VPBank Raises The Bar In Vietnam's Digital Transformation With iGTB Cash Platform From Intellect

* iGTB’s strategic partnership with VPBank will provide a fully-integrated, Cash & Payments Management platform to enhance corporate and SME customer’s experience and operational efficiency.

Intellect Global Transaction Banking (iGTB), the transaction banking specialist from Intellect Design Arena Limited, ranked #1 in the world for Transaction Banking by IBS Intelligence for two years in a row, today announced that Hanoi-headquartered VPBank has signed a major transformative deal to digitize and streamline its transaction banking offerings. For Intellect, this deal marks the tenth key digital banking transformation deal in Vietnam.

This digital transformation deal will boost VPBank’s digitization efforts of its transaction banking function which in turn will enhance the country’s digital economy which is aligned with the “Vietnam National Digital Transformation Roadmap 2025”. This will bring the bank closer to the goal of being the most customer-friendly bank through technology in 2022 with disruptive iGTB’s products and services for its corporate, commercial and SME clients. 

According to VPBank CEO, Mr Nguyen Duc Vinh, “VPBank has always been a pioneer in selecting the most up-to-date technology to power accelerated digital transformation. Strengthening our IT Infrastructure to enable and automate digital strategy is our key to improving productivity by 20-30% in order that we stay ahead of the competition. This is why harnessing disruptive digital IT initiatives is currently a major priority for us.”

“Partnering with iGTB, VPBank will continue to improve customer experience and expand the business ecosystem through a new and efficient digital technology, which will transform our cash management. Armed with this iGTB and VPBank solution, we are set to increase significantly the competitive edge for the bank and retain our leadership position as the preferred bank of choice for both SME and for corporate customers.” 

According to iGTB CEO, Mr Manish Maakan, “I am proud that this latest VPBank deal transformation deepens Intellect’s portfolio to a dominant position in Vietnam. Our investments into iGTB Cash Cloud and iColumbus.ai platforms are the keys to a faster go-to-market, so that our client portfolios across APAC, Middle East, Europe and Americas can realize early returns on their technology investments. Our simultaneous market-depth strategy is a result of years of investment into local Vietnamese regulations & payment systems, backed by iGTB’s local relationship managers & delivery teams out of Hanoi, and our longstanding partnership with Vietnamese FPT Information Services.”

Mr Maakan added, “Vietnam’s corporates and SMEs are demanding digital financial solutions, and the Vietnam banking industry is rising to the challenge powered by iGTB’s latest digital banking platforms. This partnership powered by iGTB's global expertise in transaction banking technology will help VPBank achieve its goal of becoming the most customer-friendly technology-driven bank and the most valuable bank in Vietnam.”

This transformative cash management platform delivers a seamless customer experience with a completely digital integrated transaction banking suite of iGTB’s Cash Management, Trade Finance, Payments, Account Services, Collections and Liquidity Management powered by the award-winning front-end Contextual Banking Experience (CBX) platform with the ability to deploy new customers quickly, handle large volumes of transactions, improve operational efficiency and help reduce complexity and cost. 

Key Highlights

Seamless customer experience through digital transformation of VPBank’s cash management system: With a focus on Cash Management which includes Liquidity Management, Account Services, Payments and Collections along with Trade Finance channel services to corporate & commercial clients, the bank would be enabled to provide seamless customer experience and exceed business critical banking requirements which would help to retain the leadership position in the region.

Customer centric front-to-back omni-channel CBX solution: The single instance, fully integrated omni-channel Contextual Banking eXperience (CBX) will provide real-time insights and analytics through visual dashboards which will enable VPBank to enhance operational efficiencies by eliminating manual processes and will be a key differentiating factor for the Bank’s corporate customers.

Single vendor integrated platform for operational excellence: A single vendor integrated cash management platform will bring in process optimization, higher automation and STP capabilities for payments processing with high performance technology. This ensures improved operational efficiency through centralization of functions and rapid issue resolution which lowers TCO and results in less expensive upgrade and maintenance costs in future. 

Customer acquisition and retention at the center of cross-selling and up-sell strategy through technology: With this streamlined integration model, VPBank will be enabled to move ahead of the competition by adopting the latest technology to respond to the ever-changing dynamic market conditions through pre-configuration. This would enable the bank to increase the wallet share and maximize fee-based revenue.

Local market ready with deep expertise in the region: iGTB’s intimate knowledge of the Vietnamese market is reflected with boots-on-the-ground local relationship managers and delivery teams based out of Hanoi. The partnership with local vendor FTP will further enhance the implementation and deployment. 

