ANSR Acquires FastNext to Enhance AI Capabilities for GCCs Across Business Operations

ANSR, a global market leader for helping large global enterprises in building and operating Global Capability Centres*(GCC's), today announced the acquisition of FastNext, an AI-driven technology company in an all stock deal. FastNext was incubated by CoffeeBeans, a boutique product and technology services firm. The acquisition will enable ANSR empower global enterprises to build the best teams for their GCC by using deep learning and AI-powered tools across talent acquisition and management, smart workspace management and business workflows. 

The first of the capabilities the company aims to build with FastNext is in AI driven talent acquisition and management that will augment existing consulting and technology capabilities. This will help clients in areas such as talent acquisition and management. ANSR’s Talent500 will play a pivotal role in this partnership for achieving a comprehensive 360-degree candidate profiles. Over the last 6 months, Talent500 has witnessed tremendous growth given its focus on disrupting the existing recruiting processes in a post-Covid world. With 360-degree assessments, video CV’s, mentoring and nurture of talent and comprehensive 360-degree candidate profiles, Talent500 drives up to 40% faster time-to-hire tailored to the GCC market.

Commenting on the acquisition Lalit Ahuja, Founder & CEO, ANSR said, “Organizations aren’t going digital, they are digital. Building global capability and engineering centers for technology innovation is a priority for multiple Fortune 1000 companies who are on this journey. As a global market leader in this industry, we are excited to integrate FastNext’s portfolio of AI-based tools and solutions into our portfolio so that data is at the core of everything that our customers do to win in the digital age.”

“FastNext has managed to carve a niche for itself and has built a great reputation in the job seeking community. By combining FastNext’s recruiting tech products and Talent500’s capabilities, we are paving in a new era of AI led talent acquisition market and driving new levels of productivity. Through this acquisition, we will be able to leverage their resources and serve GCCs better. said Vikram Ahuja, Co-founder, Talent500 by ANSR.

As GCC’s evolve to meet the current and future business needs, utilizing intelligent technologies like AI and data analytics across every aspect of their operations will be crucial. Further, to ensure these operations run successfully a working environment which supports and compliments such requirements is imperative. ANSR with Workspace, provides a holistic and fully managed office space solution, to help businesses accelerate technological innovations. It integrates data intelligence into space utilization thus creating safer and more efficient workplace. Overall, ANSR’s end-to-end AI and analytics-based solutions will enable companies maximize capacity and capability arbitrage to optimize return on their GCC investments.

*Global Capability Centers (GCCs) are distributed engineering centers who are your digital-first outpost or address a certain business challenge or can work on enhancing customer experience while creating a feasible offering from an idea that can add organization value and create competitive advantage.

About ANSR

ANSR is a global leader in establishing & operating Global Capability Centers for global enterprises. Enterprises across industries and markets have relied to ANSR’s expertise in building world class technology and innovation capabilities in India and Eastern Europe. ANSR’s unique industry leading approach enables our clients to integrate digital platforms capabilities and global teams within the enterprise Global Capability Centers.  Since its inception, ANSR has established over 60 GCCs aggregating to over 65k enterprise talent with over $1.5B in investment and using over 7M sq. ft of workspace.

About Talent500

ANSR's T500 talent platform is a continuously curated ecosystem of enterprise ready talent for digital technologies, powered by AI driven identification, curation and engagement aimed at top 10% of talent. 

Orion Shopping Festival in Bangalore is Back Again With A Big Bang

Bangaloreans have been eagerly anticipating the onset of the festive season, both from a celebratory context as well as for fulfilling their festive wishlist. And Orion Shopping Festival, promises to give them all of that. The festival will be held across three Orion Malls - Orion Mall at Brigade Gateway, Orion Avenue Cooke Town and the all new Orion Uptown at Whitefield-Hoskote crossing till November 22nd 2020. Patrons can look forward to the signature festive mall decor to feel the festive vibe and bring cheer to their world.  Also on offer are a slew of amazing prizes and offers. This year’s festival has much to offer for those who are looking to kick off their seasonal shopping frenzies in grand fashion.  One of the major attractions is the chance to win the bumper prize of a studio apartment at Brigade Seven Gardens. The weekly prizes include sojourns at Sheraton Grand Bangalore Hotel at Brigade Gateway or Holiday Inn Express & Suits. The minimum value of shopping for participating in the lucky draw is Rs. 3000. Another special addition to the fest is the theme-based flea market with a plethora of offerings for those on the lookout for bargain deals .All things considered; this edition of Orion Shopping Festival promises to be the most exciting one yet. 

