Business Transformation Asia Issue 03

JANUARY 2022

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AMITABH KANT CEO, NITI Aayog

the GOVERNANCE CHANGEMAKER The go-to person for any large-scale government transformation project in India.

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Meet The Team Meet The Team

EDITORIAL

CAN INDONESIA’S $300-MILLION MPF FLY?

MANAGING DIRECTOR Tushar Sahoo tushar@gecmediagroup.com CHIEF EDITOR Arun Shankar arun@gecmediagroup.com EDITOR Shubhendu Parth shubhendu@gecmediagroup.com CEO Ronak Samantaray ronak@gecmediagroup.com GLOBAL HEAD, CONTENT AND STRATEGIC ALLIANCES Anushree Dixit anushree@gecmediagroup.com EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR GEC MEDIA GROUP CO-FOUNDER, BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION ASIA Sundip Sibal Sundip@gecmediagroup.com GROUP SALES HEAD Richa S richa@gecmediagroup.com PROJECT MANAGER Anshuman Jyothiprakash anshuman@gecmediagroup.com EVENTS EXECUTIVE Gurleen Rooprai gurleen@gecmdiagroup.com Jennefer Lorraine Mendoza jennefer@gecmdiagroup.com SALES AND ADVERTISING Ronak Samantaray ronak@gecmediagroup.com BUSINESS LEAD Ankit Vats ankit@gecmediagroup.com Ph: +91-9999756403 DESIGNED BY

Creative Lead Ajay Arya Designer Rahul Arya PRODUCTION, CIRCULATION, SUBSCRIPTIONS info@gecmediagroup.com

Indonesia said goodbye to 2021 with a year-end gift for ‘soonicorns’ or startups that have the potential to soon become unicorns. Welcoming the $300-Million Merah Putih Fund (MPF) President Joko Widodo highlighted that the country had a huge market potential with over 2,319 startups, one decacorn, and seven unicorns.

Reports indicate that the MPF will be supported by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and implemented in partnership with venture capital units of the state telecom operator Telkom Indonesia and its mobile subsidiary Telkomsel, as well as state-owned Bank Mandiri, Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), and Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI).

To qualify for the funding, startups will need to meet three primary criteria, besides the regular business plan, scalability, cash flow, and other fundamentals. One, it should have been set up by an Indonesian or at least one founding member should be a local. Two, it should be based in the country, and last but not the least, it must have a plan to list on the Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX).

SOE Minister Erick Thohir, whose brainchild MPF is, has stressed that the fund will create a new ecosystem, which will encourage the local private sector and drive Indonesia’s start-up ecosystem. Adding a nationalistic twist he, however, called upon the local industry to “prevent Indonesia from being used as a market by foreign countries”. He also said that the SOEs must assist local startups, particularly those in the digital system, and “prevent” them from moving to Singapore and accessing the foreign fund.

While protecting national interest is always paramount, it is also important to understand that protectionism at a time when the country is slowly emerging as a destination for startups and investors can boomerang.

That too, when over 52 startups from Indonesia have already raised a record $1.9 Billion (as of September 2021) from the likes of Softbank Ventures Asia, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Falcon Edge Capital, Naver Financial Corporation, Prosus Ventures, Valar Ventures, and others.

Minister Thohir’s reason for MPF may also end up becoming restrictive for companies like Kredivo whose parent company FinAccel recently announce a merger with VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings II, a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by Victory Park Capital so that it can go public in the US. Experts also point out that since the MPF is eyeing to invest in startups with a minimum of $200 Million valuations, the fund may end up getting minority stakes only; the maximum any company can get in one investment is $30 million, given a 10% concentration limit. Will a later-stage startup be open to restricting their global dreams for a small ticket investment?

The other possibility could be Indonesia’s ambition to replicate China’s golden share model, minus the iron grip, to promote local companies develop cutting-edge technology? Let us wait for the time to unfold the story.

Shubhendu Parth shubhendu@gecmediagroup.com

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JANUARY 2022

BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION ASIA

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CONTENTS JANUARY 2022

06 UTILITIES CAN UTILITIES SURVIVE TRANSFORMATION?

MARKETING 08 SOCIAL GO SOCIAL OR PERISH

SERVICES 10 FINANCIAL 12 AUTOMATE TO RECONCILE

B2B PAYMENTS

TAKING THE EMBEDDED ROUTE TO SUCCESS

34 HUMAN TRANSFORMATION ELEVATE YOUR WELLNESS GOALS

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THE GOVERNANCE CHANGEMAKER

TRENDS 2022

GET READY TO ADOPT, TRANSFORM AND SUCCEED

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COVER STORY

51

DATACENTRE

BUILDING INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR DATACENTRE

42 INDUSTRY 4.0

GEARING UP FOR THE NEXT INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

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TRANSPORTATION

53

SUPPLY CHAIN

HEALTHCARE

E-RICKSHAW: THE DRIVING FORCE OF URBAN TRANSPORTATION

IMPROVING THE PLANT-TO-SUPPLY CHAIN LINKAGE

AUGMENTED REALITY SET TO TRANSFORM HEALTHCARE PRACTICES

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61

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DIAL DIGITAL, BOARD THE SUSTAINABILITY BANDWAGON

THE GIANT INDIAN TECHNOLOGY WAVE

THE BITCOIN SAGA

INVESTMENTS IN RENEWABLE ENERGY DELIVERING GREAT RETURNS

SUSTAINABILITY

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SAAS

LOOKING GLASS

OPINION

JANUARY 2022

BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION ASIA

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PROCESS | UTILITIES

CAN UTILITIES SURVIVE TRANSFORMATION?

The answer may come through insights on usage bundled in monthly bills, requiring investments in omnichannel communication.

U

tilities companies should be used to the occasional existential threat. Today, electric utilities are facing an Amazon moment with the arrival of a vast array of digital newcomers and increased complexity, from blockchain-enabled electricity trading platforms to smart neighborhoods. Across the board, utilities are facing decommoditisation that requires them to fight for relevance to the customer.

It is kind of scary for those of us representing the incumbent player, Tronder Energie Chief Digital Officer, Svein Erik Jorgensen said in a recent event on the energy and utilities industry.

Behind-the-meter technology for local production and storage of energy optimisation is really advancing at a rapid pace while the prices for these local authorities are steadily declining.

Power companies need to

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maintain reliable service even as distributed generation obscures supply and demand dynamics that drive their capital investments.

According to the Solar Energy Industry Association, 4% of households in the US get electricity from rooftop solar panels with a projected 13% by the end of the decade.

This means power utilities must figure out just and transparent ways to communicate to rate payers about what they generate and sell back, what external power they consume during times of high demand and what they pay for that peak-hour consumption. Other consumers may want to purchase green energy or shift consumption to times when it can be more easily met by renewables.

How should electric companies respond? Part of the answer may come through deep insights on usage bundled in with the monthly bill, either in the mail or online.

This requires heavy investments

BY MICHAEL OUISSI Chief Customer Officer, IFS

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PROCESS | UTILITIES

KEY TAKEAWAYS As things stand, utilities still own the customer relationship.

Due to complexity of business models, utilities have found velocity of change means you cannot innovate with a homegrown system.

You need to standardise on a single digital backbone from customer engagement to asset management to field service.

Power companies need to maintain reliable service even as distributed generation obscures supply.

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in omnichannel communication, however.

Utilities providers can also tap into innovation to provide digital services and new physical service lines such as electric vehicle charge point installation or wireless charging. To do this profitably, they must bone up their enterprise project management and field service capabilities.

As things stand, utilities still own the customer relationship.

And they have the financial muscle—sometimes backed by the ability to rate base investments— to invest in new technology platforms and recruit skilled IT professionals. What kinds of technology platforms should be considered? This will depend on the specific requirements of the organisation and what it already has in place. But some pointers might include: # Prioritising data collection and technician service portals. Data on what customers and rate payers consume can be used to create net new value by capturing data from the internet of things and making it visible to end users in usable formats. And this data should be available to field service techs and the call center so they can use it to deliver successful moments of service. # Making sure your enterprise software makes the most of your human resources. With more shifts towards clean power and the possibility of a skills shortage in the industry, managing talent is more vital than ever. # Improving project and asset management. Utilities will always be dependent on long-lived, expensive assets, but consumption patterns are changing multiple times over the lifecycle of each asset, which means more lifecycle extensions and refits that must be managed profitably and with minimal disruption to service. # Creating an airtight customer experience. All utilities will need to get serious about omnichannel communication that unites

communications across text, email, phone and in-person settings into a single version of the truth while harnessing artificial intelligence to get more out of contact center employees.

The new enterprise software platforms adopted by utilities— most likely in the cloud, although with the option for on premise deployment if rate-basing requirements demand it—should pave the way for a new utility model.

In this model, utilities companies will no longer just provide basic services such as power or water.

Instead, they will be able to offer a range of service packages, potentially spanning areas as diverse as carbon trading and urban mobility services.

Due to the growing complexity of their business models, utilities have found that the velocity of change now means you cannot really afford to innovate with a homegrown system. You need to standardise on a single digital backbone from customer engagement to asset management to field service.

Omnichannel communication systems that share data with operational technologies, and the enterprise project management and asset management systems used on the capital equipment that delivers value will enable a utility to leverage highly granular knowledge of customer habits and needs. They will also provide transparency about usage, impending stoppages and pending new capabilities.

This vision may seem farfetched, but just look at where telecommunications companies are now compared to a couple of decades ago: who would have predicted that they might become content providers and online retailers?

Even as telecom providers face continuing disruption, electric utilities are at the point of jumping to a new phase of evolution, where only the fittest will survive.

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PROCESS | SOCIAL MARKETING

GO SOCIAL OR PERISH Social media is not a choice anymore; you are either there or you do not exist. Here is how it can help businesses connect, collaborate and become more credible.

BY VINAY K MAYER Director, Marketing Research & Consulting, Asia Research Partners LLP

S

ocial media has changed the game when it comes to how businesses go about finding and talking to their audience. Diversity is important for everyone as a whole, but with social media, you have access to thousands of people who already match your target demographic or have shown interest in what you have to offer.

With today’s technology, establishing an audience and gaining widespread exposure is a whole lot cheaper, easier, and more convenient than attending live events.

EVOLVING DYNAMICS Social media have replaced traditional business cards by enabling businesses to reach a targeted audience virtually, rather than having to meet with them face-to-face. It has revolutionised the way businesses communicate with their audience because now they can instantly interact and share information with

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them. This also makes it easy for small businesses to provide value upfront before asking anything from a prospect about their products or services, which can be both affordable and convenient.

There is a growing trend of spending more time on social networking platforms with over 57.6% of the world’s population using social media, spending an average of 2.27 hours across different platforms. The Asia Pacific region accounts for 52.2% of this global traffic, according to a Pixum Digital report. With feature phone users migrating to smartphones, the number is expected to grow even further. Thus, marketers should leverage social media channels to transform their business strategies.

Here is how social media can impact your business.

to buy it, there’s a 90% chance that the person will indeed make a purchase.

#2 PERSONALISE CONNECTIONS Research and reports indicate that over 70% of consumers appreciate brands that get to know them and understand when it is and isn’t appropriate to sell to them.

Messenger bots can be used for this by sending messages. You’ll increase your chances of getting the message through if you’re able to see what will resonate with the recipient. Remember, first impressions are important.

#3 PROMOTE LOYALTY Social media has proven to be an effective tool for every single business. One of the great benefits

#1 ACHIEVE OMNI-PRESENCE When people are deciding whether they should make a purchase or not, they look up reviews. 80% of consumers have read a review before purchasing the item. And people between the age of 16 and 24 are more likely to search for product information when they are deciding what to buy.

If you’re targeting millennial, it’s best to advertise your products on social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat or YouTube to get noticed because as you know, these days you can’t be found without being online. And if something appears online seven times before someone decides

When people are deciding whether they should make a purchase or not, they look up reviews. 80% of consumers have read a review before purchasing the item.

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PROCESS | SOCIAL MARKETING

#4 INDUSTRY COLLABORATION

KEY TAKEAWAYS Social media has revolutionised the way businesses communicate with their audience because now they can instantly interact and share information with them.

If you’re targeting millennial, it’s best to advertise your products on social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat or YouTube to get noticed.

Companies who upload videos or share posts are generally able to improve relationships with their audience and even potentially land highquality collaborations, which helps increase customer satisfaction as well as improve the overall brand image.

is that it’s easy to make use of social media as one can promote their presence on any networks available, including creating a page for businesses using websites like Facebook or Twitter. Another way you can promote your company on social media is by making sure there are active accounts for all departments in your business representing it and encouraging interactions between customers and potential clients.

By bringing consistency in practice businesses can ensure that there are enough people out there watching you who want to learn more about what you do, and perhaps follow you.

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Collaboration has become a core part of every business. This can be done through social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn for example.

Companies who upload videos or share posts are generally able to improve their relationships with their audience and even potentially land high-quality collaborations, which will help to increase customer satisfaction as well as improve the overall brand image. In fact, these social media recommendations might directly affect your customer’s buying habits.

#5 ADDS CREDIBILITY TO YOUR BRAND Researching a business before making a purchase usually starts with checking the brand’s social media accounts. This gives users an option to see if there are any current or upcoming sales or photos or posts that make them feel more connected to your company and make them more inclined to do business with you.

One of the advantages that social media marketing gives businesses is the opportunity to manage one’s public image and brand. Take a situation when clients aren’t happy, by interacting with them openly on social networks, web visitors can see how you care for your customers’ needs and in turn, feel more comfortable dealing with your company.

#6 MEASURES AUDIENCE FEEDBACK Launching a new product can be stressful, especially when you don’t know what your customer is thinking. From the moment of launch, it’s essential to know how people perceive your product, pricing, and benefits so that you can quickly make any necessary adjustments.

Don’t forget to respond to your customers’ feedback after you ask for it. You don’t have to implement everything they say, but do respond and explain why you can or can’t do something. This helps

Social media acts as a virtual platform for word-to-mouth communication. 70% of consumers expect to buy a product based on social media referrals.

you stay engaged!

#7 BOOSTS REFERRALS Social media acts as a virtual platform for word-to-mouth communication. 70% of consumers expect to buy a product based on social media referrals. Several businesses are mostly created through preexisting trust and communities between friends who became loyal customers by hearing about them from someone they already trusted.

So how do you ensure that your customers are always spreading the word about your business? First and foremost, it’s important to make sure you have a rewarding product or service.

If you already have what it takes to reduce customers into gushing fans, then put that power in a position where they can do the most good for you by harnessing the outreach potential of social media in the form of contests and promotions!

In summary, social network sites can work well in establishing a strong online presence. As such, it will take time to grow your social media following, but it will all be worth it in the end as this avenue allows for your voice and message to reach a wider range of people.

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BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION ASIA

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PROCESS | FINANCIAL SERVICES

AUTOMATE TO RECONCILE

Fintech, financial intermediaries, and startups can use automation to solve challenges in payment reconciliation. Let us take a look at how to use it effectively.

BY TEJAS FADIA Head, Pre Sales and Implementations, Infomatics Services

A

lot has changed in the Indian financial landscape since the introduction of the Digital India initiative. Payment wallets, UPI, IMPS, and other fintech-based payment methods have created a paradigm shift in how money is exchanged in the

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country.

With the introduction of Jan Dhan bank accounts under the financial inclusion initiative of the country’s government, monetary benefits are now transferred directly to these accounts. This acceleration was a result of the demonetisation exercise carried out by the Government of India, as well as a variety of other initiatives to promote technology-based financial transactions instead of cash transactions.

The evolution and growth of UPI in India have been among the biggest success stories. Today, even a small denomination transaction like that of INR 10 is digitally transferred by people using UPI. The pandemic and the ensuing lockdown have also accelerated

the adoption of digital payments.

