Turkish Airlines recently released its Aviation Trends India 2017 survey in association with Nielson. The survey revealed the evolving demands of passengers for better experiences during mid to long-haul flights. Conducted online, the survey interviewed respondents to understand their likes and dislikes in the Before Flight, During Flight and After Flight phases of the journey.
The survey also reflected the growing acceptance of airline travel as a preferred mode of travel in India due to the growth of the sector with increased options in the form of airlines, routes and benefits. 50 per cent of the respondents preferred air-travel versus other forms of transport. 99 per cent of the respondents to the survey also expressed a willingness to take a long-haul flight in the next two years. Business class travel also saw a rise with 44 per cent of the respondents travelling business class in the past two years.
The respondents also shared a ‘wishlist’ of services and amenities that they would like to see in mid to long-haul flights in the future. Free and fast internet access and increased seat comfort ranked the highest in the wishlist. A significantly higher percentage of business and first class travelers expressed a need for child care on board and an area for network generation, compared to economy and premium economy travelers.
Sharing his views on the survey and its outcomes, Ozer Guler, General Manager, Northern & Eastern India, Turkish Airlines Inc. said, “The Indian civil aviation sector is on an undeniable growth trajectory. Favorable government policies, economic growth, an upwardly mobile middle-class and competitive air fares have given a rise to a willingness for people to adopt air travel as a preferred mode of transport in India. As such, their expectations and demands for services and ameneities have significantly evolved. The Turkish Airlines Aviation Trends Survey 2017 gives us a glimpse into this changing landscape and allows us to better address our customers demands and needs.”
Key Findings of the Survey
Before Flight:
· Good safety record (98 per cent) and the good reputation of an airline are given paramount importance while booking a mid or long haul flight. Good services on board in economy class, flexibility on luggage allowance and option of checking in at least one piece of luggage at no extra cost are especially important for passengers who have children.
· Own experience (71 per cent), close acquaintances and travel/comparison portals are the top three sources to trust for an airline recommendation. An easy to use website of an airline, travel bloggers/specialized online travel magazines, active digital sources of an airline, easy to use mobile application of an airline, advertising of the airline and reports on TV/radio were of a higher importance among business and first class travelers. All inclusive fares are an additional consideration factor for a majority of the respondents (74 per cent) as well.
· Long queues at the Check-in counter (75 per cent) and crowded waiting areas were the major pain-points for respondents. Insufficient information about possible delays also continues to be an issue for passengers.
· Online check-in via mobile apps/smartphones and automatic check-in service are the top two expectations of travelers regarding the check-in process. Business and first class passengers have higher expectations for automatic check-in services and early check-in opportunities.
During Flight
· Cleanliness of cabin/lavatory (97 per cent), quality of food & beverages (96 per cent) and friendly/attentive/accessible staff (96 per cent) are passengers’ prior expectations regarding a mid or long-haul flight.
· Mobile phone calls and inflight connectivity ranked high on the preference list of respondents (73 per cent), with a majority expressing an interest in using the services only if charges were slightly higher than normal usage tariffs.
· The majority of passengers wish presence of healthy food and the opportunity to drink water at any time during the flight. Also, choice of several menu options, multi-course menu and special food and drinks for children are other expectations of travelers from catering services on board.
· For a majority of passengers (97 per cent), healthy food options were a key factor for them to choose an airline. Also, choice of several menu options, multi-course menu and special food and drinks for children are other expectations of travelers from catering services on board.
· Key among the expectation for pre-landing services are information about customs regulations (96 per cent), information about the expected waiting period for entry (94 per cent) and advice about travel options (92 per cent).
After Flight
· Access to an arrival lounge (96 per cent) and a information desk in the baggage reclaim hall in case of lost luggage (96 per cent) are the two most important services on the ground for Indian travelers.
· Satisfaction with airline services in difficult situations such as damaged luggage (66 per cent), lost luggage (64 per cent), delayed flights (58 per cent) and cancelled flights (55 per cent) were key consideration factors in airline choice.
· Satisfaction with other services such as cabin lighting, cabin temperature, catering quality, in-flight entertainment, comfortable seating etc. are ancialliary deciding factors for passengers when considering an airline.
