SAP Labs Among Top 5 India’s Best Companies to Work

SAP Labs India has ranked fifth in the Great Place To Work Institute’s annual Best Workplaces List – India’s Best Companies to Work for survey carried out in conjunction with The Economic Times. Additionally, the company was ranked as ‘2nd Best in Diversity & Inclusion’ and ‘3rd Best IT Company’ among 575 participating companies across 20 industries this year.

Great Place To Work Institute’s annual Best Workplaces List – India’s Best Companies to Work for, is part of the world’s largest and most respected study of workplace excellence and people management practices. This list, based on credible information collected from over 200,000 employees spread across 20 different sectors and using well researched methods, is considered the most definitive employer-of-choice and workplace quality recognition that an organization can receive.

“SAP Labs India is proud to be recognized for its people-centric culture by The Economic Times and The Great Place to Work Institute,” said Clas Neumann, Senior Vice President and Global Head of the SAP Labs Network. “We aim at building a sustainable and diversified workforce that is essential for driving growth and innovation in an organization.”

SAP Labs India’s people-centric initiatives are aimed at building talent from within the organization, fostering innovation, and inspiring leadership at all levels. These include diversity and inclusion initiatives such as enabling women to integrate themselves back into the workforce after maternity leave which resulted in the reduction of attrition amongst women from 31 percent in 2010 to 0 percent in 2013. Additionally, SAPlings is a day-care center to make the lives of working parents easier as well. Another initiative includes the launch of an Employee Benevolent Fund, a purely voluntary, employee-driven and managed initiative that is used to provide financial support to employees and their families in times of unexpected and unforeseen emergencies.

“The Great Place to Work survey strives to recognize and make organizations aware of workplace practices and philosophies that are set by great employers,” said Prasenjit Bhattacharya, CEO, Great Place to Work Institute. “We acknowledge the sustained effort made by SAP Labs India to build a contributory work environment for its workforce to innovate and achieve professional success.”

Bangalore School Wins Adobe Youth Voices Award

Adobe Foundation recently announced the winners of the third annual Adobe Youth Voices (AYV) Awards, a global online competition inviting students aged 13 to 19 to use digital media to express their vision for driving positive change in their communities. A record 2,400 students from 50 countries submitted projects this year on social issues like bullying, body image and climate change. First and second place winners were chosen by a luminary panel of judges, while Audience Award winners were determined by 200,000 votes cast online.

There were 6 finalists from India. Sri Kumaran Children’s Home in Bangalore won the Audience Award in the Animation category. The winners, Sesh Sadasivam, Abhishek Krishna and Inavamsi B. Enaganti created an animated video titled ‘TechJunk’ which talks about the issues of e-waste and pollution caused due to it.

Speaking on the occasion, Tridib Roy Chowdhury, Senior Director, Products, Adobe India said, “We are overwhelmed by the thought provoking work put together by the students. Adobe is delighted to provide a platform to these creative minds to voice their opinion and we are elated with the response and participation Adobe Youth Voices awards have received this year. With the AYV program we are looking at making young people think creatively, communicate effectively and work collaboratively with digital media.”

AYV Award winners are chosen in seven categories: animation, documentary, photo essay, music video, narrative, poetry and campaign poster. Youth can submit projects individually or as teams working with an AYV educator. First and second place winners are named in each of the seven categories by a diverse panel of judges, including luminaries working in art, film and other creative fields, alongside AYV educators, student alumni and Adobe representatives.

Speaking about their win, Sesh Sadasivam said, “We made this animated video for the Adobe Youth Voices Awards 2014 to make our audience aware about the rising problem of e-waste and its disposal. We are very happy to have won the Audience Award in the Adobe Youth Voices Awards 2014 and we hope that this will help to spread the word to a larger global audience. Through Adobe Youth Voices, we had an opportunity to understand how our peers across countries perceive the world and the positive changes they wish to bring in society and we are thankful to Adobe for providing us this opportunity.”

Speaking about the program, Jayanthi Sridhar, Teacher, Sri Kumaran Children’s Home said, “This win is a result of the hard work and dedication of the team. It was a pleasure to see them work in a coordinated manner and balance academics along with this project. I am thankful to our Principal who provided us the right guidance and support whenever required. The team’s systematic approach and wise time management helped them demonstrate their thoughts in a creative way and I am grateful to Adobe Youth Voices Program for giving an opportunity to these students who could showcase their talent and create something that was close to their heart. I would like to encourage every student to participate as AYV is a wonderful platform to create an impact at a global level on issues that they feel strongly about.”

“Since its inception, AYV has impacted the lives of more than 190,000 students around the world. It has empowered them to make a difference in their communities and build their skills in digital media that will help them get ahead,” said Michelle Crozier Yates, Director, Corporate Responsibility, Adobe. “With what they’ve learned, 88% of AYV youth tell us they feel confident about their ability to ideate, collaborate, adapt and express their points of view. 95% believe creativity is important to their future success.  We look forward to making the AYV program even more globally accessible.”

