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UNDERSTAND s CHOOSE s IMPLEMENT IT

Smartphones@2017: Intelligent but Affordable VOL. 31 | ISSUE 1 | JANUARY 2018 SMB CORNER Technology Makeover for Rajkot Auto Manufacturing “GST and finance are the key focus of WASME” “We are the only one-stop point for collaboration solutions post Cisco exit”

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Female Safety Devices and Apps on the rise

ERP

ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING

ERP

A MARRIAGE BROKER Special Subscription offer on page 52

76 pages including cover

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Contents 15-23 COVER STORY

ERP: A MARRIAGE BROKER THE DEATH OF ERP? BACHNA AE HASEENO SMB NEWS 28

Click Labs Creates All-in-One operating system Jungleworks

28

Bilaspur SME Mela 2018 to take place in January

28

Cashe Launches Distributed Ledger Based Smart Contract Tokens

GADGETS CORNER 43 Xolo Era 3: A Budget Friendly Phone

MOBILE NEWS 67 Smartphones@2017: Intelligent, but Affordable 69 Big Leap of Faith for Delhi Mobile maker

DEVELOPOR NEWS 29

Myntra aims billion dollar business with Rapid

29

SME Promoters might be allowed to bid for insolvent companies

29

Alibaba Cloud extends converage to enable Indian Enterprises

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44 AMD RX 570 with Radeon ReLive

71 Revisiting Master Blaster

73 SLIQ 2.0: A bridge to get job ready

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JANUARY 2018 SMB CORNER 8

Microsoft’s Digital Juggernaut

10 “Microsoft Moved into a very consistent mechanism across the world”

30 Special Feature: Technology Makeover for Rajkot Auto 34 Special Feature: Wanderlust @ Vishaka

11 Tech Giants Embark on Mission ‘Digital’ Hkkjr 24 “We are the No.1 in structured cabling for SMBs”

26 “GST and finance are the key focus of WASME”

38 Special FEature: Secrets Revealed to a Good Flight’s Sleep 40 Special Feature: Vacations: Digital Detox

27 “We are the only one-stop point for collaboration solutions post Cisco exit”

TECH AND TRENDS 45 “Emerging Markets in India are the biggest focus for Aspect” 47 “We would be very aggressive with our top 10 partners in India” 49 “In India we are very strong with the global MNCs”

54 5 Tech Disruptors for Manufacturing 56 2018 Hot Consumer Trends: Technology Turns ‘Human’

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60 “Optimizing the Datacenter is going to be the key trend” 63 ‘Simplifying Commerce for the SMBs is the main aim’ 65 What’s your social quotient?

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CORPORATE OFFICE

EDITORIAL GROUP EDITOR - Ibrahim Ahmad GROUP EDITOR - IT BUSINESS: Ed Nair GROUP EDITOR - SPECIAL PROJECTS: Rajneesh De ASST. EDITOR: Anushruti Singh CORRESPONDENT: Jyoti Bhagat DESIGN MANAGER: Nadeem Anees

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Printed and published by Pradeep Gupta on behalf of CyberMedia (India) Ltd, printed at printed at International Print-O-Pac Limited, C/4-II, Phase II, Hosiery Complex, Noida-201301, Distt. G.B. Nagar, published from D-74, Panchsheel Enclave, New Delhi-110017. Editor: Anil Chopra. Distribut ed in India by IBH Books & Magazines Dist. Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without prior permission.

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Tech Musings

G-Spots of 2018 Rajneesh De, Group Editor rajneeshd@cybermedia.co.in

I look at you and what do I see I see a beauty that shines and a heart that glows.

I look into your eyes and what do I see A great peace and gentleness that abides within.

A look at your smile, smiling sweetly at me I see a joy that flows and a happiness that grows.

I sit and I think, while I am thinking of you.

Are you thinking of me.

Aankhon hi aankhon se ishara ho gaya could take completely different meaning in 2018

W

Happy New Year 2018

hile I am not sure if 2018 is thinking of me, I sure am excited about the coming few months and thinking hard about what they behold for all of us, especially on the technology and business fronts.

Whether they bring happiness and peace I cannot ensure, but these technologies are sure to raise mine and most of our testosterone levels in 2018.

Thinking randomly, these would indeed become harbingers of great joy and beauty and indeed tickle our mental G-spots.

Blockchain could be the first blockbuster to make us drool in 2018. While the likes of Amazon, Oracle, Microsoft and IBM all started experimenting and working on their own blockchain platforms in 2017, this year we will see more companies joining the bandwagon across a myriad of different fields.

Conversation interfaces vary from voice recognition platforms like Siri, Alexa and Google Home; to hundreds of bots on platforms like Facebook, Telegram and Slack. Come 2018, the language of these conversations could take more personalized experiences. Aankhon hi aankhon se ishara ho gaya could take a completely different meaning in 2018.

In 2017, there was a significant number of businesses using AI to drive financial and operation decisions, not only this trend will continue gaining steam in 2018, but we will also see AI application in less obvious fields. From targeting your new customer to targeting your new friend, AI could just change the way you look at life.

Augmented reality (AR) and mobile seem to be the perfect marriage and with the release of ARKit by Apple and ARCore by Google, 2018 is poised to be the year where we will see mainstream adoption of AR. This will finally launch us into the realms of sci-fiction; give your fantasy a full go…the possibilities are boundless…after all they are all ‘real’

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MICROSOFT’S DIGITAL JUGGERNAUT Microsoft India organised ‘Microsoft Media Days 2017’ at the Hyderabad campus where it outlined its plans and initiatives for India

– Jyoti Bhagat jyotib@cybermedia.co.in

Microsoft Drives Digital Transformation in India Microsoft stated that 70 of the top 100 Bombay Stock Exchange listed companies are now using Microsoft cloud to drive their digital transformation.

Microsoft works with over 200,000 large, medium and small enterprises, 29 State Governments and over 5000 start-ups in the country. In the last 18 months, the company has seen many these customers start their digital transformation using the hybrid cloud.

The only provider of all three clouds – private, public and hybrid – Microsoft has now launched Azure Stack for India.

Azure Stack is an extension of Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, and brings the agility and fast-paced innovation of cloud computing to on-premises environments and enables entirely new hybrid cloud

scenarios. All the major Azure Stack partners HP, Dell, EMC, Lenovo and Cisco, have started shipping Azure Stack to customers in India. A large Azure Stack ready partner ecosystem has been created with partners such as Netmagic, Embee and G7CR. Microsoft has three of its 42global datacenters regions located in India at Mumbai, Pune and Chennai.

Operating since September 2015 (Microsoft was the first global public cloud provider to offer local cloud services in India), Microsoft was also the first public cloud service provider to be empaneled by Ministry of Information Technology (MeitY) in late 2016. It continues to be a certified cloud provider for Governments in India.

“We are fueling innovation and accelerating India’s digital transformation with our global and local cloud

Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India at the Media Days 2017

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services. As many mobile-only and cloud-only collaboration and productivity scenarios emerge in the workplace, we are working with our customers and partners to accelerate movement to the intelligent cloud and intelligent edge in the next year, and to help build new engines of growth. Microsoft and our partners are helping customers who want to utilize the full power of our cloud platform and use Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Cognitive Intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT),” said Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India.

“As the pace of digital transformation picks up in 2018, we recognize that many customers prefer to evolve gradually by first moving to a hybrid cloud environment before fully embracing the public cloud.

With Azure Stack, we will help our customers move forward in their preferred digital transformation path at a pace they prefer,” he added.

Microsoft Cloud Adoption Across Industries Financial Services and Information Technology (IT/ ITeS) have emerged as the top Microsoft cloud adopters followed by the Manufacturing industry and Startups in the last year. Microsoft has also witnessed significant uptake of its cloud in the education sector in the country.

In the financial services sector, 10 of the 12 largest banks in India use Microsoft Cloud solutions (State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank, Yes Bank, Axis Bank,Bank of Baroda, IndusInd Bank and others).BankChain, a blockchain consortium of 30 banks runs exclusively on Microsoft Azure blockchain platform. They are creating innovative applications on top of Azure for near real-time cross-border remittance at near zero cost, real-time peer-to-peer transfer systems with automated reconciliation, endto-end loan syndication process management,vendor onboarding, NDA processing, and vendor rating and many more.

In the IT/ITeS sector, the top five Indian companies are using a diverse portfolio of Microsoft Cloud solutions and advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence, IoT, Cognitive Solutions, Big Data & Analytics, Power BI and other services on Azure to not only transform their own organizations but to also create cutting edge solutions for their customers.

In the auto manufacturing sector, the market leaders (Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp and others) in all four sub-segments (passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, three-wheelers and two-wheelers) are on Microsoft Cloud.As India is poised to become

the third largest car market across the world by 2020, Microsoft continues to partner with auto companies to support the projected four-fold growth in the automotive industry.

India’s startups are fueled by Microsoft cloud solutions. Microsoft continues to add more than 100 startups every month to its BizSpark program. Microsoft supports5000 startups yearly through multiple programs including Microsoft Accelerator. In 2017, Flipkart, Ola Cabs and Prime Focus started to use Microsoft cloud.

In the education sector, Microsoft’s cloud offerings are built on the foundation of the National Knowledge Network Grid (NKN) and is used by several technical institutes in India including NarseeMonjee Institute (Mumbai), FIITJEE (Chennai) and Deccan Education(Pune), among others.

Microsoft’s Partners Ecosystems drives digital transformation The partner ecosystem is critical in driving digital transformation through the cloud in India. For more than 40 years, Microsoft has been a partner-led company, which reflects the fact that it generates more than 95% of its business through the robust and constantly evolving partner ecosystem. Today, Microsoft India has more than 9,000 cloud partners.

Globally, Microsoft has 64,000 partners — more than any other cloud services provider.

To help partners innovate more, go to market faster and connect with the right customers at the right time, Microsoft transformed its partner team in July 2017.

The new partner organization is driving partner profitability (for every dollar of Microsoft revenue, partners make nine dollars), and innovation using Microsoft’s AI, machine learning, cognitive and IOT services.

The Author was hosted by Microsoft in Hyderabad

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“MICROSOFT MOVED INTO A VERY CONSISTENT MECHANISM ACROSS THE WORLD” In a conversation with PC Quest Anant Maheshwari, President of Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd. shares the structure and functioning of Microsoft’s GTM strategy —Jyoti Bhagat | jyotib@cybermedia.co.in

What are the different LoBs under which Microsoft India currently functions?

There are two structures by which we at Microsoft India organize our offerings. One is in terms of solution where there are four focus areas viz. modern workplace, business applications, infrastructure and DATA & AI. Modern workplace includes Windows, Office 365, the enterprise mobility suite and the security aspects.

The business apps would have the Dynamics 365 and it also partners with LinkedIn. Then in the infrastructure space there is the Azure Cloud.The second structure is in terms of the enterprise.

What are the go to market strategies for Microsoft?

We broadly have four ways to go to market: one is our enterprise commercial business where we are looking at all the commercial key accounts that we work with . There are more than 500 accounts that we work with as the named accounts. Than we have the enterprise public sector business and healthcare where we work with all the healthcare providers and government. We also have the enterprise services business where we are at both the consulting side and the premier support for the customers who sign up on that. Also finally we have the small medium and corporate business where we work largely through our channels and partners to service the large medium and small scales customers. And also we work with our OEMs like DELL, HP. We also do a lot of the gaming work on the consumer side.

What will be the roadmap for 2018 specifically for the government projects and also if you can highlights some of the key project?

The key projects cover both the central government. The specific areas where we are engaged in are the state governments, the education sector and the healthcare sector.

Those would be the broad areas how we go to market in that team and when it comes to what we are doing. I think it’s very similar to the government and smart cities or even some of the work they doing on their own infrastructure all of that we are engaged in with the government. We would do definitely work like what we did with ‘Swayam’ in terms of go to market we work with them and combination of Microsoft and its partners come together to create that new solution in the digital India.

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What would be the Azure Roadmap for SMBs?

Nothing which is different from what we have done so far continuously we will keep adding the Azure data centre and to me that is the real key applications also as AI for Microsoft is not a separate product whether it is our office 365 suite or it is Azure data services whether you bring in these services to manage data and therefore AI is embed in everything that we do. A lot of our focus Anant Maheshwari, President of will remain in creating those Microsoft Corporation (India) capabilities and services as we go to market and it will not be one thing that will come. There will be multiple things that will be coming up. And the services we have already kept so that will remain the key focus area for us.

What will be the key focus areas in terms of partner ecosystems?

I think it’s one of the most dramatic strategies for Microsoft is when we created the one commercial partner organization globally where we moved into a very consistent mechanism across the world. So globally if you look at our partner terms now they have 3 broad components in the partner terms. their is a build with side in the partners there is a sell with side in the partners and then this is a whole go to market office motion and because we choose that many partners and that many customers. We also have 4 district types of partners as we see it now. So there is ISV’S the software vendors who have the highest amount of the Intellectual property in terms of what they are doing; than there are SIs and advisories who do a lot of go to market but create their solution based on the many of tool kits that we provides or they may even partner with ISV’S to take those solution to customers.

Then there are the managed service providers (MSPs) who work with the whole Azure stack whereby they can host the private clouds in their data centers. Finally, there are the traditional channel partners.

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Tech Giants Embark ON

Mission ‘DIGITAL’ Hkkjr Anushruti Singh | anushrutis@cybermedia.co.in Jyoti Bhagat | jyotib@cybermedia.co.in

d`f"k] fctyh] ikuh Qksu] cVqvk] LdwVj for Microsoft

AI, Cognitive & IoT spurring Digital India Microsoft India has showcased several projects that make use of the company’s cloud-based artificial intelligence, cognitive services and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies that can change the way citizens, enterprises and governments engage in healthcare services, agricultural practices, education and everyday work. Many of these applications are being tested out or used in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Haryana among others. The company also put the spotlight on use of artificial intelligence in Indian language computing.

“These AI, cognitive technologies and IoT applications can help in India’s inclusive growth,” said Sriram Rajamani, Managing Director of Microsoft Research India.

“The world is today powered by an intelligent cloud and the intelligent edge. We are constantly pushing the boundaries of technology to benefit society.

We are committed to ensure that technology is defining and shaping the future, and is a combination of unbridled innovation and digital inclusion,” Rajamani added.

Some of the examples of transformative technology for a Digital India showcased are:

Complete story on page 12

for Google

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ith the increasing netizens, Google has brought up new products and features that suits and speak to the specific lifestyles of all Indians. Rajan Anandan, VP, South East Asia, said, “India crossed the 400 million internet user mark this year and Indians were consuming more data than ever before — 4GB on average every month, projected to grow to 11GB per month in the next four years. The growing base of Internet users is hungry for better online experiences and we at Google have been working to build new products and features specifically for them.”

With this opening speech, Google has introduced several new India-first products and features that offer a richer experience for the ever-growing base of Indian internet users.

A better entry-level smartphone experience with Android Oreo (Go edition) Android 8.1. Phones running Android Oreo (Go edition) will hit shelves in the coming months. Oreo devices with 512MB to 1GB of RAM will get all the optimizations that come with Android Oreo (Go edition), including a better performing OS with built-in data management features and security benefits.

There is also a new set of pre-installed Google apps, including Google Go and Google Assistant for Android Oreo (Go edition), designed to be lighter and more relevant to the unique needs of the next billion users.

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CORNER Continued from page 11

d`f"k] fctyh] ikuh for Microsoft ProjectFarmBeats: Microsoft FarmBeats is a research project for agriculture that enables seamless data collection from various sensors, cameras and drones. It comprises two broad areas viz., a, data-acquisition system consisting of drones and sensors and a data-analysis system consisting of connectivity pieces, cloud storage, and predictive analysis.

AI for farming: Microsoft and ICRISAT announced the results of the second phase of the pilot of their AI-based Sowing App for farmers. The program was expanded to touch more than 3000 farmers across the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka during the Kharif season of 2017 for a host of crops including groundnut, ragi, maize, rice and cotton, among others.

The increase in yield ranged from 10% to 30% across crops. The Sowing App was developed to help farmers achieve optimal harvests by advising on the best time to sow using data about weather conditions, soil quality and other indicators.

Commenting on this season’s results, Dr. AVR Kesava Rao, Honorary Fellow and Senior Scientist, Agroclimatology, ICRISAT, said, “We are excited about the results that have emerged from the use of the Sowing Application and Personalized Village Advisory Dashboard. We have strengthened our partnership with Microsoft to help small holder farmers and give a boost to our AI-powered agriculture initiative in a big way. The application of the Intelligent cloud is a significant start for digital agriculture and we look forward to expanding this further.”

