10 Most Trusted AR-VR Companies 2022 by Business Connect

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www.businessconnectindia.in | Vol. 4 | Special Edition March 2022 INDIA

Editor’s Note Where immersive technologies are shaping a better world… 10 Most Trusted AR/VR Companies 2022- the name says it all! This issue is solely dedicated to the proliferating fervour of augmented and virtual realities. Higher level of immersion as well as engagement to the users, AR and VR have come a long way to get mature technically. These immersive technologies have been quite popular to create more stimulating scenarios that standard apps are unable to deliver. And today, AR/VR has been extended across a wide variety of areas such as education, entertainment, art and health. Today, it has gained prominence across the community owing to its multidisciplinary nature as its inclusion has been setting exemplary benchmarks in terms of customer experience. Owing to their specific areas of applications, AR and VR industry has been forecasted to be reaching the hit of $150 billion revenue by 2021. This boom is due to the expanding user-base of these technologies in the past few years and with the current scenario, more increase has been expected. And the innovative use of AR and VR has been the core focal points for several start-ups across the space. Paracosma is such a well-acclaimed AR/VR service provider with a catchphrasemaking augmented and virtual reality as good as reality is not enough. It happened to top our list of the most trusted AR/VR companies and Business Connect decided to feature its profile on the cover page. As per the Founder- CEO, Ken Ehrhart, the company strives to achieve more with AR and VR than merely replicating real life. They wish people to experience things virtually that are difficult, rare, expensive or dangerous and thus, cannot be done in real life. In this exclusive read, you will find some phenomenal insights into the industry shared by the luminary, dispensing motivational shots to our global readership. Take a dip dive into this conversation between the founder and Business Connect Magazine and let’s know the avid feedback of your experience. At last, I take off with a sense of gratitude for all the admiration and cognizance showered upon us by our global audience. We will be back with an exhilarating read soon, till then, keep us in the ‘know’ how we are doing via your precious feedback and be extra cautious for your physical as well as mental health for comprehensive growth in any pursuit.

Kajal Dobhal Kajal@businessconnectindia.in

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Paracosma Where Science, Experience And Art Makes A Better Reality…

Success Story Craig Federighi : A key driving force behind Apple’s whopping growth

Accion Labs “We are thinkers”, “We are designers” and “We are builders”

Incognito Worldwide BRUCE T DUGAN: A Daredevil Technopreneur

Suquino A Reknowned Name Offering Sterling Services In The Iot Healthcare Domain

Health

Correlation Between Health & Economy How Investment In Health Reflects On Economy

Innovation Mushroom Cultivation A Sustainable Agribusiness In India

Growth

7 Top Tips To Boost Your Startup Business

LifeStyle Pottery A Timeless And Diverse Craft Across India

Growth

7 Top Tips To Boost Your Startup Business

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Ken Ehrhart

Founder and CEO

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Cover Story

WHERE SCIENCE, EXPERIENCE AND ART MAKES A BETTER REALITY…

oday, VR has become a coherent way to experience Realities that are pretty hard to witness- fleeting or remote, impractical- dangerous or expensive, impossible- past or future. To sum it up in one line- VR enables us to experience things from a varied perspective that is different in terms of identity or scale. In this space, Paracosma has been succeeding with flying colours setting new industry norms. With a solid vision to allow Virtual Realities to be better than reality and make reality better through VR, the company has attained the reputation of one of the most efficient and credible AR/VR platforms. To dive more into its upcoming offerings, Business Connect sat down for a virtual meet with the Founder and CEO of Paracosma-Ken Ehrhart, where we offered special coverage to different aspects of this business venture.