For the record, in India, the UPI was launched in 2016 and surpassed 1 Billion transactions in October 2019. It crossed the 2-Billion mark in October 2020 and 4.2 Billion in October 2021. This indicates that the payment system in India is changing significantly and in a big way.

CHANGING MODE OF PAYMENTS AND COLLECTIONS Financial institutions and financial intermediaries now have to deal with a paradigm shift in the way they handle collections and payments due to the advent of payments technology. Transaction volume is on an exponential rise. The amount of back-office work such as data processing and reconciliation that once could be done manually using spreadsheets

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PROCESS | FINANCIAL SERVICES

STANDARDISATION OF DATA: Since the

KEY TAKEAWAYS Back office work such as data processing and reconciliation that could be done manually using spreadsheets is no longer possible with the same team size.

A smarter way to reconcile payments and automate processes is to use robotic process automation and machine learning.

Data collation can, in most cases, be done through Straight through Processing (STP) without requiring manual intervention.

is no longer possible with the same team size.

How does an organisation handle this new challenge? In the traditional way of thinking, hiring new employees to manage the additional work would be a good idea, but the cost-benefit analysis may not justify hiring new employees to perform repetitive back-office tasks. Automating back-office processes, especially repetitive and mundane tasks like reconciliation, seems to be the only logical and smart solution.

Let us first understand how payments are reconciled. This is the process of comparing the bank statements of a company with the bank book. Thus, as the number of entries increases in the bank book and the bank statements, the process becomes more complicated and more time-consuming. Reconciliation in payments is not an easy task because of multiple reasons.

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books and transactions data of banks are yet to be standardised across the sector, decision making becomes an ad hoc process, leaving lots of questions about how to automate.

TIME AND ACCURACY: As the saying goes, time is money. Overall, businesses are struggling with turnaround times. Manual processes are time-consuming, but they are highly accurate.

Automating reconciliation would only be successful if it could reduce the time needed for reconciliation without compromising accuracy.

AUDITABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY OF PROCESSED DATA: It is very important that the reconciled data is auditable, meaning that the verification and correction of the data should be a simple procedure.

Traditionally, it has been difficult to solve these problems using software automation, and the complexity of payment ecosystems has only increased with time. So, how can automation help?

Automation has kept pace with the complexities of payment ecosystems. We live in an era of robotics-based automation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. These fields of automation are now playing a critical role in software automation across various industries and functions.

A smarter way to reconcile payments and automate processes is to use robotic process automation (RPA) and machine learning (ML). As a result of emerging technologies such as machine learning and natural language processing, it is possible to build solutions that are self-learning and predictive.

Identifying reconciliation patterns over a period of time reduces the dependency of a person in the process by providing a means of “pattern building” and

Emerging technologies such as machine learning and natural language processing have made it possible to build solutions that are self-learning and predictive.

“intelligence”.

Payment reconciliation involves the consolidation of data from a variety of sources, such as ERPs, accounting software, bank statements, etc. Since RPAs have evolved rapidly, this has become much easier. Data collation can, in most cases, be done through Straight through Processing (STP) without requiring manual intervention.

All reconciled and non reconciled data can be centralised in the cloud and made accessible from anywhere by authorised personnel using the reconciliation solution. Furthermore, the selflearning aspect of reconciliation makes the software more adaptable to future changes, making them the best solution for the current market conditions, which are highly dynamic.

Jayson Zabate once said this, and I absolutely love it: “I don’t believe in luck or hard work without so-called work smart.

It’s not just about how hard you work, it’s about how you manage your time, resources, and mind to create a better outcome.”

In order to adapt their business to the emerging world, companies should work smart and start implementing current automation tools.

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BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION ASIA

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PROCESS | B2B PAYMENTS

TAKING THE EMBEDDED ROUTE TO SUCCESS

Buy Now Pay Later or BNPL is a must-have for digital B2B players.

It helps mirror the SME’s offline experience and credit is an integral part of it.

B

uy Now Pay Later or BNPL has existed for ages, though it has been termed as BNPL more recently. Consumers have enjoyed the luxury of purchasing and paying for that purchase after a month or in equal installments through credit cards and loans for more than a decade now.

Similarly, BNPL has existed in the SME or B2B use case as well with small businesses and retailers sourcing their goods from distributors in a credit of 15, 30, or 45 days. However, with the coming of many digital B2B marketplaces, there is a growing need for a strong B2B BNPL product, more than ever. B2B

BNPL is a must-have for digital B2B players since they need to mirror the experience of the SMEs in the offline world and credit is an integral part of that experience.

Unlike consumer marketplaces where BNPL could drive <10% of the volumes, in B2B marketplaces, BNPL would be driving the majority of the volumes. Already there are some large companies being created in the B2B BNPL space globally and the same would continue to gain traction as the industry builds infrastructure and support for businesses in the post-pandemic world It is important to point out

BY JAWAID IQBAL Co-founder, Rupifi

The whole process of B2B payments starts from invoicing and runs up to the complete reconciliation and thus requires use of technology at every stage.

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PROCESS | B2B PAYMENTS

that B2B BNPL, unlike consumer BNPL, is a much stickier product and critical to the growth of the entity using the BNPL. It is mostly closed-loop, offered for purchases by a specific supplier, distributor, or marketplace.

B2B BNPL is also specific to the industry segment in terms of commercials and tenures, for example, 15-day low priced B2B BNPL for FMCG and grocery segment vs. 60-day higherpriced B2B BNPL for electronics and home furnishing segment.

The B2B BNPL is, however, more complex in terms of its technology framework, owing to coverage of use cases around refunds, returns, partial deliveries, substitute deliveries, and others. Also, B2B BNPL is a much lower risk for the provider, since a non-payment or delay in payment on a B2B BNPL can

KEY TAKEAWAYS B2B BNPL, in most cases, is a closed-loop process, offered for purchases by a specific supplier, distributor, or marketplace.

On the technology front, B2B BNPL is more complex due to coverage of use cases around refunds, returns, partial deliveries, substitute deliveries.

Embedded QRs in invoices, embedded Virtual Accounts or Virtual Payment Addresses, mandatory GST e-Invoicing are some of the steps that are expected to drive a shift in B2B payments.

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be linked to a stop-supply arrangement with the supplier, distributor, or marketplace, which would help drive better collections and repayments.

With all its complexities and features, it is still going to be a game-changing trend for the coming few years as we focus on building Infrastructure and SaaS for growing commerce

DISRUPTION IN B2B PAYMENTS Consumer payments have seen significant disruption of late. Especially with UPI in India, today 98% of retail and consumer payments are digital according to the country’s apex bank Reserve Bank of India’s latest report. However, if we look at the global B2B payments landscape, the majority of these are still broken and offline. In the US and Europe >60% of invoices are still filed manually, and payments are made through paper cheques.

India is no different with most B2B payments following the route of invoicing, deferred payment through RTGS/ NEFT, manual tracking of payment using UTRs or transaction reference numbers by beneficiary, manual reconciliation of the payment, and then the corresponding accounting and taxation for the same. This would completely change as digitisation and technology will completely disrupt the B2B payments space.

Embedded QRs in invoices, embedded Virtual Accounts or Virtual Payment Addresses, mandatory GST e-Invoicing are some of the steps that are expected to drive a shift in B2B payments.

B2B payments are typically transactions between two businesses against the purchase or offer of goods or services.

These transactions, being linked to invoices, have broken payment processes. Some of the most common problems

B2B BNPL is a much lower risk for the provider since a non-payment or delay can be linked to a stop-supply arrangement, enabling better collections and repayments.

faced during B2B payments are the inability to reconcile and track payments in absence of automated Virtual Account systems and APIs, inability to automatically account for the transactions in the respective accounting software, inability to apply the requisite tax laws, and file for required taxes (both direct and indirect) and subsequent payment of the required amounts. The inability to link bank reconciliation with books for all payments received from vendors is another big challenge.

The whole process of B2B payments starts from invoicing and runs up to the complete reconciliation and thus requires the use of technology at every stage to manage information flow, data security, and funds flow in an automated manner, going to the extent of connecting banking and accounting systems, which several neobanks provide today to the SMEs and start-ups, for ease and efficiency.

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CHINA

Baidu takes the metaverse plunge with XiRang

Chinese tech giant Baidu has launched a virtual reality app, joining the likes Nike and Ferrari to experiment with virtual goods against a backdrop of predictions that the metaverse could one day overtake and replace the present-

day web. The initiative is Baidus’s first steps into the metaverse industry and the company is looking to test the waters in the next phase in the internet’s evolution.

The company held a conference

inside the virtual world of its new app XiRang, which means “Land of Hope” in Chinese. It can be accessed from a smartphone, computer or through virtual reality goggles. The launch was attended by Baidu Co-founder and Chief Executive Robin Li and an audience of 3D avatars. XiRang allows users to create a digital character and interact with other users in a 3D world, for example a fictional city.

Baidu says it will allow up to 100,000 users to participate in the same digital space. By joining the app, users can take part in activities such as visiting virtual exhibitions or practising diving in a digital swimming pool. However, the app is presently restricted for access in China. According to the company’s Vice President Ma Jie Baidu’s goal is to build an open source platform for Meta Universe developers, the infrastructure of the virtual world.

He, however, pointed out that the platform is still in its infancy and it could take up to six years for a full launch.

INDIA

Turtlemint to help Mashreq reduce insurance proposal creation time India-based insurance distribution platform Turtlemint has bagged a project from Mashreq to develop a unified and seamless platform for its insurance customers. The platform will enable Mashreq, one of the oldest privately-owned banks in the United Arab Emirates, to digitally interact with all the insurance providers in its network through APIs built for MashreqPad and consumed by providers.

The solution will enable information transparency and empower Mashreq’s customers to access the right advice and make an informed choice while buying insurance products. Mashreq bank operates under an open architecture model offering life insurance products to its customers through four of the largest providers in the region.

The unified platform will also help insurance specialists and relationship managers to seamlessly access the required information and customise proposals for clients. “This is expected to reduce

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the proposal creation time by more than 150%. It will also provide a single view of quotes across life insurance categories and share multiple quotes of insurers directly with customers to create a ‘Need Analysis’ and offer customised solutions.

Talking about the engagement Dhirendra Mahyavanshi highlighted that the primary focus of the company is to actively leverage technology to empower our partners in the insurance ecosystem.

“We are currently working with 40+ insurers and seven banks in India apart from the 100,000+ SMBs using the platform. The customised digital platform that we have created for Mashreq Bank will enable it to efficiently engage with its clients and help them make informed decisions,” he added.

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USE CASES

INDIA

L&T Technology Services launches next-gen EV platform L&T Technology Services Limited, a pure-play engineering services company has stepped up its EV play with the launch of e-VOLTTS platform designed for nextgeneration electric vehicles along with an EV Lab. The company also launched its Autonomous Drive platform which integrates various ADAS applications and Mechatronics for precise control of mechanical components.

The e-VOLTTS platform is a scalable and modular highefficiency Reference platform that can be easily customised for use in a wide range of vehicle segments such as off-highway vehicle, passenger cars, as well as two- and three-wheelers. “It also serves as a reference design and is reusable as well as customisable thereby enabling faster EV related product

development,” the company stated.

The platform includes an electric propulsion system comprising inverter converter topology that enables a compact, cost-

attractive electric drive proposition.

According to the company, the ‘heart’ of the car, has a traction motor equipped with excellent torque characteristic which ensures that with a single charge the vehicle runs a optimum distance.” It also includes the battery, which is designed to reduce excess heat to the environment utilising various factors such as cell selection, cell spacing, pack construction, thermal management materials and battery enclosure design.

The prototype version of the EV vehicle also comprises a 5G enabled next gen digital cockpit with multiple displays and includes a LIDAR Cameras with over a dozen Ultrasonic Sensors that can make decisions through a Central Control Unit. LTTS’ home-grown scalable sensor fusion framework supporting 3D LIDAR system and other advanced sensor applications provide superior driver safety pushing the industry closer to the ultimate goal of autonomous cars, the company claimed.

JAPAN

Mitsubishi Power ships gasfired powergen system to UAE Mitsubishi Power has shipped a total of three M701JAC gas turbines to the Fujairah F3 power plant in the UAE from its Takasago Machinery Works in Hyogo Prefecture. The plant will use an efficient combined cycle technology in the region and will be the largest natural gas-fired gas turbine combined cycle facility in the UAE, playing a crucial role in the country’s power generation sector, while also contributing to the GCC’s power grid.

The M701JAC is the world’s leading gas turbine with efficiency greater than 64%, reliability of 99.6%, and the lowest carbon emissions per unit of power when used in combined cycle. Capable of operating on a mixture of up to 30% hydrogen and 70% natural gas, the turbines can be increased to 100% hydrogen in the future.

These generators will be the core facility for the

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natural gas-fired GTCC plant, owned and operated by Fujairah Power Company F3 LLC. Once installed, the JAC-Series gas turbines will enable the power plant generate 2,400 megawatts, the highest output ever for a gas-fired GTCC plant in the UAE. The plant is being built by the South Korean firm Samsung C&T Corporation.

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MALAYSIA

Eatcosys launches new food app, plans ‘eat out campaign’ Retail technology solutions provider Eatcosys has launched the Malaysians Eat Out 1.0 (MEO 1.0) campaign that incentivises diners at select food and beverage (F&B) outlets. The initiative aims to reignite the Malaysian F&B industry. Malaysia’s F&B segment reported a 14% or RM 1.9 Billion decline in 3Q 2021 compared to the same period in 2020 due to various restrictions necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Consumers rarely ate out, visited supermarkets or other F&B outlets, choosing instead to turn to online food platforms and grocery shopping in massive volumes.

With over 9,000 merchants already online, the new FoodAdvisor app promises users the opportunity to discover delicious new eats through and savour dishes at the best restaurants and cafes in their preferred areas at discounted rates. The app also has a rating feature and allows users to share their favourite dishes and F&B outlets with their communities.

Under its campaign, Eatcosys has rolled out a wide range of vouchers, accessible through the new FoodAdvisor mobile app. “With the restrictions

easing nationwide, we are confident that MEO 1.0 and the FoodAdvisor mobile app will re-energise the F&B industry with more customers while addressing existing and new challenges brought by the pandemic,” Eatcosys Chairman and Group CEO Tham Lih Chung said. Established in 2020, Eatcosys provides integrated platform with suite of end-to-end retail and digital solutions for the retail and F&B sectors.

PAKISTAN

Bank Alfalah, Allied Ecommerce to provide digital payment infra Bank Alfalah, one of the largest commercial banks in Pakistan has announced that it will be collaborating with Allied Ecommerce Solution to provide digital payment infrastructure to online businesses across small and medium sized enterprises and home-based venture, selling via online platforms all across Pakistan and internationally.

The alliance will enable the bank

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extend its Alfa Payment Gateway services to online retailers and help them grow their existing businesses by tapping into the online space. The solution enables online retailers to collect payments in real time in a simple and secure manner from their customers via multiple payment modes including pay via link, credit and debit cards, Bank Alfalah Wallets and Alfa bank accounts.

Announcing the partnership, Bank Alfalah Group Executive for Digital Banking Yahya Khan said, “This partnership is indeed in line with the bank’s vision to convert cash to digital services for its customers. It demonstrates our commitment to collaborate with fintechs and technology companies and invest into fruitful business expansion partnerships to enable merchants in Pakistan to enter the online marketplace” Allied Ecommerce Solution, CEO Ahad Rehman stated: “The pandemic has accelerated the growth of e-commerce in Pakistan, but many brands are struggling to adapt to these changes, and this is where the strategic partnership steps in to drive brand experience, commercial growth, and high CXP with seamless payment integrations.”

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SINGAPORE

Grab, McDonald’s Singapore to transform restaurant experience

Southeast Asia’s superapp company Grab and McDonald’s Singapore have announced a wide-ranging partnership aimed at transforming the quick service restaurant experience in the country. This collaboration will see the integration of GrabPay and GrabRewards with McDonald’s

online and in-store ordering experience, and expansion of its on-demand delivery capabilities through GrabExpress.

