AP Govt Collaborates with IBM to Offer ‘Watson Assistant for Citizens’ to Provide Responses to Covid-19 Questions

The National Health Mission, under the Government of Andhra Pradesh, and IBM announced today that a virtual agent that provides COVID-19-related information for citizens on the response efforts and measures by the Andhra Pradesh Government has been launched at the Andhra Pradesh National Health Mission portal of Department of Health, Medical and Family Welfare - http://covid19.ap.gov.in/covid19/ - a website under the auspices of the Andhra Pradesh Government.

The Watson virtual agent (called Watson Assistant for Citizens) on the IBM public cloud brings together Watson Assistant, Natural Language Processing capabilities from IBM Research, and state-of-art enterprise AI search capabilities with Watson Discovery, to understand and respond to common questions about COVID-19 in English, Telugu and Hindi.

Shri Bhaskar Kattamneni, Mission Director, National Health Mission and Commissioner of Health, Medical & Family Welfare Department, Andhra Pradesh said, “IBM has been a trusted partner to the Government of Andhra Pradesh for a long period of time in enabling better delivery of citizen services. I appreciate the collaborative efforts of IBM in disseminating meaningful information to citizens of Andhra Pradesh in this pandemic situation. While the government is putting all resources available at its disposal to use, efforts like these go a long way in helping citizens meet their information needs. I also appreciate the quick turnaround time of the IBM team to include Telugu, the official language of state, into the Watson virtual agent.”

Commenting on the announcement, Sandip Patel, General Manager, IBM India/South Asia said, “In these unprecedented times, access to accurate information plays a critical role in allaying fears, dispelling myths and building trust among citizens. We are honoured to collaborate with the Government of Andhra Pradesh and to contribute to the prompt measures they have taken to provide their citizens with easy access to relevant information from reliable sources in local language. IBM is the innovation partner to businesses, governments and citizens across the world, and is committed to marshalling its resources, technology and expertise towards initiatives that help to manage COVID-19 outbreak.”

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the police helplines and call centers of other relevant bodies have received a large number of calls from citizens asking to be informed on matters relating to COVID-19. In order to reach as many citizens as possible and meet their information needs, the National Health Mission, under the Government of Andhra Pradesh has collaborated with IBM to set up a Watson - based virtual agent that has been designed and trained to understand natural language and interact with users.

Based on the information provided by all the relevant ministries of the Central Government and the Andhra Pradesh Government for the prevention & treatment related guidance, citizen welfare schemes and consolidated at the main portal of the Department of Health, Medical and Family Welfare, Andhra Pradesh. The virtual agent can answer citizens' questions, asking for clarification or redirecting the user to specific information on the portal or to other websites of related ministries and official bodies. The virtual agent is deployed in a web browser and it is built in a way that it safeguards the privacy of the users.

The objective of this type of advanced technologies (chatbots or virtual agents) is to help reduce the waiting times for calls that users make to the telephone lines of state services relating to the novel coronavirus with an aim to best serve them.

Apollo Clinic and HDFC ERGO Collaborate to Offer Customers a Healthy and Secure Future

HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company, India’s third largest non-life insurance provider in the private sector, and Apollo Clinic, India’s leading multi-specialty clinics by Apollo Health and Lifestyle (AHLL), announced their corporate agency tie-up to offer insurance products to customers. Taking the approach “Together Towards Tomorrow for a Healthier and Secure Future” the two companies aim to provide financial security to customers from hospitalisation and treatment expenses.

The COVID-19 pandemic has well established that a health exigency may strike anyone at any time. Unless one is covered with a comprehensive health insurance plan, hospitalization bills and treatment expenses will eat into your hard earned savings. But, according to a recent survey conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, majority of Indians do not have health expenditure coverage. The report stated, 14% of the rural population and 19% of the urban population said they had health expenditure coverage. Therefore, this collaboration comes as a boon to the customers, especially amidst the on-going pandemic, which has made health insurance a must-have for all.

Apollo Clinic is the only comprehensively integrated Primary Care model in India that offers customers healthcare facilities such as Specialist Consultations across 15+ specialties, Lab and imaging Diagnostics, preventive Health Checks, Vaccinations, Diabetes care, Dentistry, Audiology, Eye care & wear, Urgent Care treatment room and a Pharmacy. Apollo Clinic provides customers access to quality healthcare, at their convenience, and this association will now offer financial security with HDFC ERGO’s comprehensive health plans – my:health Suraksha and my:health Medisure Super Top-up. Furthermore, customers of Apollo Clinic will also have access to wellness benefits under HDFC ERGO’s my:health mobile application, which include fitness discounts at renewals, specially designed preventive health check-ups after every renewal and wellness services like health coaching, nutrition and weight management services, discounts at pharmacies among others.

Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Ankur Bahorey, President – Bancassurance, HDFC ERGO General Insurance said, “Apollo Clinic is committed to their customers and offers best-in-class healthcare services. Our association will now allow their customers to avail quality insurance products as well, along with a promise of superior customer service experience from HDFC ERGO. The collaboration makes the famous phrase ‘Health is Wealth’ come true and we are geared-up ‘Together Towards Tomorrow for a Healthier and Secure Future’ for our customers. We see immense potential in this association and firmly believe that customers of Apollo Clinic will benefit from the bouquet of our Insurance products.”

Mr. Anand Wasker, Chief Operating Officer, Apollo Clinic said, “Our Vision is to “touch a billion lives” and we are able to do this by being the first port of call in the neighborhood providing all Primary Healthcare OPD services under one roof via the Apollo Clinic format. Customers truly and deeply think about their health when they visit a healthcare centre and we wanted to offer them superior Health Insurance products. HDFC ERGO General Insurance & Apollo Clinic both believe that Health Insurance is a critical component of our customer’s endeavor to live a healthy life; both physically and financially.”

Apollo Clinic is the first and only Healthcare Company in India, to have secured a corporate agency for the distribution of Insurance products. Customers can avail of HDFC ERGO’s insurance policies at any of the Apollo Clinics or through their website www.apolloclinics.com

Singapore Tourism Board Partners with Zomato to Bring Virtual Weekend Fest Experience through Zomaland@Home

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is among the first National Tourism Organizations (NTOs) to stage an elaborate consumer engagement event in India, digitally, in partnership with Zomato, during the on-going COVID-19 situation. Constantly on the look-out for innovative and effective ways to engage the Indian consumers and present itself as a top-of-mind destination, the STB is embarking on a partnership initiative with Zomato for “Zomaland@home”, happening during the first two weekends of June 2020.

After a successful partnership with Zomato for ‘Zomaland Season 2’ which was held across nine cities in India, the STB is presenting a digital initiative with the leading restaurant aggregator and food-delivery platform. “Zomaland@home”, as a weekend festival, will feature renowned artistes from both India and Singapore showcasing their talents and passions across food, music, stand–up comedy and more. Fans can enjoy the festivals from the comfort of their homes.

This association will feature a total of seven Singaporean artistes such as rapper and singer Yung Raja, chefs Sarah Huang Benjamin and Eric Chan, mixologist Vijay Mudaliar, stand-up artistes Rishi Budhrani and Sharul Channa, DJ Luq Here along with Indian Chef Saransh Goila who has previously worked with the STB on multiple projects.

Viewers will get to see interesting collaborations between the artistes. Chefs Eric and Saransh will be coming together to share their common passion for food, their journeys as Chefs and cook up a surprise dish inspired by each other’s cultural background. Collaborating for the first time ever will be Rapper and singer Yung Raja and his Indian counterpart Naezy, where fans can expect a rousing and high-energy rap performance as the two talents come together to elevate each other’s artistry to the next level. 

In addition, Chef Eric will be sharing his recipe for the specialty Cheesecake dessert at his restaurant “Mad About Sucre” while Chef Sarah will highlight Singapore’s Peranakan culture with a masterclass on making popular kueh (bite-sized snack) Ondeh Ondeh (glutinous rice balls with palm sugar filing coated with desiccated coconut). Audience can also look forward to impressing their friends with new and interesting DIY cocktail recipes by well-known mixologist Vijay from native Bar. Viewers will be treated to a night of laughter from stand-up comedians Rishi and Sharul’s “Kitchen Roast” session, where the comedians try their hand at cooking while roasting each other. Luq Here (DJ) will be spinning popular dance tracks to keep the party going.  

Over the last few years, STB has promoted its destination brand “Passion Made Possible” creatively and presented Singapore’s diverse offerings to an important market like India. Speaking about this association with Zomato, GB Srithar, Regional Director – India, Middle East & South Asia (IMESA), STB said, “It will take some time before we can welcome visitors back to Singapore, as the global COVID-19 situation remains volatile. While travel restrictions are still in place, we seek to continue our strong connections with the Indian consumers. After a successful partnership with Zomato in 2019, we are thrilled to embark on this innovative joint digital initiative to showcase Singapore’s culinary, nightlife, entertainment offerings to the Indian audience through these virtual weekend festivals. We invite Indian audiences to tune in and enjoy the experiential delights that our Singapore and Indian talents have to serve up.”

