TKM Takes Precautionary Measures to Counter the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak

In light of the current outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the fight against the epidemic, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) has taken preventive measures to safe guard health and safety of all stakeholders including: Customers, Employees, and Dealer Partners. TKM has been closely monitoring the evolving situation and responding appropriately in accordance with guidance issued by the Government.

Commenting on the measures taken by the company, Mr. Naveen Soni, Senior Vice President, Sales and Service, Toyota Kirloskar Motor said, “Our first priority is the health and safety of all our stakeholders. As a committed corporate, we are taking all preventive measures to sustain normal business operations. We have created SOPs internally to maintain normalcy at workplace as well as for our partners ensuring hassle-free customer interface. We are actively responding to the changing market conditions and taking countermeasures wherever required to deal with contingencies that may arise in the future.”

Customer convenience

Keeping safety of the customers in mind, the company is developing a 360 degree vehicle display on its website, helping them take a virtual tour of each vehicle and get a better understanding to make an informed purchase decision.

Some of the key activities include:

o  Website (Test Drive & Price List)
o  e-brochure (Product information)
o  Make My Car (Accessory)
o  T-Connect (Service appointment booking)
o  Test Drive & Vehicle Delivery at customers residence
o  Service pick up and drop

Production Preparedness

The company is continuously monitoring the business operations in the country and taking preventive measures to grasp any challenges that may come forth.

Effective measures at Dealerships

Additionally, Dealer Partners are also being encouraged to take adequate precautions and sanitize all the customer touch points at the dealerships. This will help in effectively countering the virus threat, build customer confidence visiting the dealerships and simultaneously, take care of the employees. Further, virtual tools are being utilized as a key platform to share information, and provide services to the customers, at their convenience.

Employee Safety

In order to maintain good hygiene and build an uncontaminated environment at the workplace, TKM has suspended fingerprint biometric attendance system as a preventive measure. Employees are also being encouraged to maintain social distancing, avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth, practice respiratory hygiene, wash hands more often and stay at home if they see any COVID-19 symptoms. The company has also released strict advisory to minimize domestic and restrict international travel to severely affected regions.

India Leading the World in Moving Apps Back On-Prem From Public Cloud

Indian enterprises are leading the charge when it comes to repatriating public cloud workloads, according to a new global study by enterprise cloud computing leader, Nutanix (NASDAQ: NTNX).

The second annual Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Index report compiled by Vanson Bourne, and commissioned by Nutanix, found that 91% percent of India’s enterprises reported having moved, or plan to move, public apps back on-prem. This compared to 73% globally, and 76% in the APJ region.

The report highlights that Indian enterprises are going through a period of adjustment as their understanding and experience with public cloud matures. Many enterprises now realise that public cloud is not the single solution to their cloud strategy.

As cloud decisions have become more nuanced than simply moving to public cloud to save money on upfront capital costs—those initial returns, though substantial, may not persevere long-term, depending on the nature of the cloud workload, the study finds.

This reflects India’s enthusiasm for hybrid cloud adoption, which offers enterprises cloud mobility and agility as well as the ability to integrate multiple clouds, both public and private. For the second year running, Enterprise Cloud Index respondents have selected hybrid cloud as the ideal IT operating model going forward.

In fact, the report shows 42% of enterprises plan to shift the majority of their IT deployments to hybrid cloud, albeit less than APJ (53.1%) and global (51.74%) averages.

“Cloud mobility is a critical factor, as India’s enterprises embrace digitization and decide where to place their workloads. In this fast-changing digital environment, flexibility and security are essential, and Indian enterprises need the ability to match workloads to the best environment at the time.” said Balakrishnan Anantharaman, VP and MD-Sales, India and SAARC, Nutanix.

“Indian enterprises are seeing hybrid cloud as the ideal IT environment that provides this choice. As more Indian enterprises move away from legacy IT systems and adopt cloud architecture the re-allocation of staff and resources, so they can keep pace with emerging technologies, will become a priority.”

