ZEE5 Partners with Applicaster for App Development in India

OTT digital platform ZEE5 has entered into a partnership with Applicaster, one of Israel's leading global cloud platforms for media app development and management in the media space. Applicaster will work with ZEE5 to enhance the latter's user interface and experience, leveraging its state-of-the-art tech, industry knowledge on the evolving trends across the globe.

It will also enhance ZEE5's functionality, offering a seamless content viewing experience to the viewers. "India is the world's fourth largest app market and one of the most crowded one for OTT players. ZEE5 has been a frontrunner in bringing the best-in-class experience for subscribers seeking entertainment content in multiple Indian languages.

"And today we have become the first to harness the capabilities of Israeli tech start-ups and their expertise in the mobile entertainment space. With the warming up of relations between the two advanced countries, we are confident of building a winning proposition for all involved," Tarun Katial, CEO, ZEE5 India said in a statement.

He added the journey over the past year has given the company immense insights in terms of the changing behaviour of OTT viewers. "This knowledge complemented by the technological prowess of Applicaster will result in a delightful experience for the ZEE5 viewers the world over," Katial said. Applicaster co-founder and CEO Jonathan Laor said he is thrilled to partner with ZEE5.

"Throughout our discussions, ZEE5's passion for delighting their customers through rich user experiences was clear and matched our beliefs perfectly. We are thrilled to be chosen as ZEE5's partner of choice in realising their desire to minimise development time and integrate the best of breed components necessary to deliver an industry leading user experience to their 61.5 million active users," Laor said. Both the parties signed the MoU in the presence of Pavan Kapoor, Indian ambassador to Israel at the Indian Embassy in Israel.

Kapoor said deals like these will set the tone for more collaborations between the two countries going forward in the field of innovation and technology. "India and Israel share a deep bond of friendship with extensive commercial linkages. Collaborations like this will bring our people closer and enable learning and mutual prosperity," the ambassador added.

Survey Finds Chief Data Officers Are Prioritizing the Right Things, But Higher Strategic Focus Is Required

Chief data officers (CDOs) and their data and analytics (DA) teams are focusing on the right priorities, but they are not yet achieving the best balance of their various responsibilities to deliver superior organizational performance, revealed a recent Gartner, Inc. survey.

“CDOs are generally focused upon the right things, but they do not have the right mix of activities,” said Debra Logan, distinguished research vice president at Gartner. The survey found that while the creation of a data-driven culture was ranked the No.1 critical factor to the DA team, there were conflicting rankings for technical and nontechnical activities (data integration and data skills training), and strategic and tactical activities (enterprise information management [EIM] program and architecting a DA platform).

Gartner’s fourth annual CDO survey was conducted online from September through December 2018, among 257 CDOs, chief analytics officers and other high-level data and analytics leaders from across the world.

While the implementation of a DA strategy was ranked the No. 3 most-critical success factor by 28% of CDOs, another strategic activity – creating a data literacy program – was ranked only 12th. This was despite the fact that, in the same survey, ‘poor data literacy’ was rated the No. 1 roadblock to creating a data-driven culture and realizing its business benefits.

“The low ranking of strategic activities can be explained because the majority of organizations are at maturity level 3 or higher for EIM and business intelligence and analytics,” said Ms. Logan. “While the survey shows that information governance is important, especially master data management (MDM), CDOs should never lose sight of the business outcomes they are trying to achieve. Focusing exclusively on governance, even MDM, is not enough to succeed as a CDO.”

Emerging Technologies Are Important to DA Strategy Success

A majority of CDO respondents rated machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) as critical at 76% and 67%, respectively. Sixty-five percent of respondents were using or piloting ML, while 53% were using or piloting AI. Less than 20% of CDOs surveyed were using or piloting smart contracts (18%) or blockchain (16%).

“CDOs are embracing emerging technologies to enable and drive data program success,” said Ms. Logan. “The survey respondents reporting superior overall organizational performance compared to competitors or peers were more likely to use ML to drive revenue growth, attract and retain top talent and translate customer or business needs into high-value products or services.”

Only 8% of CDOs Are Directly Measuring Financial Value of DA

In terms of measuring the value of their organization’s information and data assets, only 8% of CDOs were measuring the financial value of DA. Forty-five percent of CDOs reported they produce some data quality metrics – such as accuracy, completeness, scale and usage – while 29% said they measure the impact of key information and data assets on business processes, such as KPIs.

“The measurement of information value clearly leans toward data quality. There is room for improvement as nearly a fifth of CDOs surveyed have no objective measurement of information assets,” said Ms. Logan. “Organizations need to realize that those who measure either the financial value of key information and data assets or measure the impact of these on business processes are nearly twice as likely to report superior performance in DA team effectiveness.”

