Bank of Baroda Inaugurates The 5th Edition of The “Baroda Kisan Pakhwada” Programme For Indian Farmers

* Baroda Kisan Pakhwada is a platform to engage with the Indian farming community & create awareness of various products and schemes offered by the Bank as well as promote initiatives launched by the Government 

* The Bank aims to reach out to 4.5 lakh farmers during the Baroda Kisan Pakhwada programme.  

Bank of Baroda (Bank), one of India’s leading public sector banks, today announced the launch of the 5th Edition of the “Baroda Kisan Pakhwada”. The annual farmer engagement programme commences on November 2022, and concludes on November 30, 2022, with the Baroda Kisan Diwas celebrations. During the 2-week agri festival, the Bank will connect with 4.5 lakh farmers through a number of outreach events. The Bank’s network of ~5,000 semi-urban and rural branches across the country that predominantly serve the agri customer segment will actively participate in ‘Baroda Kisan Pakhwada’.  

‘Baroda Kisan Pakhwada’ has been designed to help the Bank boost engagement with the farming community and create awareness about various agri products, schemes & delivery channels offered by Bank of Baroda and initiatives taken by the Government for the benefit of farmers.  

Through outreach programmes such as farmer meetings, choupals, kisan melas etc, the Bank will provide detailed information about various agricultural lending products like the Baroda Kisan Credit Card, tractor loan, gold loan, financing to Self Help Groups (SHGs)/ Joint Liability Groups (JLGs), credit for agriculture allied activities etc and offers available to farmers. The Bank has also introduced digital banking services specifically for the agri segment to enable them to conveniently apply for agriculture loans.   

The event will also promote various Government agri initiatives such as lending schemes under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Package viz. Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF), Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PM-FME), etc.  

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Sanjiv Chadha, Managing Director & CEO, Bank of Baroda said, “As a leading public sector bank, Bank of Baroda has a strong legacy and deep roots with the Indian farming community. We connect rural and semi-urban India to mainstream banking, enabling them to scale up their agri operations with a range of lending products and banking services. ‘Baroda Kisan Pakhwada’ is a unique and truly one-of-its-kind initiative in the banking industry, an opportunity to strengthen our relationship with our agri customers and acknowledge their contribution to the nation.” 

The earlier four editions of the Pakhwada received an enthusiastic response from customers and were appreciated at various levels. In 2018, the inaugural edition of the Baroda Kisan Pakhwada was acknowledged by the “Limca Book of Records” as the largest farmer engagement programme of this nature in the country.  

This year, the Bank is aiming to increase the reach of the event and bring more farmers into the banking fold by offering a range of products including Baroda Kisan Credit Card (BKCC), Tractor Loan, Gold Loan, Financing to SHGs/JLGs, agriculture allied activities, Farmer Producer Organisations/ Company (FPO/FPCs), Food & Agro Processing Units etc.  

Bank of Baroda’s lending to the agriculture sector stands at Rs 1,14,964 crore as on September 30, 2022, recording a 14.1% year-on-year growth.  

To apply for an agri loan from Bank of Baroda, customers can visit – https://bit.ly/AGRILoans  

Teach For India & Aatma Prakash Foundation Organises “Child Safety Week” With An Emphasis On Student’s Mental Health

* Teach For India & Aatma Prakash mental health foundation will be conducting immersive Mind Care workshops where students will get the opportunity to improve their emotional recognition, expression, and management 

To celebrate children’s day and put the spotlight on children’s mental health, Teach for India in collaboration with Aatma Prakash mental health foundation is organising a ‘Child Safety Week’ till 19th November, where students will experience a safe space to enhance their emotional identification, expression, and management through an hour-long experiential Mindcare session. The sessions will be held both offline and online for students from Grade 6 and above across all Teach for India partner schools in 8 cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, and Kolkata 

According to UNICEF, over 50% of all mental health problems start before the age of 14.  A 2014 IJMR finding further states that 50% of the 356 million youth in India are struggling with mental health challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought multiple challenges which had mental health repercussions for everyone, including children and adolescents. Uncertainty, increased screen time, social isolation, and parental fatigue all have negatively impacted a child’s mental health. Moreover, children who have spent most of their time with their parents are now facing separation anxiety making the transition back to school more difficult. The Mindcare sessions that will be held during the child safety week are aimed at addressing these pertinent issues affecting children in their learning routine. 