For the second consecutive year, Vanson Bourne has conducted research on behalf of Nutanix to learn about the state of global enterprise cloud computing deployments and plans. In mid-2019, the researcher surveyed 2,650 global IT decision-makers about where they're running their business applications today, where they plan to run them in the future, their challenges with cloud computing, and how their cloud initiatives stack up against other IT projects and priorities.

It highlights key data points gleaned from IT professionals in Indian businesses and how they compare to enterprise cloud experiences and plans in other parts of the Asia Pacific-Japan (APJ) region and the rest of the world.

Other key India findings from the report include:

India relies less on traditional data centres than both APJ and the global average.  Only 42% of Indian respondents reported current usage of traditional data centre deployments. This is more than 10 percentage points lower than the global average (52.79%) and more than 11 percentage points lower than the APJ region (53.67%). Within the region, only Japan ranked lower, which reported the overall lowest traditional datacentre penetration (24%) in the world.
India remains enthusiastic about hybrid cloud but is currently lagging its peers. Although India plans to shift the majority of their IT deployments to hybrid cloud (42%) within the next 3-5 years, the percentage of respondents making this claim is lower than both the APJ (53.11%) and the global average (51.74%). Interestingly, however, Indian IT professionals were almost unanimous in agreement (97%) that hybrid cloud represents the ideal IT operating model.
A higher percentage of Indian enterprises envision all of their workloads in one place. Despite their enthusiasm for hybrid cloud, only 13% of Indian respondents said they envision their workloads distributed across multiple clouds. While 46% of Indian enterprises envision all of their workloads in the public cloud, 38% prefer all workloads running in a private cloud.
Lack of internal IT skills and retaining qualified IT staff are both real concerns for Indian enterprises. Indian respondents reported significantly higher-than-average agreement that their enterprises lack the IT skills to meet business demands or to set up a secure, compliant cloud infrastructure. A majority also reported having difficulty retaining IT talent. That’s likely why 97% of respondents stated that they are investing in reskilling their IT teams to keep pace with emerging technologies—far more than averages in APJ (90.66%) and the world (90.94%).

MultiLiving Raises USD 6 Million from Lodha Ventures; Launches Operations in Mumbai

MultiLiving, a unique real estate platform announced raising USD 6 million from Lodha ventures and the launch of its operations in Mumbai. The platform goes live with an endeavor to make lives easier and enriched for the tenants and homeowners and bringing them together in an ecosystem. A new-age gamechanger, MultiLiving enables tenants to rent curated homes with a personal concierge & added services along with ensuring hassle-free management of assets & steady returns for the homeowners. By creating a rental housing ecosystem through technology, MultiLiving endeavours to streamline the home renting and management situation for urban professionals.

A brainchild of a group of IIM and IIT educated entrepreneurs and real estate veterans, MultiLiving was envisioned and established as a breath of fresh air in the country’s dormant residential real estate market. It intends to eliminate the inefficiencies prevalent in the existing rental system. The platform strives to unlock the enhanced rental value of the extremely large residential real estate segment, thereby enriching the lives of both tenants & homeowners in their respective value chains. It curates apartments from the homeowners, performs the quality check & requisite transformation and offers the homes with built-in services to the potential tenants. That said, the platform delivers smarter solutions for both tenants and owners against the traditional rental model.

Speaking on the revolutionary launch, Mr. Pankaj Singh, CEO & Founder of MultiLiving said, “Life of an urban professional is extremely hectic and the stress of finding and managing a home simply adds up to the burden. MultiLiving is an advanced way of owning and renting out a flat where we take care of everything involved in this space so that individuals can reclaim their time and focus on what truly matters. All our apartments are carefully selected in the niche societies and gated communities. We carefully screen every potential tenant who will love and take care of the home like it was their own. However, the final decision stays with the owner.”