Chaitanya Mathur, Global Head, Zomato Live adds, “After the success of Zomaland across 9 cities nationally, and a season-long partnership with Singapore Tourism Board, we are elated to further continue our relationship via Zomaland @ Home - Zomato’s foray into the digital space of food & entertainment. Both, Indian & Singapore’s celebrated talents from the culinary, nightlife and entertainment industry will perform live across various platforms and offer incredible experiences to our audiences & keep us thoroughly entertained over the next 2 weekends, while we follow quarantine even across countries and borders.”

Industry Response on Approval Provisioning of Rs 20,000 Crore as Subordinate Debt to Provide Equity Support to Stressed MSMEs

Reaction quotes from TradeIndia.com and  Crediwatch on Union Cabinet announcement on the approval provisioning of Rs 20,000 crore as subordinate debt to provide equity support to stressed MSMEs

Ms Meghna Suryakumar, Founder and CEO, Crediwatch (A credit intelligence firm provides data insights to lenders and corporates for business entities)

In our view, some of the measures which should be welcomed by small businesses in India are - New definition for MSMEs - As per the new regulation, the new categorization of investment of Rs 1 cr and turnover of Rs 5 cr being classified as micro-units. Units with an investment of Rs 10 cr and turnover of Rs 50 cr will be classified as small units while those with an investment of Rs 50 cr and turnover of Rs 250 cr will be classified as medium units.the new definition will promote them into growing further in size and scale. The infusion of Rs 50,000 crore equity scheme for MSMEs with an excellent export track record will help them in getting listed, this move to further push – India’s step onto becoming self-reliant.

Collateral-free automatic loans - While this extends the previous loan moratorium benefits, the new terms should benefit as many as 45 lac businesses and help with working capital requirements in coming days. We believe, setting the threshold for eligibility (Rs 25 cr outstanding and Rs 100 cr turnover) is helpful. This would help the small businesses meet some immediate working capital needs like salaries, rents etc and would help kickstart the business after the lockdown.  The distressed asset fund of Rs 4,000 crore, will aid 200,000 distressed MSMEs with loans of up to Rs 75 lakhs”.

Mr Sandip  Chhettri, COO, TradeIndia.com (India’s largest online B2B marketplace)

"The Cabinet’s decision to further upward the investment and turnover limits for medium enterprises is a welcome one. After 14 long years since enactment of the MSME Development Act, a revision in MSME definition was announced last month, according to which limit of medium units was increased to Rs. 20 Crore of investment and Rs. 100 Crore of turnover. Now on June 1, it has been decided that for medium enterprises the limits will be Rs. 50 Crore of investment and Rs. 250 Crore of turnover.

After the May 13 decision, objections were raised that the Rs. 20 crore/100 crore limit was not enough considering market and price conditions, and it is great to see the Centre taking a positive step so promptly. Time has changed, and so is the market, and the latest move is a realistic and big step forward. We are also very positive about the new composite formula of classification for manufacturing and service units as now there will be no difference between the manufacturing and service sectors."

Bombardier Transportation Extends Partnership with QuEST Global

Partnership

* This collaboration has enabled delivery of outstanding engineering solutions to the rail industry since 2017

* This extension ensures long-term success in the rail market through strong partnership integration

 

Global mobility solution provider Bombardier Transportation and QuEST Global, a global product engineering and lifecycle services company, have signed an agreement to extend their existing partnership in order to strengthen cooperation to further develop engineering capabilities for the rail market. The goal of this alliance is to ensure future innovation, as well as excellent delivery and project execution. Since 2017, both companies have been closely collaborating to deliver outstanding engineering solutions to the rail industry.

“Signing this agreement to extend our existing collaboration with QuEST Global is an important step in providing world-class technical solutions to the global rail market. This extended strategic partnership will give us additional access to great engineering talent for joint product development across the entire value chain,” said Danny Di Perna, President of Bombardier Transportation.

Commenting on the partnership, Ajit Prabhu, Chairman & CEO at QuEST Global said, “This partnership is a testament to our expertise in driving transformational initiatives with our customers and long-term partner Bombardier Transportation. Our capability in converging mechanical, electronics and software technologies has helped our customers create their frontier by advancing the ways people live, work, travel and engage with each other. We look forward to helping Bombardier to enhance their competitiveness in the rail domain.”

