Superbrands Invites Startup Entries Through Superstartupsindia.com

After being the highest accolade for over 20 years for top brands across the world, Superbrands now announces SuperStartUps for India. Superbrands invites entries from startups in India to be part of the SuperStartUp honour. This initiative will enable startups to differentiate their brands from an idea perspective and engage users in their brand journey. Startup brands can aim to stand a class apart by being recognized not just for their idea, but also presentation, execution and user satisfaction.

The SuperStartUp Council in India will be led by legendary brand builder turned online entrepreneur, Shivjeet Kullar who has over 100 national and international awards to his creadit. It will also features names like Prahalad Kakkar India’s top Ad Film Maker,  Deep Kalra, Founder, Make My Trip, Sanjiv Bikchandani, the poster boy of the Internet world, Valerie Pinto, CEO, Weber Shandwick and Anmol Dar, Founder, Superbrands India - to name a few.

In India the SuperStartUp program will effectively judge efficacy, awareness and reputation of online brands. A SuperStartUp status would motivate teams, reassure users and send a clear signal to Investors and VCs.

Speaking on the launch of the initiative Anmol Dar Chairman Superbrands India said, “India is fast rising as the Startup destination in the world. With the burgeoning of more than 700 brands each year it has become extremely important to differentiate, with credibility and understand from users themselves. We have chosen to partner with Shivjeet in this ecosystem as he not only understands brands and their architecture but is also an entrepreneur in the startup world himself who is keenly aware of the challenges and nuances of being in the ecosystem”.

Commenting on the initiative and launch in India Shivjeet Kullar stated, “We are truly excited with the opportunity to bring SuperStartUps to India. Superbrands simply put, sets the standards for trust, respect and breakout performance. We aim to work with netizens from across the country who will shortlist and score startup brands. Letting consumers be the true judge”.

“In India the SuperStartUp program will effectively judge efficacy, awareness and reputation of online brands” explains Professor Suresh Ramanathan, Consumer Behaviour Scientist from the University of Texas, who has architected the research progress, “netizens spread across 25 cities in India, will shortlist and score startups – because after all, the true judge is the consumer.’

For over 20 years Superbrands has been the definitive honour for top brands across the world. From Australia to Argentina, Germany to Ghana and UAE to USA in over 50 countries over the globe Superbrands has been the ‘Oscar’ of the business world. In India too it has been an accolade that the best companies have sought, won, and used in their advertising and communication. Superbrands aims to work with the burgeoning startup ecosystem to launch SuperStartUps for India.

LatestOne.com launches PTron Tronite One smart watch at Rs 1499

LatestOne.com, India’s No.1 Mobile and Tech Accessories e-tailer has announced the launch of PTron Tronite One on their site. This is in line with PTron’s strategy of continuously innovating and introducing new products to meet rapidly changing customer needs and demands. Tronite One is a muti functional mobile device designed to be worn on the wrist.

This new generation smart watch is offered by PTron and it is exclusively available on LatestOne.com, India’s number 1 e-tailer in mobile and tech accessories.

The Founder and CEO of LatestOne.com Ameen Khwaja said that, “PTron products are appreciated by our customers and their demand is growing. PTron has introduced 3 different models of smart watches in the last one year and Tronite One is the fourth in a sequence of continuously improving models. The best part is its competitive price of Rs 1499 with high quality performance making it the best value for money product in its category. The sales of PTron smart watches and fitness bands have already crossed the one lakh mark. We understand the needs of our customers, which is branded products at affordable prices. We will continue to meet our customers expectation by continuous innovation.”

Accenture to Help AU Financiers Offer Digital Banking to Indian SMEs

Accenture will help AU Financiers (AuF) set up as a small finance bank (SFB) to provide retail lending, small- and medium-enterprise agriculture product financing and savings products to Indian consumers. AuF, a Jaipur-based, non-banking finance company, was one of 10 companies granted an in-principle approval for an SFB license by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in September 2015.

