Samsung Celebrates Mother-Daughter Bond in New TVC on Digital Inverter Refrigerators

Samsung India has launched a digital campaign showcasing its new Digital Inverter Refrigerators through a heart-warming story of the relationship between a mother and a daughter.

Conceptualised by Cheil, the campaign film, which shows a modern, young, evolved working woman gifting her mother a refrigerator that runs on both inverter and solar power for a better, improved and hassle-free life, has gone viral with over 50 million views on YouTube in the first 20 days of its launch.

“This heart-warming campaign shows the strong bond between a mother and daughter. The campaign showcases the brand ethos of Samsung of caring about consumers at every step and bringing in innovative technologies to solve real life problems. Through this emotional story, we wanted to communicate how our new refrigerator line runs non-stop on the home inverter, making life better for a modern young Indian women. The campaign crossing 50 million views on YouTube in India is a testimony of consumer love and trust in brand Samsung,” said Ranjivjit Singh, Chief Marketing Officer, Samsung India.

In the film, the mother is seen entering the daughter’s house while she is away at work. The mother brings with herself kheer that she has prepared lovingly for her daughter. She keeps it in her daughter’s fridge for her to enjoy when she is back from work. Just as she is leaving, there is a power cut. When the daughter returns home the power outage is still there but she is elated to see the kheer in the fridge. She calls her mother to appreciate her love but the mother is concerned that the kheer might have gone bad because of the long power cut. It is here that the daughter tells her not to worry because her new refrigerator even works on the home inverter.

The 60-second film focuses on a real life situation, of the difficulty faced by individuals when food gets spoilt due to power cuts during summer months. The film captures a young working woman in conversation with her mother that touches hearts with different emotions of joy, love and care.

The end of the film shows the daughter buying a similar refrigerator for her mother, hoping that the refrigerator takes care of her mother like her mother takes care of her.

“Samsung is a brand that stands for innovation. The task at hand was to show how this offering of a refrigerator that runs on an inverter can make a world of a difference in the consumers’ life, in a very real way. This film is crafted in a way that makes the viewer feel that this is a situation straight out of their lives. The narrative beautifully connects the ad to its viewers and we are seeing a lot of positive response to the campaign. We hope to garner more brand love through this emotional campaign,” said Aneesh Jaisinghani, Executive Creative Director, Cheil India.

Balancing Digital Investments Key to Driving Sustainable Growth in India’s Manufacturing Sector: Accenture Research

Manufacturing businesses in India are keen to invest in digital technologies but are struggling to derive tangible business benefits due to an imbalanced approach to digital investments, according to Reinventing Business with Industry X.0, a new report from Accenture.

Ninety-three percent of the executives surveyed – who represent 29 manufacturing and production companies in India with an annual turnover of at least US$1 billion – want to leverage digital for growth, with 76 percent intending to use digital to create new, experience-driven revenue opportunities. However, only 31 percent plan to use digital to drive greater operational efficiencies, likely missing out on bottom-line improvements.

“There appears to be a singular focus on revenue growth, with businesses neglecting an important requirement of the digital era: the transformation of operations to unlock trapped value,” said Anindya Basu, geographic unit and country senior managing director – Accenture in India. “Businesses in India must place equal emphasis on using digital to drive efficiencies at the heart of the business and using the freed-up funds to drive strategic investments in new products, customer experiences and business models that create long-term value.”

For example, Accenture research has found that industrial equipment companies globally could reduce their total cost per employee by almost 20 percent and increase their market capitalization by nearly 25 percent if they combine innovative technologies such as autonomous robots, artificial intelligence, blockchain, big data and 3D-printing.

Indian manufacturers have been struggling to achieve globally competitive scale and productivity. While the industrial sector in India has grown 6 percent annually since 2011, to more than US$700 billion in 2016, the value addition per employee is one of the lowest in the world, at only US$6,000.

