Pay Hike Drops, Average Increments in India at 9.5%: Aon Hewitt Survey

Pay hikes across industries are likely to average 9.5% in the upcoming appraisal cycle, a drop from 10.3% last year, according to Aon Hewitt’s Salary Increase Survey 2016-17 that covered 1000-plus companies across India.

While it’s a marginal decrease from the 2016 spends, it show that India Inc. has held its own amidst global and Indian economic and political events, including Brexit, recent changes in the US government and demonetisation.

“Political changes and economic headwinds have had an impact on business performance. However, the trend this year reflects a gradual slowing of pay increases and higher emphasis on productivity and performance – quite literally a ‘graying’ of salary budgets for India,” said Anandorup Ghose, Partner at Aon Hewitt India, in a statement.

The survey, he says, shows the coming of age of compensation management in India.

While majority of the industries projected a sub 10% increase – the business sentiment remains positive and optimistic. Sectors such as Life Sciences, Professional Services, Chemicals, Entertainment Media, Automotive and Consumer Products continue to project a double-digit salary increase for 2017. However they have taken a drop from their 2016 actual spends.

The trend of investing in key talent continues. Firms are carving out high potential and hot skills along with high performers as their key talent segment.

“The last year has shown organisations take a strong view towards performance differentiation and not only have bell curves become sharper, the pay differentiation between top and average performers has also increased,” added Ghose.

Microsoft Drives Digital Transformation in India - Skype Lite; Signs With SBI for Microsoft Cloud

Microsoft has showcased its cloud and mobile technologies that are driving digital transformation across large, medium and small enterprises and across government departments in India. State Bank of India, Flipkart, Tata Motors, and government departments across the states of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are using Microsoft’s cloud and mobile technologies to empower employees, engage customers, optimize processes and transform products and services.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, spoke at the company’s Future Decoded event, and announced a new offering for mobile-first and mobile-only markets –Skype Lite. Skype Lite allows communication and collaboration over low-bandwidth networks and will bring Aadhaar integration to the app by June 2017. He further announced that India’s largest bank - State Bank of India, has chosen Office365 to drive communication and collaboration among its employees. He spoke of a blended learning platform that brings together Microsoft’s cloud technologies and LinkedIn’s job search capabilities. Referred to as Project Sangam it can create a life-long skilling platform for Indian workers.  Nadella also mentioned Kaizala, a productivity app that helps organizations connect with mobile only users to get work done on simple and secure chat interface.

“At Microsoft, we aim to empower every Indian and every Indian organization to achieve more,” said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft. “With the transformative power of the cloud, we are enabling Indian start-ups, businesses of all sizes, and government agencies to build new digital capability, find new growth and seize the opportunities ahead.”

Skype Lite, the fast and light integrated communications app, designed for India

Skype Lite is Microsoft’s fastest and smallest Skype app to date. It is built to help people in India stay connected in challenging network conditions, as it is lightweight and fast. Skype Lite contains features specifically designed for India, including help to manage SMS by intelligently removing clutter, mobile data and Wi-Fi usage monitoring, India-focused Skype Bots and power saving functionality. The app will be available in seven local languages: Gujarati, Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Skype will also bring Aadhaar integration to the app by June 2017. With this integration, Skype users will be able to authenticate the identity of unknown callers in a variety of situations where identification verification is required, including job interviews, goods and property sale.

Project Sangam, a life-long skill development and jobs platform for Indians

Project Sangam aims to bridge the widening skill gap in the country today. It will enable blended online and offline, teaching and learning. The project aims to connect the skills learning programs directly with relevant jobs, by leveraging the power of LinkedIn’s extensive job search platform. Project Sangam will allow users to register using their Aadhaar identity ensuring life-long access to the platform. Project Sangam can strengthen the skilling eco-system in India and has the potential to benefit millions of new skill seekers in the country.

Kaizala, for collaboration between desktop and mobile computing users

Kaizala is available on all leading mobile platforms. Kaizala offers seamless convergence of an instant messenger and a productivity enhancer for those always on the move. Kaizala has been successfully tested by the Government of Andhra Pradesh at a 12-day mega event involving 20 million people. The Government of Andhra Pradesh now plans to replicate it across many departments to implement real-time governance across the state.

 Availability: Skype Lite is available now for free download from the Google Play store. The Aadhaar in-app authentication feature will be available by June 2017.

Cyient, ANSYS Partners to Accelerate Innovation and PoC Designs across Industries

Cyient, a global provider of engineering, manufacturing, networks and operations services, and analytics solutions, announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with ANSYS to set up a Simulation Lab at Cyient’s Experience Center in Hyderabad, India.  The lab brings together Cyient’s expertise in service design, delivery, and operational excellence with ANSYS’s market-leading engineering simulation solutions and services to drive the development of innovative proof-of-concepts for Cyient and its clients.

