Zee5’s HiPi Premier League Promises An Entertaining Fiesta During The T20 Cricket Extravanza

India is the land of diverse cultures. Each city, each region brings its own dynamic mix of people and traditions. However unique they may be, what binds all of them together, undoubtedly, is ONE unifying factor – the love for CRICKET! Be it the Cricket World Cup, an ICC tournament or the Indian Premier League, the craze for cricket is nearly present amongst every Indian. With the onset of the 2020 season of the IPL, fans are eager to engage more with their beloved sport, their favourite team and the sportsperson they love to cheer for. Making the T20 cricket extravaganza even more exciting during the pandemic, ZEE5, India’s entertainment super-app, has curated its own entertaining HiPi Premier League (HPL) on the app’s UGC platform – HiPi, to enable fans to partake in one of the biggest sporting spectaculars of 2020. HPL went LIVE on 19th September 2020 and has taken content creators by storm by giving them a reason and a platform to celebrate cricket.

The HPL is divided in 8 exciting teams with captains who are well-known celebrities and renowned influencers. HPL Gurus (captains) like Sugandha Mishra, Sanket Bhosle, Gaurav Gera and Ssumier Pasricha have started the competition to become the ultimate champions of the league by creating some exciting short videos to entertain and engage with the audience. The 8 competing teams have been formed keeping the actual tournament team and the regions they represent. Hyderabad Hippers, Mumbai Mastis, Delhi Dhoomers, Rajasthan Rockstars, Punjab Putters, Chennai Swaggers, Bangalore Badshahs, and Kolkata Khiladis are the teams on HPL. The teams are creating exciting content and engaging through their captains/gurus while encouraging more people to join their teams to support their favourite players.

Mr. Manish Kalra, Senior Vice President and Business Head – AVOD, ZEE5, India, said, “ZEE5’s journey towards becoming the one-stop entertainment destination is fuelled by the platform’s innovations that cater to the larger consumer segment. The launch of HiPi also stemmed from this vision and has delivered the perfect place for India’s finest creators to craft content and attain the fandom status. Cricket being a strong sentiment in India, the launch of the HiPi Premier League (HPL) will provide these crazy fans one more opportunity to express through engaging and fun content. HPL will truly redefine the cricketing experience by enhancing the T20 tournament’s reach through contribution from the content creators and brands together.”

Echoing these sentiments, some of the gurus of HiPi’s Premier League also shared views on how excited they are, to be a part of HPL.

Sugandha Mishra shared, “The lockdown has resulted in cricket fans craving for every opportunity to engage since they are unable to attend live matches to witness their favourite teams in action. The HPL is set to fill that void that the fans have been waiting for. I am excited to be a part of this unique initiative and look forward to express my love for the biggest cricket tournament on HiPi.”

Gaurav Gera said, “The HPL is a distinctive initiative by ZEE5 which celebrates the nation’s favourite sport in a unique way! It will be entertaining, engaging and exciting for fans to not only consume, but also, create entertaining short format content, participate in challenges, learn more about the game and the players. Be it the fun quizzes, polls or challenges or trivia, the HPL is going to be every cricket lover’s dream platform to express their love for the game in creative and engaging ways.”

Ssumier Pasricha remarked, “All the teams boast of such fun creators that we can expect some fireworks each day with the HPL. This will also inspire more fans to come up with their unique videos and engage with other creators, viewers and brands throughout the league. Be it entertaining challenges, contests, or creativity the HiPi Premier League is sure to encourage the super fan in all of us!”

Pammi Aunty aka Ssumier added, “Apni team nu sport karo te onna nu jitao and make them win HorKi.”

Bringing one more reason to cheer for fans, ZEE5 has ensured that the lockdown doesn’t restrict the interaction of fans with the sport by encouraging them to participate in the HPL. Users whose videos get maximum likes in a day and in a week, in addition to the season’s leading content creator is entitled to win the exciting HiPiZen of the Day, HiPiZen of the Week and the Grand Prize awards.

