Toyota Yaris New Addition Under ‘Drive the Nation: Government Employee Sales Campaign’

True to its commitment to enhance customer satisfaction and  continuous demand for adding more Toyota QDR products, Toyota Kirloskar Motor has added more excitement to the product portfolio under ‘Drive the Nation’ campaign. The company has now included its latest offering Toyota Yaris in the special sales initiative catering to Government employees (center and state) and Defense personnel. The campaign, which has been highly appreciated by customers across India for its customized offers, previously included the Innova Crysta, the Etios series and the Toyota Corolla Altis through various phases of the campaign.

Launched in the month of May 2018, the versatile and reliable sedan - Yaris offers 11 first-in-segment features such as the Power Driver Seat, 7 SRS Airbags, Roof Mounted Air Vents, Tyre Pressure Monitoring System, Front Parking Sensors, CVT across all grades and more. Toyota has always strived to keep up with the evolving customer needs and with the Toyota Yaris the company has ensured that it offers unbeatable safety, comfort, quality and excellent ride handling with advanced and emotional design elements.

Testament to its success ‘Drive the Nation Campaign has contributed to 13% of TKM personal segment sales over the last year. The initiative has garnered overwhelming response from customers in all the extended phases. This consistent positive demand encouraged the company to further upgrade the offerings as per changing needs.

Rolled out in 2016 in-line with Toyota’s customer first philosophy, a driving force behind all innovative products and services, “Drive the Nation” campaign offers a range of benefits starting from affordable funding solutions focused on low customer acquisition cost, attractive offers on Toyota Protect Insurance and Toyota Genuine Accessories and unmatched extended warranty.

Drive the Nation scheme presents a 100% On Road Funding for a tenure of 8 Years for serving and retired government employees with Zero Down Payment and Lowest EMI. “Drive the Nation Champions” have been appointed in each of the sales outlet of Toyota in order to give dedicated attention to all government employee enquiries. This promotional offer will be supported through Toyota’s large sales and service network spread across the country.

Speaking on including the Yaris under this scheme, N Raja, Deputy Managing Director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd said, “We are pleased with the overwhelming response that the ‘Drive the Nation’ campaign has generated since its launch. Our idea to include products that suit our customers’ requirements led us to believe that the Yaris was a perfect fit given its advanced emotional design, superior comfort, ride quality, dynamic efficiency and class-leading technology and safety. Also, the inclusion of our latest offering is Toyota’s way of staying true and relevant to the dynamic customer’s needs and strengthen the emotional bond.

Besides, host of benefits the scheme will provide 100% On Road Funding for a tenure of 8 Years on the Yaris to enhance peace of mind and ease of acquisition. Government employees serve our country with unceasing pride and responsibility, and we feel that they deserve a car that sets a benchmark in the industry ensuring comfort like no other, quality like no other and safety like no other

We are thankful to our customers for their continued patronage to brand Toyota and hope more government employees become proud Toyota owners”, he added.

3i Infotech and Fiorano Software Announce Partnership to Drive Scale and Efficiency Up

Fiorano Software Technologies, a leading provider of enterprise integration middleware and 3i Infotech, a global information technology company, today announced a strategic partnership to deliver Business Productivity and Digital Transformation solutions for the enterprise segment.

"3i Infotech values the partnership with Fiorano Software as strategic and important to support our current growing initiatives. This collaboration will enable us to provide more efficient experiences to our customers by reducing complexity, infusing speed and thereby improving their seamless journey in their Digital Transformation program, “said Mohua Sengupta, EVP & Global Head of Services, 3i Infotech.

With Fiorano Software’s innovative features to integrate heterogeneous business applications and multi-vendor technology infrastructures and 3i Infotech’s unique solutions portfolio comprising well-defined frameworks to meet evolving digital needs, the emphasis will be on addressing new technology challenges and mitigating the productivity hindrances faced by businesses when integrating and automating business processes across complex and disparate systems.

According to Rajesh Rao, Business Development Director, Fiorano Software, "Fiorano has been actively promoting its products in several emerging markets including MEA and ASEAN. 3i Infotech being one of the leading and fastest growing IT companies brings necessary edge to penetrate this market."

With Fiorano innovative integration and middleware technology added to their end-to-end solutions range, 3i Infotech aims to deliver higher value and the best suitable product & services to increase the competitive advantage of its customers.

Atos Launches New Cloud Access Security Broker Solution to Enforce Enterprises’ Security Policies

Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, launches a new Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) Service using McAfee Skyhigh Security Cloud™ to safeguard enterprise applications and data in the Cloud.

The new Atos CASB service will give enterprise customers the ability to:

Discover and remediate the risk from the use of ‘Shadow IT’ across the enterprise
Control and enforce data privacy and compliance policies across Shadow IT, sanctioned Cloud apps such as Office 365, Box, Salesforce, and ServiceNow, and IaaS platforms such as AWS and Azure Protect enterprises’ data through persistent protection, wherever it moves within the Cloud

The McAfee Skyhigh market leading CASB solution completes Atos’ Cloud Security services and enables the secure digital transformation of its customers. It also supports its strategic offerings on Digital Workplace Services and Hybrid Cloud Services.

