1010 Innovations From Tata Companies In 2013-14

Tata Innovista 2014, a group-wide programme, held annually by the Tata Group Innovation Forum (TGIF) to encourage, recognise and showcase outstanding innovations done by Tata companies across the globe, received over 1700 entries, this year.

From a total of 56 Tata companies who submitted their entries in Tata Innovista 2014, 31Tata companies reached the regional rounds. The entries at the regional rounds, held in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Jamshedpur, London, Washington DC, and Singapore, were judged by eminent external experts. 83 teams from 25 Tata companies were shortlisted for the global round that took place in Mumbai on April 23, 2014.

In the finals, awards were given under four categories:

Promising Innovations

This category recognises innovations that have been successfully implemented during the year and have accrued benefits. It has four sub-categories, New Product innovations, New Service innovations, Core Process innovations and Support Process innovations. Tata companies from across the world have introduced 1010 such innovations in the year 2013-14. Out of these 1010 entries received, 43 innovations reached the final round of Tata Innovista 2014. The estimated combined economic benefitof these 43 finalist innovations isUSD 1 billion on an annual basis.  This is the first time when this benefit has been was tracked and measured. The Promising Innovations awards went to:

*  New Product innovations: Jaguar Land Rover

*  New Service innovations: Two teams from Tata Consultancy Services and one team from Tata Steel won in this category

*  Core Process innovations: Tata Steel Europe and Tata Consulting Engineers

*  Support Process innovations: Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited

The Core process and Support Process innovations category received most entries, 345 and 376 respectively. This signifies that the concept of innovation is getting embedded at Tata companies moving beyond product innovations to processes like HR, finance, supply chain, IT, brand, marketing and logistics, among others. New Product and New Service categories saw 164 and 128 entries respectively, indicating that Tata companies are increasingly looking at market driven innovations. 

The Leading Edge – Proven Technologies

The participation received under another defining category, The Leading Edge – Proven Technologies, indicates a healthy pipeline of promising business ideas that Tata companies are looking at putting out in the future. 354 entries were received under this category which recognises and rewards the most innovative technology that is being developed and piloted, but is yet to be commercialised. This year the Leading Edge awards went to:

*    Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Steel and Jaguar Land Rover

Dare To Try

Showcasing a growing culture of risk-taking and perseverance across Tata companies, the Dare To TRY category at Tata Innovista saw 176 entries. The Dare To Try category recognises and rewards most novel, daring and seriously attempted ideas that did not achieve the desired results. The awards went to:

*  Tata Steel, Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Chemicals

Design Honour

To increase the focus of Tata companies on DESIGN THINKING, a new category called Design Honour was introduced this year. This category was further divided into two subcategories: Touch Design and Feel Design. More than 200 entries were received in this category in the very first year. The awards went to:

*    Jaguar Land Rover and Titan Company

According to Dr. Mukund Rajan, Member – Group Executive Council and Brand Custodian, Tata Sons, “Tata Innovista has become a very good indicator of the success of the innovation drive in the Tata group — and of the inherent capabilities of its people. The trends observed in the 2014 edition signify a growing culture of innovation in the group with elements of Frugality, Customer delight, Service innovation and Collaboration. We have observed that almost 70% of the participants are in the age brackets of 20-30 and 30-40 years, indicating that the innovation eco-system in the group is encouraging and empowering young managers to think out of the ordinary. Interestingly, a significant number of projects were collaborative projects, signifying that Tata companies are increasingly able to come together to leverage the synergies a diverse group like ours offers.”

The finalists were judged by a panel of internal and external jurists, comprising of distinguished personalities of the likes of Mr. Ravi Kirpalani, Managing Director, Castrol India Ltd., Ms. Vinita Bali, Managing Director, Britannia Industries, Mr. Ashok Gupta, Executive Director & CEO, Indo Rama Synthetics, Ms. Ireena Vittal, Independent Strategic Advisor, Blufin Advisors, Mr. Michael Foley, Managing Director, Foley Designs Pvt. Ltd, Mr. Sudhir Jain, Director, IIT Gandhinagar, Mr. Tony Harper, Head – Research & Advanced Systems, JLR, Mr. Ananth Krishnan, Chief Technology Officer, TCS and Mr. Debashish Bhattacharjee, Group Director, Research Development and Technology, Tata Steel,    among others.