AYV Award winners and their affiliated schools and organizations will each receive a range of prizes, including donations of Samsung Galaxy Tablets, copies of Adobe CS Production Premium Suite, a 1-year Adobe Creative Cloud membership and a monetary donation to a charity of their choice.

NASSCOM 10,000 Showcase 6 Big Data Startups In Hyderabad

  

To address the growing business opportunities in the Analytics and Big Data space, National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) today held the 2^nd edition of the NASSCOM Big Data & Analytics Summit 2014 in Hyderabad. With the theme of “Industrialization of Analytics”, the focus of the summit was to share thought leadership on how to build analytically-mature organizations with analytics embedded at the business core & across the business value chain. The summit witnessed industry leaders share best practices on processes, tools, technology, technique and applications used in the context of analytics and also insights upon how to build India’s Analytics talent strength. 

Other Highlights:

* Global Analytics to grow at 12% CAGR from $96 billion in 2014 to $121 billion in 2016

* Analytics services outsourcing: CAGR 14.3% from $42 billion in 2012 to $71 billion in 2016

* Analytics Software: CAGR 10% from $35 billion in 2012 to $51 billion in 2016

Analytics today has proven to be the crucial ingredient of success for organizations across industries. With the combination of networking, big data and advanced analytics, the industry is working on big ideas and a renewed vision to help businesses transform to being digital enterprises. It is also increasingly becoming the vital business dimension which offers customer solutions and improves operations. Interestingly, over the years a large number of start-up companies are looking at analytics to drive innovation and transform business processes and operations. To showcase some of the cutting edge work being done, the NASSCOM 10,000 Startups program also presented six promising big data startups on the sidelines of the summit which hold tremendous potential for the future.

Speaking at the occasion, R. Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM, said, “Big data offers a unique suite of advanced analytics and helps derive meaningful insights from customer data to increase sales, better target customers, improve reach and gain competitive advantage. The Indian market is still in early stages of adoption of analytics and there is a need to industrialize use of analytics to derive long term value. However, with surplus talent, established infrastructure, and a mature ecosystem, India is on its way to become a global hub for analytics. Going forward, industry stakeholders will need to work on a 6 point agenda which involves raising awareness, creating talent, variabilizing cost of offerings, standardizing tools and technologies, setting up cross functional analytics teams and getting C-level buy in, to drive industrialization of analytics in India. At the summit we aim to share perspective on the agenda to redefine analytics landscape of India and the importance of industrialization of analytics among enterprises in India.”

NASSCOM also launched a report in partnership with Blueocean Market Intelligence, titled “Institutionalization of Analytics in India: Big Opportunity, Big Outcome” on the sidelines of the summit. The report analyses the current scenario, trends in the India market, factors driving adoption, challenges faced by both users and suppliers. The report additionally showcases global and India examples of how firms have implemented analytics and the benefits gained. Further, it sets out a roadmap on what needs to be done by stakeholders involved, to industrialize this technology within enterprises in India.

Twice As Powerful Multimedia Tablet Lenovo A7-30 Now In India

Lenovo, a leading PC player has launched A7-30, an affordable multi-media tablet that offers you the complete entertainment experience. Now, watch the colours on your screen come alive while viewing the latest movies owing to the A-730’s bright 17.78 cm (7) display. Listening to your favourite songs will be twice as much fun thanks to its dual front-facing speakers that offer louder, natural, distortion-free sound.

At only Rs 9,979, the A7-30 will continue to surprise you with its superior performance. You can check your email, surf the web and download tons of apps at the same time, thanks to the A7-30’s quad-core processor that makes your experience extremely smooth and responsive.The A7-30 also equips you to stay connected with friends and family at all times with its voice calling and worldwide roaming features. And it won’t die on you when you need it the most, owing to its longer battery life that provides 8 hours of WIFI browsing on a single battery charge.

Speaking on Lenovo’s innovation in tablets, Rohit Midha, Director, Tablet Business Unit, Lenovo India, “While the PC market still represents a huge opportunity, most of the potential for new growth will be in the PC Plus space. Tablets form the backbone of Lenovo’s strategy to win as a PC Plus player. The A7-30 is our attempt to offer a complete package with performance and aesthetics available at an unbelievable price point. This device is a testimony of Lenovo’s track record in reliability.”

The A7-30 offers double the amount of storage with 16 GB in built memory (expandable upto 32 GB), which means you can download and store more apps as well as an incredible amount of content. This pocket sized wonder is available in white, offering a thinness of 10mm and weight of only 327 grams, making it perfect for reading and web-surfing on the go.

Positive Year For A3 Multi-Function Printer Market in India: IDC Report

The Indian economy in CY2013 went through a challenging phase with high inflation and a slowing growth. This coupled with the state and national elections created a slow-down of the overall economy and ICT spending.