Teach for India has always been at the forefront of adopting innovative ways to ensure that all children can get an excellent education. Even during the lockdown, they ensured that a large portion of their students were able to continue their education through blended learning. As schools have started fully functioning, Teach For India is working towards creating an environment where children feel nurtured and eager to learn with their peers. Their Fellows are working relentlessly to address any grievances of children and meet their needs. Through these Mindcare sessions, Teach For India along with Aatma Prakash aims to understand students better and devise solutionsto mitigate any hurdles in their learning process. 

They are already running the ‘Mindshala’ a program where Fellows are trained to identify and help students in their class who may have mental health issues. Over 200 students have reached out to Teach For India Fellows in 2021-22 alone asking for mental health support. 

Speaking on Children’s mental health, Shaheen Mistri, Founder and CEO, Teach for India, said, “Teach For India has always taken a holistic view when we talk about giving our children an ‘Excellent Education’. We focus on both academic excellence and also on ensuring students broaden their vision of what they want to achieve within the larger framework of their community and country. Ensuring that our children are in a good space mentally is an important step toward helping them achieve these goals.” 

Speaking about the session, Ms. Prarthana Sharma, Co-Founder Aatmaprakash foundation said, “A comprehensive and gender-sensitive mental health service can allow our children and young people to take back control of their bodies, emotions, and lives. Aatma Prakash envisions co-creating safe and empathetic communities for every young person in distress. We firmly believe it is primary to find safety and understanding during or post the experience of violence (in any form emotional, physical, and/or sexual)  

Teach For India's vision is to eliminate educational inequity in India. Thus far, TFI Alumni have served over 33 million children and one in every ten Indian children is now reached by a Teach For India Alumni. Additionally, over 75% of TFI alumni work in the social and educational sector and have found over 160+ organisations, with more than 200 of them being CXOs and senior leaders across organisations. 

ELGi Celebrates 10 Years of Compressed Air Excellence In North America

* ELGi Is Celebrating Its 10th Anniversary Since Expanding To North America

* The Charlotte, North Carolina-based company, has expanded from coast to coast with a series of partnerships and acquisitions to sell its air compressors to a variety of industries

* The company plans to expand further and invest in people, processes, and technologies in the coming years

Elgi Equipments (BSE: 522074 NSE: ELGIEQUIP), one of the world's leading air-compressor manufacturers, with over 62 years of compressed air excellence, announced that its Charlotte-based subsidiary company ELGi North America is celebrating ten years of its presence in the United States. Since entering the North American market in 2012, ELGi has significantly grown its footprint, expanding from coast to coast with several memorable milestones.

During ELGi's first ten years in North America, the company grew significantly via a strategic expansion plan. The company started with only a handful of employees in Charlotte and now has more than 175 employees. ELGi has grown its distribution through acquisitions and joint ventures, relying on strong partnerships to sell its products and support them. So far, the company has helped install over 10,000 air compressors in facilities across North America.

“As we celebrate our 10th anniversary in North America, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to our dedicated employees, reliable distributors, supportive business partners, and valued customers,” said Anvar Varadaraj, President, ELGi North America. “We have learned a lot over the last decade, particularly about what it means to be a customer-centric company and putting customers first.”

With its distribution partners, ELGi has consulted with companies to lower their energy footprint with greener technologies, use government tax incentives, improve redundancy in operations and achieve reduced carbon emission targets. ELGi has also helped companies lower the total cost of ownership for air compressors.

“ELGi is an engineering-led company that spends a significant amount of its resources on research and development,” Varadaraj said. “There is continuous improvement to design features that enhance product efficiency, reduce maintenance costs, and lead to a lower total cost of ownership for the lifecycle of our products.”

“ELGi is focused on helping to solve the big challenges our world is facing, such as reducing fossil fuel usage, providing cleaner compressed air to reduce contamination in food and medicine, and increasing energy efficiency,” Varadaraj further commented. “We want to help in these transitions and be proactive in driving solutions.”

