthy working conditions led to waste pickers lead a life with an average life expectancy of 39 years with 1 in 3 infant mortality. To add to this, waste pickers do not have access to the mainstream supply chain of waste thereby reducing their daily income to less than a dollar.

IGG partners with social businesses to transform waste management into an organized sector and provide dignified living and working conditions for the waste pickers. It enables waste pickers to offer waste management services by organizing themselves into franchises and participate in online marketplaces where waste generators (households, apartments, offices) can procure waste management services. It also engages urban communities in solving the solid waste issues, and facilitates access to social security schemes for the waste pickers.

IGG offers capabilities such as an ERP for waste pickers, social engagement platform for citizens, marketplace for waste management services, and a waste picker benefits tracker. The initiative is a result of collaboration between Mindtree, Hasiru Dala, Waste Wise Trust and seven other social businesses.
 

Nalini Shekar, Co-Founder, Hasiru Dala said, “Mindtree is helping us build structure and processes into our model which enables us to scale and provide more dignified employment to waste pickers. Over the last six months, we have been using the platform and are seeing the positive impact of technology.”

Prashant Mehra, Chief Architect of Social Inclusion, Mindtree said, “Our aim is to collectively dignify the livelihood of waste pickers by helping them setup micro-businesses and ensure less landfills for all. With the rollout of I Got Garbage, we are building a single window for Bangalore citizens to explore specific solutions to the issue of waste management.”

Firstsource and giffgaff Win Outsourcing Partnership of the Year

Firstsource Solutions, a leading global provider of Business Process Management (BPM) services, is proud to announce that its partnership with giffgaff has been awarded the accolade of “Outsourcing Partnership of the Year” in the European Call Centre & Customer Service Awards 2014. This prestigious award was presented to Firstsource and giffgaff at a gala ceremony that took place at Old Billingsgate, London on June 12.

Firstsource is the first outsourcer to win this award two years in a row, having won it with BskyB last year. It also marks a second triumph for the Firstsource / giffgaff partnership, which won the Outsourcing Center's Outsourcing Excellence Award 2013 for Best Business Process, presented in Texas in May last year.

giffgaff is a virtual mobile network which uses the O2 network. Having launched 5 years ago, it is committed to delivering a better way of doing mobile. Its unique member service model means that the vast majority of help is delivered through self-service or help from other members of the giffgaff community but for queries that members can’t resolve themselves, a team of 73 Firstsource agents are on hand to help.

The judges selected the Firstsource/ giffgaff relationship from a shortlist of outsourcing partnerships that had to stand out from the competition by demonstrating:

• A clear understanding of the business aims and challenges and how the partnership can help meet them;

• Consistency of message across the business and outsourcer;

• Open, two-way communication channels between the outsourcing frontline and the client decision makers;

• Evidence of effective integration, investment in the relationship, and transparency.

Iain Regan, Executive Vice President Sales & Marketing at Firstsource, commented: “It is a great honour to win this award two years running. It recognises a strong partnership between two organisations that share a vision of continuous improvement and innovation in service. I am enormously proud of our giffgaff team who have worked with such dedication and commitment to achieve our shared goals. This is a great demonstration of how like-minded companies can grow together and see the benefits increase as their business relationship matures and deepens.” 

Ashley Schofield, Marketing & Experience Chief at giffgaff, said: “We’ve been working with Firstsource since our launch in 2009 and since then the relationship has gone from strength to strength. A clear focus on quality by Firstsource has delivered real experience benefits. Working together we have reduced the number of service queries we receive.  In turn this helps us keep costs down and allows us to continue to offer great value to our members. Firstsource have been integral in underpinning the rapid member growth we have experienced over recent years and the ongoing commitment to our partnership is driving new innovation into our service model, the latest being the launch of home working member service agents.“

Sony Launches High Speed 2TB Hard Disk Drive

Sony India today announced the launch of its new PSZ-HA2T Hard Disk Drive (HDD), expanding its line of portable storage drives to the existing range of 500GB and 1TB (PSZ-HA50 and PSZ-HA1T) and a 256GB solid state drive (PSZ-SA25). 

The PSZ-HA2T HDD is designed for professionals who need high-speed and highly reliable data storage for back-up and transfer of content in the field. The device comes with a high transfer speed ideal for transfer of content even with high production formats like 4K. The PSZ-HA2T HDD has a leading transfer speed of 120MB/s for HDD.

The PSZ-HA2T HDD designed to feature one USB 3.0 and two FireWire 800 ports comes in a stackable form factor to dispel heat. Further, the drive is compliant with industry standards of IP5X and IPX4 of dust and splash proof performance due to its silicon cover and hard casing that can be used in a range of environments and conditions.