BUSINESS CONNECT- WHAT DRIVES PARACOSMA TO IMPROVE ITS SERVICE OFFERINGS AND OFFER A BEST-IN-CLASS SERVICE PORTFOLIO TO ITS CLIENTELE? Ken Ehrhart- As a services business, the customer experience is critical. Paracosma must deliver both the quality and value the customer expects and the service they deserve. In the US, where Paracosma is headquartered, we have a saying that, “the customer is king”. In Japan, where Paracosma has a sales and technology office, the saying would be “the customer is god”. The expectations and requirements for customer service are far higher in Japan than in most places in the world. We take that to heart throughout our global business, because customer satisfaction is the surest path to sustainable growth for a services company. While in 2018, 37% of our revenue came from repeat clients, that percentage climbed to 88% in 2021. That repeat revenue results from customer satisfaction with the quality and value of our services. Now, in 2022, we are increasingly moving to long-term client contracts for ongoing developer and artist services, rather than recurring projects. We are extremely honoured to be recognized by Business Connect Magazine as one of the Most Trusted AR/VR Companies for four years in a row, because that trust is earned through reliably and repeatedly delivering high-quality, high-value, solutions to our clients. Business Connect- How would you justify your statement- ‘Making VirtualReality as good as reality is not enough? How are you making a asignificant change in this direction? Ken Ehrhart- “Making augmented and virtual reality as good as reality” refers to the ideal conditions in which end users cannot tell the difference between a virtual object inserted in the real world through AR, or the difference between a virtual world and the real world. This requires significant processing and graphics capability, but also truly world-class, even best-inclass artists. One area where we have achieved this is with photorealistic 3D models that are rendered as an image to replace traditional studio photography. We have already generated over 7,500 3D models that are indistinguishable from photographs of the real items. The “is not enough” refers to the fact that we want to achieve more with AR and VR than merely replicating real life, we want to experience things virtually that are difficult, rare, expensive or dangerous and thus cannot be done in real life.

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Business Connect- Please throw some light on your content creation strategies. Ken Ehrhart- To create photorealistic virtual content, we have cultivated and trained some of the best art teams in the business. This is to a large degree through specialization rather than trying to rely on 3D generalists. We have modelling artists, texture artists, shading artists, lighting artists, riggers, animators. And, even within these specializations, we have hard-surface modellers, organic modellers, sculptures, fur experts, etc. We are also using our art talent to move into virtual production for videos and movies. We are creating virtual scenes and environments that live, real-world actors can be inserted into. These capabilities extend our work on 360-degree and traditional video by blending it with 3D virtual environments. Business Connect- How will you describe your insights on Technology innovation? Ken Ehrhart - In all areas of AR/VR innovation is occurring at a very rapid pace. This is necessary because clients’ visions of what they want to do in AR/VR has often never before been done. First, we need to be realistic about whether something is possible. When we determine it is possible, then we have to work hard to implement the solution, whether or not it is already in commercial production or something we are doing for the first time. We have a large team so that we can study and implement innovations as they become available.

training them in the specific technologies needed in our sector. With artists, we are seeking truly talented artists, who can be trained in the specific software applications used for our work. Skilled developers andtalented artists, can learn fast and over time gain the experience needed to excel.

Business Connect- If you will have to define your brand in five words, whatwould be those?

Business Connect- How do you ensure to involve the touch of innovation in your offerings?

Ken Ehrhart- Highest quality and value AR/VR.

Ken Ehrhart- With AR/VR advancing so quickly as a sector, we would be falling behind if we did not continually adopt the latest innovations and also innovate ourselves. Initially, we had to innovate because clients imagined AR/ VR to be more advanced than it was.

Business Connect - How do you ensure to make the best system integration experience in favour of your customerbase? Ken Ehrhart- Here, too, the size of our team is important. We do not have to concentrate on a single platform but have the scope to learn a the breadth of platforms. Thus, we are able to recommend and implement the right solution for the client, whereas smaller firms might be restricted to fewer, possibly lesser choices. For example, we have worked with the HoloLens and HoloLens 2, Magic Leap One, Nreal, Jio, and other AR glasses. Because we care most about the longterm success of our clients and their repeat business, we focus first and foremost on the success of their project, not which solution offers us the most immediate benefit, or which one provides a commission.

