Azizi Developments Inks Partnership with 3i Infotech for IT Transformation

Azizi Developments, a leading real estate developer in the UAE, has partnered with 3i Infotech, an internationally acclaimed, global IT company, to enhance its Information Technology (IT) infrastructure. This announcement comes in light of Azizi Developments’ unwavering pursuit of Digital Transformation and customer experience enhancement.

The agreement comprises noteworthy overhauls of Azizi’s cyber security, data protection, cloud and end-user computing and IT Governance Risk Compliance (GRC), gearing the developer up for its Digital Transformation and granting property seekers a safer, more seamless, transparent and convenient home-shopping experience.

Dr. Syed Mahsud Ali, Chief Information Officer at Azizi Developments, said: “This partnership serves as the ideal launchpad for our IT Transformation, a cornerstone in our overall, swiftly-progressing Digital Transformation journey. Having the right IT infrastructure in place is a much-needed step in propelling ourselves to the very forefront of digital innovation. Only by implementing the latest technologies, which are ultimately to the benefit of the end-user, can we become the most customer-centric developer in the UAE and beyond – a vision that we are now much closer to realizing.”

“We have found ways to optimise our costs, with our comprehensive, world-class IT Transformation now only costing us 0.92 per cent of the total corporate budget, while the real estate industry’s average usually lies at 1.5 per cent,” he added.

“We are delighted to be selected as a strategic partner by Azizi Developments, a leading real-estate organisation in the Middle East region, for their Digital Transformation journey.” said Mr. Suryanarayan Kasichainula, President & Global Head - ERP and Global Sales & Solutions Head – IT Services, 3i Infotech. “Our continuous commitment to high quality, cutting edge technology solutions along with our proven experience in understanding customer challenges will enable us to create solutions for their ongoing requirements and long-term goals alongside Digital Transformation.  This partnership endorses the value we bring in with our Infrastructure and Cloud Services to deliver world class experiences by using Cloud, Maggie (Virtual Engineer/BOT), Artificial Intelligence, predictive analytics and integrated solutions that enhance employee and end-customer experiences.”

Notably, Azizi Developments has successfully implemented state-of-the-art Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), and Business Analytics (BA) technologies, and is now looking at enablers like digital workplaces, advanced process optimisation, and radical digitalisation. The developer is also using other business intelligence and data analytics tools to create actionable strategies for existing and new business opportunities.

Emirates SkyCargo Calibrates Operations to Keep Trade Open in Seven Destinations in India

Emirates SkyCargo has announced it is operating dedicated cargo flights to Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram, ensuring key trade lanes are kept open during the Covid-19 crisis.

Last week, Emirates SkyCargo carried around 140 tonnes of equipment and commodities to Bengaluru and Mumbai from East Asia, the US, Europe and its hub in Dubai. From Bengaluru, the cargo airline carried around 70 tonnes of medical equipment and perishables to destinations in the GCC and Europe.

Emirates SkyCargo uplifted 52 tonnes of perishables, including fruits and vegetables, from Thiruvananthapuram to Dubai and the GCC countries that rely on India for their crucial food supply. Another 83 tonnes of perishables made their way from Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai to these destinations.

Abdulla AlKhallafi, Cargo Manager India, Emirates, said: “In these challenging times, Emirates SkyCargo stands by its commitment to India and the global community to act as a global conveyor belt for transporting essential commodities such as food, medicines, machinery and other commodities vital for communities and businesses.”

Emirates Pharma is also uplifting pharma products and medical equipment from India and beyond. Last week, Emirates SkyCargo flew a charter operation carrying 60 tonnes of life-saving pharma from Mumbai to New York, while a scheduled freighter from Ahmedabad uplifted 80 tonnes of mostly pharmaceuticals to destinations across the US, Europe and Australia.

Apart from its fleet of 11 freighters, Emirates is also operating its Boeing 777 passenger aircraft as cargo-only flights.