The partnership enables GrabPay to become the first non-bank e-wallet to be accepted as a payment option across all McDonald’s stores in Singapore,

through McDelivery app and website, the company stated, adding that consumers can pay with GrabPay over the counter, as well as via Self-Ordering Kiosks and Drive Thru. With more consumers ordering online, McDonald’s has also integrated the GrabExpress service into all its online ordering channels, including the McDelivery app and the McDelivery website.

The two companies have also agreed to develop a unified insights platform that will consolidate trends and statistics across both companies’ ordering channels. This will enable them to have a pulse on what consumers most value and continually design rewarding and personalised experiences for consumers such as exclusive limited-time-only promotions and unique McDonald’s x GrabFood challenges. These insights will also allow both brands to better leverage GrabAds in order to introduce the right deals and campaigns to different consumers in more relevant ways.

SOUTH KOREA

Coway unveils sensorenabled sleep solutions at CES 2022 Environmental home appliances company Coway introduced Smart Care Air Mattress and Smart Sleep Solution at the CES 2022 in Las Vegas. The adjustable Smart Care Air Mattress that uses Coway’s proprietary, patented technology can detect the user’s body pressure and sleeping position to adjust itself to one of nine firmness levels through Air Cells. “These next-generation air pockets control their own air pressure to adjust the firmness of the mattress. As a result, the mattress constantly feels new with this durable new technology that replaces traditional mattress springs,” the company said in a press release.

The mattress also comes with an IoT solution that turns the lights off and adjusts to the optimal firmness depending on individual body pressure.

Then, the humidifier and air purifier automatically

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provide the ideal air quality and humidity for sound sleep. When the Smart Sleep Solution’s sensors detect the visitor rising from the bed, the lights are turned on, the mattress is put in Relax Wake-Up mode, and the humidifier and air purifier are automatically turned off, Coway stated.

“Globally, we are all spending more time in our homes than ever. This has only reinvigorated our dedication to making consumers’ home a healthy sanctuary of relaxation and wellness,” Kevin Shim, Head of Marketing at Coway USA said.

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SRI LANKA

Teejay Lanka achieves 81% emission reduction from sludge disposal

Teejay Lanka PLC has announced that it has achieved 81% reduction in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions due to its sustained operation of industry best practices in disposal of sludge waste. The company has invested over LKR Rs 90 Million ($450,000) in a

steam-powered sludge dryer at Teejay’s factory at the Seethawaka Export Processing Zone (EPZ) that enables the company to convert a daily output of wet sludge into dry powder which is then incinerated at a cement manufacturing facility.

Wet sludge is generated from the

VIETNAM

First database of genomic variants for Vietnamese announced

Vingroup Big Data Institute (VinBigData) has announced that it has completed its database of genomic variants for the Vietnamese Population project.

The $4.5 Million project involved 40 scientists from universities and

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research institutes worldwide and hundreds of experts and volunteers in Vietnam.

With over 1,000 genomes sequenced and over 40 million variants discovered, the research will lay a foundation for biomedical

wastewater pre-treatment process of Teejay Lanka. Prior to the switch in the disposal method, significant GHG emissions occurred from disposal of the sludge. The gases included carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydro fluorocarbons, sulphur hexafluoride, and perfluorocarbons. The sludge dryer installed by Teejay Lanka has the capacity of drying up to 12 tons of wet sludge per day. Besides, it uses excess steam available from the company’s manufacturing process to save cost on energy.

“Sustainability will always be one of our top priorities, and we are delighted that we are disposing of solid waste in a 100% sustainable manner,” Teejay Lanka CEO Pubudu De Silva said. “We have installed the largest steam operated paddle dryer in Sri Lanka in a demonstration of our commitment to best practices in the industrial context, and we continue to look for ways to minimise the ecological footprint of our operations.”

and precision medicine development, contributing to giving early treatment to each Vietnamese individual in the future. “The database has enough annotations about biological functions and pathological risks,” Ta Thanh Van, Chairman, Council of Hanoi Medical University said, adding that the database will provide an invaluable reference to improve the efficiency of diagnosis and treatment in the country.

Launched in December 2018, the project has sequenced genomes of over 1,000 unrelated adults aged 35-55 and discovered more than 40 million genetic variants.

Nearly two million of this data is representative of the Vietnamese population, the company stated.

The process was made at a lab meeting ISO 15189 standards at Vinmec International General Hospital, using advanced technologies by Google, Illumina and NVIDIA.

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PROCESS | STRATEGIC FORESIGHT

RISKS ARE HERE TO STAY Businesses and economies in Asia need to prepare for uncertainties that come with the new year. Here is a list of what to worry about and things to do in 2022.

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BY AMIT KAPOOR Chair, Institute for Competitiveness and Visiting Scholar, Stanford University

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he year 2021 has been a tough year across continents, COVID-19 onslaught has kept continuing, though subsided partially because of large-scale vaccine manufacturing and administration worldwide, yet the danger of variants of the virus still looms large. Coupled with the pandemic have been several other risks such as creaking the economy, escalating unemployment, expanding digital divide, constrained logistic supply chain, strained medical infrastructure, disenchantment amongst youth, and growing social fragmentation.

The impact of these disruptions has become more pronounced

RAAGINI SHARMA Researcher, Institute for Competitiveness

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Delayed rollout of vaccinations in some countries and Omicron variant pose the greatest danger to the region’s sustainable recovery in 2022.

and complex because of the convergence of issues economic, environmental, geopolitical, and technical in nature. A number of risks have been faced in almost all domains of private and public lives, businesses, and governance in 2021 and they will continue to emerge as major challenges in 2022.

As stated by the Global Risk Report 2021 of the World Economic Forum, the risks for businesses in 2021 include the COVID-19 pandemic, climate action failure, humanled environmental damage, erosion of societal cohesion, terrorist attacks, digital power concentration, digital inequality, cyber security failure, and the US-China trade war.

Even though the challenges and risks that businesses have encountered still continue to impact Asia and the rest of the world, there are possibilities galore for sustainable development for companies even amidst the grim scenario.

VOLATILITY AND UNCERTAINTY OF BUSINESSES IN ASIA Thousands of micro and small industries have been shut down in most of the countries in Asia and the big business houses are still feeling the heat of COVID-19. In the Asia-Pacific region, the impact of interconnected phenomena is being felt acutely. Rising economic disparity, increasing population pressures, ongoing international security concerns, complicated global economic transitions, environmental hazards, and increased technological advancement, are making the business landscapes intricate both locally and regionally, difficult to understand, and risk-prone.

Security ecosystem is in the doldrums; business on downslide; cyber security risks prevalent and perilous; socio-political turmoil paving the way to unemployment and corruption; business

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malpractices leading to legal morass; technological disruptions killing the businesses and organisations and the ongoing onslaught of COVID-19 pandemic are few of the risk scenarios amongst many faced in this year and would continue to be major concerns ahead. The recovery is slow and painstaking.

In the last two decades since the onset of the 21st century, the Asia-Pacific region has witnessed a high trajectory of economic growth involving huge business transactions and high volume of trade-related fright in the waters of Indian Ocean. The growth was punctuated by the economic crisis faced in the year 2008-11, however, it was overcome and the region has now become the powerhouse of world economic growth.

It becomes imperative to analyse the risks that businesses faced and which may lead to the downfall of the economy in this region if the impact of the risks and challenges are not controlled and arrested.

COVID TO CONTINUE IMPACT BUSINESSES IN ASIA The year 2021 has been marked by unequal recovery as vaccine rollouts create a world of haves and have-nots, with pockets of COVID that have persisted at the bottom of the hierarchical pyramid. Unfortunately, there will be many who fall into the have-not group, and businesses will endure lengthy operational uncertainty as localised limitations are enforced intermittently in reaction to viral surges. The recovery will also be more sluggish since governments with limited budgetary space will be unable to engage in prolonged expenditure.

The most obvious risks and challenges in 2022 will be COVID-19 and its variants-related issues; vaccine and boosterrelated delays due to production

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or distribution bottlenecks, as also renewed frequent and prolonged lockdowns that may affect the supply chain.

Consumer behaviour has changed drastically, the demands have dipped. A similar behaviour pattern may continue for a while.

An inflationary shock could appear due to supply constraints on the back of pent-up demand from a smooth vaccine rollout and widespread optimism.

Supply constraints would obviously hit economies with current account deficits more severely.

The delayed rollout of vaccinations in some countries, diminishing vaccine efficacy, and the arrival of the Omicron variant pose the greatest danger to the region’s sustainable recovery

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in 2022. If new versions of the virus prove resistant to existing vaccinations and spread rapidly across borders, the situation might deteriorate further, placing more burdens on healthcare systems.

Because of its reliance on manufacturing, Asia is particularly vulnerable if global supply chains continue to be disrupted indefinitely. Expect further localised lockdowns and targeted travel restrictions, which may panic investors and cause financial markets to plummet. They could also inflict additional misery on the already wounded travel and tourist industry, as well as heighten fears about a delayed departure from the epidemic.

The current times of pandemic

uncertainty have threatened businesses, society, governance and individuals as well.

OTHER SERIOUS IMPLICATIONS FOR BUSINESSES Asian economy has been severely impacted by the pandemic, yet there are significant disparities between nations. Beyond the scope of lockdowns and the magnitude of policy responses, whether fiscal or monetary in nature, the fundamental features of Asian economies explain disparities in growth patterns as well as variances in growth rates.

Risk-off episodes have complicated their required external finance, limiting fiscal assistance for countries with the greatest current account deficits. India, Indonesia, and the Philippines

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KEY TAKEAWAYS Businesses have faced several risks in 2021 like creaking of the economy, escalating unemployment, expanding digital divide, constrained logistic supply chain, strained medical infrastructure, disenchantment amongst youth, and growing social fragmentation, and they will continue to emerge as major challenges in 2022.

An inflationary shock could appear due to supply constraints on the back of pent-up demand from a smooth vaccine rollout and widespread optimism.

The rising tensions between the United States and China are causing widespread anxiety, particularly as they shift from economic to security problems.

To outsmart the risks and overcome the challenges, companies, and businesses must be fully focused on building resilience and agility.

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are examples of this. As a result of more successful containment measures and, in many cases, bigger fiscal and monetary responses, the Chinese mainland, as well as other economies such as Vietnam and Taiwan, and, to a lesser extent, South Korea and Japan, have been less affected. Furthermore, several of these nations’ sectoral specialisations, whether in technology, electronics, or medical supplies, have aided in increasing exports under COVID-19. This is evident on the Chinese mainland, as well as in South Korea and Taiwan.

The rising tensions between the United States and China are causing widespread anxiety, particularly as they shift from economic to security problems.

The two critical flashpoints impacting the dynamics of the Indian Ocean Region are undoubtedly Taiwan and the South China Sea. QUAD was already existing and getting firmer and overt on anti-China stance. The recent security alliance between Australia, the UK, and USA, AUKUS, has added another dimension to the already complex geopolitical

dynamics in the region. This delicate situation in the IndoPacific region will surely impact the businesses and the supply chains.

Overall, after a large dip in 2020 and a gradual rebound in 2021, growth is starting and corporations are resuming investment, our outlook remains positive for 2022 but not without acknowledging the hangover of the pandemic and the Damocles sword hanging in the disguise of Omicron variants and others.

Rather than being a positive outcome, rapid debt accumulation is a significant negative consequence of the coronavirus and the inability for the policy response, not only in Asia but around the world.

The second negative effect is an escalation of demographic challenges owing to the global decline in fertility rates. This has a significantly greater impact on Asia’s aging economies than on nations with a still favourable demographic dividend. On the plus side, COVID-19 has a silver lining: the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement might improve regional trade

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BUSINESS RISKS OF MAJOR CONCERN IN ASIA

Here are some major current and future risk scenarios that would dominate the business landscape in 2022.

Severe energy price shocks

Large-scale cyberattack

Energy price increases or decreases significantly and places economic pressure on high energy-dependent industries and consumers. Asia, as a net energy importer, is frequently susceptible to rising energy prices.

Furthermore, the region’s lowering prices give chances on which it must seize. For example, a continuous period of reduced oil prices has enabled nations like India, Indonesia, and Malaysia to eliminate or cut fossil fuel subsidies, which formerly absorbed a significant amount of yearly government budgets.

Large-scale cyberattacks and malware cause large economic damages, geopolitical tensions, and widespread loss of trust in the internet-enabled digital economy.

Economic risks This includes asset bubbles, debt crises, price instability, unsustainably overpriced assets such as commodities, housing, and shares, etc.

Supply chain disruptions, pentup demands, inflationary trends, changing consumer behavior can all lead to business interruptions that organisations need to be wary of.

Fiscal crises

Natural Catastrophes

Excessive debt burdens generate sovereign debt crises and/or liquidity crises.

High unemployment A sustained high level of unemployment or under utilisation of the productive capacity of the employed population prevents the economy from attaining high levels of employment.

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COVID-19 Health and workforce issues such as health care systems under duress, vaccine roll out and administration posing difficulties, changing work habits resulting in mental disorientation, disenchantment, and disillusion in the workforce.

Business interruptions

Storms, floods, earthquakes, wildfires are on the rise and a big environmental risk that may impact businesses in a big way, across geographies.

Legislation and regulatory changes Trade and tariff wars, economic sanctions, protectionism will continue to trouble companies.

Geopolitical risks and violence Developments in the South China Sea, Hong Kong’s protest movements, the maritime security issues in a large part of the IndoPacific region, add complexity to the issues which have disrupted the workflow of the business in the region. These geopolitical risks have not lost their relevance in spite of the world’s focus on COVID-19.

Geopolitical instability, limited wars, expanding terrorism, civil wars, including, riots and looting may come to the forefront.

Macroeconomic developments Monetary policies, austerity programs, commodity price increase, deflation, and inflation.

Technology-related risks Disruptive tendencies, rapid rate of change of conducting businesses, service outages, digital inequalities, digital divide, digital dangers.

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integration among the AsiaPacific nations.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT WILL PAVE WAY FOR COMPANIES The Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) have become the order of the day in the business world and we presume that the companies and the businesses to build resilience to surmount the challenges as posed by COVID-19 and others.

The companies will be capable of absorbing further and future shocks, if their long term goals are aligned with the ESG as this will reduce their capital costs in the long run and improve valuation.

In Asia also, the trend of investors is investing in ESG funds which have been outperforming their benchmarks. Yet there is a lot of scope for the companies to include ESG aspects. They must understand the larger picture and the modalities and the action plan to implement to reap benefits. The ‘box ticking’ culture of most of the companies on this front will not pay any dividend and rather frustrate the employees and the management. It is better to improve the operational efficiencies in alignment with the ESG objectives.

The investors, consumers, civil societies, NGOs and the government will be coming forward for the companies investing in ESG issues.

Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan are the leading nations in Asia that are taking the ESG issue seriously for their economic growth. Other nations, notably Indonesia and Taiwan are following suit. Other countries too, must flag the ESG implementation amongst the companies and businesses.

FINALLY, THE SILVER LINING We live in an increasingly

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volatile world, where uncertainty prevails and change is the only constant. Businesses face rapidly changing environments due to the accelerated growth of emerging technologies, most of which are disruptive in nature.

The businesses thus have to adapt to the technologies, changing work environment, or risk falling behind. The spectrum of challenges range from supply chain issues due to shipping blockages and disruptions to natural catastrophes to climate action failure to social divisions to digital inequalities to intricate geopolitical landscape, and all of these will have implications on the businesses which may hamper their recovery and growth. Risk experts have identified that environmental and geopolitical issues are more of the major concerns in the Asia region.

Businesses and organisations must plan ahead for the possible disruptions caused by increasing economic disparity. This includes anticipating the expected pressure on labour issues that would result in an increase in industrial action and protests. As a result, firms should prioritise the maintenance of labour relations and the implementation of people management initiatives.