Faster go-to-market with advanced product configurations: The platform enables modules to be quickly stitched together for developing a comprehensive solution, thus allowing the VP Bank to get a quick return on their investments. As a result, products can be quickly launched to offer value added services to the bank’s customers.  

MedGenome Launches VarMiner, A ML Based Analysis Software To Detect Genetic Variants For Rare Diseases And Inherited Cancers

* The software can accurately predict and rank a pathogenic variant in 90% of rare diseases cases with no or minimum manual intervention

To improve diagnostic results in South Asia, MedGenome Labs, South Asia’s leading genomics research and diagnostics company, has developed and launched VarMiner, an AI-enabled powerful variant interpretation software suite. This proprietary software will help clinicians, molecular geneticists, and Genome analysts to interpret and report actionable variants.

India has an estimated 72 to 96 million people affected by rare diseases. As the lack of awareness is the biggest hindrance, it faces towards research done on these diseases and consequently the treatment, the first step towards understanding rare diseases should be the diagnosis. Rare diseases have mostly been proven to be genetic and can be diagnosed via genomic testing. VarMiner is powered by unique proprietary tools and databases to provide deeper insights into genetics with extreme accuracy and efficiency.

Dr Ravi Gupta, Vice President of Bioinformatics, MedGenome Labs, said, “Identifying the causal variant(s) in a patient with a rare disorder is like pointing out a needle in a haystack. MedGenome has developed an ML-powered software, “VarMiner”, to identify the disease-causing variants rapidly and accurately from next-generation sequenced data. Our solution streamlines the complex clinical report generation process and thus enables the diagnostics labs in India and globally to scale up the diagnostic reporting. With our validated solution on a large number of clinical samples, we believe it will further improve the diagnosis rate of rare Mendelian disorders, which has been a challenge in this field.” 

VarMiner supports various NGS Dx workflows

Germline Analysis - Covers all rare diseases, inherited cancers, Mitochondrial genome analysis, PGx and HLA analysis

Carrier/TRIO Analysis - Combined Analysis of familial samples to detect De-novo and common inherited variants and reporting

Somatic Analysis - Comprehensive analysis of cancer genomes with support for Liquid Biopsy, Hematology and Solid tumour cases

Commenting on the launch, Dr Vedam Ramprasad, CEO, MedGenome Labs, said, “Decoding genetic information is the core of everything we do. Today, we are immensely proud to launch this ML-enabled variant interpretation software suite, with which we can move towards a healthcare system more rooted in prevention rather than just treatment. We truly believe that VarMiner can help Molecular diagnostics labs in India and globally analyse and automate their NGS reports. While this is an initial version with high specificity, we are working on the next version that increase the algorithm’s sensitivity too.”

VarMiner is an efficient tool for detecting genomic variants in all rare diseases, inherited cancers, as well as for conducting mitochondrial genome analysis, PGx and HLA analysis. It offers out-of-box clinically validated analysis workflows for germline, somatic and pre-natal NGS tests. Some of the key features that enable the core analysis are the ML-ranking of causal variants, Symptoms and phenotype-based variant mapper, automated ACMG Classification, sample-variant quality metrics and advanced annotations.

About MedGenome

MedGenome is a genomics?driven research and diagnostics company with a mission to improve global health by decoding the genetic information contained in an individual's genome. Its unique access to genomics data with clinical and phenotypic data provides insights into complex diseases at the genetic and molecular level to facilitate research in personalized healthcare. MedGenome is the market leader for genetic diagnostic testing in India.

AI Powered Interior’s Marketplace YOUKRAFT Secures Commitment Of $10 Million In Seed Funding

Bangalore based YOUKRAFT, has secured a commitment of $10 million in seed funding from the Goel Family Office including Manav Goel (Founder and CEO of YOUKRAFT). The recently launched app will be an online marketplace exclusively catering to the construction and interiors industry.

YOUKRAFT is founded by Manav Goel to solve the on-ground challenges contractors face and to digitize the interiors market with technology to facilitate ease of transaction. He is currently transitioning from his role as the Managing Director of WOODKRAFT where he has led the company’s growth to become India’s leading corporate interiors fit-out company.  WOODKRAFT has successfully delivered over 600 projects spanning more than 75 million sq ft. in 28 cities in India, has offices in 9 cities, and a base of 7000+ skilled workforce. The company’s global corporate clientele includes many of the Fortune 500 companies. WOODKRAFT is on track to deliver over Rs 1,000+ crores in sales in the current financial year. This represents a significant growth (65%+) over last year.