HAMS (Harnessing AutoMobiles for Safety): a virtual harness for vehicles that focusses on two factors that are critical to road safety—the mental state of the driver-including distraction and fatigue, and his /her driving relative to other vehicles. It employs the front and back cameras of a dashboardmounted smartphone, the phone’s GPS and inertial sensors, and an On-Board Diagnostics (OBD-II) scanner. Project HAMS is being used by Institute of Driving and Traffic Research (IDTR) – a joint venture between the Department of Transport of State Governments and Maruti Suzuki India.

activeCane to aid people with visual impairment.

Microsoft Research is experimenting by adding several sensors to existing canes, and adding gesture recognition to the cane. Interestingly, Microsoft Research is doingthese using sensors added to the cane, and an AI agent on a microcontroller with very low resources on the cane itself, thereby making the cane an intelligent edge device. We believe that more such applications of ML on edge will become feasible in the coming years.

IoT monitoring of water quality: Authorities across states have turned to IoT to monitor drinking water quality for its citizens. Indian ISV TechSpan Engineering has implemented a monitoring system built on the Azure IoT platform, using sensors provided by the Austrian firm s::can and their India Partner Aaxisnano.

Using the power of the Microsoft cloud, IoT and data, the solution taps into the robust s::can sensors to provide measurements across 17 parameters - from Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chloride and Fluoride levels to temperature and color. The solution is currently being used for t .POJUPSJOH ESJOLJOH XBUFS RVBMJUZ POMJOF CZ UIF Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (125 stations) and Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board(KUWSDB) in Hubli–Dharwad & Bijapur(3 stations), t 0OMJOF TVSGBDF XBUFS RVBMJUZ NPOJUPSJOH CZ $FOUSBM Pollution Control Board, New Delhi (44 stations) and Central Water Commission, New Delhi (3 stations) t 0OMJOF JOEVTUSJBM QPMMVUJPO NPOJUPSJOH TUBtions) t 0OMJOF TFXBHF USFBUNFOU BOE øPX NPOJUPSJOH CZ

Interactive Cane: This AI-powered Inter12

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Delhi Jal Board (36 stations) Smart Lighting in Jaipur: Microsoft Azure IoT is also powering India’s first Smart Street Lighting Project for the pink city of Jaipur, underscoring Microsoft’s mission of transforming public spaces digitally.The Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) operates and maintains over 100,000 public street lights within the city. However, one of three in these lamps did not work and many others functioned poorly, leading to several areas of the city being in the dark. Microsoft’s partner Samudra LED has now deployed a customized Microsoft IoT-platform-based solution created by ISV Precimetrix to monitor, control and manage smart LED public street lights. The project will benefit 1.65 million people through improved street lighting and a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 36,750 metric tons/year. It will also result in $1 million per year in fiscal savings accrued to the government due to reduced energy consumption.

AI for local language computing: Starting with Project Bhasha in 1998, Microsoft has been consistently

working to provide local language computing in Indian languages. Microsoft Office and Windows support 11 Indian language scripts and overall supporting 22 Indian languages. Bing allows users to browse in nine Indian languages. With the help of its AI technologies, Microsoft is now making translation and speech recognition across several Indian languages. Here are a few examples: t .JDSPTPGU T 4XJGU,FZ XIJDI BMMPXT UFYU JOQVU JO BT many as 24 Indian languages and dialects including .BSXBSJ #PEP 4BOUBMJ BOE ,IBTJ CSJOHT "* JO UIF keypads to enable faster, predictive writing. It also allows mixed language typing in English and Hindi t *OEJBO &OHMJTI BOE )JOEJ TQFFDI SFDPHOJUJPO JT BWBJMable as part of Microsoft Cognitive Services as well as Bing App for Android t 5FYU UP TQFFDI USBOTMBUJPOT DVSSFOUMZ JODMVEFTTVDI capabilities in Hindi and Tamil on Microsoft Narrator, on Windows 10. t .JDSPTPGU 1PXFS1PJOU VTFT "* UP USBOTMBUF GVMM QSFsentation decks from English to Hindi, Bangla and Tamil.

Continued from page 11

Qksu] cVqvk] LdwVj for Google Android Oreo (Go edition) smartphones also come with a version of the Google Play Store that enables users to download any app, while highlighting the apps designed to work best on Go edition devices.

Tez momentum and new features India-first mobile payments app Tez has seen huge growth in its first 10 weeks. Tez has processed over 140 million transactions from nearly 12 million active

users. There are more than 525,000 merchants already on Tez, using it to take payments, pay their suppliers or transfer money to employees. And Tez isn’t just being used in India’s top metros—in fact, we’ve seen 5F[ VTFST GSPN ,BTINJS UP ,BOZBLVNBSJ GSPN UPXOT in Arunachal Pradesh to the villages of Gujarat.

Tez will support more than 70 billers, including utilities and direct-to-home service providers. Once people pay a bill on Tez, they never have to add the

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CORNER billing organization again. Tez will also remind users when certain bills are due. And they can avoid paying the same bill twice, since the payment status will be automatically updated.

And since payments aren’t simply transfers of money, but often, personal exchanges for meaningful occasions, we’re adding fun animated moments that trigger when a certain word or phrase appears in the message with the payment, such as “hello” or “India.”

Google Go, a new app from Google Search Google Go is a tailor-made app for the millions of people in India coming online for the first time. Google Go is easy-to-use and works fast even on entry-level devices and spotty connections, making discovering, sharing and finding content easy and more reliable. Google Go has three special features that meet the needs of users who are new to the internet. First, typing on a small device can be slow and cumbersome, and people may not know what to look for online, so Google Go’s tap-first user interface helps users express themselves, explore new ideas, find things to share and guide them around the web. Second, Google Go comes in a small app size, it is light on data usage, and works great even on patchy connections. Third, it is easy to switch and see answers in another language, for example between Hindi and English.

sistant to millions of first time internet users on the JioPhone with an intuitive voice-based user interface, along with a rich set of data services. The Assistant can help make phone calls, text, play music and videos, navigate and search the internet, and access other apps and services.

Free up space on your phone with Files Go Files Go is a new app by Google that helps you free up space, find files faster, and share files offline without using any data. Every day, millions of smartphones run out of space. The average Files Go user is saving 1GB of space so they can do more on their phone. It was built for Android Go devices, but we’re also making it available today on the Google Play Store.

Two-wheeler mode in Google Maps comes to India first India is the world’s largest two-wheeler market and the navigation needs of these millions of riders are different from automobile drivers. Two-wheeler mode in Maps gives routes that use shortcuts not accessible to cars. It also provides customized traffic and arrival time estimations. The two-wheeler mode uses machine learning to suggest more relevant routes for

The Google Assistant for the JioPhone Google has also introduced a special version of the Google Assistant—the Google Assistant for the JioPhone, built for India in both English and Hindi.

This will help bring the benefits of the Google As-

riders, using smaller roads and two-wheeler-friendly shortcuts. It also shows major landmarks on the route so that riders can better plan their trip before starting, and not keep checking their phone on-the-go.

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COVER STORY

ERP: A MARRIAGE BROKER • GST and mid market are the main targets for top ERP players • Piracy is not a big issue; but vendors won’t provide support system either • User acceptance, trainings and initiating adoption are major challenges

– Anushruti Singh anushrutis@cybermedia.co.in

E

nterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is a multibillion-dollar industry that produces components supporting a variety of business functions. IT investments have become the largest category of capital expenditure in businesses across the globe over the past decade.

Though ERP systems have changed drastically and had adopted according to various new advancements in technology since its inception.

Top ERP Solution providers are innovating and introducing new features, functionality and technology that can serve a workforce in a better way and can automate the entire process with more visibility and competitive edge.

Today ERP system is more being adopted by small and mid market companies, as they have understood clearly the importance of ERP software in managing business processes. Another reason for more adoption is reduced costs of implementation and cloud deployment options have also added value to its

viabilities.

It is also developing a security circle to protect the data usable for companies. ERP providers are designing tools within the software that can analyze data and have features responsible for security audits risk management processes and thus enhancing purchase of ERP systems. Mobile accessibility has also increased through time. Now your workforce can simply access the system from any where and any time. This is resulting in fast decisions delivery.

According to Ramajeyam Sekar, Project Director in CMS Computers, Chennai besides having many ERP brands in the market ERP solutions are still battling with some of the challenges: Ramajeyam Sekar, ERP Product Fitment: Lot Project Director in CMS of ERP products in the market Computers

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COVER STORY both branded; unbranded, open source & cloud based ERP are not the right fit everywhere. The small and medium segment has many failure stories and causes of dissatisfaction over unsuccessful implementation across these business segments. Moreover, as the competition is building up, more and more customization requirements are increasing and hence need to build flexible systems and processes is a big challenge. Before deciding to customize some features or to develop a new module, makes sure with your ERP consultants that these features will really bring some value in your business, in order to not develop an expensive module that your employee will never use.

User Acceptance: The success of an ERP implementation is influenced by a great many factors. User involvement is one of the most cited, critical success factors in ERP implementation projects. Generally, when users are involved in the implementation, the end result will deliver a better fit in relation to business processes and acceptance between the end users and the ERP System. In technical terms, the preparation comes in the form of user acceptance testing (UAT). User acceptance testing is often used as a project milestone for contractual reasons; completing UAT signifies that the solution has reached an acceptable level of stability and this in turn can be linked with the issue of who is going to pay for fixing

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Popular ERP Products Solution

Company

My SAP ERP (A1, B1) Oracle EBS

SAP A.G

(Business Suite)

Oracle Corporation

PeopleSoft

Oracle Corporation

J D Edwards

Oracle Corporation

BaaN

SSA Global / Infor Solution

Tally

Tally Corporation

Ramco

Ramco Corporation

Navision

Microsoft

ESS

Private

SYMCO

Private

defects. UAT is actually far more important than that — it is your key to project success. It’s important to iron out the issues in a safe environment first, and for an ERP implementation the safe environment is UAT. Every issue that is found during UAT is one less issue that will need to be solved after going live, and the thing about go live issues is they can be really dangerous.

When an issue occurs in a production system in a go live environment, it needs to be fixed quickly, and there is typically a great deal of stress associated with the issue. Being hurried in a stressful environment does not make for good programming and it certainly doesn’t allow for well thought out design.

Communication: Effective implementation of ERP solutions requires good communication, which is es-

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ONE�ON�ONE with HARSH VARDHAN G, Chief Ecosystem Officer, Ramco Systems

Technology is ever changing. As a tech company, we are always looking for what’s going to be the next big tech disruption that will hit enterprises. Two such technologies we are betting on for 2018, include: CHATBOT IN HR Today’s world is comfortable with the chat interface, requiring none of the hassles of app download or multiple clicks to access urgent information. Chatbots offer an AI-powered virtual personal assistant for every enterprise user, guiding them complete mundane tasks like time sheets, to applying leave – without necessitating a login.

What makes chatbots such a trending technology in 2018?

Human Resources needs to adapt to the trend of chatbots as the future belongs to automation of tasks such as asking interview questions, finding matching candidates on LinkedIn, scheduling meetings, etc. chatbots work on automating responses to routine and repetitive queries with ease. Their ability to resolve straightforward queries and FAQs within just a few minutes, delivering accurate answers right at the first instance, makes them one of the most sought-after HR tools. Chatbots easily cut through the complex backend data to retrieve just the required information. Chatbots can also be tuned to stop and request for human support for complicated queries that require further assistance. With extensive possibilities to create auto alerts, chatbots have immense potential to expand extensively into many other areas of detailed communication and this is why chatbots will be one of the most trending HR technologies of 2018.

BLOCKCHAIN IN LOGISTICS A critical element of logistics is ensuring transparency and reliability in every supply chain transaction. This need can be addressed by Blockchain, the latest buzzword in technology. Blockchain delivers a single version of truth, thereby protecting supply chain assets and resources from errors and fraudulent activity.

What makes Blockchain such a trending technology in 2018?

One of the most relevant advantages of Blockchain in the current scenario is its ability to maintain confidentiality of information and its permission-based access. Any stakeholder outside the ring of approved access will only be able to view the data in an encrypted format. Another feature of Blockchain is its capability of allowing approved stakeholders to enter data at source from a single location. This same version of data will be visible to the other relevant stakeholders. Blockchain networks are not hierarchical; instead, they are decentralized and extensively distributed, with each stakeholder considered as an equal player. With many more such solutions from Blockchain awaiting discovery in 2018, this technology is definitely one of the most favorite trends to look forward to in 2018.

sential across the organization. The main idea behind communication is to avoid the creation of a group of resistant’s to the ERP project, in order to mitigate the risk. Two main risks perceived by end users need to be erased: first the risk the ERP will do the work done by the end user. You need to be clear that the ERP is not integrated to do the job of employees but to help them to be more productive by simplifying the

processes. Secondly, some employees can be afraid to not have the abilities to work on this new system because of their limited computer literacy. Hence, there is an extensive need of trainings which will help them to understand the new ERP system. Setting realistic expectations requires an investment of time, resources and money, but the payoff occurs when your organization achieves all its expected benefits and

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COVER STORY experiences ERP success. ERP solutions are often seen as the magic stick which will solve all the problems of a company, and will enhance all processes instantly.

But the reality is a bit different; a high percentage of ERP implementation project fails because they have not been carefully thought upstream in terms of organizational benefits, budget, and timelines of the project. However, one of the most important aspects to ensure the success of an ERP deployment project is the ability to set realistic expectations. Having realistic expectations will allow the company of any sizes; an ERP is achievable project, which respects the business objectives in the short time to long-time.

Sudhir Singh, Managing Director, Marg ERP also agrees that ERP industry is dealing with post GST challenges. “Some major challenges in the face of GST rollout included preparation of an adequate IT support and a system which was GST compliant.

Another important need was Sudhir Singh, Managing to create GST awareness and Director, Marg ERP subject knowledge so that the market had GST-skilled resources to ensure swift implementation.” He said.

Marg Compusoft is anticipating the market behavior post GST, according to Singh, Marg ERP could foresee that most of the businesses would be looking to upgrade their software or look for a reliable brand that was providing GST enabled software.

“With GST, a big historic reformation in the taxation history, the first and the biggest need of compliance for the taxpayer was to get himself registered with tax authorities,” he added.

Earlier, competitors were accounting and software providing companies, but post-GST, the scenario has completely changed. After the launch of GST, inventory solutions providing has become as important as accounting softwares. Since Marg ERP was already well-established in inventory software sector, the company has built a much stronger product in line with market demand. Post-GST, there is a growing demand for inventory+accounting software. Speaking about competition Singh said, “We expect to see major spurt in the demand for our products and services. Companies that were using only accounting package are now turning to Marg ERP. Everyone now wants their inventory aspect to be as strong as their accounting part.”

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Operating from a head office in the capital city, Marg ERP has a threefold strategy to make forays into the fast expanding market post GST. First, they are building a promotion team in such a way that it can start activities from the ground level. Currently its team is in the process of building up local teams in different regions. “Earlier our representative from the head office would visit the regional offices and train their personnel on the product and its marketing strategy. Now we are setting up offices in different cities across India and building up a local team to work independently.” Singh informs.

Soon there will be small teams’ at all regional offices whose job will be to connect with local client and explore the local market.

Marg Initiatives There are few more strategy operations which are going on informs Singh, “Project ‘MILAAP’ is part of second strategy and an existing program. With it we plan to expand our existing network, reaching out to those already in inventory and accounting providing sector, but not able to expand their business because of shortage of manpower and expertise in GST related issues. There are a large number of such people who are eager to join hands with us and gain from our subject knowledge and support. We will ensure that their business remains secure and their revenue augmented by becoming a part of Marg.”

Marg’s latest launch -- the ‘VISTAAR’ program is also there, which will be diversify and will be compliant at different levels. “We plan to start a‘VISTAAR’ Academy, and ‘VISTAAR’ Association etc. These are part of our expansion plans and efforts to get more players on board.” Singh informs.

The third is making people ‘SAKSHAM’ or empowered; this is going to be our expanded initiatives wherein company is able to educate more and more people regarding ERP software. One more dimension they want to add to SAKSHAM initiative is the organizational development of the partners.

Plans for next Fiscal “We are doing our research on the market demands and expanding our network accordingly. We are focusing on enabling the network and making them fully skilled so that we are not only able to meet the market demand but also able to serve them in the best possible way. Our plan is to have our presence in every district, and if need be, in every taluka so that consumers can reach us wherever they are,” told Sudhir Singh.

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Tally Xcelerator

Piracy is no problem

The revolutionary tax reform that has been introduced, as well as focus on digitization are promoting entrepreneurship opportunities resulting in a truly competitive business environment. In order to stay ahead of the competition and get onto the path of sustainable growth, it is imperative for small and emerging businesses to have a guiding light on macro aspects of business which are related to growth and development. Large enterprises and MNCs are inundated with such offerings and are backed by equally strong consulting companies, however there is an abject dearth of similar services for SMEs. With this understanding and insight into the future challenges, Tally Solutions has also launched a one-of-a kind program called Tally Xcelerator (TX) to offer consultancy services to small and medium businesses, with an aim to empower SMEs and facilitate their growth. Under this program, Tally appointed partners called Tally Xcelerators will extend business advisory services playing the role of a coach, mentor and trainer toall of Tally’s partners and small businesses across the country.The program aims to help SMEs realize their trade and investment opportunities and become competitive in both the domestic and global market.