Backed & funded by Lodha Ventures – the family office of Mr. Abhinandan Lodha who is also on the board of advisors, MultiLiving aims to serve proprietors who are owners of premium residential properties by ensuring steady predictable returns from their investments and managing the same for long term. Meanwhile, the platform also serves the new age families who are looking to stay on rent by offering them world-class curated homes with intuitive services to make daily life easy and hassle-free. For the potential tenants, MultiLiving ensures a comfortable and convenient lifestyle, which is beyond the average rented space. All its homes are handpicked basis the location, amenities at the society, condition of the house amongst other parameters. They undergo a thorough 50-step quality check process and are also assigned a dedicated transformation team to deliver the property in a 100% top-notch and ready-to-move-in state. All the homes come with a personal concierge to take care of all the daily chores and housekeeping. Tenants also get access to on-demand services like cooking, party planning, travel booking, etc. All these services are managed and monitored through an easy-to-use app.

Meanwhile, for the property owners, MultiLiving promises regular & steady returns. The platform takes charge of finding the tenants as per owners' choice and assure regular rentals. It handles the entire paperwork and monthly rent collection, promising a hassle-free experience to the asset owners. It also covers the owner's property for any accidental damages, regular maintenance fees or unforeseen expenses through MultiLiving’s exclusive insurance policy, the HomeShield Plan. This means the owner will never have to bother about leaking taps, broken A/Cs or similar troubles. The platform also arranges for urgent repairs and ensures routine check-up at no extra cost.

The real-estate firm currently operates in Mumbai with a limited number of curated flats at some of the most premium locations across Mumbai including Lower Parel, Powai, BKC, Kanjurmarg & Vikhroli.

World Obesity Day - More than 13.5 Cr Indians suffering from Obesity

India is the third most Obese nation with more than 13.5 Cr people suffering from Obesity. Obesity is linked to many other commodities such as heart disease, hypertension, sleep apnea, type 2 diabetes mellitus, infertility and PCOD and so on. Obesity affects the overall quality of life of an individual as well as the productivity of a workforce.

Obesity has been associated with an increase in all-cause mortality rates. According to reports, this disease which has reached epidemic proportions reduces life expectancy by 9 years in women and 12 years in men.

On the occasion of World Obesity Day –March 4, 2020, Bangalore Bariatric club and Realize, a patient awareness digital initiative of Johnson and Johnson Private Limited, has organized an interactive press meet to spread awareness about Obesity and its life-threatening impact on overall health of an individual. Realize has been at the forefront of the multi-city #IndiaFightsObesity campaign in an effort to spread awareness about this epidemic that plagues our country.

The event will bring together leading experts from the field of bariatrics and wellness. The keynote speakers for this conference are India’s leading Obesity experts Dr. Shivaram H V, Dr. Moinoddin G and Dr. Sumit Talwar. They will share insights on the growing epidemic of Obesity in India and some of the treatment options.

Key Messages from the event –
 
Obesity is a disease which needs treatment by an Obesity specialist/expert.

Govt is very serious about tackling this epidemic through Ayushman Bharat and #FitIndiaMovement.

In a major relief for those suffering from obesity-related comorbidities, insurance cover is now provided for obesity treatment as per medical advice. Insurance will cover medically advised treatment as per new IRDAI regulation effective October 2020

Urgent need for steps to counter rampant misinformation about obesity & its treatment

Surgery is one of the proven options for 40+ BMI and 35+ BMI with comorbidities.

Stigma associated with Obesity leads to patients not seeking the right treatment and psychological impacts that includes blaming themselves for the condition

Quotes from KOLs –

Dr. Shivaram H V: Obesity has become a “growing and disturbing health crisis”.

It is the fastest emerging life-risking disease and the mother of all other ailments. The 2019 Lancet Commission report has warned that obesity is the first amongst the three biggest threat to humanity (the other two being under- nutrition and global warming) yet there is no concrete action plan to stop this monster. The global surveys, research and studies have all observed that our physical activity is constantly on the decline whereas the mental activity and stress is continuously on the rise. The food intake is on the rise with abundant calories but there is no provision to burn the excess calories in the body. It is possible only by physical activity. Once obesity sets in all the organs of our body need to overwork and finally, they fail giving rise to diseases.

To save mankind from this disaster called OBESITY there is an urgent need to invent ANTI-OBESITY VACCINE, and the government and professional bodies need to work together to achieve this.

