COVID-19 Has Sparked A New Wave Of Innovation Across Consumer Industries, According To Accenture Research

* Successful consumer-facing companies are repurposing physical locations, exploring new business models, and rapidly adopting advanced analytics and other disruptive technologies to find new sources of growth

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way people live, work and socialize, accelerating demand for innovation, as retailers, consumer goods, and travel companies shift from reacting to the crisis to reinventing products and services, according to findings of a new global survey from Accenture (NYSE: ACN).

After a year of lockdowns, 98% of survey respondents in India said they made at least one change to their lifestyle that they expect will be permanent. Working from home, changing travel patterns, and a growing desire to shop locally are challenging industries to fundamentally rethink how they cater to the pandemic-adapted consumer. The latest survey of more than 9,650 people in 19 countries including more than 500 people in India, supports Accenture’s previous findings that many changes in behaviour will likely be long-term.

“The past year has been a tough one for consumers and consumer-facing industries. Evolving consumer preferences and behaviours have led to huge demand fluctuation, making it imperative for consumer goods and retail companies to stay agile and resilient. As companies shift from reaction to reinvention, they need to harness digital’s full potential across the value chain at speed and scale,” said Anurag Gupta, managing director and lead - Strategy & Consulting, Accenture in India.

COVID-19 has led to compressed transformation, with companies simultaneously transforming multiple parts of the enterprise and reskilling people in what previously would have been longer-term step-by-step programs. Many consumer-facing companies have re-platformed their businesses in the cloud, addressed cost pressures, and continued to build resilience and security, putting the infrastructure in place to enable innovation and position them for future success.

Manish Gupta, managing director and lead for Products practice, Accenture in India said, “To succeed in a post-pandemic economy, companies need to digitally reinvent themselves and strategically invest in technology, people and supply chains. Adoption of digital technologies such as cloud, artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, combined with a well-defined purpose, can help companies to not only reach out to consumers in innovative ways but also adapt faster to the evolving market demands.”

Dawn of the “third space”

The pandemic forced a rapid shift to employees working from home, with many expressing that they want flexibility in how and where they work moving forward. More than 87% of respondents in India said they would like to occasionally work from a “third space” — a location other than their home or place of employment.  This highlights a potential opportunity to grow revenue for the hospitality and retail industries.

The desire to work from a “third space” is accompanied by a shift in attitudes towards business travel. Nearly 57% of respondents in India said they have no business travel plans post-pandemic, or they intend to cut previous business travel by half. How long this view will hold firm remains to be seen, but the current outlook indicates that the return to travel will resume principally within the leisure market, pushing the industry to adapt and become even more efficient to make up for lost income.

Shifts in consumer habits are here to stay

Not only do people think some of their work habits and travel plans have likely permanently changed, many also think their shopping habits have evolved for the long haul. The latest research supports Accenture’s previously released findings that the dramatic rise in e-commerce is likely to remain or accelerate further. For instance, the proportion of online purchases for products such as food, home décor, fashion, and luxury goods by previously infrequent e-commerce users — defined as those who used online channels for less than 25% of purchases prior to the outbreak — has increased 667% since the outbreak in India.

BharatPe Launches ‘Covid Vaccination Cashback’: Rolls Out Initiative To Encourage Covid-19 Vaccination For Merchants

●        Merchants to get Rs. 300 into their bank account for getting fully vaccinated

●        Merchants can figure out Covid-19 Vaccine Slots and Venues within BharatPe App

BharatPe, one of India’s leading fintech company for merchants, today announced the rollout of its unique campaign to further strengthen the Indian government’s vaccination drive against COVID19. Launched under ‘BharatPe Cares’, a corporate social responsibility initiative by BharatPe, this first-of-its-kind of programme aims to create awareness about Covid-19 vaccination amongst the company’s 6 million+ merchant partners and also encourage them to get vaccinated without delay. In India's first vaccination Cashback program, BharatPe merchants will get a Rs. 300 instant cash back in their bank account by scanning their vaccination certificate via the BharatPe app.

