Vodafone Idea Introduces Voice Based Contactless Recharge at Retail Outlets in Indian Market

Information

* Industry first initiative will help facilitate recharge while maintaining social distancing
* Ensures safety of Customers and Retailers

Vodafone Idea has introduced an industry first initiative to facilitate contactless recharges at retail outlets, while maintaining social distancing between the Customer and the Retailer. This has been made possible through Vodafone Idea’s Smart Connect retailer app which allows retailers to recharge without having to hand over the phone to the customer to enter their mobile number. The customer or retailer can simply speak out the ten digit mobile number on the device and the Google voice enabled feature will capture the command from a distance of up to ten feet.

When a customer comes to a retailer for recharge, the retailer often hands over the phone (with the Smart Connect Retailer App opened) to the customer to type in their mobile number, to ensure accuracy in entering the number. However, it is not a practical option now in the current times of social distancing.

As retail outlets in various Orange and Green zones across the country start to open, Vodafone Idea is ensuring complete implementation of social distancing protocol at its stores. In order to facilitate contactless recharges, Smart Connect is now enabled with voice based recharge feature and is available at all Vodafone Idea own stores and multi-branded stores. The customer can speak out the mobile number that will get captured and reflect in the Recharge tab. The subsequent recharge journey will continue as per existing process.

Speaking about the new Voice based Contactless Recharge program, Ambrish Jain, Chief Operating Officer, Vodafone Idea said, “As a customer oriented telecom operator, it is our constant endeavor to come up with products and services relevant to the times and keep our customers connected at all times. In line with our Digital first approach, we are digitizing our processes to offer convenient and efficient services to our nearly 300 million customers. The industry-first, Voice based Contactless Recharge enables recharges without touch and is extremely relevant in these times when maintaining social distancing is the need of the hour to stay safe.”

Currently the voice based feature supports Hindi and English language and can take commands of mobile number in different variations as well. More languages will be rolled out in a phased manner.

This comes close on the heels of the launch of AI powered customer service BoT on Website and WhatsApp. Vodafone Idea has also undertaken a slew of initiatives to enable digital recharges for its customers from the comfort and safety of their homes.

Emirates Resumes Passenger Flights to 9 Destinations, Including Connections Between UK and Australia

Emirates has announced its plan to operate scheduled flight services from 21 May to nine destinations: London Heathrow Frankfurt, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Chicago, Toronto, Sydney and Melbourne.* The airline will also offer connections in Dubai for customers travelling between the UK and Australia.

These flights will be available for booking on emirates.com.

Travellers will only be accepted on these flights if they comply with the eligibility and entry criteria requirements of their destination countries. This includes an approval from the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA) for UAE residents who wish to return to Dubai.

Adel Al Redha, Emirates’ Chief Operating Officer said: “We are pleased to resume scheduled passenger services to these destinations, providing more options for customers to travel from the UAE to these cities, and also between the UK and Australia. We are working closely with the authorities to plan the resumption of operations to additional destinations. We have implemented additional measures at the airport in coordination with the relevant authorities in respect to social distancing and sanitization. The safety and wellbeing of our employees, customers and communities, remain our top priority.”

Repatriation flights

In addition to the scheduled services, Emirates will also continue to work closely with embassies and consulates to facilitate repatriation flights for visitors and residents wishing to return home. This week, the airline plans to operate flights from Dubai to Tokyo Narita (15 May), Conakry (16 May), and Dakar (16 May).*

Health and safety on Emirates

The safety and wellbeing of passengers and employees is Emirates’ top priority. In preparation for the resumption of flight services, the airline has already enhanced various precautionary measures throughout the customer journey.

At Dubai International airport, customers and employees will have their temperatures checked via thermal scanners. Protective barriers have been installed at check-in counters to provide additional safety during interaction. Gloves and masks are mandatory for all customers and employees at the airport. In addition, Emirates’ cabin crew, boarding agents and ground staff who interact directly with travellers will don personal protective equipment (PPE) including a protective disposable gown and safety visor.

Social distancing protocols will also be implemented. At this airport, this includes physical indicators being placed on the ground and at waiting areas in the airport to ensure travellers maintain a safe distance.

For health and safety reasons and to minimise interaction on-board, Emirates will offer a modified in-flight service that focuses on reducing contact and infection risk. Magazines and print reading material will not be available during this time. Cabin baggage have to be checked-in, and customers can only bring essential items such as a laptop, handbag, briefcase or baby items on board.