Finally, such a complicated geopolitical outlook, coupled with the lessons learned from COVID-19 regarding supply disruptions could push the reshuffling of value chains further, with important consequences for Asia. The risk of decoupling, or even de-globalisation if the term is used more broadly, might extend beyond trade to include technology and even finance, with clear negative ramifications for growth in Asia and throughout the world in both directions.

Still, there is hope.

As the digital economy is

Because of its reliance on manufacturing, Asia is particularly vulnerable if global supply chains continue to be disrupted indefinitely.

exploding, so is the exposure to cyber threats and accordingly, there is a dire need to up-skill the digital knowledge of the workforce. Digital inequality and the digital divide is to be taken care of by the state governments to provide equal opportunities to all otherwise it will lead to polarisation in the workforce that will be detrimental for the businesses and societies as such.

There has to be more collaboration between private and public companies, communities, NGOs, and Governments to synergise their energies to take the challenges head-on and find solutions together. The governments, on their part, have to revive the MSME sector through stimulus packages. Maximum emphasis is to be laid on sustainable development projects involving green infrastructure and clean energy projects.

In essence, to outsmart the risks and overcome the challenges, and come out of the clutches of mere survival, the eyes of the companies and businesses must be fully focused on building resilience and agility and maintaining these through synergising the efforts by private and public sectors aided by the NGOs, communities and the government and exploiting the digital technologies as also adapting to the changes brought in by the disruptions.

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COVER STORY

THE GOVERNANCE CHANGEMAKER

A man with a vision and determination, Amitabh Kant has emerged as the go-to person for any large-scale government transformation project in India.

BY SHUBHENDU PARTH

H

e is the poster boy of a small community of seasonedcum-flamboyant bureaucrats playing a dominant role in India’s policy making.

A career civil servant with 40 years of experience, ideating, architecting and executing one flagship programme after another, aimed at transforming India across sectors, Amitabh Kant is a trusted lieutenant of Prime Minister Narendra Modi; a fact that is evident from PM’s decision to extend his tenure as the CEO of government’s premier policy think tank NITI Aayog, the erstwhile Planning Commission, for the third time. But all this is not without reasons.

Kant has championed the cause of using technology for transforming India, and enjoys easy rapport with the corporate sector. He has taken forward prime minister’s vision and championed initiatives such as Make in India and Startup India that have positioned the country as a leading manufacturing destination. In his capacity as Secretary of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Government of India, he drove the Ease-of-Doing Business initiative, which later led to the emergence of state-specific rankings.

What started as a national-level exercise is today being emulated by several states to rank their own

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districts. The initiative that Kant kicked off by deciding to remove rules and regulations that acted as bottleneck soon saw India improving its global ranking from #142 in 2015 to #77 in 2018, and #63 in the following year.

A firm believer in the power of communication, Kant has not only conceptualised and driven transformational projects, he has also fervently marketed and batted for these programmes on every government and industry platform, arguably more than any his peers or government functionaries. He is also described as a “problem solver” and a “policy change agent” who had a role to play in India’s FDI reforms and simplification of defence licensing process, as also the country’s Asset Monetisation and the National Mission for Transformative Mobility. His successful stint as chairman of Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation under DIPP ensured that he hit the ground running when the government put manufacturing revival on top of its agenda.

But Kant does not stop with just that.

At the helms of the NITI Aayog, he took upon himself to drive the Aspirational Districts Program which has succeeded in improving the socio-economic outcomes in some of the most backward districts of the country through a mix of data-based governance, competitive federalism, and collaborations. The programme was well appreciated and

While Kant is a big believer in technology, he feels the key lies in leveraging technology to solve problems and challenges for a country like India.

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COVER STORY

the UNDP described it as a “catalyst for expediting development” that brought about “major changes” in sectors such as healthcare, nutrition and education.

Under his leadership, NITI Aayog has emerged as the most influential policy organisations in the government dealing with matters as diverse as digital banks, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, manufacturing, 5G, healthcare, nutrition, vaccination, pandemic response, clean tech and social sector, among others. He also advocates use of machine learning and artificial intelligence in areas of water availability, learning outcomes, health, and enhanced agriculture productivity.

While Kant is a big believer in technology, he feels the key lies in leveraging technology to solve problems and challenges for a country like India. In his own words, “Silicon Valley may be the most innovative place in the world but it has no (third world) challenges… If India is able to innovate for its challenges of water, health, education and agriculture, we will be finding a solution not for the 1.3 billion people of India but for the next five billion people of the world who will move from poverty to middle class in the coming decade.” (see interview) A 1980-batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre and author of Branding India: An Incredible Story (2009) and Incredible India 2.0: Synergies of Growth and Governance (2019), Kant shot to fame by turning around the Kerala’s tourism and putting it on the world map with the ‘God’s Own Country’ campaign. Later he replicated the state success story as the Tourism Secretary of the country, carrying out an even bigger and popular campaign, ‘Incredible India’. He also conceptualised and executive the ‘Atithi Devo Bhavah’ or Guest is God campaign to train taxi drivers, guides, immigration officials and make them stake holders in the tourism development process.

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AMITABH KANT CEO, NITI Aayog

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COVER STORY

Domain expertise, a strong analytical approach to problem solving and passion to contribute to India’s growth story is necessary for evolving impactful policies.

How would you describe the key enablers that are influencing government business processes positively at NITI Aayog?

Technology, skilled resources and a data-driven approach have been major enablers for us. We have been at the forefront of encouraging the uptake of cutting edge technologies to enable India to leapfrog in the post-COVID era. Within NITI Aayog, we have been able to streamline processes and maximise efficiency through leveraging data and technology. As the only government agency which has the highest number of lateral entrants, we believe that domain expertise, a strong analytical approach to problem solving and the passion to contribute to India’s growth story is necessary for evolving impactful policies.

What about the key inhibitors or the factors that are retarding business processes at different levels in the government sector at central and state levels?

I would believe that these could be a number of factors. Information asymmetry and lack of data is one of the primary retardants. However, data is increasingly being leveraged to drive growth and development and the biggest example of this is the Aspirational Districts Program (ADP) of India which is being driven

by NITI Aayog. It is the biggest and the most successful example of outcome-based governance in the world where we have used convergence, collaboration and competition, on a strong data backbone to improve socioeconomic parameters. The key now is to increasingly use data, collect and report it in a standardised format and use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to analyse it. A high compliance burden, lack of skilled domain experts and multiplicity of agencies also slow processes.

You have highlighted the role of AI/ ML and the data-driven approach in governance. How do you look

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at the strategic role played by technology in driving growth of an economy and countries like India?

I believe that technology is one of the strongest pillars on which growth and socio-economic development would be supported, and accelerated. We have seen how technology has been used to deepen digital financial, health and education inclusion in the country. We are the only country to have a billion plus biometrics, bank accounts and mobile phones and interlinking of these has ensured the inclusion of hundreds of millions of citizens into the formal financial system.

Technology has also been at the core of various other initiatives like the Digital Health Mission, Ayushman Bharat Health Insurance Scheme, which is the largest in the world covering 500 million Indians. It has also been at the core of the learning apps that have brought courses to the mobile phones of students. We can never progress as a nation without having financially included, healthy, skilled, and educated citizens and hence, technology is essential for transforming social sectors. The future of India lies in sunrise sectors of growth and we have humongous amounts of data in India; we are data rich and now we must become data intelligent.

We should leverage AI, ML and cutting-edge technologies to drive manufacturing and exports and become global champions.

How do you define digital or business transformation of an organisation?

I would believe that these could be a number of factors. Information asymmetry and lack of data is one of the primary retardants.

However, data is increasingly being leveraged to drive growth and development and the biggest example of this is the Aspirational Districts Program (ADP) of India which is being driven by NITI

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COVER STORY

Aayog. It is the biggest and the most successful example of outcome-based governance in the world where we have used convergence, collaboration and competition, on a strong data backbone to improve socioeconomic parameters. The key now is to increasingly use data, collect and report it in a standardised format and use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to analyse it. A high compliance burden, lack of skilled domain experts and multiplicity of agencies also slow processes.

Transformation of any form – business, process, or governance, cannot be driven without making technology and digital disruptions the cornerstone.

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What about business and digital transformation at NITI Aayog?

How would you describe it in the context of transforming India’s development agenda?

NITI Aayog’s digital transformation is a story of leading digitalisation from the front. In the six years since its inception, NITI Aayog launched the radical ADP guided by indices that are digitally monitored real-time and help curate interventions that push change in India’s least developed districts.

We recently upgraded the digital infrastructure, Champions of Change (CoC) that is the backbone of ADP. The new CoC digital platform now facilitates advanced data analytics, digitised project management workflow, and machine-learning capabilities.

We have recently launched a free education program in partnership BYJU’s, further strengthening grassroots education programs. We launched Sustainable Development Goals Index, again a digital mechanism of competitive federalism to ensure states across the country are able to power towards achieving sustainable development across all sectors. Our Women Entrepreneurship Platform, which caters to more than 20000 women entrepreneurs across the country, is a first of its kind

unified access portal. It brings together women from different parts of India to build a nurturing ecosystem that enables them to realise their entrepreneurial aspirations.

The Atal Innovation Mission, the Government of India’s flagship initiative focuses on developing new programmes and policies for fostering innovation in different sectors of the economy, provide platforms and collaboration opportunities for different stakeholders, and create an umbrella structure to oversee the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem in the country. The Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO), an attached unit of NITI, is driving accountability in governance through proper monitoring and evaluation. It facilitates convergence by tracking indicators and action points that are crossministerial in nature.

Going ahead, how do you see digital technologies transform India?

I am a strong believer in technology and digital disruption.

This vast scale of data and the massive digital footprint is India’s biggest strength for Artificial Intelligence development. As India moves from being data rich to data intelligent, it will use ML and AI to find solutions to its vast number of its challenges, from availability of water to learning outcomes, health improvement, and enhanced agriculture productivity.

The Silicon Valley may be the most innovative place in the world but it has no challenges. It, therefore, innovates for driverless cars. India does not need driverless cars. If India is able to innovate for its challenges of water, health, education and agriculture, we will be finding a solution not for the 1.3 billion people of India but for the next five billion people of the world who will move from poverty to middle class in the coming decade.

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PEOPLE | TRANSFORMATION

CAN LAGGING IT CULTURE JEOPARDISE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

If you allow misaligned behaviors to become normalised, the way work gets done becomes less and less fit for delivering now and in the future.

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BY DANIEL SANCHEZ-REINA VP Analyst, Gartner.

As business models change, so do the behaviors and actions that are most relevant.

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ovid-19 and its effects accelerated digital business at an unprecedented pace, and CEOs continue to invest in digital capabilities as they look to take advantage of what many expect to be a fast, sharp recovery. CIOs and their IT teams are key to this digital strategy and execution, but is the IT organisational culture up to the task?

Many CIOs recognise that the way IT employees get work done today is not what the enterprise needs to meet its digital ambitions, but few know how to get rid of stubborn, unproductive behavior. They need a rigorous way to gauge what needs to change.

What is organisational culture?

Culture is not an academic construct. Culture is what drives the priorities of individuals within the organisation. It comprises the behaviors and actions that have become normalised over time to dictate how work gets done and prioritised.

The question for CIOs is what behaviors and actions are needed to ensure that the IT organisational culture is aligned to drive digital transformation and acceleration.

As business models change, so do the behaviors and actions that are most relevant. It is not surprising, then, that the IT organisational culture can increasingly lag behind what is needed to drive digital ambitions.

BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION ASIA

But CIOs must intentionally and actively diagnose and address these culture gaps.

If you allow misaligned behaviors and actions to become normalised, the way work gets done becomes less and less fit for delivering on priorities, now and in the future. Worse still, your IT organisational culture can actually jeopardise digital ambitions.

In short, an IT organisational culture fit for your digital ambitions must get and stay aligned to the stated objectives of the business model. But how do CIOs do that?

Is your IT culture in step?

To develop a digitally mature IT organisational culture, CIOs should first level-set on how responsive IT teams are to the four key components of the business model and its corresponding business strategy today:

EXTERNAL CUSTOMERS, CITIZENS How knowledgeable and responsive the IT organisation is to external customers, citizens, constituents, their industry, sector environment and the external factors affecting them

VALUE PROPOSITION How knowledgeable and responsive the IT organisation is to the external product, service environment

CAPABILITIES How the IT organisation prepares, orchestrates and measures its capabilities information, technology, people, skills, assets, ecosystem stakeholders to accomplish its mission

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PEOPLE | TRANSFORMATION

FINANCE

KEY TAKEAWAYS It is not surprising, that the IT organisational culture can increasingly lag behind what is needed to drive digital ambitions.

CIOs must intentionally and actively diagnose and address these culture gaps.

IT organisational culture can actually jeopardise digital ambitions.

An IT culture fit for digital ambitions must stay aligned to the objectives of the business model.

The IT organisation’s knowledge of and responsiveness to overall enterprise finances revenue sources, costs, risks, funding model, financial KPIs It is also valuable to gauge the intensity of the IT organisation in terms of its intentions awareness and understanding of influential factors and environment and actions the team’s dedication to making things happen.

How fit is your IT organisational culture to drive digital ambitions?

Having assessed the degree of alignment with the business model, CIOs need to plot an improvement path for the IT organisational culture based on its current level of maturity.

The Gartner assessment tool measures maturity on the following scale:

EXTERNAL CUSTOMERS, CITIZENS

Our IT culture is not aligned but is somewhat aware that it is not.

Share specific information about how your enterprise segments external customers, citizens and why, and the different channels to reach them. Also, give them a clear picture of the industry and competitive landscape.

Value proposition Organise a hackathon or quiz game among your team members, with specific questions about segmentations of products, services and their expected growth, the various channels your enterprise uses to deliver them, the main competitors in each segment and their competitive levers. Make it a quarterly ritual.

#3 SETTLING

CAPABILITIES

Our IT culture is performing on digital business needs but is far from fully aligned.

Share the IT strategy with team members and talk about strengths and weaknesses in organisational structure, technological resources, people’s skills and competencies, and interactions with the rest of the enterprise and external parties.

Highlight what’s missing for the IT organisation to drive the organisation toward its digital goals.

#1 UNALIGNED Our IT culture is not aligned and is not aware that it is not.

#2 AWAKENING

#4 ALIGNED Our IT culture is aligned with today’s digital business needs.

#5 FORWARD-LOOKING Our IT culture is aligned with today’s digital business needs and ready for the future.

The objective is to get to level 5. You might choose to stop at a lower level if you think you’ve already done the heavy lifting, but that will mean there is still room for improvement. So even if you pause, continue escalating the cultural alignment when you see fit, knowing that lack of alignment threatens to hamper

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your progress in the interim.

Sample actions to shift the IT organisational culture for digital Once your IT teams have completed the cultural assessment to gauge their digital fitness, you will need to act to close whatever gaps are critical to your digital success.

Here are some examples of actions you might need to take.

FINANCE Appoint tiger teams to assess how robust and flexible your IT budget is in both its structure and content to face foreseeable future needs. Share the conclusions with the entire department and devise a rationale to present to the CFO and CEO.

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PEOPLE | HUMAN TRANSFORMATION

ELEVATE YOUR WELLNESS GOALS

Here are 11 wellbeing hacks and things that you should do to boost your health and achieve more in 2022.

BY EKTAA SIBAL India’s number one Inner-self Transformation Specialist, International Meditation Expert, Global Executive Leadership Coach and Gifted Energy Healer with inborn intuitive abilities

S

ince the pandemic, wellness and wellbeing have always been the center of focus. As we walk into 2022 here are my eleven surefire ways to boost your wellbeing in 2022.

challenge” or “8-hour-sleep challenge”, etc. These activities help in building the importance of creating wellness in life through fun challenges. While we create wellness By incorporating wellness challenges in your organisation, you are creating a culture of well-being. And we know that a culture of well-being is the key to an engaged, productive workforce.

