Microland Appoints Anupam Pandey as Chief Information Officer

Microland, India’s leading digital IT transformation company, announced the appointment of Anupam Pandey as Chief Information Officer (CIO). Anupam’s core responsibilities at Microland include the design, architecture and deployment of emerging technologies that deliver best-in-class operations and accelerate digital dexterity across client organizations.

“As CIO, Anupam will lead our global information technology strategy that powers our endeavor in ‘Making digital happen’. With his global experience across consulting and professional services organizations and his prolific experience in human capital management and applied technology, Anupam is well positioned to leverage digital to meet client needs,” said Pradeep Kar, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director, Microland Limited.

Anupam comes with 29 years of experience in the industry and is a seasoned IT and RPA evangelist who holds two patents in automation. He joins Microland from the world's second largest professional services firm where he was their India CIO, responsible for managing IT infrastructure and applications. Prior to this he was with Accenture for 14 years where he served as the Managing Director, Partner and CIO Lead, orchestrating the transformation of global support for the firm’s HR applications and enabling the organization to adopt SaaS, IaaS and PaaS.

Commenting on his appointment as CIO, Anupam said, “Microland’s technology vision is exciting. It is rapidly adopting and accelerating the implementation of nextGen technologies to deliver superlative digital experiences. I look forward to driving interactive and AI technologies that expand Microland’s potential to deliver exceptional outcomes for employees and clients.”

Zendesk Introduces New Partner Program to Give Partners More Tools to Improve Customer Engagement

Zendesk, Inc. has announced a new Zendesk Partner Program to provide the skills, tools, and support for Zendesk’s global ecosystem of partners need to help their customers deliver a better customer experience. The program is designed to enable partners to build an industry-leading customer experience practice and rewards partners based on competencies and results with a comprehensive certification program and incentives. At the same time, the Zendesk Partner Program can be tailored to meet the needs of partner’s different business models, offering the flexibility to support partners as their businesses evolve.

“Customer expectations are at an all time high, and we do our best work helping our customers meet their customer’s expectations when we work hand in hand with our partners,” said Ricardo Moreno, Vice President Worldwide Partners at Zendesk. “We recognize that significant evolutions are underway in the traditional partner model, and we look forward to growing our partner ecosystem and helping our partners deliver better customer experiences.”

Sandie Overtveld, Vice President, APAC at Zendesk said, “The Indian market is very competitive when it comes to the software sector, and is a key market for Zendesk having seen healthy growth since our launch three years ago. This program is good news for the partner ecosystem, which has played a key role in our success. The launch of the Zendesk Partner Program is an ongoing commitment to our partners and customers that will build an ecosystem to ensure a more seamless transfer of knowledge and better customer experience all round.”

With its modern approach to the program, Zendesk allows partners to engage in multiple business models based on their unique business strategy and skills. Rather than limit a partner to a specific role, Zendesk’s flexible framework allows partners to refer, resell, implement, develop, integrate, or any combination of these services depending on the opportunity.

 “India has emerged as a strong contender in Zendesk's 10 fastest growing markets globally. The new Partner Program will help us strengthen our relationships with our partners in the region by facilitating the ease of exchanging skills and expertise across the table. It will also accelerate our momentum towards our goal of becoming a $1 billion company next year.”, said KT Prasad, Country Sales Director, Zendesk India.

“Partners are looking for vendors that are easy to do business with and show them the best path to profitability. Zendesk gets it, and created its new program with all the right elements that nail these two critical aspects,” said Kevin Rhone, Director of Channel Acceleration at The Enterprise Strategy Group.

The Zendesk Partner Program also provides significant growth opportunities for the partner ecosystem, including cloud service providers, systems integrators, value added resellers, outsourcers, consultants, developers, and IT professionals. Whether partners are looking to earn revenue through delivery of Zendesk products and services, find new opportunities with existing clients, or deliver value-add services, the Zendesk Partner Program provides the tools and resources to open new revenue streams and grow their business.

“As a long standing partner, we look forward to accelerating our investment in Zendesk based on this major step forward with the new program and the mutual success it promises,” said Bruno Stuchi, CEO at Aktie Now, a consulting company that supports business innovation and growth through strategy, processes, technology, and people.

"Zendesk’s robust partner program is designed in a way that helps new partners like us get up and running quickly. The flexibility, support, and ready-to-use resources available through the program are already helping us grow our business," said Fred Walters, Chief Innovation Officer at iTalent Digital, a global woman- and minority-owned digital consulting and software engineering company.