ELGi has an ambitious vision for the next ten years. The company expects North America to be its largest market, surpassing the extent of its current global footprint. ELGi invests in people, processes, and technologies to achieve this goal. 

ELGi has already seeded five new companies as part of the joint venture program in North America. This includes the co-founding of Pattons of California, Compressed Air Solutions of Texas (CAST), G3 Industrial Solutions, Gentex Air Solutions, and Evergreen Compressed Air and Vacuum.

ELGi also plans to invest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programs for students, replicating the success of the parent company's apprentice program run at the headquarters in India. The company is sincere in its commitment to expanding manufacturing jobs in North America and growing its talent pool in Charlotte.

"Our goal is to be among the top three compressed air manufacturers globally," Anvar Varadaraj said. "To achieve that goal, we must continue with the momentum ELGi has already established. We want to continue expanding. We want to build a culture that will attract and retain top talent. We want to develop new technologies and improve existing ones. We want to help our end-users grow their businesses and achieve their sustainability and quality of air goals. If the last ten years have been a preview, we are well on our way to another successful decade."

About ELGi: Elgi Equipments Limited is a global air compressor manufacturer with a broad line of innovative and technologically superior compressed air systems. ELGi has consistently ensured that its customers achieve their productivity goals while keeping the cost of ownership low. ELGi offers a complete range of compressed air solutions, from oil-lubricated and oil-free rotary screw compressors, oil-lubricated and oil-free reciprocating compressors, and centrifugal compressors to dryers, filters, and downstream accessories. The company's portfolio of over 400 products has wide applications across industries. For further information on the organisation and its products, visit http://www.elgi.com

Can Diabetes Be Controlled Or Reversed With Food Alone? Asks Happiest Health Webinar On World Diabetes Day

* The webinar’s panellists offered health insights and shared their knowledge with participants in the moderated session

* The panel took questions towards the end of the webinar, addressing various concerns regarding diabetes management

 Health and wellness knowledge platform Happiest Health hosted a webinar on ‘Can Diabetes Be Reversed With Food Alone?’ on World Diabetes Day (November 14, 2022). With diabetes rising globally and there being plenty of uncertainty over diet and remission, Happiest Health brought together a panel of expert calibre to shed light on various aspects of the disease, particularly around diet and disease management. The webinar concluded with the panellists answering questions submitted by the participants.

Padma Bhushan and Dr. B.C. Roy Award recipient, Dr Ambrish Mithal (Chairman and Head Of The Endocrinology and Diabetes Division Of Max Healthcare Hospital, New Delhi), Dr Vijay Viswanathan (Head and Chief Diabetologist, MV Hospital For Diabetes, Chennai), and Ms Kavita Devgan (nutritionist and author of ‘The Immunity Diet’) formed the panel.

One of the most asked questions concerning diabetes, in general, is about diet—should carbohydrates be avoided entirely, can patients consume sugar, is there an ideal diet that works for everyone, and more. Ms Kavita addressed these areas, saying, “Losing weight is massively beneficial in the fight against diabetes. Sticking to a sustainable, long-term diet and replacing refined grains with complex grains is a crucial first step and helps patients manage their disease much better. Grain rotation, a protein-carbohydrate balanced diet, and incorporating fibre-heavy food like oats and barley help keep blood sugar in check.”

Furthermore, Kavita emphasised people’s misconceptions about sugar and the general need for awareness about the types of food they’re eating. She said people need to be educated about their diets and the quality of their calories and given more insights into eating routines.

Another topic that was prominently discussed was how alcohol consumption affects type-2 diabetes. The panellists agreed that people could enjoy alcohol but should be aware of existing co-morbidities and the possibility of hypoglycaemia. Dr Ambrish spoke of drinking in moderation and said restraint was required when it came to alcohol consumption. He also elaborated on the surge of diabetic patients worldwide and explained how lifestyle changes were responsible. When asked about policy measures to control diabetes, he said, “Ensuring pregnant mothers, children, and teenagers are aware of the right food choices and have access to proper nutrition is vital. Schools should offer more healthy options to students in their midday meals. And we need to ensure diabetes educators and nutritionists are trained and don’t dispense advice based on personal experience besides investing in chronic care.”