Emirates has initiated a stringent safety programme to ensure aircraft cabins remain clean and sanitary. The airline’s modern aircraft cabins have been fitted with advanced HEPA air filters which remove 99.97% of viruses and eliminate dust, allergens and germs from cabin air for a healthier and safer on-board environment. After its journey and on landing in Dubai, each aircraft will go through enhanced cleaning and disinfection processes to ensure safety and proper sanitation.

Nutanix Announces Promotion of Christian Alvarez to Head of Worldwide Channels Organization

Nutanix, a leader in enterprise cloud computing, today announced that it has promoted Christian Alvarez to Senior Vice President of Worldwide Channels effective immediately. As the worldwide channel and partner sales leader, Alvarez will have oversight of the strategic direction of Nutanix’s channel partner ecosystem, fostering strategic relationships and developing global sales and distribution programs for value-added resellers (VARs), distributors, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), global system integrators (GSIs), and Telco/XSP partners.

“Nutanix has aligned the right resources, investments and expertise behind its award-winning product portfolio, enabling our partners to add new services and expand their market share to drive accretive revenue streams,” said Alvarez. “I am honoured to lead Nutanix’s worldwide partner organization through our next phase of growth while helping our partners improve profitability with professional, managed and cloud services. The opportunity ahead of us continues to be vast as we carefully adapt to today’s unprecedented market dynamics.”

Alvarez is an effective and accomplished channel leader with extensive experience developing impactful multinational strategies that directly support business objectives. He brings over two decades of experience to his role. He joined Nutanix in September 2019 as Vice President of Channel Sales in the Americas to lead the team in that region. He was appointed interim Head of Worldwide Partner Sales in February 2020. Since then, Alvarez has elevated Nutanix’s overall partner sales and go-to-market programs to deliver greater business outcomes for customers and partners. As the COVID-19 pandemic struck global teams and the enterprise moved to the home, Nutanix VDI became paramount across the globe. Alvarez helped lead the roll-out for partners of new solutions and offerings to help partners in the trenches deploy technology for end-users faster and more simply, including FastTrack for VDI and Xi Frame Test Drive. He also led the development of the Nutanix Special Financial Assistance Program to offer immediate financial support to partners by helping to alleviate cash flow concerns and increasing financing flexibility.

“Christian is an innovator, strategic thinker spearheading new offerings and contributing to collaboration across the organization,” said Chris Kaddaras, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales at Nutanix. “As the channel is going through digital transformation for cloud, Nutanix is one of the only multi-cloud, multi-product companies carrying the torch. Christian is ideally suited to execute on our global mission to help both our partners and customers adapt to and enable virtual work.”

Alvarez will continue to lead Channel Sales for the Americas region until a new leader is appointed.

Vestige Expands Health and Wellness Portfolio, Launches ‘Vestige Prime Metamind’ Chewable Tablets

Vestige Marketing Pvt. Ltd., one of India’s leading direct selling companies that provides health, wellness, and hygiene products has launched Vestige Prime Metamind chewable tablets. It contains FDA GRAS recognised vegetarian ingredients Phosphatidylserine and Ferric Saccharate that improves cognitive health.

According to a recent study conducted by Vestige, 70% respondents also said that modern diet was not enough and additional supplements were necessary to boost brain health.

The decline in the attention span of human being is a matter of great concern as expectations are at an all time high from children above 12 years and working professionals in the 21st century. They need smart learning abilities, ability to concentrate for long hours, improve cognitive skills and prompt brain processing to perform and thrive in today’s competitive world.

Vestige Prime Metamind with Phosphatidylserine (PS) as a key ingredient acts as the right food for the brain that makes crucial contribution to the structure and functioning of the nerve cells. It plays a key role in improving 'cell to cell' communication, information transfer, signalling, etc.

The phosphatidylserine in Metamind helps to reduce the risk of dementia and improves memory recognition and recall in the elderly. For Students it improves concentration, enhances memory, increases attention, improves learning and helps in stress management. This is besides improving executive functions, focus, alertness and recall among working professionals.

Phosphatidylserine authorized as a novel food in Europe, and approved in Australia, Canada, and China, is a natural nutrient that can be found in our food chain and exists in mother’s milk. However, modern diet contains low levels of Phosphatidylserine making it important to get daily dose of the same to make up for its deficiency in our diet. Ferric Saccharate carries oxygen to the brain and provides synergistic effect along with Phoshatidylserine.