The new partner program operates across three tiers that are organized based on the overall capabilities and contributions of partners across all types of business models.

Frost & Sullivan Names JLL India “2019 India Facility Management Company of the Year”

JLL India has been named the 2019 India Facility Management Company of the Year at Frost & Sullivan’s India Best Practices Awards Banquet. The award was given in recognition of the real estate firm’s excellence in growth, innovation, and customer leadership.

Sandeep Sethi, Managing Director, Corporate Solutions, JLL India said: “It is an honour to be acknowledged for this prestigious award. Our success revolves around our people, and our continuous effort to drive client experience. We continue to evolve our service delivery in line with the changing needs of our clients by a deep commitment to innovation and workplace experience enabled by technology. We thank our clients who have believed in us and have entrusted us with their ‘workplace experience.”

“We are delighted that this has been recognized by leading research &am p; consulting firm like Frost & Sullivan,” he further added.

According to Frost & Sullivan, the nominees were judged on three key areas, including demand generation, brand development, and competitive positioning. JLL was recognised for its well-executed strategies and forward-thinking service proposition, leading to significant double-digit growth in 2018. What set the firm apart was also its strong client renewals and contract wins from reputable global companies across the region.

With over 160M sq. ft. under management across over 1,600+ sites, JLL is a leader in facilities management services in India. JLL has incorporated several new, industr y-leading technologies into its delivery, for instance, in the utilisation of their in-house eFit Facility CAFM platform; a digital Service Level Agreement-tracking, Business Intelligence dashboard capability and incorporating multiple other technology interventions across client sites.

JLL has been actively developing and deploying innovative solutions to enhance client experience and efficiency. One example is the India-based IDEA Labs, an acronym for “Innovation that Drives Experience and Automation.” Helmed by a tech-innovator-entrepreneur, IDEA Labs is designed to explore, evaluate and pilot the latest technologies and solutions available in the Indian FM industry.

Additionally, JLL has also established a Workplace Experience Center of Excellence (CoE), dovetaili ng into the Hospitality Board. This CoE includes team members with backgrounds in hotels and hospitality, and the CoE is responsible for designing and rolling out bespoke client training and education programs to upskill our on-site delivery teams to make staff more personable, client-centric and generally imbibe hospitality best practice into our delivery.

“As a Firm, JLL is constantly investing in our people, skilling and technology innovation. We strongly believe that these are the core areas that will continue to drive real value for our clients, partners and our people. There’s never been a better time for the industry,” added Sandeep.

While congratulating JLL, Arushi Thakur, Associate Director, Measurement & Instrumentation Practice, Frost & Sullivan said: “JLL is a national leader in facilities management services in India and provides a comprehensive portfolio and property management services to corporations and institutions in almost every industry sector ranging from BFSI, IT/ ITes, business process outsourcing, industrial, life sciences and manufacturing among others.”

Frost & Sullivan Awards are presented to companies that demonstrate best practices across industries. The Awards are recognition of their inn ovation, commitment, technological innovation, customer service, and successful business strategies required to advance in the global marketplace. Frost & Sullivan's intent is to help drive innovation, excellence, and a positive change in the global economy by recognising best-in-class products, companies, and individuals.

Association of India Appeals to State Government to Stop Harassment of Poor Retailers by Health and Police Officials in Karnataka

Highlights

*  Appeal sent to Chief Minister, Karnataka, Mr. B.S. Yediyurappa, on behalf of over 10 lakh families in Karnataka Facing Life and Death Situation with Continued and Unwarranted Health and Police Official Harassment
* Health officials issuing challans indiscriminately under non-relevant sections of COPTA to trouble already very poor and helpless micro-retailers
* Such harassment has the potential to put livelihood of lakhs of poor people at stake

We, Karnataka State Retail Beedi – Cigarette Merchants Association – Bangalore, who also represent the Karnataka Chapter of the Federation of Retailer Association of India (FRAI), are a representative body over 2 lakh retailers of goods of daily consumption in Karnataka. We are a member of FRAI which is an All India representative body of four crore micro, small and medium retailers across the country, with 34 Retail Associations from North, South, East and West as the members of the Federation. FRAI protects the interests of the poorest of the poor in the country and raise issues which impact the employment opportunities and render help to such people who are unable to express their views. It also brings to the attention of the Government policies which will help promote and protect employment in the unorganised sector and create an environment of ease of doing business in India.