Dr. Moinoddin G: The adverse effects of obesity on women's health is overwhelming and indisputable.

Obesity in young women has seen steep increase in trend, 1 in 10 adolescent girls and young women in India are suffering from Polycystic ovarian disease, leading to many related issues such as delay in menstrual cycle or no menses and hirsutism features. Weight reduction can help these young women in reversing the health issues to a great extent. If they are slightly overweight, they can go ahead with diet and life style Modifications and exercise but if their BMI goes above 32.5 then we have key hole surgery option for treating their obesity and related issues.

Dr. Sumit Talwar: People who are obese are at high risk of developing diabetes.

He strongly points out that Obesity and diabetes are closely related. Shockingly, 25% of obese people are diabetics compared to 5% of the general population. There is strong and consistent evidence that losing weight can delay progression from prediabetes to type 2 diabetes and is beneficial in the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Centuary-Wavemaker Sleep Survey on World Sleep Day Reveals that Average Hour of Sleep has Gone Down in Bengaluru

Highlights

* 38% Bengalorian mentioned that they sleep lesser than 8 hours
* Bengalorian sleep the least on weekends
* Nationally, hours of sleep come down in most of the cities; People slept for 6.76 hours on weekdays and 6.85 hours on Weekends in 2019 against 7.48 hours and 7.66 hours in 2018
* Younger women’s average sleeping hour reduced from 7.70 hour in 2018 to 6.60 hours in 2019 across country
* Higher Income category in whole country sleeping lesser than before; 6.74 Hours on weekends and 6.75 Hours on weekdays in 2019 against 7.68 hours and 7.5 a year in 2018

How important is your sleep? If you ask anyone today on World Sleep Day (March 13th, 2020), whether in urban or rural or to a youngster or a middle-aged, you are likely to hear Sleep is a very essential part of your well-being. However, despite this understanding do we sleep enough or at least peacefully. The answer is ‘NO’ as people in 10 cities across India including Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneshwar, Indore, Vishakhapatnam and Raipur revealed when asked. The survey – In Search of Better Sleep 2020 by Centuary Mattresses and Wavemaker did across various cities to understand attitudes, perceptions, and behaviours around sleep and other issues. It found that it is not only the duration but the quality of the sleep and various factors leading to distractions have been a major concern growing year on year.

Overall, in the 10 cities, the survey found that collectively average hours of sleep have come down in most of the cities. In 2018 people slept 7.66 hours on weekend and 7.48 hours on weekdays which has drastically come down to 6.85 hour on weekends and 6.76 hour on weekdays. This brings forth the fact that majority of the people are not able to sleep for the required 8 hours as per health experts. Looking at the gender-wise sleep duration, the findings are more worrying with the younger women (25-35 years) sleeping for 6.60 hours on weekends and 6.97 hours on weekdays in 2019 which was 7.70 hours and 7.43 hours respectively in the year 2018. Compared to them, the younger male slept for 6.73hours on weekdays and 6.58 Hours on weekends in 2019 instead of 7.66 Hours on weekdays and 7.50 Hours on weekdays in 2018

The duration of the sleep of the people in Section A (higher income) has also reduced to 6.74 Hours on weekends and 6.75 Hours on weekdays in 2019 when compared to 7.68 hours and 7.5 a year in 2018. Whereas there hasn’t been a much change noticed in the case of Section B (Middle income) with 7.46 Hours on weekends and 6.84 Hours on weekdays in 2019 against 7.45 hours and 7.29 hours a year before.

The data suggests that while people are waking up to the reality that sleep is fundamentally important, for most people, achieving quality sleep is still out of reach. The usage of Laptops, Tablets, and Smartphones continues to be the biggest deterrent in sleep on time with 47% people voting for it. Worrying about work and finances related issues also delays the sleep of around 15% people surveyed.

The irregular sleeping hours and the surface have resulted in 42% of respondents in 2019 mentioning having Back pain, grown from 39% in 2018. In fact, due to deterioration in the quality as well as the duration of sleep one out of every fifth person (22%) mentioned that they do not feel rested on most days after waking up. Around 38% also said that they feel sleepy at least 3 times in the daytime during a week.