Joyce Ray, India Business Head, Tally Solutions said “We have been working very closely with more than 1 million SMEs for over 3 decades and understand their growth opportunities and challenge areas. Over a period of time we have figured that there is a considerable Joyce Ray, India dearth of initiatives taken to Business Head, Tally support the small businesses Solutions in our country in terms of their growth and development. Through the TX program, our aim is to upscale and upskill these businesses which will eventually contribute towards the development of the country’s economy. We want to promote overall SME development in the nation by promoting entrepreneurship, fostering individual entrepreneurial capabilities, building institutional capacity, and encourage employment creating investment. We will equip our partners to act as pillars of guidance and support to the developing SME community in the country.”

Rajesh Gupta, Co-founder and CTO of Busy Infotech claims that GST has given them a best platform to gain momentum in ERP business. GST is a complex subject, and it has compelled SMB, SOHO business owners to adopt a definite system because it’s Rajesh Gupta, Cofounder and CTO, Busy very difficult to do returns Infotech filing manually. “We are very competitive and GST has provided an edge in gaining business momentum.

Our revenue also grew almost 5 times as compared to the last year because of the GST solutions” informed Gupta.

The company has already a GST centric product in the market, Busy17 which is doing great. “We have earlier launched Busy17, a GST centric solution and its performance is fantastic. We are selling great numbers and we are trying our best to make life of users easier as GST is a complex subject. We are also bound to incorporate any changes whenever needed.” Gupta added. As per the requirement of GST Busy is coming out with new ways of filing returns, so that user’s time is minimized in filing returns. Apart from this Busy has also had it own video tutorial platform on the YouTube. These tutorials provide information about the solution and its compliance. The link of the tutorials is already come bundled within the solution so that user doesn’t have to go elsewhere.

Talking about the piracy and challenges, Gupta pointed out that piracy is not a big problem for them as it is not making any difference. However there is no mechanism to know how many users are on the pirated versions. “We absolutely have no problem in piracy, infact, we are thankful to the users. However, they in turn will not get any support from us in times if any problem occurs.”

For Busy Infotech GST will be the main roadmap for at least two to three fiscal years and they will be launching new solutions around it. “For next two to three fiscal year GST will remain our focus area. We have 300+ channel partners across country right now and we are strengthening it further especially after GST, and more and more partners are connecting with us.”

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The death of ERP? Is it really the end of the ERP Systems? Navin Parti, Vice President, Q3 Technologies shares his views

Modern day business is centered on three themes that drive it - Speed & Agility, Innovation and Customer Experience.

ERP’s of any form do not belong in it!

ERP technology evolved over the past few decades from a set of stand-alone, best-of-breed applications to a comprehensive end-to-end integrated suite that many enterprises expected would “do it all.” However, this vision has been rendered obsolete by the fact that, for most enterprises, the end-to-end approach did not deliver the value they expected and was observed as inflexible, slow, and costly to implement and maintain. The horror stories of failed ERP projects are the stuff of legends. As per a recent research, approximately 30% of ERP implementations fail to achieve even half the planned business benefits.

Examples include Waste Management suing

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SAP for $500 million, Hershey Foods’ 19% drop in profits from a failed SAP implementation, the complete FoxMeyer Drugs failed $100 million ERP implementation, and last but not least the over $1 billion spent by the US Navy on four different ERP systems, all of which have failed. Of course all of these big stores have been doing the rounds for a while now, and are somewhat dated, but the Digital innovation is likely to render this paradigm of development and their vendors irrelevant. What’s going on here?

Firstly, in the digital age Customer Centricity & Flexibility/Agility have become central to business Businesses are becoming more outward-facing. Traditionally, ERP systems covered planning, manufacturing, sales, marketing, distribution, accounting, financial, human resource management, project management, inventory manage-

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ment, service and maintenance, transportation and e-business as such. Note the lack of any modules covering outward in approaches, such as Customer Experience capture, Journey mapping, Omni channel, end to end mobile experiences etc…

Modern businesses have increasing organizational appetite for digital business initiatives.

Regardless of technology, new solutions must support more external interactions and variable interfaces to bring needed agility to enterprise processes. New IT requirements require a fundamental shift away from a single vendor mega suite toward a more loosely coupled and federated application environment.

ERP implementations are rife with duplicated effort, manual integration and inconsistent data.

Resolving these issues was one of the benefits of ERP suites.

With Flexibility comes the need to manage multiple areas: integration requirements (for data, processes and applications), the management of multiple vendors, and increased testing frequency, to name a few.

Secondly, cracks in the ERP Foundation Cannot Be Just Patched Over In many ways, approaching ERP is analogous to constructing a building. Many clients bypass the effort required to properly address fundamental issues underlying their existing ERP deployment — the “cracks in the foundation.” They assume that simply replacing poorly functioning areas with new applications will solve the problems. This is analogous to patching over cracks in a foundation — it may look good for a short while, but will have harmful effects in the long run.

Third, a belief that ERP SaaS Applications will solve all problems.

SaaS buyers usually fail to fully capture functional requirements and consequently fail to recognize the shortcomings of SaaS offerings. Organizations must not be misguided by thinking that cloud-based ERP SaaS applications will solve all of their problems. Understand that cloud does not necessarily equate to quicker, cheaper or easier, and plan accordingly.

The vendors promise delivery of regular new functional updates but there is no guarantee these updates will match your innovation needs. Innovation is a process, not a software application.

Integration is another issue – SaaS vendors

often deliver partial integration sold as “prepackaged” integration, which is embraced as fact by LOB leaders eager to adopt a favored SaaS application. This often works in the short term, but fails to meet needs as applications and processes evolve over time. The complexity of long-term integration requirements is thus hidden in the cloud.

Due to the complexity and proliferation of applications and services, integration complexity is and will continue to be a moving target.

Last, Customization has been the main reason that on-premises ERP deployments have become costly and difficult to maintain and upgrade. The inability for individual organizations to customize the shared application code in SaaS ERP creates the impression that it will be much easier and less expensive to maintain.

Possible future directions A combination of bespoke applications & off the shelf Financial Accounting and technologies now comprise the ERP “solution” for an enterprise, and not necessarily from the same vendor. The accounting world with its statutory requirements and rigidity lends itself well to a one size fits all solution. But since each business survives on its unique personnel, personality and way of doing business, they will develop applications that suit them and not worry so much of the much touted ‘best practices’ hocked by ERP vendors.

Of course as a consequence there are more choices but also more opportunities to make the wrong decision.

Postmodern ERP means organizations will likely begin acquiring applications from different vendors through multiple sourcing methods. Complex multisource ecosystems require enterprises to retrofit a service integration/ management role into their outsourced environments.

The competency required to support postmodern ERP is a skill that most organizations will not have automatically and should be planned for.

Enterprises need a way to respond to the increased technology demand presented by postmodern ERP. Gartner’s Bimodal IT could be an approach to address this challenge. Basis this, the organization adopts two approaches to fulfill enterprise demand - one focused on agility & flexibility, the other centered on efficiency, predictability and a step-bystep approach.

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BACHNA AE HASEENO The Nirbhaya incident is still fresh in our memory. Women Safety is still a matter of major concern across India. Can these devices and apps help?

– Jyoti Bhagat jyotib@cybermedia.co.in

I

t is no longer a news that crime is on the rise across the nation. As per record 90% of victims of rape and sexual assault in India are female.

This shocking problem needs a solution. As technology has reached to hight there are so many devices invented for the safety purpose of woman.

Many tech companies have taken a step to find a way for woman safety. Helping women find the help they need more quickly—or simply giving them a tool to disorient a possible attacker—can make a huge difference. These products proves that personal safety can benefit from technology.

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Yepzon Yepzon is a Finland based technology Company with strong presence in the European and US market. Yepzon already has a satisfied and rapidly growing community of customers in place who trust our products in everyday life and keep finding new and innovative uses for our service. Yepzon helps the woman in their safety who are car enthusiasts, cross-country runners, explorers, globetrotters and others – with thousands of diverse needs.

Yepzon brings the safety device for woman so that they can spend more of their time doing the things that they love – with an added sense of security and peace of mind.

“Yepzon is already the preferred brand by leading distributors both domestically and globally. Our growing roster of partners include: Amazon Europe, Elisa, Elkjöp (Gigantti), Ebay, Clas Ohlsson, XXL, Telia and Deutsche Telekom. In distribution, we have partnered with ALSO and Ingram Micro.

As a technology leader, we also license our solutions

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(PocketFinder, US) and provide our services to other businesses (Security).” Ashish Deswal Engineer, CEO Yepzon India.

‘ArmHer’ - A Personalised Security Gadget With an aim to cater to this grave concern on woman safety, Innovative Ideals and Services has come up with a unique device named ‘Armher’ as an effective tool to provide personalised and digitalized security solution.

This mini device facilitates connection with one’s cellphone via Bluetooth with a switch. In any uncanny situation, a person can press the switch which will send a message For eg - ‘Help’ to the preselected contacts with details about the Google map location along with the date and time. This quirky device also serves the purpose as a selfie tool enabling the user a handsfree selfie option . In this fast paced world, Armher provides ease in keeping a track of your near and dear ones, which is quintessential in current times.

Ziman Time to punch away freedom restrictions and panic attacks with Ziman; a fool-proof solution for all your security issues.

High on preventive physical safety features, Ziman empowers you 24/7 with standout proactive safety solutions, ensuring you always feel secure when you need to.

Think - deserted or crowded places, new cities, or your home and relationships, this big daddy of safety makes personal and social security a lot more accessible, easier and reliable.

“Ziman is the world’s first Personal security Service enabled by a chatbot. It has a host of features that provides personal safety, live tracking of pets, kids, and senior citizens, maintains Digital privacy while doing online transaction, creates a secure environment for mobile phones and offering eKYC aadhaar verification.

Ziman is backed by Response Management Services thru a 24x7 operated National Command Centre

Through Haptik’s 24x7 chatbot, Ziman users can now find a friendly voice accompanying them throughout a lonely journey, assuring them of help at the click of a button while collecting all the necessary data simultaneously!”.

Safer ‘Safer’ is a pendant made of rust-proof and non-corrosive metal casing, with a fashionable coloured stone that has the safety mechanism below it. The device will be linked to wearer’s mobile using an application. In case of emergency, a double click on the device will send an alert to the registered numbers of the user’s guardians or friends, to the nearest PCR and the people in the vicinity using the same application.

A group of five engineering students has developed a jewellery device called ‘Safer’ which could be used to trigger alarm and send signals to pre-identified phone numbers, police as well as nearby users in case of emergency.

The recipients will able to track the user’s location using GPS. The jewellery device has been developed by four students of Delhi Technological University (DTU) -- Avinash Bansal, Chiraag Kapil, Ayush Banka, Manik Mehta -- and a student of IIT Delhi, Paras Batra.

Priced at Rs 3,500, the device which has already brought the group awards at various national and international business and technology competitions, will be available on sale by end of this month.

“The incidents of crime against women have been on the rise. Safety gadgets, pepper spray and other such things are available in the market but how feasible they are? If a girl is being attacked by a person, how much time she gets to fetch the spray or any device from her bag and use it,” said Manik Mehta.

The device is also water-resistant and will be available with three options for the stones-Onxy Black, Sapphire Blue and Emerald Green. “We wanted the device to be stylish which the women can confidently sport with different dresses. So, far it will only be available as a pendant but in future we plan to develop bracelets and rings as well,” said Paras Batra.

“Also, if the device is stolen, it will not work without the phone that is paired with it. If you find your ‘SAFER’ has been stolen, simply mark your device as lost in the app. We will track its location and may even be able to help you get it back!” Batra added.

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“WE ARE THE NO 1 IN STRUCTURED CABLING FOR SMBS” In a conversation with PC Quest Anoop Jarial, Vice President - Product Management & Marketing - D-Link India Limited shares how DLink is perfect for SMB’s -Jyoti Bhagat jyotib@cybermedia.co.in

What was the GST Impact on overall business in 2017?

Business is good. But as we say this 2k17 in a two half the first half is demonetization effect and the 2nd half is the GST effect. And as of now the condition is quite in control. We had a problem initially in the 2 months of the GST before the implementation and we being largely in the stock. Everybody wanted to get into

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GST with very less stock of products possible. Some parts related to stock and sell in that we had the problem after that no looking back. We see that post GST the normalization happen much faster than one would have anticipated. But fortunately we didn’t see that. Fortunately we see a good come back after GST. And the demand from customer was always there and it is continued. So for us business post

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just about a quarter back and we have seen a very good traction and good product coming out because of the brand name. We are present in the smart cities projects. We have provided How did each LoB perform in 2017? some switching infrastructure not really We have created a good vertical in the surveillance infrastructure but we horizontal business lines that we have are not directly talking to the state or from our customer point of view very the city with we are partnering with clear consumer product, SMB products the large system integrators like L&T, and enterprise products. So that’s the Honeywell. So we work with them three end market product that we valiantly than engaged with them. In talked about. Within each of these smart city projects the surveillance part end customer market we have various product categories. Within customer Anoop Jarial, Vice President - we are talking about that is largely the category routers as one category and Product Management & Marketing CCTV. When we say CCTV its analog HD led. Today there is huge volume of camera within routers we have repeaters as one - D-Link India which is being sold in the mid- market. Hence there is a category. We have 3G and 4G products as a category huge demand for surveillance products. And we use to also consumer camera as a category. All these products send datacenters enterprise sector but we realize that are ultimately for end consumer as a target market. we need to have this extended to the markets where When we talk about SMB as a market we start from very the customer just wants five cameras. basic internet connectivity through Wi-Fy routers basic switching architecture through unmanaged switches, smart switches, led switches that’s what goes into the What are the government projects where D-Link has SMB market and the consumer and the SMB is largely participated? spread through channel distribution. Another product There are many government projects in which D-Link is which comes under the SMB is structure cabling. And participating. There is a project in Ahmadabad where we probably are the no. one in structuring cabling in BSNL is rolling the safe city project so we are partner the country today. in that. Last year we did a lot of business with DGSnD. Our products are paneled with railway RDSO tender How is the CCTV portfolio business receiving and RDSO projects so we participate quit aggressively with them. traction in the mid-market?

We have entered very recently in CCTV portfolio. It’s GST has been quite good in almost all types of business in consumer demand or the enterprise demand.

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“GST AND FINANCE ARE THE KEY FOCUS OF WASME” In a one on one with PC Quest, WASME Secretary General Gyan Prakash Agrawal shares the Roadmap for SME’s in India -Jyoti Bhagat jyotib@cybermedia.co.in

What is WASME’s importance for Indian SMEs and also worldwide?

We work as a source of dissemination of the information regarding the policy of different governments internationally. And there is no specific country but currently we have our presence in 50 countries. We are present as a member in every country. If we see 90% of the businesses are SME’s and rest high scale industries all lies 5%.

In terms of making SMEs aware in India and the government policy what sort of initiatives have been taken by WASME? We have our websites and newspapers with the newsletters we make aware the SME’s. But the basic problem what WASME has analyzed is there are different types of policies of government in different countries. There are so many policies for SME’s in every country where we are present. They are not getting benefit of those policies because from the 90% of SME’s 15% of them are not educated. So they are not in the position to apply to the banks or go to agencies for any sort of help. They are really not getting any benefit of the schemes. What the government has to do at present with is these benefits should reach to the needy people.

that people will get benefitted by that also.

Many cities in India have their own associations.

Does WASME have an involvement with these associations?

We are exactly not working with them we are the world association for small India SME level we are not working at the grass root level.

How WASME is helping SMEs after the GST implementation in terms of knowledge?

We are trying to provide knowledge to SME’s through publishing articles in our newspaper we also have our monthly newsletter and fourth nightly newsletter and presently we have made another conference under 200 delegates. We are also up to starting the dissemination of knowledge in the GST.

As WASME how do you help government to reach out to the SMEs?

What will be the focus points and roadmap for next 20 to 18 months for WASME?

We are advising the government also we write so many times letter to the government MSME ministry to make the policies so that the real neediest can get the help. What we do is we initiate the information the information that what are the policies are available how the funding is available in different sector of businesses.

We are also regularly conducting the seminars so

The only focus point is to disseminate as much information points we can do regarding policies of the different country. Like other country to our county and our country to other country. Concentration in India only GST and finance are the two basic problems on which WASME has a key focus.

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“WE ARE THE ONLY ONE-STOP POINT FOR COLLABORATION SOLUTIONS POST CISCO EXIT” Chris Thorson, Senior Director, Polycom talks about companies’ achievement in past one year and their new product portfolio -Anushruti Singh anushrutis@cybermedia.co.in

What were the major highlights of 2017?