Acronis Launches World’s First Comprehensive Cyber Protection Solution in India

Notes

* Able to curb cyberthreats and improve remote working practices during the pandemic
* Enables service providers to cut costs by 25-30% and defend their clients through AI-powered integration of data protection and cybersecurity – with Zoom security and COVID-19 URL filtering

Acronis, a global leader in cyber protection, announced today the launch  of Acronis Cyber Protect, an innovative new cyber protection solution that integrates backup, disaster recovery, next-gen anti-malware, cybersecurity, and endpoint management tools into one service. Acronis Cyber Protect eliminates complexity, improves productivity, and enables managed service providers (MSP) in India to efficiently make security a focal point of their portfolio – ensuring their business can meet client expectations for data, applications, and systems security and protection.

As per Acronis, the primary challenges service providers in India face are: complexity, inadequate security, and low productivity. The lack of integration between the patchwork of vendor solutions they use to build their services decreases security, complicates employee training, productivity, and usability – all while increasing support and licensing costs with multiple vendors. Acronis Cyber Protect changes the game by introducing a single solution to deliver backup, anti-malware, security, and endpoint management capabilities such as vulnerability assessments, URL filtering, and patch management – while on average saving service providers 25-30% in operational costs.

These integrated capabilities create new opportunities for MSPs to deliver enhanced cybersecurity. With Acronis Cyber Protect, MSPs can proactively avoid cyberattacks, minimize downtime, ensure fast and easy recoveries, and automate the configuration of client protection to counter the latest cyberthreats. The result is improved margins, better profitability, easier SLA compliance, greater performance, and decreased churn – all at a lower cost.

“Our security team has been seeing a dramatic growth in cyber attacks in India over the past few months – as much as 30-70% growth in some cases.  In these turbulent times, service providers need to offer their clients integrated cyber protection that covers all Five Vectors of Cyber Protection - safety, accessibility, privacy, authenticity, and security. The industry needs a unified, modern cyber protection, this is the need of the hour. And with Acronis Cyber Protect, service providers will have just that,” said Rustom Hiramaneck, Country Head, South Asia at Acronis.

AV-Test, the renowned German security institute known for carrying out rigorous tests on malware security solutions, used a computer running Windows 10 Professional – thus testing both the status and dynamic detection rates of Cyber Protect - and scanned a set of 6,932 malicious Windows executable (PE) Acronis files. Acronis scored perfectly with a verified 100% detection rate, and delivered a perfect result in the lab’s false-positive test, causing zero false positives. More information about the test is available here.

When it comes to the ever-evolving cybersecurity measures, it is impossible to achieve 100% guaranteed security. So, if a threat does slip through – you need the best business continuity plan to restore affected data, applications, and systems quickly and effectively. Acronis Cyber Protect grants just that.

“Traditional backup solutions are dead because they are not secure enough, and traditional anti-virus applications do not protect data from modern cyberthreats. Legacy solutions are no longer able to counter the dangers today’s businesses face,” said Acronis Founder and CEO Serguei “SB” Beloussov.

Acronis Cyber Protect is a demonstration of the power of integration. It features one unified licensing model, one agent and backend, one management console, one user interface, and a high level of integration among services – sharing data and automating actions to greatly improve the security posture for endpoint and edge devices.

“Acronis is among the companies on the forefront for integrated data protection and cyber protection,” said Phil Goodwin, Research Director, Infrastructure Systems, Platforms and Technologies Group, IDC. “We believe that Acronis Cyber Protect is among the most comprehensive attempts to provide data protection and cybersecurity to date.”

Helping MSPs secure remote work amid COVID-19

Acronis rapidly developed a holistic set of features for Acronis Cyber Protect to help MSPs and their clients smoothly and safely meet the challenges of today’s remote work environments including:

* To help protect employees: Voice-enabled, touchless control for remote connections to office machines for end-users; Security alerts from Acronis Cyber Protection Operations Centers related to COVID-19

* For remote work devices and users: Default templates with secure protection plans for remote work devices; Native VPN capability; Secure file sync and share integration; Remote data wipe; Full protection for video conferencing platforms.

