Tata Motors Partners with what3words - Redefines Navigation with Just 3 Words

Tata Motors, India’s largest automobile manufacturer today announced its partnership with the innovative location technology provider, what3words. Tata Motors will be the first manufacturer in India to bring what3words addressing system in its cars.

In a first for the Indian automotive industry, the partnership with Tata Motors and what3words will enable car-drivers to enter a 3 word address by voice or text input, and then navigate to the accurate address within 3 meters of the destination location. This is especially relevant in the Indian context, where addresses are non-standard and complex network of roads make it difficult for last-mile navigation. This accurate & unique 3 word-addressing system will make the last-mile navigation simple, safe, hassle-free and less time-consuming for the Indian customers. The what3words system is available in 36 languages, including 5 Indian languages: Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu and Marathi.  The addition of these new native languages means that what3words will be making this technology more accessible for the Indian consumers.

Commenting on this partnership, Mr. Mayank Pareek, President - Passenger Vehicle Business Unit (PVBU), Tata Motors said, “Tata Motors is proud to be the first automaker in India to collaborate with what3words. With this collaboration, our customers will now be able to navigate to accurate 3-word addresses represented by what3words; offering a clear solution to a very visible problem related to the non-standard traditional address system. The three-word addressing will not only provide a more seamless navigation experience, but will also increase efficiency with drivers not spending a lot of time locating their destinations and reaching the precise location (within 3m of space) with minimum hassle and effort. Globally, the what3words technology comes as a unique offering only in the premium car models, but customers can expect this groundbreaking technology to feature in our mainstream line-up of products very soon.”

“India has a rapidly growing economy, but like many other countries, it still suffers from the big three infrastructural challenges - the unbanked, the unconnected and the unaddressed,” said Chris Sheldrick, what3words CEO and Co-Founder. “Our partnership with Tata Motors will begin to change this, as together, our impact will expand across humanitarian, travel, e-commerce - and of course automobile industries. This will also be a breakthrough for the tourism industry as it will make travelling very convenient for incoming tourists.’’

With the increase in the usage and ownership of smartphone devices across the country and India’s rapid growing economy, the need for a sophisticated location technology has never been more pronounced. The varying regional address formats across the country, its oft unnamed streets and localities coupled with more often than not buildings with no numbers, further compound this problem. To solve this real-world issue, what3words has taken the entire world, divided it into 3mx3m squares, and assigned each square a unique identifier - made of three random words.  For example, Gateway of India can be found at ///holiday.surpises.design.

With the what3words technology, a 3 word address can simply be entered into the car navigation system, manually or via speech recognition. To prevent errors, every 3 word address is unique, and similar addresses are located far apart to avoid confusion. Additionally, the intelligent AutoSuggest feature helps drivers to spot and correct their mistakes immediately and effortlessly redirects them to the accurate address.

The latest version of what3words will be available in the upcoming products by Tata Motors in future. Customers will be able to download the what3words application for free via iOS and Android platforms. The easy adoption is what has made what3words a popular tool for businesses around the world and has helped them improve their customer experience and enhance efficiency, while reducing expenses and environmental impact. 

Eightfold.ai Appoints Sandesh Goel as MD of New India Office

Eightfold.ai, the creator of the Talent Intelligence Platform, has announced the appointment of Sandesh Goel as Managing Director for India operations. This senior leadership appointment follows a period of significant growth, with enterprise customers added on four continents, significant partnership announcements, and a Series C fundraise that brings the total investment in Eightfold.ai to over US$55 million.

Eightfold.ai India, under the supervision of Sandesh would be providing Eightfold AI platform to India enterprise businesses. Sandesh is responsible for driving Eightfold business operations across the country.

With this expansion of the senior management team in India, Ashutosh Garg, CEO & Co-founder at Eightfold.ai said, "Sandesh Goel brings a wealth of team building, customer and sales management experience and valuable knowledge to the team here at Eightfold.ai. He is a valuable asset to our organization. With Sandesh on board, we are confident of expanded outreach in India and across the region."