An Action Plan for Success
The Accenture report suggests that the right combination of digital technologies could help Indian industrial companies address this issue, as the technologies hold the potential to drive dramatic efficiency improvements and exponential revenue growth. Specifically, the report recommends that companies adopt a new approach that Accenture refers to as Industry X.0. It is an action plan for becoming more adept at embracing technological change and digital technologies to manage the shift from industrial manufacturing to producing and delivering digital products and services and supporting them in the field.

According to the report, Indian businesses should take six actions to derive value from Industry X.0:
Transform the core: Drive new levels of efficiency by building core engineering and production systems around digital technologies. Ensure that physical machines and software systems are tightly integrated for predictive maintenance, and help scale automation to optimize production runs and improve overall equipment effectiveness.

Create hyper-personalized experiences: Design and deploy products, services and platforms that constantly adapt to changing customer needs. Use big data to generate real-time insights to enable decision making, and enhance the customer and workforce experience through smart, digital touchpoints.

Innovate business models: Create new business models to drive differentiated customer value propositions well beyond the point-of-sale interaction. Use the internet of things (IoT) and Industrial IoT to develop connected and intelligent products that can be monetized via software-based-services and pay-per-use revenue models.

Build a digital ready workforce: Recruit, train and retain talent with skills, such as software engineering and machine learning, for the digital enterprise.  Encourage collaboration between people and machines.

Build new ecosystems: Build an ecosystem of supply chain partners including start-ups and customers to scale new digital business models rapidly. Tap into internal and external sources for new ideas, while nurturing innovation clusters to prototype early-stage technology use cases.
Pivot Wisely: Synchronize innovation and growth through balanced investments in the core business and in new business. Stay focused on traditional performance metrics while keeping an eye on disruptors, and continuously inject digital technologies into mainstream operations.

“Industry X.0 will unleash a new level of energy into the manufacturing industry,” said Raghu Gullapalli, managing director - industrial, Asia Pacific, Africa, Middle East & Turkey (AAPAC), Accenture. “To harness the true potential of digital for profitable growth in the future, Indian companies need to look at immediate-term value extraction from legacy data and build a progressive roadmap for connecting their products, equipment, supply chain, people and customers. Companies that embark on this journey in a holistic manner today will emerge as the digital leaders of tomorrow.”

Research Methodology
Accenture surveyed senior executives from 29 companies across 12 manufacturing and production industries in India with annual turnover in excess of US$1 billion. The companies were a part of a larger survey of more than 900 senior executives from large industrial companies across 21 different nations to understand how companies deploy digital technologies and the benefits they derive from them. The research identified a set of 10 technologies critical for Industry X.0: 3D printing, artificial intelligence, augmented/virtual reality, autonomous robots, autonomous vehicles, big data analytics, blockchain, digital twin, machine learning and mobile computing. Using both survey data and company financial data, researchers performed an Economic Value Modelling analysis to identify the technology combinations with the biggest impact on top- and bottom-line value release, as measured by market capitalization and cost-per-employee. They then identified the optimum mix of technologies by combining results from machine learning and principal component analysis.

Quantum Video Surveillance Storage Portfolio Now Available Through Convergint Technologies

Quantum Corp has announced that its complete line of scale-out tiered storage, archive and data protection solutions for video surveillance environments is now available through Convergint Technologies. Certified with the industry-leading camera, VMS and analytics offerings, these award-winning, intelligent solutions will provide Convergint’s global user community with the foundation for next-generation security, analytics and AI infrastructures — a key challenge facing customers in this evolving market.

Multitiered Storage for an Expansive Range of Video Surveillance Environments

With an extensive heritage of implementations for environments such as federal installations, transportation, healthcare, higher education and city surveillance, Quantum’s storage portfolio for video surveillance offers a logical fit with Convergint’s strategic direction. The partnership with Quantum enables Convergint to provide its video surveillance and security customers with an expanded range of integrated, scalable solutions for data protection and retention.