The company also announced the launch of a Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker on its app to facilitate relevant information on Covid-19 vaccination. By using this Vaccine Tracker, the merchants can view details of the nearby Covid-19 Vaccination Centers, based on their location. Also, they can choose to get notified when a slot is available in their chosen area.

Sharing details about the campaign, Ashneer Grover, Co-Founder & CEO, BharatPe said “The shopkeepers in India have played a significant part during Covid by ensuring availability of essentials. It’s time now for them to start working towards unlocking. 

BharatPe is incentivizing all shopkeepers to get vaccinated at the earliest so that they stay safe as business picks up and footfalls at shops increase. It's time to get back to business.”

BharatPe is committed to make financial inclusion a reality for small merchants and kirana store owners in the country. The vision of the company is become a Digital Bank and empower the 50 million-strong SME community in the country by launching a range of financial products, specially designed to address their needs and empower their businesses.

About BharatPe

BharatPe was co-founded by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani in 2018 with the vision to make financial inclusion a reality for Indian merchants. In 2018, BharatPe launched India’s first UPI interoperable QR code, first zero MDR payment acceptance service, and first UPI payment backed merchant cash advance service. In 2020, post-Covid, BharatPe also launched India’s only zero MDR card acceptance terminals – BharatSwipe. Currently serving over 60 lakh merchants across 100 cities, the company is a leader in UPI offline transactions, processing 10 crores+ UPI transactions per month (annualized Transaction Processed Value of US$ 10+ Bn). The company has already facilitated disbursement of loans totaling to over Rs. 1,600 crores to its merchants since launch. 

BharatPe’s POS business processes payments of over Rs. 1,200 crores/ month. BharatPe has raised close to US$ 300 million in equity and debt, till date. The company’s list of marquee investors includes Coatue Management, Ribbit Capital, Insight Partners, Steadview Capital, Beenext, Amplo and Sequoia Capital. 

Zoho Corp Extends Its Technology Platform And Support To Government Bodies, Hospitals And NGOs For Covid Relief Work

 

Zoho Corp. has extended its technology platform to government bodies, hospitals and NGOs in India providing Covid relief, in order to help them streamline and manage their operations more efficiently. The company has also set up a dedicated helpline and a team to assist those who want to utilise Zoho's platform to build a customised solution. These solutions can help them be better prepared for future challenges as well.

As part of this initiative, Zoho has worked with a few NGOs as well as government departments, including Tamil Nadu State Covid War Room, to develop tech solutions for managing their relief work. The company has also urged other technology providers to offer their expertise in helping frontline workers.

Based on the requirement of the organisation or individuals, Zoho's dedicated team can build customised solutions using any of the company's 50+ apps, which will be made available for free for this purpose. Some of the areas where Zoho can provide assistance include:

Fund collection: Zoho Checkout can be used to accept online payments or donations and send receipts to the donors. Zoho Invoice can be used to accept offline donations, send receipts, track billable expenses and raise invoices.

Inventory management: Zoho Inventory can be used to track the inventory of PPE kits, medical supplies, etc., and provide alerts when restocking is required. NGOs can connect to multiple selling channels, shippers, and track the delivery.

Volunteer and contact management: Zoho CRM can be used to capture donor, volunteer, or patient details, and get real-time visibility into the operation.

Data collection: Zoho Forms can be used to create web forms for collecting and managing registrations, payments, subscriptions, requests and contact forms.

Helpdesk and IVR solutions: Zoho Desk can help in addressing public issues and requests through a robust multichannel ticketing system, and deliver contextual service in real time.

Live chat and chatbots: Zoho SalesIQ can help provide immediate virtual assistance through live chat, automate routine tasks, and resolve queries with chatbots.

Social media response management: Zoho Social can help users publish unlimited outreach campaigns on social media, respond to people, and monitor SOS messages.

Video conferencing: Zoho Meeting can help doctors provide clinical services to people online, while other users can conduct training webinars, or hold conference calls with volunteers and other stakeholders.