The online survey, conducted in partnership with Nielsen, reached out to a respondent pool comprised of individuals aged 18 years or older who have used flights as a mode of travel in the last two years and was conducted between 16 to 26 February, 2018.
Otocare, a leading automotive after market product and solution provider based out of Bengaluru, today unveiled more than 50 new products. From air conditioner to waterless foaming wash, the range includes a variety of auto care products in three categories; Cleaning, Enhancing and Protecting. Reasonably priced, the products are initially aimed to provide affordable auto care solutions in South India.
Otocare products are a perfect blend of quality and utility, while being environment friendly at the same time. Under the cleaning category, the waterless foaming car wash ensures that water consumption is significantly less as compared to a conventional car wash. In line with Otocare’s commitment towards a greener world, the new waterless foaming car wash will enable customers to save water, time and promote an environment cause.
With metro cities getting increasingly populated, water shortage has become a pressing issue in India. The recent droughts in some parts of the county is an evidence to the fact that how precious water is. Otocare’s waterless foaming car wash is addressing this issue by reducing wastage of water. Gallons of water wastage can be prevented by replacing the conventional car washing methods with these products.
“We are ecstatic to unveil our new range of auto care products. We at Otocare are responsible for a sustainable ecosystem, and our latest range of products are in line with the same. Made of bio-degradable chemicals, our products consist no toxic-chemicals that can have an adverse effect on the environment”, G. Krishna Kumar, Managing Director, Otocare, while commenting on the launch.
“Despite being pocket friendly, the products are high in quality and utility,” he added further.
Additionally, Otocare announced details about their franchise business Autospa, which helps customers keep their automobiles fresh and odor-free.
Otocare comprises a team of professionals who have worked in automotive after market industry for years. The company is a one-stop-solution for all products related to restoration, preservation and ongoing care of two and four-wheelers.
Amazon Prime Video today released the trailer of their new Prime Original series – Comicstaan. Produced by Only Much Louder (OML) and hosted by ace comedians Abish Mathew & Sumukhi Suresh, Comicstaan is a talent hunt to discover India’s next big comedic talent. The show brings together seven of India’s best comedians – Tanmay Bhat, Kenny Sebastian, Sapan Verma, Naveen Richard, Kaneez Surkha, Kanan Gill and Biswa Kalyan Rath, to guide, mentor and judge the budding talent, as they compete each week to win the coveted title. Comicstaan will be available exclusively to Prime members across 200 countries and territories starting July 13, 2018.
Speaking about Amazon’s latest Prime Original series, Vijay Subramanian, Director and Head, Content, Amazon Prime Video India, said, “Comedy is already one the most watched genres on Amazon Prime Video and customers, across age groups & geographies want to see more. Comicstaan will take customers on a hilarious journey alongside some of today’s most recognizable comedians, to search for India’s next big comedian. Unique, fresh and packed with jokes, the series will make you crack up. The future looks funny indeed!”
Ajay Nair, COO, Only Much Louder, said, “Comicstaan is the exciting next step in our long and fruitful relationship with Amazon. It ties all the best parts of Indian stand-up together into something fresh. Getting the country's top comedians to nurture and mentor new talent is an idea that excited us, and it's been extremely rewarding to see it all come together."
Get ready to laugh with Comicstaan – a nine episode series where ten contestants from across the country are chosen to compete for the winning title and mentored by comedian judges who are experts in their respective genres of comedy. Comicstaan is laugh-out-loud funny with carefully plotted jokes, quick witted dialogue and hilarious memorable moments that are relevant in pop culture today. The first four episodes are available to stream on July 13, followed by new episodes weekly.
Amazon Prime Video has the largest selection of latest & exclusive movies and TV shows, stand-up comedy, biggest Indian and Hollywood films, US TV series, most popular Indian & international kids’ shows, and award winning Amazon Prime Originals, all available, ad-free, with a world class customer experience.
To watch Comicstaan and the newest releases in Hollywood & Bollywood, the latest US TV shows, kids’ favorite toons and Amazon Prime Originals, please visit www.PrimeVideo.com or download the Amazon Prime Video app today and sign-up for a Prime membership.