Powered by its StorNext parallel file system and data management platform, Quantum’s multitier storage makes the combination of storage performance and data retention more affordable. As a result, customers can not only keep surveillance data longer but also have more budget available to spend on cameras and real-time analytics, for a more effective video surveillance environment.

Visit Convergint and Quantum at ISC West

Convergint Technologies (booth 14099) and Quantum (booth 22125) will highlight their solutions for video surveillance environments at ISC West 2018, Las Vegas, April 11-13.

Supporting Quotes
Tony Varco, vice president, security division, Convergint Technologies
“Convergint’s success stems from the level of service we provide to our clients, and we are continually looking to enhance our ability to meet our customers’ needs. Our partnership with Quantum allows us to maintain our growth strategy with intelligent storage solutions to further deepen and expand the portfolio we offer to customers.”

Wayne Arvidson, vice president, intelligence, surveillance and security solutions, Quantum
“Retention time for surveillance data continues to increase, and Convergint understands the value of storage as part of the surveillance and security infrastructure. With their global reach, reputation of excellence, and extensive qualification and vetting process, I’m pleased to have Quantum included among Convergint’s select list of offerings.”

Samsung Carnival Comes to Flipkart, Get Instant Discount and Exciting Offers on Select Products

Samsung, India’s biggest and most trusted consumer electronics and mobile phones brand, is bringing Samsung Carnival to Flipkart, giving instant discount, exciting exchange offers and no-cost EMI schemes on select products from April 10 to April 12, 2018.

Consumers buying Galaxy On Nxt 64GB during Samsung Carnival on Flipkart will get the smartphone at Rs 11,900 after flat Rs 1,000 off. Galaxy On Max, which excels in low-light photography, will be available at Rs 12,900 after flat Rs 2,000 off. Galaxy On Nxt 16GB can be bought for an exciting price of Rs 9,490. Galaxy On5 and Galaxy J3 Pro will be up for grabs at Rs 5,990 and Rs 6,990 respectively during the Samsung Carnival on Flipkart.

There are exciting offers on consumer durables too. Samsung’s 49" M6300 Full HD Curved SMART TV will be available at a special price of INR 66,900. This season, customers can look forward to a cooler summer as the carnival brings attractive offers on refrigerators as well. Samsung’s 253L 2 Star Frost-Free Refrigerator and Top Mount Freezer with Convertible 5-in-1 will be available at a special price of Rs 23,790 and Rs 36,090 respectively.

Adding to this summer bonanza, customers can avail instant discount, no-cost EMI and exciting exchange offers on select products.

“We are happy to announce Samsung Carnival on Flipkart with attractive offers. During the Carnival, we will have instant discount, exciting exchange offers and attractive no cost EMI on select products that will allow consumers to purchase and enjoy their favourite Samsung products,” Sandeep Singh Arora, Vice President, Online Business, Samsung India, said.

"Flipkart has always stood for customer centricity and ensuring maximum value for every purchase made. Samsung Carnival, between 10-12 April, is Flipkart’s yet another way of offering great products at some of the most affordable prices" Ayyappan Rajagopal, Senior Director, Flipkart, said.
Partner offers:

Instant Discount: 10% instant discount* with ICICI Bank Credit and Debit Cards (*T&C apply)          
  
Best exchange value: Customers can exchange their existing prodcuts and get great value for their old device.

No Cost EMI: No cost EMI financing schemes available on select products with select Credit/Debit cards.

Liebherr India to Expand Business in South India, Targets 100 City Dealer Network Expansion in the Region

After dominating the refrigerator market around the world, Liebherr, the German refrigerator expert, is all set to enter India and has targeted the South Indian market to drive growth. The company, which has plans of opening a manufacturing unit in Aurangabad is currently aiming 40% of its sales from South markets and plans to grow significantly in the coming years. Aspiring to tap the refrigerator market in India, the German refrigerator expert, Liebherr announced its business expansion in the country targeting around 100 cities in South India in the upcoming months. The company has planned to partner with major dealers & retail chains in cities in South India and will be locally manufacturing a mass premium range of refrigerators from its plant in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district where it has already invested around Rs 500 Crore to set up operations.