Accenture will help AuF realize its vision of creating a differentiated, customer-centric bank that emphasizes its mobile digital capabilities as a core feature of its banking services. “As a small finance bank with a digital-first approach, our aim is to offer an enhanced customer experience by capturing customer imagination through our products offering and services levels,” said Sanjay Agarwal, MD, Au Financiers. “We worked closely with Accenture to develop the strategy and overall roadmap for our transition into a small finance bank, and look forward to providing state of the art banking services that combine the best of an online and offline experience to our customers.”

“Many of the 233 million unbanked population are reliant on smart phones that they could be using for banking services if such services were more readily available to them,” said Rishi Aurora, managing director, Accenture financial services, India. “Many banks would like to offer more services but don’t have digital technologies that cost-effectively enables more financial inclusion, or a strong backbone of internal processes. We look forward to helping AuF build a solid foundation from which to extend such services.”

Accenture will customize, integrate and support AuF’s new core banking platform and enterprise resource planning software (ERP) licensed from other third parties by AUF. The core banking platform, with online and mobile banking digital capabilities, will enable AuF’s customers to operate their accounts from anywhere in India. The ERP software will help AuF optimize its business operations, control work process flows across internal departments, and effectively manage reporting needs.  Accenture will also implement an analytics-rich customer resource management (CRM) solution to help AuF manage customer records and relationships, and create cross sell and upsell opportunities. Accenture will also work on Digi-Bank model for Au Bank.

This new contract follows a management and technology consulting services agreement the two companies signed in April. Accenture helped AuF conceptualize and construct its product offerings and create the blueprint for an IT architecture that meets its long-term requirement to provide scalability and depth of offerings.

Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Complete Security Solution for Manufacturing Cos from Siemens & Atos

Within the framework of their strategic digital alliance since 2011, Siemens and Atos cooperate in the field of cyber security for industrial companies. Together, they provide customers in the manufacturing and processing industries with comprehensive security services and products for production and office IT. The offer ranges from security assessments and the installation of protective mechanisms, such as firewalls, through to the continuous monitoring of plants and offices. These services help industrial companies to keep up with continuously changing threats to their security and to safeguard the productivity of their enterprises. The increased networking of industrial infrastructures ("Industrial Internet of Things" or "Industrie 4.0" as it is known in Germany) and production and office IT make adequate protective measures essential.

            

Peter Weckesser, COO of the Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Business Unit, explained, "Siemens offers a comprehensive range of solutions, products and services for industrial security. Our cooperation with Atos now enables us to support our customers from the automation to the office level, and to reduce security risks. This gives us an important foundation for the digitization of industry."

Pierre Barnabé, COO Big Data and Security, from Atos, said, "The digital transformation requires holistic security concepts. Siemens and Atos invest and complement each other optimally because of their respective competence in production IT and office IT."

The cooperation provides industrial companies with integrated solutions for production and office IT in four phases: assess security, implement security, manage security and certify security. In the "assess security" phase, both Siemens and Atos conduct assessments to determine the actual situation in a company. The results form the basis for protective measures, jointly proposed by Siemens and Atos as an integral implementation plan, including such elements as the installation of firewalls and virus protection programs, with which the security level can be raised even further. To manage security, Siemens and Atos will also support customers with a range of proactive services to successfully counteract ever-changing cyber threats. These include, for example, the continuous monitoring of plants and offices. Finally, both partners will support industrial companies with their certification in the certify security phase.

VPA-Enabled Wireless Speakers Worldwide Spending Will Top $2 Billion by 2020

End-user spending for the worldwide virtual personal assistant (VPA)-enabled wireless speaker market will reach $2.1 billion by 2020, up from $360 million in 2015, according to Gartner, Inc. By 2020, 3.3 percent of global households are forecast to have adopted a VPA-enabled wireless speaker.