While Chennai continues to lead the Sleeplessness in the country, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, and Ahmedabad recorded the issue at the least which was held by Hyderabad in 2018. 

The survey recorded that 45% people are being awake in the night due to either watching shows on TV, Laptops, Tablets, & Phone. The percentage has decreased by 8% with the 2018 survey report recording it at 53%. The usage of the smartphone for checking social media has also come down to 35% in 2019 from 46% a year back. However, work and finance related issues are continuing to be a significant reason for keeping 33% of people awake at night.

According to the survey, close to 95% Bengalorians don’t feel that they had enough rest due to sleep and they continue to feel the same thing throughout the day. The survey found that 54% people sleep late as they excessively work on laptops/smartphones in bed. About 61% people watch shows on their smart gadgets at night. In 2018 Bengalorians had an average sleep of 8.55 hours on weekend and 7.94 hours on weekdays. That has now drastically come down to only 5.98 hours on weekends and 7.45 hours on weekdays in 2019.

While announcing the details of the survey report, Mr. Uttam Malani, Executive Director – Centuary Mattresses said, “This data suggests that while people are waking up to the reality that sleep is fundamentally important, for most people, achieving quality sleep is still out of reach. Various factors are depriving the people of the quality and duration of their sleep. If we want to take sleep seriously and address the social and emotional aspects of poor sleep, we must begin to demonstrate that we can address these problems in both easy and meaningful ways. Centuary, being India’s Sleep Specialist, with this survey wants to raise the awareness of quality sleep and the benefits it offers to the hardworking Indians by using accessible and affordable sleep solutions”. 

Global Debut of Redmi Note 9 Pro Max and Redmi Note 9 Pro Now Also Available in Indian Market

Xiaomi, India’s number one smartphone and smart TV brand, today announced the ninth generation of their Redmi Note series smartphones first in India. With an aim to fuel technological development and adoption locally, Redmi Note 9 Pro series brings support for ISRO’s indigenously developed navigation system, NavIC.

Anuj Sharma, Chief Marketing Officer, Xiaomi India, said “Redmi Note series has been the torch bearer of innovation for everyone. Redmi Note 8 series set new benchmarks continuing the Redmi Note legacy and evolved as one of the most sought after series. In 2019, Redmi Note 8 Pro became India’s No. 1 Quad Camera smartphone and Redmi Note 8 went on to become the No. 1 Android smartphone globally.”

He added, “We are especially excited about Redmi Note 9 Pro Max as we push the boundaries of innovation across hardware and software in its segment. We are especially proud of our deep partnership with ISRO which allows us to bring India’s first navigation system, NavIC, to our Mi fans and consumers. Redmi Note 9 Pro series is built for true Mi Fans and we hope they would appreciate this perfect amalgamation of Aura design, Pro Cameras and Max Performance as we continue to bring the best specs with highest quality at honest pricing.”

Redmi Note 9 Pro Max - Pro Cameras. Max Performance.

Xiaomi India’s best-selling series Redmi Note introduces a Pro Max variant for the first time, pushing boundaries of technological innovation in the segment.

Aura Balance Design

Aura Design, which was introduced with the Redmi Note 7 series sees a paradigm shift with the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max. It features the improved ‘Aura Balance’ design. The 16.9cm(6.67) FHD+ Dot Display with a 20:9 Cinematic Screen brings an immersive experience and the in-display camera on the front eliminates the notch making it Redmi’s largest ever display on a smartphone.

The rear features a quad camera setup that sits snugly on the glass back and the square design enables consistent field-of-view across all the lenses enabling lesser shift in focus while switching lenses.

To further enhance user experience, Redmi Note 9 Pro Max also features the Z-axis linear vibration motor, becoming one of the only devices in the segment to feature it. Z-axis linear motor enables flagship-like haptic experience, with over 150 custom vibration patterns across the UI.