At Polycom we have refreshed our big chunk of portfolio. In September we have launched a new solution in audio space called Polycom VoxBox, it’s a portable speaker phone device. Another new product is an addition in Polycom Trio Family i.e 8500 series which offers the most advanced HD Voice performance. Beside that we have now also added a larger camera into 8800 series for adding content sharing and video conferencing. Polycom Pano is another product which we have introduced in 2017. It’s an in room solution which could also be connected via different mediums, app, phones, PC or laptop. Via this solution you can cast up to four simultaneous streams of high definition content to easily compare and contrast your work. It can turn any regular display into a collaborative solution in minutes and manage from anywhere. Apart from these through out the year we have added many newer product solutions and refreshed media line and traditional video solutions in our portfolio.

With the announcement of Amazon’s Alexa for Business, we are a part of this initiative as we will be partnering with Amazon for providing group of solutions in collaboration with intelligent assistant to simplify the interactions with the technology at work—in conference rooms, desks, and around the office.

Another opportunity we got this year is Cisco moving out of this market space. So we are now only one stop for collaboration solutions. And as we have refreshed our portfolio it’s very good news for us. Also Microsoft is our number one customer. With them our rapport is twelve years old. We have been number one provider for them of UC devices in voice and video space. Recently we have announced an extension of our partnership by working with Microsoft’s newly announced Teams collaboration platform to bring experiences to a broader audience.

Chris Thorson, Senior Director, Polycom

How are you collaborating with Government departments in India?

NIC (National Informatics Centre) is one of the largest users of Polycom in India. We have deployed their entire video solutions requirements. When working with government comes huge opportunities as they also recommend us to other government platforms.

Also many departments of state and central government are using NIC video platform.

How are you tapping mid-market segment?

Traditionally we work with Enterprise segment but now Mid-market is growing at a fast pace. So, we have decided to work with them as a partner not as a service provider. For SMB we have Polycom Video Conferencing Codecs. This series of solution has at least 17 products under its umbrella and is perfect solution for SMB or SOHO business.

What are the other verticals that are using your solutions?

We are into healthcare and education segment too.

XLRI distance education learning program is wholly on Polycom video platform only. We have also deployed video solutions to Lucknow based Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences better known as SGPGI, where our solutions are connecting patients and doctor in an hour of need.

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NEWS CLICK LABS CREATES ALL-IN-ONE OPERATING SYSTEM JUNGLEWORKS Click labs, the tech backbone of sister company and hyperlocal startup Jugnoo, comes up with Jungleworks, an all-in-one operating system for on-demand businesses. Click labs has pioneered with various SaaS products and now introduces Jungleworks to assist businesses in streamlining operations and accelerating sales.

Jungleworks provides absolute control with easy integration of various software and hence bringing efficiency in the business processes.

The products integrated on Jungleworks’ platform are Tookan (Tracker), Fugu (Actionable communication), Yelo (Online storefront), Kato (Analytics and AI), Flightmap (Smart Route Planner) and Bulbul (Intelligent sales dashboard). All these products are packaged together to make a coherent operating system which would help a business from start to end, assisting at different operational stages. Any business can acquire different or all products on this platform to ensure smooth operations and work collaboratively with its customers.

Along with Jugnoo, the various products of Click Labs takes pride in a prominent client base of major brands like Coca Cola, Pizza Hut, Practo etc. Going forward, Jungleworks will also start the Partner Program where partners will have all the required resources and knowledge, to offer Jungleworks’ services to their customers.

BILASPUR SME MELA 2018 TO TAKE PLACE IN JANUARY Chhattisgarh Laghu and Sahayak Udyog Sangh (CLSUS) along with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC), is to organize Bilaspur Mela 2018, Exhibition cum trade fair National Industry & Trade Fair from 12 January to 16 January, 2018.

The event aims to promote entrepreneurship and will provide opportunities to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) all over the country to showcase and market their products at national level.

Free stalls will also be provided to support financially marginalized women to participate in the exhibition.

Buyer-Seller Meet is also being organized during Mela in order to help MSMEs engage in business talks with big players like SEC Railways, SECL, NTPC and Prakash Industries.

Department of MSME, Department of Industries, NSIC, banks including SBI and RBI will also take part in this Mela with their stalls providing necessary information and services for setting up new businesses.

Apart from exhibition many cultural and social events will also be held during the event.

CASHE LAUNCHES DISTRIBUTED LEDGER BASED SMART CONTRACT TOKENS Aeries Financial Technologies has built a Smart Contract-based Distributed Ledger Technology on its app based lending platform, CASHe. The formal announcement of the revolutionary platform was made this morning at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit India 2017 being held in Hyderabad. The Distributed Ledger Technology allows the platform to record transactions in a secure and transparent manner by creating an immutable audit trail. The platform has been designed to function as a shared infrastructure across customers, multiple external stakeholders, including regulators, credit bureaus and potentially other parties interested in participating in the distributed infrastructure.

Global Entrepreneurship Summit India 2017 Smart Contract based Distributed Ledger records all lending transactions in an open and transparent manner, thus allowing CASHe and the borrower to execute a trusted lending transaction that is transparent and tamper proof. The key innovation also involves tokenising the loan amounts borrowed by the customers into Smart Contract Digital Tokens which are stored on the Ledger and accessible by the customer in the app.

This means every rupee that is disbursed is automatically tokenized into a digital token.

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MYNTRA AIMS BILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS WITH RAPID Myntra is aiming to turn its ambitious Rapid technology platform into a billiondollar business by 2020-21, even as the Flipkart-owned online fashion retailer builds out new offerings using the technology product, including selling it as a service and outsourcing it to big brands both in India and abroad Rapid is Myntra’s new in-house artificial intelligence platform, which is capable of a wide variety of functions, including helping the retailer’s designers come up with designs for clothes and even help shrink the manufacturing process for Myntra’s fast-fashion products.

Through Rapid, Myntra is looking to create a huge alternative source of revenue and exploring several ways to leverage the platform—including outsourcing it to other retailers and selling it as part of an software-as-a-service or cloud-computing-like offering. Myntra’s bet on Rapid in some ways will mirror Amazon’s bet on cloud computing through Amazon Web Services, which generates massive profits for the world’s largest online retailer.

SME PROMOTERS MIGHT BE ALLOWED TO BID FOR INSOLVENT COMPANIES The Ordinance on the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) might be changed to allow promoters of small and medium enterprises (SME) to bid for their insolvent companies.

In a recent Ordinance the government barred promoters with non-performing assets of more than one year, wilful defaulters and anyone associated with them from submitting resolution plans during insolvency proceedings.

According to the definition provided by the micro, small and medium enterprises ministry, a small manufacturing enterprise is one whose investment in plant and machinery is between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 5 crore.

An official in the ministry of corporate affairs said the government would not go only by the investment by a company in its determination of an SME. “We plan to take into account the profit after tax and the turnover to categorise a company as an SME in order to exempt it from the recent Ordinance on insolvency,” the official said.

He said in certain industries, such as the oil industry, all firms would be characterised as large enterprises even if they had the characteristics of an SME. Oil firms such as Jubilant Energy Kharsang and Jubilant Offshore are facing insolvency proceedings.

ALIBABA CLOUD EXTENDS COVERAGE TO ENABLE INDIAN ENTERPRISES Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, announced that clients can start to sign up for services to be delivered in its new India data centre, which is set to open in January 2018. Located in the city of Mumbai, this new data centre will help meet the surging demand for cloud computing services among the fast-increasing number of Indian small and medium size businesses in the region.

Indian businesses of all sizes can now run their applications on Alibaba Cloud’s powerful, reliable and secure cloud platform. Other data centre service offerings include elastic computing, database, storage and content delivery, networking, analytics and big data, containers, middleware, and security.

Alibaba Cloud now has 33 availability zones across 16 economic centres globally, with coverage extending across mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Australia, the Middle East, Europe, India and the U.S. (East and West Coast).

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TECHNOLOGY MAKEOVER FOR RAJKOT AUTO MANUFACTURING — Ankit Parashar | ankitp@cybermedia.co.in

I

n the continuation series of Redefining Auto Manufacturing by HP Inc and Uneecops, PC QUEST has reached Rajkot, and organized a business conference to showcase the combined technology of Hardware and Software to help the auto manufacturing industry to accelerate their business growth with the help of technology.

At present Gujarat is the second one largest industrial progressive state throughout the country and inside the State, Saurashtra region which was a separate State before 1960, has carved its own identity by developing small industries to large. Since a decade Rajkot has become one of the biggest international industrial hubs.

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The auto-components industry accounts for almost 7% of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs as many as 19 million people. It is believed if auto component makers adopt the right technology and processes, it can easily achieve a growth rate of 26% by 2021.

These statistics are alarming, given the rate at which your global peers are adopting digital technology. Indian SMBs can add $1 trillion by 2020 to the Indian economy alone by going digital. While this is a huge opportunity for the SMBs themselves, the service providers who help the SMBs make the transition are set to gain as well.

This event has been organized for Rajkot Auto

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PARESH VASANI, President, Rajkot Engg. Association

What are the current challenges for Auto Manufacturing industry in Rajkot.

GST is headache for traders due to higher rates, complicated implementing systems and insufficient infrastructure of Govt. To make G.S.T. successful and easy, we requested the govt. to act immediately.

There are following problems / challenges that traders having.

1. There is no charge, any interest or penalty at least up to 31.03.2018 & until Govt. infrastructure is ready. Wherever late fee has been charged please refund it immediately.

2.

Interview

Tell us about the Rajkot Manufacturing market and the Association By foresee industrial needs and to support it there were entity of 2 industrial organizations separately working but in 1963, they amalgamated and renamed as RAJKOT ENGINEERING ASSOCIATION – REA, which is now biggest and oldest industrial association of this region having more than 1100 unit members.

The MSME entrepreneurs of this region are well known for their engineering acumen, hard work, deep knowledge the concerned product and a never say die attitude. Amidst this, REA started its roll for uplifting the development of manufacturing activities starting from Diesel Engine pump set and as per time bound demand of various industries of all segments.

Going with time, REA used to provide raw material to its members on “No Profit No Loss” basis to boost up small & medium entrepreneurs during the short supply period. Simultaneously for enriching the knowledge of concurrent engineering progress and technical know–how, REA organizes workshops, seminars, and trainings, buyer sellers meet, etc. periodically. The foreign delegations from various countries are visiting REA and having interaction with members for bilateral business promotion.

REA is having affiliation with renowned Indian organization like, C.I.I., MSME, FICCI, NSIC, CMTI, FASSI, EEPCINDIA, TERI, IIF, IDEMA, DIC, etc.

The Directors of the REA are having representation in all State & Central Govt. agencies viz, Customs & Central Excise, Income Tax, VAT, ESIC, EPF, GPCB, BIS, which helps the members for resolving their problems with Govt. offices.

cheque, cash or net Banking) from end of Month.

3.

Allow 45 days for filing of GSTR 1 Return from end of month.

4.

Make quarterly return for all. (whatever may be the turnover of traders smaller or bigger).

5.

Provide facility to revise returns. It is must.

6.

Make GST rate 18% single & common for all types of commodities & services and abolish slab of 28% rate. 28% rate attracts tax theft.

7.

Govt, do not punish buyer if seller is not filing his return. Responsibility of mismatching of return 2A & 2 must not be on traders but it must be on your Govt. portal to catch such mischievous traders and punish them.

Allow all credit to traders who file his return in time. Responsibilities of matching 2A & 2 on traders has created havoc in trade at large. If a dealer purchases goods from a registered dealer, and that particular dealer does not pay tax, the disallowing of input credit to the purchaser is totally unjust and harsh. This rule should be abolished

8.

Input Tax Credit should be allowed to be used against all types of tax liabilities.

9.

Provide easy & cheaper software to small traders.

10. Provide cheaper consultants to traders to implement the procedures of GST. 11. Remove GST on Advance Payment Receipt.

12. Upgrade your own Web portal which must work 24 hours without any interruption or disturbance and which must be capable of taking too much load at any time.

13. Provide full speed of internet in each & every village of India.

14. Remove system of HSN & SAC code.

15.

Remove the system of State wise registration whose business is in each and every state. But give some alternative system of single registration only. Say head office only.

Allow 20 days for payment of GST ( by

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Radhey Rawat from HP

manufacturing on December 15, with HP Inc and Uneecops and Rajkot Engineering Association as association partner for the event.

The event was attended by 90+ Auto manufacturers and comprised of interesting sessions by Uneecops and HP Inc on the combined solution of Hardware and Software for the automobile sector. A lucky draw session aslo has been conducted which was sponsored by HP Inc with cool backpacks.

Chetan Kela, Zonal Manager—Gujarat, HP Inc opened the event with his key note speech. He addressed the audience in local Gujarati Language and gave the deep insights of Auto manufacturing vertical, in terms of role, growth and future opportunities in Information Technology in Automobile sector. He gave brief knowledge about the importance of hardware and software in current scenario.

In the second session of the event, Uneecops

WHAT THE SPONSORS SAY...

HIRENJ JAMBUDIA, Associate Director, Uneecops

CHETAN KELA, Zonal Manager—Gujarat, HP Inc We have a successful event today in Rajkot. The partners and customers understood and gave a unique feedback about the importance of the complete package of Hardware and Software and they also understood how it will be beneficial. We are hoping that HP Inc will fulfill all their needs and requirements.

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It was a fantastic event today and the objective of the event was to help our customers with the combine offerings of the right software and hardware and we have achieved that objective. We have given a strong message to our customers that they can get the hardware and software need under one umbrella.

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showcased their ERP solutions for the Auto Manufacturing industry. Hiranj Jambudia, Associate Director, Uneecops presented the entire range of ERP software and highlighted the use of the right software and solutions. In his presentation, he explained the how partners can ease their business with using the right software for their business.

HP Inc presented their entire latest commercial laptop and desktop series in the third and final presentation of the event. Radhey Rawat from HP India Sales presented the entire commercial category of Workstation, business laptops and Tablets. He presented HP Pro 8 tablet, HP Elite slice, HP Elite one 800G3, HP 430

G5, and HP 1030 G2 laptops category and briefed the useful specifications as per the uses in business.

Conclusion We have seen that the reception of advances that are particular to the Auto business is high in the Rajkot Auto Manufacturing industry. With regards to IT based advances, the industry, despite the fact that not disinclined to selection, is genuinely subject to local software and hardware vendors to meet their prerequisites. There is an enormous growth for the industry to be more open to utilization of the combination of Hardware and Software.

WHAT THE ATTENDEES SAY...

Interview

HARISH N SHETH Director, CAN-CAN INDUSTRIES What is your feedback about this conference?

We are the diesel engine components manufacturers. We have customers like Kirloskar Oil Engines, Pune, Mahindra & Mahindra Mumbai and all Rajkot diesel engine forecast companies. It was a excellent program.

The Software session was really insightful and useful for our business. We understood that by using the right software how can we gear up our business in terms of turnovers. On the HP side, we have seen these latest commercial categories ďŹ rst time in our life. The combine solution will help traders for good business.

What is the role of technology in Rajkot?

In Rajkot, we are very strong by our nature in Business. If you say to make replica of Rolex Watch we can easily can do. But we are little unaware about the use of technology. We need the support in terms of technology support and we are ready to adopt the latest technology.

S.K JOSHI, VP, Fishfa Rubbers Limited We are the one of the largest rubber manufacturer in Rajkot.

We never knew that this kind of conference can uplift our business via tech solutions. I cancelled one of the customer visit also just to participate in this event. We are using SAP from past 5 years but after coming to this event, I got to know about other solutions too I was not aware.

In the presentation of Uneecops, Mr. Jambudia told that there are thousands of reports are coming our but we are not using but now I will focus on my EDP and daily reports using the right software. I am really thankful to PC QUEST team to organizing such kind of event.

NARANBHAI K KORAT, Director, AP Gears We really like the event so much. Both the sponsors, HP Inc and Uneecops has presented their solution so nicely and we been able to understand their solutions deeply.

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FEATURE

WANDERLUST @ VISHAKA

– Anushruti Singh | anushrutis@cybermedia.co.in

Sri Kanaka Maha Lakshmi Ammavari Devasthanam This temple is situated in Burujupata in the center of Vishakpatnam City. The most noteworthy aspect of Ammavari is that she wanted not to have a temple and wished to remain without a roof over her idol.

Hence the temple with Thursday as the auspicious day does not have a roof and is open to the sky.

Kailasagiri A hilltop park that developed by VUDA that overlooks the sea beaches and the city skyline. A cable car 34

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connects to the top, a first of its kind in Andhra. Shiva Parvati statue, floral clock and a Telagu Museuem adorn the top. A toy train ride too was available on the top which gives a panoramic view of the entire city.