#2 EDUCATE AND CREATE AWARENESS Knowledge sharing and learning through the experiences of experts is the best way to practice wellbeing

on a daily basis. When one learns meditation, yoga, mindfulness, etc and practices it on daily basis, they reduce stress, enhance relationships and build stronger focus. Give yourself a chance to build a sustainable consistent wellness practice with instructorled guided meditation and mindfulness sessions.

#3 PRACTICE GRATITUDE There is a lot that is talked about gratitude and instilling a practice of being grateful. However, it is not just a practice but a way of life and when it is incorporated as a way of life, you will see a huge transformation happening in your life in terms of becoming more

#1 WELLNESS CHALLENGES Build wellness challenges for yourself and your team. It unlocks the spirit of fun and sociable competition with likeminded people or even your own team. This encourages greater participation and inspires your team to drive themselves further than they would on their own. Such wellness challenges can be a part of the regular day affairs such as “Walking Challenge” or “1-week healthy eating

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PEOPLE | HUMAN TRANSFORMATION

resilient, becoming calmer and learning to not worry too much.

When you observe your day by being grateful for the things that happened, you change your perspective which brings a lot of depth and meaning to the same day. So for a change, just replace the lens through which your brain views the world and see how easy, simple, and thriving your world will become for you.

#4 PRIORITISE SLEEP Wellbeing is not just about doing or taking actions, sometimes it is also about not doing anything and giving your body complete rest that it needs. Not getting enough sleep can lead to many other concerns such as feeling sluggish, drowsy, and stressed out. It even creates mental fog. Sleeping for 7-8 hours is absolutely necessary to keep our mind and body fit to take right decisions, to generate new ideas and for our work productivity too.

#5 STAND UP AND MOVE! Numerous studies have linked sitting for long periods of time with several health concerns.

It includes obesity and a many other conditions like increased blood pressure, high blood sugar and abnormal cholesterol levels.

Prolonged periods of sitting also seem to increase the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Our body is in constant movement and that keeps our organs going on and keeping us alive. A sedentary lifestyle can be very dangerous to our body and mind as that goes against the basic law of nature which is constantly moving and changing. So moving in the form of walking, swimming, running, doing yoga, dancing or aerobics etc is not just needed to keep our body weight in check but also to keep our mind and body aligned together and to keep our metabolism high.

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#6 BE AWARE OF TOXIC POSITIVITY Toxic positivity is when we try to look at everything from the space of positivity even when you should not as that may create a sense of false reality. Now you might say that “thinking positive” is what you hear and read everywhere so how can it be bad or toxic? Well extremes of anything is bad, and thinking positive all the time for every situation can be unhealthy for you, especially when you are not accepting the reality but covering it up with a false sense of positivity. It may give you some respite for a while but eventually it is important to accept and release the low point of your life rather than just bandaging it and not letting it heal.

By incorporating wellness challenges in your organisation, you are creating a culture of well-being, which is the key to an engaged, productive workforce.

#7 DIGITAL DETOX There has been a lot of research showing how excessive screen time in terms of social media has negative impact on your psychological wellbeing. Even tech bosses like Tim Cook, Jack Dorsey, and Mark Zuckerberg have publicly acknowledged the powers of their tools to damage your mental wellbeing. With “work from home” becoming a norm, it is essential to become more aware of the time that you are spending on the screen. This conscious awareness of limiting your social media usage will help you to manage anxiety and aggressiveness while creating calmness and peace.

#8 LEARN TO SAY NO This is one aspect I know many people, find it hard to practice it. It becomes hard to practice especially when you do not want to hurt, anger and disappoint the person you are saying “No” to or you fear being judged for not helping someone. However, another perspective is that if you take on too many commitments you can never be productive and efficient.

Sometimes it is ok to be selfish for the sake of your own physical

and mental wellbeing, and by saying no you are reclaiming your time in knowing your own priorities. Remember when you say no, you are allowing yourself to say yes to something more important to you.

#9 MEDITATE MORE OFTEN While meditation is being considered as a go to wellbeing practice for all issues, mental or physical, it is also a practice that needs to be done consistently and consciously.

There are numerous benefits of meditation such as it increases concentration, memory and focus, enhances self-awareness, relieves stress and anxiety, boosts creativity and better decision making and it is good for overall emotional health.

The key to experiencing all the benefits of meditation is by learning to practice it daily and doing meditation without any judgements of self or others.

So when you set goals for yourself in 2022, ensure that you give complete attention to making meditation as a part of your everyday ritual.

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PEOPLE | HUMAN TRANSFORMATION

In 2022 promise to laugh more, meditate more, enjoy life more, and care for yourself more.

#10 MANAGE STRESS

KEY TAKEAWAYS Knowledge sharing and learning through the experiences of experts is the best way to practice wellbeing on a daily basis.

Not getting enough sleep can lead to many other concerns such as feeling sluggish, drowsy, and stressed out.

Limit your social media usage. This will help you to manage anxiety and aggressiveness while creating calmness and peace.

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Since the COVID -19 pandemic has hit us, there has been constant uncertainty looming over everyone. This uncertainty has led to stress, constant worrying and anxiety in many people. Stress manifests itself through physical ailments such as constant pains, digestion issues, mood disorders, sleep deprivation, etc.

Managing stress is a constant practice as the stressors will keep changing with the constant change in the Pandemic hit world. Our resilience is the key to manage stress. To build resilience, it’s important to connect with our inner-self through focused meditation. Other ways by which you can reduce psychological stress is by visiting green spaces, natural open environments, listening to calming music, exercising, or walking.

BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION ASIA

#11 SET REALISTIC AND ATTAINABLE GOALS When we set goals for ourselves, we sometimes forget that to achieve those goals we have to bring ourselves out of the comfort zone.

Hence, when setting goal remember to make it manageable and doable goals. For instance, instead of writing goals which are vague like “I’ll eat healthy food” or “I will work out more”; you can write goals like “I will go to gym or do yoga at least three times a week” or “I will replace chips and chocolates with fruits”. Set goals that inspire you and creates meaningful and transformative changes in your life.

In 2022, promise to laugh more, meditate more, enjoy life more, care for yourself more. Just by doing this you will open yourself to joyful experiences, more knowledge, better physical and mental health and much more!

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Explore the unseen on Flickr

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PEOPLE | LESURE

GETAWAY RETREATS TO THE BOLIFUSHI

ISLANDS

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PEOPLE | LESURE

The Ozen Reserve experience begins when guests reach Velana International Airport in Malé. A personal butler welcomes guests and assists them to the lounge, located a few steps away from the arrival gate. While guests’ recharge in the lounge their butler completes the transfer formalities.

A scenic 20-minute catamaran ride brings guests to Bolifushi island. This journey is experience with spacious interiors, catamaran amenities and service of tea, coffee and chilled water. Transfers are kept private. The Reserve experience allows getaways in 15 reserves.

The Reserve experience allows guests to dine anywhere, anytime at Bolifushi island, including all-day dining at speciality restaurants. Guests are also treated to an array of personalised culinary experiences. As the getaway ends, a farewell experience is curated with personal touches.

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TECHNOLOGY | TRENDS 2022

GET READY TO ADOPT, TRANSFORM AND SUCCEED Problem-solving to long-term innovation – here are five technology shifts that will differentiate future-ready firms from legacy organisations.

A

BY PUNEET GUPTA Managing Director & VP India/SAARC, NetApp

n enterprise’s performance is increasingly defined by its ability to deliver individual and personalised experiences. The ones that do this best with a customer-first approach will see themselves thriving in the new normal.

This also means that the enterprises will have to quickly reconfigure business structures and capabilities based on new technologies. In the long run, this will help them meet future customer and employee needs adaptively, with creativity and resilience.

With IT innovations redefining the workplace and hybrid workplaces continuing to gain momentum, we will

also see organisations further experimenting with softwaredefined solutions such as virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI).

There will be an increased demand for infrastructure as a service and other hybrid multi-cloud services.

Here are the trends that will differentiate future-ready firms from legacy organisations in 2022.

#1 CLOUD-NATIVE PLATFORM: DRIVING BUSINESS REVOLUTION The New Year will see large organisations move decisively away from a lift-and-shift approach to the cloud, embracing cloud-native technologies instead.

Having watched the hyperscalers upend industries across verticals, enterprises will accelerate their move to cloud-scale applications

The New Year will see large organisations move decisively away from a lift-and-shift approach to the cloud, embracing cloud-native technologies instead.

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TECHNOLOGY | TRENDS 2022

to meet their competitive challenges.

KEY TAKEAWAYS An enterprise’s performance is increasingly defined by its ability to deliver individual and personalised experiences.

With technology redefining the workplace and hybrid workplaces gaining momentum, organisations will experiment with software-defined solutions.

‘Data Economics’ will be the science that will help companies define their expertise in the collection, storage, deployment and use of this data.

#2 DATA PRIVACY AND SECURITY: SECRET SAUCE FOR DIGITAL ACCELERATION If data is a genuine asset, analogous to human capital or infrastructure, can it be secured, insured, and graded in terms of value and/or usage? How should this asset be quantified and valued on the balance sheet? ‘Data Economics’ will be the science that will help companies define their expertise in the collection, storage, deployment and use of this data. The increasing importance of data will also make data security and reliability top priorities for both companies and consumers alike.

#3 THE 5G: GAME-CHANGER FOR TECH TRANSFORMATION We are increasingly seeing players in the technology industry and business community invest in building edge-computing environments to support artificial intelligence- (AI) driven internet of things (IoT). The advances it will bring, everything from self-driving cars and smart cities, to connected healthcare and industrial IoT, will truly revolutionise every sector and open new avenues for businesses across regions. 5G, with its machine-to-machine connectivity, will lead to an exponential increase in data. How enterprises leverage this data is what will define their future success.

#4 ESG: RISE OF SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES In 2022, the demand for sustainability-related services powered by edge and IoT will grow in the areas of energy efficiency and resource management. Use cases for technologies like this will be environmental monitoring, resource management and supply chain processes.

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In 2022, the demand for sustainabilityrelated services powered by edge and IoT will grow in the areas of energy efficiency and resource management.

#5 AI: DRIVING INTELLIGENT DATA MANAGEMENT A report by Raconter shows that by 2025, users will generate about 463 exabytes of data per day. However, this data is only as good as the AI systems used to manage, regulate, and mine it for insights. The work that many organisations continued in 2021 with new use cases for AI, will continue to expand as businesses realise the power that AI can hold for solving problems better, faster, and at scale.

The pandemic has brought along some drastic changes in the way businesses operate. It has had a significant impact on communication service providers across Asia and the world. As COVID-19 continues to present new challenges for IT professionals across sectors with many enterprises still working from home, we can expect to see these trends continue in 2022 and well beyond, as the global economy settles into changes that may indeed become permanent; the new normal.

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TECHNOLOGY | INDUSTRY 4.0

GEARING UP FOR THE NEXT INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Digitalisation and automation are the flavours of the year. Here is a peek into what technologies will drive Industry 4.0 in 2022.

I

The manufacturing sector is harnessing the power of data and analytics to switch to service models, and exploring new avenues to generate revenue.

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n the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the last two years have seen a drastic change in the way we work and lead our lives. With most of the countries locked down for the most part of 2020 and work from home (WFH) or working from remote became a new norm. But obviously, that wouldn’t have been possible without the huge strides we have made in science and technology, that saw industry overcome the aftermath of the pandemic that couldn’t have been possible without technology.

With the beginning of the New Year, it is natural to look forward to a better 2022, after all that we’ve gone through since the novel coronavirus outbreak in 2019-end and early 2020 and its continuance throughout 2021. And with technology having sailed us through these years, it’s crucial to look at what technologies will drive Industry 4.0 in 2022.

But first, what is Industry 4.0? Also known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Industry 4.0 is all about making business smarter and more automated.

While the first industrial revolution came with the advent of mechanisation, steam power and water power, the second centred around mass production and assembly lines using electricity. Subsequently, the third industrial revolution focused on transforming mechanical and analogue processes into digital ones, the fourth is aimed at deepening the impact of our digital technologies by making our

BY MILIND PADOLE MD, Affordable Robotic & Automation Ltd

KEY TAKEAWAYS The industry is leveraging new technologies like Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things and cloud computing to streamline business processes and become more competitive.

Digitisation is helping businesses become more data-driven. This means using data for more accurate and informed decision-making.

Data analytics also allow better forecasting and a shift towards predictive maintenance and automation of logistics, inventory, production planning.

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TECHNOLOGY | INDUSTRY 4.0

The use of cloud solutions for computing, networking and storage, has helped reduce costs and the risk of setting up expensive equipment.

and supranational pushes in a changing geopolitical industrial ecosystem, further driven by some of the larger players and alliances in the industry. Moreover, 4.0 technology spending is estimated at a CAGR of 14.72% between 2017 and 2022. The International Data Centre (IDC), which pegged the manufacturing IT spending in the APeJ region (APAC without Japan) to reach USD 36 Billion till last year, sees an important role for China, India and the ASEAN countries, with Industry 4.0 as the key driver.

THE TECHNOLOGY DRIVERS

machines more self-sufficient, able to “talk” to each other, and to consider massive amounts of data in ways that humans simply can’t, all in the name of efficiency and growth.

In an ongoing quest to deliver the value of Industry 4.0, it is necessary and also critical to boosting national

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With the digital transformation of industry, data will soon become the foundation for new technologies. Moreover, it will be available in abundance. While digital solutions companies are already reflecting every step in industrial production, it is important to note that these sets are getting better interlinked digitally, to create extensive data pools. It’s not surprising that future technologies are facilitating the analysis and exploitation of these data pools in newer ways than imagined.

With everything going digital, digitisation has not only become imperative for most businesses, but also a need for people at large. As the rate of digitisation increases and its reach widens, we will have more immersive, believable and useful digital experiences. If we thought that virtual reality headsets expose us to a different experience, new technologies and devices in the coming years could very well not only improve our tactile sensation but possibly also odours and smells.

At the same time, the democratisation of data and technology is also said to be a crucial factor in the coming year. Irrespective of the level of competence and experience, many people have acquired the required

knowledge and tools for techled innovation in recent years.

The use of cloud solutions for computing, networking and storage, has helped reduce costs and the risk of setting up expensive equipment, everything has become a service in the digital arena.

Interestingly, the manufacturing industry is going through a huge overhaul as many manufacturers are going all out for their digital transformation. They’re not only finding ways to grow by creating smarter products, but they’re also harnessing the power of data and analytics to switch to service models, and exploring new avenues to generate revenue. At the same time, they’re also leveraging new tech like Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing to streamline their business processes and become more competitive.

Additionally, digitisation also helps businesses become more data-driven. This means using data for more accurate and informed decisionmaking. It also allows better forecasting and a shift towards new paradigms such as predictive maintenance and automation of processes such as logistics, inventory, production planning.

Even as the industry gears up for the future, it is critical to note that technologies can never be considered solely in isolation. Besides playing a key role in the companies’ success, they must also fulfil social responsibility, of improving people’s lives.

Even though new tech helps us in minimising or removing errors and allow more space for creative tasks, they can’t replace people. And people must always remain the focus of attention.

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TECHNOLOGY | CASE STUDY

THE BEST FOOT FORWARD Ruosh took a leap of faith when it shunned its traditional online fulfillment model.

The new omnichannel route helped it push footwear sales by 300% in a year.

BY SHUBHENDU PARTH

F

or Samar Lifestyle Pvt Ltd, its plans of expanding the Ruosh brand of premium footwear in 2018 meant many things. While the company was exploring options of opening new company-owned stores and increasing points of sales (POS) across different channels, including e-commerce platforms, it was also worried whether its existing inventory model would work well with third-party marketplaces.