Dr Ambrish even discussed the importance of weight management to increase the chances of remission, highlighting the benefits of a tailored lifestyle and a proper diet, in line with Kavita’s opinions.

Meanwhile, Dr Vijay offered his thoughts on insulin resistance in type-2 diabetes management and neuropathic complications arising from diabetes and their prevention. He also shared his perspective on whether reorientation of type-2 diabetes management strategies was required in the post-pandemic scenario: “The American Diabetes Association and European Association for the Study of Diabetes recently released new guidelines that place the patient at the centre. The approaches advise considering weight, cardiovascular protection, and cardiorenal protection. Since COVID-19 destroys beta cells, these latest guidelines are crucial, and choosing new drugs will hinge on considering their focus points.”

The webinar covered several other topics like challenges to charting ideal diets and following them, long-term diabetes management, and the need for more awareness and community-level intervention.

“Despite being prevalent, especially in India, there remain doubts and misconceptions surrounding diabetes. We saw an opportunity to change that and invited some of the best minds to inform and acquaint people better through their experiences. As expected, the panellists delivered unique perspectives that we trust participants found beneficial and encouraging,” said Ashish Pratap Singh, Chief Marketing Officer of Happiest Health.

About Happiest Health

Happiest Health is a global health & wellness knowledge enterprise promoted by Ashok Soota. Happiest Health provides credible and trustworthy health and wellness knowledge with views from globally renowned experts and doctors. The primary knowledge platforms are the daily newsletter, knowledge website, and soon-to-be-launched monthly print magazine.

Happiest Health embraces scientific knowledge with a keen focus on medical breakthroughs providing kinder, gentler therapies including cell-based treatments. It also has deep coverage of integrated medicine including Ayurveda, homeopathy and naturopathy. Happiest Health’s focus on wellness is holistic and energizing. They live by their Mission Statement: “Better Knowledge. Better Health.” and convey its benefits to all.

For more information visit: https://www.happiesthealth.com/

Green hydrogen At The Heart of Energy Observer's Stopover In India

Energy Observer has dropped anchor in Kochi for the 75th stopover of its round-the-world Odyssey, after a tour of South-East Asia which took the laboratory vessel to Singapore together with its exhibition village, then Vietnam, Thailand and finally to Malaysia.  

The first vessel powered by renewable energy and hydrogen, the first French ambassador for the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations, arrived on November 14th in Kochi, Kerala, after 17 days of sailing and 1,645 nautical miles travelled from Langkawi, Indonesia.

On the occasion of the vessel's stopover, the Energy Management Center (EMC), the state designated agency to enforce energy conservation act in Kerala, is organizing a special event: "Green hydrogen pathways to sustainable future". This forum will bring together many Indian institutions around the challenges of green hydrogen development. 

Industrialists, academics, governmental agencies, and a large panel of actors involved in the energy transition will gather for Energy Observer's arrival during a 3-day workshop dedicated to the hydrogen value chain: production, transport, storage, maritime and land applications. Key challenges that are perfectly in line with Energy Observer's missions.  

" Since the beginning of the round-the-world Odyssey in 2017, we have had the chance to immerse ourselves at the heart of energy issues and the transformation of the various major industrial players in the sector. Despite the inevitable inertia to change our energy model, I have witnessed a true will to accelerate this transition, whether it's public, political, or industrial. The strategies to become carbon neutral are becoming clearer and the associated technologies more mature. Nevertheless, obstacles persist. It is of key importance to accelerate our energy transition, time is running out and inertia is still too important! It is urgent to demonstrate the coherence of large pilot projects and to massively direct our investments towards low-carbon technologies to make them accessible to all.", Victorien Erussard, captain and founder of Energy Observer.