 “Last year, the VPA speaker market essentially consisted of end-user spending focused entirely on Amazon Echo, a wireless speaker with an array of embedded microphones to capture and respond to users’ far-field voice commands for Amazon’s VPA — Alexa. Later, Amazon introduced the Tap and Echo Dot,” said Werner Goertz, research director at Gartner. “By 2020, competitors’ products and third-party implementations of leading VPAs (Google Assistant, Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana) will likely have ramped up.”

 VPA speakers, especially those that are wall-powered, allow for multiple devices to be owned by a household and installed in a home. The value of the device is derived from the ease of use and the natural, intuitive interaction model. If this value is recognized by all household members, it will drive the desire to have terminal access throughout the entire house, not just in one room.

 “A significant number of households could therefore have more than one unit, or even one per room,” said Goertz. “With smaller form factors, price erosion over the years and potential subsidization models, we expect that 75 percent of households with VPAs will have one, 20 percent will have two, and five percent will have three or more devices by 2020.”

Today’s VPAs are limited in vocabulary and contextualization, but they will improve in the future. While speech-to-text conversion has matured since the early days of voice recognition, it is the semantic interpretation of the spoken word, the contextualization of the vocal expression and the rendering of a meaningful response that still require optimization.

Gartner expects that by 2020, a natural-language interaction could be delivered that satisfies users and creates scenarios with significantly improved value. Consequently, adoption of VPA interaction, especially in commercial applications, will occur and drive unit sales for VPA speakers.

“The widespread adoption and proliferation of VPA speakers could result in a significant number of online shopping orders in the home being initiated from a VPA speaker, rather than a laptop or mobile device,” said Goertz. “Vendors that are able to create an intimate, familiar relationship with the user will be able to contextualize ordering to the extent that preferred products will be proposed, and processing details will already be captured. As a result, the user’s propensity to purchase products and services using VPA systems should increase, transactional friction could be reduced and the overall user experience would be improved.”

Royal Salute Celebrates Royal Feasts With New Artistic Gift Pack

Royal Salute, the exceptionally crafted and aged Scotch whisky, has unveiled the first in a new range of limited edition gift packs that bring to life the unique heritage and rituals which were there to celebrate unity and peace between the British and French crowns in 1520. The pack that has been launched in October 2016 contains a bottle of Royal Salute 21 Year Old and, under the guidance of British designer Tom Lane, illustrates the feast of the Field of the Cloth of Gold.

Raja Banerji, Assistant Vice President, Marketing, Pernod Ricard India, said: Royal Salute is a brand that exudes refined luxury and rich traditions. The Royal Salute limited edition festive pack has been handcrafted to artistically present the splendid legacy of Royal Salute which is appreciated by the connoisseurs of the modern world. The unique design element of this pack in the form of “The Field of the Cloth of Gold” is an expression of the sheer prestige which is meant for those who appreciate the finer things in life.

Tom Lane is one of Britain’s foremost calligraphy artists and illustrators, with over a decade of experience in the industry. His work is instantly recognisable, encompassing intricate pack designs and playful typographic posters. Tom took inspiration from the rich awnings at the site of a historic meeting held in 1520 between the kings of England and France. The royal feast is still remembered for the rich gifts and temporary palaces that were built of such glittering wealth that the site was dubbed ‘the field of the cloth of gold’.

Royal Salute’s signature whisky – Royal Salute 21 Year Old – is held within the gift pack, alongside a fine crystal glass which further adds to its Ultimacy.  Created to celebrate the 21-gun salute – a tradition of firing guns for special royal occassions – the product combines rare malt and grain whiskies aged for a minimum of 21 years, giving connoisseurs a complex and sophisticated drinking experience.

Tom Lane said of the collaboration: “The visual history of the British royal family is a superbly rich hoard, from which it was a joy to seek inspiration for Royal Salute’s new limited edition gift pack. The Royal Salute partnership was an extremely rewarding project, giving me complete creative freedom and allowing me to produce a design which I’m proud to see all over the world.”