Performance

Powering the new Redmi Note 9 Pro Max is the performance focussed Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G, an 8nm chipset featuring a custom Kryo architecture. It is powered by 8 Kryo 465 cores (2 x Gold – Cortex A76 clocked at 2.3 GHz + 6 x Silver – Cortex A55 clocked at 1.8 GHz), coupled with the Adreno 618 GPU clocked at 750MHz along with Snapdragon™ Elite Gaming. To further enhance gaming and performance, the device features 2x2 MIMO WiFi, enabling upto 2X throughput, better latency, coverage and call clarity.

Xiaomi’s deep partnership with ISRO and Qualcomm Technologies has resulted in a leap with navigational tech bringing NavIC integration with the support of Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G. NavIC is ISRO’s indigenous navigation system, which allows lesser TTF (Time To Fix) and better accuracy across India and 1500km around the Indian subcontinent.

Redmi Note 9 Pro Max features a massive 5020mAh battery while maintaining a slim profile. Redmi Note 9 Pro Max comes with a 33W fast charger in the box.

Camera: Better Quality, More Creativity

Redmi Note 9 Pro Max features a quad camera setup consisting of 64MP Samsung ISOCELL Bright GW1 sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide sensor with a 119° field of view, industry leading 5MP macro sensor and a 2MP depth sensor. The front is adorned by a large 32MP sensor enabling high quality photography, videography and AI Face Unlock.

Redmi Note series has always sought to challenge the status quo with its camera performance and with the new Redmi Note 9 Pro Max, camera software has further improved by leaps and bounds. Users can now shoot selfies in dark environments, thanks to the front camera night mode for the first time in a Redmi smartphone.

To enable creativity and content creators, Redmi Note 9 Pro Max features tools for videography like Super Stabilisation on the rear camera, on both the main and the wide angle sensors. Super Stabilisation enables users to shoot videos with a higher level of stability as compared to EIS. Users can shoot in movie mode which allows for a 21:9 frame in their videos. The 5MP macro sensor enables video recording at 1080p, which is rare in the segment. Kaleidoscope, slow motion video on both the rear and front camera enable users to create engaging content. LOG mode, histogram, focus peaking, exposure peaking on the pro mode allows content creators to go beyond casual video making.
                                                     
Redmi Note 9 Pro - The Performance Beast

Redmi Note 9 Pro carries forward the legacy of the Redmi Note series, bringing cutting-edge performance and refined camera experience to the segment. It is the most competitive smartphone in its price segment featuring the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G.

The 8nm Process Technology enables it to run 1 - 1.5° cooler for sustained peak performance than many other 12nm chipsets. Like the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max, it also brings support for NavIC.

Redmi Note 9 Pro’s 48MP Samsung ISOCELL Bright GM2 sensor builds upon its predecessor to bring true 48MP photography by bringing features like Smart ISO, enabling better results in the toughest of lighting conditions. The 48MP sensor is coupled with an 8MP ultra-wide angle lens, a 2MP depth sensor and a 5MP macro sensor that lets you go as close as 2cm to the subject and support for 1080p macro video. For selfie lovers, there’s a 16MP sensor in the front.

It features the Aura Balance Design which brings Immersive Experience, Impeccable Craftsmanship and Functional Design to Redmi Note 9 Pro. With the side-mounted fingerprint scanner that sits flush on the matt-finish midframe, Redmi Note 9 Pro facilitates a natural approach to unlocking.

Quality

With the highest focus on quality, Redmi Note 9 Pro series feature triple Corning, Gorilla Glass 5, on the front, rear and on the rear camera lenses. It is protected by P2i, splash proof nano-coating technology which protects them from accidental spills, while the reinforced corners provide better resilience to accidental falls.

Availability

Redmi Note 9 Pro Max will be available in three colour variants, Interstellar Black, Aurora Blue and Glacier White in 6GB + 64GB, 6GB + 128GB and 8GB + 128GB storage variants for INR 14,999, INR 16,999 and INR 18,999 respectively across mi.com, Amazon India, Mi Homes and Mi Studios starting 25th March.

Redmi Note 9 Pro will be available in three colour variants, Interstellar Black, Aurora Blue and Glacier White 4GB + 64GB and 6GB + 128GB storage variants for INR 12,999 and INR 15,999 respectively across mi.com, Amazon India, Mi Homes and Mi Studios starting 17th March.