This stopover will also be an opportunity to welcome on board all the relevant players in energy transition including Energy Observer’s partners. The Toyota group via its subsidiary Toyota Kirloskar Motor, leading the development of hydrogen mobility, CMA CGM, committed to the decarbonization of the maritime sector, and the Accor group, very active in the country, will be particularly involved. Local actors such as the Energy Management Center, the city of Kochi, the Kochi International Marina where the vessel will be moored, the CUSAT (Cochin University of Science and Technology) are also widely mobilized around the vessel’s stopover.  

"Energy Management Centre Kerala (EMC) is working towards attaining energy efficiency in all sectors of economy in the state of Kerala. We are convinced that green hydrogen plays an essential role in the decarbonization of our economy and the protection of the environment, as part of the latest amendment of the Energy Conservation Act adopted at national level. In this perspective, we are thrilled to support Energy Observer’s stopover by organizing a 3-day workshop that will bring together all the key players at the regional and federal level who are committed to the energy transition.” Dr. R Harikumar, Director of Energy Management Centre (EMC), Department of Power, Government of Kerala.

France and India announced in October 2022 the adoption of a joint roadmap for the development of green hydrogen, with the ambition to create synergies between the French and Indian ecosystems of the sector. This collaboration will take place on several levels, with the establishment of a regulatory framework for the entire low-carbon hydrogen value chain, certification methods, knowledge sharing, technologies and the acceleration of partnerships between the French and Indian energy industries. 

A backdrop favorable to the meetings that will take place around the vessel's arrival, as attested by Mrs. Lise Talbot Barré, Consul General of France in Pondicherry and Chennai.

IIt is a great honor to welcome for the first time Energy Observer here in Cochin, on Bolgatty Island. This stopover comes at a time when France and India are strengthening their cooperation to advance carbon neutrality and develop renewable energies. 

Kerala’s green hydrogen mission has resulted in it being the first state to include hydrogen-powered mobility in its zero-emissions mobility policy. India plans to achieve carbon neutrality and looks forward to a transportation system based on hydrogen fuel cells. France is investing heavily in this field, which opens up new opportunities for scientific and economic cooperation between our two countries. The transition to a low-carbon economy is a priority of the strategic partnership between France and India. 

I am therefore very happy to introduce the laboratory ship of the ecological transition that is Energy Observer to our Indian friends from Kerala, this state of the Indian Union so close to the heart of the people of France. This stopover will allow us to reinforce the synergies between French and Indian actors in the fight against climate change. It will be a moment of exchange and learning open to a wide and varied audience: students, scientists, companies and administrations.” 

The Ambassador of France to India, His Excellency Mr Emmanuel Lenain, said “France is fully committed to helping India achieve its ambitious renewable energy goals. Energy Observer, fueled by sun, wind, marine currents and hydrogen technologies, is an impressive demonstration of the kind of innovative solutions France can offer to help make affordable clean energy accessible everywhere in India. Energy Observer’s port call in Kochi comes right after France and India adopted a Joint Roadmap on decarbonized hydrogen and illustrates the potential of Indo-French cooperation for a just energy transition.”. 

Energy consumption has more than doubled since 2000, pushed by a growing population and a period of rapid economic growth. The country will soon become the world’s most populous country, adding the equivalent of a city the size of Los Angeles to its urban population each year. To meet such a growth in electricity demand over the next twenty years, India will need to add a power system of the size of the European Union to what it has now.

Today, 80% of India’s energy demand is still met by coal, oil and solid biomass, but solar power is set for explosive growth, equaling coal’s share in the power generation mix within two decades. This dramatic turnaround is driven by India’s policy ambitions, notably the target to reach 450?GW of renewable capacity by 2030, and the extraordinary cost-competitiveness of solar, which will out-compete?existing?coal-fired power by 2030 even when paired with battery storage.  

Indeed, the sun's excellent irradiation allows the production of photovoltaic energy at very competitive prices. With the decreasing levelized cost of energy from photovoltaic panels expected to reach USD 40 per MWh by 2040, the potential for hydrogen production through water electrolysis is immense and offers a real opportunity for India to become a major player in the sector.

By reaching 50% of renewable energies by 2030, India –currently the world’s third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases- will cut its projected emissions by one billion tons. 