The partnership with ANSYS is aligned with Cyient’s long-term vision of establishing itself as a Design-Build-Maintain partner to its clients worldwide. The goal is to co-innovate and develop proof-of-concept (PoC) and new solutions across multiple industries such as Aerospace & Defense, Rail Transportation, Energy, Utilities, Off-Highway and Industrial, Oil and Gas, Communications, Medical Technology, and Semiconductor. ANSYS will provide access to various training materials, curricula, and eLearning systems for latest versions of their product platforms to help achieve this objective.

The Cyient-ANSYS Simulation Lab will also contribute towards innovative design thinking to drive POC in areas like Internet of Things, Mechatronics, and Additive Manufacturing—areas identified by Cyient as growth engines for the future.

Rafiq Somani, Country Manager - South Asia Pacific and Middle East, ANSYS said, “We are excited about the potential impact of the Cyient-ANSYS Simulation Lab. By joining forces with Cyient–a long-time customer of ANSYS– we hope to further our existing partnership and deliver ground-breaking innovation across industries, enabling customers like Cyient to gain competitive advantage.”

Commenting on the partnership, Krishna Bodanapu, CEO, Cyient, said "The Simulation Lab in collaboration with ANSYS, a market leader in this area, is indeed a testimony towards our relentless commitment to nurture a culture of innovation at Cyient. This is the next step towards encouraging associates to not only address product design and engineering challenges across industries but also to capitalize on emerging opportunities in the marketplace. I am very optimistic about the learning and innovation possibilities this lab will open up”.

Worldwide Public Cloud Services Market to Grow 18 Percent in 2017

The worldwide public cloud services market is projected to grow 18 percent in 2017 to total $246.8 billion, up from $209.2 billion in 2016, according to Gartner, Inc. The highest growth will come from cloud system infrastructure services (infrastructure as a service [IaaS]), which is projected to grow 36.8 percent in 2017 to reach $34.6 billion. Cloud application services (software as a service [SaaS]) is expected to grow 20.1 percent to reach $46.3 billion.

"The overall global public cloud market is entering a period of stabilization, with its growth rate peaking at 18 percent in 2017 and then tapering off over the next few years," said Sid Nag, research director at Gartner. "While some organizations are still figuring out where cloud actually fits in their overall IT strategy, an effort to cost optimize and bring forth the path to transformation holds strong promise and results for IT outsourcing (ITO) buyers. Gartner predicts that through 2020, cloud adoption strategies will influence more than 50 percent of IT outsourcing deals."

"Organizations are pursuing strategies because of the multidimensional value of cloud services, including values such as agility, scalability, cost benefits, innovation and business growth," said Nag. "While all external-sourcing decisions will not result in a virtually automatic move to the cloud, buyers are looking to the 'cloud first' in their decisions, in support of time-to-value impact via speed of implementation."

The SaaS market is expected to see a slightly slower growth over the next few years with increasing maturity of SaaS offerings, namely human capital management (HCM) and customer relationship management (CRM) and the acceleration in the buying of financial applications. Nevertheless, SaaS will remain the second largest segment in the global cloud services market.

"As enterprise application buyers are moving toward a cloud-first mentality, we estimate that more than 50 percent of new 2017 large-enterprise North American application adoptions will be composed of SaaS or other forms of cloud-based solutions," said Nag. "Midmarket and small enterprises are even further along the adoption curve. By 2019, more than 30 percent of the 100 largest vendors' new software investments will have shifted from cloud-first to cloud-only."

Gartner predicts more cloud growth in the infrastructure compute service space as adoption becomes increasingly mainstream. Additional demand from the migration of infrastructure to the cloud and increased demand from increasingly compute-intensive workloads (such as artificial intelligence [AI], analytics and Internet of Things [IoT]) — both in the enterprise and startup spaces — are driving this growth. Furthermore, the growth of platform as a service (PaaS) is also driving the growth in adoption of IaaS.

From a regional perspective, China's IaaS cloud market forecast has been increased to account for anticipated higher buyer demand over the forecast period. In particular, the larger pure-play IaaS providers in China, as well as other telecom-related cloud providers driving this market, are reporting significant growth. While China's cloud service market is nascent and several years behind the U.S. and European markets, it is expected to maintain high levels of growth as digital transformation becomes more mainstream over the next five years.

