Bentley Systems Announces Acquisition of SignCAD Systems, Leading Provider of Traffic Sign Design Software

Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading global provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, today announced the acquisition of leading provider of software for traffic sign design and manufacturing, SignCAD Systems, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. SignCAD provides sign design solutions to 43 state departments of transportation (DOTs) in the U.S., as well as many cities, counties, engineering firms, and manufacturers. SignCAD’s sign design capabilities complement Bentley’s OpenRoads civil design software offerings for roadway projects.

SignCAD’s offerings for traffic signs include sign design, sign manufacturing, and asset management software solutions. The acquisition builds upon Bentley’s ability to provide the most comprehensive set of solutions for design and construction of transportation assets. It will also allow Bentley to better serve roadway asset owners for the purposes of maintaining safer construction work zones while sustaining roadway performance criteria for the public.

Dustin Parkman, vice president, civil infrastructure design engineering for Bentley Systems, said, “For the past five years, we have been working diligently on increasing the level of detail that can be modeled and simulated within the OpenRoads environment. With the addition of SignCAD, 3D modeling of signs within the context of our roadway designs allows us to provide a higher fidelity representation of roadway assets, yielding benefits beyond design and construction workflows.

“In this new era of autonomous vehicles, the digital representation of roadway networks is quickly becoming just as vital as the physical roadway,” Parkman continued. “Faded or obscured signs and unusual intersections are commonplace throughout most of world’s roadway networks, presenting new and interesting challenges for roadway owners—challenges that often cannot be met by physical upgrades alone. To bridge that gap, we need a digital representation of roadway assets often referred to as a ‘digital twin.’ Roadway signs provide important information about the road network that can be leveraged far beyond conventional line of site machine learning methods, to provide additional depth of information and calibration. With the addition of SignCAD, Bentley’s digital twin for roadway assets will provide this valuable data to roadway asset owners.”

Judd Roby, president of SignCAD, said, “We are extremely excited about adding SignCAD into the realm of 3D modeling with OpenRoads. This acquisition supports our goals of continuing to meet the transportation owner/operators’ needs across the design, build, operate, and maintain lifecycle.”

Heartfulness Hosts Wellness Enthusiasts from Russia, Europe, North & South America

It is no more only IT, Pharma or Tourism that attract foreigners to Telangana, rather Wellness is yet another reason which is enticing people across the world towards the newest state of the country. Heartfulness Institute (www.heartfulness.org) hosted a group of over 1,000 people from over 16 countries including USA, Canada, Sweden, England, France, Latin America and 11 CIS countries. The main objective of these wellness enthusiasts coming all the way to Kanha Shanti Vanam (the global headquarters of Heartfulness) near Hyderabad was to learn Heartfulness Meditation which is offered free across the globe.

The group members who are visiting Kanha on a 7-day trip varied from all walks of life that included CEO & business owners, economists, managers, teachers, professors, PhDs, psychologists, engineers, students, artists, designers, IT specialists, business consultants and coaches, journalist, chef, yoga & fitness coaches, marketologs, actress, musicians, physicians, nurses and retired people. A seminar was also conducted for a large group from Russian speaking CIS countries which comprised of 98 families, 210 sisters, 90 brothers and 9 children. The seminar hosted sessions by experts on Astanga Yoga, Being an intense Abhyasi (practitioners of Heartfulness), Nonviolent Communication, Spiritual Journey and the Ashram life at Kanha.

Mr. Rishab Kothari, Joint Secretary of Heartfulness said, “Each month we have more than 1,000 Heartfulness practitioners from different countries coming to Kanha to attend the heartfulness meditation training. Our world class facility ensures that we are able to cater to the training and residential needs of the visitors.”

Feedback from Visitors

Alla Revenko, 57 Years, Life coach and a business owner, Russia - Heartfulness practice is magic, when you are focused and meditate as it makes big difference to the inner and outer conditions. Meditation sessions and lots of interactions with people who came from different countries to Kanha Ashwam has given us a new boost to practice Heartfulness sincerely. We have discussed many issues and made plans how to reach out with Heartfulness to the rest of the world. We experienced real brotherhood and I feel more love in my heart. I am amazed about the atmosphere of Kanha Shanti Vanam Ashram and beautiful hearts that join here as one world family.