Peter Moore, Prestige Brand Director at Chivas Brothers, commented: “The new Royal Salute festive gift pack continues our brand’s celebration of the British culture and heritage, whose values have been intrinsic to Royal Salute since its foundation in 1953. The new series will give collectors the opportunity to enjoy our shared heritage, through an exploration of historic royal banquets, of which The Field of the Cloth of Gold is surely the most renowned.”

It is priced in Delhi – MRP Rs 14,900.

Embassy & Hilton Signs Mgt Agreement for Dual-Branded Hotels in Manyata Business Park

Following on from the success of Hilton Bangalore Embassy GolfLinks, the Embassy Group, India’s leading real estate developer, today announced the signing of a management agreement with Hilton for its second hospitality project – A 586-room dual-branded hotel within the Embassy Manyata Business Park that features a Hilton Hotels & Resorts and a Hilton Garden Inn brand hotel. This will be one of the largest dual-branded hotels in India.  It will be developed and owned by the Embassy Group and managed by Hilton. 

The hotel’s plan and design are in an advance stage of finalisation, targeted to start construction by 2017 and to be completed by 2020. The hotel will be part of a mixed-use development which will also house a Food and Beverage hub and two commercial towers. The entire complex will sport an iconic design by the Singapore based Andy Fisher Workshop.  The dual-branded hotel will comprise 586 rooms in total, with 250 rooms at the Hilton and 336 rooms at the Hilton Garden Inn. It will also feature 46,000 sq. ft. of flexible Meetings and Events space that accommodates up to 1500 people.

Located at the entrance of the business park, the hotel will offer two price points in order to serve the needs of global organizations housed in and around the Embassy Manyata Business Park.  Talking about the signing, Jitu Virwani, Chairman & Managing Director, Embassy Group, said, “We are delighted to expand and strengthen our partnership with Hilton. Our first hospitality project with Hilton at Embassy GolfLinks has been a great success and we are looking forward to extending our partnership to newer heights.”

Commenting on the development, Sartaj Singh, President, Embassy Hospitality, said “Partnering with Hilton in the development of two more hotels is part of an ongoing, consistent business strategy around the hospitality business. Hilton is a global leader in the hospitality sector and it is reputed for its remarkable service and attention to detail. We also plan to replicate a similar scale project at the 100-acre Embassy TechVillage coming up in East Bangalore.”

Adding at the occasion, Mike Holland, CEO, Embassy Office Parks, said, “Hilton has been our partner for over two years and having a Hilton Hotels & Resorts brand hotel at Embassy GolfLinks has been a great experience. We are committed to enhancing the value of our office park and being strong enablers to our occupiers’ businesses at Embassy Manyata Business Park. This partnership will help in providing a great synergy with our international corporate occupier clientele of 175 international corporates across our commercial parks.”

On signing the agreement, Guy Phillips, Senior Vice President, Development – Asia and Australasia, Hilton, said, “We are very pleased to extend our strong partnership with the Embassy Group and bolster the success of the Hilton Bangalore Embassy GolfLinks through the management agreement for a 586-room dual-branded hotel project featuring two brands – our flagship Hilton Hotels & Resorts brand and popular upscale Hilton Garden Inn brand. We continue to see increasing brand awareness across our brand portfolio in India and this agreement underscores our long-term commitment to this country as a strategically important market where we now operate 15 hotels across 11 cities covering most major markets in the country”.

Kaushik Vardharajan, Vice President, Development – India, Hilton, added, “We are delighted to sign this agreement with the Embassy Group for one of the largest dual-branded hotels in the country. The hospitality industry in India offers exponential potential. We continue to pursue a multi-brand and multiple-partners strategy to drive sustainable growth.  Currently, our pipeline in India includes 16 hotels with 2,700 rooms.” 

The dual-branded hotel at Embassy Manyata Business Park will offer an exceptional location, spacious and distinctive accommodation and the complete range of business and recreational facilities and services.  This will be complemented by the assurance of quality that Hilton offers. The hotel will be an iconic destination for people working within the 58 international corporate occupiers housed in the Business Park, for people living in the high growth North Bangalore micro-market, and for business travellers who live and work in the city for extended periods of time.