In 2006, the Tata group started the process of capturing and celebrating innovations of Tata companies through Tata Innovista. The objective of this programme is to capture innovations in Tata companies, encourage innovators and innovations in Tata companies, share the levers used by them to identify and execute innovation projects, and create a culture of risk-taking. In order to support Tata companies in their journey of innovation, TQMS, a division of Tata Sons, formed the Tata Group Innovation Forum (TGIF) in 2007. The objective of TGIF is to encourage, inspire and help create a culture that promotes innovation in Tata companies. Over the past six years, TQMS, under the guidance of TGIF, has been connecting Tata companies all over the world, stimulating innovative thinking and encouraging collaborative research.

Redmond's Mindtreee Delivery Centre To Focus On Cloud, Mobility & IMTS

Mindtree, a global information technology solutions company, expanded its US operations by opening its newest delivery center in Redmond, Washington. The state of art facility will focus on building talent and delivering cutting edge solutions in the areas of Cloud, Mobility, Infrastructure Management and Testing Solutions (IMTS).

The 13,000 square-foot facility, located adjacent to Microsoft’s corporate campus, has an initial seating capacity of 125 with room to increase that capacity quickly over time.

“There is an increasing demand from our clients to provide right-sourcing options from a combination of onsite, offshore, or onshore locations,” said Scott Staples, President Americas at Mindtree. “We have already proven, with our right-sourcing approach, that we can deliver superior solutions at lower costs and at a faster pace. USDC-Redmond allows us to further scale the delivery of solutions in the U.S., create high value jobs in the State of Washington and help us continue to leverage the best and brightest from the global talent pool.”

This is Mindtree’s second delivery center in the U.S. The first was established in Gainesville, Florida in 2012, pioneering the right sourcing trend and now serving more than 15 clients with a specific focus on Agile Development. The US delivery centers, being in a US time zone complement Mindtree’s existing global delivery centers, enhancing our ability to deliver time-to-market and cost advantages through right-sourcing.

“Mobile and Cloud are playing a transformational role in our client’s business roadmap. Between the talent available in Redmond, our academy of excellence and existing pool of experts, we will be able to deliver meaningful solutions onsite,” said Kamran Ozair, Executive Vice President and Head of Redmond USDC, Mindtree. “The presence of Microsoft, one of our largest clients, makes Redmond a strategic location. Our experience engineering next generation solutions for Microsoft give our new delivery center a very strong foundation,” he added.

RDK Reference Deployment Suite for Operators

Tata Elxsi – a global product engineering services provider that works with leading MSOs, OEMs and semiconductor companies across the broadcast spectrum and a forerunner in RDK space - today unveiled its RDK Reference Deployment Suite to operators adopting RDK.

The Reference Design Kit (RDK) is a pre-integrated software bundle that provides a common framework for powering customer-premises equipment (CPE) from TV service providers, including set-top boxes, gateways, and converged devices. The RDK is supported by more than 125 licensees, is being widely adopted by TV service providers, STB manufacturers and SoCs vendors across the globe.

Tata Elxsi provides a comprehensive set of services which includes App Development, Localization, Porting & Validation, System Integration and Deployment support to customers in RDK space. Tata Elxsi has established its leadership in RDK space by directly participating in commercially deployed RDK solutions. With a pool of RDK experts, partnerships, necessary infrastructure and ready to use solutions; Tata Elxsi is well positioned to support to RDK ecosystem partners in developing and deploying RDK based solutions.