* To help with finances: The ability to pause billing for non-paying customers while preserving their backups; Launched Acronis #CyberFit Financing and promotions through July 31, 2020; No extra charges for Acronis Cyber Protect and no billing for Acronis Cyber Backup for new clients

The Acronis roadmap expands the availability of Acronis Cyber Protect to all businesses worldwide, with a personal version of the solution planned for release in Q3 2020.

Availability and Promotions

Please visit https://www.acronis.com/en-us/business/cyber-protect/ to sign-up online or request a fully-functional trial. To support businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, Acronis Cyber Protect is available at the same cost of Acronis Cyber Backup Cloud for all service providers until July 31, 2020.

About Acronis

Acronis sets the standard for cyber protection through its innovative backup, anti-malware, disaster recovery, cybersecurity, endpoint management, storage, and enterprise file sync and share solutions. Enhanced by its award-winning AI-based active protection technology, blockchain-based data authentication and unique hybrid-cloud architecture, Acronis protects all data in any environment – including physical, virtual, cloud, mobile workloads and applications – all at a low and predictable cost.

Founded in Singapore in 2003 and incorporated in Switzerland in 2008, Acronis now has more than 1,500 employees in 33 locations in 18 countries. Its solutions are trusted by more than 5.5 million consumers and 500,000 businesses, including 100% of the Fortune 1000 companies. Acronis’ products are available through 50,000 partners and service providers in over 150 countries in more than 40 languages.

FAITH Doubles Loss Guidance on Tourism From ₹ 5 Lakh Crores to ₹ 10 Lakh Crores in Meeting with EG-6

Key Pointers

* Requests CEO Niti Aayog for immediate help with Governments & with RBI
* Stop the clock on all statutory payments
* 50% value of the almost 10% of India’s GDP from Tourism at risk from collapse
* The 2- month old earlier guidance tourism value at risk doubled
* Learnings from China show a minimum of 6 months tourism shutdown before a soft opening for very short haul domestic tourism

Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality, the policy federation of all the national associations representing the complete tourism, travel and hospitality industry of India (ADTOI, ATOAI, FHRAI, HAI, IATO, ICPB, IHHA, ITTA, TAAI, TAFI) has revised upwards it’s value at risk to Indian tourism.

In a meeting with EG -6, yesterday, FAITH informed that they would like to revisit and double their earlier guidance.

The earlier guidance which was calculated and was shared with the Government in March 2020 had put tourism’s economic value at risk at almost ₹ 5 lakh crores + from this pandemic.  FAITH believes this value at risk could go as high as ₹ 10 lakh crores given the way tourism supply chains are breaking down in India across all its key inbound, domestic & outbound markets.

The direct and indirect economic impact of Tourism industry in India is approximately estimated at ~ 10% of India’s GDP.  This roughly puts the full year economic multiplier value of tourism in India at almost ~ ₹ 20 lakh crores.

This value covers the whole tourism value chain across airlines, travel agents, hotels, tour operators, tourism destinations restaurants, tourist transporters, tourist guides etc. These are across all the segments of tourism be they leisure ( inbound, outbound, domestic) corporate travel, heritage, adventure, meetings incentives, exhibitions & events, religious and spiritual tourism and in upcoming high value niche tourism products such as sea & river cruises, camping, rafting, golf  film tourism, jungle tourism, agri tourism and many more.

Tourism has one of the largest economic multipliers. FAITH based upon its industry estimates believes, that in India given its globally unique natural and cultural heritage which is spread across the Indian hinterlands, each rupee spent on tourism could have an economic multiplier of between 2.5 - 3 times. While this is India’s global competitive advantage in tourism, this can also quickly translate into a competitive disadvantage due to this pandemic, if not supported immediately as tourism jobs are spread right across the cities to remote areas pan India.

Empowered Group -6, an inter-ministerial group of Government of India, headed by the CEO Niti Aayog has carefully listened to the concerns across all the tourism verticals and have assured to take it up with the Government and with the RBI.