Commenting on the launch Mr Gautam Bali, MD, Vestige Marketing Pvt. Ltd.said, “It is an exciting time for the healthcare and dietary supplement market in India which according to TechSciResearch study is expected to reach US$ 308 Billion by 2022. The segment is witnessing strong demand backed by growing acceptance for health supplements among consumers who now has understood the fact that physical and mental health are both co-existent.”

He further added, “We identified this need to boost cognitive health of customers across age groups and decided to introduce it into the market. This has been possible due to Vestige’s single-minded focus on bringing health and wellness products for customers backed by strong research and development capabilities.  The development and the subsequent launch across India in record time is a testament to innovative and passionate teams of Vestige who are committed to bring best in class products to boost health and wellbeing of customers.”

Nutrition plays an important role in strengthening and maintaining a proper immune function. A strong immune system helps the body battle the viruses and bacteria that cause infection or disease, including COVID-19.

Vestige is also witnessing exemplary demand for its nutrition products spurred by growing inclination for nutritional supplement among consumers amidst COVID-19 outbreak. Company’s strong product portfolio in the health supplement segment consists primarily of Vestige Prime Krill Oil, Vestige Prime Combiotics and Vestige Prime Seabuckthorn.

Vestige distributors can place order for the Vestige Prime Metamind through Vestige mobile app and e-commerce site - shop.myvestige.com. 

ICICI Bank Stands in Solidarity with Karnataka Government to Fight COVID-19 Pandemic

Details

* Provides protective equipment to district administrations, municipal corporations and police forces
* The list includes 66,000 surgical masks, 2,300 litres of sanitisers and 52,500 gloves

ICICI Bank stands in solidarity with the Government of Karnataka by providing protective equipment to the state government, hospitals and police forces for their tireless efforts to safeguard citizens of the state in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.

ICICI Bank is working actively with the authorities on this front. The Bank has donated protective equipment like 66,000 of three-ply surgical masks, 2,300 litres sanitisers, 52,500 gloves and 15,000 kg of bleaching powder to the Deputy Commissioners of Mysuru, Chikkamagaluru, Bengaluru, Belagavi, Kalaburagi, Chitradurga and Udupi among others. This initiative is part of the Bank’s nation-wide drive of contributing various protective gears to aid the front-liners to combat the pandemic.

Speaking on the initiative, Mr. Saurabh Singh, Head- Government Banking, ICICI Bank said, “ICICI Group has a legacy of supporting the development of the nation as well as providing support in times of natural calamities and disasters. Taking this legacy forward, we are standing in solidarity with various state governments, police departments and health professionals in their tireless efforts to treat and safeguard citizens of the country in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. Our support to the various authorities in Karnataka is part of these activities.

The doctors treating the COVID-19 suspects / patients and the police and paramilitary forces managing orderly implementation of the lockdown are at the frontline of this combat. We have focussed our efforts to reach out to the government hospitals and the forces in the state. Despite supply chain challenges, we are providing them supplies in the form of sanitisers, surgical masks, N95 masks, gloves, personal protection equipment, etc. We are also providing equipment like thermal scanners and non-invasive category ventilators.“

Havmor Ice Cream Partners with Dunzo for Delivery Services in 8 Cities

Havmor, one of India’s leading ice-cream brands has partnered with on-demand e-commerce platform, Dunzo, to deliver its range of ice cream products to the consumers. It has been launched as “Havmor Ice-Cream Xpress” store on the Dunzo delivery app. The delivery service is being operationalised in 8 cities including Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Mumbai and Pune in the next few days.

Keeping in mind the current shift of consumers’ preference towards home consumption, the brand has associated with the online delivery platform, Dunzo, to ensure smooth delivery of the products. Havmor being a consumer-driven brand wants to deliver a lot of happiness and joy to its consumers through its products.

Consumers will have the option of over 35 of Havmor’s award-winning products to choose from and order. The list includes bestselling products such as Cookie and Cream, Mango Magic, Zulubar, Matka Kulfi, Nutty Belgian Dark Chocolate, Sandwich Ice Cream, American Nuts, Black Forest Ice cream cake, Alphonso Mango, Cookie Cream, Butter Scotch to name a few. Other than this, products from Havmor parlours will also be available. The brand is also working towards creating an exclusive range for the consumers of Havmor’s online channel which will be specifically available on Dunzo. The ordered products will be collected by a Dunzo delivery partner from Havmor’s delivery locations in each city and will be delivered to the consumers taking all precautionary safety and hygiene measures as advised by the Government of India.