Data reporting and analysis:  Zoho Analytics can help users transform large amounts of medical, financial, and operational data into actionable insights.

Custom low-code applications: For custom needs, apps can be easily created on Zoho's low-code platform, Zoho Creator.

"We have been working with Zoho to create a solution for us, using Zoho CRM, to streamline our efforts to combat Covid. Zoho's app is being used by volunteers at the Tamil Nadu Covid War Room to address Covid-related requests and issues coming in through the 104 helpline. When people require hospitalisation, the volunteers use the app to find the nearest hospital where a bed is available and issue a token that can be used to get the bed. The app is also being used to manage requests for oxygen, medicines and food. Even burial and cremation requests, and grief counselling is being managed using the app. It's being deployed in phases to our 50,000 volunteers. Based on the requirement, we will scale the operation to 2 lakh volunteers. The use of technology will help us in quickly responding to patients needing critical care, efficiently managing and allocating available resources, and monitoring the situation closely as we will have real-time visibility into the operation," said Dr Viduthalai Virumbi B,  Health Officer, Tamil Nadu State Covid War Room.

“Covid Citizens is a community-driven collective which verifies and crowd-sources pan-India information on critical Covid resources such as medicines, oxygen cylinders, beds, blood tests, meal services, plasma, ambulances, and more. Zoho supports Covid Citizens through their tool for social media outreach,” said Utkarsh Roy, Co-Founder, IntroBot, and Core Team Member of Covid Citizens.

"A group of volunteers from multiple NGOs had gotten together to help a patient in Chennai find a hospital bed. The team was using Google Sheets and WhatsApp to run their operations. This was proving to be difficult and also had issues with duplication of effort. This is when we decided to build an application to streamline the entire process. We were able to quickly build and launch the app using Zoho Creator in 48 hours. We also found Zoho Creator easy to use. Today, more than 120 volunteers are helping 100+ patients find hospital beds everyday using the system," said Shyam Sundar Nagarajan, Founder, GoFloaters.

Mamaearth Appoints Avinash Dhagat As Vice President Of Operations

* In this role, he will be leading the operations and supply chain for the brand.

Mamaearth, one of the fastest-growing FMCG brands, appointed Mr. Avinash Dhagat as vice president, operations. In this role, he will be leading the operations and supply chain for the brand.

Dhagat is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience across automotive and FMCG sectors, most recently as head of supply chain at Loreal India’s consumer division. Over the years he has gained in depth understanding of Demand & Supply Planning, Inventory Management & Customer Service, in India and GCC markets. After graduating from NIT, Warangal, he pursued his master’s in supply chain and Logistics. With his pragmatic approach, he has been instrumental in making supply chain processes coherent and orderly.

Speaking about his new role, Dhagat said, “Mamaearth has displayed disruptive growth over the last 4 years and has displayed exceptional abilities in managing supply chain processes with scale up. It is extremely exciting to be a part of a brand which is on the upheaval, both on how to keep pace with the scale up and introducing newer practices to make the processes even more efficient in this journey. I look forward to working with the fastest growing brand in India and becoming a part of every household in the years to come.”

Commenting on this crucial onboarding, Varun Alagh, co-founder and CEO, Mamaearth said, “I am delighted to welcome Avinash as Vice President, Operations. Avinash’s experience combined with his commercial and planning expertise over the last decade in FMCG, will help make Mamaearth supply chain processes more systematic and streamlined. We wish him great success in his new role.”

Avinash will be based out of the Gurgaon office and this appointment comes on the heels of other critical and strategic additions to the leadership team of Mamaearth.

ABSLI Launches Vision LifeIncome Plus = A Plan To Suit Customer’s Money Needs At All Life Stages

 

* A customizable savings plan offering regular income and additional bonus ~

Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance (ABSLI), the life insurance subsidiary of Aditya Birla Capital Limited (ABCL), announced the launch of a hyper-flexible savings plan - ABSLI Vision LifeIncome Plus Plan that provides guaranteed regular income plus flexible bonus pay outs.

