New Oracle Support Rewards Program Helps Customers Accelerate Cloud Migrations While Reducing Software License Support Costs

* Customers can reduce their Oracle technology license support bill by up to 33 cents for every dollar spent on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

* Many Customers Will Be Able To Get 100% Of Their Oracle Support Fees Reimbursed Simply By Migrating A Handful Of Additional Workloads

* New program helps Experian, Cognizant, and Allegis Group move additional workloads to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

Oracle has announced a new Oracle Support Rewards program to help customers speed migrations to the cloud while reducing their software license support costs.  Now, customers making new commitments to buy Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) services can earn rewards that reduce or even eliminate their Oracle on-premises technology licensing support bills.

With this program, all Oracle technology license support customers will earn at least 25 cents of Support Rewards for each dollar of OCI Universal Credits they purchase and consume.  Customers with Oracle Unlimited License Agreements (ULA) will save even more – earning rewards at a 33 percent rate.  This means that a ULA customer with an Oracle technology license support bill of $500,000 could eliminate that bill entirely by migrating $1.5M of workloads to OCI.

“OCI is Oracle’s fastest growing business because we built a unique Generation 2 cloud infrastructure platform capable of running the most demanding mission-critical workloads faster, more reliably, and more securely than our on-premises systems,” said Oracle Chairman of the Board and Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison.  “We want to enable more customers to take advantage of our Gen 2 Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.  Oracle Support Rewards gives customers an easy way to simultaneously reduce their software support spend as they increase the speed of their cloud adoption.”

CIOs and IT organizations are pressured to drive innovation, often without new budget.  The Oracle Support Rewards program creates more value for existing Oracle technology customers, making adoption of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure even more cost-effective.  Like frequent flyer miles, a customer’s Support Rewards are automatically added in the OCI Console every month, and Rewards can be applied anytime.

Oracle Support Rewards joins the Oracle Universal Credits, Oracle Bring Your Own License, Oracle Customer to Cloud, and the recently launched Oracle Cloud Lift programs, which are all aimed at accelerating customers’ digital transformations while offering a great customer experience.  Oracle Cloud Lift coupled with Oracle Support Rewards and OCI’s already competitive pricing, makes it simple and cost-effective for customers to migrate more workloads to the cloud.

“Oracle is building differentiation in its cloud infrastructure services by staying laser focused on the unique needs of its customers,” said Dave McCarthy, vice president, Cloud and Edge Infrastructure Services, IDC.  “Oracle Support Rewards combined with flexible and transparent pricing are essential in attracting new business and accelerating adoption of OCI.”

Customers and partners like Allegis Group, Cognizant, and Experian are already seeing value in this new program.  Oracle partners benefit from added customer incentive to move to the cloud.  In particular, cloud service providers can pass on the savings from Oracle Support Rewards to their OCI customers.

“Allegis Group is the global leader in talent solutions. Oracle has helped us design a robust cloud adoption strategy that balances benefits to our users and our business, with immediate modernization of core applications like PeopleSoft and adoption of SaaS over time,” said Brian Lindner, Chief Information Officer, Allegis Group.  “The Oracle Support Rewards program allows us to continue to use existing technology investments, dramatically lower costs, and invest in the future.”

“Cognizant has worked with Oracle as both a partner and customer for more than 20 years to help our clients modernize their businesses and technology platforms,” said Anil Cheriyan, executive vice president, Strategy and Technology at Cognizant.  “The new Oracle Support Rewards program further gives Cognizant and our customers valuable incentives to move critical work to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.”

“As a leader in data and analytics, providing the best customer experience is extremely important to Experian.  We work with Oracle for many of our core systems on-premises, from call center data analysis to financial reporting,” said Mervyn Lally, Global Chief Enterprise Architect, Experian.  “As we continue to adopt cloud-based solutions, Oracle Support Rewards makes it much easier for us to choose Oracle Cloud for the future of these systems.  We believe that working with Oracle will allow us to further enhance our data processing and analytics capabilities in the cloud and help the millions of consumers and businesses we serve with our innovative solutions.”

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Signs MoU With ACMA For Training Auto Components Manufacturers In Its Best Practices

In line with its unwavering commitment to contribute to the human development efforts of the automotive industry, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA). As per the MoU, TKM through its training arm Toyota Learning and Development India (TLDI) will share its best practices like people development and lean management principles with the industry members of ACMA.

The MoU aligns with TKM’s continuous efforts in providing ‘Lifelong Learning’ to all its stakeholders including employees, suppliers, and industry peers to help them achieve their fullest potential in the ever-evolving skilling landscape. As per the MoU, TKM will impart 131 training programs focusing on principles of lean manufacturing, automobile and electrified vehicle technologies, industrial safety, environmental management systems, quality and supply chain management and trades such as automobile welding, car painting, mechatronics, automation and robotics. The training programs will be conducted either at the TKM manufacturing plant or at the premises of the ACMA member companies. TKM will deploy trainers who are certified by the Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), Japan and Toyota’s Asia-Pacific Global Production Center (AP-GPC), Thailand.