The state of Kerala is actively contributing to this roadmap with many projects around clean mobility, energy autonomy and the potential of new sources of low-carbon energy that the audiovisual production team will largely document during the stopover.

Numerous conferences will be organized throughout the stopover, on board the vessel but also in a meeting with students, teachers and researchers from the University of CUSAT.

As part of Energy Observer Foundation's awareness and educational missions, school visits will also be organized on board with the crew members.

As the first French ambassador for the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, this circumnavigation of the globe also aims to explore all the solutions accelerating ecological transition and raise awareness among all the public audiences, decision-makers and manufacturers through inspirational and educational content (documentary films, web series, scientific articles and a travelling exhibition...).

UNESCO New Delhi, on the occasion of Energy Observer's stopover in India :

"UNESCO supports unbiased research into climate change issues. Currently, UNESCO is spearheading the production of a multilingual ‘Climate Science Literacy’ poster series, contributing to the understanding of and adaptation to climate change. We are currently living in an era of a climate-energy-paradox, characterized by large-scale greenhouse gas emissions while being acutely aware that these emissions are a major contributor to anthropogenic climate change.

Energy Observer sails the world powered by innovative technologies and clean energy. UNESCO encourages the crew to stop-over in UNESCO designated sites, and advocate for sustainable human living in harmony with nature. The sooner all of us jointly achieve producing and consuming clean energy only, the higher will be our chances for human survivability."

Manipal Hospitals Partners With Google Cloud To Transform Patient Experience

* Manipal Hospitals will leverage Google Cloud’s AI/ML tools and core compute technologies along with using Amwell platform to ease patient navigation across the healthcare chain’s service offerings

Manipal Hospitals, the second-largest healthcare service provider in India, and Google Cloud have announced a partnership to support the former to improve patient care, clinician experiences, and improve the hospital chain’s network efficiency. Manipal Hospitals will leverage Google Cloud’s technology to enable virtual care services across its chain of hospitals in the country, create a new e-pharmacy platform that allows patients to order medicines directly from the hospital, and to build remote patient monitoring to improve overall care. Manipal Hospitals will also use Google Cloud’s conversational artificial intelligence (AI) tools to improve customer interactions, offering patients 24/7 care.

Through its partnership with Google Cloud, Manipal Hospitals will use the Amwell platform to enable virtual visits. The Amwell deployment is part of a suite of digital care delivery enablement solutions designed to provide a simple and intuitive experience for patients and providers alike and to easily allow health systems to quickly scale their digital care delivery across the full continuum while leveraging multiple modalities.

"Over the past two years, there has been an extensive focus on digital transformation of healthcare. The government, private hospitals and health-tech start-ups have focused on creating digital solutions for the efficient delivery of healthcare. The partnership with Google Cloud will enable us to solve some of our most complex medical issues using innovative technology, better anticipate the needs of the people we serve, and improve access to care, whenever and wherever patients need us,” said Dilip Jose, MD & CEO, Manipal Hospitals.

Karthik Rajagopal, COO, Manipal Hospitals, added, “I believe that the partnership will help promote penetration of Manipal’s clinical healthcare services in Tier II and III markets while making it convenient for both clinicians and patients. The partnership is critical to further clinical excellence of our healthcare system in markets with inequitable access to quality healthcare. Today, even the remotest areas of our country have access to the internet and smartphones. This, along with the penetration of Google Cloud in our country provides us the opportunity to deliver high-quality care in markets that we are not present in.”

Working with Google Cloud, Manipal Hospitals will transform the way it advances virtual care with AI-enabled digital diagnostics. The hospital chain will leverage Google’s tech to build multichannel conversational AI experiences across its appointment booking, searching for doctors, and other important patient tasks.

“Data-driven innovation is growing exponentially in healthcare, and this collaboration will help Manipal Hospitals use data, AI, and machine learning (ML) to improve patient experiences and outcomes,” said Bikram Singh Bedi, Managing Director at Google Cloud India. “With Google Cloud’s technology and Manipal’s healthcare expertise, we have a unique opportunity to help the hospital network develop features that can dramatically improve the lives of people across the country.”