Dettol Launches Limited Edition Handwash – Made from 100% Recycled Plastic in India

Dettol, the leading germ protection brand today, announced, the launch of its Dettol Handwash’s protection from 100 illness causing germs in a new 100 % recycled bottle in India. The one of its kind, limited-edition handwash bottle has a beautiful contemporary design in black colour highlighted by golden inscriptions. And certain proceeds from the sale of every bottle will directly go to the ASSOCHAM foundation for plastic waste recycling, among other environmental causes. With this launch, Dettol aims to reach conscious consumers who want to make a positive impact on the environment while ensuring regular handwashing habits are maintained.

With the introduction of the category leading Dettol Handwash in a fully recycled bottle, Dettol aims to take a formative step in the direction of addressing the plastic pollution problem which has further exacerbated amidst Covid-19.  As part of this initiative, Dettol will continue its efforts to create awareness about the importance of handwashing to prevent the spread of illness through a 360degree media activation, while also driving awareness of this new unique 100% recycled bottle.

Commenting on the launch and the initiative, Mr. Pankaj Duhan, Chief Marketing Officer, RB Health South Asia said, “The onset of the pandemic has raised many questions surrounding plastic waste. Being the leading health brand, we at Dettol, have partnered with our consumers in their journey to fight the spread of COVID-19 by propagating correct hygiene measures. However, it is also our responsibility to address the environmental concerns arising due to increased use of plastic. With this launch Dettol’s protection from the 100 illness causing germs packed in 100% recycled packaging will not only protect your hands from germs but your environment too. This will provide environmentally conscious consumers an opportunity to give back to the environment, while getting their trusted Dettol germ protection. I am proud to say that Reliance Retail has joined hands with us as an exclusive partner to make the dream of bringing the new Dettol 100% recycled handwash bottle to your homes.”

As a mission-driven company, RB is committed to creating a positive environmental impact through sustainable business practices. On a global scale, by 2025, RB will have 100% plastic packaging for all products made using reusable or recycled material. Dettol 100% recycled handwash bottle is the first step in this direction in India. This initiative is a testament of RB’s commitment towards contributing to the fight against plastic waste, and catalyzing change within the industry and beyond.

The new Dettol Liquid handwash Black is made with 100% Post Consumer Resin (PCR). It is available exclusively at Reliance Retail & Jio Mart in 200 ml sized bottle priced at INR 99.

Bengaluru-Based Orion Mall At Brigade Gateway Gets LEED Gold Certification

Orion Mall At Brigade Gateway is the first mall in the country to receive a LEED Gold Certification under ARC Existing Building category. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the most widely used green building rating system in the world. The certification system provides a dependable framework for assessing a building’s degree of compliance with global environmental protection and sustainability standards. Some of the chief parameters that determine a building’s rating include energy expenditure, water usage, carbon dioxide emission, waste management, indoor air quality, etc.

Orion Mall was able to get the certification due to its highly-efficient operational structure that prioritizes sustainability and utilization of green technology over traditionally more cost effective solutions. “I’m proud to say that the Brigade Orion Mall in Bengaluru is setting high benchmarks for other retailers to follow.   This certification is the result of truly exceptional performance by the mall facility team through consistent upgrading and maintenance of facility systems along with strict adherence to environmental protocols.” declares Selvarasu M, LEED Fellow & Managing Director from LEAD Consultancy, who works as a sustainability consultant for the mall.

Even with receiving sizable number of footfalls on a regular basis, the mall has consistently excelled at maintaining the eco-friendly dimension of the overall infrastructure. In view of the extensive range of businesses operating with the mall, this feat is considerably more impressive. Manu R, General Manager - Facilities & Technical Co-Ordination opines “I believe the key to our success as a standard-bearer for eco-friendly operation is our no-compromise attitude. We invest in the best equipment, employ personnel with high degree of expertise and keep abreast of latest developments in green technology that facilitates our pro-environment operational goals.”, Shashie Kumar, COO – Retail said, “Our endeavour is customer-centricity combined  with the focus of sustainability in our day-to-day operations.