“We are delighted to have secured the funds we need to support YOUKRAFT during this crucial early stage of our growth,” said Manav Goel, founder and CEO of YOUKRAFT. “We seek to bridge the gaps in India’s interior and construction industry by providing a unified technology platform where homeowners, interior designers and contractors can easily obtain the best products at the best prices delivered to their doorstep.”

The idea behind YOUKRAFT was conceived in 2021 to address the key logistical and transparency issues plaguing the interiors and construction industry. It was designed as a single unified platform that would connect homeowners, contractors, designers, architects, technicians, and other stakeholders in the industry. The technology was designed and developed in-house in just four months and relies on an advanced AI/ML algorithm that matches customers to the most appropriate product recommendations. Within the same four months, the platform also succeeded in listing over 20k+ SKUs offered by 100+ leading brands across key verticals. 

YOUKRAFT has been co-founded by a strong and diverse leadership team with domain expertise in E-Commerce, Technology, Marketing, Finance and Supply Chain. The core team also includes Torun Mathias (Credit Suisse), Rajib Saha (Flipkart), Anita Devraj Mookerjee (AJIO), Alok Saraf (Grant Thornton), Mukund Gandlur (Illude) and Sumit Gupta (Metro Cash and Carry). Their team strength has expanded from four to 90 people in just four months, and is growing.

Technology is at the heart of Youkraft, and they have developed in-house solutions to some of the hardest problems in ecommerce. “Our ML engine has been designed to use large amounts of publicly available price data across millions of products to create an insightful pricing engine that offers tailored recommendations based on user buying patterns, while suggesting ways to save on future purchases. We do this by creating customized discount offers, group buying, bulk discounting on their most bought products and showing them other products of similar quality but at a lower cost.” said Manav.

The platform eliminates hassles of sourcing, procurement and delivery, thus enabling the contractors to focus on their core expertise and grow their business.  The platform also employs distance, shipping cost and logistics reliability as key metrics to identify the most affordable and efficient shipping method.

Manav adds that the construction and interiors market is currently ripe for an ecommerce solution. “Digital payments have become the norm, and there are several digital-first logistics partners enabling easy shipping and fulfillment across India. Moreover, with the increasing urbanization of Tier-II and Tier-III cities, the demand for quality homes and commercial spaces is on the rise. This is a green-field opportunity for YOUKRAFT to unify the market and take the hassle out of the homeowning experience,” he says.

The YOUKRAFT app will be released in Bangalore first, and Manav is optimistic that their go-to-market speed will help them become a pan-India brand by end 2022/ early 2023. “We also plan to support our online platform with flagship omnichannel stores in the near future,” says Manav.

About the company

YOUKRAFT is an ecommerce marketplace that seeks to address key challenges in the interiors/construction industry through digitization. Their goal is to provide customers across India with any-time access to the best brands and contractors at affordable rates. YOUKRAFT consolidates brands across 25+ key industry verticals to provide a one-stop solution for homeowners, designers and architects.

Abbott Launches Arachitol Gummies: Bridging The Nutritional Gap For Vitamin D And Calcium

* Vitamin D and Calcium are essential micronutrients that help in keeping our bones, muscles and teeth healthy and strong[1]

* Research shows that nearly 76% of Indians experience Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency, with highest prevalence in individuals aged 18 to 30[2]

* Abbott’s Arachitol Gummies is a fruit flavored dietary supplement for daily Vitamin D and calcium requirements for both children and adults to support health and immunity[3]

 Abbott, the global healthcare leader, has launched Arachitol Gummies in India, a new fruit flavored product for kids and adults. Arachitol Gummies is a dietary supplement that helps maintain required levels of Vitamin D sustainably.  As the body needs vitamin D to absorb calcium for better bone health, keeping recommended levels of vitamin D is essential for overall well-being.[4] Formulated with additional essential micronutrients such as calcium and curcumin, they help support bone health and immunity.1 Launched in orange fruit flavor, these easy-to-consume gummies are approved as health supplements by the Food Safety and Standards Authority in India.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR 2010) recommends a daily supplement of 400 IU/day (international units of measurement) of Vitamin D for Indians under situations of minimal exposure to sunlight.3 According to a recent study, despite India being a tropical country with an abundance of sunlight, 76% of Indians have Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency, especially in the 18-30 age group.2 Limited sunlight exposure, air pollution obstructing UVB rays, high melanin levels and low intake of fortified foods are some of the major causes of Vitamin D deficiency.4

Dr. Jejoe Karankumar, Director Medical Affairs at Abbott said, “Abbott has been a pioneer in Vitamin D supplements with a legacy of over 50 years in helping people thrive and live healthier through this important nutrient. The launch of Arachitol Gummies is an important step in helping bridge India’s nutritional gaps and enhance good health. These gummies are tasty and chewable, making them easy to consume for kids and adults alike, amid their fast-paced lifestyles.”