Liebherr anticipates maximum demand coming from metro areas as well as from tier-I/II cities owing to their developmental infrastructure such as metros and other connectivity. Targeting the premium mass segment, Liebherr Appliances India aims to produce high-quality refrigeration appliances tailored to suit the Indian market, the plant will have initial capacity of manufacturing over 500,000 cooling appliances per year starting 2018.

Liebherr group which achieved a consolidated group turnover of 9.2 billion Euros in the year 2016 ,  plans to produce new line up of refrigerator products in coming months of 2018. It will introduce 19 different models in various colors and feature combinations in refrigerators to cater Indian consumers. In 2019, it will add around 22 models and another 11 technologically advanced models will be introduced additionally in the next 3 years to widen its range in phased manner. Liebherr has been in India since 2008 as a part of the domestic refrigerator and freezer market with presence of built-in refrigerators & freezers, side by appliances with different cooling zones, special wine cabinets, under counter fridges and freezers with a huge HNI clientele.

Commenting on the expansion plan, Mr. Radhakrishna Somayaji, Chief Sales Officer, Liebherr Appliances India Private Limited said, “We are pleased to announce our expansion in South India and our aim to sell the upcoming range of refrigerators in urban and semi - urban parts of the country. We believe, as a market, South India encompasses a huge potential for us and with price capping in almost all the states of south, we are looking at capturing the good market. We have set an objective of entering & growing the business by expanding our refrigerator range. We have now specific plans at some of our plants. We would make sure that we would utilize them to the maximum and invest going forward. This would be for the base capacity and also focusing on new product launches. We aim to continue to leverage our strong brand, differentiated products , great quality, competitive pricing and global networks to continue to increase sales.“

Sophos Introduces Phish Threat Attack Simulation and Training Solution with New Analytics and Multi-Language Support

Sophos , a global leader in network and endpoint security, today announced the expansion of its Sophos Phish Threat phishing attack simulator and training solution to Europe and Asia. With enhanced dashboards and new analytics to track organizational risk and employee performance, Phish Threat simplifies a key part of an organizations security strategy – employee awareness and training. With the capability to choose from hosting locations in Ireland, Germany or the US, organizations worldwide can now access multi-language, interactive security training from within the Sophos Central security management platform.

Phishing remains an easy access route into organizations for today’s ransomware payloads and data breaches. With forty-one percent1 of organizations seeing an attack on a daily basis, employee training remains critical to maintaining effective security. Sophos Phish Threat automates the entire training process and provides visual analytics to identify vulnerable employees.  As the only security awareness training program from a leader in IT security, it can be managed alongside email, endpoint, and network security from one console for improved risk management and incident response.

Sunil Sharma, Managing Director Sales at Sophos India & SAARC said “In 2017, 30 percent of Indian organizations reported email and web malware attacks as per a SophosLabs finding. With businesses challenged by the alarming increase in phishing and compliance threats, they are attempting to tackle the issue themselves by deploying next generation IT security solutions. These attempts mostly fail due to lack of employee awareness to spot a phishing email.”

Sunil further added, "Human behavior is a critical element of cybersecurity yet 62 percent of companies don’t train employees to recognize phishing attempts. SophosLabs sees malware on up to 77 percent of blocked mail. Creating a culture of security and data protection awareness has risen in priority with the greater risk of email born ransomware and the planned introduction of new legislation such as GDPR. Employees have to be responsible for the way they handle data and how to spot a phishing attack should be part of their training. Phish Threat builds greater employee awareness by creating suspicious emails using known techniques, successful spoofs, and contemporary examples. In fact, after just four Phish Threat simulation training emails, the average organization reports a 31 percent2 reduction in employee susceptibility.”