Furthermore, the PSZ-HA2T drive is compatible with Windows and Mac operating system. The HDD comes with pre-installed formatting software, allowing users to easily switch between HFS+, NTFS and FAT32 formats. The portable PSZ-HA2T drive comes with a portable storage formatter, USB 3.0 cable, FireWire 800 cable and hard case.

83% CEOs Believe Supply Chains Are Not Optimal

Digitally-connected consumers have turned retail models upside down as omni-channel shopping has transformed supply chain from an important business concern to a mission critical one. So profound is this change that 50 percent of CEOs recognize that their supply chain can be a strategic differentiator. However, 83 percent of worldwide CEOs believe that their retail supply chains are currently “not optimal” for today’s changing retail environment.

  

As mobile commerce comes of age, one of the biggest challenges facing CEOs is managing the transformation to omni-channel retail. However, only 34 percent of CEOs consider the rise of omni-channel shopping to be an external threat, while only 22 percent said it will have a direct impact on their organization.

“The rise of omni-channel is one of the most transformational shifts that has occurred in retail in recent times,” said Baljit Dail, chairman of the board and interim CEO, JDA Software. “Retailers who don’t understand the strategic alignment of their supply chain with consumer expectations are in danger of becoming non-competitive. This isn’t about making a tweak to the operating model, it requires a massive change. The good news appears to be that there is an emerging group of visionary CEOs who understand that staying competitive during this inflection point requires a dramatic shift of their current operating models to deliver operational effectiveness and top- and bottom-line growth.”

CEO Priorities Focused on “Traditional” Growth Areas

CEOs say their top priorities are centered on more traditional areas of growth – by entering into new regions and markets, by opening more stores, or through mergers and acquisitions. These priorities highlight potential missed opportunities for more than two-thirds of CEOs who failed to consider enhancing distribution capacity and supply chain as a key contributor to drive profitable growth.

Competitive Threats Tops List of CEO Concerns

CEOs think three fundamental risks will have the most impact on their organization over the next three years: increasing competitive threats (41 percent), margin erosion and cost reduction (39 percent), and attracting and retaining customers (24 percent).  

These answers reveal a potentially sizable gap between recognized risk and a strategy to address that risk. While there are plenty of exceptions, maintaining a strong customer value proposition is directly tied to supply chain proficiency.

“Our Foot Locker supply chain is changing in the face of multi-channel shopping. We’re making it more responsive and faster,” said Ken Hicks, president and CEO, Foot Locker. “We are looking at new ideas and new ways to distribute goods, not just to get them to the store, but also to the customer.”

CEOs Who Focused on Supply Chain Delivered Higher Margins at Lower Costs

Fifty percent of CEOs recognize that their supply chain can be a strategic differentiator. The survey also revealed that CEOs who focus on optimizing their supply chains have 15 percent lower supply chain costs, less than half the inventory levels and more than three times shorter cash-to-cash cycles.

"Supply chain has moved from the back office to the store front as consumers seek to seamlessly shop across virtual and brick-and-mortar channels," says Bruce H. Rogers, chief insights officer, Forbes Media. "Our research highlights both the opportunities and challenges today's retail CEOs face in mastering this all-important discipline. To do it well, CEOs are shifting their capital investments and business priorities as well as applying innovations to drive a more strategic supply chain that's aligned with their business growth."

Only 15 percent of CEOs believe that their supply chain today is resilient enough to address the threat of external disruptions. While CEOs who have focused on supply chain have seen results, there is an opportunity for additional investment in the space versus other categories of IT spending.

“Taking a cautious, incremental approach to this kind of market disruption can be a deadly course of action,” said Dail. “There seems to be a clear disconnect between the actions required to make the transformation to today’s retail environment with what is being currently done by many of these companies. With speed as the new currency, accelerating time to market and responsiveness through an agile, connected supply chain must be closely aligned with growth priorities to successfully compete and defend profit margins.”

Airloyal A New Way To Drive Brand Engagement

In an increasingly crowded market with brands jostling for customer attention across various platforms, the challenge of customer retention is an increasingly difficult one, and rightfully so. For example, a Waggener Edstrom Communication report found that Indian consumers who engage with their favourite brands online spend 187 percent more than those that don't. The challenge then, for brands is to constantly seek newer and more cost-effective ways to drive consumer engagement and loyalty.

Which is where Airloyal comes in to address this challenge and help deliver measurable engagement for advertisers through its platform, Ladooo, that uses Mobile Prepaid Airtime as a reward to drive consumer attention, engagement and action. With 95% of Indian consumers (800mn) spending 10 percent of their daily wages on using prepaid mobile connections, Ladooo offers a value proposition for app developers, brands, consumers, and finally, mobile connection providers as well. Through the rewards that it gives users of the platform, the company has set the ball rolling towards its vision of “1-1-1” - own the attention of one billion people, for one minute everyday and give away one billion dollars a year.              