So, we had to invent new methods of achieving their visions. Then we transitioned from PC-based to standalone VR systems, which required a lot more optimization to reach the same results. Now, as use cases continue to expand, especially with interactive virtual worlds, we need to scale the numbers of simultaneous users in experiences. These are just some examples of natural evolutions of the industry, but as developers, we need to manage and ideally accelerate these developments for the benefit of our clients.

Business Connect- What are the exclusive features that make your Interactive VR stand out from the market?

Business Connect- Define your differentiating factor. Ken Ehrhart- Because we have a large experienced team, we not only offer a one-stop-shop for all aspects of AR/VR and 360, but we are able to develop deep expertise in specialized areas, allowing us to outperform what a smaller team of generalists might deliver.

Ken Ehrhart- In many ways, Paracosma tries to avoid standing out. We usually operate behind the scenes and are invisible to the market. Our goal is to help our clients stand out. In many ways, this makes our job easier. The client brings their domain expertise, supplies their competitive advantage, leverages their marketing and sales. We provide the teams to execute their development roadmap. Our goal is to deliver the highest quality, on time, at the best value.

Business Connect- How did you build your team? Ken Ehrhart- With developers, we are hiring the top-ranked graduates of the leading Computer Science universities, then 13

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typically go unused, unedited, unshared. We have tried to elevate 360 media by offering full post-production services, to raise quality; offering a white-label 360 distribution platform to enable curation and sharing of content; and offering 8K VR180 broadcast-quality real-time preview systems for directors to produce professional-quality live streaming.

Business Connect- How has your brand’s work culture impacted your growth? Ken Ehrhart- From our founding, Paracosma has had a preference for more realistic, rather than cartoony, virtual content. In the area of 3D modeling we began producing photorealistic 3D models, that are used to replace studio photography through rending of images from scenes of arranged models. We also started producing synthetic images to supplement real images used in training AI machine learning systems. Thus, we have increasingly focused on high-end, high-quality content. As we produce more and more of this content, we hone our skills further. So that, now, we are often supplementing clients’ existing vendors with premium services.

Business Connect- Please highlight the achievements and accolades attained by your brand so far? Compared to other developers, we have an exclusive focus on AR/VR and 3D; we have deep expertise across broad segments; and a flexible delivery model from project-based to providing entire teams of developers integrated into the clients’ organizations.

Ken Ehrhart- In addition to repeated recognition as a Most Trusted AR/VRcompany, each year we have been recognized as among the Most Innovative AR/VR Companies. Also, Fastest Growing, Most Reliable, Revolutionary, Best Company to Work for, etc. In 2018, Paracosma was recognized as among “20 Most Promising AR/VR Tech Solution Providers”. In 2019, we were one of “10 Best AR VR Solution Providers to Watch”. By 2020, the ‘most promising’ and ‘to watch’ qualifiers were dropped and we were recognized as one of the “World’s 10 Best AR VR Solution Providers. “Last year, and again this year, Paracosma has been recognized in the “World’s top 5 AR/VR Solution Providers” and “World’s 5 Best AR/VR Solution Providers”. That progression and elevation of recognition over time is certainly something we are proud of as we strive to improve our services.

Business Connect- What are the 360-degree media services you have proposed your clientele with? Ken Ehrhart- The market segment of 360-degree media, has been incrediblyfrustrating, because it remains immature and underutilized. For many categories, from travel to nature to family events, no media is better at capturing the full experience of being present in a place or at an event than 360 photos and videos. But, after you capture the video clips, they

Business Connect- Where do you envision your brand in the next 10 years? Ken Ehrhart- Over the next 10 years, we expect to see the maturing of AR/VR technology and platforms. What is difficult and specialized now, should increasingly become easier and routine. This will happen simply through the increase in the processing and graphics capability of the hardware. This defines the challenge for our own business. Right now, we specialize in providing the experience and expertise of highly skilled developers and extremely talented artists. We are focused on recruiting, training and deploying those experts at scale. What will increasingly be important is giving those engineers and artists superpowers through the adoption of technology that improves their efficiency, improves the quality of their work and lowers costs for our clients. From there, we need to disrupt our own human experts with AI systems that learn from and are supplemented with our experts. With these transitions, we intend to continually drive up quality and drive down costs. Business Connect- Share some words of wisdom that you would like to convey to the aspiring entrepreneurs and the readers of our Magazine.