Sandesh spent his first 10 years of his career in the US, building innovative products and teaming up with other renowned engineers. Over the next 12 years, he was bootstrapping and leading high performance IT teams for various companies. He has more than 65 issued US patents in the area of wireless networking and has driven key technology initiatives at Marvell, Cisco, Aruba HPE, and many startups. Being among 0.001% of the top folks in IIT Entrance examination, he holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from IIT-Delhi and a Masters degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

"Right talent is critical for any organization. Throughout my career, I have learnt that a great hire can make all the positive difference and a bad hire can be a huge drain on companies' time and revenue. When I first heard about what Eightfold.ai does, a lot of the concepts resonated with the way I often felt and simply wanted to be a part of this potential hiring", said Sandesh Goel, Managing Director at Eightfold.ai. "I am quite excited and honored to undertake this new role. I look forward to working with a team of tech enthusiasts, all driven towards a common goal of integrating the latest technologies like AI to re-define HR operations."

"Artificial intelligence has already started automating numerous repetitive processes smart work by analyzing big data to identify and leverage new opportunities in almost all sectors. As HR is a strategic business function, we believe there is a vast scope to adapt to newer technologies. AI can drastically transform the way the HR industry operates. And that's exactly what Eightfold.ai is committed to", added Mr. Goel.

Built by co-founders Ashutosh Garg and Varun Kacholia, distinguished engineers out of Google and Facebook, Eightfold.ai's 'Talent Intelligence Platform' empowers enterprises to solve the major challenge faced by chief executives and chief human resource officers today - hiring and retaining top talent.

QuEST Global to Launch Asset Management and Performance Monitoring Platform Eagle 2.0 at Gastech

QuEST Global, a global product engineering and lifecycle services company, will launch Eagle 2.0, an end-to-end customizable open source platform to enhance asset management and performance monitoring at Gastech Exhibition and Conference in Houston, Texas, USA. The platform will help key players in the Oil & Gas and Power industries to realize benefits of connected assets and connected factories by aggregating data from various disparate sub-systems, remote devices and multi-sites. The customizable Eagle 2.0 framework, which can be integrated with third-party platforms, will be demonstrated at Stand # S300 from September 17 - 19, 2019.

Eagle 2.0 is a next-gen cloud-based multi-site data integration framework that will enable users to realize digital use cases for agile operations. The framework will help the oil majors, oilfield service companies (OFS), original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their suppliers in Oil & Gas and Power industries to handle diverse data, in terms of volume, velocity, variety and veracity, making it a powerful foundation for full-fledged asset management and maintenance. Depending on industry requirements and use cases, the Eagle 2.0 can be easily integrated with new age technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality and artificial intelligence.

To help the Oil & Gas and Power industries, the Eagle 2.0 framework has two parts in it - the Eagle Edge and Eagle Cloud. With the help of Eagle Edge, a powerful local data aggregation hub, users can interface and capture data from all devices in the field and can ingest the data to Eagle Cloud or any other standard cloud platform. The customized versions of this cloud based remote monitoring platform can be implemented to address application/industry specific data integration requirements such as Oil & Gas plant asset management, monitoring of micro-grid & smart grid, transmission & distribution networks, substations and factory equipment.

Arun Pai, President, New Business Development, QuEST Global said, “While the current wave of digital disruption is sweeping through the Energy industry, operators are still grappling with the same old set of complex market dynamics. The highly customizable and vendor agnostic Eagle 2.0 framework will help oil majors, oilfield service (OFS) companies, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their suppliers in the industry address various engineering challenges with the help of data engineering and ensure greater efficiency and accuracy. We strongly believe the Eagle 2.0 will support the digital transformation journey of organizations for both their global and regional presence.”

QuEST Global has more than two decades of experience with highly skilled and industry specific engineers around the globe across the complete product lifecycle, helping our clients develop better products, establish new markets and improve efficiency and quality. Using next-generation technologies such as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), cloud and edge computing, augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence, big data and predictive analytics, QuEST aims to enable key players in the Oil & Gas and Power industries accelerate product development and reduce cost throughout the product lifecycle.