The survey also found that the majority of CDOs generated value from information assets to improve internal processes (60%) and increase the value of products and services (57%), with a focus on efficiency. Fifty percent of CDOs reported a focus on enhancing new offerings by innovating with information. Other means to realize value from information assets also lagged. Nineteen percent of CDO respondents were selling or licensing information via data brokers or online marketplaces and only 17% were selling or licensing to others for cash.

Overall, respondents using information and data assets to generate indirect economic benefits were more likely to report superior organizational performance when engaged in improving or developing new offerings, in increasing the value of their products/services, and in exchanging information with business partners for goods, services or favorable contract terms.

Ms. Logan added that a successful CDO need to emphasize the importance of:

Providing measurable business outcomes – for example, how DA can reduce customer churn as well as deliver specific outcomes such as data quality.
Balancing tactical and strategic initiatives especially when it comes to technology implementation (the emphasis is not on implementation, which CDOs should leave to the CIO).
Experimenting with digital emerging technologies and looking for the best use cases to develop past the pilot stage.

Boeing and Rossell Techsys Celebrate Dual Milestones for V-22 Osprey and AH-64 Apache

Rossell Techsys celebrated dual milestones with Boeing [NYSE: BA] for the V-22 Osprey and AH-64 Apache programs. Rossell Techsys delivered the 2000th harness for the V-22 Osprey and the 1000th electrical panel for the AH-64 Apache to Boeing. 

 “We are proud to partner with Rossell Techsys to deliver high quality components for some of Boeing’s most advanced platforms like the Osprey and Apache,” said Salil Gupte, president, Boeing India. “Boeing remains committed to investing in India’s supplier capability and a local work-force across manufacturing engineering services, training and skills-development, to create a world-class aerospace ecosystem in India.”

Rossell Techsys has been a long-standing Boeing supplier in India, since 2013. The contract for AH-64 Apache components was awarded to Rossell Techsys in March 2017, and the V-22 Osprey components in August 2017. In January 2019, Rossell delivered the 15,000th wire harness to Boeing for the AH-64 Apache.

“Rossell Techsys is committed to strengthening aerospace manufacturing in India. Partnering with Boeing has enabled us to further develop and position ourselves as a globally competitive aerospace supplier,” said Prabhat Kumar Bhagvandas, chief executive officer, Rossell Techsys.

Boeing has invested significantly in the development of a robust aerospace ecosystem in India, with over 160 existing industrial partners including Rossell Techsys, who are raising the bar to deliver world-class quality, cost-efficiency and productivity as they become an important part of the company’s worldwide supply chain for some of the most innovative products in the world. Boeing provides technical knowledge and support to suppliers, helping them deliver components of the highest quality standards for the global aerospace industry. Boeing sourcing from India has quadrupled over the years and now stands at $1 billion.

Boeing also partners with Rossell Techsys on skilling initiatives to prepare a future ready aerospace workforce. These curriculums and initiatives are training workers on aerospace-relevant skills to support India’s growing aerospace ecosystem.

Mars Rover MIT Excel at the World Meet at Utah in the US

Mars Rover Manipal, the student rover design team from Manipal Institute of Technology blazed a glorious trail at the 13th edition of University Rover Challenge held in Utah, USA from May 30 to June 1, 2019.

MRM, Manipal Academy of Higher Education’s official team powered by Mouser Electronics and Echjay Industries was the winner among the Asian challengers and finished 8th globally out of the 84 teams that participated. MRM also won the Barainca award for the best Science team in the competition.

For the 4th consecutive year, MRM has been amongst the top 36 international teams and was one of the only 5 teams from India to make it to the final stage of URC’ 19 at the Mars Desert Research System along with IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, VIT Vellore and SRM.

University Rover Challenge (URC) is the world's premier robotics competition for undergraduate students. Held in the desert of southern Utah, URC challenges interdisciplinary student teams to design and build the next generation of Mars Rovers.

These rovers are designed to be capable of traversing and performing tasks on Mars-simulated terrain, in goals of aiding human exploration of the red planet. The competition requires participants to complete 4 missions -- the Science Mission, the Autonomous Traversal mission, the Extreme Retrieval and Delivery Mmission and the Equipment Servicing mission.