Tata Communications Enters Mobile Data Connectivity and IoT Markets

Tata Communications, a leading provider of A New World of Communications™, has announces its entry into the global US$ 4 billion mobile data connectivity and cross-border Internet of Things (IoT) market. The company is unveiling the Tata Communications MOVE platform that will enable people and things to become seamlessly connected on a global scale.

“With more than 3 billion Internet users globally and billions more connected ‘things’ from activity trackers and smart home hubs to connected cars and street lights, we live in a truly digital world,” said Anthony Bartolo, President, Mobility, IoT and Collaboration Solutions, Tata Communications. “We believe that the future of this digital world lies in how all of these ‘things’ connect – and that everything should be born connected. So, imagine a world where there could be embedded connectivity within everything – straight out of the box, with instant and seamless access to the Internet, anywhere in the world. That’s our aim with Tata Communications MOVE. It is a platform that enables companies to embed global connectivity in anything, improving the user experience, creating completely new revenue streams, and fulfilling the promise of a truly digital world.”

Tata Communications MOVE is part of the company’s long-term strategy for its mobility services portfolio and its vision of creating an access and usage agnostic, cross-border mobile experience for people and things. The platform is underpinned by Tata Communications’ global network, partnerships with 900 mobile communications service providers globally, and recent investment in Teleena. Teleena is an IoT connectivity specialist and mobile virtual network enabler, whose technology manages the operational complexity and reduces the cost of IoT deployments for businesses. Tata Communications’ investment has made it the single largest shareholder in Teleena with a 35% stake. 

The combination of Teleena’s IoT technology and Tata Communications’ global network – which today connects 4 out of 5 mobile subscribers – lowers the barriers for brands to introduce new IoT-enabled services for engaging with consumers in new ways. Underpinned by enterprise-grade secure connectivity across 240 countries and territories, Tata Communications MOVE also paves the way for new industrial IoT applications to generate operational efficiencies in sectors such as manufacturing and logistics.

In the first phase of the roll-out of Tata Communications MOVE, the platform encompasses global cellular IoT and SIM connectivity, with further enterprise and mobile network operator capabilities to follow later in 2017, enabled by the world’s largest and most advanced wholly-owned network. Over 25% of the world’s Internet routes travel over Tata Communications’ network, and the company is the only Tier-1 network provider that is in the top 5 by routes in 5 continents.

“The market needs large-scale operators such as Tata Communications that are able to scale up activity in a market so far populated by small commercial aggregators and mobile virtual network operators,” said Dario Talmesio, Principal Analyst and Practice Leader, Europe, Ovum.

Vinod Kumar, CEO and Managing Director of Tata Communications, said: “With global, ubiquitous connectivity comes the power to unleash unimaginable possibilities in how brands serve and engage with their customers and partners, redefining business models across industries. As a company that has built unparalleled global network reach and platforms that simplify and accelerate cloud and data-powered innovation over the last 15 years, today marks an inflection point for our business with the introduction of Tata Communications MOVE, which will serve to unlock the next phase of connectivity for humans and machines.”

Sony Utilizes Juniper’s Open Tech for IP-Based Production Platform

Juniper Networks, an industry leader in automated, scalable and secure networks, has collaborated with Sony Professional Solutions Europe to deliver its switching technology to support Sony’s IP Live production solution. This enables broadcasters to capture and distribute live coverage of major sporting, cultural and political events globally. By leveraging Internet Protocol (IP) networks, IP Live is designed to solve the challenge of transporting massive volumes of rich-content data in real-time between outside broadcast locations and production studios in a cost-effective and reliable manner. Juniper’s open, interoperable technology aligns with Sony’s requirement to tailor open solutions to the exact needs of each customer.

Traditionally, to achieve the required reliability and low latency necessary for production-quality broadcasts, broadcasters have relied on serial digital interface (SDI) and coaxial cabling technology to transport live content from outside broadcasts to production studios. However, faster frame rates, dynamic ranges and higher resolutions of today’s rich content often make the cost of conventional cabling and hardware prohibitively expensive and cumbersome for many broadcasters. Sony is delivering a simple, smart and open architecture for building an automated and high-availability network compatible with Juniper’s technology. IP Live supports the transportation of quality high-definition (HD) and 4K (ultra HD) video, audio, synchronization signals and control-data across an IP network through a single network cable.

Co-Branded Training Courses Help Drive IP Education into Broadcasting Industry

Sony and Juniper also have a unique partnership to provide IP Live production and training courses for the broadcast industry. The collaborative courses show participants how to build a viable IP network, control and manage settings for optimum performance throughout the network, and mitigate errors.

News Highlights:

 The training is composed of eight hours of online courses and four days of face-to-face, in-depth training with hands-on sessions.