Commenting on the importance of maintaining Vitamin D levels, Dr Rajendra Sharma, M.B.B.S, M.D., Internal Medicine said, “Vitamin D plays an important role in calcium absorption, bone health and immunity.4,5 Having a proper calcium level and balanced Vitamin D levels is essential for good  skeletal health.4 Along with daily nutritional intake, supplements like Vitamin D gummies can help maintain appropriate nutritional levels for stronger bones, muscle strength and improved immunity. Additionally, this can help an individual avoid nutrient insufficiency.”

Recently, studies have suggested that maintaining healthy levels of the vitamin is vital to support one’s immunity and response to infections, and research is still underway to uncover more on the mechanisms underlying this relationship. One key role of Vitamin D, for instance, is helping protect the body against various infectious microorganisms through increased production of natural chemicals that help in destroying invading bacteria and viruses.

About Arachitol Gummies

Arachitol Gummies are a dietary supplement for daily Vitamin D, calcium and curcumin requirements in children and adults. Each gummy contains 200 IU Vitamin D, 300mg Calcium and 5mg Curcumin. One Arachitol Gummy per day is recommended for children above three years of age, and up to two Arachitol Gummies for adults.

About Abbott

Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 113,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries. In India, Abbott was established in 1910, and is one of the country's oldest and most admired healthcare companies. With over 12,000 employees in the country, Abbott in India is helping to meet the healthcare needs of consumers, patients and doctors throughout urban and rural India.

Appario Retail Limited Gives Wings To The Digital Dreams Of Underprivileged Children In Bengaluru

* Collaborates with two local NGOs: YuvaLok Foundation and Christel House India to distribute digital devices like laptops, desktops and tablets 

* Digital literacy drive aimed at transforming lives of underprivileged youth 

Aimed at giving wings to the digital dreams of underprivileged children, Appario Retail Private Limited (“Appario or Company”) collaborated with two NGOs to distribute digital devices like laptops, desktops and tablets in Bengaluru. This digital literacy drive aimed at transforming the lives of the city’s underprivileged children saw the Company distribute electronic devices worth approximately INR 1.19 Cr. The devices were handed over to the students and teachers of these NGOs in the presence of Mr. Aman Deep Lohan, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Sharath Narahari Belur, Chief Financial Officer, and other key officials of the Company.

Through the distribution of these devices, the Company believes that it will help not only reduce the digital divide in India but also digitally empower the less privileged and give wings to their dreams through digital literacy. An aim of the Company, which echoes the Government of India’s ‘Digital India’ campaign to reduce the digital divide in the country. 

The recent pandemic, especially, had a profound impact on the way students adapted to digitalization, moving away from a system of education built around physical schools and classrooms. Therefore, the primary objective of this initiative by the Company was to enable underprivileged children to gain unlimited access to education.  Through its flagship program, ‘Technology Education’ and ‘Realizing Digital Dreams’ Appario has come forward to empower teachers and underprivileged children with laptops, tablets and help in setting up a digital library. The Company distributed 54 Laptops, 7 Desktops and 95 Tablets to YuvaLok Foundation and 120 Laptops to the Christel House India.

Commenting on this, Mr.  Aman Deep Lohan, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Appario said that “We are happy to contribute to the large cause which will help these children in providing access to internet which would be a steppingstone for them in today’s digital world and help them to get larger opportunity in their life. Digital empowerment and an opportunity to access the same quality of education is key to bridging the digital divide in India. It is only when this happens can India talk about being inclusive and giving equal opportunity to learn and grow for the underprivileged youth of our country. They are the future and need to be nurtured and instilled with the need for and importance of digital first thinking. This is the singular thought behind this project, which we hope will give wings to the dreams of our underprivileged youth of Bengaluru.” 

Mr. Sharath Narahari Belur, Chief Financial Officer of Appario added that “As a country we aim to be completely digitally empowered, however, this vision can only be completed by bridging the digital divide. We look forward to building an atmosphere that caters to children from all walks of life. Through these projects, we aim to create a level playing field and improve the educational status of underserved children which will empower them to not only meet their developmental goals but also compete in a world which is digitally driven.  It will be a matter of pride for us to see these children succeed in their field of choice.”