“Manipal Hospitals is an incredibly forward-thinking organization that is innovating the care experience and believes that digital care delivery can vastly improve care access,” said Ido Schoenberg, Chairman and CEO, Amwell. “Amwell is proud to partner with Manipal Hospitals to help further accelerate their vision for revolutionizing the healthcare industry through advanced clinical excellence, patient centricity, and ethical practices, with digital care. This also marks an important milestone for our partnership with Google Cloud as Manipal Hospitals represents our first joint-client in India.”

Elevate UX & CX With Automation Supported By Digital Infrastructure Management Services

By Sushant Purushan, Chief Revenue Officer, India Business Region, 3i Infotech

Why is it that some brands and organizations seem to consistently provide their customers with a superior user experience, you may ask? While customers don’t know or care to know what is happening in the backend, it is always the UX at the front-end that matters the most to them. To make this a reality, it’s the ‘Infrastructure’ at the backend which is enabling them to have such an experience.  

According to IDC, India’s spending on digital technologies is expected to reach $69 billion by 2025 and would constitute almost 70% of the enterprise IT spending happening in India. Supporting this ambition is the digital Infrastructure, which sits at the core of it. Hence, let’s delve a little bit on understanding it.

Need for a stable and healthy Infrastructure   

IT infrastructure is the foundation that allows companies to seamlessly operate. It enables businesses to build exceptional experiences that leverage new technologies for consumers and employees internally. A stable and ‘healthy Infrastructure’ is an Infrastructure that caters to applications and does not have downtime or end-experience hurdles. For instance, as an end user we transfer money through RTGS / NEFT, but these applications need good Infrastructure that’s available 24X7 for the transaction to go through without hindrance.  

Investing in the right Infrastructure, whether it’s On-prem or Cloud  

In today’s world, technology Infrastructure can be on-premises or on cloud, but without technology no sector or company can fathom to move ahead. In Infrastructure, we often notice that ‘capacity’ tends to become a problem area. For instance, when an organization starts to grow and scale, say by 2X or 3X, the need to continually monitor the health of the Infrastructure to ensure it’s up and running becomes very important. With the Infrastructure remaining the same, we might encounter response issues to the application hosted on the devices. End-user desktops & laptops are also part of the Infrastructure, and this also must have the right processor and capacity basis the application requirement.    

Need for Redundancy in Infrastructure  

For all critical applications it’s also important to have redundancy in place, predominantly seen across BFSI and the telecom sector. Organizations can ill afford to have even a minute of downtime, for which building High Availability, Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity plans become vital, not discounting the core applications required in manufacturing, health sector or other domains. Secondly, choosing the appropriate orchestration and virtualization layer which should help moving the application on the fly during downtime and at the same time not compromising on security and compliance is important. Flexibility and agility help keeping the applications running all the time.  

Evolution of Infrastructure monitoring from Reactive to Proactive to now Predictive  

The fast-moving world wants everything within seconds and minutes. Having one’s mobile network, internet or mobile banking down is a huge inconvenience for everyone, as these have become almost basic needs. In earlier days there used to be reactive support and people used to do eyeball monitoring all the time to check for any hindrances. However, technology has become so vital that support has moved from Reactive to Proactive monitoring and today the expectation is towards Predictive monitoring. For instance, an alert now needs to come from the system if the hard disk or processor is likely to be down in the next 48 hours so that the replacement part is made available / fixed before it goes down.  

Adoption of automation  

Predictive monitoring becomes more effective by integration of automation tools. Eventually software and tools are more effective than the human observations as they are configured for quick decision-making and actions basis the workflows. Automation Platform provides an enterprise framework for building and operating IT automation at scale, from Hybrid cloud to the Edge. Automation isn’t just a tool—it’s a strategic imperative. AIOps helps in helping better decision making and faster, proactive performance monitoring and to decrease the MTTR. 

To sum it up, every industry now is driven by technology, and the backbone for any technology is its IT Infrastructure. Hence, investing in a high-quality infrastructure will provide higher efficiency, increased safety, decreased environmental impact, and more effective delivery of end applications and services.