Commenting on the joint initiative, Mr. Vinnie Mehta, Director General, ACMA, said, “The MoU between ACMA and Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) for people’s development is a step in the right direction to prepare our human resources for the future. It will not only benefit ACMA member companies but will also help India to become a world-class automotive manufacturing hub through the deployment of efficient, agile, and best-in-class practices.

Further, the pandemic has led to realigning the shop floors to ensure sustainable manufacturing with safety. Auto components manufacturers who will undergo skilling under this joint TKM-ACMA initiative, will be endowed with skills and knowledge for creating a manufacturing ecosystem that can overcome the challenges of disruptions and ensure business continuity,” he added. 

Sharing his thoughts on the tie-up, Mr. G. Shankara, Vice President, Human Resources and Services, TKM, said, “People are the most important asset at Toyota and thus developing them forms the fulcrum of our company’s philosophy. The ‘Toyota Way’ focuses on the quest for improvement by encouraging both incremental and breakthrough innovative thinking. Today, every organization is looking for a silver lining as they adapt to the new normal and make work more productive and flexible. Toyota Production System which is a globally renowned approach for the auto industry helps in building lean and agile systems. We are happy to share Toyota’s know-how and contribute to the human development of the auto components industry. We are hopeful that our association with ACMA in facilitating skill-upgradation for the components manufacturers will go a long way in creating a sustainable, robust and future-ready automotive supply chain in the country,” he added.

Decentro & Yes Bank Launch Prepaid Program For Businesses

* A business can go live with these programs in few weeks compared to the months-long integration process

Decentro, a banking API Integration platform for businesses, today announced the launch of its new prepaid program platform in partnership with Yes Bank. The program caters to fintech brands, NBFCs, gig economy players, neo-banks, and any consumer or business facing corporate entity by enabling them to launch co-branded prepaid cards. The card, which will use Decentro’s and Yes Bank’s API integration layer, is being launched on the RuPay Network.

A business can go live with these programs in a matter of just a few weeks compared to the months-long integration process which is typically the timeline.

“We are committed to provide world-class product experience to our customers and enable a transformative fintech journey that they can offer to their customers. We are happy to join hands with like-minded partners like Yes Bank to enable this journey of creating value for corporates and the larger ecosystem in India. Any business can now launch a co-branded prepaid card and give their customers a chance to spend easily with various merchants in the offline and online world," said Rohit Taneja, Founder & CEO, Decentro.

These cards will help merchants to streamline their customer’s expenses, track their spending patterns, enable personal finance management solutions, and help them seamlessly manage and reload their cards. It also adds a new revenue stream for the businesses launching the card, in the form of interchange commission whenever anyone makes a transaction with these prepaid cards.

Anita Pai, Chief Operating Officer, Yes Bank, said, “We are pleased to partner with Decentro on this unique technology-driven project - in line with our strategy to nurture open banking, strengthen the payments ecosystem and create commercial models that will provide value for our clients. The partnership will enable faster go-to-market for businesses to launch prepaid payment instruments, thereby delivering the convenience of digital-first solutions to more consumers. We are intensifying our efforts to deliver a range of solutions that add value to customers and push the boundaries through strategic partnerships across the spectrum.”

The first partner company for this launch is a B2B payments network in India that lets small businesses collect online payments from other businesses. Using a partner NBFC that is willing to provide credit to these small merchants, the prepaid card will essentially act as a credit instrument to facilitate, track, and manage the spending seamlessly. Ultimately enabling a fully cashless environment for the thousands of retailers in the fast-growing digital economy.

Few of the key use cases that businesses and platforms can look at with this:

Neo-Banks & Personal Finance Managers

Fintech players can get to know their customers financially and trace the ICP - Ideal Customer Persona. They can further customize their prepaid offerings and packages as per customer preference.

Fleet Operators & Gig Economy

Gig Economy companies can issue pre-loaded cards to their agents or drivers, create wallets on the go, and automatically manage and track their fleet expenses and payments with ease.

Corporates & Marketplaces

Corporates can now eliminate the endless cycle of reimbursements. These cards can amp up employee incentives and boost employee morale further.

Platforms & Aggregators

Platforms and aggregators can monetize partners related spends. Businesses can offer prepaid cards to corporations on their platform and nurture long-lasting and trust-led partnerships from the beginning.