Elena Chikisheva, 44 years, Financial Manager, Russia – “As a first-time visitor for Kanha Shanti Vanam Ashram, I experienced a totally new world. Being here, helped me to dive deep within, to meet with my inner self and simply enjoy moment of silence. It made me to change my perception of the world around. Now I appreciate the Life the way it is”.

Lubov Manulik, 64 Years, France – “I am so happy to share success of this visit here in Kanha Ashram. We came here for amazing Heartfulness practice, Ashram’s positive vibration and brotherhood. It is life-long experience. I am 64 years old and for me it is so important to feel happiness with people now and here!

Nadia Kniga, 47 years, Canada – “I am mother of 4 children and I learn a lot from the Heartfulness training programs that will help me to become better mother, wife and human being. I feel love, brotherhood and unity, it makes me happy and I hope for a better & peaceful life on Earth. When we all unite with meditation, we have real chance to make life better and meaningful. We can become good example for children and have a chance to live happy life in balance and peace.”

Igor Onchtchenko, 51 years, Belarus – “I was surprised to see the tremendous work done at Kanha Shanti Vanam Ashram and I highly appreciate it. I am thankful for the humble care from the people here and training on Heartfulness. I expect it will bring light and happiness in my life. The group enjoyed the visit and working together at Kanha Shanti Vanam.”

Heartfulness is an approach to the Raja Yoga system of meditation called Sahaj Marg or the Natural Path, founded at the turn of the twentieth century and formalized into the Shri Ram Chandra Mission in 1945 in India. Over 2 Million professionals are practising Heartfulness Meditation in corporations, non-governmental and government bodies, schools and educational institutes, etc. in 130 countries. More than 5,000 Heartfulness Centres, known as HeartSpots, are supported by many thousands of certified volunteer trainers worldwide.

MrOwl Introduces Social Cloud Storage with Unlimited Cloud Storage to Encourage Content Sharing at a Global Scale

MrOwl, a Social Cloud Storage platform, has announced the rollout of free, unlimited cloud storage for content that is shared with the world. MrOwl gives users the capability to more simply store their files once and search them infinitely from anywhere at any time.  With just a few clicks, MrOwl users can upload gigabytes of data that is automatically organized, shareable and searchable.  By providing one platform that allows users to access their digital lives all in one place, MrOwl’s unlimited free cloud storage will help solve many of consumers’ internet search frustrations.

MrOwl’s Social Cloud Storage Sets the New Standard for Info Sharing

Social Cloud Storage is a new app category on the internet that allows users to store their content and either keep it private or share it for the benefit of all users.  Any information users choose to make public can get found online without having to build a website.  Plus, users receive free, unlimited cloud storage for files that are made public for the benefit of all users.*   

MrOwl users can connect and collaborate with communities who share their interests and discover what others have shared like never before.

Social Cloud Storage includes:

·         Free, unlimited cloud storage – For uploaded files that are shared with the world.*

·         Unique bundles of information – MrOwl “branches” can be made with content contained in other cloud storage platforms, including documents and media files as well as links to internet sites. When users search these “branches”, they search the words inside documents and web pages simultaneously. This is a truly a unique search.

·         Incremental pricing for private cloud storage – Private storage includes up to 10 GB of free storage.  Paid packages available with additional storage, increased user privacy, and the ability to view content free of advertisements.

Spark a Forever Flame this Valentine’s Day with the Iconic Zippo Windproof Lighters

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and for those who have not been prepping for it, shopping at the last minute can be quite a daunting task! While chocolates and roses might be a conventional choice, this year why not make an extra effort and woo your loved ones with the everlasting flame of a Zippo windproof lighter!

Pick from a stylish, rugged and fun range of windproof Zippo lighters – they’re the perfect style accessory coming in playful designs and vibrant colors. These scratch resistant lighters come with a lifetime guarantee, a fitting symbol of your everlasting love. Select lighters can even be customized by having a special message or name engraved – for the full selection, visit https://www.zippo.in/customise-it.html.

Choose from an array of new designs available on the William Penn Online Shop https://www.williampenn.net/, and in 28 William Penn stores and 3 shop-in-shop operations across 10 cities. 

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Launches “Service Express”, Car Service Now at Customers’ Doorstep

 

With ‘Customer First’ approach, aiming to cater to ever changing, evolving customer needs and expectations, Toyota Kirloskar Motor today announced the launch of ‘‘Service Express’, which focuses to provide convenience of car maintenance to customers at their closest access. Although Toyota has successful model of Mobile Service Vans operational, it focuses to provide only select service offerings in terms of break down services and minor repairs.