CX Leader HGS Unveils HGS Digital to Provide Intelligent Innovation Solutions for Enterprise Clients

Hinduja Global Solutions Ltd. (HGS) launched HGS Digital, a new practice  focused on providing high-end digital strategy and transformative digital-first solutions. HGS Digital aims to be the top facilitator for leading disruptive change in the consumer journey, and transforms organizations into digital innovators by combining deep domain expertise in customer care with digital analytics, marketing technology and advanced technologies like cloud, intelligent  automation and artificial intelligence.

"We pride ourselves on being brilliant at the basics and providing advanced customer engagement solutions using intelligent innovation,” said Partha DeSarkar, Global CEO, HGS. “With HGS Digital, we advance our capabilities well beyond traditional care to eCare transformation that will benefit the CIO, CTO and CMO as well and provide more holistic digital experience solutions along the entire consumer journey.”

HGS Digital will build upon the award winning DigiCX® value proposition and set of transformative solutions, leveraging HGS domain expertise to address industry specific challenges across the stages of the consumer journey. HGS Digital is helping:

* Retailers convert more browsers to buyers.
* Consumer packaged goods brands grow their direct to consumer sales platform.
* Healthcare payers simplify the care experience while reducing claims exceptions and waste.
* Travel companies automate and simplify bookings and reservation changes to create more loyal repeat buyers.
* Fortune 100 companies build positive online reputations with HGS EPIC™ Social Care.

As a leader in Customer Experience (CX), HGS is constantly innovating to meet the needs of today’s consumers.

“We have made significant technology-led investments in making our clients more competitive,” said Natarajan Radhakrishnan, President and Chief Innovation Officer, HGS. “The HGS Digital practice will leverage our global talent, domain expertise and solutions to help unlock the potential of digital transformation”.

HGS Digital combines HGS’ deep customer engagement expertise and leading-edge technology to provide clients with digital transformation solutions that create a measurable business impact.

"Our focus is developing strategic solutions that help our partners create memorable customer experiences. The launch of HGS Digital is an important evolution on this journey,” said Venk Korla, CEO,

Element Solutions &  Head - HGS Digital. “HGS Digital creates the frictionless digital experiences that our clients seek and their customers expect. We thrive on tackling complex business problems in ways that deliver business results and epic customer experiences."

Emirates Skywards is Celebrating Key Milestone with Discounts and Lot of Surprises

Emirates Skywards, the award-winning loyalty programme for Emirates and flydubai, has touched a new high – 25 million members. Emirates Skywards is celebrating this key milestone with exciting offers and surprises for its members, starting 12th September. This includes 25% discounts on upgrades and reward tickets on selected flights to and from Dubai, a network-wide special Cash+Miles rate on Emirates and flydubai flights, and a 25% discount on buying and gifting miles. Competitions and prizes at Emirates Terminal 3, starting 22 September, are all set to wow travellers.     
In the last 18 months, Emirates Skywards has added five million members globally, which is a staggering average of 277,777 every month, 9,259 every day, and more than six members every minute. The UK continues to lead the Top 5 table with 3.2 million members, USA with 2.3 million, Australia 1.9 million, India 1.8 million and UAE 1.7 million. This may not come as much of a surprise to members, as Emirates Skywards has worked hard to expand its appeal across regions and demographics. The programme now has 157 partners spanning the globe, including 15 airline partners that fly to a combined 2,000 destinations, 12 financial cobrands and seven points exchange partners covering 31 countries. Emirates Skywards also partners with more than 100 hotel brands and two online aggregators, providing access to 30 million properties and rooms globally.

In the last three years, the programme has added 24 new partners with the number of earn transactions increasing by +50% and redemptions rising by +150%. Three new and expanded partnerships in the last two months – with Marriott Bonvoy, Chase Ultimate Rewards and Bicester Village Shopping – highlight the exponential growth and the broad appeal of the programme both globally and regionally.