Cloud-Based Enterprise Software Provider Eka To Transform Corporate Treasury Operations With A New, Purpose-Built Solution

* Eka Acqui-Hires Banking And Finance Tech Start-Up Trxiea; Devanshu Bhatt Joins As SVP, Treasury Solutions

Eka Software Solutions, a cloud-based enterprise solutions provider, announced today it has shored up a team of industry experts tasked with delivering a new solution to dramatically transform corporate treasury operations. This new business initiative will be led by Devanshu Bhatt, the former India Head of ION’s Corporate Treasury Group, who recently joined Eka. Additionally, the firm completed the acqui-hire of banking and finance start-up Trxiea Platforms and Solutions, whose highly experienced team will help accelerate the treasury solution’s time-to-market.

The strategic hires are part of Eka’s ongoing effort to expand its state-of-the-art cloud platform into a comprehensive multi-solution platform for global enterprises. The newly assembled team was curated specifically to develop a purpose-built, cloud-native corporate treasury solution that provides Chief Financial Officers with a complete, real-time view across their entire enterprise by unifying and integrating disparate applications across procurement, banking, financial planning, risk management.

A digital transformation leader in building cloud-based, mission-critical business systems,

Eka recognized inadequacies in the treasury technology solutions currently available, which often operate as siloed systems to other business functions, hindering productivity, visibility and increasing compliance risk.

Manav Garg, Eka Founder and CEO said, “The corporate treasury function sits at the epicenter of organizations, adding incremental value through efficient working capital management.  However, despite its importance, we have seen that far too many treasury departments are operating on legacy, monolithic systems that aren’t keeping pace with today’s business environment.”

“We have a clear vision of building a robust treasury solution that joins the dots across the organization, so that CFOs can operate from one single, trusted source of truth, rather than trying to piece together information from disparate systems and departments. To do this, we have built a team of incredible subject matter experts, and we are extremely excited to translate our vision into a transformative product over the coming months.”

A Best-in-Class Team

Leading Eka’s corporate treasury initiative is Devanshu Bhatt. Bhatt brings more than 20 years of treasury and finance product management and development experience. Prior to his role at ION, Devanshu was Managing Director and Senior Vice President of Product Development for Reval, ION Treasury’s cloud-based solution.

Joining Bhatt is the highly experienced Trxiea team, including the co-founders Renju Balu and Dr. Trib Kharkwal who holds a Ph.D. in operations research. Together, they bring to Eka their deep-seeded industry knowledge and expertise in executing transformational banking and treasury projects. The arrangement with Trxiea is what is known as an “aqui-hire,” an arrangement where a company acquires an existing company specifically for the skills and expertise of their employees.

Eka’s Cloud Platform already offers solutions for E-sourcing, Financial Management, Supply Chain, Sustainability, Trading and Risk Management. The addition of the treasury capability will round out the offering further, providing a foundation for clients to accelerate their digital journey.

Eka is a strong proponent of empowering its customers to digitize critical business processes, as part of its ‘Mission Digital’ effort. Through an agile, cloud-based platform, Mission Digital applies an innovative solution-driven approach that delivers:

* a completely automated workflow to drive business resiliency;

* a simplified interface to support new ways of bringing employees, processes, and technology together in one place;

* and instant access to multiple buyers and suppliers across the global supply chain;

* fast and flexible integration with pre-built connectors to ERP, CRM, Market data and more.

About Eka Software Solutions:

Eka Software Solutions is a global leader in providing innovative, cloud driven solutions that help customers digitize and improve their business functions across supply chain, commodity and financial management. Built to accelerate customer’s digital journey to the cloud, Eka’s platform-driven solutions enable businesses to quickly adapt and overcome complex challenges in commodity management, source-to-pay, treasury and sustainability. With close to 500 employees, Eka supports more than 100 customers globally and has proven industry expertise in helping customers achieve digital transformation, solving complex business challenges in an environment of continuous change. Read more at www.eka1.com.

Telecom Sector Displays Highest Discrepancy Percentage Of 49.7% In Q1 Of 2021

Telecom sector displayed the highest discrepancy percentage in employee background verification in quarter ending March 2021 and hospitality sector displayed the lowest discrepancy percentage in the same period.

Discrepancy percentages across other sectors like banking, BPO, Engineering & Infra, Financial Services, FMCG, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Pharma & Retail were way above industry average in the quarter.

According to the Q 1 ‘21 Trends Report quantifying the hiring trends and qualifying the nature of discrepancy patterns in India, curated by First Advantage India, a leading background screening firm headquartered in the US, the increase in case level discrepancy percentages in the telecom sector was as high as 49.7%, with 50 out of every 100 candidates screened being discrepant. This was way above 36.6% in the previous quarter. Discrepancy percentage in the hospitality sector stood at 2.9% lower than the 3.4% in Q4’ 20.