Phish Threat enables IT managers to identify susceptible employees and manage relevant real-world phishing email simulations to deliver more effective training sessions from within Sophos Central. Attack templates and training are available in nine languages and constantly updated based on Sophos’s global awareness of current threats. When errors are made, individuals are automatically given corrective training to learn from their mistakes. Phish Threat also provides the analytics and reporting metrics to allow tracking and measurement of overall business risk and security posture at an organization or individual level. With benchmark data available on employee phishing susceptibility against global norms, training can be fully tailored, and data can be used to enhance security policy across Sophos Central to deliver a multi-layered security strategy against phishing and social engineering attacks.

MAHE Leapfrogs Seven Places to Achieve Best Ever Rank, KMC Manipal is Fourth Best in India

Manipal Academy of Higher Education Manipal has vaulted seven places in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) Rankings for Universities in India, announced by the Union HRD Ministry in New Delhi on Tuesday. From 18, MAHE moved to the 11th rank which is the best yet for the University. In the overall ranking too, MAHE has jumped 12 places, from 30 to 18.

Indeed a remarkable achievement for the University celebrating its silver jubilee this year. And that’s not all, there was a lot more to cheer about with five of its constituent units doing extremely well in the rankings and making their presence felt in the education world.

Kasturba Medical College, Manipal was ranked fourth in India and the Medical College at Mangaluru was 16th. Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences retained its rank of being the seventh best in the country. As for Faculty of Architecture, the college got the 10th rank. FOA needs a pat on the back for being the only private college to figure among the first ten. Manipal Institute of Technology ranked 43 the last time, also saw an improvement and was ranked 39th.

Vice Chancellor, Dr H. Vinod Bhat broke the news to thousands of students and faculty assembled at the inauguration of Silver Utsav 2018 at KMC Greens on Tuesday. The announcement was received by a thunderous applause from the huge crowd gathered to witness the popular events at Utsav.

There was excitement all over the University. This is what Vice Chancellor, Dr H. Vinod Bhat had to say about the achievements; “I am happy with MAHE’s ranking in NIRF this time. We have reached an all-time high of 11th position in the country, up from position number 18 last year. In addition to the University’s own ranking, individual institutions like KMC, Manipal; KMC Mangalore; Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Faculty of Architecture have done us proud by their own demonstration of strength in national rankings. And it is my belief that in the coming years we will do even better and see MAHE in the top 10 in the NIRF 2019 rankings.”

“We are thrilled by the recognition of MHRD for our constant endeavor towards excellence in medical education. It has been a team effort of the college faculty and the top University management which has steered the college forward amidst the rapidly changing scenario of global medical education,” said Dr Pragna Rao, Dean KMC, Manipal. “At KMC, Manipal, we are acutely aware of the global context and changing standards of excellence in medical school curricula and are constantly striving to maintain those standards by implementing newer pedagogies,” she added.

“KMC Mangalore has broken into the Big League,” said Dean Dr Venkatraya Prabhu. “KMC Mangalore has always been in the forefront of providing learner-centric quality medical education. The NIRF rankings provide external verification and validation of this. Students of KMC, Mangalore have the unique advantage of being trained in both public (government) and private hospitals.It is matter of immense pride that we are ranked among the top colleges in the country and we are confident that in the years to come we will improve our rankings,” Dr Prabhu said.

MCOPS continues to maintain its position in the rankings. But what’s encouraging is that there is an increase of 6.67 points in the total score from the 60 last year,” said Principal of MCOPS Dr C. Mallikarjuna Rao. “We scored a 100 in Teaching Learning Resources and Public Perception and have shown remarkable improvement in Research Promotion and Consultancy and also in Outreach and Inclusivity,” he added.

We are excited about the recognition we have received from the most valuable ranking system in India,” said Nishant H Manapure, Director Faculty of Architecture. “Our students, faculty and staff have always put in their best efforts to make FOA an excellent centre for architectural education. This achievement has given us a tremendous boost to raise the bar in the coming years,” he added.