For many enterprises, a CASB is an integral part of the “from anywhere and with any device” Digital Workplace strategy. It gives organizations the ability to ensure data protection, compliance policy enforcement and threat protection, whilst empowering employees to collaborate and communicate in a modern workplace.

Chris Moret, Senior Vice President Cyber Security at Atos, explains: “Our new Atos CASB service, developed with our strategic partner McAfee, combines the expertise of the market leading solution with the proficiency of the market leading managed security services provider. Thanks to our 5,000 Atos Security specialists, we enhance the McAfee Skyhigh solution as a managed end-to-end experience for our customers.”

Rajiv Gupta, Senior Vice President of the Cloud Security Business Unit, McAfee, adds: “CASB has quickly become the essential security foundation for enterprises’ journey to the Cloud. McAfee Skyhigh Security Cloud is based on our experience working with Fortune 1000 customers with partners like Atos. It is designed in the Cloud, for the Cloud, with comprehensive enterprise Cloud data protection, and robust threat detection and response capabilities.”

From its global network of Security Operation Centers (SOCs) and 5000 security Experts, Atos offers a modular and flexible service to identify and report on Cloud activity, incident analysis, management​ and remediation. By adding CASB services to its SOCs, Atos can provide a single pane of glass to secure enterprise multi-cloud, hybrid, and legacy environments.

Aditya Mehta Foundation, BSF Announce ‘3rd Divyang National Sports Training Camp in Bengaluru’

With a vision to make India a superpower in the world of para sports, Aditya Mehta Foundation (AMF) in association with Border Security Force (BSF) will be conducting its 3rd Divyang National sports training camp at STC, BSF Bengaluru, starting July 9th till July 13th, 2018. Over 200 Para Athletes are expected to undergo training in various sports with the objective of training them to international glory at the 2020 Paralympics. The camp will be inaugurated by Commissioner of Police, T. Suneel Kumar IPS. Bengaluru. 

Launched last year, ‘Mission 100’ is an aim to find and coach the most talented 100 para athletes who can represent India at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. Through this camp, BSF along with AMF is determined to scout for the best, train, coach and support the participants at every step so that they can represent India at the global platform. 

Speaking on the occasion, Aditya Mehta said, “The national training camp is an annual feature where BSF along with AMF brings experienced and fresh talent together at one place. The main objective of the camp is to educate our Jawans and civilians about para sports, screen their abilities and strengths to then recommend an appropriate sport”. The foundation has been supporting para athletes in sports like Swimming, Cycling, Wheelchair Tennis, Athletics, Shooting, Arm wrestling and power lifting.  

Apart from screening, counselling and training, the foundation also works tirelessly to raise funds and provide the athletes with appropriate para equipment and funds required,” he further added. 

Aditya Mehta Foundation (AMF) is a non –profit organisation helping people with disabilities to pursue sports. In last three years, AMF along with BSF has reached over 120 Para athletes and won over 50 national and international medal counts. The foundation is also associated with armed force of the country like BSF, CRPF, ITBP, SSI and CISF where they counsel and train the Jawans who got injured in the line of duty and help them become professional athletes at highest level giving them sense of sustenance. 

Industrial Area Near Tumakuru to be Part of B’luru-Chennai Corridor

Almost two-decades since it was notified as an industrial area, Vasanthanarasapura—a tiny hamlet in Tumakuru district abutting the Chennai-Mumbai National Highway will get a major facelift and in less than a year the village could be the next big industrial hub of Karnataka.

To develop the Tumakuru node as part of the ambitious Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC) scheme, the state government on Friday inked a pact with the Centre. Under the CBIC, the state government has identified Vasanthanarasapura as a primary node. With the help of the Centre, it plans to develop industrial infrastructure favouring setting up of small, medium and large-scale industries besides ensuring residential and commercial development.

According to Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, the area could be a key area accommodating several industries with potential of creating thousands of jobs, benefiting at least five adjoining districts. Already dotted with industries including the mega food park inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, the industrial area was short of infrastructure including food, accommodation, fire safety and security measures.

Lack of infrastructure had forced the workers in the area to adjust with whatever facilities that was available in the nearby villages as they could not afford to live and travel from Tumakuru, located 27 kms from the industrial area. However, the latest decision of the state government making the area as a primary node is likely to turn around the situation on all fronts.

Demanding infrastructural push, Parameshwara said, “If the area be connected with a dedicated electric train or extended Metro services or an elevated corridor linking up with the international airport, there is no doubt it would beckon investors with plenty of opportunities.”