This non-linked participating individual plan has been designed to offer various plan options which can be tailor-made to perfectly suit customers’ unique financial needs across different life-stages. This savings plan provides a customer with the comfort of a guaranteed regular income for up to 30 years to help them achieve their evolving life goals while reaping the benefits of a comprehensive life insurance cover. Additionally, the plan also brings an upside through completely flexible bonus pay-outs which can be accumulated for wealth creation or withdrawn at the customer’s convenience for an instant access to their money.

ABSLI Vision LifeIncome Plus Plan offers tax-free guaranteed additional income for life, besides providing the benefit of liquidity or cash in hand whenever one requires funds.

Commenting on the launch, Mr. Kamlesh Rao, MD & CEO, Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance, said, “Amid the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, ups and downs in the economy and the markets, saving sufficiently for the future —tomorrow or three decades from now — has become extremely crucial. Individuals today need plans which can be personalized to fit their unique needs at different life stages and can assure complete security of future financial goals. ABSLI Vision LifeIncome Plus Plan will cater to this immediate need of customers by maximizing their income and minimizing risk. This holistic solution will not only help individuals meet their short and long-term financial requirements, do legacy planning but will also offer bonus income to further increase wealth or build contingency fund.”

ABSLI Vision LifeIncome Plus Plan offers the following benefits, thereby providing enough flexibility to customize the product as per customer’s requirements:

* Choice of 3 Benefit options: Flexibility to choose amongst three Benefit Options i.e. Short-Term Income, Long Term Income and Whole Life Income (Till Age 100 or Till Age 85) to cater to customers’ needs across all life stages.

o    Short Term Income - Guaranteed Monthly Income Payable for 10 years + Bonuses This can be an ideal solution for salaried individuals below 45 years, who can plan for secured income or early retirement.

o    Long Term Income - Guaranteed Annual Income Payable for 20, 25, 30 years + Bonuses. This can help individuals cater to specific milestones and build legacy.

o    Whole Life Income - Guaranteed Annual Income Payable for till Age 85 or Age 100 + Bonuses. This is an ideal plan for retirement and legacy planning.

* Guaranteed Regular Income: A regular flow of guaranteed income for the customers’ chosen Benefit Pay-out Period to safeguard their savings

* Flexible Bonus Payouts: Bonus declared in the form of ‘Paid Up Additions’, that can be accrued to build a wealth corpus or a contingency fund. The ‘Paid Up Additions’ can also be availed as cash pay-outs from first policy year onwards for instant liquidity needs. The plan shall also come with the additional flexibility to partially/fully withdraw the accrued Paid Up Additions anytime during the Policy Term.

* Comprehensive Life Cover: The plan offers life insurance cover until age 100 years. This plan shall offer a lump-sum benefit to the nominee, in case of unfortunate death of the life insured anytime during the Policy Term. Additionally, on opting for the Short Term Income option, this customizable plan will offer an inbuilt policy continuance benefit, which shall waive off remaining premiums in case of the unfortunate death of the life insured and thereby safeguard the customer’s family’s future in his/her absence.

* Customizable Benefits: Option to hyper-personalize this comprehensive plan by enhancing it with riders to suit customer’s  requirements at a nominal cost.

I’m So Excited I Don’t Want To Go Back To College: B-School Virtual Intern At Samsung

Yashjeet Varshney, a first year student at MDI Gurgaon has spent the last few days toggling between managing affairs at home and attending virtual meetings with business leaders at Samsung India, where he is doing his summer internship.

“I learn new things here every day and many new perspectives that a business school can never provide. Frankly, even though this internship is virtual and I may not be as fortunate as some of my seniors to get an in-office experience, the last two weeks have been absolutely exciting and I don’t know how I’d ever go back to routine college life,” he says.

Yashjeet is among 34 interns from India’s top B-Schools who got selected for the prestigious IGNITE (Inspiring Growth & Nurturing Interns Towards Excellence) internship program – a springboard for many young B-school grads aspiring for a coveted corporate career.