About QuEST Global 

For more than 20 years, QuEST Global has aimed to be a trusted global product engineering and lifecycle services partner to many of the world’s most recognized companies in the Aero Engines, Hi-Tech, Aerospace & Defense, Transportation (Auto and Rail), Power and Industrial, Oil & Gas and Medical Devices industries. With a global presence in 15 countries, 68 global centers and 12,300+ personnel, QuEST  Global believes that it is at the forefront of the convergence of the mechanical, electronics, software and digital engineering innovations to engineer solutions for a safer, cleaner world. QuEST Global’s deep domain knowledge and digital expertise aim to help its clients accelerate product development and innovation cycles, create alternate revenue streams, enhance consumer experience and make manufacturing processes and operations more efficient.

About Bombardier Transportation

Bombardier Transportation is a global mobility solution provider leading the way with the rail industry’s broadest portfolio. It covers the full spectrum of solutions, ranging from trains to sub-systems and signalling to complete turnkey transport systems, e-mobility technology and data-driven maintenance services. Combining technology and performance with empathy, Bombardier Transportation continuously breaks new ground in sustainable mobility by providing integrated solutions that create substantial benefits for operators, passengers and the environment. Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, Bombardier Transportation employs around 36,000 people and its products and services operate in over 60 countries.

About Bombardier

With over 60,000 employees across two business segments, Bombardier is a global leader in the transportation industry, creating innovative and game-changing planes and trains. Our products and services provide world-class transportation experiences that set new standards in passenger comfort, energy efficiency, reliability and safety.

Headquartered in Montréal, Canada, Bombardier has production and engineering sites in over 25 countries across the segments of Aviation and Transportation. Bombardier shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (BBD). In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, Bombardier posted revenues of $15.8 billion.

Clumio Unveils Data Protection Service for Long-Term Retention and Compliance of AWS Native Services

Clumio, innovators of authentic SaaS for enterprise backup, today announced data protection for Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service) workloads, eliminating cost, risk and compliance-related barriers to cloud adoption -- specifically, the migration of mission critical apps to the cloud. Clumio’s service, the first data protection service for long-term retention of AWS native services, also orchestrates operational recovery snapshots for free. The company continues to advance SaaS backup for the all cloud enterprise, delivering a seamless public cloud backup solution and enabling companies to get to the cloud faster.

Today’s data protection landscape presents several challenges for enterprises. On-premises backup tools are complex, costly and don’t “translate” to the cloud; these on-premises solutions only provide snapshot data protection, meaning data backup and compliance are not addressed. Meanwhile, cloud backups that use snapshots alone for file recovery and data retention have inherent cost, compliance and ransomware risks. These risks severely limit companies attempting to move mission critical databases to the public cloud. Clumio’s enterprise backup as a service consolidates operational recovery, backup and compliance requirements – all within a predictable cost model. Clumio includes snapshot orchestration for free, air-gap snapshot protection and long-term retention, translating to secure and compliant data protection at a substantially lower cost. This announcement for AWS comes after Clumio’s recent addition of Microsoft 365 to its enterprise backup as a service -- the first enterprise data protection service in the market to protect private cloud, public cloud and SaaS on a single platform. Clumio’s AWS and Microsoft 365 data protection “firsts” empower enterprises to map to an “all cloud” model efficiently and effectively, expediting innovation in the process.

“Enterprises are telling us that they spend 40 percent of their total storage budget on snapshots -- and for that they don’t even get complete data protection or compliance,” said Poojan Kumar, CEO and co-founder, Clumio. “With Clumio, companies shave up to 50 percent off their snapshot spend and can stop paying competitors for snapshot orchestration altogether when they use the free tier in Clumio. Clumio’s air-gap data protection, unified policy management and seamless cloud backups -- all with a predictable cost model -- allow companies to move their business critical apps to the cloud without worry.”

“At FrogSlayer, we must think about how to address operational recovery, data recovery, and compliance for our enterprise clients,” said Brian Cahill, technology director at FrogSlayer. “Clumio seamlessly handles operational recovery while significantly reducing our snapshot costs. Even better, I don’t have to worry about snapshot limitations, or develop scripts and retention algorithms because Clumio handles all of this. We now have line of sight to significantly reduce our TCO for long-term data retention since it is an integral part of the Clumio service.”