Just in the last financial year 2018-19, members from 185 countries redeemed 1.2 billion Miles at Dubai Duty Free, and 6,431 members redeemed 77 million Miles for 10,344 tickets to premier sports and cultural events globally. Hundreds of thousands more enjoyed upgrades, used Cash + Miles to book flights on Emirates and flydubai, and got reward tickets.

Dr Nejib Ben Khedher, Divisional Senior Vice President Skywards said: “This is a proud moment for Emirates Skywards. Three years ago, we undertook a transformational journey that involved deep introspection and research to understand what our loyal and aspiring customers truly value and want from us. Armed with these insights, a long-term strategy and the latest data and digital technology, we developed a number of industry firsts, partnered with local and global iconic brands, and created a rich, personalised experience for our members through mobile channels. We are now working on crossing the next big frontier, one that UAE residents and visitors can quickly get on board with through every day spends, so stay tuned.”

In a world inundated with loyalty programmes, Emirates Skywards stands apart with its pioneering spirit and industry firsts. The partnership with Dubai Mall made it the first airline loyalty programme where members can seamlessly earn Miles on every transaction and in all outlets of a shopping mall. Platinum members unlock new benefits, including Tier Miles rollover and complimentary upgrades, through gamified and personalised engagement. Targeted in-path offers enhance the booking experience for Skywards members while searching flights and fares online.

Emirates Skywards has also launched three apps in three years that make earning and burning Miles within easy grasp of a mobile device. The Skywards section, integrated within the Emirates App, has one of the most comprehensive loyalty programme features of any airline app. There are also two specialised apps: Emirates Skywards Go that features dining and leisure offers in 160 destinations, and Emirates Skywards Cabforce that is available in 890 cities globally to book private cars, taxis and minibuses. This year, Emirates Skywards has already won three industry trophies: Best Frequent Flyer Programme from Business Traveller Middle East, Excellence in Management from Global Flight, and Middle East's Leading Airline Rewards Programme from World Travel Awards.

German Brand Sebamed Defines the Gold Standard in Baby Care with its Unique pH 5.5 Advantage

Sebamed, a reputed German skin and hair care expert with a legacy of 50+ years, has announced plans to deepen its engagement in the evolving and growing baby care segment in India. The brand has launched its first ever campaign in India “pH 5.5 = perfectly Healthy skin”. The campaign aims to educate moms about the unique benefits of pH 5.5 that Baby Sebamed product range offers, making it 100% safe & healthy with a promise of The Best protection from day 1.

Sebamed, marketed by USV Pvt. Ltd in India, has enjoyed the trust of moms with its wide range of pH 5.5 based products ever since its launch in the market. A household name amongst new moms, it is a pioneer in pH 5.5 based products globally that are clinically proven to prevent any damage to the delicate baby skin and keeps it soft & glowing. Due to its superior benefit, it is highly recommended by leading paediatricians across India as the best baby skin and hair care brand.

Speaking on future plans, Shashi Ranjan, Head of Business - Consumer Products, USV Pvt Ltd. said, “I believe Indian consumers deserve the best and Sebamed with its uniquely poised portfolio with pH 5.5 benefit provides them an opportunity to upgrade. We are committed to make strategic investments in creating awareness and brand building. In parallel, we are expanding our retail footprint and setting up Omni channel distribution across India in order to make our wide range of portfolio accessible to huge potential customer base. We strive to build a great team with an agile mind-set and vibrant culture, as people are our biggest assets.”

Elaborating on the campaign, Konark Gaur, Head of Marketing - Consumer Products, USV Pvt Ltd. said, “We observed that new age parents’ needs were evolving, and were cluttered with confusing information. It was important for us to create an honest and authentic brand that empowers them with the best care for their baby. The campaign design is rooted in the product promise to keep the skin pH at a perfect level of 5.5. I believe our campaign communicates the unique benefit in a simple way and would establish a strong connect with our audience.”

Developed by Lowe Lintas, the campaign will run across traditional as well as digital and social media platforms for six weeks in top 20 cities in India. The brand will also work towards creating and amplifying conversations amongst new parents through their strong digital eco-system and on- ground outreach programmes to drive credibility and advocacy.