About Appario

Incorporated in India in the year 2012, Appario Retail Private Limited (“Appario”), is a wholly owned subsidiary of Frontizo Business Services Private Limited. With its registered office situated in Delhi and Corporate Office in Bangalore, Appario deals in trading in retail goods.

The company has always believed in giving back to the communities in which it operates, endeavoring to make a difference in the lives of people around it.   Appario in alignment with its objective, principles, and corporate values, delineating its responsibility as a “Responsible Corporate Citizen” to make a positive difference in the communities it serves. The company has always been focused on enhancing value creation through its CSR initiatives, services & conduct to promote sustained growth for the community. 

Numeric Awards Best Performing Partners At The Channel Meet 2021

Leading UPS Manufacturer Numeric organised a virtual channel meet to celebrate performance of 2021. The company’s top performing partners from all the 4 regions and overall best performing partners in the country were honoured with awards on the occasion. 

Satpal Singh, CEO, Numeric, said, "It was a great opportunity for us to connect with our partners and celebrate the performance with them. We are extremely glad that we weathered all challenges and worked together to retain the leadership.  In the years to come, we will continue to strengthen our ties with partners. This will help leverage the untapped market, which provides huge potential, and assure mutual growth for both Numeric and our partners.” 

Speaking on the event, Ravindran, Country Head – Sales thanked the partners in working closely with the brand, to ensure business continuity of the customers during the pandemic.  He added “ thanks to our partners, we had strengthened our reach especially in the IT, ITeS segment to meet their WFH demands.” 

Speaking on how Numeric had continued to innovate to offer smart solutions during the pandemic, Vinit Gupta, Country Head – Marketing said “In line with our core driver of need based innovation and smart solution, we quickly addressed the needs of the market in bringing out DIY products which needed no installation support. This apart, our service engineers braved all odds of the lockdown, to work with our partners and customers especially the BFSI, Healthcare segments to ensure uninterrupted back-up” 

Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic over the last 2 years the brand had retained its leadership position in Line interactive and Single-phase UPS for 29th year in a row.  

About Numeric: 

Since 1984, Numeric has been enabling its clients to optimize their business with top notch power solutions that promise seamless and clean power with controlled environmental footprints. Defining Numeric’s vast support ecosystem are 2 world-class manufacturing units, 250+ accessible service locations and 900+ trained field technicians. Being ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015 and SA 8000:2008 OHSAS 18001:2007 certified fuels our credibility further. Being part of Legrand Group since 2012, Numeric is now truly a GLOCAL company – ‘global’ expertise with deep ‘local’ market knowledge. With this knowledge, Numeric has succeeded in building a credible clientele base spread across different domains like BFSI, Government, Telecom, Healthcare, IT/ITES, Datacentres, Process Industries and SOHO. Numeric has consistently been in the leadership position in the Single Phase UPS category for 29 consecutive years. (Source: Softdisk) 

GIM Concludes Its Largest Virtual Convocation With A “100% Placement Success Rate”

Top B-School Goa Institute of Management (GIM) recently hosted its largest virtual convocation ceremony for all four PGDM program batches of 2020 and 2021. It was the first convocation ceremony of the Big Data Analytics program. After having completed over 22 months of academically packed intensive training with exposure to industrial projects, a total of 842 students were conferred their diplomas at the convocation ceremony. 

While presenting the Director's Report on the institute’s performance for the last academic year, Dr. Ajit Parulekar, Director, GIM,  said, "Despite all odds, we were able to achieve 100% placement across all programs. Graduating in the midst of COVID-19's ambiguity and turbulence has been very difficult, but I guarantee that GIM grads are prepared to succeed no matter what the situation.”  

Dr. Ajit continued, “Emphasis should be given on lifelong ongoing learning, a positive attitude, and understanding the value of your loved ones. These values will build great leaders and eventually help build a successful career.” 

Ashank Desai, Chairman of the GIM Board of Governors and Founder of Mastek, said, “The key takeaway should be adaptability. Great leaders will act quickly, survive and emerge victorious in this fast-changing world.” 

Over the years GIM has earned the distinction of being one of the country's best management schools. GIM's strength is its diversity, whether that diversity is academic, ethnic, or social. The institute presently boasts of its outstanding students, excellent infrastructure, and the best talent that makes up its core faculty. Through the various shortcomings during the pandemic, the faculty made sure the level of education and training does not get hampered and that the students are prepared at par with the industry level. 

For more information please find the link to the convocation below-  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUklVCMDkpo&t=3443s