GST Bill Likely to Help Healthcare Manufacturing in India: Raja Venkatraman

By Manu Sharma

If the government of India passes the GST Bill, it would lower tax on production by about 600 basis points from the present about 23 percent, said Raja Venkatraman, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Philips India Limited.

Addressing the media on the occasion of the Philips India Innovation Experience 2016 in Bengaluru, Venkatraman said, "software industry is a $160 billion industry and this is mainly due to the government incentives that created a good eco system for the software and the allied industries. However, the scene in the healthcare is very different. In fact, no incentives have been provided for the healthcare industry so far." 

If the government wants to see ‘Make in India’ take off, then they needs to provide incentives to promote manufacturing of healthcare products in the country, and not raise customs and import duty, he said.

“By raising duties, one cannot force companies to manufacture in the country. The costs need to come down and need to get the right technology at the cost patients can afford. Infact, it costs more to manufacture in India. That is a huge challenge and increasing duty would not address the problem at all, adds Venkatraman.

“By raising duties, one cannot force companies to manufacture in the country. The costs need to come down and better technology is needed. We need to get the right technology at costs the patient can afford. Infact, it costs more to manufacture in India. That is a huge challenge and increasing duty would not address the problem,“ adds Venkatraman.

While the Pune-based Heathcare Innovation Campus of Philips makes interventional and diagnostic X-ray systems the Philips Innovation Campus in Bengaluru designs software that are put in various products manufactured by the company in the world. 

Bangalore Central Departmental Store Gets a Complete Makeover

Served as the first home for Central when it was launched 11 years ago. Starting the journey with the vibrant city, the fashion retail chain has brought its customers high definition fashion, world class labels and a high street experience ever since. India’s favourite fashion departmental store is now all set to commence a new, exciting phase. The first Central store, Bangalore Central located on Premium Residency Road opposite Mayo Hall has been redesigned with a layout unlike any other fashion departmental store in the country. The aim is to attract the style savvy individuals from one of the trendiest cities of the country. With a change in the look and feel of the entire space, the new Central will take the customers’ shopping experience to the next level.

With more space, minimalistic fixtures and an aspirational fashion boutique feel, the new Central provides hassle free shopping, right from when the customer enters the store to the billing and cash counters. The space has subtle displays that compliment the store design and aesthetics. The customer service lounge has been detailed & upgraded to serve the shoppers as per international standards.

The fresh and renewed Central will showcase a premium mix of national & international brands in various categories like Men’s and Ladies Formal Wear, Casual Wear, Ethnic Wear, Cosmetics, Fragrances, Handbags, Watches, Men’s and Ladies Footwear, Toys, Kids Apparel, Lingerie and more.

Central has so far housed a wide range of international labels across categories. From brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Guess, Gucci, FCUK to acclaimed designer names like Micheal Kors, Giorgio Armani, Ferragamo, Calvin Klein, Diesel, Roberto Cavalli, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Central will continue to display all of their collections, serving as a one stop shop for the fashion conscious customer of the city.

Speaking at the launch, Kishore Biyani, Group CEO, Future Group said, “We have always believed in staying ahead of the curve and understanding our customer’s needs. We would like to give them experiences that they don’t even know they want yet. The launch of the redesigned Central is an example of that. The amalgamation of world class brands with experiential design at the store provides customers with a global experience while keeping in mind Indian sensitivities”

Vishnu Prasad, CEO, Central, said, “The first Central was launched on this very same day 11 years ago. Re-launching the new and renewed Central on the same day at the same place is our way of saying thank you to the city of fashion which gave birth to India’s favourite fashion store. With the launch today, we are starting a new journey all over once again.”

For the many fashion forward citizens of Bangalore city, the redesigned Central is sure to appeal to their changing taste and meet the need for high definition fashion, through all seasons and for all ages. 

Unique offerings that will enhance customer experience:

·         Assisted shopping

o   Central buddies & ushers at entry – Central buddies at the elevator and ushers at entry will assist customers with store navigation and ongoing offers

o   Fashion stylists – They will help customers with expert advice on latest fashion trends

o   By appointment – Customers will be able to book an appointment with fashion stylists at stores who will help them revamp their wardrobe

o   Fashion attendants – Store staff to double up as fashion attendants for shoppers

o   Reserved – Customers can now choose a product and reserve it for free up to 48 hours if they are not sure about it instantly

o   WhatsApp shopping – They can now send their requirements through a WhatsApp message, get options and have the chosen product delivered to their doorstep

o   Make-up school – Beauty expert sessions will be held for customers where celebrity look make-up tips will be shared