Commenting on the campaign, Madhu Noorani, President (Creative), Lowe Lintas said, "Sebamed has come in with a very specific and scientific offering. The challenge was to make a scientific term like pH 5.5 easy for the moms to understand. It is only a mom who can understand the babble of her baby. So, that’s exactly where our idea sits. A very vocal infant questioning her mom about the products being used on her and a confident mom standing up to the questioning. A charming conversation between equals leading to the message that pH 5.5 means perfectly Healthy skin."

Blockchain Deployments Across Financial Services Ecosystems Are At Least Three Years Away

Lack of interoperability standards will prevent pervasive blockchain deployment across financial services ecosystems for at least three years, according to Gartner, Inc.

“Blockchain standards for financial services companies are currently fragmented and immature,” said Fabio Chesini, senior research director at Gartner. “We are three to five years until standards mature and settle.”

During Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo, which is taking place in Cape Town through Wednesday, Gartner analysts have been discussing how business and IT leaders can create value from blockchain.

Standards are critical for financial services entities because they are constantly moving assets between clients, partners and other institutions. Today, bank CIOs can choose from numerous blockchains, available from either enterprise-grade approaches such as Corda, Hyperledger, and Digital Asset, or the many public blockchain standards like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, EOS, and Tezos. They are all trying to become the de facto state machine for value exchange and digital asset representation, smart contracts and decentralized applications. This indicates the fragmentation of the various standards.

“Bank CIOs must be mindful of this nascent and fragmented state of blockchain standards,” said Mr. Chesini. “It is unlikely there will be a single de facto standard like in the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, at all levels. Given how new and fragmented the state of blockchain standards is, we expect no more than four standards to lead the market in the next three to five years.”

In addition to standards, Mr. Chesini warned financial services CIOs of three additional impediments when deploying blockchain projects: governance, integration and interoperability.

Governance

Blockchain governance is important because it regulates activities occurring across the ecosystem and provides legal assurances that there arbitrary decisions will not be made as an abuse of power against other participants.

“Governance specifies how value is exchanged, but also how those data exchanges are recognized and recorded, as well as who has access to them and who can exchange value with whom,” said Mr. Chesini.

“Governance and management of private and permissioned blockchains in any form, including consortia, will remain centralized and hierarchical during the next three to five years, making blockchain governance in financial services a key impediment for the same period,” said Mr. Chesini.

Integration

To achieve the true potential of blockchain, implementations must be seamlessly integrated with already installed software solutions. However, major software and SaaS providers aren’t offering blockchain solutions as add-on features to their enterprise solutions. As a result, financial services organizations are paying a high cost for continuously maintaining and “reintegrating” blockchain implementations into their new and existing enterprise software solutions.

In the next two to three years, Gartner analysts expect all major ERP and CRM players to offer blockchain capabilities as an add-on feature for their software and SaaS products. Software suppliers, meanwhile, will integrate and upgrade their chosen blockchain versions and ensure compatibility with their own new software releases.

“These efforts will dramatically reduce the cost of deploying blockchain projects across the financial services organizations and their supply chains,” said Mr. Chesini. “In the meantime, the full-lifetime costs of integrating a blockchain solution in an organization will be millions of dollars in consulting fees, reengineering, development and upgrades. These high costs drastically slow the widespread integration of blockchain initiatives.”

Interoperability

Bitcoin, R3, Ethereum, Hyperledger and others often use differing implementations, data formats, data interchange and directories makinginteroperability among different blockchains difficult across organizations.

“As financial services companies constantly move financial instruments and assets to other financial services companies and partners, cross-industry interoperability standards are, and will be, critical,” said Mr. Chesini. “Today, they are looking to replace current banking vehicles for payments like Western Union, or international money transfers like SWIFT, with blockchain-based platforms.”

Fixing these types of data exchange standards will enable numerous blockchains to coexist and to share their ledgers, as necessary. However, as blockchains are a moving target and keep evolving, interoperability solutions are still three to five years away.