"Being Responsible Socially is a Core Value for Brigade. We are constantly exploring for ways to reduce our carbon footprint and improve the operational efficiency of our malls. We invest in technology that helps us save water, reduce electricity consumption. Start-ups from our Brigade REAP program such as WEGOT and Clairco have helped us achieve this.  ” says Nirupa Shankar, Executive Director at Brigade Enterprises Ltd.

About Orion Mall

A world-class mall in every facet, the iconic Orion Mall at Brigade Gateway is Brigade Group's flagship mall venture and has won every accolade and prestigious award bestowed by the most recognised industry associations in India. This premium mall set high standards across construction, architecture, consumer experience, and marketing; and quickly established itself as the benchmark among its peers. Spread across 8.2 lakh square feet, with every detail of a rich modern retail environment woven in, Orion Mall at Brigade Gateway is a true game changer in the mall industry. 

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Sells 8116 Units in Sept and Registers 46% Growth Compared to Aug 2020

Toyota Kirloskar Motor today announced that the company sold a total of 8116 units in the month of September 2020, thereby clocking a growth of 46% when compared to the wholesales in August 2020 (the company had clocked 5555 units in the month of August 2020). For reference, the company had sold a total of 10,203 units in the domestic market in September 2019 and had exported 708 units of the Etios as well.

Commenting on the month’s performance, Mr. Naveen Soni, Sr. Vice President, Sales & Service- TKM said, “We are seeing demand pick up and a lot more confidence in our dealers, thereby witnessing a 14 to 18% growth in orders when compared to last few months. September has been our best month so far, ever since the pandemic hit us in March 2020. Factors leading to this can be attributed to the pent up demand amongst customers as well as the onset of the festive season.

In terms of production, our manufacturing side has gone back to two shift production a day, thereby supporting us to keep up with the demand. Another factor leading to such demand could be attributed to the new launches in the market. TKM also announced the launch of Urban Cruiser in September and we have got a very good response from our customers and the market, ever since we opened the bookings for Urban Cruiser. We are grateful towards our loyal customers who have pre-booked the Urban Cruiser as this reiterates their trust and faith on brand Toyota,” he concluded.

LTI Launches Canvas PolarSled Enabling Rapid Migration to Snowflake

Larsen & Toubro Infotech (BSE code: 540005, NSE: LTI), a global technology consulting and digital solutions company launched Canvas PolarSled, an automated cloud migration and modernization framework to help enterprises accelerate their data journey to Snowflake, the cloud data platform. LTI Canvas PolarSled enables enterprises with rapid migration of their cloud data to Snowflake’s single, integrated platform in an efficient and low-risk way.

With its innovative architecture, unique consumption model and near-unlimited scalability, Snowflake adoption can help enterprises emerge as fully equipped digital organizations. LTI Canvas PolarSled is a unique framework that provides a complete playbook on automation strategy and governance to ensure swift migration to Snowflake.

LTI Canvas PolarSled approaches migration to Snowflake in three layers, each with a specific set of tools, governance and outcomes:

1.  A consulting led and contextualized migration strategy and design

2.  End-to-end migration across entire analytics value chain by leveraging LTI tools & accelerators

3.  Optimizing Snowflake data platform post-migration

Sanjay Jalona, CEO & Managing Director, LTI said, “At LTI, we are excited about innovations in the data modernization landscape. Our partnership with Snowflake is instrumental in amplifying our capabilities to deliver next-gen projects and enhanced outcomes for our clients in this space. We designed LTI Canvas PolarSled, to design, implement and manage Snowflake migration programs efficiently and enable customers to expedite their journey to cloud.”

Kevin Miller, VP – System Integrators, Snowflake said, “LTI has a strong focus on building comprehensive capabilities around Snowflake. They are an industry leader in providing Snowflake consulting and technology services to enterprises across the globe. We believe LTI Canvas PolarSled is an exponential framework that will offer differentiated value to customers through the process of migration to Snowflake.”

LTI works with leading global organizations providing comprehensive Snowflake implementation and migration services including design, preparation, re-platforming and performance optimization.