Tata Elxsi’s RDK Reference Deployment Suite is a scalable reference implementation for RDK rollout, enabling operators to quickly adapt their client / back-office for RDK deployment. The package includes an HTML5 Application Framework, RDK specific servers and a set of HTML5 apps - and is aimed to enable operators to accelerate RDK deployment.

“As a leading system integrator in RDK space, we enable operators to strategize and accelerate RDK rollout in alignment with their business and technology goals. Being a key partner to RDK Management and some of the leading equipment, chip and third-party software vendors in RDK space, Tata Elxsi is well positioned to support operators in taking advantage of RDK” – says Thangarajan M, Vice President & Head - Broadcast Business, Tata Elxsi.

We welcome all RDK licensees to connect with us at Cable Show 2014 to learn more about our RDK based solutions and services.

Secure Remote Access For Red Hat Employees

Gemalto, a leading digital security company, has been selected by Red Hat to implement digital security tokens that enable secure remote access for the company’s more than 6,000 employees. Red Hat is the world's leading provider of open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to reliable and high-performing cloud, Linux, middleware, storage and virtualization technologies. Gemalto’s Protiva token integrates easily with Red Hat's strong authentication technology for employees connecting to the company's virtual private network (VPN) and security assertion markup language (SAML) enabled applications.

Red Hat is at the forefront of open source technology, making it essential that their sensitive information is protected by more secure measures than just a username and password. Utilizing Gemalto's security form-factor Red Hat receives secure remote access, with an extra layer of security. With the importance Red Hat places on open standard solutions, the interoperability of Gemalto's solution gives Red Hat the flexibility to easily integrate it into their existing and future IT systems. Implementing multi-factor authentication offers advantages on top of the immediate security benefits to enterprises; it is also a preventative measure that can reduce costs from helpdesk calls related to password resets. 

"We needed a security solution that provided the same standards we work to promote, and Gemalto's product and customer support throughout the deployment enabled our members to easily integrate the token into our multi-factor authentication process without missing a beat," said Jay Madison, Senior Director, Information and Services, Red Hat.

"Gemalto and Red Hat share the same mission of innovation as well as the dedication to providing high-performance software products and services, such as future-proof cloud computing solutions," said Thomas Flynn, Vice President of Identity and Access for Gemalto North America. "The two-factor authentication market is growing rapidly and we are seeing that in more and more enterprises, strong authentication has shifted from being considered a best practice to now being a security policy obligation."

SaaS Largest Cloud Market Segment In India

The public cloud services market in India is on pace to grow 32.2 percent in 2014 to total $556.8 million, an increase from 2013 revenue of $421 million, according to Gartner, Inc. Spending on software as a service (SaaS) will total $220 million in 2014, growing 33.2 percent from last year.

SaaS is the largest overall cloud market segment, followed by infrastructure as a service (IaaS), totaling $78 million and business process as a service (BPaaS), totaling $75 million.

"Growth of cloud services in India reflects the demand for new sourcing models," said Ed Anderson, research vice president at Gartner. "We expect high growth rates across all cloud services market segments in India."

BPaaS is expected to grow from $62.3 million in 2013 to $204 million in 2018. SaaS is expected to grow from $166 million in 2013 to $636 million in 2018, and IaaS is forecast to grow from $58 million in 2013 to $317 million in 2018.

The total cloud market in India in 2013 was $421 million, and the total market for public cloud services in India is expected to reach $1.7 billion in 2018.

South Asia To Witness More Of IDC Expansion

International Data Corporation (IDC) the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets has expanded its footprint in South Asia by entering Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. With fast growing economies and a rapidly expanding middle class, both countries are on an IT adoption curve as evidenced by IT market growth across various categories.

Eva Au,Managing Director, Asia Pacific, IDC Asia/Pacific said, "According to IDC, the expected PC CAGR in the next 5 years for Bangladesh is 7% and Sri Lanka is 5%. It is a stark contrast against APJ and Worldwide with an expected CAGR of 0.3% and -0.3% respectively. The South Asia region compared to APJ and Worldwide has seen some phenomenal growth. For instance, PC consumption in both countries is expected to grow in the near future as majority of customers will buy it as a first time purchase. While many users in both countries still prefer to own one device that is suitable for all computing activities either consumption or creation, acceleration in broadband will create potential for exponential growth of ultra mobile devices like Tablets and Smartphones."