·         Ambience and store facilities

o   Central aroma – A distinct Central aroma will welcome customers at each floor

o   Mother’s room – Convenience hub for mothers that will give them a private space for nursing and changing diapers along with added amenities like milk bottle heaters and food heaters

o   You are special – Various exclusive benefits will be provided to Central Privilege customers, senior citizens and pregnant women

L’Oreal Invests in Technology Startup Incubator - Founders Factory

L’Oréal announces a strategic investment in the Founders Factory, a leading global multi sector digital accelerator and incubator, co-founded by Brent Hoberman, Henry Lane Fox and Jim Meyerle, based in London. As such, L’Oréal becomes Founders Factory’s exclusive partner for investments in Beauty tech startups worldwide. This will allow L’Oréal to deeply connect itself to a global ecosystem of world-class startups and entrepreneurs operating in the field of beauty, in line with L’Oréal’s CEO Jean-Paul Agon vision of the transformative power of digital for beauty.

As part of the agreement, L’Oréal and Founders Factory will invest and scale five early stage startups and co-create two new companies from scratch every year. The in-house team of experts at Founders Factory, many of whom are successful entrepreneurs themselves, will provide hands-on support and advice to participating startups, as well as working with L’Oréal to jointly build and launch new products and services. L’Oréal will be part of the Founders Factory Board of Directors and represented by Lubomira Rochet, Chief Digital Officer and member of L’Oréal’s Executive Committee. Three L’Oréal executives will also hold seats on the Beauty sector Committee of Founders Factory.

“This strategic investment will give L’Oréal direct access to a powerful global ecosystem of exciting startups and innovative technologies at their earliest stage allowing us to invest in and nurture innovative business models based on digital platforms to better serve consumers’ aspirations,” said Lubomira Rochet.“Leveraging the Founders Factory’s ecosystem and experienced entrepreneurs in residence, L’Oréal will provide significant contribution to the development of incubated companies in the beauty sector by bringing our knowledge of the beauty industry, the beauty consumer and our marketing and innovation expertise in all beauty categories.”

Launched by successful serial entrepreneur and lastminute.com co-founder Brent Hoberman, Founders Factory aims to develop as many as 200 early stage technology companies over the next five years. “At Founders Factory we provide ambitious forward-thinking blue-chip companies with a way to develop innovative technology startups away from their day-to-day business and connect them with elite entrepreneurial talent from across the globe. It’s incredibly exciting to be partnering with L’Oréal, the world’s leading beauty company, with a long history of scientific innovation and a champion of entrepreneurship. Marrying our expertise in digital with L’Oréal’s brands, scientific research, and audience reach offers a compelling opportunity to build and scale the next generation of beauty startups,”said Brent Hoberman, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, Founders Factory.

The partnership with Founders Factory will deepen and support L’Oréal’s broader digital innovation strategy. L’Oréal’s Technology Incubator located in San Francisco has spearheaded a number of game changing digital services such as the world famous Makeup Genius, the virtual make-up coach downloaded 20 million times across the world that has changed consumers’ make-up experience. L’Oréal recently launched My UV Patch, the first-ever stretchable skin sensor designed to monitor UV exposure and help consumers educate themselves about sun protection.

L’Oréal is the world’s largest cosmetic company with the highest investment in research in the industry.

Pearson India & Khan Study Group Partner To Set-Up 100 IAS Coaching Centres

ETEN, Pearson India’s network of satellite technology based coaching network, today entered into a strategic alliance with Khan Study Group (KSG), the well-known IAS coaching institute that also mentored the national toppers of the Civil services examination, 2015, AIR 1, Tina Dabi and AIR 2, Aamir Ul Shari.

ETEN introduced the V-SAT enabled learning model in 2008, breaking all geographical barriers to impart CA and IAS training across the country.  Over years, the network has provided advanced and personalized coaching to CA and IAS aspirants in their hometowns, not only at a lower fee as compared to in-person classes, but also saving them the opportunity cost and trouble of migrating to another city for quality training. The success of this blended learning model is reflected in the number of rank-holders that the Institute has produced since inception.

Under the alliance, ETEN and Khan Study Group, will set-up 100 learning centres to impart best-in-class training for UPSC – Civil services examination and various state public service commission exams. By using V-SAT technology, ETEN will make quality coaching, the expertise of India’s foremost panel of faculties including Dr. Khan and a team of about fifteen other faculty members. Each of the faculty members is a domain expert & has a vast experience of teaching General Studies; the core of the most of the competitive examination today. The most-relevant study material will be accessible to IAS aspirants, even in the remote corners of the country.