Atlas Copco Oil-free Air and Compressor Technique Service Divisions, leading providers of sustainable productivity solutions held a global sales event in April with over 900 participants from 68 countries. Several product innovations in compressed air and gases were launched for the low, medium and high pressure markets. The new products will set new standards in reliability, energy efficiency and serviceability and are all part of the smart AIR solutions concept.
Smart AIR Solutions are complete air or gas solutions designed to provide our customers with the lowest life cycle costs for their equipment. They combine compressors, blowers and boosters with quality air solutions such as air dryers, coolers, nitrogen generators, filters or energy recovery solutions, fully optimized to operate together in the most efficient and reliable way. Our smart AIR solutions apply for all our customers and not only include products but also services.
A total of 12 new products were launched with each individual product being optimized for the best possible performance in energy efficiency, reliability and air quality.
New low pressure blower ranges include ZB and ZM centrifugal products, ZS rotary screw blowers and ZL lobe blowers. These products are extensions of the existing ranges with new compact designs increasing installation flexibility.
The brand new ZT 90-160 VSD/ ZR 90-160 VSD+ and GA 90+-160 (VSD+) air compressors provide compressed air with significant energy savings compared to previous generations. The new ZH 1000-3150 centrifugal compressors were introduced, extending the flow ranges and energy savings for larger customer, and the new ZP high pressure air cooled pack range for customers requiring pressure up to 42 Bar.
To complete the product launch, three new quality air products were introduced with a new innovative range of MDG rotary drum dryers with a guaranteed dewpoint of -40 0C and minimal energy consumption. New space saving twin filter design, and a new activated carbon tower range.
In order to maximize control and monitoring for complete compressed air systems, Atlas Copco developed its new Optimizer 4.0 central control and monitoring system. It optimizes a compressed air system through a selection of the most efficient combination of air compressors and dryers while assuring supply of the required pressure or having balanced running hours to minimize service intervals.
Moreover, Optimizer 4.0 is fully Industry 4.0 compatible, enabling the Internet of Things and the digital integration of the air compressed system with other intelligent networked devices to improve equipment performance, enhance predictive maintenance and further increase energy efficiency.
ITC Infotech, a global scale, full service provider of technology solutions and a fully-owned subsidiary of ITC Ltd., has been ranked a ‘Leader’ in the Global Outsourcing 100 report, for the 12th consecutive year by IAOP. ITC Infotech has also been identified as a ‘Super Star of the Global Outsourcing 100’ for its ‘Sustained Excellence’ consecutively this year.
IAOP annually produces The Global Outsourcing 100 list to help companies in their outsourcing decisions. This year IAOP continued its focus on programs for innovation and corporate social responsibility as these two elements are central to customer’s outsourcing decisions. IAOP has recognized ITC Infotech with sub-list honors in several categories including Customer References, Awards & Certifications, Programs for Innovation and Programs for Corporate Social Responsibility.
“We are proud to be consistently acknowledged for our excellence in outsourcing services for 12 consecutive years,” said Sushma Rajagopalan, CEO & MD, ITC Infotech. “We are delighted this report recognizes our commitment and excellence in delivering innovative differential solutions and an array of comprehensive outsourcing services. With our continued innovative creations such as Digitelligence@work and innoruption labs, we strive to provide best of class solutions for our clients and enhance their business operations.”
“In today’s economy, it is more important than ever for outsourcing buyers to be able to easily identify and select the right company for their outsourcing needs,” said IAOP CEO, Debi Hamill. “The Global Outsourcing 100 and World’s Best Advisors lists are the essential tools companies reference to make smarter decisions. We are proud to recognize ITC Infotech for being among the highest rated companies in customer references, company awards and certifications, programs for innovation, corporate social responsibility.”
Companies were judged on five critical characteristics for the rankings: Size and Growth as measured in revenue, employees, and global presence, Customer References as demonstrated through the value being created at the company’s top customers, Awards & Certifications, Programs for Innovation and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The aggregate scores from the five areas mentioned determine inclusion on the lists. The final scores are reviewed and allotted by an independent panel of IAOP customer members with extensive experience in selecting outsourcing service providers and advisors for their organizations.