Orion Shopping Festival has become a well-cherished tradition amongst our customers.  As we have seen time and time again, the celebratory spirit of the festival exudes a unique charm that makes for a one-of-a-kind bonding experience for all who participate. The patrons are already familiar with how Orion malls are the safest places to shop in the city, with the most proactive measures and technology in place. Also, the welcoming ambience and conveniences that the malls offer is another drawing factor.

“This year, we’ll be conducting Orion Shopping Festival, across all three of our malls.The key element to the festival’s success is that shoppers get to have their pick from wide range of top-of-the-line retail brands across a multitude of categories.  We are also raising the level of excitement even further with some amazing prizes for our patrons. So I’m quite confident in saying that this year’s Orion Shopping Festival is all set to be extra special in more ways than one.” says Sunil Munshi, AVP, Orion Malls.

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. 

Five Tips for Conducting Seamless Video Meetings Globally

By Gaurang Sinha, Director, Go-to-Market Strategy at Flock

With work from home being the new normal, we have rapidly discovered how to navigate all aspects of managing work virtually such as adopting the well-constructed methods of video conferencing. Still, some glitches may occur and network bandwidth can take a toll at times. While people across the world are adopting video conferencing to communicate with their teams and colleagues, it lacks the personal touch felt by in-person meetings, making it more difficult to study body behaviour or facial expressions.

Understanding how to manage seamless and productive video meetings is important to stay productive in this new normal. here are a few tips to smoothly navigate remote working and digital meetings.

1.     Preparing is key

Just adopting video conferencing software is not adequate for your virtual meetings. You must be well-equipped with a stable internet connection and hardware products such as a headset and a good quality webcam, not only from your end—make sure your meeting attendees at the other end are also equipped with these basic essentials.

2.     Building an agenda

The fundamental task that you need to undertake before attending a meeting is planning an agenda. This will save you time and help stay on track without dropping out on any points. Drafting an agenda and sharing it with your attendees prior to the meeting can help them be prepared with questions or comments. The participants can also jot down their queries and share them with you beforehand so that you can address them during the meeting.

3.     Virtual icebreakers

Back to back meetings can lead to burnout. The act of gazing at the camera and a screen constantly causes fatigue. Video conferencing fatigue has become a common term during this work from home era. To avoid this, kicking off the meeting with some icebreakers can help release some tension. Ask your attendees how their day was or what movie or series have they been binge-watching. This helps to add a little bit of fun to the meetings and an opportunity for the members to interact with each other. For meetings where attendees aren’t acquaintances, encouraging each attendee to introduce themselves and their designations can create a positive atmosphere.

4.         Etiquette tips for an effective meeting

During a meeting, participants speaking over each other causes disruption and comes across as extremely unprofessional. Hence, it is crucial to make specific rules mandatory at the beginning of the video discussion, assign who directs the call, designate each attendees’ role, and allot the timeline delivered to each speaker. A moderator can be assigned during meetings who can intervene when participants obstruct each other's communication. Set terms such as “raise a hand if to interject” or “apply an annotation tool while screen sharing in order to present successfully”. This helps in securing your conferences in operating seamlessly and systematically and prevents anyone from feeling neglected.

5.     Visual Appearance

A fundamental factor in every virtual meeting is your physical appearance, so ensure that you dress suitably and maintain the required etiquettes and prestige of your organization. Keep the formal context in mind and try not to wear too many colours or patterns as it may be distracting.

Other virtual meeting techniques that you may consider executing:

-          Tidy up your space and set your camera at a decent measure, neither too distant nor too near. Aim to have yourself set up in the center of the screen from the shoulders up. Lighting should be bright and your face should be clearly visible.

-          There is no requirement to splurge on lighting: natural light or regular lamp light is sufficient as long as you’re visible to the meeting attendees.

-          Use a headset as a solution in eliminating background noises and disruptions.

-          Avoid the practice of using a cell phone during meetings. Although it can be tempting, it denotes that you are inattentive.

Lastly, keep your camera at eye level so that it appears as if you are communicating to attendees directly. This indicates a level of confidence and assurance that every prosperous meeting requires!