FAITH has requested that for revival of any demand in tourism, the tourism supply in India has to first remain intact. For the same, they have requested Niti Aayog for a COVID 19 Tourism fund of minimum ₹ 50,000 crores which can be used by tourism enterprises in India as a 10 year interest free loan for taking care of their employees. This along with a 12 months full waiver of all banking loans & of all  central and state statutory liabilities be it PF , ESi, income taxes, GST , fixed power and utilities tariffs, property tax, excise, inter-state tourist transportation taxes and license fees, all without any accumulated or penal interest has to be done immediately.

FAITH communicated to EG 6 that this is the only win - win - win outcome as it will not only keep the Indian tourism industry alive for a revival, it will also keep the jobs intact and it will also protect the exposure of the banking sector to tourism preventing their loans from  becoming NPAs.

The meeting was attended by the presidents of all founding associations of FAITH - ADTOI, ATOAI, FHRAI, HAI, IATO, ICPB, IHHA, ITTA, TAAI, TAFI and by WTTC.

China’s recent experiment of opening up after a minimum of 6 months lockdown saw some soft opening of Tourism and that too with very limited, short- haul  domestic travel.

Faith believes that if one goes by that example a minimum of 6 months of direct and indirect output of tourism will be impacted which will put almost ₹ 10 lakh crores economic value at risk in India.

FAITH has already raised requests over the past seven weeks to the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister, customized requests to each of the 28 chief ministers,  to RBI, to the Tourism Parliamentary panel,  to Ministry of Commerce, ministry of Civil aviation and is closely in coordination with ministry of tourism.  

MaxiVision Eye Hospitals Group Reopens Free Tele / Video Call Primary Eye Care Consultations to the Poor

With requests pour in from people across India, MaxiVision Eye hospitals group takes pride to announce the reopening of free Tele / Video call primary eye care consultations to poor patients. MaxiVision has earlier offered this service for two weeks from April 1-14. There are many patients who are indigent and can’t afford for online paid consultations as their earnings are zero for the last 40 days due to COVID19 pandemic and subsequent announcement of lockdown by the Government of India.

Many panic-stricken patients with eye-related complaints calling Maxi Vision for eye care advice regularly. Some people complain of redness in eye and allergies, while others complain of dryness, refractive and blurred vision problems, and so on. Few of them are unable to come out as they are staying in the containment / Red zone area.  There are many patients who require regular checkups to safeguard their eyes and improve the vision, while few might be having eye-related ailments but unable to reach out to the doctors in the current situation.

This initiative is to extend support to the government in its effort to curtail the spread of the virus by maintaining social distance for Covid-19 free India and offer services to patients staying at home. This service is available from 7 - 17th May 2020 for patients across India. Doctors available for consultations as per the time scheduled below.

Following is the list of team of doctors from Maxivision Eye Hospital who offer Telephonic / Video call primary eye care consultation on Cataract, Glaucoma, Cornea and Refractive problems

o   Dr. Rohini, Cataract & Refractive Surgeon, 12 Noon to 1 pm Ph.No. +91 98665 89796,
o   Dr.Bhanuprakash, Cataract &Refractive Surgeon, 4pm to 5pm Ph.No. +91 77028 69111
o   Dr. Nitin Seshachalam, Cataract & Refractive Surgeon, 3 pm to 4 pm Ph.No. +91 96764 21770
o   Dr.Anilkumar, Glaucoma & Cataract, 11am to 12 Noon +91 70328 21361
o   Dr Thandav Krishna, Vitreo Retina & Diabetic Eye Care, 3pm to 5pm Ph.No. +91 94411 00988
o   Dr Muralidhar Rao, Vitreo Retina & Diabetic Eye Care, 11am to 1 pm Ph.No. +91 9848060773

 Patients can contact 9390110000 for more details.

All Airtel Thanks Customers to Get “FREE Unlimited Access to ZEE5’s Premium Catalogue”

ZEE5, India’s Entertainment super-app and Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”) have been deepening their collaboration to bring best-in-class digital entertainment to customers in India. This special offer for Airtel Thanks customers will be available from May 4, 2020 to July 12, 2020. Airtel Thanks customers will be able to access the entire catalogue of ZEE5 premium content without having to pay any subscription charges.