The full version of the Global Outsourcing 100 rankings and lists of categories will be published on June 1, 2018 in a special issue of FORTUNE magazine.
Niki.ai, a pioneer in conversational commerce, integrated Amazon Pay into their app and SDK to facilitate seamless payments for transactions within a single chat window interface. Niki.ai has witnessed over 80 per cent repeat customers using Amazon Pay across 15+ services and 5+ platforms over the past 6 months, creating a unified digital payments success story for both the companies.
Driven by the shared philosophy of customer-obsession, these tech-first companies have joined hands to provide utmost convenience to the users by removing the friction on each step from choosing to discovering to paying for products and services.
With Amazon Pay, consumers transacting through Niki on its own apps (iOS, Android, Web) or on its SDK partners’ apps can use the same payment gateway across multiple services and platforms. Transactions happen primarily through Amazon Pay balance, leading to a one-step checkout. Besides Amazon Pay balance, customers can also use their stored cards on Amazon, thereby reducing payment friction to a great extent.
From the consumer's point of view, this ease of use and freedom of payment were habit-forming, and have led to an exponential growth in the number of transactions being carried out using Niki. About 80% repeat customers were using Amazon Pay to make bill payments, bus, hotel, movie ticket bookings and more, thanks to the lightning-fast checkout experience offered across platforms.
A pioneer in the conversational commerce space, Niki provides a simple and easy to use chat interface to shop for numerous products and services like movie and bus ticket booking, hotel and cab booking, utility bill payments, mobile recharges, local deals and laundry service, to name a few. To the businesses, it provides a plug and play technology in the form of Niki SDK that can be easily integrated everywhere, including operating systems, on messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger, and on the brand’s applications (Android, iOS and web).
With the simple integration, a brand can offer 25+ services provided by 60+ merchants on board, to its customers. The utility of SDK is already evident across sectors with some of the recent tie-ups with brands like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Federal Bank, iReff, Karbonn Smartphones, to name a few.
TPG Capital (TPG), the global private equity platform of alternative asset firm TPG, announced today that it has completed its acquisition of Wind River, a leader in delivering software for the Internet of Things (IoT). TPG’s acquisition of Wind River from Intel was announced on April 3, 2018. Terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.
For nearly 40 years, Wind River has helped the world’s technology leaders power generation after generation of the safest, most secure devices in the world. The company’s software runs the computing systems of the most important modern infrastructure and is accelerating the evolution from automated to autonomous systems across a diverse range of use cases — from collaborative robots to commercial and military drones, connected cars to the connected factory floor — as well as the intelligent communication networks that support these applications.
The newly independent company will be led by Wind River President and now Chief Executive Officer Jim Douglas. Nehal Raj, Partner and Head of Technology investing at TPG, will serve as Chairman of the company’s Board of Directors.
“Wind River is leveraging the power of IoT, intelligent devices, and edge computing to fundamentally transform critical infrastructure sectors,” said Raj. “This acquisition provides the company with the additional resources and focus needed to further differentiate itself as a market-leading provider of software for Industrial IoT. We look forward to working closely with management to identify and execute on opportunities to invest in organic and inorganic growth.”
“This is an exciting day for Wind River. Through this partnership with TPG, we will have new opportunities to innovate and evolve our industry-leading software portfolio, creating additional value for our customers and partner ecosystem,” said Douglas. “This acquisition is a clear endorsement of the unique value our software provides for accelerating digital transformation across critical infrastructure sectors, and we are thrilled to work with TPG in this next phase of our growth trajectory.”
TPG has a history of partnering with dynamic companies that are changing and enhancing different markets through innovative technology. Across platforms, select investments include C3 IoT, CCC Information Services, IQVIA (formerly QuintilesIMS), Intergraph, McAfee, Mediware Information Systems, Noodle.ai, and Zscaler.
Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and RBC Capital Markets acted as financial advisors to TPG. Ropes & Gray LLP served as legal counsel to TPG.