It’s a motley group of students from IIM-Ahmedabad, IIMs – Lucknow, Calcutta, Bangalore and Kozhikode, XLRI Jamshedpur, MDI Gurgaon and FMS Delhi. As the offices are shut for safety of employees as per Covid protocols, the young students are leaving no stone unturned to make the two-month long summer internship program ignite their spirits.

“Our spirits are high. Unfortunately, we are not able to raise a toast together because of this program going virtual this year too,” says Sameer Wadhawan, Senior Vice President and Head of Human Resources at Samsung India. “At Samsung, we believe that young talent, like in this lot will be Powering Digital India – Samsung’s vision for India,” he adds.

The people managers at Samsung have been working from home too, and it has been quite a challenge to keep the flock together but they have ensured the interns go back as empowered or more as any of their seniors. There are some misses for them surely, but the gains will outshine them.

First, let’s see what they have been missing: their first stride and warm welcome into Samsung’s plush Corporate Office on the 24th Floor of Two Horizon Center in Gurugram, the in-person meetings with Samsung leaders, a tête-à-tête with them over coffee, the first office pal, the visits to the exciting break out areas, the gym and cafeteria where ideas abound as much as the delicious spread of food. And of course, the after office parties. 

But there are plenty of firsts in a virtual office as well: The first cloud meeting, with patchy connection issues at times, first virtual catch-up, the first virtual brainstorming session, virtual meetings and ideation sessions. And it seems our bunch is enjoying it too.

“I was really hoping to have an in-person internship experience. I have always been passionate about new places, people, and culture so would have loved to see the Samsung office and meet colleagues,” says Sejal Sinha from IIM Kozhikode. “But the virtual mode has been just as intriguing. I absolutely love how the Samsung culture has kept it all so alive even through the current situation and its challenges.”

Anushka Dhawan from XLRI Jamshedpur says the best part about this internship for her is that even the senior most leaders are so readily available, “when we need any inputs from them.”

“Everyone has been keen on sharing their experience and insights with us making all the learning so much more fun. I am yet to fully believe that I am interning for a brand that is so omnipresent. Samsung is a part of almost every Indian home,” she says.

Samsung Newsroom link: I’m So Excited I Don’t Want to Go Back to College: B-School Virtual Intern at Samsung.

Spinny Signposts 1 MG Labs’ On-The-Spot RT-PCR Drive-Through Collection Points Across Delhi, Bengaluru And Gurgaon

In view of the dramatic upswing in infection rates through the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, with diagnostics services and testing facilities being over-burdened, Spinny, a new age pre-owned car end-to-end platform has tied up with 1MG Labs to provide on-the-spot RT-PCR collections across Delhi, Mumbai and Gurgaon from the safety of one’s car. 

Spinny has now provided delivery trucks used to deliver cars to its customers to 1MG Labs to conduct speedy on-the-spot drive-through collections in Sectors 29, 21 and 56 in Gurgaon; and select locations in Delhi and Bengaluru. Anybody experiencing COVID-19 like symptoms can avail of sampling at these select locations, starting today.

Spinny is supporting 1MG labs in organizing sample collections on the spot as per ICMR guidelines and reports within 36 hours as per subsidised and government approved rates. Currently, there are around 2.6 Cr COVID cases in India, claiming around 2.91 Lac lives.

Says Niraj Singh, CEO and Founder, Spinny - “The need of the hour is to be there, on the road, in plain sight and aid our nation’s diagnostics and healthcare system. 

Also, driving to a test centre in one’s personal car is comparatively less riskier than visiting a more crowded space, at this juncture.  We at Spinny do not think of this as a service, but as a necessity and laud 1MG’s efforts.

Locations of drive-through collection centers:

Sector 29, Gurgaon: https://lnkd.in/eKV5gV9

Sector 21, Gurgaon: https://lnkd.in/eQGUAtZ

Sector 56, Gurgaon: https://lnkd.in/eta6S6z