Mr. Manpreet Bumrah, Business Development & Commercial head, ZEE5 India said, “ZEE5 is extremely happy to strengthen the relationship further with Airtel. ZEE5 is a complete entertainment destination with a depth of offerings across content types, genres and 12 languages which is hard to beat. Having established ourselves as entertainment super-app of India, with the largest catalogue of content, we have captivated audiences across geographies and demographics. We are looking to expand our reach through this partnership with Airtel as we will leverage synergies between the brands and further bolster our presence across the country. We are certain that the plethora of choices we offer will keep the Airtel customers highly entertained throughout this summer.”

Shashwat Sharma, Chief Marketing Officer, Bharti Airtel said, “Airtel Thanks is now one of the largest REWARDS programs in India and offers a truly differentiated experience to our loyal customers. We are delighted to work with ZEE to bring high quality premium video content to our customers as part of the expanding Thanks Rewards.”

As ZEE5 entered its 3rd year of operations, the leading OTT platform in the country is looking to strengthen its relationships further. Airtel’s pool of audiences will allow ZEE5 to tap into an evolved customer base consuming content on the move.  While ZEE5 continues to partner with brands that are cutting-edge and best-in-class, the core focus of all alliances is to enable a seamless content viewing experience for consumers.

Airtel Thanks is the flagship customer program of Airtel as part of its strategy of winning with quality customers. The program is designed to deliver exclusive rewards and is tiered in its offering – Silver, Gold and Platinum. Each tier opens a whole new set of benefits for Airtel customers. The benefits are powered by Airtel’s strong partnerships, which go from premium content, device protection and much more.

BharatPe Introduces –“Paisa Bolega” Voice Alerts for Transactions & “BharatPe Balance”

BharatPe, India’s largest merchant payment and lending network company, has introduced two new products in its app for merchants. With ‘Paisa Bolega’ - voice alerts of transactions, shopkeepers will be able to hear aloud instant confirmation of all payments received through their BharatPe QR, without even touching the phone. ‘BharatPe Balance’ reflects the total money available to the shopkeeper across deposits, loans and daily collections through QR.

BharatPe has been a leader in offering simple solutions for shopkeeper’s business needs. During the lockdown, the company has seen business per merchant go up significantly as both customers and shopkeepers prefer contactless QR payments.  Average ticket size has gone up 70% from Rs 300 to Rs 500 as customer shop more for essentials, albeit less frequently.

‘Paisa Bolega’ is a button introduced in BharatPe App. This converts the shopkeeper’s smartphone into a loud speaker – announcing the value of transaction received. This does away the need for the merchant to check his phone repeatedly to see if money has come in. No need to maintain any additional device.

‘BharatPe Balance’ feature gives a single snapshot of the shopkeeper’s daily QR collections, balance in 12% interest a/c & the loan limit. This gives the shopkeeper single snapshot of his business and capital available to him.

Mr. Ashneer Grover, CEO & Co-Founder, BharatPe, said: “We believe in offering solutions that are affordable and easy to use. Our new instant voice alerts on transaction product (‘Paisa Bolega’) is free, compared to a competing payment player who is giving Chinese speaker devices to do the same voice alerts and is charging hundreds of rupees from merchants for it.”

“BharatPe is all about Indian software ingenuity over Chinese hardware. Shopkeeper’s phone is all the hardware that he actually needs and is more capable than all PoS devices combined,” Ashneer added.

About Bharat Pe

BharatPe was co-founded by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani in 2018 with the vision to make financial inclusion a reality for Indian merchants. BharatPe launched India’s first UPI interoperable QR code, first ZERO MDR payment acceptance service, first UPI payment backed merchant cash advance product, and the only P2P NBFC investment product offering merchants up to 12% interest. Currently serving over 40 lakh merchants across Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Indore, Bhopal, Nagpur, Chandigarh, Jodhpur, Ludhiana, Surat, Patna, Karimnagar, Mysore, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, and Warangal. The company has grown business 30x in 2019 and is the leader in UPI offline, processing 5 crore+ UPI transactions a month (annualized TPV of US$ 2.7 Bn). The company has already disbursed more than 25,000 loans (Rs 150 crores +).