Ken Ehrhart- Focus on the future. Don’t look at the opportunities of today. Chances are there are already a lot of engineers and businesses focused on today’s problems. Image those are already solved, what will be the next challenge, the next opportunity, the next market, after current needs are filled. For example, Netflix began by challenging Blockbuster videos with DVDs sent through the mail. Their main competitive advantage was no late fees. Today, they are the dominant video movie streaming platform, even though, when they started, you could not stream a movie without huge buffering issues.

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COMPANY

CLIENT NAME

DESIGNATION

Awakeen Studio Pvt. Ltd

Jay Pathak

Founder

Technostacks Infotech Pvt

Hansal Shah

Co-Founder, CEO

VR|AR|MR

Divyanshu Varshney

Founder CEO

Sapizon Technologies LLP

Mehul Thathagar

CEO

Paracosma

Ken Ehrhart

Founder & CEO

Sunovatech

Rishi Ahuja

Founder & MD

Deepak Sharma

CTO

Param Labs

Tushar Thakker

CEO

Meraki VR Studio

Sairam Sagiraju

Co-Founder

Mobcoder

Ashutosh Singh

Co-Founder & CEO

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Success Story

Craig Federighi Engineer

Craig Federighi

A key driving force behind Apple’s whopping growth

Craig Federighi, also known as “Mr. Hair Force One himself”, oversees all major development, such as Mac, IOS, and IPadOS. He is positioned as Apple’s senior VP of software engineering. Craig carries an enthusiastic and funny nature, as we have seen his popular presentations at WWDC and other Apple Events. He has more stage time than others, including Tim Cook. In 2016, he reported, owning over 500,000 shares of Apple stock worth about US$180 million in 2020. Away from the public functions, he is reportedly a great communicator in private. In 2013, the wall street journal said that Apple employees must consider him a responsive executive, someone who replies and reacts to internal emails. His profile has an impressive “rising star” reporting that he tries to build consensus within teams all across the company. EARLY LIFE Craig was born in 1969 in San Leandro, California. After holding an undergraduate degree from Acalanes High School in Lafayette, California, Craig attended the University, Of California, Berkeley, where he earned a bachelor’s degree from the electrical engineering and computer science branch. Also, he did his master in science stream from the same university. Craig got married in 2014. Now he has 4 children. CAREER Craig Federighi was working with Steve Jobs at NeXT, where he led the development of the Enterprise Objects Framework (EOF) – it

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was a software tool for large companies by letting their regular computers connect to the enterprise database. In 1996, Craig started working with Apple when it acquired NeXT. Omni Group Co-founder Will Shipley was working with Steve Jobs at NeXT at the time, and later he wrote that he had not anticipated to like Craig Federighi. in 2011, Will Shipley mentioned in the blog, “In-comes Federighi -the new guy- and he is like seven feet tall and gameshow-host handsome and he’s smiling like a used car salesman,” further, Shipley added, “I will admit it; I was prepared not to like him.” “You naturally expect a tall, handsome guy to be, well, kind of a jerk,” He said “Like his ideas are more important than yours. But what struck me so hard in that first meeting, so much so that it’s still in my head 17 years later, is that he was there to listen. And not just to passively listen – he wanted to make sure he understood what we were saying, yes, but also to get to the heart of it.” In 1999, Craig quit Apple for corporate software company Ariba, where he was appointed as CTO (Chief Technology Offer).