Netafim India Launches “FlexNet to Boost Next Generation” Farming in Indian Market

* The piping solution for above and below-ground drip irrigation systems makes #FarmingSimplified and offers upto 30% reduction in labour cost ~ 

Netafim India, a leading smart irrigation solution provider, has launched "FlexNet™ - a revolutionary mainline and sub-mainline piping for above and below-ground drip irrigation systems for Indian farmers to make #FarmingSimplified. This multifaceted piping solution could be adapted for any type of rabi, Kharif, vegetables, cucurbits, or other crops verities that uses drip irrigation in the row beds. The product has been unveiled by Mr. Randhir Chauhan Managing Director - Netafim India on the social media platforms and witnessed by 25 lac farmers across the country.  

Netafim’s FlexNet™ differs from the traditional PVC as well as layflat tubing systems majorly in terms of portability and convenience. One of the most salient aspects of the product is that due to its lightweight and sturdiness, installation and usability becomes much expedient for farmers. Due to low product weight, customized outlets spacing, and specially designed dripline connectors, farmers could easily layout and retrieve these portable pipes. These features reduce the installation time and manpower-cost up to 30% for farmers when compared to a typical PVC and layflat installation. Product longevity is achieved through patented material and weaving technology that provides both strength and flexibility of folding for easy transportation. The integral welded connectors ensure a secure, leak-proof connection between distribution pipes and laterals to increase the irrigation efficiency, thereby permitting uniform water distribution for better crop yield. 

The next generation piping system offers farmers a smart and sustainable irrigation mechanism. The premium polypropylene material avoids snaking and ensure the product to hold position even in the most stringent climatic and environmental conditions. It reduces weeding and muddy spots thanks to perfect sealing between the patented outlets and the pipe, that guarantees to provide top performance over many years. It offers a full line of branching and lateral connectors compatible with all Netafim systems. The white colouring offers thermal resistance and can withstand high chemical and UV exposure. 

The FlexNet™ solution by Netafim India is available in the diameter ranging from 2 inch to 5 inch and comes with Pipe Valve, Dripline Connector, Pipe Connector and Puncture Kit. The output of the submain line comes in differences of 2.5 (two and a half), 4, 5 and 6 feet respectively.  The feature to close the end cap of the submain line and open for cleaning is also achievable. It offers a full line of branching and lateral connectors compatible with all Netafim systems. For some reason even if this pipe is punctured, it can be repaired very effortlessly with the help of puncture kit and without any special assistance. The compact piping solution could be easily removed and placed anywhere in the house after irrigation. 

Expressing his thoughts on the launch, Mr. Randhir Chauhan, Managing Director - Netafim India, commented, “Netafim India is committed to offer unmatched modern farming solution to the Indian farmers. Even with India’s agricultural sector being predominated by small landholdings, we cannot let the opportunity to assimilate latest technological innovations escape any Indian farmer. The introduction of FlexNet™ is centered on this very objective to make #FarmingSimplified. Rooted in technological excellence, the piping solution aims to lend farmers greater support and autonomy over their fields.” 

Netafim India, through the launch of FlexNet™ aims to cover 1 lac hectare of land under irrigation and reach 50,000 farmers across India in the upcoming year. In Karnataka, the company intend to reach additional 25-30% of the farmer community and cover ~ 5,600 hectare of the farmland under irrigation. 

Lack of Tournaments Makes Tokyo Olympics Qualification Tougher: India Paddler Harmeet Desai

Reigning national table tennis champion Harmeet Desai feels the lack of tournaments due to the COVID-19 pandemic has weakened his chances to qualify for the 2021 Olympic Games. Desai expressed the concerns surrounding the same in conversation with compatriot paddler Mudit Dani on the latter's live online chat show 'In The Sportlight'.

India missed out on securing the Olympics berth via the team event at the last world qualifiers. As per existing Olympic qualification norms, only two Indian male paddlers can qualify for the Tokyo Games in the singles category. And seasoned campaigners Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran are strong contenders for the spots considering their world rankings, which are much ahead of Desai. Sharath and Sathiyan are placed 31 and 32 respectively while Desai is currently ranked 72 in the world.

"We have a strong team, so it will be very difficult for me to get ahead of the top two. Sharath and Sathiyan are really strong players. It would have been much better for me if I could have got a chance to play more international tournaments in this period because I didn't have the pressure of defending any of the points, I only had the chance to gain points after my performance at the Oman Open. It's sad that the chance is gone and I am in all likelihood missing the bus this time," Desai admitted while talking on Indian paddler Mudit Dani's online live chat show 'In The Sportlight'.