Rushikonda Beach Nice beach down the Kailasgiri road with huge sea waves and people bathing in the sea. Sunset time @ Rushikonda is surreal with the sun gradually setting in the horizon and the moonlit night gradually taking

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over. It is a favorite haunt amongst adventure tourists for jet skiing and other parasailing activities. Named pcquest.com twitter.com/pcquest facebook.com/pcquest linkd.in/pcquest pcquest@cybermedia.co.in

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after Sri Sapta Rusheswara Temple surrounded by seven hills.

Yarada Beach It’s a real adventure to reach there through hilly roads in the ghats and finally reach the deserted beach lapped up in moonlight. If Rushikonda was surreal, Yarada takes the ethereal experience to another level with the sound of the waves lashing against the beach on a calm moonlit night.

Ramakrishna Beach It is the most popular beach park in Vishakapatnam named after the Ramakrishna Ashram across the road. The beach is best known for the INS Kursura Submarine Museuem, through which tourists can go through to have a look and feel of how the inside of a war submarine would look like. An aquarium, a Kali temple, the Vishaka Museum and the Victory at Sea Memorial are the other attractions on this beach.

Borra Caves The biggest attraction near Vishakapatnam is little over 100 km from the city and one needs to traverse through the ghat roads to reach them. While going down to reach the caves with the stalactite and stalagmite formations, one crosses through the Gostani river. It’s a wonderful sight inside the dimly-lit caves with statue like figures having formed naturally through water dripping through the limestones in the caves. One specialty in Borra Caves—try the local bamboo chicken here…

Araku Valley Labeled as Andhra’s Ooty, this hill station is an hour’s further drive from Borra Caves. Closer to the Odisha border, it is surrounded by forests on the Eastern Ghats. The Tribal Museum dedicated to the indigenous tribes of the country and the Coffee Museum are the highlights of Araku.

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FEATURE

SECRETS REVEALED to a

GOOD FLIGHT’S SLEEP

Anushruti Singh anushrutis@cybermedia.co.in

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power nap is all you need to feel refresh and rejuvenate for the next adventure episode of your life especially when you are on-air. It’s always good to doze-off from a monotonous long hours of air rides. Here are some handful tips that can assure you have a refreshed arrival at your destination.

Most travellers struggle to get forty winks whilst flying - meaning they can miss out on precious hours of their holiday due to jet lag. To avoid this if you have enough money splurge it on Business class. Most airplines provide premium passengers comfortable and able to sleep seats with extra blankets and pillows.

And it is always cozy if you can afford it.

Try to pick up a quite spot. If you have long journey it’s always better to choose a window seat as it will give a some space and headrest. Also try to avoid the front seats where the most disturbance is.

Another top tip is to set your watch to your destination time so you can start eating at those meal times.

But keep in mind you are what you eat. It’s best to avoid carb heavy food when you want to get to sleep. Instead try something lighter and snack on energy giving foods

such as bananas, nuts and wholemeal grains.

Do not drink too much, avoid caffeine and alcohol based drinks if you want to go to sleep. Keep hydrated yourself to avoid dry mouth after you wake up.

I know some of you like tight clothes, but no we would not recommend you to wear such clothes on air flight. Try to wore loose and non constricted clothes so you can sit easily and it will help in drifting off easily.

The Sleep Council suggests sticking as much as possible to your normal evening routine. From washing your face, removing any make up and giving your teeth a good brush, all these activities help to trigger your brain to get into sleep mode.

Go to no talk mode, plug in your headsets or just read your latest purchase; expressing politely to your neighbors that you are in no mood to have a chat. And if you are lucky enough to get unoccupied seats; curl up your body and enjoy your luxurious flight.

Nowadays, Airlines such as Virgin Atlantic have partnered with the mindfulness gurus at Headspace to provide tailored meditations for sleeping in each cabin.

Customers can plug in and be guided through a meditation which is tailored to the seat type they’re in.

Lisa Artis, PR and Communications Manager at The Sleep Council commented: ‘The problem with jet lag is that you are doing things at times when your body isn’t prepared to do them. By teaming up with Virgin Atlantic, we are encouraging travellers to get the best possible night’s sleep while onboard a flight. Sticking to good sleep hygiene principles and sleeping at the ‘right time’ can help control the mismatch you get with biological clocks and the time zone you’re in, ensuring you’re feeling the best you can when you hop off the plane.

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FEATURE

TIME FOR DIGITAL DETOX Anushruti Singh anushrutis@cybermedia.co.in

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e Indians are really hard working, for us work is worship. But did you notice we are never ever unplugged. Electronic devices has literally are the nearest and dearest ones in our lives now. First thing in the morning we need our gadgets till us go off to sleep.

Spending too much time on the devices is making us captives.

When comes to the vacation, priority is to relax and unplug. Rather the reality is the inner workaholic inside us is constantly worrying about all the loose ends tied, deadlines met, meetings attended, emails sent, and expectations clear.

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In light of this mess, McAfee has conducted a study, “Digital Detox: Unwind, Relax and Unplug,� to better understand the behavior and attitudes of consumers when on vacation, and how digital habits could be putting their personal information at risk.

The survey found that despite the benefits experienced from unplugging, most individuals prefer to stay connected. More than half of the Indians on holiday (60%) indicated that they spend at least an hour a day using their connected devices to check email, text and post to social media while on vacation.

Travel season can be a lot of fun for everyone, including cybercriminals who may try to exploit trav-

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elers who are in unfamiliar settings. When individuals put convenience over security, by using unsecured Wi-Fi access points, they leave themselves open to the possibility of having their personal information compromised.

“Vacations can be an ideal opportunity to take a break from connected devices, but most Indians are struggling to do so,” says Venkat Krishnapur, VP of Engineering and Managing Director at McAfee. “Our study reveals, almost three in four Indians rely on unsecured Wi-Fi during their vacations to connect with family, friends, work and social media, increasing their exposure to prying cybercriminals. To avoid being compromised, it becomes even more important for travelers to exercise caution and rely on technology to stay safe online across all devices.”

The wide availability of Wi-Fi networks can make it difficult to unplug and disconnect on vacation, but if consumers take that extra step and unplug they can experience a more secure trip.

While many individuals did not intend to unplug while traveling, 83% Indians reported a much more enjoyable experience being unplugged.

Can’t Put the Device Down More than half (52%) Indians could not last a day without checking their work or personal email. More than a quarter (29%) admitted to checking their email consistently throughout the day.

One in two Indians (51%) could not resist the urge to post to social media while vacationing.

More than half of the Indians (57%) have felt anxiety over being unplugged Laptops were the most common device left behind (72%), but only 40% would be willing to leave their smartphone behind.

The most common reason individuals avoid unplugging was to be reachable by family and friends (86%).

Carefree Wi-Fi Usage 74% of participants primarily connected using publicly available Wi-Fi leaving them open to potential security risks.

Remarkably, 34% of travelers considered their personal information and data to be more secure while traveling than it is at home.

Work, Work, Work 41% of Indians claimed that they stayed connected to be reachable by work, but if work were not a factor 67% would prefer to stay unplugged.

65% of individuals in their 20s and 30s would prefer to completely unplug on vacation compared with almost half of individuals in their 40s (53%).

Mom and Dad Know Best Most parents think devices should take a backseat on vacation with 65% planning to unplug compared with 57% of individuals without children. Parents were only slightly more successful pcquest.com twitter.com/pcquest facebook.com/pcquest linkd.in/pcquest pcquest@cybermedia.co.in

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FEATURE at abstaining from tech with 80% declaring success compared with 74% of people without children.

68% of Indian parents allow their children to use connected devices while traveling.

Parents tend to be more tech savvy than their non-parental counterparts and are more likely to know if their Wi-Fi connection is safe and secure to use (75% vs. 64%).

Tips to Help Secure Your Personal Information and Devices Browse securely when away from home. Ensure that you are connecting securely while traveling and avoid using public or unsecured Wi-Fi networks. If you absolutely must connect to a public Wi-Fi network, use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) like McAfee Safe Connect. A VPN will keep your information private and ensure that data goes straight from your device to where you are connecting.

Update your devices. The first line of defense for your devices is you, so it’s important to take a few precautions to stay safe. Make sure your devices’ operating system and applications are kept updated.

Using old versions of software could leave you open to potential security vulnerabilities.

Install cross-device security. After you’ve updated your devices with the latest software install comprehensive security. A solution like McAfee Total Protection can help your devices stay clear of viruses and other unwanted malware.

Use a device locating app. If you lose your connected device, especially on vacation, it can be difficult to recover. Location applications can help you find, lock and even erase your device’s data in the event of theft or loss.

TIPS TO DETOX

1. Make up your Mind

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You are going on a vacation, from at least two weeks prior make up your mind. It will be easier to relax and go on a vacation fully prepared; also it will give you a peace of mind.

2. Pass the Information Before leaving for vacation, it is necessary to tell your managers, staff, colleagues, clients, and so forth know that you’ll be off the grid and unavailable to work. So no one can disturb you during your holidays.

Also do activate your away email message. This will help you to relax.

3. Give Yourself a Break Pass Those who are dreaded with work anxiety and imagining work pressure all in mind while hopping on the beach or simply on the shopping spree with the family. You can give yourself ten minutes of break pass for checking the work emails to catch up what’s going on. You will be happy to know if you have worked out tip 1 and tip 2 already, no one bothers to disturb you. So relax, and ease your mind.

4. Give Time for re-entering work Following your vacation and before returning to work, give yourself a small time to re-enter work mode. Pre-set this time to catch up with the work to have all the space and opportunities you have missed. No need to be anxious–you already know when and how it’ll all get done.

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SMART PHONE

XOLO ERA 3: A BUDGET FRIENDLY PHONE

T

— Ashok Pandey ashokpa@cybermedia.co.in

he market is flooded with smartphones ranging from 3K to 1L, but most of the consumers are looking for a budget phone (8-15K) leading manufacturers to bring new phones in the category every now and then. Xolo tried to grab consumer attention by bringing device at the low price yet packed with loads of features. Especially a low-budget smartphone targeting selfie lovers with moonlight flash at the front.

The Xolo ERA 3 mobile supports 4G connectivity on both SIM slots.

Enabling users to get the freedom to get fast internet access from any of the SIM. The phone is available in slate black color and gets the elegant design. The front is quite flat with a 5-inch screen and three capacitive buttons below it. On the top of the screen, an 8-MP camera is embedded with moonlight LED flash. Though the features are quite exciting when compare to price, but are they really worth to have, let’s find out…

Elegant design

Era 3 has an elegant overall design with flat front and curved back. You can remove the rear cover to get access to SIM slots and microSD port. Also, it has 2500 mAh removable battery. The rear gets sand finish which feels quite luxurious.

The 5-inch screen supports 720 x 1280 Pixels resolution and produces decent colors. The viewing angles are also good, so you can enjoy video or game with your friends and family. There is no protective coating on the screen, making it magnet to fingerprints and smudges. It looks pretty decent and has balanced dimensions. It is quite comfortable to hold in one hand.

Performance

Having the low-budget you can’t expect the phone with high specifications, yet Xolo tried to maintain the balance. The phone is powered by a 2.2 GHz quad-core CPU, mali-t720 GPU, coupled with 1 GB of RAM, has 8 GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 64GB. The phone runs on Android N and coupled with 8 MP front and 5 MP rear camera.

In the moderate usage, the phone runs smoothly without any visible performance lag. I installed various apps in it, including games like Temple Run, Angry Birds, etc. It managed all the apps easily, but when we pushed it to limits by adding some high graphics intensive games, it went down. Of course, at this price, I wasn’t expecting it to handle them, yet want to know the limit. And considering the price, it was pretty good in handling light games and apps without any performance lag.

SCORE PRICE: 9/10 PERFORMANCE: 8/10 FEATURES: 8/10

Price: `4,999

Overall:

8/10

KEY SPECS: 2.2 GHz quad-core CPU, mali-t720 GPU, 1 GB RAM, 8 GB ROM (expanded up to 64GB), Android N Operating System, 8 MP front and 5 MP rear camera, 2500 mAh battery PROS: Elegant design, decent battery life, front camera CONS: HD screen, screen attract smudges

The front 8 MP camera has moonlight flash, which makes it more useful to capture selfies in low light conditions. It is capable to capture beautiful selfies and groufies in daylight conditions. Also moonlight flash lets you capture decent quality images in dark situations, however, noise can be seen. The camera app has Face Beauty Mode to enhance your face.

The rear camera is also good, you can click quality images with natural colors in daylight conditions as well as using the flash you can capture life moments in low light. The rear camera offers several modes to capture beautiful shots easily such as Burst and Scene Mode. Using the scene mode you can customize as per your needs and capture images in various ways with perfection be it Night, Sunset, Party, Portrait, etc. Also, it supports Face Detection to click brighter images using auto exposure. The image quality of both is decent enough with pretty decent color balance.

The era 3 is backed by 2500 mAh battery that can last for one day with moderate usage. Heavy usage can lead to approximate 6-7 hours of battery life. In our battery loop test, the phone was able to play video of 8 hours 33 minutes with full volume and brightness.

Bottomline: Consumers are looking for power phone, being low budget Xolo Era 3 did good but there is nothing great. However, selfie camera is up to the expectations, and having good battery life and decent performance, it could be a choice for first-time smartphone users.

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gadgets corner GRAPHIC CARD

AMD RX 570 WITH RADEON RELIVE

— Ashok Pandey ashokpa@cybermedia.co.in

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MD’s new mid-range RX 570 is designed to handle Full HD games at high performance but affordable price. The RX 570 is also based on the Polaris technology used in the RX470 and it sits somewhere between Nvidia’s GTX 1060 and the GTX 1050 Ti. The RX570 model we got for review is produced by Gigabyte and comes with a 1244MHz boost clock, 4GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 6600 MHz. 4GB is arguably enough for playing games in Full HD. This Gigabyte model has an 8 pin power supply configuration, so make sure your ATX SMPS has power connectors free, though if you’re running an older mid-range card, you probably already have them. There are three DisplayPort 1.4 connectors, one HDMI 2.0s, and a 24-pin DVI connector as well.

On the top of the card, there is Aorus logo with RG fusion that has 16.7M customizable color options and numerous lighting effects, you could now choose the right scheme for your gaming rig through AORUS graphics engine.

Design wise the Gigabyte has pushed AMD RX 570 with two gigantic cooler design with two fans and a metallic plate at the backside.

Improved streaming, sharing, and gameplay capture with Radeon ReLive – The Radeon RX 500 series support the industry’s most revolutionary solution for capturing, customizing, and sharing gameplay. The Radeon ReLive software suite lets gamers enjoy smooth gaming and recording simultaneously, even on entry-level systems, with support for recording at 4K resolution at 30 and 60 FPS using HEVC and H.264 codecs. Radeon ReLive also integrates with the most popular game streaming platforms around the world.

The maximum resolution supported by the GPU is 7680 x 4320 (Digital), Peak Pixel Fill-Rate Up to 39.808 GP/s, Peak Texture FillRate Up to 159.232 GT/s, and Max Performance Up to 5100 GFLOPs.

Price: `16,990

SCORE PRICE: 9/10 PERFORMANCE: 9/10 FEATURES: 9/10

Overall:

9/10

KEY SPECS: Memory Speed (Effective) 7 Gbps, Max Memory Size 8 GB, Memory Type (GPU) GDDR5, Memory Interface 256-bit, Base Frequency Up to 1168 MHz, Boost Frequency Up to 1244 MHz PROS: 4GB of RAM, Superb 1080p gaming performance, Quiet and cool CONS: High power consumption

Performance

We tested the GPU on our test bed (Intel Pentium Processor i7 4th generation 3.5GHz, 4GB RAM Corsair, Gigabyte motherboard, Intel 200Gb SSD and Windows 10 operating system.

The powerful RX 570 on a test bed was extremely quiet; even under heavy load. While testing it with different game following were the results:

Rise of the Tomb Raider: Average frame rate was 68fps Hitman: Average frame rate was 79.5fps Battlefield 1: Average frame rate was 97fps which was the highest one.

It consumes high power thereby generates heat. This graphics card is capable enough to run all games perfectly. The Radeon RX 570 does serve up a good performance at 1920×1080 in today’s games.

The Aorus Radeon RX 570 is still only slightly faster than an overclocked Radeon RX 470 but a solid option for 60-fps. But if you already using their RX 470 then there is no point to upgrade that to RX570.

Bottomline: RX570 is made for gaming and graphics enthusiasts. The card is not only capable of handling various graphics-intensive tasks as well as available at the attractive price. If you are thinking to buy a one in 2017 go for it.