Bentley Systems Announces the Acquisition of GroupBC, UK Leader in Cloud Services for Construction Information Management

Bentley Systems, Incorporated, a leading global provider of comprehensive software and digital twins services for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, today announced the acquisition of GroupBC, a leading UK SaaS software innovator. For over twenty years, GroupBC’s and Bentley’s software solutions have been deployed for complementary purposes to improve project and asset information management. The transaction results from GroupBC’s expansion agenda, and Bentley’s investment appetite, for international growth opportunities stemming from the UK’s national initiatives for major infrastructure investment and towards infrastructure digital twins.

GroupBC’s CDE solutions, BC Projects and BC Enterprise+, have been widely applied in the UK for information management respectively across construction and asset estates. Largely due to the UK’s substantiated ROI experience and its global thought leadership, CDEs have become increasingly availed globally in “going digital” for capital projects and resulting assets. In 2019, the UK’s (BS 1192) construction project information management guidelines were largely adopted within the global standard ISO 19650.

Also in 2019, in its inaugural study of the overall market for Collaborative BIM, ARC Advisory Group ranked Bentley’s ProjectWise system as #1 worldwide. The new opportunity is to build on ISO 19650, and GroupBC’s UK information management experience, to advance collaborative BIM, through “evergreen” digital twins, to span infrastructure lifecycles. In combination, Bentley’s iTwin Services will now be leveraged to uniquely connect GroupBC CDEs and ProjectWise CDEs. Through semantic alignment and change synchronization, the resulting digital twins cloud services will securely federate – fully enabling 4D mixed reality and analytics visibility – previously separate CDEs for construction and engineering.

Keith Bentley, Chief Technology Officer for Bentley Systems, said, “Our iTwin cloud services, taking advantage of iModel-based solutions for interoperability, are ideal for federating CDEs. This enables us to assure that the users of our BC SaaS services will benefit from further extending the value of their project and asset information through digital twins. With the help of our new GroupBC colleagues, we will now be able to better serve engineers, contractors, and owners by bringing together their collective IT (information management), OT (operational technologies including reality modeling), and ET (engineering models). I am confident that the resulting improvements in project and asset performance will be consistent with the UK’s demanding but welcome expectations for new ROI breakthroughs from digital twins.”

Simon Horsley, UK regional executive for Bentley Systems, said, “Our many UK users, projects, and owners in common with GroupBC will gain a lot from our joining forces to advance CDEs through digital twins. I have been tasked by Bentley management to help the UK to continue to lead the world in going digital for infrastructure advancement, and our new offerings and colleagues from GroupBC bring essential momentum as we pool resources to meet our market’s expanded ‘infrastructure revolution’ requirements. I particularly welcome to Bentley Systems GroupBC’s co-founders Sanjeev Shah and Stephen Crompton, and CEO Wes Simmons.”

Sanjeev Shah, co-founder of GroupBC, said, “This is a hugely exciting day for our shared accounts and for both our workforces moving forward. The opportunities which arise from bringing our two companies and their respective product portfolios together are enormous, as is the global reach which Bentley can now add for us. Working together we will be even better able to support, through ‘going digital,’ construction and asset lifecycles.”

Stephen Crompton, CPO and co-founder of GroupBC, added, “Bentley is going to provide a great new home for our products to thrive in. GroupBC have always promoted an integrated, best-of-breed approach, and being able to complement our leading software solutions with existing best-of-breed products from Bentley presents a uniquely exciting opportunity for us and our user organizations, opening the door for unparalleled integration between our solutions and bridging the gaps between design, construction and ongoing asset information management.”

Wes Simmons, CEO of GroupBC, said, “Our founders and I would like to thank our equity partner YFM for their visionary support over the last five years. For our GroupBC team, customers, and partners, joining Bentley Systems ensures a future of continued growth, including beyond construction information management through broadly federated digital twins, and international expansion. Here’s to BC CDE and digital twins advancement!”