Commenting on the launch of Ladooo, Raja Hussain, Founder and CEO, Airloyal said, “Gone are the days when brands enjoyed a monopoly over the space they operated in. Consumers are definitely the king now, but that’s no reason for brands to not be able to reach out to the people they want to without adveritsing and marketing budgets going through the roof. Airloyal and the solutions we bring out will pan out to be a win-win for, both, the companies as well as individuals that engage with us.”

Prior to Airloyal, Raja was a part of the core founding team at Roamware Inc., a Cupertino based Mobile Carrier Technology company, and held various roles in the company over his 12 year tenure. At Airloyal, he is joined by Nithyanandan Radhakrishnan (Co-Founder & Chief Of Strategy of Airloyal),a former Senior Vice President and Member of Infosys' Executive Council, responsible for all of Infosys Legal and Compliance Affairs, globally, in over 40+ countries, across five international stock exchanges; Pandurang Nayak (Chief of Products at Airloyal), a former business head of BoxTV.com, a Times Internet company that aggregates Hollywood, Bollywood and Regional language content;; and Prasanna Jaganathan (Chief Of Engineering And Co-Founder of Airloyal), who was formerly the Head of Engineering at Funspot, a mobile social entertainment company.

Despite having started only three months ago, Ladooo registers several thousand new users every day, with more than 40% daily retention, and has given away rewards worth 50,000 dollars to its users. Roughly 30 brands engage with the platform; including, Goibibo, TicketGoose, iPlay, Cleartrip, Flipkart, Quikr, The Times Group, Vodafone India and Bharti Airtel, among others.

“We launched seven years ago and serve 3000 destinations across the country by aggregating over 700 bus operators that ply around 10,000 buses through 20,000 routes. We offer the most visual experience for bus ticket booking on the move,” said Arun Athiapan, CEO, TicketGoose. “We engaged with Ladooo to specifically target students in Chennai & Bangalore for our user acquisition campaign and thanks to the platform’s excellent targeting capabilities, our campaign exceeded expectations. We look forward to leveraging the platform further as we build out the user base for our mobile app!”

Nokia & Airtel Partner To Offer Android Applications For Its XL Phones

Nokia said here that it has partnered with Airtel to offer six months of free download of Android applications on its newly launched Nokia XL phone. 

"To help our consumers experience these apps, we are offering free downloads on Airtel from the Nokia Store and several popular third-party apps stores," Nokia India Sales Director Marketing Viral Oza, said in a release here today. 

The plan allows up to 500 MB of free usage through which consumers can downloadon Airtel from the Nokia Store and several popular third-party apps stores," Nokia India Sales Director Marketing Viral Oza, said in a release here today. 

The plan allows up to 500 MB of free usage through which consumers can download their favourite apps from the Nokia Store and the 1Mobile store. 

This offer is available to consumers with a fair usage policy of up to 500 MB per month. 

On the Nokia XL, consumers can access and download a wide array of Android apps, which can be side loaded as well as downloaded from Nokia's own store and several popular third- party app stores. 

Exempt SAD On IT Hardware Components, says MAIT

IT hardware industry body MAIT today asked the government on exemption of Special Additional Duty (SAD) on all components used by manufacturers in the sector.

The industry body also suggested extended concessional excise duty, similar to mobile handset manufacturing, to boost production of PCs and tablets, it said in a statement.

“This budget marks the first litmus test propelling the development agenda. The past years have witnessed an economic downturn and a downturn of domestic growth,” said MAIT President Amar Babu.

“The Budget should address issues curtailing investment sentiment and bring renewed optimism for sustained economic growth, he added.

MAIT Executive Director Anwar Shirpurwala said the budget should give boost to local manufacturing, early implementation of goods and service tax (GST) and credible policies to attract investments.

“Plugging lacuna with respect to Inverted Duty Structures would encourage manufacturing in India. The government should exempt SAD on all components used by a manufacturer of IT hardware,” MAIT recommended.

Reducing the rate of duty applicable on indigenous manufacturing of laptops and tablets is a much-needed move to boost computer manufacturing in a country where manufacturing is disproportionate to demand, it said.

“We recommend a clarification to be issued with regard to software licensors involved in sale of pre-packaged software,” it added.

The industry body said inconsistency in VAT rates for same goods in different states is leading to undue hardships for the manufacturer, while calculating different rates for states. This difference in rates causes a diversion of trade discriminating free flow of trade within the country.

“MAIT sought clarity on the date of implementation of GST with uniformity in procedures and documentation across the country. Also, uniformity in GST rate as well as threshold for levy across goods and services and across the centre and state laws may be published at the earliest,” it said.