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TRENDS

“EMERGING MARKETS IN INDIA ARE THE BIGGEST FOCUS FOR ASPECT” – Anushruti Singh anushrutis@cybermedia.co.in

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Also markets in Australia, Europe and North America are way ahead than some of the emerging markets in Asia in terms of adoption of true cloud capabilities and Omni channel. And if we talk about India, here adoption is happening but still there are some of the restrictions and regulations which are slowing the speed. We just need to solve the challenges.

However there is lot of happenThe trend we are seeing is shifting ings going on in the emerging marfrom voice to omni channel, How kets in India. There is a lot of focus Aspect is seeing the migration on verticals like NBFC, E-Commerce happening and what are the verticals and startups. They are also experiyou are focusing on India persè? menting and leading the charge in Business are now shifting from Chris Koziol, President at Aspect Software making the transition from Voice to traditional methods of engagements Omni channel services and they are the one which to new and different level of engagement solutions are providing us better business here. and its a new form of marketing, which is giving them edge in how well they engage with their customers Tell us about Aspect Via, how it is helping seamlessly across channels. And it is directly impacting their business in many manners. customers to transform from siloed center to all In my opinion, emerging markets are more prone cloud customer engagement centre?

With changing tech scenario Aspect also has changed to adopt latest technologies than compare to mature a lot and we have continuously excelling and markets. For example we have deployed our solurehashing our solutions portfolio according to the tions to Facebook Messenger. The reason behind that is that emerging markets do not have historical ever changing market. The big factor that is driving implementations and they are more keen on adoptchange is mobile technology and changing customer ing newer solutions for their business. Secondly, to need with demand of doing business anywhere and get recognition; companies nowadays are competany time. So, we have identified some areas and made ing with each other and here customer engagement some major investments to augment self service comes which gives them boost in customer royalty, technology and agent assisted technology. customer retention, turnover etc. and is a new form of With acquisition of Voxeo, we used IVR platform marketing. and the asset was mobile platform which we called

spect Software has been a vendor in the contact center market for more than 40 years, providing on-premises telephony management systems, workforce management and BI systems. Chris Koziol, President at Aspect Software talks about Indian emeging market and prospects for the company.

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TRENDS CXP Pro that enabled self service and omni channel capabilities. This further helped in developing Aspect Via. Aspect Via addresses the preferences of the digital-first consumer with interactive voice (IVR) and text (ITR) response powered by Natural Language Understanding (NLU) for more conversational, automated exchanges with today’s self-reliant, mobile consumer. When live assistance is required, Aspect Via seamlessly connects customers to the best agent, with the right skills. Interaction context is preserved so team members can delight customers with personalized, frictionless customer experiences. This makes the delineation between self-service and live service invisible to the consumer across voice and digital channels.

How the user friendliness of the solutions play a role in success of the product portfolio?

User friendliness is the biggest key factor in the success of our solutions not just for the end customers but from the agent perspective also.

From the customer standpoint, the solution should be easy to use as he is the one doing conversation via different platforms. They should be able to interact. For this, we have made major investment for capability of natural language understanding which enables us to provide a customer interaction from the digital and self service standpoint in a very conversational manner. That capability has given us profound impact on our ability to really seamlessly engage with a customer.

For our agent ecosystem, about 4 years ago we have changed our agent interface for better performance and to enhance the agent experience. We invested heavily in this and used some outside design firm help to re-factor our agent interface. This has also helped us grow immensely.

How Aspect is following the AI trend and chatbot trend, is it also a focus point?

A chatbot is a next step in enhancing customer experience and its a trend that is growing rapidy.

Customers today need self-service and easy interface to interact with. Chatbots are providing this. At Aspect, we have started leveraging our CXP Pro application to enable the development of chatbots.

Some of the examples are wide ranging- it could be an application like a virtual concierge that we have implemented for a local hotel chain in London.

Do you have R&D facility here in India?

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ASPECT VIA OFFERS • The only customer engagement center with native interaction management, workforce optimization, IVR and self-service capabilities • Developed as one platform, based on proven technologies from Aspect’s marketing-leading portfolio • Common UI for configuration and administration across all capabilities • Shared real-time and historical reporting across all capabilities • Role-based UI provides an easy to use, streamlined UX for agents, team leads, and administrators • Designed exclusively for the cloud From Go to Market perspective, India is very critical market for us. It also act as port for our activities around the globe. We have at least 25% out of our global workforce based in India. This workforce is responsible for development of solutions, technical services etc. Majority of Indian workforce is based out in Bengaluru, where we have Centre of Excellence.

This CoE is not only provides R&D but innovation team present here also develop customer specific integrations for global customers as well. We also have three customer care centre round the globe (Tennessee, London and in Bengaluru), they provide 24*7 customer care to the customers, and is enable to provide and follow the technical support.

Who are your main competitors?

Traditionally if look at the competition it is Avaya, Genesys and Cisco, as they also deal in Unified Communication infrastructure. We have designed our solutions to coexist in their environments so we can wrap around those investments and add value to customers so they don’t have to rip in replace those investments out. In the agent productivity space, our primarily competitor are Nice and Variant. We also have lot of emerging competitors like Point solutions.

But our integated workflow approach and customer engagement centre capabilities gives us strong competitive advantage over them.

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TRENDS

“WE WOULD BE VERY AGGRESSIVE WITH OUR TOP 10 PARTNERS IN INDIA” In a conversation with PC Quest, Shrenik Bhayani, General ManagerSouth Asia speaks about Kaspersky‘s performance in India

– Jyoti Bhagat jyotib@cybermedia.co.in

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TRENDS HOW KASPERSKY IS DIFFERENT FROM OTHERS? What we are doing is creating an environment within the organization in which the focus is around the customer business; it focuses around the enterprises &the infrastructure business. Each of the flavors is different because the market opportunity as well as the engagement into the market is very different. And in terms of consumer space I guess we are pretty much a establish brand. As per my knowledge kaspersky is the only company which is playing a big role in security infrastructure. But it takes some times in terms of customer environment. We also have to see what the vernablity in the environment are and then we propose the right solution around them.

WHAT IS THE CONTRIBUTION OF CONSUMER BUSINESS IN INDIA FOR KASPERSKY? In India at this point time it’s closed to 65 to 70% of consumer business. And the balance is the enterprise business.

The critical infrastructure business itself got launched last year. And currently we are driving 2 POC in India. I can’t name them but we have 2 of them in India. The critical infrastructure is with the government’s POC and the 2nd one under discussion. Here in POC we are talking about large scale power plants. It’s anything in larger scale which is getting digitized. And the moment it gets digitized eventually means that there is an element in cyber security aspects which is in the focus. The 2nd aspect is the enterprise market. Where our focus is on anty-targeted solutions and what I mean by that is today in the enterprise a lot of people looks for the point solutions. So our offerings to enterprises are not only the product but it also about services.

IS KASPERSKY PERFORMING A ROLE OF MSP?

SHRENIK BHAYANI, General Manager-South Asia, Kaspersky

HOW MANY CHANNELS PARTNERS ARE THERE?

We are not an MSP. But we have been partner with enterprises who potentially are MSP’s or wished to be an MSSP which is a manage security service provider. A manage security service provider will effectively come in with their own service providers and OEM would come in with product offerings. Largely there is a shortage of skin set even at the customer side may be in terms of overall understanding of security service security and their own environment. So we will partner with MSSP we are already in some partnerships.

Today we have more than thousand plus channels in the country and the larger part of this channel are focused around the SME’s. In terms of our enterprise presence we do have 10 -15 channels which do really quality enterprise business. We are now looking at some new channels who is either aspiring to be an MSP or who are already an MSSP. Overall we would play very aggressive with our top 10 player who are a kaspersky partner for very long time.

I would onboard 10 to 15 very right channel in terms of targeting our enterprise business and than we would look at the whole critical infrastructure.

WHAT WILL BE THE SPECIFIC GTM FOR SME’S?

WHAT ARE THE ATL AND BTL INITIATIVES PLANNED?

For us every GTM for SME’s in the country is via channels. For enterprises we will look at larger channels to understand enterprise business. But also it should have an understanding of cyber security business and maybe there are potential channels who want to invest and we will invest as well and create the business together.

There is a lot of marketing activities. We featured live with our brand campaign last month so we have our hoarding.

Our ads are getting played in the major radio channels and we are pretty much in the metro station in Mumbai and Delhi metro as well.

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TRENDS

“IN INDIA WE ARE VERY STRONG WITH THE GLOBAL MNCS” Kumar GB—VP, APAC Prysm Inc. discusses about factors that differentiate Prysm from others and how their tools are helping workforce to collaborate – Anushruti Singh anushrutis@cybermedia.co.in

How is Prysm different from existing collaboration solutions?

Collaboration is a widely used term. There

are numerous companies that provide basic collaboration capabilities but Prysm offers a unique and innovative environment enabling its users to

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TRENDS access various content and data at the same time; while many traditional systems allows its users to only bring up one piece of content for review at a time, when in a group setting. It combines live applications, content, video conferencing, live sources and the web into a touch-interactive visual workspace where teams can simultaneously create, edit, share and store content to maximize productivity, regardless of device or geographical location. Robust, yet easy to use due to its intuitive user interface, Prysm Digital Workplace makes business teams more efficient from the first meeting.

Fundamentally, Prysm is able to unify face to face audio-visual collaboration along with content from multiple sources and that is the differencing factor for the company. We call ourselves a content driven visual collaboration platform, providing relevant data insights in a touch interactive dashboard which supports all kinds of content. Also, Prysm is a solution agnostic platform we integrate our customers previous investment into our platform. Prysm can integrate, Cisco Telepresence and Microsoft Skype for Business into the Prysm Digital Workplace platform which ensures that the customers gets maximum value from their investment. Globally, data drives decisions for across industries, at Prysm customer data resides only on the cloud in a secure fashion. Through an authenticated login, one can access a particular content and can communicate with the creator of that particular project.

Prysm Digital Workplace consists of the following: t Prysm Application Suite – Dynamic software that combines applications, content, the web and video conferencing for enhanced collaboration experiences that can be shared simultaneously by many locations t Prysm Cloud – Stores and organizes content into cloud-based visual workspaces enabling persistent access and increased productivity for global and remote teams t Prysm Displays – Large touch-screen displays available in a variety of standard and customized sizes that are up to 75% more energyefficient t Prysm Mobile Licenses – Freedom to access private or shared cloud workspaces from anywhere on any device t Prysm Services – Prysm is dedicated to providing an unparalleled level of support

Where does Prysm find itself in a market full of big companies with similar solutions such as Microsoft 50

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Kumar GB—VP, APAC Prysm Inc.

Surface Hub, Cisco Spark, Google Jamboard etc Prysm Digital Workplace is a shared cloud workspace where multiple users can drag videos, documents, presentations and other content. Like CiscoSpark, it also includes group whiteboarding. It’s one of many systems that are bridging the gap between in-person meetings and cloud-based collaboration. Wireless Screen Sharing is a way for participants sitting in a meeting room to share content on the big screen without a wired connection.

The differentiating factor for us as compared to our competition is three fold, 1) Constant Innovation, 2) Extensive Product Portfolio 3) Experience. At Prysm, anything we do the experience moves along from meeting rooms to huddle rooms to a laptop or mobile phones. We provide a standardized experience across form factors. We offer a platform that allows the users to do all of this, from video conferencing, applications, live sources to content sharing on the same platform. The most important feature of our solution is that. Our solution allows everybody to simultaneously add, edit, move and annotate the content without passing out controls to each other.

The data gets automatically stored and the user can start where he or she left off. Prysm is also a hardware

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agnostic platform, it is compatible with all hardware systems. So, all the investment that a client has already made, be it for video conferencing from Cisco or Polycom, our software works with it. Prysm brings all of this together like no other solution, thereby enabling global and engaging visual workplaces.

How does Prysm see the Indian market for a virtual workplace solution? In the last one year, what inroads have we made in the Indian market? What kind of customers do we have in India?

The next wave of growth in the enterprise collaboration and employee productivity space, will come from innovation of a different level altogether.

This is where the concept of digital workplace comes into the picture. It can help teams across the globe to create, share and save projects by combining applications, content, live sources, video and the web.

A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Prysm in June 2016 highlights that 83% of information workers want the right collaboration tools which can help them be productive regardless of location and time. Looking at the statistics, the global collaboration as a market is expected to double by 2020 and India will be an important part of this growth. We have been very successful in India with the global organisations which have knowledge workers working globally. This includes Global MNCs and Indian MNCs growing globally. We are now increasing our focus on banking, finance, Smart Cities/Campus implementations and Indian top 1000 companies for delivering the benefit of Prysm Digital workplace platform.

Our long term vision for our customers is to deliver new capabilities which enable the value of a shared virtual infrastructure and the company is relentlessly focused on delivering differentiated and innovative technologies that are future ready as well as industry leading.

What are the key aspects of Prysm digital Workplace and benefits to businesses and use cases for different verticals such as Healthcare, R&D, Smart cities etc.

Prysm is driving a new era of digital transformation and enterprise agility. Our solutions are streamlining employee productivity across enterprises with our digital canvas based collaboration solutions. Prysm application suite enables teams to explore all their data, content, applications and tools on hyper-visual digital canvases - which ignites innovative thinking, drives decisions, accelerates productivity and

transforms presentations into experiences. Customers using Prysm benefit from an open, enterprise-grade solution that integrates with existing collaboration tools and scales to hundreds or thousands of users, while meeting advanced security requirements.

If we look at the current ICT ecosystem, as an industry our processes are revolving around multiple and disparate compute platforms. From laptops to tablets to mobile phones, we look for seamless access to content and information from across these devices and applications. If we are to integrate all of this content across these displays, there has to be a solution agnostic platform which enables them for seamless collaboration. This is especially important from Smart Cities perspective, where there is need for collaboration amongst multiple stakeholders and departments. There is also a lot of information and content which needs to be shared with numerous stake holders in real time. Prysm Application Suite which is device agnostic, has the capability to bring content across multiple displays and replicate the same visual experience across locations and screen sizes and is compatible with all the existing applications.

For Smart Cities we are offering our canvas for command and control centre implementations and dashboards. Our large format content collaboration and mobile solution will allow smart cities to have individual dashboards for each of the utilities and provide an opportunity to consolidate all utility parameters into a single, unified dashboard, in real-time.

It will also allow all relevant stakeholders to carry this dashboard experience along with them in their laptops, tablets and mobile devices on the go. This leading edge technology approach will further help them in gaining deeper insights into all aspects of smart cities and enable quick-decision making.

We have similar use case driven offerings for different verticals such as Healthcare, R&D and SmartCities.

About Recent Partnership with Vega Global, what is the company’s strategic roadmap from a partnership perspective?

Adding leading channel partner is core to our strategy to increase our share in the growing APAC market. The agreement with Vega Global highlights our effort to gain a larger share of the expanding collaboration market by increasing our multi-brand dealer base in the region. The decision to partner with Vega expands our reach and gives our customers the most innovative digital workplace transformation collaborative solutions available on the market.

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TRENDS

5 TECH DISRUPTORS FOR MANUFACTURING

By Rahul Garg, Founder & CEO of Moglix

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he sector of manufacturing is increasingly undergoing innovation. Digital ways of manufacturing and supply chain management, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing and more, that are already established in leading global economies, are now taking a forefront in India, an economy which has till now been embedded in traditional ways of doing business. The government’s reforms of demonetization, GST, Digital India and Make In India has given a much-awaited digital push to the economy, tapping unexplored potential of a $ 300 Billion industry.

What will take India to the forefront of manufacturing is innovative technology. Technology plays a

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key role in bringing about disruption. It lies on manufacturing units of all sizes to bring in the culture of advanced technologies in manufacturing. Below are five key technologies that are set to change the face of manufacturing in India: 1. Digital supply chain - Digital supply chain methods strengthen procurement strategies for manufacturing units. They lead to greater efficiencies and cost-effectiveness. Over the last decade, manufacturing units are moving towards aligning their procurement processes strategically and using digital tools of supply chain such as SCOR [Supply Chain Operations Reference], integrated warehousing, and freight handling. Startups in B2B commerce space such as Moglix are creating

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a promising future for the manufacturing sector by providing digital solutions of supply chain management.

2. Harnessing Big Data in Manufacturing - While manufacturing generates more data than any other sector of the economy, there are hardly any companies in India that are harnessing this data for decision-making. It is important to be working on an operations big data strategy because providing the right data to the right people and at the right time really can drive efficiency, improve processes, and carve a competitive advantage. Use of MRP (material requirements planning) system, SAP, Oracle or ERP systems helps enterprises in harnessing this data and putting it to good use. Use of SAP technology reduces redundant data entry within different software programmes and fewer communication struggles between interdependent facets of a company.

3. Block chain technology has been identified as a potential disruptor in the automotive industry. Block chain is a distributed ledger where the transactions conducted on the platform are visible by everyone.