Like many other brands in India,

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the Bangalore-based Ruosh majorly operated on an outright inventory purchase (OR) and sale-or-return (SOR) inventory model on thirdparty marketplaces, which meant blocking a major chunk of the brand’s supply. Worse, surfacing entire inventory, available in stores and warehouses, on all online and offline platforms was also not possible.

It was also worried about another bottleneck: Ruosh was using the traditional Secure File Transfer

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TECHNOLOGY | CASE STUDY

TRANSFORMATION TIMELINE

“Fynd helped us reduce the hassle, time, and resources by being the coordinator and mediator for all marketplaces.”

Anand Mohan Rajput Deputy Manager Online, Samar Lifestyles

A catalogue gap analysis helped Ruosh release around 20-30% products and SKUs that were already listed on different marketplaces.

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Protocol (SFTP) to upload large inventory files and import data and since the data sync was done on a periodic basis, it resulted in a lag of two hours in inventory sync cycles. Hence, despite having a large number of products in its inventory, a lot of them were lying there without being visible on its catalogue.

This complicated the situation further. Processing orders for products without catalogue images on the Order Management System (OMS) led to delays in order processing challenges for ground staff, delayed delivery for customers, and an increased rate of wrong product delivery and returns. Besides, the lag due to inventory sync increased the rejection rate, hampering consumer experience, loss of sale, and penalisation on marketplaces.

These were the least of the things that Samar Lifestyle and Ruosh wanted to worry about.

It would have meant spending considerable time and energy in dealing with a not-so-core area; the focus had to be on being ahead of the fashion curve and creating new designs that would help users make a style statement.

While exploring options, the company soon realised that it may need to adopt a third-party

platform to meet its needs. This is where Fynd stepped in with a solution that combined integrated stock visibility and tailored logistics across demand channels.

BEGINNING OF THE JOURNEY When Ruosh began evaluating companies that could solve its problems, the company was unclear on what to expect.

However, it soon realised that instead of just another software and the self-serving portal it would need a complete solution including catalogue and inventory management, logistics, and most importantly consistent support.

As soon as Fynd got on board, the first step Ruosh took was to switch to an aggregator model from the earlier SFTP upload system. With the new aggregator model, inventory was integrated from the point of sales (POS) at stores and the warehouse to Fynd’s database in real-time. This helped Ruosh and the third-party marketplaces in getting accurate data in a timely and precise manner, reducing the rejection rate by 80%.

Not only did this boost sales, but it also enhanced the end consumer experience by reducing the order cancellation rate.

Next, Fynd carried out a

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THE SALES STORY

detailed catalogue gap analysis, which helped release around 2030% products and stock-keeping units (SKUs) that were already listed on different marketplaces under the OR, SOR, and other business models were identified and latched to the omnichannel inventory model for all the marketplaces Ruosh was live on.

Experiencing the transformational shift, Ruosh decided to shut down its business on all older fulfillment models shift its entire online business on the omnichannel model.

THE OMNICHANNEL UNIVERSE With 3P Marketplace Integration’s end-to-end listing and cataloguing, Ruosh got over 500 styles listed on Myntra and Amazon within just a month.

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Once Ruosh decided to shift to the omnichannel model, Fynd helped the company in listing the freed inventory on various marketplaces on their omni models like Myntra PPMP, Amazon Flexi Omni, and Flipkart.

“Fynd gave us a single point of information for all marketplaces,” Anand Mohan Rajput, Deputy Manager - Online, Samar Lifestyles said, adding that before Fynd, there were separate order management systems, and the team at Ruosh had to talk with individual points of contact at Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, and Tata CLiQ. “It was difficult for people

operating at ground level, like stores, in taking the orders, passing the orders, and checking each of these portals separately.

Fynd helped us reduce the hassle, time, and resources by being the coordinator and mediator for all marketplaces,” he pointed out.

THE RETURN ON INVESTMENT With Fynd’s 3P Marketplace Integration’s end-to-end listing and cataloguing service Ruosh got over 500 styles listed on Myntra and Amazon within just a month.

All listings were done with SEO in mind; pairing products based on performance and product listing variations with ‘parent-child’ tagging on Amazon to increase the product discoverability and conversions.

The initiative dramatically increased Ruosh’s product discoverability and conversions on major e-commerce platforms.

The right cataloguing helped Ruosh achieve higher traffic rates, and also enhanced customer browsing experience in a crowded search result.

However, it still had one problem at hand: there was still a long list of products without any image. Carrying out a full

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TECHNOLOGY | CASE STUDY

“Taking 1,400 products live with images ensured that the store staff met their TATs and the end customers received the right products, on time.”

Ronak Modi Product Head, Open API, Fynd

catalogue photo shoot at that point did not seem feasible as the total cost of the project would have outweighed the benefit.

“To resolve the problems arising out of imageless inventory, Fynd analysed and identified 1,400 products that were already live on Myntra with images. It engineered ways to capitalise on the existing visuals for these products from myntra.com, taking them live with images on Fynd platform

by July 2020,” Ronak Modi, Product Head, Open API, Fynd informed.

Sharing more details he highlighted that taking 1,400 products live with images resulted in an optimal experience for the store staff, which ensured they met their TATs and the end customers received the right products, on time.

As for the real RoI, with an 80% reduction in the order rejection rate, thanks to the new Aggregator Model, Ruosh soon hit its breakthrough monthly sale of INR 1 crore in November 2020. It has since then managed to sustain the monthly omnichannel

SALES ACROSS ONLINE SALES CHANNELS

THE CHALLENGES l A major chunk of Ruosh

inventory was blocked on OR/JIT/ SOR models on marketplaces. l There were gaps in the

catalogue and inventory, which lead to loss of sales and low product visibility. l Lack of images in OMS leading

to operational challenges during order fulfillment l The lag in inventory sync due

to SFTP inventory upload system resulted in a high rejection rate and penalisation on marketplaces.

THE SOLUTION l Switched from SFTP upload

system to aggregator model, enabling integration of inventory from the point of sales at stores and the warehouse to Fynd’s database in real-time. l Conducted detailed catalogue

gap analysis. This helped release around 20%-30% of products and stock-keeping units that were already listed on the marketplaces. l Shifted online business from

older fulfillment model to omnichannel model, enabling faster delivery of orders through the nearest fulfillment store. l Cataloguing with SEO, product

pairing based on performance, and listing variations with ‘parentchild’ tagging helped increase product discoverability and conversions.

TECHNOLOGY USED l Fynd Platform, an all-in-one

omnichannel management suite l Third-party cloud-based POS to

enable real-time inventory sync and view

sale number, except for the dip during the second wave of the pandemic. Besides, Ruosh now has 35 company-owned stores across 13 cities in India, 300+ points of sale, including all leading Indian e-commerce portals with over 2,700 styles live. On the financial front, it aims to achieve 20%-30% growth in 2022.

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TECHNOLOGY | TRANSPORTATION

E-RICKSHAW: THE DRIVING FORCE OF URBAN TRANSPORTATION Urban transportation has changed since battery-operated e-rickshaws emerged in India. Here is how it is transforming local, short-distance commuting.

E

lectric rickshaws or e-rickshaws have a large and growing market in India, especially since they are significantly less expensive to operate as compared to fossil-fuel-based twowheelers and cars. There have been numerous technological innovations that have contributed to the evolution of electric rickshaws during the last decade, making it the new mode

KEY TAKEAWAYS The e-rickshaw market in India is expected to reach USD 1,394.2 Million by 2025. This growth is driven by a need for cost-effective transportation alternatives.

Based on the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) in India, e-rickshaws are more economically viable than Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs).

High vehicle utilisation is a significant factor in increasing the economic viability of EVs, which translates to a significant business opportunity for e-three-wheelers in commercial applications, such as last-mile delivery and connectivity.

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of noiseless transportation connecting, towns and markets to the nearest bus stands or railway stations. Not to mention that it improves the environmental footprint as well.

The battery-operated vehicles have gained a lot of popularity in India as a mode of transportation for short trips and research indicates that the market for this affordable and environment-friendly means of communication is going to expand further. An important reason for its growth is the easy to charge feature; the vehicle batteries can be plugged into a normal wall socket for charging.

Besides, low battery cost and small down payments for the e-rickshaw has also made it easy to own, making it lucrative for pedal-rickshaw owners to migrate to e-rickshaws. The vehicle is easy-to-drive, as it has a simple clutch accelerator throttle and a brake.

Powered by both lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries that can be recharged using clean energy, e-rickshaws are much more sustainable than motorpowered three-wheelers. No wonder then, all major players in the market are working on creating an efficient and user-friendly model that can also serve as an ambulance, food van, vegetable and fruit cart, or ice cream truck with a refrigerator.

A P&S Intelligence report indicates that the e-rickshaw market in India is expected to reach USD 1,394.2 Million

BY KARTIK JANGID Co-Founder, Jangid Motors

by 2025. This growth is driven by a need for costeffective transportation alternatives, especially for short-distance travel, as well as government support for making these vehicles cheaper for consumers through incentives such as subsidies or tax benefits. A government subsidy is also offered on every electric vehicle sold in India, to encourage electric vehicle sales.

MADE IN INDIA LOW-COST SOLUTIONS E-rickshaws typically cost INR 1.2 lakh to 2.5 lakh, while ICE-based auto-rickshaws may cost INR 2.5 lakh to 4 lakh, depending on the model and certification. To drive this, the Government of India has undertaken several policy initiatives and a regulatory framework to create a single national market for e-rickshaws. These include the National Electric Mobility Mission (NEMMP), Fame India, the National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM),

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TECHNOLOGY | TRANSPORTATION

Electric rickshaws cause zero tailpipe emissions and are widely used for first- and lastmile connectivity in cities across the country.

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), and Smart City Mission as well as state policies for an easy loan, local regulatory frameworks, and direct subsidies.

Additionally, as reported by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), NITI Aayog, through its National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage, has proposed banning all internal combustionengine-powered 2W and 3W in India by 2025.

The increasing stringent emission norms, as well as government initiatives, are expected to boost the sales of electric rickshaws in the country within the next five years.

Through these schemes, the government is going to offer subsidies for the purchase of new electric vehicles. Besides, under the second phase of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electricvehicles (FAME II), the government is encouraging the country to move toward greener transportation by subsidising electric vehicles.

Under the programme, the

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government is offering incentives of INR 15,000 per kWh for electric vehicles instead of INR 10,000 under FAME I. Funding for FAME II is INR 10,000 crore, and 350 charging stations have been installed since the start of the program.

It has given rise to an ecosystem dedicated to promoting e-rickshaws, which in turn is paving the way for India’s economic self-sustainability.

EMPOWERING THE FUTURE OF MOBILITY Electric rickshaws seem to represent a promising solution for the country’s growing energy problems and environmental challenges. According to WRI India’s analysis, based on the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) in India, e-rickshaws are more economically viable than Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs). High vehicle utilisation is evidently a significant factor in increasing the economic viability of EVs, which translates to a significant business opportunity for e-three-wheelers in commercial applications, such as last-mile delivery and connectivity.

For urban commercial transportation, one could anticipate that e-rickshaws will end up beating petrol- and gasrun rickshaws and even some

types of passenger cars with internal combustion engines when taking into account their total TCO at scale under real-world conditions. From the passengers’ perspective too, a three-wheeler sharing service is seen as a viable economic and quick solution for daily commuters.

Electric rickshaws cause zero tailpipe emissions and are widely used for first- and last-mile connectivity in cities across the country. These three-wheeled electric-powered vehicles also help bridge public transport service gaps for commuters.

“Rides on e-rickshaws in the country, which are typically 1 km long, cost around INR 10 per head, which is way cheaper than sharing a two-wheeler or car or taking an auto-rickshaw,” highlights a ResearchAndMarkets report, adding that if four people share an e-rickshaw for 5 km, the per person cost comes out to be INR 15, and the driver earns INR 120. “Hence, another reason for the growth of the e-rickshaw market in India is the favorable operational cost dynamics these vehicles offer to their owners.”

The report also points out that the passenger carrier bifurcation is expected to hold the larger share in the Indian electric rickshaw market in the years to come, on the basis of vehicle. Due to the increasing urban

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Eco Friendly

WHAT MAKES THE E-RICKSHAWS TICK?

E-rickshaws do not emit smoke and thus, do not add to the increasing air pollution. The batteries used in e-rickshaws can also be effectively recycled, solving the problem of battery disposal.

Low Fuel Cost Unlike the high price of petrol, diesel, and gas, the battery-powered e-rickshaws have much lower fuel costs, less than 80% on average.

Cost-effective They are cost-effective in the long run as they are environmentally friendly and cost less to maintain. This makes e-rickshaws comparatively cheap and affordable for passengers.

No Noise Pollution Unlike other modes of communication, e-rickshaws do not emit any sound, thereby lowering noise pollution.

New Means of Livelihood E-rickshaws provide a means of livelihood for the common as well as illiterate people. Without investing much money, the e-rickshaw drivers can earn a good livelihood. population driving the demand for cost-effective first- and lastmile transportation, the number of passenger carrier e-rickshaws is burgeoning on the country’s roads.

THE ROADBLOCKS AND BARRICADES Like in the case of other businesses, transportation, especially public transport has also been hit by the ongoing pandemic. Reports indicate that the lockdowns and curfew-like situations in infection hotspots have reduced the demand for public transportation substantially. Moreover, even after the pandemic ends, many people are not expected to opt for shared mobility, to reduce the chances of catching the virus as much as possible. This would, in turn, discourage mobility service providers from purchasing new e-rickshaws.

With the growing number of new e-rickshaw drivers on the streets, one major issue is that of driver training and

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understanding of the need to buy quality e-rickshaws. Since the drivers are not well informed, they often fall prey to the unauthorised assemblers, thereby operating illegal e-rickshaws made with parts imported from China. Hence, it is really important for new drivers to get some guidelines on how to operate legally.

On the supply side, manufacturers face challenges while importing components like Lithium-ion batteries.

India relies heavily on China for these batteries. Consequently, this also increases the cost of EVs with the batteries taking up the majority of the vehicle cost. It would be beneficial if they were manufactured locally since both the costs could be minimised while creating jobs at the same time. The other issue is that of the existing operation stock of lead-acid e-rickshaws.

This cannot be ignored and manufacturers should implement a buy and back scheme to

promote scientific disposal of old e-rickshaws in exchange for discounts on new models.

In order for electric rickshaws to become sustainable in India, several hurdles must be overcome. First of all, the Indian government needs to address slow standards and regulation processes, a hurdle that discourages innovators and lingers growth of this market.

This can be accomplished through increased collaboration with major stakeholders like vehicle manufacturers as well as accessibility to government policies themselves so that entrepreneurs do not have to waste time researching them.

The government should also make it easier for these vehicles to pass safety tests since the lack of infrastructure is what makes their adoption difficult at the moment. Finally, insurance policies specific to this industry need to be in place so owners are adequately protected against damage costs and accidents.

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TECHNOLOGY | DATACENTRE

BUILDING INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR DATACENTRE As expectations grow from datacentres, bridging the vast number of sub-systems is the way forward to make them future ready.

A

BY SAYAJI SHINDE Global Business Director- Smart Cities and Infrastructure, AVEVA.

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s traffic on the Internet grows and enterprises continue to digitalise, the infrastructure required to support the transition – from offline to online, onpremises to the cloud – must advance as well. While it is well known that the energy required for tomorrow’s datacentre is likely to match that of a medium sized city, there are also other looming challenges giving tech chiefs sleepless nights.

A modern-day datacentre consists of many sub systems.

The simultaneous usage

of power distribution, water systems, emergency backup, communications, security and surveillance, and multiple other support systems, creates added complexity. For effective performance and cost management, these sub systems must talk and work in concert with each other.