Despite these challenges, the copier market in India has shown resilience. According to  International Data Corporation (IDC) the India Quarterly State-Level Copier Tracker shipments were 1.07million units in CY2013. This represents a 1% decline compared to previous year CY2012.  One ray of hope came from the color printer segment, showing 20% year-on-year growth, with mid-segment Average Selling Value and above price-band models. 

In Maharashtra, Mumbai contributed more than 50% of the state’s copier sales output. Being the financial, commercial and  entertainment capital, Maharashtra contributes a good quantity of sell-through from the mid-segment in addition to the entry-level segment (which contributes the maximum in every state.) 

In Delhi, the national capital and center for Government, Defense and Public Sector,  technology procurement continued.  Given almost all copier vendors are headquartered in and around Delhi, they can maximize their focus in these customer segments, particularly in Q1, which is the last quarter of the financial year. Most Government departments funds froze up towards the end of 2013 as the country headed towards National Elections in first half of 2014. While this slowed down the sentiments of the market somewhat, some cash-rich vendors responded with an aggressive penetration pricing strategy.

In Karnataka, Bangalore is the major contributor being the hub of Information Technology/Information Technologies & Enabled Services (IT/ITES) companies. Interestingly, IDC observed that a lot of major companies were setting up their branches in Tier II & Tier III cities of Karnataka such as Mysore, Mangalore and Hubli. The demand from these cities increased whether it is from IT/ITES, Manufacturing, Construction or Education. As one example, HCL Infosystems closed a large deal (nearly 1000 units) on behalf of Toshiba in Q4, 2013.

Rahul Kanwar, Senior Research Manager-Channel Research, IDC India said, "Tier III states such as Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand are growing at 12% year-on-year. Adoption of copiers as the primary printing device as opposed to MFP, Printer-based is due to increased printing demand from the SMB and Jobbers segment is the major reason behind this growth.”

Mercedes-Benz To Double Capacity With Second Plant In India

Luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz India Pvt. Ltd would start manufacturing at its second plant shortly, which would help the company double its production capacity in India, an official of the company said. 

“The second plant is in the final stage and in the process of getting all the approvals. The plant will be ready for use very soon,” Boris Fitz, vice-president (sales and network development) of Mercedes-Benz India said. 

The company’s first own plant started production in the country in 2009 which has an installed capacity of 10,000 units per annum located at Chakan near Pune. After completion of the second plant, the production capacity would be doubled to 20,000 units per annum. 

Last year, Mercedes-Benz registered sales of more than 9,000 units. “This calendar year, we are expecting to grow in double digit,” Fitz told reporters at the launch of special editions of A-Class and B-Class compact cars in the city on Thursday. “The new plant will make the company future-ready as the luxury car market is going to expand at a higher growth as compared to the normal passenger car market,” he said. 

At present, the volume of the luxury segment was 1.5% of the total car market in the country. “By 2022, this will go up to 4% of the total market estimated as 5.5 lakh units,” Fitz said. 

He said with the commissioning of the second production line, total invested made in India would touch Rs.850 crore. Mercedes-Benz plans to launch three more models in the current calendar year.

Get Cloud-based Healthcare Info From Philips & Salesforce.com

Royal Philips and salesforce.com has announced a strategic alliance to deliver an open, cloud-based healthcare platform, leveraging Philips' in medical technology, clinical applications and clinical informatics and salesforce.com in enterprise cloud computing, innovation and customer engagement.

The platform will enable medical device and data interoperability, the collection of data and subsequent analysis to enhance clinical decision making by professionals and enabling patients to take a more active role in managing their personal health.

The collaboration has till now resulted in two clinical applications to be launched on the new platform: "Philips eCareCoordinator" and "Philips eCareCompanion".

These care collaboration applications will allow the care team to monitor patients with chronic conditions in their homes and will facilitate Philips' Hospital to Home clinical programs.

"With this strategic alliance, Philips is making great strides to deliver real-time, digital healthcare solutions," said Frans van Houten, Chief Executive Officer of Royal Philips . "Healthcare data exists in many different forms and in many different systems today. Together with salesforce.com , we have a tremendous opportunity to reshape and optimize the way healthcare is delivered and provide better access to data across the continuum of care."

The envisioned platform, based on the Salesforce1 Platform, will enable collaboration and workflow, as well as integration of data from multiple sources worldwide, including electronic medical records, diagnostic and treatment information obtained through Philips' imaging equipment, monitoring equipment, personal devices and technologies like Apple's HealthKit.

The cloud-based platform is designed to be scalable with built-in privacy and data security. By combining the data, the platform will allow for analysis that will enhance decision making by professionals and engage patients.

Both Philips and Salesforce.com foresee that the platform, will utilize Philips' clinical data stores and medical device interoperability. It is intended to be open to developers and is expected to result in a vibrant ecosystem of partners creating applications.

As a result, the envisioned platform has the potential to transform both professional healthcare delivery and continuous personal health management.