Karnataka State Retail Beedi – Cigarette Merchants Association, Bangalore, representing the FRAI Karnataka Chapter, today raised its concerns against the harassment faced by its member shopkeepers from the State Govt.’s Health and Police Officials. These officials visit small retailers very frequently and tell them that they are not following tobacco control laws. All our retailers are law-abiding citizens and the question of violating any laws just does not arise. In spite of this these officials subject these shopkeepers to harassment by way of imposing penalty on the flimsy excuse that they are violating some tobacco control law. Challans are issued to these simple, helpless people for so-called violation of the ‘Cigarette and other Tobacco Products (prohibition of advertisement and regulation of trade and commerce, production, supply and distribution) Act’, 2003 or COTPA and these challans are absolutely baseless.  These Officials many a times confiscate legal cigarette stocks without giving a valid reason or proper document as required which further puts a financial hardship on the shopkeeper who is already burdened with lots of loans to meet ends.

 Explaining the issue, B. N. Murali Krishna, Member, Federation of Retailers Association of India and President, Karnataka State Retail Beedi-Cigarette Merchants Association, said, “The shopkeepers always suffer out-right and unreasonable rejection of their appeals and these officials do not accept any of their valid arguments. It is clear that the officials are just intent on harassing and challan the poor retailers illegally. Given our poor financial position, how can the health officials expect us to pay fines for offences which we have not committed? Also, the challans so raised are not in line with the law as most of the charges are on public smoking (Section 4) issued to our members even though they are non-smokers!  If we argue with the officials, they threaten to have us arrested. Members are also not able to get a recourse to the seized stock as they have not been given proper seizure receipts by the official”

Mr. Murali Krishna further said, “The way this harassment is continuing on a regular basis, soon we will have to close our shops and we and lacs of our family members will be driven to the street. Our livelihood will be very badly affected, and we will be forced into a state of trauma and agony.”

“We have approached senior Ministers and Govt. officials several times on the harassment faced by us. In all such meetings we have been assured that the harassment will stop but in reality we continue to be subjected to unjustified challans. It appears that since we are poor and helpless, nobody is bothered about our livelihood issues”, Mr Murali Krishna signed off. 

The Karnataka Chapter of FRAI represent around 2 lakh retailers from all over the State. it represents the livelihood of about 10 lakh people in Karnataka. Our members are poor and law-abiding shopkeepers and who because of lack of proper education has been forced to put in small capital to set up shops selling goods of daily consumption by people. Our members do not have any other means of income and the income earned from their shops is barely adequate to feed themselves and their family members.

Karnataka State Retail Beedi-Cigarette Merchants Assn under the banner of FRAI staged a strong protest gathering in Bangalore and lodged a strong appeal with the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Karnataka, Mr. Mr. B.S. Yediyurappa and the state government asking for an immediate intervention to save the poor and helpless shopkeepers from official harassment. This is a matter of life and death of 10 lakh families across the State of Karnataka unless the harassment is stopped forthright.

State Govts and Industry Commit 7 Lakh Apprentices for the Current Fiscal Year

Highlights

* 22 MoUs with Third Party Aggregators (TPAs) signed so far to promote apprenticeship among the youth
* Over 50 workshops conducted across 22 states under Apprenticeship Pakhwada 2019

The 15-day Apprenticeship Pakhwada, that saw State Governments and the industry come together for a commitment of 7 lakh apprentices in the current fiscal, ended in a grand closing ceremony in the capital today. Shri Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble Minister of Road Transport and Highways and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises was the Chief Guest of the closing ceremony along with Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Hon’ble Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

The number of apprentices will have almost doubled after the 15-day Pakhwada. In 2016, the Government had introduced comprehensive reforms to the Apprenticeship Act, 1961, a move that saw about 7.5 lakh apprentices engaged in a span of two-and-a-half years.

In the 15 days of the Pakhwada, the industry has committed to engage 4.5 lakh more apprentices with States committing another 2.5 lakh apprentices. MSDE pledged Rs. 560 crore to State Governments to promote demand-driven and industry-linked skill development and signed 22 MoUs with various states through Third Party Aggregators (TPAs).

As many as 6 PSUs including Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL), Cochin Shipyard, Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL), Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), International Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) committed to train about 35,000 apprentices. Additionally, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) signed an MoU with NSTI Mumbai to train solar technicians for sustainable energy sector.