 The Tumakuru node will receive an investment of about Rs 50,000 crore creating job opportunities for 2,20,000 people. According to Alkesh Sharma of Government of India, the node will be developed close on the lines of Dholera industrial area in Gujarat and in less than a year, the new facilities will be offered for industries.

NSIT's Artificial Intelligence System Likely to Help Prevent Waterlogging in Indan Cities

A team of engineering students has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can identify areas prone to waterlogging, and may help metro cities avoid tedious road congestions caused by monsoon showers. The researchers, including Aman Bansal and Apoorva Gupta from Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (NSIT) in New Delhi, combined rainfall, traffic, and location data to predict the severity of water logging in the vulnerable areas. "In a lot of developing countries, including India, the issue of waterlogging is persistent. In 2016, the roads of Gurgaon were flooded leading to severely waterlogged streets, which left thousands of people stranded for several hours. In Mumbai too, such incidents are very common," Rishab Gupta from NSIT.

"The damages caused by such occurrences triggered us to find a practical and feasible solution," said Gupta, one of the lead authors of the study that was presented at the Institute of Electricals and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) 15th International Conference on Smart City in Bangkok last year. The study was initially done on Manila, the capital city of Philippines which has similar environmental conditions like cities in India.

"We first marked the areas in Manila already established to be prone to waterlogging, based on data obtained from previously conducted surveys," Gupta said.

The areas susceptible to waterlogging were located with the help of past travel time data (the time taken to travel from one point to the other) sourced from smartphone-based cab service Uber, and elevation data of the area.

The intensity of waterlogging was calculated based on the rainfall data and the day of the week, as traffic on weekends is significantly less than that on weekdays.

"After we ran this data through our trained neural network, we verified the vulnerability of those locations and even came up with more areas defenceless against waterlogging," he said.

The data was fed into an artificial intelligence system that consists of a neural network that can derive patterns in the information fed to it.

The system was trained by the students to reveal a water logging intensity score using an algorithm which could determine the extremity of the problem in the area.

"Our work can be easily modulated for Delhi as the Uber data for Delhi is available now. I can produce the results in 5-10 days," said Gupta.

"This system can be trained to detect patterns on an hourly basis and for the future as well, which is something that even Google can't calculate," Gupta said. Previously researchers used the Internet of Things (IoTs) - a network of small electronic devices installed in different locations to gather data about moisture, traffic, etc. However, the high cost of these devices made the project economically unviable.

Previously researchers used the Internet of Things (IoTs) - a network of small electronic devices installed in different locations to gather data about moisture, traffic, etc. However, the high cost of these devices made the project economically devices installed in different locations to gather data about moisture, traffic, etc. However, the high cost of these devices made the project economically unviable.

"The fact that we could easily access travel time data for free from Uber which is like an open repository of traffic data made things simpler and feasible for us, and gave a practical appeal to the technology," Gupta said.

The system can also be used for pinpointing accident-prone areas and times in a city, for dynamically deciding strategic points for positioning of ambulances, calculating the effect of festivals and holidays on traffic, and can also be employed in urban road planning, he said. 

Royal Bank of Scotland Sets Up a Forum to Mainstream Disability Inclusion in India

RBS India, the innovation & operation hub of The Royal Bank of Scotland, has set up an industry forum titled ‘Disability Smart’, to mainstream the disability inclusion agenda in organizations. The forum came together to discuss how organizations and persons with disabilities, can work together to create an environment, that engages, enables and empowers persons with disabilities, and establish a truly inclusive culture in companies.

Pankaj Phatarphod, Managing Director & Country Head of Services, RBS India said, “For us at RBS, inclusion is about ensuring everyone can bring the best of themselves to work every day, celebrate differences and find ways to turn them to our advantage. Over the last few years RBS has supported the development of disability friendly products and services and contributed to the development of disability and inclusion learning. This forum provides a unique platform to discuss how more organizations can become disability smart.”

Anuranjita Kumar, Managing Director, Human Resources, International Hubs, ‎Royal Bank of Scotland further added, “Globally, more than a billion people live with a disability and the number is growing each passing day. Data indicates that their potential to contribute effectively at work is often impacted, not by their disability, but by the impediments around them. Being Disability Smart means supporting our colleagues with disabilities with workplace adjustments, so they can do their job to the best of their abilities.”

Andrea daCosta, Director, Programme Management, RBS India and Lead, Diversity & Inclusion – Disability Smart workstream, shared “Disability awareness begins by understanding the human element and market reasons, and it’s critical to thereafter proceed along the inclusion continuum. This progression requires more in-depth knowledge, creative solutions and a change in mindset. This is where leveraging collaboration plays a vital role to deliver tangible outcomes”. 

The forum’s participant profile, comprising leaders from GIC’s (Global In-house Captive), experts from the field and persons with disabilities, discussed how organizations can drive accessibility, employability and development of persons with disability, to establish a truly inclusive and enriched environment.