About LTI:

LTI (NSE: LTI) is a global technology consulting and digital solutions Company helping more than 420 clients succeed in a converging world. With operations in 32 countries, we go the extra mile for our clients and accelerate their digital transformation with LTI’s Mosaic platform enabling their mobile, social, analytics, IoT and cloud journeys. Founded in 1997 as a subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Limited, our unique heritage gives us unrivaled real-world expertise to solve the most complex challenges of enterprises across all industries. Each day, our team of more than 30,000 LTItes enable our clients to improve the effectiveness of their business and technology operations and deliver value to their customers, employees and shareholders.

73% India Inc. Employers Introduced Salary Cuts, Middle-Level Managers Suffered Most: Times Jobs

 

* A new TimesJobs survey of 1,385 HR managers found that 73% Indian firms had introduced salary cuts to keep their organisations afloat during the COVID-19 times

* Maximum pay cuts happened at the middle management level, as stated by 40% of survey respondents

* About 60% organisations are in favour of revoking the salary cuts at an appropriate time

* In the wake of Unlock 4.0, 61% of companies are considering reopening their offices in the coming months, most want to call about 40% staff only 

About 73% of Indian firms resorted to salary cuts to keep their business going amid the tough COVID-19 situation, found a recent survey conducted by TimesJobs. About 1,385 HR managers working in different industries participated in the survey and said that the middle management level suffered the steepest pay cuts.

A significant finding is that among the firms who saw salary cuts, most (61%), are keen on revoking these cuts in an appropriate time. The TimesJobs survey aimed at understanding how India Inc. faced the COVID-19 times, the new approach to employee engagement and, the employers’ outlook in the ‘Unlock 4.0’ scenario.

Five important takeaways from this survey are:

1.  Less working hours to keep the workforce happy:

In the wake of salary cuts, most companies introduced new regimes. Most employers resorted to reduced working hours (voted by 25% of survey respondents), followed by 22% firms who offered extra leaves to their employees.

2. Upskilling is beating even COVID insurance:

Most (38%) companies offered paid upskilling opportunities to their employees, as a means to connect with them more actively. About 25% HR managers said that they started recognising employee achievements publically to keep their workforce engaged, and 19% of respondents introduced paid insurance against COVID-19, as a measure to bond with employees.

3. Office could restart for many, but not for everyone:

With Unlock 4.0 in progress, a majority (61%) of HR managers are keen on reopening their offices in the coming month. Whereas, 39% HR managers said that they do not plan to open their offices so soon. Those who were keen on restarting offices said that they will be doing so as soon as the next 30 days. Also, most want to call back about 40% employees, to begin with.

4.  Masks, sanitisers & ArogyaSetu status check before walking into workplaces:

With employers showing keenness on reopening their office premises, wearing masks and carrying sanitisers will be mandatory for those coming to office, said 50% surveyed HR managers. About 25% of HR managers said that they would mandate the use of ArogyaSetu verified health status for all employees coming to the office.

5. Job market could regain activity in the next 6 months:

The TimesJobs survey also asked the HR managers if the job market will be buoyant any time soon, and 46% respondents said that it could take 6 months for the recruitment sentiment to get back to its old track. About 31% said it could take one year, and 15% said that it could take two years for the job market to be back.

Summarising the findings of the new TimesJobs survey, Sanjay Goyal, TimesJobs and TechGig said, “The COVID-19 pandemic is a litmus test for organisational structures, values and their commitment to the employees. The TimesJobs survey indicates that while many firms opted for pay cuts in challenging business times, they are willing to restore these back. It's heartening to see that employers are trying out new concepts such as reduced working hours, extended leaves, offering paid upskilling opportunities and insurance against COVID-19, to keep employees engaged. This hints that ‘employee wellbeing’ is slowly becoming the cornerstone of workplace culture - a typical sign of mature and evolved workplaces.”