Commenting on this initiative, Mr. Anindya Dutta, MD, Havmor Ice-cream said, “In this current scenario, it is imperative that we reach out to the consumers directly to their homes and Dunzo is a great platform to be associated with. It allows us to ensure that consumers can order their favourite ice creams from home and Dunzo delivers it and hands it safely right to their doorsteps.”

Kabeer Biswas, CEO & Co-Founder, Dunzo said, “These are extraordinary times and delivery partners like Dunzo partners are braving the streets to ensure the city’s essential needs are met. During this time, we are taking extra measures to ensure the safety of our users, partners, and merchants with safety checks across every touchpoint. As summer approaches, we believe this partnership with Havmor will add another dimension of delight for users as they enjoy Havmor Ice Cream while staying safely home.”

India Takes a Giant Leap Towards the Future on National Tech Day

On National Technology Day, that marks India’s progress in the field of science and technology,  AKVO Atmospheric Water Systems Pvt Ltd, introduced the home model of their Atmospheric Water Generator, AKVO Pod.

At one hand, when the world is in the grasp of a vicious disease and is grappling for its survival, it is also peak summertime in the country which means acute water scarcity. To help ease the struggle, AKVO has come up with a remarkable solution through AKVO Pod. It is ideal for homes, offices and small businesses. This unit can make up to 50 litres of pure drinking water per day. The AKVO Pod features a superior filter system that delivers clear and healthy drinking water.

AKVO Atmospheric Water Systems is a pioneer in producing India’s first indigenously manufactured atmospheric water generator. AKVO provides safe and pure drinking water using the AWG (Atmospheric Water Generator) technology which replicates the natural process of condensation by simulating a dew point, which allows it to make water continuously, even in low humidity conditions. AKVO works on a simple plug and play method and consumes one unit of electricity to run for an hour. AKVO has now become India’s largest AWG manufacturer with over 200 machines sold in India and Gulf countries. Moreover, this water is cheaper than any RO/UV or bottled market water. While the RO/UV filtrated water wastes 4 litres of water for just 1 litre of drinking water, AKVO has zero water wastage. The bottled mineral water which is marketed is available anywhere between INR 4.50 to INR 5.00 per litre and always has the cleanliness suspicion tag attached with it, while ours costs only INR 1.75 to INR 2.00 per litre.

The AKVO Pod has been priced at INR 99, 000 plus GST as applicable and the pre-booking starts from 11th May 2020.
Customers can pre-book an AKVO Pod for an initial sum of Rs. 5,000 during the inaugural launch period which will last till Customers pre-booking an AKVO Pod, have an added advantage of availing a discount of Rs.15,000 on the machine will also be applicable. AKVO Pod will be delivered within 45 days of the booking and comes with a 1-year warranty.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Navkaran Singh Bagga, Founder and CEO AKVO Atmospheric Water Systems Pvt Ltd stated, “Although being home to nearly a sixth of the world’s population, India only gets 4% of the Earth’s fresh water. It has been our endeavour to change the dynamics by bringing water supply to the Indian masses at a very cost efficient and sustained manner. 70% of Indians have poor or no access to safe drinking water and 22% of Indians do not have water reaching their homes. With only 60% of water available for consumption by 2030 we are alarmingly marching towards a crisis that will require human intervention right away otherwise we will stare at a third world war and this time over water. We had always received a demand from our patrons for a unit that was suitable for their homes and offices. AKVO Pod is an answer to that requirement. We hope, with this, we can reduce some of our dependency on groundwater and make ourselves future ready.”

Water scarcity reports have become the norm across the globe. Our country is not far behind on the trend. 12 per cent of India’s population is already living the 'Day Zero' scenario, thanks to excessive groundwater pumping, an inefficient and wasteful water management system and years of deficient rains. According to the Composite Water Management Index (CWMI) report released by the Niti Aayog in 2018, 21 major cities (Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and others) are racing to reach zero groundwater levels by 2020, affecting access for 100 million people. The Chennai water crisis of last year gave an experience of the seriousness of the issue. The CWMI report also states that by 2030, the country's water demand is projected to be twice the available supply, implying severe water scarcity for hundreds of millions of people and an eventual six per cent loss in the country's GDP. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that an individual requires around 25 litres of water daily for meeting his/her basic hygiene and food needs. The world and our country need an immediate and long-term solution to the water issues.

While the entire country is under lockdown and manufacturing processes have halted all across, AKVO is ready to bring AKVO Pod in the market. They had been working on building this machine for a year, especially, keeping in the mind the Chennai Water Crisis of 2019 that made global headlines. Chennai has been one of the biggest markets for AKVO in the country with over 50 machines sold.