She further added, "With such large market potential, it goes without saying that IDC will increase its research efforts in this part of the world."

Jaideep Mehta, Vice President & General Manager, IDC South Asia expressed his delight, " Both these countries are becoming increasingly important IT markets, and IDC is seeking to fulfill its mission of entering markets ahead of the curve, and then producing world class market intelligence for the benefit of its customers. This move will bring us closer to the local markets and ensure accurate tracking of important IT domains."

With over 50 years of history, IDC has been providing strategic insights to help clients achieve their key business objectives. More than 1,000 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries.

CCSB Goes Live With Polaris’ Intellect Banking Solution

Chief (Cambodia) Specialized Bank PLC (CCSB), a bank providing financial solutions to corporate, small and medium enterprises and agriculture-based customers in Hong Kong, has gone live with Polaris’ state-of-the-art Intellect® Core Banking, Lending, Trade and Treasury Solution in Cambodia. CCSB chose Polaris Financial Technology Ltd, a leader in products, solutions and services that enable unprecedented operational productivity for the global Financial Services industry, to implement its Core Banking, Lending, Trade, Treasury, Armor (Security Shell) and Integrator (Middleware for interfacing), enabling it to commence its operations in Cambodia.

Intellect's UBS implementation in Chief Specialized Bank is designed to facilitate the growth plans of the bank in terms of unique positioning, business scaling, product depth and meeting ever evolving customer expectations. Polaris' highly scalable Core Banking Solution for emerging markets has paved the way for CCSB to have a competitive edge over competitors, which is essential for steady business growth. Intellect UBS enables the bank to increase its efficiency, performance, security and transparency of its day-to-day operations allowing its customers to enjoy a higher level of service. The Intellect software has facilitated smooth integration with other systems and has provided a platform for ensuring risk control through its various processes and controls.

Commenting on this initiative, Loke Wai Ming, CEO of Chief Bank said, “The rollout of the new integrated Core Banking platform has created the technological framework to cater to all requirements of Chief Bank as we rapidly expand our geographic presence and support our ambitious plans to diversify and expand operations in the future. Polaris' domain experience in Core Banking implementation and Intellect's rich functionality and scalability, robust technology and open architecture makes Polaris's solution a true business enabler. Intellect solution will enable us to transform into a complete financial services provider, supporting our ambitious plans to diversify and expand operations in the future.”

Commenting on the successful implementation, Jaideep Billa, Joint CEO, Consumer & Institutional Money Management, Polaris Financial Technology Ltd said, “We are extremely happy to partner with Chief Specialized Bank PLC to launch their business operations in Cambodia. Our Intellect solution is a seamlessly integrated platform covering Core Banking, Lending, Trade, Treasury and Internet banking that manage the complete life cycle of banking operations with ease and comfort. Intellect Universal Banking Solution will enable CCSB to increase its efficiency, performance, security and transparency of its day to day operations allowing its customers to enjoy a higher level of service with ease and comfort. Supporting the vision of the bank, this implementation enables them to move towards next generation banking technology that provides them with a competitive service edge and faster go-to-market.”

Polaris Intellect UBS’ rich functionality designed for banks, straddles the entire range of banking operations from basic Core modules, General Ledger, Operational Accounts, Deposits, Loans and Advances, Security Services Module, L/C Module, Counter Operations, Clearing Operations, Remittances, to other focused modules such as Integration Middleware, MIS and Analytics, Audit Trail and Access Control with Single Sign-on. This unique solution is perfectly suited to develop, modify and launch innovative products and services, thereby improving the go-to-market timeline in a rapidly developing economy such as Cambodia.