The 27-year-old from Surat, who was in great form as he finished in the last four at the Oman Open just before the coronavirus outbreak, is not heartbroken but quite determined to make his Olympic debut in 2024 if he doesn't get to qualify for Tokyo. "Even though it will be difficult for me to qualify, I still hope to make it. And if not this time, I will work harder for 2024," Desai, who was part of the team that won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, further added.

Be it winning historic medals at the big-ticket events or rising high in the world rankings, Indian table tennis has seen exponential rise in the recent years. Desai credited the growth of table tennis in India to the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) league and the support the sport is receiving from the government and Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI).

"Indian TT has caught a lot of attention in the last few years with good performances in all categories. Support of government, federation and playing in UTT has played an important role in the growth of Indian TT. Indian players all this while used to go to European countries but now foreign players are also coming to India to play UTT and this has given chance for youngsters to play against them, practice with them and learn from them. This has also helped us to believe that we can beat them irrespective of how higher ranked they are," Desai, an ardent fan of tennis great Rafael Nadal, said.

With the sporting world gradually getting back to normal, Desai is the first Indian paddler to travel abroad post the COVID-era and participate in the French League. He is currently training in Germany and intends to stay back in Europe and get match exposure and training opportunities in the coming few months.

NDDB Chairman Unanimously Elected to Board of International Dairy Federation On Nov 2

Shri Dilip Rath, Chairman, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has been unanimously elected to the Board of International Dairy Federation (IDF) on 2ndNovember 2020 during the General Assembly of IDF.Shri Rath said, “I see my election to the IDF Board as an opportunity to bring along valuable insights from the Indian dairy experience and foster complementarities and synergies between dairying nations. It is a privilege for me to represent the world’s largest milk producing nation and contribute to promoting Sustainable Goals of dairying and also meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals. I keenly look forward to furthering IDF Board’s mandate.”

Shri Dilip Rath is associated with IDF for the last 10 years as Member Secretary of Indian National Committee and as a member of the Standing Committee on Dairy Policy and Economics. He has participated in National Committee Secretaries’ meetings as well as General Assembly on numerousoccasions. Shri Rath was also adistinguished speaker in the Leaders’ Forum Panel at Rotterdam Summit in 2016. He played a key role in signing the Dairy Declaration at the IDF World Dairy Summit in Rotterdam in October 2016 between IDF and FAO. The Declaration recognises the contribution of the dairy sector to the achievement of key Sustainable Development Goals such as ending poverty and hunger, and protecting the environment. The IDF Indian National Committee represented by Secretary, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Government of India and Chairman, NDDB signed the Indian Dairy Sector’s endorsement to meet U N Sustainable Development Goals with President and Director General of International Dairy Federation at IDF’s World Dairy Summit at Istanbul in 2019.

Shri Rath as Secretary of the Indian National Committee, took the initiative to host the World Dairy Summit in India in 2022. India will host the first post COVID -19IDF World Dairy Summit 2022 in which over 1000 participants including experts, academicians, dairy professionals are expected to participate from about 55 countries. Hosting the World Dairy Summit in New Delhi, India, will be a proud moment and a befitting tribute to the dairy farmers. The summit provides a global forum to dairy leaders and experts to exchange knowledge and ideas on how the sector can contribute to nourish the world with safe andsustainable dairying.

Shri Rath said that cooperative approach in India is not a matter of choice but it constitutes an essential strategy by which millions of small dairy farmers are being empowered to have a level playing field in the market and get a fair share of the value of milk. Dairying in India has proven to be the growth engine for the farmsector as a whole. It is not only about providing nutrition to billions of consumers but is also about ensuring sustainable livelihood for millions of our milk producers. India ranks first among the world’s milk producing nations and has the largest bovine population in the World. The milk production in country has been growing at the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.43 % as against the global CAGR of 1.53 % for the last 5 years.  The impressive growth and self-sufficiency in the dairy sector has been made possible by the concerted efforts of the dairy farmers, Government of India, NDDB and many other stakeholders. In this context the selection of Shri Rath is considered to be a matter of pride for India.

The global dairy sector is poised to play an important role towards meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goal aimed at eliminating hunger by 2030. Among others, it shall continue to focus on the important element of promotion of sustainable agriculture and supporting marginal and small farmers. In doing so, women’s empowerment leading to their increased participation in leadership and decision making in dairy cooperatives and producer’s association need to be promoted.

IDF is an international non-governmental, non-profit association with a vision “Helping to nourish the world with safe and sustainable dairy”. IDF members are National Committees generally constituted by dairy organizations in each country. The National Committee represents its country. India is represented by the National Committee (INC) of the IDF. The Secretary (ADF), Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India is the President of the INC-IDF and NDDB, as its Secretariat, coordinates its activities.