The complete report is available at https://content.timesjobs.com/photo/78234772.cms

AI, Blockchain and IOT Together To Bring Real Value to Organizations

By Sanjay Pathak, Head Blockchain, Healthcare & Insurance Practice, 3i Infotech 

A few decades back, it would have been impossible to imagine the way we communicate, interact or transact on social and economic fronts today. 

Similarly, today it’s very hard to fathom the real potential of ‘blockchain’, despite the promises it has. Blockchain today is still in its infancy, and its mainstream value is yet to be realized. While, it’s for sure that blockchain will disrupt the existing solutions, not only in industry and commerce but in almost all aspects of our day-to-day lives, but it cannot do so just by itself. Same holds true for Internet of Things (IoT) as well as for Artificial Intelligence (AI), though in different perspectives and magnitudes. The underlying fact is that to get the real value the new age emerging technologies like blockchain, AI and IoT will have to work in tandem. As we begin to understand the new normal in the midst of the corona pandemic, it will be important to draw value from any digital transformation that organizations undertake. Businesses will have to think beyond their domain and scope to provide services which are of actual value to consumers.  

This article focuses not on “why” but delves into “how” this can happen.  

When it comes to communication and transactions, speed and efficiency are the prime factors that have improved by leaps and bounds. IoT has brought new and cheaper ways to communicate with ‘things’ which was not fathomable in the past. Now, blockchain, with promise of immutability, transparency, security, Interoperability etc. allows us to exploit otherwise unused resources, trade the un-tradable, and allow new ecosystems that were not possible before. The new entrant AI (inclusive of machine/deep learning, vision, NLP, robots or autonomous machines etc.) has already started to deliver great value to many industries, so much so, as to reduce or even replace the human element. Further advancement in 5G communication only sounds as a positive catalyst to this ecosystem.  

However, the aforementioned technologies, with a disjointed ecosystem or industries’ siloed approach towards them, may not reach their full potential, as promised.   

In the above combination, ‘data’ becomes the common driving factor. While IoT is producing data from new sources and sensors, blockchain is safeguarding and ensuring immutability, and the AI layer on top is helping deliver new business meanings and outcomes in almost real-time. In summary, data value chain, comes from new technologies enabling collection, sharing, security, immutability, analysis, and automation of decisions with minimal human involvement. 

If you observe the shifting industry trends, as per a recent Gartner report, 75% of IoT implementers have already implemented blockchain or plan to do so by 2020 in US. While this is just the beginning, the best is yet to come, when industries will start to think on real customer problems, rather than their domain specific process and functions. 

Let’s run this model on a practical consumer problem of provenance - the classic ‘Farm to Table’ use case. Through the journey, the big questions that need solutions are with respect to quality, credibility, genuineness, safety, increase in efficiency and warranting correct distribution of revenue. IoT takes care of conditions maintained in farms with respect to temperature, humidity, soil nutrients and growth progress, and also conditions at processing centers and logistics. All this information along with farmer, land and crop details can be collected and stored on blockchain-based smart contracts. AI-based engine on top of this, with feeds from weather systems etc. can potentially trigger and automatically execute smart contracts and take required action based on pre-agreed rules, including payments etc. In an adverse event like an outbreak at any stage, the source could be easily traced and isolate the products that used the impacted material and necessary actions can be taken to quickly prevent further damage. Next, this can be extended to insurance and forward commodity trading using a trade setup, thus bringing real value from agriculture, supply chain, financial services, insurance and other industries combined.  

IoT has come a long way in improving the type of sensors, size and cost and even their usage in some industries; the real consumer centric benefits can be manifold. AI faces the challenge of accuracy, trust and confidence over replacement by the human cognitive mind. Building such ecosystems without regulatory pressure, is not easy if not impossible. This is one of the primary factors for Blockchain and other similar transformative technologies not gaining mainstream acceptance or adoption.  

On the backdrop of traditional computing, let’s also keep an eye on ‘Quantum Computing’ breakthroughs, as this not only threatens the key features of these emerging technologies, but will severely impact best of encryption, security and cryptography that exists today. Which means any industry, digital ecosystems, IT infrastructure will have to evolve in rapid pace before they get negatively impacted.