Third-party aggregators (TPAs) and Sectors Skill Councils (SSCs) organized workshops and conferences, with the support of industry and state governments, across the country.

Addressing the gathering at the closing ceremony, Shri Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble Minister of Road Transport and Highways and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, said it was important to build skilling capabilities for both urban and rural areas. “It is important to understand and map the demand for skilling programs in SME cluster associations in growth areas and industries, especially in the rural, agricultural and tribal areas of the country. The MSME sector has enormous scope for growth and a great need of skilled manpower for sericulture, horticulture, tribal arts and paintings, honey, bamboo, etc, sectors that have great potential of becoming export strengths for the country. In fact, we need to reduce our dependence on imports and move towards growing skills in traditional skills that will inch us closer to realizing the ambition of creating a five-trillion dollar economy.”

Lauding the initiative to launch the Pakhwada, he added, “Technology, innovation, research and skill go hand in hand and always bring great value. The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises will need all the support from the Skill Development Ministry in meeting the demand of its industries. Our efforts should be directed at converting knowledge and skill into wealth.”

Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Hon’ble Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, said, ““Apprenticeship can provide hands-on training to candidates and provide a better industry exposure to help them gain confidence in a working environment. New job roles will need new skill sets and it is therefore important to inspire the youth to equip themselves with industry-relevant skill sets.”

“We are training all our energies in creating a demand-driven model that caters to both industry needs as well as the youth to enable them with the skills necessary for jobs of the future. Together we must all pledge to make apprenticeship a pathway for the creation of a strong and stable workforce, which is extremely important for India to become the five-trillion dollar economy that we have set our sights on,” he added, emphasizing the Prime Minister’s vision of taking the country on the road to growth.

On September 30, 2019, Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Hon’ble Minister of Skill Development and entrepreneurship, had launched the Apprenticeship Pakhwada in Delhi, announcing the need to promote awareness about apprenticeship training among establishments and employers across manufacturing and service sectors. Many significant reforms were announced including a stipend to apprentices between Rs. 5000 and Rs. 9000. The National Apprenticeship Programme plays an important role in upskilling India’s workforce, offering different parties the opportunity to share costs.

Strengthening the Skill India Mission, NSDC, under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship has been collaborating with various stakeholders including industry, institutions, training providers and SSCs to empower and train youth with employable skills.

Sterlite Power Wins IPMA Global Project Excellence Award for NRSS-29 Power Transmission Project

Sterlite Power, a global leader in power transmission, has been awarded the coveted ‘Gold’ award in the mega sized projects category at the prestigious Global Project Excellence Award 2019 for its Northern Region Strengthening Scheme (NRSS-29) project in Jammu & Kashmir. The award was presented at the 31st IPMA World Congress held on October 1, 2019 in Mexico.

The NRSS-29 project was one of the largest and toughest private sector transmission projects commissioned in the country till date. This 414 Km long transmission corridor of national importance was constructed by overcoming extreme challenges of terrain and weather. Sterlite Power delivered this critical project ahead of schedule with innovative use of technology, synergistic partnerships and deeper engagement with local communities. The project plays a vital role in bringing reliable power to Jammu & Kashmir, especially during winter months when the region traditionally suffered blackouts. This project had the unique distinction of being dedicated to the nation by Honorable Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, earlier this year in February 2019.

Commenting on the milestone, Mr. Pratik Agarwal, Group CEO, Sterlite Power said, “It is a matter of great pride to receive this global honor from IPMA for our NRSS-29 power transmission project which lights up the lives of 12.5 million people of Jammu & Kashmir. We are grateful to our dedicated team of employees and partners who worked relentlessly to overcome massive challenges and deliver one of the toughest transmission projects in the country ahead of schedule.”

Sterlite Power is the first Indian power transmission company to achieve the prestigious Gold category award from IPMA. The project won the highest recognition against strong competition from other industry heavyweights such as China Energy Shenyang Group Co. Ltd, Prysmian Powerlink Srl, Italy and PT. JGC Indonesia. International Project Management Association (IPMA) is the world’s oldest project management association based out of Netherlands. The IPMA award is given to projects across the globe that demonstrate project management excellence. 