The pandemic brought about a global realisation that the online world is real, viable and the way forward for tomorrow. With the emphasis shifting to the virtual world, from online collaboration, trade and commerce to online

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TECHNOLOGY | DATACENTRE

Controlling energy consumption through asset monitoring can immediately help to reduce the overall operating costs

1,500+ datacentre customers found that 34% experienced downtime with an average cost of $1 Million. One of the primary reasons for this is the lack of asset management tools that do not allow predictive maintenance models to be built up.

Datacentre administrators are unable to allocate resources or execute pre-emptive maintenance because they lack real time visibility into industrial assets. 60% of respondents in the same survey acknowledged that their most recent outages could have been prevented with better asset management practices in place.

#2 SPIRALLING ENERGY COSTS supply chains and routing, datacentre customers are becoming more demanding in their expectations.

They want 100% availability and no down-time. They expect to be able to get serviced on demand, and to be able to pay as they go. Increasing performance and efficiency, with reducing costs, are key expectations from advanced datacentres. In theory, modernday datacentres are built with digital technologies, so these evolving expectations are not unsupported. But while compute infrastructures and overlaying applications like cloud platforms have innovated to become elastic, datacentres are not there yet.

There are at least three principal datacentre challenges that can be rectified by having a unified integrated management system, bridging the industrial and digital side of operations effectively.

#1 DOWNTIME AND OUTAGE Downtime of a datacentre or parts of it can prove to be very damaging for customers.

A recent global survey of

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More than 50% of the operating cost of a modernday datacentre is driven by energy consumption.

Controlling energy consumption through asset monitoring can immediately help to reduce the overall operating costs. Utilities typically use a slab-wise pricing with each subsequent slab having a higher tariff.

Controlling and keeping the consumption in the lower slabs can help reduce the energy consumption bills. Datacentre managers can strive to control their energy bills by having analytics and real time operating models for all sub systems and assets.

#3 SUB-SYSTEM COMPLEXITY Compute, virtualisation, and networking infrastructures have their own complexity and require their own management systems. The rest of the support systems within a datacentre also have their unique set of challenges. There are many specialised internal systems that coexist and yet are siloed such as Datacentre Infrastructure Management Solutions, Building

Management Systems, Building Automation Systems, Building Energy Management Systems, among others. 77% of respondents from the same survey want better integration of these systems.

As each system is compartmentalised, it is very difficult to generate a single window to visualise the end-to-end operations and take holistic decisions to improve performance. Due to the lack of a single dashboard for management decisions, datacentre administrators are also bogged down with a deluge of data emerging from each sub-system.

The growing efficiency of Industrial Internet of Things, IIoT, sensors and the resulting mountain of unstructured data, are also raising the urgency to integrate, build dashboards, create meaningful insights, and build proactive operations.

Creating a unified operations centre is one way to converge subsystem equipment and applications into a single, cohesive management environment. A unified operation also facilitates management of multiple dispersed datacentres and the ability to manage them remotely.

Here are some of the other benefits of adopting a unified operations centre approach: l Integrate IT, OT, IIoT into a single interface l Provide multi-site performance visibility l Detect inefficiencies and developing defects l Trigger remedial action to optimise performance l Integrate business and customer SLAs l Deliver a consistent view of all operations l Manage multiple datacentres from one location As workloads on global and regional datacentres show no signs of any slowdowns, datacentre administrators must prioritise unification to remain increasingly profitable and simultaneously meet customer expectations.

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TECHNOLOGY | SUPPLY CHAIN

IMPROVING THE PLANT-TO-SUPPLY CHAIN LINKAGE To respond effectively to supply chain disruptions, capabilities like advanced planning and scheduling can align the plant with supply chain planning.

BY SREE HAMEED Consumer Products Industry Strategist, AVEVA.

Security awareness training plays a vital role in helping employees learn how to identify and prevent attacks

T

he focus for manufacturing operations in the consumerpackaged goods, CPG sector is changing. Where before plant efficiency was the top priority, this has now expanded to include agility, both of the plant and the wider supply chain.

In the past, the goal of

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digital investments was to improve cost efficiencies, with overall equipment effectiveness, considered the main key performance indicator. Even when supply chains became global, further increasing the risk of disruptions, manufacturers protected plants from variability with inventory so they could continue to focus on efficiency.

However, the pandemic fundamentally challenged this way of working.

The speed at which it was able to disrupt global supply chains has been an unprecedented stress test, and one we are still in the midst of. Almost every day there’s a new story about shortages caused by supply chain disruptions.

Covid’s effect on the manufacturing world simply amplified existing vulnerabilities, and as much as we might want to go back to how things were, this appears unlikely to happen.

Last year, a World Economic Forum report identified shifts of focus that have come from businesses dealing with demand uncertainty and disruptions.

At the top of that list is agility and customer centricity, closely followed by supply chain resilience. These are now core topics in the postpandemic recovery discussion, and manufacturing plants play a critical role in responding to today’s rapidly changing market conditions.

Built with real-time operational data, digital twins can help understand what the plant is

capable-to-promise, by providing real-time situational awareness via edge-to-enterprise visibility.

Furthermore, the digital twin provides the foundation for AI and predictive analytics to provide powerful insights that empower workers to optimise processes and throughput.

To respond effectively to supply chain disruptions that are occurring on almost a daily basis, capabilities like advanced planning and scheduling can align the plant with supply chain planning to quickly adapt to fastchanging situations. Improving the plantto- supply chain linkage gives the business more options to respond by looking holistically across the source-make-deliver processes.

Coupled with knowledgeable and empowered workers, who are the ultimate drivers of continuous improvement and resilience, businesses can really push the boundaries of their agility. Indeed, a key factor for future manufacturing operations improvements is collaboration of people and systems.

Digital transformation makes information more accessible to employees, connecting them to plant processes, data and systems as well as other workers across functional domains and functions, developing a living repository of staff knowledge and experience.

Businesses cannot control incidents that occur across the wider supply chain, but having agility and resilience allows them to adapt quickly.

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TECHNOLOGY | SUSTAINABILITY

DIAL DIGITAL, BOARD THE SUSTAINABILITY BANDWAGON Industrial leaders are using digital technology to innovate across the green value chain.

Read on for five interesting examples from across the world.

S

ustainability has become imperative for businesses around the world because of its role in enhancing resource efficiency, improving business resilience, and ensuring a livable future for all stakeholders. Recent AVEVAsponsored research indicates that nine in ten companies expect to accelerate their sustainability activities in the coming year. Similarly, 90% of respondents feel that digital transformation is the key to enabling their sustainability

transition.

Across the business spectrum, companies are already making good on the promise of digital technology, by tapping technologies like big data, cloud computing, and predictive analytics. Besides, advanced technologies are contributing in different ways to the 1.5°C pathway to restrict global warming. Here are some actionable takeaways from actual corporate deployments for businesses looking to onboard digital tools for sustainable impacts.

BY LISA JOHNSTON Chief Sustainability Officer, AVEVA

In Batam, Indonesia, the use of lean management software has helped Schneider Electric reduce downtime by 44% and improve energy savings by 21%.

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TECHNOLOGY | SUSTAINABILITY

21% ENERGY SAVINGS AND 44% LESS DOWNTIME IN MANUFACTURING

KEY TAKEAWAYS While nine in ten companies expect to accelerate their sustainability activities in the coming year, 90% feel that digital transformation is the key to enabling this.

Technologies like big data, cloud computing, and predictive analytics are helping organisations in different ways to restrict global warming.

IoT and M2M communication have helped improve productivity and flexibility, minimising risks, enhancing profitability, and reducing waste.

Technological applications such as the internet of things (IoT) and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication have transformed manufacturing and production plants. In the process, systems have been optimised for improved productivity and flexibility, minimising risks, enhancing profitability, and reducing waste.

In Batam, Indonesia, Schneider Electric partnered with AVEVA to co-develop lean management software for its group of factories producing power and industrial automation products, with a view to taking performance efficiency to the next level. Putting data into the hands of the team running the facility along with real-time performance tracking and digital escalation for faster decisionmaking brought about operational efficiency improvements. While the downtime dropped 44%, there was a 40% increase in on-time customer deliveries.

Besides, energy savings rose by 21%. Thanks to the initiative, the factory is now recognised as one of the world’s most advanced industrial units and named a Fourth Industrial Revolution

Lighthouse (4IR) by the World Economic Forum.

80 UNITS CONNECTED FOR CROSSBORDER COLLABORATION On its journey towards carbon neutrality by 2035, Neste is using digital innovation to drive sustainable outcomes throughout its business. A principal application of digital technology has been the introduction of Unified Supply Chain solution in the cloud. With multiple sites and more than 80 processing units, cross-business coordination was complicated. By using the power of the cloud to analyse and structure information, the producer of renewable diesel and jet fuel can now rely on a single source of truth that teams from across the business use to make quick, network-wide decisions from anywhere.

The solution also ensures that production can be optimised automatically, while decision support and production planning all take place in one digital space.

As a result, the business yield has grown and waste generation has fallen, bringing Neste closer to their target, and helping them shape the future of energy.

1,000 WIND TURBINES FOR MORE EFFICIENT PRODUCT DESIGN Industrial IoT connectivity helps collect and aggregate operations data from a wide array of sources.

When this data is channeled back into the design process, it indicates how new industrial products can be designed to run more efficiently while using fewer resources.

Danish renewable energy company Ørsted, on track to becoming carbon-neutral by 2025, applies predictive analytics to industrial data from a fleet of over 1,000 offshore wind turbines. The resulting feedback uncovers innovative directions to produce future assets. Innovation is a continuous process of

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EXECUTIVE CORNER TECHNOLOGY | SUSTAINABILITY

24/7 communications updates.

The intelligent governance system has minimised service disruptions and slashed critical response time by 60% on average.

The ICCC came into its own during the pandemic and lockdown, enhancing communication between municipal authorities and citizens in Naya Raipur, while supporting containment measures.

AGILE AND COST-EFFECTIVE TRAINING ON DEMAND FOR 2,000 OPERATORS

refinement, and advanced technologies such as AI and big data can facilitate that process.

60% REDUCTION IN EMERGENCY RESPONSE TIMES

On its journey towards carbon neutrality by 2035, Neste is using digital innovation to drive sustainable outcomes throughout its business.

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Naya Raipur, India’s first greenfield smart city, has been designed and constructed from the ground up with the latest and most innovative know-how. An integrated command and control centre (ICCC) built around Unified Operations Center technology enables officials to streamline communications, enhance collaboration, and make better and informed decisions for all stakeholders quickly.

The technology means that civic staff can now directly monitor roads and traffic, water, wastewater and electricity use, social activities, security systems, and governmental and residential energy consumption. This singlepane-of-glass interface also significantly benefits residents, by integrating all citizen services within a user-friendly mobile app in which they can pay bills, apply for new utility connections or planning permits, and receive

As new tools are deployed across the shop floor, more operators need to be trained in more locations worldwide. Cloud-based operator training simulators (OTS) offer a scalable, flexible, and economic solution that expands training capabilities without millions spent on travel while reducing training times for new staff.

OLEUM, the European training centre for TotalEnergies’ energy business, integrated OTS solutions built on Microsoft Azure into its corporate learning management system to provide employees with realistic virtual learning programs in which new models, users, and geographical regions can be introduced at any time with little cost. More than 2,000 operators around the world are now trained virtually every year, instruction time reduced from months to weeks, travel costs and environmental impacts minimized, safety enhanced, and downtime reduced.

As global attention increasingly focuses on the environment, businesses will be urged to make greater contributions to improving sustainability for every stakeholder. Meeting today’s new sustainable operating standards demands a new way of thinking. As these examples show, digital solutions can deliver the intelligence necessary for sustainable innovation across the industrial ecosystem.

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TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE | HEALTHCARE CORNER

AUGMENTED REALITY SET TO TRANSFORM HEALTHCARE PRACTICES Usage of augmented reality, to improve, enhance, and simplify healthcare practices, has gained momentum, and promises to grow at a fast pace in the region as well.

BY PAVEL MAKAREVICH Product Manager at Proven Reality.

A

ugmented reality represents one of the most promising digital technologies for the healthcare industry. So how does augmented reality work? A device like a phone or tablet produces a live view of a physical, realworld environment which is overlaid or augmented by a computer-generated sensory input. This could be sound, video, graphics, or GPS data. In future, it is expected that such overlays or augmented reality would be a built-in feature inside digital contact lens.

Augmented reality does not detach the user from their real world and ongoing situational awareness.

Information and data are rapidly overlaid on the visual image visible to the user.

Virtual reality, its nearest form of a similar digital technology, on the other

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hand builds a 3D world inside a head-mounted display, detaching the user from their real world.

It is this difference that makes augmented reality, and its use cases demonstrate a rapid pace of adoption in healthcare.

Use cases of augmented reality using head-mounted displays in healthcare include pre-hospital medical care, nursing care, and medical treatment in hospitals.

Augmented reality smart glasses are expected to be in demand to support these use cases.

Research scientists are in the process of developing head mounted displays to improve efficiency of surgical processes.

The video optical see-through surgical system is a head mounted medical visor, that superimposes a patient’s X-ray images with anatomy in 3D. Medical practitioners are aware of the importance of precision in surgical procedures. Augmented reality surgery superimposes a computer-generated image on a surgeon’s view of the operation. It provides a composite view of the patient’s internal anatomy with a computergenerated overlay enhancing the experience of the surgeon.

Moreover, training surgeons on specific surgical procedures is time consuming and expensive.

Augmented reality can help surgeons to perform surgeries with increasing precision.

Major players providing augmented and virtual reality solutions for healthcare include Google, Microsoft, DAQRI, Psious, Mindmaze, Firsthand

Technology, Medical Realities, Proven Reality, Atheer, Augmedix and Oculus VR. Some examples of the augmented reality applications available in healthcare include: Pain Management VR app: This application is available for access through an all-in-one healthcare platform designed by Proven Reality. The app offers pain relief to patients, both adult and pediatric, after short and mid-term procedures and manipulations.

Auscultation VR app: The Auscultation VR app is designed to simulate a diagnostic environment, allowing medical trainees to access real-time training without an actual patient or mannequin.

AED4EU: This application helps everyday users provide aid to an unresponsive person requiring a defibrillator.

EyeDecide: Ophthalmologists can simulate impact of a prolonged eye disease on the vision of a patient through a device camera.

AccuVein: A scanner overlay helps nurses penetrate the vein in the first stick, a common challenge amongst kids and elderly.

Medsights Tech: This application recreates tumors through 3D representation, improving the surgeon’s ability to perform a surgery.

HoloAnatomy: Using Microsoft’s HoloLens Headset, medical experts can see anatomy through a dynamic holographic model.

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TECHNOLOGY | SAAS

THE GIANT INDIAN TECHNOLOGY WAVE

Players from India are taking over the global stage and are expected to garner $15 Billion in revenues from SaaS platform by 2025.

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BY DHRUVIL SANGHVI Founder & CEO, LogiNext

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have been keenly looking at the Software as a Service (SaaS) space for over a decade now. Having invested in a handful of technology startups riding this wave, I find it interesting to map its growth, how it has evolved and changed enterprise and consumer behaviour.

To give a very mainstream example, Netflix is a SaaS company that sells software enabling one to watch licensed videos on demand. YouTube Premium is SaaS where one pays a monthly subscription fee.

Similarly, enterprise domain software like Slack follows a SaaS model. In the enterprise realm,

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TECHNOLOGY | SAAS

KEY TAKEAWAYS Growing at a CAGR of 30%, according to a NASSCOM report, Indian SaaS revenues are at around $4 Billion in FY 2021.

Globally, the cloudbased software model has created a market of $250 billion+ and Indian companies getting a larger share of this pie.

There are at least 200 Indian SaaS companies generating an ARR of more than $1 Million and this number is quickly growing.

there is a per license monthly fee that a company charges its clients.

For instance, if a 100-member company wants its employees to use Slack, they will purchase equivalent licenses for them.