With the introduction of this ‘Service Express’ -, Toyota Kirloskar Motor pioneers in its segment, providing All Periodic Maintenance Services [Minor, Medium & Major], Express Maintenance in just an hour, Wheel Balancing, Wheel Alignment and even Eco-Car Wash. Further, Toyota also intends to provide car beautification services & minor body-paint jobs under this easy access servicing experience.

Under this initiative, currently Toyota covers the remote areas of Rajasthan, have been receiving positive feedbacks from customers on this doorstep service experience. The customers have been appreciative of Toyota’s concerted efforts and initiatives undertaken giving ease-of-access to car servicing. Now customers can avail this service in their own towns, while avoid travelling long distances for periodic vehicle maintenance.

Over the years, Toyota have been offering delightful Car Servicing experience to the customers uplifting the core values of service brand with “Quick & Quality Service by Qualified Manpower”. Toyota has built well-trained & qualified staffs to service high-quality world-class cars, offering premium service experience.

Keeping pace with the changing market dynamics, Toyota’s service initiatives offer a range of comprehensive services to its customers, offering a truly joyful ownership experience.  Toyota strives to deliver the best services by way of ‘QService_Quality Personalized with complete pack of Convenience and Transparency’ at low cost of maintenance, marking an experience of customer delight beyond one’s expectations.

Commenting on this new service offering, N. Raja, Deputy Managing Director - Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said, “Convenience plays a very important role towards providing delightful services and ensuring peace of mind to customers. At Toyota, we always listen to our customers’ voice and strive to make our service offerings ever-better, providing ease access to Toyota’s car care. Our aim is to limit the constraints of fixed location set-up of car servicing with ‘Quick Service’ offers at customers’ doorsteps, bringing the best-in-class service experience even closer with these ‘On-wheels’ touch-points.

Through this service, we express gratitude to our loyal customers towards the trust and admiration they have shown through the years towards our products and services.

Being a safety leader, it is our conscious effort to raise awareness on importance of regular maintenance of the cars to ensure safe driving experience. Through our world-class products and services, we continue to look forward to forging ever stronger bonds with our customers and partners.” He added.

In-line with its “Customer First” approach, Toyota conducts periodic service campaigns, promoting the importance of regular vehicle maintenance to ensure safe, comfortable and trouble-free drives, bringing an ever-new experience of owning Brand Toyota for its customers.

This message contains information which may be confidential and privileged. Unless you are the intended recipient (or authorized to receive this message for the intended recipient), you may not use, copy, disseminate or disclose to anyone the message or any information contained in the message. If you have received the message in error, please advise the sender by reply e-mail, and delete the message. Thank you very much.

Project Management Playing a Vital Role in Building Assets for Tomorrow

By Vineet Kumar, Lead Consultant BI & Analytics, 3i Infotech

Project management plays a vital role in proper planning and executing a project and to successfully accomplish a goal within a given time frame. In India, the project management jobs in project-oriented industries is expected to reach 21.7 million in 2027, according to Project Management Institute (PMI). We should create and monitor project methodology standards, provide advice and create an environment to support our project managers. As per a recent analysis by PMI, project managers contribute to a nation’s productivity, which supports GDP that in turn contributes to the standard of living. It is estimated that the GDP at risk due to the project management talent shortage is US $23.4 billion in India.

Our customers are spending significant services amount on consulting, implementation and system integration. Hence, going forward, our constant engagements would be on how to improve the customer service and satisfaction, enhance employee productivity and shorten project timelines. We should start building assets that can help us align for this and proactively suggest best practices based on what we have learnt from projects with other clients. We need to package our existing thought process that can help bridge gaps between expectations and reality. We need to ensure that our project management capability helps minimize the risks, control costs, improve speed to market and make substantial improvements in our margins.

Let’s delve into some of the best practices that we should implement to enhance the project effectiveness.

Project Governance: There must be a common governance structure and framework at the beginning of each project, outlining day-to-day operations with short term and long-term goals clearly laid out, and certain parties must be tasked with the responsibility of ensuring completion of the said goals. This includes pre-determined points at which the progress is evaluated and decisions about next steps are made. These decisions should be duly recorded and thoroughly communicated down the chain of command, if they are to be effective.