Announcing the tie-up,  Vikas Singh, Vice President, Higher Education & test preparation and Vocational verticals, Pearson India, said, " With its highlypersonalised and comprehensive product design, ETEN features in the top consideration set of CA aspirants across India. We now aim to expand our offering to the Civil Services space by leveraging our formidable presence across India. Our state of the art technology-enabled coaching will enable students to get the best of inputs, in the most cost efficient manner, from top notch faculty in the comfort of their homes. This tie-up is no less than a breakthrough in the IAS coaching space as the Pearson's expertise in the global education space and Khan Study Group's excellence in IAS coaching would give students the best of both the worlds."

Dr. Khan, (Director KSG) said, “The civil services examination is perceived to be one of the toughest and competitive entrance examinations in the country. In addition to that, an aspirant is constantly struggling to find a systematic teaching module that offers right guidance to clear the exams. Our partnership with Pearson is an effort to give our students an access to the best learning environment, acclaimed faculty panel and the best-in-class content.  Pearson's in-depth understanding and reach in the test preparation market will go a long way in making this a successful initiative."

ETEN provides quality education to the far corners of the country. From state-of-the art central studios in metro cities, the faculty lectures are beamed live to the authorized ETEN centers located across India. In addition to giving access to best faculty panel, ETEN offers structured assessment, e-Learning support and video archives. ETEN centres are a true testament to the path of efficacy that Pearson has undertaken.  

Server Virtualization Market Is Reaching Its Peak Globally: Gartner

The worldwide x86 server virtualization market is expected to reach $5.6 billion in 2016, an increase of 5.7 percent from 2015, according to Gartner, Inc. Despite the overall market increase, new software licenses have declined for the first time since this market became mainstream more than a decade ago. Growth is now being driven by maintenance revenue, which indicates a rapidly maturing software market segment.

"The market has matured rapidly over the last few years, with many organizations having server virtualization rates that exceed 75 percent, illustrating the high level of penetration, " said Michael Warrilow, research director at Gartner

The market remains dominated by VMware, however, Microsoft has worked its way in as a mainstream contender for enterprise use. There are also several niche players including Citrix, Oracle and Red Hat, in addition to an explosion of vendors in the domestic China market.

While server virtualization remains the most common infrastructure platform for x86 server OS workloads in on-premises data centers, Gartner analysts believe that the impact of new computing styles and approaches will be increasingly significant for this market. This includes OS container-based virtualization and cloud computing.

The trends are varying by organization size more than ever before. According to Gartner, usage of server virtualization among organizations with larger IT budgets remained stable during 2014 and 2015. It continues to be an important and heavily used technology for these businesses, but this market segment is approaching saturation. In contrast, organizations with smaller IT budgets expect a further decline in usage through to at least 2017. This is causing an overall decline in new spending for on-premises server virtualization.

Gartner believes that organizations are increasing their usage of "physicalization," choosing to run servers without virtualization software. More than 20 percent of these organizations expect to have less than one-third of their x86 server OSs virtualized by 2017 — twice the amount reported for 2015. However, the underlying rationales remain varied.

The rise of software-defined infrastructure (SDI) and hyperconverged integrated systems (HCIS) are providing new options. It has put pressure on best-of-breed virtualization vendors to add more out-of-the-box functionality and provide a better experience and faster time-to-value.

"What was considered as the best approach to greater infrastructure agility only a few years ago, is becoming challenged by an array of newer infrastructure choices," said Warrilow. 

PTC New Version of ThingWorx IoT Platform Simplifies Developer Use & Integrates with Leading Device Clouds

PTC has announced the availability of ThingWorx 7, the latest version of its Internet of Things (IoT) platform. New features of ThingWorx 7 include an enhanced set of tools for managing connected products, powerful new analytics capabilities, support of public clouds, and simplified platform components that make it easier for developers to use their preferred tools to experiment with, prototype, and develop new IoT solutions.

“ThingWorx 7, rich with new features, allows developers to more easily capitalize on the promise of the Internet of Things by rapidly prototyping and building impactful IoT applications,” said Rob Gremley, president, Technology Platform Group, PTC. “As an open, flexible platform, ThingWorx also gives developers the freedom to build with their preferred tools and create solutions that work with their existing device cloud infrastructure. Smart, connected products and systems are the future, and ThingWorx 7 enables companies to accelerate IoT application development and to fully realize the value of their investment in IoT initiatives.”

