Ambiga Dhiraj Takes Charge as New CEO of Mu Sigma

Mu Sigma, a leading pure-play provider of decision sciences and analytics solutions, announced today that Ambiga Dhiraj, formerly Chief Operating Officer, will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) effective immediately. Founder and former CEO, Dhiraj Rajaram, will continue in a full-time capacity with the company and remain as chairman.

Ambiga has been with Mu Sigma for more than eight years, having led functions of talent management, marketing, innovation and product development before assuming the role of COO in February 2012. In that role she drove major improvements to the company’s India operations and the global delivery of products and services to the market. Now she joins an exclusive and short list of female CEOs to lead privately held companies with billion dollar-plus valuations.

“Mu Sigma is moving from its adolescence into its prime,” said company founder Dhiraj Rajaram. “The rate at which we’ve added new clients, combined with the amount of help that our clients demand in realizing the potential of Big Data, led me to this decision to work with them more closely. Ambiga is one of the most design-oriented and operationally strong leaders that I’ve ever worked with. The company had planned for this possibility, and the time is right.”

While Ambiga will lead the company out of Bangalore, Dhiraj will spend more time across the U.S. and other parts of the world to engage more directly with Mu Sigma clients – more than 140 of the Fortune 500. He’ll also spend time designing new offerings for the company’s man-machine ecosystem, forge strategic alliances, and explore options for using the company’s healthy balance sheet to further cement its position as market leader.

“I am honored and excited at the opportunity to lead Mu Sigma in its purpose to help clients adopt a fundamentally new approach to decision sciences and problem solving,” said Ambiga. She began her career in 1998 as a research lead at Motorola, followed by a stint at mobility service provider Kirusa. She holds an M.S. in Computer Engineering, with a specialization in Artificial Intelligence, from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan; and a B.E. in Electrical Engineering from Anna University in Chennai, India.

Shailendra Singh, Managing Director at Sequoia Capital – an investor in Mu Sigma – said, “We support and recognize this change as yet another sign of Mu Sigma’s growth. This move will unleash Dhiraj to help large enterprises capitalize on the incredible amount of change they’re facing.”

Founder Dhiraj added, “It’s been a privilege to lead the Mu Sigma team, but I know in my heart that this new role is how I can add the most value to both the company and its clients. Our purpose as a company will never change, but we must occasionally change how we pursue that purpose.”

Google’s Alphabet Replaces Apple as World’s Most Valuable Firm

Google-parent Alphabet snatched Apple’s crown as the world’s most valuable firm based on the value of shares that leapt with better-than-expected earnings.

At the official close of trade, Alphabet was worth $530.1 billion based on its share value, compared to $534.7 billion for Apple, but shares in the Internet search colossus soared in after-hours trading to reach $791 shortly before 0400 GMT.

If those gains hold in official trading when the Nasdaq opens in New York City today, Alphabet would officially overtake Apple as the world’s biggest company by market value.

Alphabet’s reported quarterly profit rose 5 per cent to $4.92 billion on the back of strong online advertising revenue, particularly from searches done by holiday season shoppers using smartphones or tablets.

“This holiday season, we found that shopping moments replaced shopping marathons,” Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said during an earnings call.

People made purchases online when time allowed, with Google powering many of their searches and serving up related ads.

Google ad revenue climbed globally, gaining on both mobile devices and desktop computers, according to Alphabet chief financial officer Ruth Porat.

The California-based Internet colossus said its revenue topped $21.3 billion in the final three months of last year.

Prime revenue drivers in Q4 were mobile search ads and ads on YouTube, where people watch “hundreds of millions” of hours of video daily.

Porat said the strong revenue growth was a return on years of investment in mobile search, YouTube and so—called programmatic advertising, which involves ads being sold automatically using software.

The earnings report was the first in which recently formed parent corporation Alphabet separated money made by Google from what it calls “Other Bets” such as its work on self—driving cars or delivering Internet using high-altitude balloons.

The new structure under Alphabet is expected to offer more transparency for investors worried about Google investing in money-losing projects.

“Essentially, what they have now is a big advertising business and a venture capital business,” Forrester analyst Frank Gillett said of the new earnings presentation.

Agencies

Apply for 291 Scholarships Worth Rs 1.5 Crore at Top UK Universities

A scholarship programme called the GREAT Britain Scholarships was also announced. Under this, 291 scholarships worth around Rs 150 million (Rs 15 crore) will be on offer. Out of these, 59 will be undergraduate scholarships and 232 postgraduate scholarships in fields like engineering, law, business, art and design, biosciences and IT across 45 institutions in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

British Council Partners with Two Private Universities in City

Under the programme, students from the UK will spend two to four weeks in India and engage in various activities ranging from cultural immersion, placements, internships, teaching assistantships etc.

“Jain University and Christ University are the two institutions that have been selected under this initiative in Bengaluru. In other parts of the country, we have partnered with institutions like Hyderabad University. Applications for the programme start in  June-July,” said Leighton Ernsberger, assistant director, Bengaluru and Skills, British Council India. He was speaking at a press conference on Monday.

As many as 1,000 internships with Indian IT services company TCS are also on the anvil as part of this year’s programme which aims to help 25,000 people from the UK gain experience in India in the next five years.

Although around 1.6 lakh Indian students have studied in the UK since 2005, a Times Higher Education Report points out that the number of first- year enrolments fell by 10 percent in 2014-15.

Dominic Mcallister, British Deputy High Commissioner, Bengaluru, said that while visa regulations in the UK might seem cumbersome, it was “not actually the case”. “Students can convert their student visas to Tier 2 visas. However, they must make preparations for it before their course ends,” he said. A student can apply for a Tier 2 visa if he/she is offered a skilled job in the UK.