Ideally this block chain network is a chain of all computers who must approve an exchange before it is verified and recorded. This is the technology that powers the popular digital crypto currency Bitcoin

“Technology plays a key role in bringing about disruption. It lies on manufacturing units of all sizes to bring in the culture of advanced technologies in manufacturing.�

Rahul Garg, Founder & CEO of Moglix

and Ethereum. The underlying technology in block chain can be transformative across industries in manufacturing.

4. Internet of Things (IoT) aids more connectivity, better communication and faster response time. In few other industries there are so many opportunities to leverage the Internet of Things in connecting physical and digital, making various assets, such as machines, other production assets and the various object in a non-production sense, as well as a variety of product and manufacturing process parameters part of a vast information network. Enhanced interconnectivity enabled by IoT helps manufacturing facility reduce maintenance cost, increase efficiency and prevent costly downtime.

5. Artificial Intelligence & Robotics – Factories and manufacturing plants in India need to adopt automation, machine learning, computer vision and other fields of AI to survive in the long run.

Manufacturers need to embrace automation more than ever before. An unexplored technology in India is the use of robotics. Next level of robotics allows customization and can be used to perform complex functions. Leading global manufacturing units are utilizing the same to solve complex problems in manufacturing and using the technology to complement human resources.

The key steps that manufacturing units need to take towards adopting these technologies is firstly work towards changing mindset towards digital technologies of manufacturing. Indian manufacturing units should thrive to become early adopters of every technology. Currently, there is reluctance among manufacturing units to adept to advanced technologies due to the lack of awareness of the benefit they can bring to business in the long run. Startups, in such a case are breathing new life into the manufacturing sector in India. The need is to bring in more entrepreneurs, industrialists, investors and advisors together and collectively cultivate the culture of innovative technology in Indian manufacturing.

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TRENDS

2018 HOT CONSUMER TRENDS: TECHNOLOGY TURNS ‘HUMAN’

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xploring the future from an early adopter user perspective, Ericsson ConsumerLab presents the seventh edition of its annual trend report, The 10 Hot Consumer Trends for 2018 and beyond.

The report points to a paradigm shift as consumers expect digital technology to increasingly operate on human terms. Body language, facial expression

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and intonation will augment voice and touch to control consumer interaction with tech devices, easing adaption in an ever-increasing pace of technological change.

These are the 10 trends for 2018 and beyond: 1. YOUR BODY IS THE USER INTERFACE: More than half of current users of intelligent voice assistants believe that we will use body language, ex-

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pression, intonation and touch to interact with tech devices as if they were fellow humans. Some 2 in 3 think this will happen within a mere 3 years.

2. AUGMENTED HEARING: 63 percent of consumers would like earphones that translate languages in real time. 52 percent want to block out a family member’s snoring.

3. ETERNAL NEWBIES: 30 percent say new technology makes it hard to keep their skills up to date. But it also makes us instant experts. 46 percent say the internet allows them to learn and forget skills faster than ever.

4. SOCIAL BROADCASTING: Social media is being overrun by traditional broadcasters. But half of consumers say AI would be useful to check facts posted on social networks.

5. INTELLIGENT ADS: Advertisements may become too smart for their own good. More than half of augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR) users think ads will become so realistic they will eventually replace the products themselves.

6. UNCANNY COMMUNICATION: 50 percent think not being able to tell the difference between human and machine would spook them out. 40 percent would also be spooked by a smartphone that reacts to their mood.

7. LEISURE SOCIETY: 32 percent of students and working people do not think they need a job to develop a meaningful life. 40 percent say they would like a robot that works and earns income for them, freeing up leisure time.

8. YOUR PHOTO IS A ROOM: Imagine being able to walk into a photo and relive a memory. 3 out of 4 believe that in only 5 years they will use virtual reality to walk around in smartphone photos.

9. STREETS IN THE AIR: City streets may be choked with traffic but the skies remain free. 39 percent think their city needs a road network for drones and flying vehicles. But almost as many worry that a drone would drop on their head.

10. THE CHARGED FUTURE: The connected world will require mobile power. More than 80 percent believe that in only 5 years we will have long-lasting batteries that will put an end to charging concerns.

Michael Björn, Head of Research, Ericsson ConsumerLab, says: “We are entering a future where devices neither have buttons and switches nor need to be controlled digitally via your smartphone. In fact, this may be a necessary change, as it would be difficult for people to learn a new user interface for every device that gets connected to the Internet of Things.

“Today, you have to know all the intricacies of the devices you use. But in the future, the devices will know you instead. For this to become a reality, devices must be able to relay complex human interaction data to cloud-based processing, and respond intuitively within milliseconds, increasing requirements on next generation connectivity.”

The insights in the 10 Hot Consumer Trends for 2018 report are based on Ericsson ConsumerLab’s global research activities over more than 22 years, and draw on data from an online survey of advanced internet users in 10 influential cities across the world, performed in October 2017. Although the study only represents 30 million citizens, their early adopter profile makes them important to understand when exploring future trends.

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TRENDS

“OPTIMIZING THE DATACENTER IS GOING TO BE THE KEY TREND” Sanjay Motwani, Regional Director - APAC at Raritan explains the evolution of datacenters and talks about the trends in datacenter future with PC Quest.

– Anushruti Singh anushrutis@cybermedia.co.in

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How does Raritan see the PDU Vs KVM Market?

Raritan has been in the data center space for more than 30 years now. We started in the KVM space, but the KVM market has seen a slow decline over the years due to increased virtualization and introduction of plate chassis and plate servers. Besides that, some of the KVM functionalities were being incorporated directly into the servers by the vendors. These factors played a major role in Raritan’s shift to the intelligent PDU market.

Sanjay Motwani, Regional Director - APAC at Raritan

When we migrated from the KVM to the PDU space, we kept several factors in mind such as the compute load and the power consumed by the IT infrastructure. When we introduced intelligent PDUs in the market, there was not much awareness about it.

So, we started to educate the market about the need to have intelligent PDUs in the data center space and that is how it has grown substantially over the years.

Today, PDUs contribute substantially to our global revenues, while revenues from the KVM space have gone down.

What are the Indian figures in PDU Vs KVM? If we talk about India, the ratio can be 60:40 for PDU and KVM respectively. This is because the adoption pcquest.com twitter.com/pcquest facebook.com/pcquest linkd.in/pcquest pcquest@cybermedia.co.in

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TRENDS of technology in India is relatively slow—India is about four years behind the USA and Europe in terms of technology adoption. Australia is the only region in Asia Pacific, which is probably the closest to the US when it comes to technology adoption.

What is your GTM strategy post acquisition?

It is not easy to integrate or offer products on a single common platform. After Legrand acquired us, we wanted to offer holistic data center solutions.

Today, we are offering all kinds of solutions like KVMs, PDUs, environment sensors, down the line UPSs, Cable management, structured cabling, cable trays etc. Currently, we are trying to integrate the teams from multiple companies into one for the Indian market. This team, called the data center division team, will take some time to get sorted out.

We are conducting training sessions at the backend currently.

How Raritan is working on SMB sector? What are the opportunities there?

Traditionally, Raritan has been into the enterprise space and accounts for 80% of our revenues.

We are also focus on mid-market as well. It is good to see that the smaller companies are also moving to the cloud and that has opened up a plethora of opportunities in the sector, which has largely being managed by the channel community. When SMBs move down the line, our channel team will be there to offer trainings and solutions to them. In fact, cloud providers are one of our larger customers. They will need the right kind of infrastructure and tools to manage data center operations, which is where we come in. We have two distributors: Inflow Technologies and Exclusive Networks. We have also created a team of dedicated 11 service partners across the country who are extensively trained on our products.

What are the verticals, where most uptakes of PDUs and KVMs are happening?

You would be surprised to know that the major uptake of PDUs and KVMs takes place at R&D labs at government research centers for space research, BHEL etc and not sectors like BFSI, IT and Telecom, which all come under secondary verticals. This is because the R&D labs have to cater to the changing marketplace. They have to be ready for what’s coming 3 years down the line. So, they have to continuously test and 62

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work on lot of equipment at the backend. KVM is the only solution that can work in this highly heterogeneous environment.

In terms of data center infra, what are the key trends that most of the organizations are looking for?

It is very clear that optimizing the data center is going to be a key trend for a long time to come and this trend has been growing rapidly in the past two to three years. The dynamics of the changing marketplace, where IT is not just a business enabler but is a key player that provides a huge competitive edge, is prompting companies to be extremely agile in dealing with the growth of their IT infrastructure. If I were the CIO, I would not only think of technology, but also in terms of consumer behavior and consumer access points to see how I can adapt and modify my infrastructure to deal with the changing marketplace. Today, CIOs are forced to optimize their data center infrastructure to the hilt in every aspect be it power, storage, real estate etc. There are various tools that are available to help optimize the data center in every aspect. So optimization will be there for long.

What are the advantages of a hyper converged infrastructure in the Indian context?

Hyper converged infrastructure (HCI) is the fastestgrowing category in the data center hardware market and will reach $5 billion, which is 24% of the market, by 2019, according to Gartner. It is the most efficient enabler of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and will be in mainstream use in the next five years.

Some of its advantages including greater flexibility, scalability, cost efficiency and ease of management have prompted CIOs to add HCI to their wish list. Organizations are adopting converged solutions faster as it helps them to develop and run applications in a more flexible and less expensive way with the benefits of shared computing and storage resources. It also ensures utmost availability of data security with high fault tolerance so that data is safe even in the case of network failure.

Besides, Hyper Convergence ensures secure mobility and hence affords greater mobility to workforce and applications. It provides an easier and smarter way to access the virtual capabilities from any location as long as it is connected to the network in a secured and protected environment.

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TRENDS

‘SIMPLIFYING COMMERCE FOR THE SMBs IS THE MAIN AIM’ In talks with PC Quest Manish Choudhary, Senior Vice President, Global Innovation & Managing Director at Pitney Bowes India puts his views on the initiatives taken by the company for the mid market sector in India

Anushruti Singh anushrutis@cybermedia.co.in

What are the different products and service offerings from Pitney Bowes and are they categorized for different market verticals?

Pitney Bowes is a global technology company that offers a range of innovative products and solutions that enable commerce in the areas of customer information management, location intelligence, customer engagement, shipping and mailing, and global ecommerce in approximately 100 countries around the world.

We are a 100-year old start-up that invented an industry in our first century and now we are transforming our legacy business to become a model of success for clients across a wide range of industries.

Pitney Bowes combines the strength of physical mail and shipping with digital experiences to deliver more value to its clients, ranging from 90% of Fortune 500

to one million+ small and medium-sized businesses.

Banks, telcos, insurance firms and a range of other businesses use our technologies to support them in their digital transformation, so that they can provide digital interactive and personalized experiences to their customers. Our products enable more than 250 retailers, brands and online marketplaces sell to more than 6.5 million buyers in more than 220 countries and territories, using more than 74 currencies.

What are your offerings for SMBs and how they are leveraging your platform for business growth? Have you identified them in clusters and if so on how many you are working on?

Just like the rest of us, small and medium businesses too are looking for ways to optimize business processes and provide a premiere customer experience. Our one million+ SMB clients ranging from insurance agents, healthcare professionals to lawyers, retailers and others rely on Pitney Bowes to help them remove complexities from commerce by streamlining their shipping and mailing operations.

Our latest product innovation, SendPro-C Series enables offices to select the ideal sending option for parcels, letters and flats, take advantage of full tracking and delivery savings across multiple carriers, and access technologies right from the integrated Google Android operating system. The Pitney Bowes Commerce Cloud provides access to many new Partner Program applications and useful integrations between

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TRENDS Pitney Bowes and partner offerings including: Google G Suite, Yext, Acquisio, DocuSign and Nimble CRM. For example, think of a mid-sized legal services firm that needs to ship out periodic documents to clients. By using Pitney Bowes SendPro C-Series, the firm can manage the calendar, make payments, ship and mail directly from calendar appointments and manage customer relationships at the click of a button.

How is Pitney Bowes solving the local challenges faced by SMBs in India with its Technology and Products? Also, what kind of traction you are getting from them?

We work with several Government agencies, Banks, Retailers and Educational institutes and help them address their shipping, mailing and document messaging needs.

Through our technology and solutions in global ecommerce and software, we are also enabling small exporters and retailers to cater to global markets by removing all complexities of duties, taxes and localization.

How is Pitney Bowes reinventing SMB business through Open Innovation?

Innovation is in our DNA. Pitney Bowes has been focussed on leveraging open innovation platforms to provide SMB clients with new ways to grow their customers, manage their practice, streamline their operations and enhance productivity.

Earlier this year, Pitney Bowes hosted a Global SMB Hackathon with the vision to bring one million developers to one million SMB clients. The Hackathon saw participation from more than 2,000 developers from major technology firms who submitted 65 technology applications and solutions in several areas including mailing and shipping, global ecommerce, and payments. We collaborated with 20+ tech partners for APIs and technologies including NASSCOM, HackerEarth, Microsoft Xamarin and Azure, Zoho, Freshdesk, Algorithmia and DigitalOcean.

The Global Hackathon is a great example of innovators coming together to develop on Pitney Bowes technology and to build a strong ecosystem for open innovation. We are in the process of building an integrated Global SMB Partner Program and plan to launch an SMB Starter Kit which will enable all developers and partners to create solutions for our clients, quickly.

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Manish Choudhary, Senior Vice President, Global Innovation & Managing Director at Pitney Bowes

SMBs are transforming fast. How you are helping mid-market achieving that target?

SMBs are constantly looking for new ways to serve customers, market their offerings and grow their business. Pitney Bowes is providing SMB customers with a new value proposition by creating joint solutions with large tech companies and innovators globally to help simplify complexities across the value chain of commerce.

For example, Pitney Bowes enables small retailers selling through ecommerce to sell globally through multiple ecommerce portals, acquire customers, manage their operations efficiently and ultimately grow their business.

What are the trends you are seeing in 2018?

SMBs across industries are looking at new ways to target and acquire customers and grow their business. Machine Learning and AI applications can be used to create relevant and personalized experiences for customers.

For example, SMBs like real estate agents, lawyers, financial institutions that need to send out periodic and regular communication would benefit from automated shipping and mailing. During the recent Pitney Bowes Global SMB hackathon, a solution was created to help SMBs schedule shipping and communication directly from the Google calendar. This application saves shipping cost by recommending most efficient shipping option for our target delivery date.

Sophistication in ML and AI technology with continue to provide SMBs with business intelligence tools and the data they need that will help with grow their businesses.

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TRENDS

WHAT’S YOUR SOCIAL QUOTIENT? Hey employers, have you checked the social quotient before employing.

Here Rahul Belwalkar, CEO, SecUR Credentials is telling about disadvantages of not carrying out a social media background check for the people you hire.

I

n an age of technological advancements, it comes as no surprise that recruiters are now conducting social media background checks on potential employees, as a part of the hiring process. The objective of conducting these checks is largely to verify

if the candidate is a good fit for the job at hand. Social media background checks lend perspective about their nature, mindset, aggressive streak, violent tendencies, and viewpoints on societal norms, suggestive sexual behavior, discriminatory behavior and such. Here

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TRENDS is how unchecked social media footprint can cause embarrassment and bring disrepute to the firm:

Image Management Traditionally, there has always been a clear divide between an employee’s personal and professional life. Lately, employees have been seen as default brand ambassadors of the firm they are working with.

To the extent, that when an employee of a company misbehaves in public, the name of that company is smeared as well. To maintain and enhance the image of the company, the recruiter should take this into consideration when hiring a candidate.

Timing of online activities Work hours are meant for the employees to be productive ensuring deliverables on time for the company’s clients.However, there are many slackers who appear ‘busy’ on their office machines while actually whiling time on social media. Checking the frequency and time of their posts is a pretty good way to judge their productivity.

Beyond basic social media Major social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook aren’t the only sites that employers visit for their social media background checking. Recruiters also explore Google, Bing, Flickr, YouTube, LinkedIn, and even various blog domains to produce more information on the employee, apart from regular background checks.

Warning Signs When browsing through an employee’s social media accounts, watch out for posts or comments that highlight negative or aggressive viewpoints. Display of aggressive streaks or appreciation of someone’s

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“Major social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook aren’t the only sites that employers visit for their social media background checking.”

Rahul Belwalkar, CEO, SecUR Credentials

deviant behavior in the candidate’s profile serves as a warning sign to not hire a candidate, should they mirror the same sentiments at the workplace.

Bad-mouthing past employers Browsing through public photos and posts exposes any past bad mouthing about employers or reporting heads, which will indicate whether the candidate is a team player or immature and inadept at handling work stress or feedback. It is also indicative of whether he or she is racist about current or former colleagues and places of work.

Professional profiles contradicting the resume Professional networking sites have developed into a great place for job seekers to connect with recruiters and network. Such sites have peer rating systems and work experience sectors as well as recommendations which might contradict the information provided in the resume.