"Moving to AWS introduces new complexities for compliance, long-term data retention, and data security," said Joseph Alcorn, manager of infrastructure services and architecture, Point Loma Nazarene University. "Addressing these complexities are 'musts' for our mission-critical database applications, and our legacy, on-prem approach simply did not scale to the cloud. As a single service that protects EBS and RDS for operational recovery, data recovery, and long- term retention, Clumio will dramatically reduce our business risk and costs as we accelerate to the cloud." 

“Organizations migrating their mission critical databases to the cloud are in a quandary when it comes to data protection options. Snapshot-only protection strategies are costly, risky and can be non-compliant,” said Steve McDowell, senior analyst, Moor Insights and Strategy. “Clumio’s secure SaaS backup for AWS native services outsmarts snapshot managers by delivering the same functionality for free, allowing Clumio to focus its innovative tiered pricing model on what enterprises value more - lower TCO for long-term retention and compliance for their data in the cloud.”

Clumio’s AWS data protection service includes the following capabilities:

* Operational Recovery: Point-in-time recovery, in-account snapshots and free snapshot orchestration for EBS and RDS workloads

* Data Recovery: Simple restores, granular record retrieval and air-gap snapshots

* Compliance: Long-term retention, record-level retrieval and deletion, export for legal hold/eDiscovery and data store

 

Clumio for Amazon EBS became available in November 2019. Clumio for Amazon RDS will be available on June 11, 2020.

Five Apps Working with NPCI to Ease Digital Payments Woes

Though our government has announced relaxations in the lockdown. Many of us  are avoiding crowded areas like  shops,parks and  neighbourhood stores to maintain social distancing in this critical scenario. 

This is where a lot of companies are working to ease digital payments.The  National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) is  urging Indian citizens to use digital payments to reduce social contact and reduce the chance of transmission of novel Coronavirus.NPCI and the State Governments are ensuring that more and more vendors of essential services are on the digital platforms. Below are 5 companies who are working with NPCI to ease the digital payments for the people:

Xpay 

Blockchain-based platform XPay. Life offers an array of digital payment services, including touch screen ATP kiosk, web, mobile app, POS device and others. The platform caters to both B2B as well as B2C segment. The company providing the highest level of transparency during transactions. It has partnered with leading banks to further expand its reach. XPay.Life has completed 1 Lakh transactions worth INR 5 Cr, since its beta version launch in 2019. In the last ten months, it also claims to have achieved 234% growth via web and mobile app. People can pay for their Electricity, Mobile recharges, DTH, Broadband, LPG, Loan EMI, etc. through the Xpay Life App and web version. Majorly serving the rural India for easing Their payment woes, the platform has 253 billers across India with a wider reach to 50000+ pin codes in Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities across India.

CoinTab

Cointab is a mobile app which enables you to manage your money with ease - add bank accounts from 90+ banks and easily check account balance, transfer money to friends & family in real-time and request money from them.You can pay your credit card bills in real-time, do recharge of your mobile/dth, and pay all of your utility bills from any of your bank accounts.You can easily view your Employee Provident Fund (EPF) data, balance, passbook.Its a simple and convenient way of banking  

Cred

CRED is a members-only club that rewards individuals for their timely credit card bill payments by providing them with exclusive offers and access to premium experiences. It is a platform that allows credit card users to manage multiple cards along with an analysis of their credit score. Members with a high Experian or CRIF score are eligible for exclusive rewards upon payment of their credit card bills through the app. Among many of the features in the app are CRED's credit card spend tracking and management feature which provided the user with analysis of spend tracking and efficiency of usage of the card.

Pay Nearby

Pay Nearby Technologies, a FinTech company, is offering financial/non-financial services to the underbanked and unbanked segment is on a mission to launch its own network of Micro ATMs.It operates on a B2B2C model, where they partner with neighbourhood retail stores who can offer Assisted Digital Financial Services like Aadhaar ATM, SMS Payment, Khata Service, Utility Payment, Prepaid Cards, Mutual Funds & Insurance, Money Transfer, Hyperlocal Services and payment services like Bharat QR and UPI using the PayNearby App.The company had recently  tied up with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Equitas Small Finance Bank for this initiative.

Udaan

Udaan was launched in 2016 by former Flipkart senior executives Sujeet Kumar, Vaibhav Gupta, and Amod Malviya, Udaan connects small or medium-sized businesses (SMBs), manufacturers, wholesalers, traders, and retailers to sell goods and services to each other.The company also offers other services such as credit financing and logistics to connect manufacturers with retailers.Udaan is joining the brigade of UPI payments app with its QR-code based digital payments for retail outlets, restaurants and merchants.