Overall, however, discrepancy percentages were marginally higher in Q1 ‘21 at 8.7% as compared to Q4 ‘20 which was 8.6%. Out of these, highest number of discrepancies have been detected in the >=22 to 30 years age bracket candidates and more than 91% fraudulent occurrences have transpired in the 22 to 40 years age bracket in both the quarters.

“Considering the shift to a digital workplace across industries, we have observed that the organizations have successfully built new digital initiatives to continue their business uninterrupted. As companies fight for the best talent available in the marketplace, it has become a necessity for them to get the insights they need to hire people with the right skills and backgrounds,” explains Amit Singh, Head- Commercial, First Advantage India.

A study of education discrepancies shows that suspect institution forms the biggest chunk in this quarter at 50%. Fake document is at 27% and discrepancies like ‘Other False Education’ were at 23%. Other False Education include ‘Did not officially complete the course, Registration or Credential or membership expired etc.’

In the quarter ending Mar 2021, ‘Incorrect tenure’ and ‘Inflated designation’ have topped the graph at 24% under discrepancies categorized by Employment component. It is followed by ‘Exit Formalities not Completed/ Absconding’ at 14% and ‘Other False Employment’ at 12%. 

The discrepancy rate for education and address checks were the highest in the Northern Zone of India whereas the Southern zone of India displayed significantly higher discrepancy rate for employment checks.

“The COVID -19 pandemic is changing the way we approach employment background checks. To meet the hiring needs, companies transferred the verification process from standard to digital mode of verification for address and employment checks respectively. We at First Advantage are therefore carrying out alternate methods of verification too by using automated solution and advanced GPS technology to match the geographical coordinates of the address provided by the candidate with the coordinates captured via the mobile device from where the candidate is physically present” adds Amit Singh.

8 out of every 100 Employment verification were conducted through alternate modes of verification, he explains. 

Infogain Recognized As 2nd Fastest Growing Company In Everest Group Engineering Services Top 50™ 2021

Infogain, a Silicon Valley-based leader in human-centered digital platform and software engineering services, today announced that it has been recognized as the 2nd fastest growing company in Everest Group Engineering Services Top 50™ 2021.

Everest Group evaluates and ranks third-party providers based on analysis of their previous calendar year’s (CY2020) engineering services revenue and year-on-year growth. According to the report, the Top 50 Engineering Services companies have combined revenues of $46.7 billion in CY2020, marginally higher than the aggregate of $45.9 billion from CY2019 and a significant jump from $40.5 billion in CY2018. Broad-based providers reported an average growth rate of 6.4% from 2019 to 2020. 

Infogain was recognized as among the top three fastest-growing companies for the second consecutive year.  Infogain and other providers reported engineering services revenues across select verticals, including software products, automotive, computing systems, healthcare & medical devices, industrial & energy, and consumer electronics.

In this third edition of the Engineering Services Top 50™ list Infogain ranked 26th overall.  In the past year Infogain has also been recognized as a “Star Performer” and “Major Contender” in Everest Group’s Software Product Engineering Services PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2021 and ‘Major Contender’ in Everest Group’s Digital Interactive Experience (IX) Services PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2020.

Nishith Mathur, Chief Strategy and Solutions Officer at Infogain, said, “The fact that we have improved our rankings during a global pandemic validates Infogain’s software engineering expertise and relentless commitment to delivering client value. Our IP and accelerators, growing use of DevSecOps, and cloud engineering frameworks enable us to deliver innovation, excellence, and continuous improvement to our clients.”

The Top 50™ list is instrumental in helping enterprises understand the global third-party engineering services landscape, make informed sourcing decisions, and identify new ways to leverage third-party engineering services providers. In addition, the list helps service providers make an assessment of their competitive position among their peers.

About Infogain

Infogain is a human-centered digital platform and software engineering company based out of Silicon Valley. We engineer business outcomes for Fortune 500 companies and digital natives in the technology, healthcare, insurance, travel, telecom and retail & CPG industries using technologies such as cloud, microservices, automation, IoT, and artificial intelligence. We accelerate experience-led transformation in the delivery of digital platforms. Infogain is also a Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Gold Partner and Azure Expert Managed Services Provider (MSP).

Infogain, a ChrysCapital portfolio company, has offices in California, Washington, Texas, the UK, the UAE, and Singapore, with delivery centers in Seattle, Houston, Austin, Kraków, Noida, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune, and Bengaluru. 

Hero Motocorp To Increase Prices Of Its Motorcycles & Scooters From July 1, 2021

Hero MotoCorp will make an upward revision in the ex-showroom prices of its motorcycles and scooters, with effect from July 1, 2021.

The price hike has been necessitated to partially offset the impact of continuous increase in commodity prices. The company continues to drive cost savings program aggressively, in order to minimize the impact on the customer.

The price hike across the range of motorcycles and scooters will be up to Rs. 3,000 and the exact quantum of the increase will depend on the basis of the model and the specific market.