Social media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, are no longer new concepts. Employers have been evaluating potential employees on social media for years. Although some candidates may not prefer potential employers perusing their Facebook pages and Twitter feeds, recruiters have come to realise social media background checks are sometimes more informative than regular background checks. By displaying who the candidate is, the beliefs they hold strong, the friend circle they keep and how they spend their time, social media has grown transparent.

Every candidate is on their best behaviour in the interview; but it is only on social media that the employer is able to aptly gauge the true personality of the candidate in question.

Of course, privacy settings may be at play to camouflage their personality; however a certain part of their profile is still public and could serve as a snapshot of the larger picture.

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NEWS

SMARTPHONES@2017 : INTELLIGENT, BUT AFFORDABLE

By Ashwin Bhandari, CEO, iVOOMi India

T

here is no other consumer product industry that is as dynamic as the evolutionary smartphones industry. It influences almost every individual, seeks inspiration from many industries, and inspires many others. Therefore, as all of us get set for The New Year, it would be worthwhile to look at how the year 2017 has been for the smartphone industry.

Growing Penetration- Given thatmore than half the population in the world now has access to the internet smartphone penetration is rapidly growing.

The year 2017 saw India becoming the second largest smartphone market in the world with just over 300 million users, surpassing the United States, and trailing just behind China. This could be due to the boom of affordable 4G based services and arrival of many entry-level players in the industry. Going further, India and China will continue to lead smartphone market share, taking global penetration to 70% by 2022.

Innovation- Innovation has been one of the most significant catalysts for the industry in 2017. The year not only marked the introduction of several new features, but also made premium features like long battery life, greater storage capacity, big displays, and high resolution front camera, moonlight/front flashlight available at affordable price. This enabled deeper penetration of sophisticated smartphones into middle and lower middle segments. Price war amongst telcos for cheaper voice and data services inspired smartphone manufacturers to provide dual SIM slot in almost all variants. Moreover, most brands have been harping on one particular feature while highlighting several other features at the same time.

For example, Apple’s flagship iPhone has been focussing on retina scanner while also talking about its cloud service, high quality camera, on demand video and music streamlining, and impenetrable security etc. Going by the geographical share, China proved to be no match in terms of innovation and affordable

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NEWS production of devices with high-end features at value prices.

Emphasis on User Experience- While smartphones continued to be affordable throughout the year; focus on enhanced user experience became the point of debate and differentiation. As a result, smartphone manufacturers and telecom service providers often came together to provide 4G VoLTE based high end communication services in order to improve the voice quality & speed of internet access, and reduce the call drop rates, especially in the emerging world.

Larger display screens (6 inch plus) made it easy for users to enjoy video calls, live streaming, online shopping, banking, and much more. The bezel-less displays are ergonomically convenient and shatterproof, making sure that users continue to enjoy even larger screens (7 inch plus) in the coming year. Thus, smartphones may soon completely replace televisions at home.Aesthetics took another level in 2017 with gold toned variants gaining popularity.On the software front, big data analytics enabled the smartphone manufacturers and various online services providers to deliver personalized experience to the users. For example, by analysing the past buying and bill payment patterns, a digital wallet can notify the consumer about upcoming offers, best deals, and more affordable shopping alternatives. It can also notify about news updates on frequently searched topics, sports, and weather updates etc. In short, smartphones became intelligent phones in 2017.

Information Safety- We save our favourite pho-

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“India and China will continue to lead smartphone market share, taking global penetration to 70% by 2022.�

Ashwin Bhandari, CEO, iVOOMi India

tographs, videos, documents, songs, SMSs, emails, and other private and important communication on our smartphone. Therefore, information safety for smartphones is of utmost importance. In 2017, most smartphone manufacturers launched end-to-end encryption in their products. This means that information is secure between sending and receiving end.

Even when the information is stored on the device, it cannot be decoded without punching in the authentication details. Going forward, we can expect even larger encryption key (128 bit and upwards) to make the smartphones even safer. Apart from this, affordable cloud services (private, public, and hybrid cloud) have made it possible for users to easily store and access their data.

The above trends from 2017 are expected to gain further momentum in 2018. This will make smartphones more intelligent, experiential, robust, affordable, accessible, and safer.

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NEWS

BIG LEAP OF FAITH FOR DELHI MOBILE MAKER Jivi Mobiles ventures out to democratize the smartphone market -Anushruti Singh anushrutis@cybermedia.co.in

F

rom this month onwards Indian cell maker Jivi is going to expand selling points of its recently launched first 4G smartphone Revolution TnT3. Jivi Mobiles has priced the device competitively at Rs 3999, and claims that Revolution TnT3 is set to take the smartphone market by storm.

Talking about the product, Pankaj Anand, CEO of jivi Mobiles said, “At Jivi, our focus is on providing cutting-edge technology at best prices. Our research

team has worked tirelessly in making this a reality. We are one of the only company in the country to have developed such a unique product and are offering it at such amazing price points of Rs. 3999. This is the only 4G Smartphone with Touch screen & Keypad. “At start, only limited quantities of the product were being made available in the markets through selective retail outlets in all the four regions in the country. The product would be made available in big quantities by the end of the January, 2018 to meet

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NEWS Product Specifications • First ever product with touch and Type(have a touch screen on top and key board at the bottom which is a normal keyboard and not a QWERTY one) • Touch- 10.16 cm (4) WVGA Display • 4G enabled • Finger Print Sensor, One Touch Total Security • Free protection Gear • Type- alpha numeric keyboard • Android- 7.0 Nougat • 1 GB RAM, efficient enough for multi-tasking • 8GB ROM, expandable upto 64 GB • Camera- 5MP Rear Camera with flash and 2 MP Selfie Camera • Quad Core – 1.3GHz 4 Cores. 4 Times the Power • Internet- Super Fast Internet, Super Clear Calls • Battery- 2300 mAh Long Lasting Durable Battery • Expandable Memory • 22 Regional Language Support the customer demand. However, that should not deter the customers, dealers to place orders with the company immediately as the product quantities would be decided on first come first serve basis.” added Pankaj Anand.

Almost 60% of the population in India still uses feature phones and is apprehensive to make a shift to smart phones due to the perception of smart phone being complicated to use. Jivi mobiles has recently entered into the smart phones, launching 5 models at affordable prices and has received tremendous response. The idea is to reach out to those who are graduating from feature phone to smart phone so that they can have the best of both worlds. For this Jivi Mobiles has collaborated with a Hong Kong based company which acted as sourcing partner for the brand. CP Batheja, Managing Director, Conplex International Limited, Hong Kong said “Revolution TnT3 is designed to suit everyone’s pocket besides being extremely user-friendly. This incredible new product is a great option for the people-especially the senior citizens and elderly who want to enjoy touch screen experience and are used to a feature phone keypad, both at the same time. Revolution TnT3 will allow them to graduate from a feature phone to a smart phone easily.”

To attract customers Jivi has also collaborated with Bharti Airtel and device comes bundled with 500 70

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MB data every day and unlimited local and national voice calls together with Rs 169 plan for a month.

Jivi smart phones exhibit great style combined with cutting-edge technology, the devices aspire to be the ideal companion for people who are looking for offering seamless and enhanced user experience at an affordable price. For strengthening its marketing strategy Jivi Mobiles has roped in Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan as their Brand Ambassador early this year. “We have a plan to sell 2-3million device in next financial year. Next we will work on the updated version of the model and may be there will be somewhat increase in price too, as specifications will be upgraded too.” Said Pankaj Anand.

The company is following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vision of ‘Make in India’ and the device is wholly Made in India. They have also set up two new facilities. Jivi Mobile first factory is in New Delhi built up on an area of 20000 sq. ft. which caters to North and East India demands. This facility has a capacity to roll out 0.7 million phones per month and it employs some 350 employees in the first phase.

Second facility of Jivi Mobiles is located in Lonavla, Maharashtra to cater to the South and West parts of the country with a manufacturing capacity of 1 million phones, it would be operational in the coming months.

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NEWS

REVISITING MASTER BLASTER Within less than a week of its release, JetSynthesys’ Sachin Saga Cricket Champions became one of the top-most downloaded games on Google Play.

– Anushruti Singh anushrutis@cybermedia.co.in

A

fter getting over 1.00 MN downloads in less than a week of launch Roopak Nair, Vice President - Product and Marketing at JetSynthesys, talks about this popular Indian Cricket game. “Sachin Saga is our brand new project and seeing great user feedback in India and globally and has a million plus downloads in just a few days. Besides we have seen good response for older smartphone games like Being Salman, Women’s Cricket etc. which are distributed and published by us in multiple countries. Each new game instills new learnings in the development team and new benchmarks for us to beat, so I would say the best is yet to come.”

What is the reason behind developing Celebrity games?

Celebrities touch a chord with our nation. It’s a known fact that Bollywood and Cricket garners the most attention amongst a billion Indians, hence it was a conscious choice to develop games featuring top celebrities in these spaces. With celebrities, the

marketing and acquisition costs for new users become much lesser ensuring longer sustenance for the game.

However, a celebrity game needs to be done justice to in terms of meeting the quality standards that players are expecting, and ensuring the celebrity is engaged in the development cycle, so that it is a true reflection of what he or she would have liked to see in the game and it connects with the fans.

A game of the master blaster, it will surely have many takers, how did the journey to the Sachin Saga Cricket Champions start? What can cricket lovers expect from it?

It started 2 Years back when we had the idea of making a cricket game which stands out. India is a cricket crazy nation but with better smartphones, data and new hardware, we knew we could really push the edge in terms of realism, graphics that makes the experience true to life for the gamer and the cricket fan. Sachin wanted to ensure, that this not yet another cricket game, but one where you need an element of timing to actually play your shots and clear the boundaries like in the real world. So this game is easy to pick up and play but is super fun and takes time to master!

How was your experience about this collaboration with Sachin Tendulkar?

From a Game Development stand point it was incredible working with Sachin. Sachin wanted to make this game as real as possible, so we got great feedback and nuances from him about cricket, how the different pitches behave around the world, how it is to face reverse swing and step down the track to hit spinners pcquest.com twitter.com/pcquest facebook.com/pcquest linkd.in/pcquest pcquest@cybermedia.co.in

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NEWS out of the park. We worked to bring those aspects into the game. He hand-picked his most important matches, so fans can relive that journey and it was amazing to Motion-Capture all his 28 shots, and work with him on perfecting everything in the game, so it becomes super authentic.

What are your views on the response the game has received till now Sachin Saga was the first cricket game to announce around a million pre-registrations before launch. The game also crossed a million downloads in under a week of its launch on December 7th , which was quite incredible, and is rated highly by users. Users are playing the game for over an hour a day, with top players spending 2 plus hours a day playing the game. We are also now in the Top 100 Grossing apps in India which is strong indication of the fun and engagement players are finding in the game. We have over 400,000 players who enjoy the game daily now and thousands of players who compete every day on the leaderboards. Players are asking for more, so we are planning to announce a special update for Sachin Saga in the near future.

What are the projects you currently working on? And tell us more about your R&D center?

We will continue developing Sachin Saga and there is a full pipeline of features like Tournaments, Multiplayer etc. planned in future updates of the game. Besides Sachin Saga we are developing games catering to the Action, RPG and Casual audiences in India and around the world.

We are also going to be releasing Virtual Reality focused games next year, since we believe a true cross platform experience is important for every product.

Our R&D is focused on using Artificial Intelligence and Deep Data Mining. With over 10million players on games across our studio, it’s important we personalize the experience for every player. So the algorithms can now predict relatively accurately how to raise difficulty levels in a game as per player skill, offer the right packs for players to buy, even run advertisements which are non-intrusive and aid in player journey, which has shown high levels of player engagement with the ads we have in our properties.

What are the key business opportunities to target sales in India?

In Gaming, it’s a fast emerging market with 1Bn+ downloads on mobile games annually, so there are amazing opportunities for developing games across all genres, and catering to different kinds of player demographics. From a revenue perspective it is either 72

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in-app purchases, subscription models, advertising or brand integrations in games. We have seen that depending on the type of the game you can customize those levers accordingly. For e.g. in competitive games the focus is more on in-app purchases whereas in casual games you can focus more on advertising and brand integration models. In-App purchases are improving in India so it makes sense for a developer to have deep engagement in the game, where the players don’t mind spending money on a quality experience.

With commitment to Government’s ‘Make in India’ and such other initiatives what is the future of mobile gaming space in India Mobile Gaming has a bright future. A combination of smart phone adoption, high data consumption at low prices and local gaming content being created for India, augurs really well for this segment. The Billion plus downloads annually and the rate at which this is accelerating is mind blowing for the sector as a whole.

So I would imagine that governments’ Make in India initiatives to improve the data infrastructure, develop smartphones locally with good hardware and graphics capabilities, and affordable prices for phones will really enable the next billion Indians to join this gaming ecosystem. Additionally, financial inclusion driven by the Government Initiatives like UPI and mobile payments ecosystem will bring 400 million plus Indians into the formal economy and enable them to transact in games which they have fun with. So the real opportunity awaits this segment over the next decade and I expect to see a hockey stick growth in terms of revenues and consumer adoption in the next few years.

How e-sports can be looked upon in India? Can this be one of the career options? e-Sports is definitely an emerging trend and so is mobile Sports (m-Sports). The e-Sports market has a loyal fan following in India from those who play games like Dota and CounterStrike Go, on PC & Console and few teams who are the best players of these games at a national and international level . Indian’s at large are quite new to this phenomenon, so definitely this is an opportunity to engage millions of hardcore gamers in India and create entertainment while millions others watch this spectacle on Television, Twitch or YouTube.

The new emerging market is also mobile Sports where games with strong engagement and competition can be streamed live to thousands of fans globally, provided the rewards for hardcore players are super exciting. As a career, it’s a sunrise opportunity but would take a few more years to mature as full-fledged options.

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NEWS

SLIQ 2.0: A BRIDGE TO GET JOB READY Gurugram-based ed-tech firm Talentedge is providing a virtual platform to students and working professionls to enhance their skills. Aditya Malik, MD & CEO of the company talks about the platform and SLIQ 2.0 which is redefining education with futuristic technologies.

Anushruti Singh anushrutis@cybermedia.co.in

What is SLIQ 2.0 and how does it work?

SLIQ 2.0 is the second generation learning platform for Talentedge students. It is the first Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning powered learning environment for Executive Education in the country

that replicates face-to-face classroom learning in the virtual world. Powered by Talentedge proprietary AI Engine running on an indigenously deployed ML framework, it confers enhanced experience to both faculty & students. SLIQ creates a unified learning

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NEWS environment for learners and teachers alike, as it streamlines processes and simulates classroom learning.

What are the advantages of your platform over your competitors?

Apart from ushering the online higher education in to the AI & ML realm, this platform brings online learning experience at par with face-to-face classrooms, thus empowering the faculty to optimise & personalise learning for individual student as per their pace and understanding. The platform is a perfect blend of self-based learning, live & interactive classes and collaboration.

What were the challenges when you were developing SLIQ 2.0?

Delivering a unified learning experience on all the platform (web, android & IOS). There is no separate learning curve required when a user moves from web to mobile platforms and vis-à-vis. To make the AI engine smart enough to cater learner’s query, it requires lot of data and processing. In the first phase of development, lot of data was gathered and processed.

Since the inception of SLIQ, what is the traction Talentedge has seen?

Much like face-to-face classrooms, the platform helps faculty note the impact of their pedagogy on students. It further improvises this by dynamically choosing topics & content to fill student learning gaps and provides inputs to faculty for curriculum enhancements. This overall increases the learning experience.

And now we are working on developing next version of SLIQ where it will be working on two big things- IOT (Internet of Things) and you will be getting Voice enabled Talentedge avatar.

With how many universities and colleges you have partnered with and what are the next big projects?

We are right now working with 21 partners like XLRI, IIMs and as we move ahead we working to get some good international projects as well. I hope you will soon get some good news.

As an edu-tech firm how are you creating awareness in terms of digital learning?

There is an acknowledged gap between educated and job ready. Our courses in digital environment bridge this gap. Learners based on their career requirements can choose these courses for incremen74

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“Delivering a unified learning experience on all the platform (web, android & IOS). There is no separate learning curve required when a user moves from web to mobile platforms and vis-à-vis. To make the AI engine smart enough to cater learner’s query, it requires lot of data and processing.”

Aditya Malik, MD & CEO, Talentedge

tal in-depth knowledge in the specialised areas of learning and be ready for their next role. The platform supporting anywhere learning gives enough flexibility to the learner creating time for her in the daily taxing schedules.

According to you what are the big trends in tech education sector for 2018?

As professionals are recognizing benefits of digital learning, more institutes are getting interested in this space. Individuals are interacting more with their devices and transacting as well, which is making them more comfortable in learning on their devices thus edtech will have a better reach in tier 2 towns and cities of India. Better user experiences, personalised learning content and interactive will be growth factors.

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