Acronis And Compuage Infocom Collaborate To Provide Upgraded Cyber Protection For Cloud In India

 Acronis, a global leader in cyber protection, today announced its partnership with Compuage Infocom Ltd, India’s leading IT and mobility distribution company, to introduce upgraded cyber protection solutions for cloud to enterprises and small businesses in India.

The news about this partnership comes in as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to expose gaps in traditional solutions and strategies. Securing home offices has never been more important, yet the recent Acronis Cyber Readiness Report 2020 revealed that nearly half (47%) of remote workers never received clear guidance on working from home. Alarmingly, 31% of companies around the world reported getting attacked at least once a day – while India reported nearly twice as many attacks as any other country.

Compuage, having started off as a reseller back in 1987, will help enhance the reach of Acronis’ easy, efficient, and secure cyber protection technology to local businesses through its extensive pan India partners network – including companies like Microsoft, HP, ASUS and more.

In today’s digital era when cyber protection solutions are of critical need, the artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities which are part of Acronis cloud products, provide increased security and reliability, presenting an effective method to block any ransomware attacks.

“Acronis solutions are a perfect fit for local businesses in India – with this partnership, we plan to deliver top-notch cloud solutions to enterprises, SMBs and small business owners via our partner network. Our aim is to make Acronis Cyber Cloud solutions easily available for partners with flexible billing options.” said Mr Atul H Mehta, Chairman and MD of Compuage. “Data is of critical importance to smooth business operations, and with the Acronis solutions we will be able to protect our partners’ and clients’ data.”

Incorporating cybersecurity capabilities such as real-time antimalware protection, on-demand antivirus scans, web filtering, and videoconference protection into solutions, like the recently launched Acronis Cyber Protect 15, ensures businesses have complete cyber protection. For small and medium-size business owners, unifying these vital capabilities in one solution makes their protection easier to manage and more affordable, while greatly improving the security of their data and devices.

“Compuage is a recognised brand name not just in India, but across South Asia region with a strong presence established over a decade – we are excited to partner with a team that is well-equipped with technical skills in cloud backup and security. We believe this alliance will prove to be instrumental in delivering best cloud solutions tailored to the needs of customers”, said Rustom Hiramaneck, Acronis Head of South Asia.

By integrating the company’s VB100-certified antimalware technology into its award-winning software, Acronis can uniquely offer one single solution that tackles the complete range of modern data loss threats.

Solutions available

Compuage will now be offering Acronis Cyber Cloud solutions to businesses and partners – the range of solutions provided will also include Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud, an innovative cyber protection solution that integrates backup, disaster recovery, next-gen anti-malware, cybersecurity and management tools into one solution.

Acronis cybersecurity solutions for cloud will empower Compuage partners with anti-ransomware protection, backup, disaster recovery, file sync and share, solutions that are easy to use, efficient, and secure. Compuage will be one of the few distributors to be providing all these services – allowing its partners to resell these solutions and address the growing cyber security and data protection concerns of businesses in the country.

About Acronis

Acronis unifies data protection and cybersecurity to deliver integrated, automated cyber protection that solves the safety, accessibility, privacy, authenticity, and security (SAPAS) challenges of the modern digital world. With flexible deployment models that fit the demands of service providers and IT professionals, Acronis provides superior cyber protection for data, applications, and systems with innovative next-generation antivirus, backup, disaster recovery, and endpoint protection management solutions. With award-winning AI-based antimalware and blockchain-based data authentication technologies, Acronis protects any environment – from cloud to hybrid to on-premises – 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 home users and 500,000 companies, including 100% of the Fortune 1000, and top-tier professional sports teams. Acronis products are available through 50,000 partners and service providers in over 150 countries in more than 40 languages.

About Compuage

Compuage Infocom Ltd is a distribution giant creating opportunities for enterprise advancement for its channel partners through agressive market development and continuous improvement through agility. With 46 offices and 69 service centers across the country, our 12,000+ online & offline retailers, resellers and system integrators enjoy doing business at ease.

Compuage Infocom Ltd acts as a strategic link between vendors and partners, thus readying them for unprecedented levels of business performance by catering to small and medium size businesses, large enterprises and government organizations across various industry verticals.

Our global infrastructure has its footprints in 7 countries across SAARC nations, coupled with a direct focus on enterprise solutions, cloud computing, PC & components and mobility.