Robust, scalable, and easy to use, ThingWorx is an enterprise-ready technology platform that enables innovators to rapidly develop and deploy smart, connected solutions for the Internet of Things. The platform contains one of the most complete sets of integrated IoT-specific development tools and capabilities, making feature-rich solution development simple while accelerating time-to-market.

ThingWorx 7 improves on PTC’s market leadership and technological prowess with new tools and features to help companies get the most value out of their connected strategies.

ThingWorx Utilities

ThingWorx Utilities, formerly ThingWorx Converge, now offers several pre-built tools to help companies manage, monitor, and extract data from their products, including:

·         Connected Device Management Capabilities – Companies can efficiently define and provision the unique attributes of new intelligent devices as they are created and build custom dashboards to visualize the status and performance of their connected products.

·         Alert Management – A customizable interface offering visibility to alerts for all connected products, making it easier for companies to identify when a product isn’t functioning as expected.

·         Remote Access and Control – Users can remotely monitor and manage connected devices, and perform actions such as troubleshooting problems, providing operator assistance, performing training, and supporting other IoT product use cases.

·         Software Content Management – Enables simple, secure and reliable mass distribution of digital content to connected devices such as operating system updates, application upgrades, and software patches.

Choose the Device Cloud Provider That Best Suits Your IoT Solutions

PTC recently announced that ThingWorx will integrate with leading public device clouds to provide an open IoT platform for all customers, partners, and vendors to utilize to meet their IoT goals, beginning with Amazon Web Services (AWS) IoT. Companies can use AWS’s device cloud to connect devices, send data to and from a device, and auto-provision the device directly from ThingWorx. As ThingWorx integrates with additional device clouds, enterprises will be able to select their preferred combination of optimal components from these cloud providers and ThingWorx.

More Meaningful Data with ThingWorx Analytics

The real value of IoT is found in the data that is generated and analyzed from connected devices, and the speed at which it can be turned into actionable intelligence for end users. With the release of ThingWorx 7, ThingWorx Analytics now plugs directly into the Thing Model, making it easier and faster to build advanced analytics, predictions, and recommendations within ThingWorx-powered solutions. 

Spotlight on Developers

ThingWorx 7 has been upgraded with modern platform components to make it even easier for developers to build applications for connected products. With ThingWorx 7, developers can use their preferred development tools, such as Eclipse, or source code management tools, such as Git, in an environment that makes it possible for them to quickly prototype and experiment with IoT solutions.

“With these enhancements to the ThingWorx platform, PTC continues to make impressive progress in delivering an IoT platform to the market,” said Carrie MacGillivray, VP, IoT, IDC. “By offering a comprehensive technology portfolio and strong cloud offering – that will appeal to enterprise customers and developers alike – ThingWorx stands to strengthen its position in this competitive market.”

Synechron Acquires Hatstand Creating Consulting Capabilities in Financial Services

Synechron, a global consulting and technology innovator in the financial services industry, today announced the acquisition of Hatstand, a global financial services consultancy and capital markets specialist. This acquisition further builds Synechron’s consulting capabilities for world-leading financial institutions in key areas such as cybersecurity, market data and risk and regulatory compliance.

Synechron is focused on creating the financial services industry’s leading consulting and technology organization; an organization that is able to define and deliver solutions that address the most vexing business challenges brought about by a wave of new technologies. Synechron is helping global financial firms leverage innovations such as artificial intelligence, blockchain and digital.

Hatstand’s capabilities bolster this vision by deepening Synechron’s existing consultancy services while adding data management expertise. Through a shared passion for innovation and a client-centric approach, the combined business proposition will offer financial services organizations access to expert, end-to-end solutions, delivered at scale in an agile and cost-effective manner.

"All industries, and financial services in particular, are feeling the pressure to modernize and leverage new technologies to more effectively compete,” explains Faisal Husain, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Synechron. “As a result, our clients are being forced to rethink their digital strategies. This acquisition addresses the growing need for expert consulting that offers leadership with innovation.”

Brad O'Brien, Chief Executive Officer of Hatstand, added, "Becoming part of a company with Synechron's global footprint and scale will add greater breadth of resources, richer expertise on projects, and true end-to-end service benefits.”

Adam Bennett, President and Executive Chairman of Hatstand, said of the acquisition, "We share the same vision as Synechron, in terms of delivering the highest quality service and investing in our people. This move represents a natural next step in our continued growth, and we are looking forward to being able to offer our clients extended capabilities and reach."