Monitor project management quality: Quality assurance in project management involves regulating and managing the services that the project delivers, ensuring that the quality and consistency is retained. The aspect of quality control incorporates a process of monitoring specific project results to check if they are met or not. The project management team should be aware of the following concepts:

Prevention (keeping errors out of the process) and inspection (keeping errors out of the hands of the customers)
Special cases (unusual events) and random causes (normal process variation).
Advice project managers on risk management: The risk control phase includes risk management plan which supports to address a risk, based on suitable cost-effective control strategies. Here, the focus is to proactively minimize the risks before it occurs or to reactively recover it from the loss and restore the normal process state. Apart from being advised, the project managers also need to evaluate risks and find out ways to mitigate it. They also must identify potential risks in a timely manner.

Analytics/Metrics development: Analytics in project management provides continual improvement process. It also helps project managers to make tactical decisions, thereby improving project success rate. Project management analytics ensures that the projects are completed on time and according to specifications. Project metrics measures the success of the project. Some of the key metrics that can be used in project management:

a. Operational Excellence Metrics: It is at the core of every project and must be tracked and reported on for every iteration.
b. Business Value Metrics: These are used to determine the business value of a project like Return on Investment that indicates the bottom line of the return on any investment; Earned Business Value which is used to track the value of the requirements being delivered; Net Present Value which is used in capital budgeting and investment planning, to analyze the profitability of projected investment and Internal Rate of Return which is used to evaluate the attractiveness of a project.
c. Human capital: This represents the skills, knowledge, and values of the development teams and their readiness to do their jobs.

Project templates: Project template provides patterns to project deliverables, serving to increase understanding, save time and improve the quality of project outcomes. Project templates need to serve as per customer preferences as different audience have different needs. It acts as a repository for the work products created during project life cycle. Providing your project team with options for what deliverables they use and how they use them provides a fit-to-purpose approach to project deliverables that will improve your project team efficiency.

Best practices to be implemented post project go-live: Post implementation reviews should assess how successful the system is in terms of functionality, performance, and cost versus benefits, as well as assess the effectiveness of the overall project life-cycle and areas of further development. Project managers can gain through historical views of similar projects which will show comparative efforts, cost and resource usage, that in turn provides a wealth of information to guide future projects.

Subex Wins 5-Year Deal from Umniah to Deploy ROC Revenue Assurance

Subex, a leading telecom analytics solution provider, has announced that it has closed a 5-year deal with Umniah to deploy ROC Revenue Assurance.

Umniah stands out as one of the fastest growing and most trusted telecommunications providers in Jordan. Since its launch in June 2005, Umniah has achieved a strong presence in Jordan’s competitive telecom market by offering high-quality mobile, internet, and business solutions while keeping abreast of the latest industry trends and ensuring customer satisfaction.

Subex was selected based on the Hadoop capabilities of ROC Revenue Assurance and the ability of the solution to meet the compliance needs of the scope. Through the integration of Hadoop, Subex will able be to reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCOs) of the implementation across the five-year span of the contract. The offering will also provide Umniah with a solution which is highly scalable, multi-functional and supports near real-time data transactions.

“We are delighted to partner with Umniah to deploy ROC Revenue Assurance. The deployment of Hadoop based ROC Revenue Assurance enhances Umniah's future readiness by providing flexibility to scale as required, enabling real-time Revenue Assurance, and by providing an unmatched customer experience while optimizing the cost of ownership. Subex solution portfolio has expanded to cover all areas of Business Assurance, Risk management and Security. We intend to work with Umniah to expand the coverage to these new areas and thereby provide them with a winning edge in the highly competitive marketplace.” said Vinod Kumar, CEO and Managing Director, Subex.

Ziad Shatara, CEO, Umniah said, “With Umniah operating in an extremely competitive environment, we were looking for a solution which would provide us with an edge over our peers in terms of offering the best customer experience. Through their Hadoop-based ROC Revenue Assurance, Subex was able to align with our goals, and deploy a solution which is highly flexible, scalable and compliant with our scope, while keeping TCOs low.”

Subex’s ROC Revenue Assurance is the industry’s first revenue assurance solution that simplifies RA. It helps customers in addressing revenue assurance challenges inherent to individual service verticals: Wireless, Fixed, Cable MSPs, and MVNOs. It also helps address revenue assurance across multiple functional areas such as service fulfillment, usage integrity, retail billing, interconnect/wholesale billing, and content settlement in addition to revenue management in marketing, campaign management, offer development and lead management.