MEET THE INDIAN SAAS GIANTS SaaS, as we know, was pioneered

by Salesforce in 1999, and like everything it evolved from Application Service Providers (ASPs) which were being developed with the intention of serving software at lower price points to make it more accessible.

Freshdesk and Zoho are the torchbearers when it comes to building SaaS from India for the world. These enterprise software companies present two different flavours as well. Freshdesk, founded in 2009, is venturefunded unicorn valued at $3.5 Billion. On the other hand, Zoho was that was set up in 1996 and moved to a SaaS model in 2005, is completely bootstrapped and valued at around $1 Billion.

Growing at a CAGR of 30%, according to a NASSCOM report, Indian SaaS revenues are at around $4 Billion in FY 2021. And more than 75% of these revenues comes from international markets. Globally, the cloudbased software model has created a market of $250 billion+ and Indian companies getting a larger share of this pie is happening exponentially. There are at least 200 Indian SaaS companies generating an ARR of more than $1 Million and this number is quickly growing. By 2025, I am optimistic that Indian SaaS revenues would be north of $15 Billion and the number of SaaS startups will also double.

BEAUTY OF THE SAAS MODEL A question now arises, why are investors so bullish on the SaaS model?

Firstly, high gross margins.

A SaaS model drastically brings down the cost of software

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Not just leadership qualities, the sheer size of technology talent make India a breeding ground for hundreds of tech startups.

as consumers, whether individuals or enterprises, can buy according to the usage and not spend on the infrastructure.

Also, once the software is built and deployed in the cloud, there is zero maintenance. In the earlier times, when a lot of software was on-premise, a dedicated support team would be required and there would be multiple servers to maintain each deployment.

With SaaS, there is only one deployment, which is served via the cloud. Of course, there are physical servers that the cloud company like AWS maintains but as a business, one does not have to get into that hassle.

This results in gross margins of 85%, which is not possible in any other business model.

Secondly, it is about the stickiness of the model. And here, B2B SaaS has a huge upper hand. A B2C SaaS consumer may switch from Netflix to Amazon Prime, but for businesses, this switch is not that simple. Once a business is convinced about using a SaaS product, the likelihood of sticking around is very high.

This also means that sales cycles are relatively long, but once a user starts seeing value,

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WHAT MAKES INDIAN SAAS COMPANIES SPECIAL?

Strong technology colleges in India and a massive population studying abroad have resulted in a pool of extremely smart Indians running global tech businesses.

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the client will be with you.

Thirdly, it offers possibilities for expansion. Once a user is with a brand, the brand firstly needs to keep the customer happy, but then there is a huge possibility to upsell. A company can always give more to its customers and encourage the user to spend more with them and derive more value in return. In enterprise SaaS terminology, this is measured

by Net Revenue Retention Rate (NRR) which includes all revenue from expansion – for instance, a customer moves from a basic $10 plan to pro $15 plan, downgrades, and cancels.

A healthy, growing enterprise SaaS company has a NRR in the range of 120%.

All these factors make the SaaS model a darling of business owners. Be it investors looking to get multiple X returns or founders and business owners looking to bootstrap and grow on the basis of revenues.

The answer to this lies in the global exposure and the talent pool of Indians. The Indian IT services wave was the first one that brought Indian technology talent in the global limelight.

Strong technology colleges in India and a massive population studying and shining abroad have resulted in a pool of extremely smart Indians running global tech businesses. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, are the topmost amongst a host of Indian-origin CEOs leading major tech giants across the globe.

Not just leadership qualities, the sheer size of technology talent make India a breeding ground for hundreds of tech startups. While salaries are rising for Indians and that is a good trend, the cost of talent remains one of the major reasons why Indian SaaS companies are gaining ground globally. Putting these trends together, one can clearly see that Indian SaaS companies have the domain expertise, the vision to build global companies, and are cost-effective.

Overall, the last two years have seen a major rise in the startup scene in India. Even through the pandemic, technology startups have continued to provide a glimmer of hope. India saw a euphoric rise in the number of unicorns in April 2021 where six unicorns took birth in just four days! These valuations and euphoria are only because technology platforms and technology, in general, is seen as the next big wave, which is and will penetrate lives even more deeply.

These are some of the factors on which I’m bullish about Indian SaaS companies taking over the global scene in a much larger fashion by 2025-2030.

Stay tuned!

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LOOKING GLASS

THE BITCOIN SAGA Despite being the biggest and most significant cryptocurrency, Bitcoin is still famously susceptible to dramatic rises proceeded by equally rapid falls and geopolitical developments.

Statista Data Journalist Martin Armstrong highlights how and what impacted Bitcoin during the last nine months.

THE RISE AND FALL OF BITCOIN (DAILY PRICE IN USD)

Having surged to an all-time high of over $60,000 in April 2021, it plunged to around $30,000 at the end of July, before racing skyward again with the record- price of over $67,000 in early November 2021. The political unrest and protests in Kazakhstan and the subsequent internet shutdown again impacted it, beginning 2022.

CRACKDOWN IN CHINA SHIFTS THE MINING LANDSCAPE (Share of toral power used by computers for Bitcoin mining – hashrate – by country)

Since China’s crackdown on the currency, Kazakhstan has risen to become the second biggest player in the Bitcoin mining landscape, accounting for 18.1% of all global computing power used for it, while China’s share crashed from a massive 76% of all computer energy used in mining cryptocurrency to zero. In the same month of 2019, miners with IP addresses in the United States were using just 4.1% of computer energy – the hashrate; by summer of 2021 the US had become the number one consumer of Bitcoin energy. Similarly, with China no longer being a player in the industry, Kazakhstan which had a hashrate of just 1.4% in September 2019, has emerged as #2 in the space making it so influence that the current political unrest in the country is again sending the Bitcoin price down.

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LOOKING GLASS

VIRUS, VACCINATION, AND VARIANCE There seems to be no end to the curious case of Covid-19. The virus has been mutating and evolving at such a pace that even before economies can settle down from one shock, the virus hits back with the next variant of tsunami-proportion. Here are some interesting numbers from 2021.

Although many countries were able to quickly develop capacities to address Covid-19, the 2021 Global Health Security Index indicates that no country is fully prepared for future epidemic and pandemic threats. The global average score for the prevention of the emergence or release of pathogens is just 28.4 out of 100, as 113 countries are found to show “little to no attention” to zoonotic diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans, such as Covid-19.

The WHO data indicates that over 3.45 million people have died from Covid-19 in the year ending December 2021, exceeding last year’s deaths from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and Malaria put together, and not counting the excess deaths caused by disruptions to essential health services.

Reports indicate that 45% of the world’s population has received full doses prescribed by the vaccination protocol. However, the global rollout is still a long way ahead as it has been uneven in its share of world population coverage. While 150 doses per 100 people have been administered in high and upper middle income countries, only 72 and eight doses per 100 people have been given in lower middle and low income countries, respectively.

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NEWS

Thailand extends investment acceleration package for EEC The Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) has announced extension of the investment acceleration package and incentive package for investments in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC). The meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, also approved new special incentives for investments in the medical, science and technology zones.

“In order to further stimulate investment to fuel economic recovery, the Board has approved a one-year extension of the existing incentives to accelerate investment in large-scale projects,” Thailand BOI Secretary General Duangjai Asawachintachit informed. She further said that apart from a standard 5-8 years corporate

income tax (CIT) exemption, project applications filed by end-2022 will be eligible for an additional 50% CIT reduction for a period of five years, on the condition they realise investment of not less than THB 1 Billion within 12 months of the investment certificate issuance.

Investments in the target industries will be entitled to additional corporate income tax incentives if they are engaged in human resource development programs such as co-operative education programs, workintegrated learning and dual education programs. “We strongly believe that these policy measures will contribute to investment expansion in 2022 and will help

Malaysia, Shanxi sign deal for biojet fuel, second-generation biodiesel China’s state-owned Shanxi Construction Investment Group has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Malaysia to collaborate on the production of second-generation biodiesel and biojet fuel. As part of the MOU between the Malaysian Palm Oil Board, Pengerang Maritime Industries, Shanxi, the Institute of Coal Chemistry, and Chinese Academy of Sciences, the company will invest in a hydrogenated vegetable

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Thailand BOI Secretary General Duangjai Asawachintachit announcing the policy measures at a recent meeting in Bangkok.

promote active collaboration between the industry and educational/research institutions in areas with strong growth potentials,” Duangjai said.

oil (HVO) plant in Malaysia’s southern state of Johor, the country’s Commodities Ministry informed.

“The HVO plant has the potential to produce Sustainable Aviation Fuels which is also known commonly as biojet fuels,” the ministry said, adding there was increasing demand for HVO, also known as second-generation biofuel, from across the world, including Europe. Each HVO plant is expected to bring foreign investment worth RM3 Billion ($709 Million) and create nearly 800 jobs, the Ministry stated.

Shanxi’s overseas department General Manager Wang Chongjun said the firm is exploring development of a green diesel refinery and related storage facilities in Johor’s Pengerang Maritime Industrial Park using China’s technology and Malaysia’s palm oil products. “The current order of the production planning is biojet fuel or sustainable aviation fuel, green diesel, and the corresponding green chemical products that accompany the production,” he said.

Wang further added that while the biodiesel and bio-jet fuel products will be used to meet the needs of the Chinese market but will also be exported to Europe and the United States.

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NEWS

AWS announces $5 Bn investment in Indonesia cloud business

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced the launch of its Asia Pacific (Jakarta) Region.

The company also released an economic impact study (EIS) estimating that the company’s spending on the construction and operation of the new Jakarta Region will create 24,700 direct and indirect jobs. AWS intends to invest over IDR 71 Trillion ($5 Billion) in the local economy.

The Region will also add an estimated IDR 155 Trillion ($10.9 Billion) to Indonesia’s GDP over the next 15 years, the company said, adding that it will enable developers, startups, entrepreneurs, and enterprises as well as government, education, and nonprofit organisations run their applications and serve end users from data centers located in Indonesia.

“We expect that AWS’s cloud technology will help us achieve our vision and goals outlined in the Indonesia Payment Systems 2045 blueprint, fully digitalising the nation’s payment systems and integrating a multitude of stakeholders and economic activities under the guiding principles of security and data protection,” Perry Warjiyo, Governor, Bank Indonesia, the nation’s central bank said.

“AWS is excited to announce our new Region in Asia Pacific and help Indonesian institutions, innovative startups, and world-leading companies deliver cloud-powered applications to fuel economic development across the country.

Organisations across industries in Indonesia can now take advantage of the AWS Asia Pacific (Jakarta) Region to lower costs, increase agility, and drive innovation,” the company’s Vice President of Infrastructure Services Prasad Kalyanaraman said.

Wipro to acquire cybersecurity provider Edgile Information technology company Wipro has announced that it is acquiring cybersecurity consulting provider Edgile for $230 Million. The company’s decision to acquire the Austin, Texasheadquartered company will strengthen the IT major’s presence in the cybersecurity services space. Wipro expects to complete the transaction before 31 March 2022, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. The transaction is also subject to approval by the Committee on Foreign Investment and Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust in the US. “Edgile’s experienced cybersecurity and risk management professionals will allow Wipro to further enhance its cybersecurity and risk consulting capabilities for the benefit of its customers,” the company stated in its regulatory filing. “In addition, the company’s strategy-first approach and Quick Start solutions will allow the combined entity to deliver enhanced value in strategic cybersecurity services,” it said.

Founded in 2001, Edgile is an information security consulting firm providing professional services, primarily focused on delivering cybersecurity and risk

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management consulting services to corporations. It is privately held and has an onsite workforce of 182 employees. Its revenue for the year ended 31 December 2020 stood at $44.1 Million.

Earlier this year, Wipro strengthened its cybersecurity business by acquiring Ampion, a cybersecurity services provider in Australia and the cybersecurity practice at Capco, a consultancy in the BFSI sector in Europe and the US. Additionally, through its Wipro Ventures arm, the company continues to invest in innovative cybersecurity startups, demonstrating the firm’s strong commitment towards providing industry leading cybersecurity solutions across sectors and regions.

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NEWS

Bravo launches lifestyle brand at World CIO 200 Summit Star West Indies cricketer Dwayne Bravo announced the launch of his lifestyle and fashion brand Djb47 at the World CIO 200 Grand Finale that was attended by delegates from 36+ countries in Ajman. The ace cricketer who has launched Djb47 in partnership with Singapore-based 3 Big Dogs plans to open stores in various Indian cities like Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Mumbai in early 2022.

Talking to GEC Media Group CEO Ronak Samantray during an on-site interview Bravo highlighted that he always wanted to be a part of the fashion industry. “Like music, I am also very passionate about fashion.

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I really love to dress up according to the latest styles and sport trendy outfits,” he said.

The all-time leading wicket taker in T20 and the record holder for most championships Bravo, who also recently launched his music studio 47 productions, is all set to take his Caribbean street wear collection, Djb47, into the global markets. In 2016, Bravo released his first single Champion to commemorate West Indies winning the 2016 World T20 defeating England by four wickets at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The single soon went on to become a runaway hit in India.

Organised by Global CIO Forum along with leading global technology media house GEC Media Group, the World CIO 200 Roadshow remains an opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs and global executives to launch their businesses and personal brands into regional and global markets.

The two-day Roadshow on 5th and 6th December 2021, brought together some of the major names in technology and included a series of insightful presentations, tech talks, round table meetings, fireside chat and incisive panel discussions, all focusing on #ChangeX.

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LAST PAGE

INVESTMENTS IN RENEWABLE ENERGY DELIVERING GREAT RETURNS Advanced financing structures have allowed capital access to the clean energy industry to help drive its growth and amplify renewable technologies’ deployment.

BY ZOLTAN RENDES CMO and Partner, SunMoney Solar Group.

Green energy stocks have proven to be much less volatile and more secure.

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enewables provide long-term benefits for the environment, climate change, human health, energy availability and its reach, along with a growing wave of global job creation. The understanding around this has grown tremendously in the past couple of years, leading to higher investments and adoption in the renewable energy space.

Renewables have entered the mainstream due to

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innovations in the technological and financial space aimed to drive transformations resulting in lower carbon emissions, reduced energy costs, increased employment opportunities, and enhanced energy diversification.

In the past few years, advanced and innovative financing structures have allowed more extensive capital access to the clean energy industry to help drive its growth and amplify renewable technologies’ deployment. For instance, raising money by issuing equity or what may be referred to as stock, or using market tools like bonds involving debt, has started increasing investments in this space.

As a result, renewable energy investments have been delivering great returns in major economies like the US, the UK and the EU nations. However, the total investment being made towards planet-saving renewable energy still needs to grow exponentially to mitigate climate change successfully.

Green energy stocks have proven to be much less volatile and more secure, especially during uncertain and turbulent times such as the COVID-19 crises when oil and gas prices have been going berserk. This has led to an increase in the market share of clean energy stocks as several countries, including the USA, India, Italy, and Germany saw a record rise in renewable energy consumption.

New programmes and initiatives are acting as catalysts to

incentivise individuals. Examples include allowing homeowners to lease solar panels with a negligible upfront cost, paying out investors monthly when they buy into solar units that generate electricity for public utilities, benefits on purchasing an electronic vehicle, and many more.

Renewable energy plants are easier and cheaper to maintain in the long run, thus attracting several medium and largesized investors into this space.

Renewables have the potential to offer a much higher return on the initial investment considering the cost of construction and maintenance of their infrastructures and the electricity and costs saved year after year on a long-term basis.

Investors have also begun to recognise the more significant risks associated with carbonintensive investments. The scope of renewables is massive, and the effects far-reaching – a majority of the world’s emissions can be reduced through renewable energy supply, increased electrification, and energy efficiency.

Government organisations worldwide, especially across the Middle East, have recognised the importance of clean and renewable energy sources and have taken several initiatives to boost the market. The United Arab Emirates is leading by example in the solar power plant development space.

The pro-active government’s strategy is to boost the contribution of renewable energy investment in the total energy mix.

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