Dr Trust, Dr Physio Debut as First Healthcare and Wellness Products at Croma Stores

Highlights

* Nureca becomes the first company to sell healthcare and wellness products from its Dr Trust and Dr Physio brands at Croma stores across India
* The tie-up will bridge the gap between the need for and availability of high-quality affordable healthcare and wellness products in the Indian market

In a first for the Indian market, Nureca Pvt Ltd has joined hands with Croma, India’s first Omni-channel electronics retailer from the Tata Group, to emerge as the very first company to sell healthcare and wellness products through Croma stores. As part of this tie-up, Nureca will sell products from its Dr Trust and Dr Physio brands at 30 Croma stores across the country

India’s healthcare and wellness landscape is beset by multiple challenges. The country has a vast population, which includes a large number of senior citizens, who now have fewer family members to take care of their medical needs owing to the rising trend towards nuclear families. Furthermore, owing to work-life imbalance and other contributing factors, the incidence of lifestyle disorders and related health issues among working people is on the rise.

Home healthcare and wellness technologies can play a crucial role for the geriatric population in preventive healthcare by enabling them to regularly monitor vital health parameters while enabling working people who cannot take out the time to visit clinics on a frequent basis to avail the same facilities at home itself, and that too at affordable prices.

“Nowadays, there is a renewed focus on healthcare to be able to better cope with the pressures of fast-paced modern living. Consequently, home healthcare and wellness devices have become more of a necessity rather than a luxury. However, the limited availability of healthcare and wellness devices and the lack of awareness about these products has been a major impediment. Nureca seeks to bridge this gap by making these devices available through the tie-up with Croma,” said Mr Saurabh Goyal, Director, Nureca Pvt Ltd.

Affordable home healthcare technologies can be a boon, both as regular health monitoring tools and therapeutic devices like massagers. With India witnessing a growing need for tech-driven home healthcare devices, Croma’s nationwide presence will help make Dr Trust and Dr Physio solutions easily available to a wider audience.

“Dr Trust’s product range comprises trustworthy medical devices and health monitors, which are backed by pioneering technology. Dr Physio, on the other hand, offers some of the most imaginative and restorative wellbeing and personal healthcare products. While both these brands have a strong presence across e-commerce platforms, the tie-up with Croma will ensure the availability of high-quality yet affordable healthcare and wellness technologies among people who want to physically explore a product before purchasing it,” said Mr Goyal.

Mr. Venu Copal, Head of Buying, Croma, added “We are quite excited to bring forth to our customers the latest in the world of healthcare. When it comes to gadgets, our experience says that customers always prefer to touch-feel-try the product before they buy it. These gadgets being in the healthcare space, is going to make physical validation even more indispensable. As an emerging category in today’s day and age, it’s a great a new addition to our existing portfolio of 9000+ products”

Under this tie-up with Croma, Nureca will introduce products from these brands at Croma’s ‘Gadgets of Desire’ stores in a phased manner. Apart from meeting Indian standards and regulations like ISO, Dr Trust and Dr Physio products are USFDA and CE approved, which is an endorsement of Nureca’s adherence to the highest quality standards.

“The tie-up between Nureca and Croma Retail is an indicator of the upward trajectory and immense potential of this market segment in India. It will go a long way in drawing attention to the need for affordable home healthcare in India and making handy healthcare devices readily available,” said Mr Goyal.

“Our brands/products, backed by pioneering technology at affordable price points, are designed to help Indian customers keep a check on their health and meet their wellness needs. The Indian market is still at a nascent stage and we want to raise it to a level where customers ask for products which are high on quality and features. As a decisive step in this direction, we have introduced many pioneering features at very affordable price points to give Indian customers access to products which are on a par with global standards,” he added.

The medical devices market size, valued at US $4.9 billion in 2017, is expected to go up to US $11 billion by 2022 on account of the rising geriatric population and declining cost of medical services. Besides, technological enhancement and development of medical electronics has made it possible to provide high-quality healthcare at home at affordable prices. It can help patients save 10-25% of the medical treatment costs. The Indian home healthcare market is estimated to reach US $6.21 billion by 2020.

Registering a CAGR of 8.8% since 2016 when it was pegged at $220.76 billion, the global home healthcare market is projected to reach $364.69 billion by 2022. The fastest CAGR growth in home healthcare market is expected to come from the Asia-Pacific market, which is expected to grow at 9% from 2016 to 2024. It is projected that in India, where home healthcare adoption is still at a nascent stage, this market will grow from around $4.46 billion in 2018 to $6.21 billion by 2020. While this market size is still much smaller as compared to China, tie-ups like the one between Nureca and Croma will appreciably enhance the share of home healthcare segment in India’s healthcare industry.