The team was led by Safal Ajmera and V. Sai Shyam. The rest of the team members are:

Siril Teja Dukkipati, Ajay Rangan, Tushaar Neb, Nishesh Singh, Ayush Parashar, Akash Yadav, Anandmayi Bhongade, Somesh Paranjpe, Kshitij Patil, Neil Doshi, Mohammed Mohsin H, Ved Chitnis, Agniv Saikia, Gaurav K H, Tanmay Shukla, M Aditya Sharma, Aditya Kolpe, Laksh Pahuja, Anmol Kumar, Karthik Datta, Mohammad Abdul Sulaiman, Sai Raghu Teja Davuluri, Sheena Kapoor, Vedant Dhonagde, Atharv Mudur, Kavya Banerjee, Abhijit Alok, Rakshit Tewari, Rachit Shah, Shaun Meric Menezes, Bladen Martin, Harshit Sharma, Sayantika Paul, Akanksha Kaushal, Akshat Tulsani

"It was a wonderful experience of leading a team in an international competition. It was great to see the hard work by the team members has brought success. We got to learn many things and just wanted to make everyone proud. The feeling of representing the institute and country cannot be expressed," said Safal Ajmera.

"The team has been remarkable at work since the start. It has been a wonderful experience during the competition, lots to learn and showcase. At the end, we just wanted our well-wishers to be proud of everything we did," remarked the other leader of the team, V. Sai Shyam.

Bangaluru Rates Dell, Amazon and Tanishq as Top 3 Trusted Brands

TRA’s Most Trusted Brands Report, India Study, 2019 (BTR 2019), in its ninth edition, has listed the country’s Most Trusted 1000 brands based on a primary study with consumer-influencers, based on TRA’s proprietary model of Brand Trust. Out of a total of 27 brands from the city listed in the report, Dell is Bengaluru’s as well as All-India Most Trusted Brand. The city’s 2nd most trusted is Amazon (All-India rank 4th) followed by Tanishq at 3rd.Titan, ranked 4th in the city (All-India rank 39th) is also a leader in the Category of Watches. The report has sevenbrands from the Super Category of Internet; 3 each from Apparels, Personal Accessories and Technology that make it to the list.

N. Chandramouli, CEO, TRA Research on emphasizing the unique differences in each of the cities said, “The internet-tech scenario and the entrepreneurial spirit in Bengaluru are booming. An evident shift can be seen from software-factory model to a startup mindset. To remain competitive in today’s economic landscape, brands have to keep innovating and nurture trust-relationships with its customers. Bangalore remains ahead in this and can be evidently seen in the national listing in TRA’s Brand Trust Report 2019.”

Several Bengaluru brands have risen significantly in ranks over last year. The consistent brands from Bengaluru include Foodpanda(up 516 ranks from last year), Swiggy (up by 440 ranks), Big Basket (up 290 ranks), Bharti Axa(up 245 ranks), Café Coffee Day(up 119 ranks), Canara Bank(up 119 ranks).

Seven brands from the city lost Brand Trust ranks with Wrangler leading the fall with 639 ranks down from last year, BPL down 526 ranks, Myntra eroding 289 ranks and Wipro slipping 219 ranks

TRA’s Brand Trust Report 2019 is the result of a comprehensive primary research conducted on the proprietary 61-Attribute Brand Trust Matrix of TRA. This year’s study involved 15,000 hours of fieldwork, and generated 5 million datapoints and 9,000 unique brands, from which the top 1000 brands have been listed in this year’s report. The study covered 2,315 consumer-influencers across 16 cities in India. Indian Statistical Institute is TRA’s statistical partner for the research methodology.

In the All-India list Dell has been ranked as India’s Most Trusted Brands in TRA’s Brand Trust Report, 2019. It is followed in second position by Jeep, which also becomes the Most Trusted Automobile Brand of India this year. LIC and Amazon are ranked 3rd and 4th and Apple iPhone is India’s 5th Most Trusted Brand, rising 116 ranks from 2018 to also lead in Mobile Phone-Series. The mobile phone brand of Samsung is at 6th spot and the leader among Mobile Phones. LG’s Televisions makes to 7th rank and is also the leader in the Consumer Electronics Super-Category. The 8th Most Trusted Brand rank is held by Aviva Life Insurance, Maruti Suzuki is at 9th position and is followed by State bank of India at 10th slot. The largest number of brands are from the Tata Group and it has 23 brands in among the Most Trusted list. Godrej has 15 brands, Amul has 11 and Samsung is represented in 8 Categories. LG, Honda, Cadbury’s, Nestle, Parle and Dabur are represented by 7 brands each. A significant achievement for Dabur is that its brands are leaders in each of the Categories represented.

Yes Bank Wins Multiple Accolades for Excellence in Transaction Banking at the Asian Banker Awards 2019

Yes Bank has won multiple awards at The Asian Banker’s Choice and Asian Banker Transaction Awards 2019 programme recently held in Thailand.