• Sony collaborates with its partners to apply open standards efficiently for live production over IP and offers new and affordable ways of capturing and routing content. Sony has selected Juniper as an IP networking partner, using Juniper Networks QFX5100 switches, a highly flexible switching platform with open architectures that serve as a universal building block for automated, programmable fabric architectures.
• Juniper’s Ethernet switches provide a high-performance network solution built on an open framework to give the maximum level of network programmability and automation. This framework allows Sony to provide consistency and simplicity to its operations, and to scale and adopt new applications and technologies to keep pace with innovation in the broadcast space.
• Sony needed to build an agile and automated network to minimize the downtime between live programs and pre-produced content. With Juniper’s network solution, Sony’s IP Live production system can easily adapt to changing program requirements by reconfiguring the line-up of production devices automatically.
• A network of production devices that is managed by the “Live System Manager” solution, which creates a software-defined network, forms the IP Live production system. This solution delivers great modularity and stability where resources can either be combined or split, depending on the requirements.  

HSIL Adds Snowcrest Air Coolers, Moonbow Water Purifyers Solutions

HSIL Limited, promoters of brand hindware - the leader in sanitaryware market in India, has announced the launch of their latest line of air coolers with changeable colorful front panels under their brand Hindware Snowcrest. The latest line of air coolers unveiled will bolster the versatile and comprehensive Consumer Products Division of HSIL. The growing market of air coolers of INR 3,650 crores currently has a low penetration of 10%, however it is witnessing a volume CAGR of 16% from FY14-FY17. With the organized market contributing to only 1/3rd of the market, the range of air coolers will help HSIL propel its presence.

The new range of air coolers launched under – Desert, Personal and Window categories are available in fourteen models ranging from 18 liters to 100 liters. The changeable color panels available in select models come in three colors as of now – premium purple, brick red & icy grey. With a high air delivery rate of up to 3800 m³/hr., the series is engineered to consume less power and produce exceptional cooling comfort. The trendy coolers range starts from INR 8,990/- and goes up to Rs 17,990.

Speaking at the launch, Sandip Somany, VCMD, HSIL Ltd. said, “Superlative design, innovation and unbeatable quality form the core of HSIL business philosophy. With an aim to grow Consumer Business manifolds and to be a leader in the category, we will continue offering top-of-the-line products to our consumers. The products under consumer products division have generated volumes for us, and have helped us to reach out to a newer target audience, and we are excited to see that our strategy is on the right track and paying results.”

He further added, “It remains our endeavor to continuously drive value by adding new products and adding new variants to retain customer interest in the brand. We plan to introduce more variants this year under the water & air purification categories and kitchen appliances category apart from consolidating our strength in water heaters segment. With the positive sentiment owing to recent budget announcement and a resurgence of customer sentiment, we have a positive outlook for the remainder of the year.”

With their smart craftsmanship and design, the Hindware Snowcrest air coolers promise to set a new benchmark in the segment with its technological and aesthetical advancement. The first of its kind, graceful and changeable color panels, not only provide the consumers an opportunity to showcase their individual style, but also blends seamlessly with the interiors. The air coolers are imbibed with a unique Anti-Skid Top Cover which provides additional grip and storage for placing objects, and a distinctive ice chamber which helps in faster cooling of the room.  The coolers launched under Desert, Personal and Window categories, also come with 4-way air deflection and digital display panel with remote operation for fan, speed and timer control. In personal cooler model, a pocket is provided for placing the remote and stylish handle at top helps in easy placement of the cooler. Many other smart features like shut louvers, dust filter, etc. make the product stand class apart. 

Rakesh Kaul, President, Consumer Business, HSIL Ltd. said, “We did a soft launch of air coolers in March 2016 which gave us encouraging results. With the launch of the state-of–the–art air coolers range today; we expect even better results. These unique and stylish air coolers with changeable color panels, interpret a new benchmark in air coolers segment and its contemporary design idiom showcases the passion we have towards providing our customers with the best in class products.”

Utilizing their vast distributor network pan India, HSIL intends to go all out in maximizing consumer touch points for Hindware Snowcrest Air Coolers across 4000 retail outlets. The cooler will also be sold through e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, etc. as well as brick-n-mortar outlets like Reliance Digital, Wallmart, Spencers, Metro, etc.

With strategic expansion into the consumer products, HSIL forayed into kitchen appliances category under the brand Hindware Kitchen Ensemble. Further expanding the consumer products portfolio, HSIL entered into association with Groupe Atlantic of France bringing Hindware Atlantic water heaters into the Indian market. With both of these categories performing remarkably, HSIL entered air coolers market with the brand – Hindware Snowcrest and into purifying solutions with brand Moonbow.