Flex Sponsored IESA VISION Summit 2016 to Focus on Make In India & Internet of Things

Flex, a leading sketch-to-scale solutions company that designs and builds intelligent products for a connected world is sponsoring and taking part in the India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA) Vision Summit from February 3 - 5, 2016 at Leela Palace, Bangalore.

 The three-day summit will bring together industry leaders from across the globe to discuss latest topics and trends relating to electronic system design and manufacturing (ESDM) ecosystem, “Make in India” initiative, and Intelligence of Things (IoT), among others.

During the event, Dhawan will deliver a keynote address on how our world is changing with the advent of IoT that will connect everything in the physical world to the internet, using wired or wireless devices.  Dhawan will also highlight how India’s ESDM ecosystem comprising global & local technology companies, start-ups, and incubators can capitalize on the explosive growth of IoT especially in the areas of healthcare, agriculture, education, automotive and energy.

NASSCOM’s India Leadership Summit Will be Held in Mumbai from February 10-12, 2016

The National Association of Software and Services Company (NASSCOM) is all set to host its annual three-dayflagship event – NASSCOM India Leadership Forum [NILF] from February 10-12, 2016, at the Grand Hyatt, Mumbai. 

NILF is an annual event where thought leaders and global influencers congregate to address, deliberate and exchange ideas on the emerging themes of the future. This time, the forum’s deliberations will be around the theme – ‘The Smart Enterprise – transformative to disruptive’. 

PIKKOL & Zoom Cars Partner for Relocation Mobility Services In India

Bengaluru based relocation services aggregator PIKKOL has partnered with self drive car rental company Zoomcar. This tie up between Pikkol and Zoomcar is valid across all cities in India and it aims at providing hassle free mobility for consumers opting for Pikkol’s relocation services.

On the occasion, Deepu Chandran, CEO, Pikkol said “This partnership with Zoomcar will help us enhance our customers' moving experience. In addition to helping our customers with a hassle free relocation experience, we also want to lend a hand in helping them settle down in a new city”

Greg Moran, CEO, Zoomcar said “ We could see a lot of potential in our partnership with Pikkol right from the outset, as both our companies are trying to provide convenience and hassle-free mobility to people staying in Indian cities today. This, coupled with a lot of synergy in customer demography, made it a win-win alliance for both of us”

As a part of the tie up, PIKKOL customers can opt for Zoomcar services and get a 16% discount on all cars .

Apart from Zoomcar, Pikkol also has tie ups with Faasos and Tata Croma retail.

Nucleus’s FinnOne to Support Digital Transformation Program at BOQ

Nucleus Software, the leading provider of lending and transaction banking solutions to the global financial services industry, further strengthens its global presence by announcing the successful launch and roll-out of its lending software at Bank of Queensland (BOQ), in Australia. BOQ, a leading Australian challenger Bank, has implemented Nucleus Software’s award winning flagship lending product, FinnOne for its retail loan origination operations.

Established in 1874, today Bank of Queensland has more than 200 branches across Australia, including a majority of owner-managed branches, ensuring a commitment to deliver exceptional personal service to their customers. To power its ongoing transformation program, BOQ selected Nucleus Software’s FinnOne for its home and personal lending markets. With FinnOne, Nucleus Software is helping BOQ to increase its business agility and become paperless. FinnOne is revolutionizing multi-channel retail loan processing at the Bank across the front and middle offices.  The advanced solution is also reducing process complexity in a range of ways, including replacing inflexible, hard copy rules with sophisticated, automated credit policies and process checklists. FinnOne will enable BOQ to get closer to its customers and help to speed up its “Time to Yes”.

“Nucleus Software is a key partner and is assisting us in digitizing our home and personal lending operations. Their global expertise is helping us to achieve our vision of having a Bank that is much closer to our customers, and is assisting us to develop digital capabilities that will eventually allow our customers to transact anytime anywhere. FinnOne will streamline the Bank’s retail loan operations as well as make us more nimble, providing us with the ability to introduce innovative, tailor-made products and customer-oriented services to meet the growing demands of our customers. Nucleus Software is at the centre of our mission to create Australia’s most loved Bank”, said Jon Sutton, Chief Executive Officer, BOQ.

Commenting on the successful launch, Vishnu R. Dusad, Chief Executive Officer,Nucleus Software said, “The collaboration with BOQ is significant in two ways – it is FinnOne’s first customer in Australia and it further demonstrates our global expertise in lending. With more than 150 customers across the globe, we are delighted to welcome BOQ to our growing family. BOQ is on a major digitization drive in order to deliver par excellence customer experience and satisfaction. I am happy to see the confidence that they have placed in our advanced and functionally rich solution. I know that our three decades of expertise will help BOQ meet its business objectives, deliver better service to its customers and drive higher business value. I am confident that this partnership with one of Australia’s leading challenger Banks will bring greater levels of customer satisfaction and I know that it will help to prove that it is possible to love a bank.”

He further added, “Australia is an important market for us and in line with this ongoing commitment, we have also established our regional headquarters covering sales, professional services and support in Sydney.”

Nucleus Software’s flagship lending product, FinnOne has been ranked as the ‘No. 1 Best Selling Lending System’ by International Banking Systems (IBS) for the 7th year in a row.  FinnOne is designed to support seamlessly integrated applications, provide operational support, risk management and decision-making capabilities to banks and financial services companies. FinnOne focuses on both, retail and corporate loans, thereby emerging as a comprehensive solution to back any line of the lending business.