*      Best Trade Finance Bank in India – The Asian Banker Transaction Awards 2019 (5th  year in a row)
*      Best Financial Supply Chain Management in India - YES BANK and DTDC Express Digital Wallet solution - The Asian Banker Bankers Choice Awards 2019
*      Best Corporate Trade Finance Deal - YES BANK and Welspun Global Brands Ltd Paperless Export solution - The Asian Banker Bankers Choice Awards 2019

Yes Bank has been awarded the Best Trade Finance Bank in India for the fifth year in a row (2015-2019) for achieving significant growth in terms of business performance and a testimony to the Bank’s strategic focus on consistently delivering value- accretive Trade Finance solutions across its client base. The Bank has contributed significantly to India’s dynamic trade finance ecosystem and demonstrated strong ability to cater to large supply chain partners. Its innovations amongst private banks include propagating fully digitalized solutions include Seamless processing of cross border trade transactions, its adoption of the BOLERO platform on the electronic Bill of Lading (e-BL) processing and its use of DLT technology for Supply Chain Financing and cross border remittances.

YES BANK has been awarded the Best Financial Supply Chain Management in India for developing an integrated solution allowing DTDC Express to substantially reduce their Days Sales Outstanding (DSOs) from franchisees hereby providing positive impact to the working capital cycle besides streamlining their re-conciliation process.

YES BANK also bagged the Best Corporate Trade Finance Deal award for the unique first-of-its-kind digital solution involving end to end electronic presentation of export documents. The solution has enabled Welspun Global Brands Ltd to eliminate the need to exchange physical documentation, thereby reducing turnaround time from 10 days to real-time for all parties involved, while establishing a precedent for faster, secure, cost efficient settlement of cross-border trade, resulting in optimization of working capital.

Speaking about the awards, Mr. Asit Oberoi, Senior Group President & Global Head & Chief Experience Officer, Transaction Banking Group, YES BANK said “The prestigious recognitions from The Asian Banker, Media & Research house from Singapore, are the true testament of the Bank’s leadership in the Transaction Banking and Payments domain - backed by robust innovation and technology frameworks. I am also particularly pleased that this is also the 5th successive year where YES BANK’s expertise in this space has been recognized as the Best Trade Finance Bank in India. YES BANK is proud to be at the forefront of such innovations along with its clients like DTDC Express and Welspun Global Brands Ltd”

The Asian Banker Awards are widely acknowledged by the financial services industry as the highest possible accolade available to professionals and banks in the industry as recognized in the Asia Pacific region. A stringent three-month evaluation process based on a balanced and transparent scorecard had been used to determine the winners.

Earn JPMiles Across Airlines Worldwide with Jetprevilege's Air Reward Offering 'Select Flights'

JPMiles, the reward currency of JetPrivilege, has become even more compelling with the launch of a unique platform ‘Select Flights’. Members can now earn JPMiles across airlines worldwide to any destination, on any flight and for all seats booked on this platform.  JetPrivilege, the award-winning loyalty & rewards programme, part of the Etihad Aviation Group, has introduced the offering ‘Select Flights’, powered by EaseMyTrip.com, one of India’s leading online travel aggregator. Members can also book flights for their loved ones, family or friends, and earn JPMiles for their entire booking. 

Commenting on this development, Manish Dureja, Managing Director, Jet Privilege Private Limited said, “At JetPrivilege, it is our aim to maximise value for our members through our rewards currency. ‘Select Flights’ offers a fantastic opportunity for our members to accumulate JPMiles much faster and on the entire booking as well. We are certain that this innovation will amplify our ability to fulfil the aspirations of our members and enhance their overall experience. This is also a unique innovation in the industry and talks about our ability to continuously challenge the status quo as a leading loyalty programme in this region.”

As an exclusive offer, JetPrivilege is offering its members 1000 Bonus JPMiles on their first flight booking until 15th July, 2019 with ‘Select Flights’ via  www.jetprivilege.com.

Commenting upon this association, Nishant Pitti, CEO and Co-Founder, EaseMyTrip said, “Joining hands with JetPrivilege will make ensure that customers get the best value for their loyalty points. As a reliable travel agency of India, we are committed to fulfilling the hopes of our customers and offering them further opportunities to gain maximum value for their JPMiles. Loyalty and rewards allow travelers to enjoy additional benefits from choosing to fly. It gives us confidence that coming together with JetPrivilege will bring immense value for our customers and we would be able to expand our consumer-base.”

JPMiles will be credited only for air bookings which are not cancelled before travel and where the member has provided their JetPrivilege membership number at the time of the booking. The flight bookings on the websites www.jetprivilege.com, flights.jetprivilege.com and corresponding mobile websites are powered by EaseMyTrip ("EaseMyTrip") and are brought to you by Jet Privilege Private Limited.

JetPrivilege members can continue to redeem their JPMiles to fly free across airlines worldwide, any destination, any flight and any seat in India and globally through the `Select Flights’ platform.