By the time in 2009, he left Ariba and returned to Apple to work on macOS. His first physical appearance was at the WWDC event to give, what Craig called a sneak peek of MacOS X Snow Leopard. In 2011, Craig Federighi succeeded Bertrand Serlet (Previous Vice President) as VP of Mac Software Engineering. In 2012, he was promoted as VP Of Mac software engineering at Apple. As Craig’s responsibility increased within Apple, his stage time at events improved more quickly. He now looks more confident, enthusiastic, and calm while being on stage. However, not all presentations went well. In 2017, when Craig was introducing Apple’s new face ID feature, it embarrassingly failed to work on the first attempt. Before the event, several people had used the new iPhone. This is why during the demonstration, the face ID asked for a passcode because of several failed attempts, later Craig explained. It’s really embarrassing even it was not a failure. However, Craig headed straight onto a backup phone without being worried.

“

CRAIG FEDERIGHI ONCE MENTIONED,

We are showing the way to the industry, to the customers, that they can demand more – they should expect more- about the protection of their privacy, and that we can move the industry into building things that better protect privacy.

Craig Federighi is one the very few famous faces of Apple, who has been delivering such great products along with his teams. Apple has really great products, and when Craig introduces upcoming Apple products with his cheerful nature and explanation skill, it becomes more interesting to see.

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Accion Labs

“We are thinkers”, “We are designers” and “We are builders”

ASHUTOSH BIJOOR CTO

PREFACE

Recognized by Smart 50 Magazine for its efforts in innovation for multiple years, Accion Labs is a global innovation engineering company that uses emerging technologies, a range of accelerators, and a field-tested gated innovation delivery process to build transformational software. As Accion simply puts it, “We are thinkers, we are designers, and we are builders.” Post earning a good name for itself, Accion is now being honored by our esteemed magazine ‘Business Connect’ as ‘Company of the year 2021.’

ACCION OVERVIEW

Accion strongly believes that today’s innovation is rooted in a deep understanding of technology levers. This is evidenced by the fact that disruptions in most industries were caused by innovations that were created by outsiders rather than incumbents from the industry and by leveraging technology as the primary disruptive factor. A phenomenon referred to as “Inversion of Innovation’’where technology Innovation steers business Innovation. With a belief in this, Accion has strategically organized its many capabilities into distinct Centers of Excellence (COE). Each COE plays an important role during various phases of the product engineering journey and collaborates to solve business and technology challenges to maximize value for clients. The ability to admix various COE capabilities in fresh and inventive ways solves unique challenges, uncovers new opportunities, and unlocks hidden value. Accion’s cornerstones of expertise include Architecture and Technology Platforms, Cloud Infrastructure, Data Analytics and Insights, DevOps and Automation, Human-Computer Interface, IT and Operations Management, and Product and Innovation Design. Employing these cornerstones, Accion builds new and leading-edge software or re-engineers and modernizes existing software. Sometimes, this existing software is simply maintained and enhanced, to prepare for future-forward developments.

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

Traditionally, during the first wave of e-innovation technology firms practiced a “waterfall” type model. Firms would raise a large amount of capital and then proceed to complete a number of long sequential tasks; such as hiring an R&D team, defining product requirements, defining the development and production architectures, and then finally engineering and deploying the product. Such a process was slow, cumbersome, and fraught with many risks. As a result of these challenges, many failed to deliver value back to their investors. A trio of experienced technologists started reimagining the supply chain of software innovation, and on the heels of the early 2000’s, soon after the internet bubble burst, Accion was born. www.businessconnectindia.in | Vol. 4 | Special Edition March 2022 INDIA

COVID -19

Founded in 2011 in the beautiful city of Pittsburgh, Accion Labs envisioned a better way of building commercial/scalable products in which the “innovators” used the “building blocks” of software and focused on assembling solutions versus building from scratch. Similarly, many hardware centric companies were already operating in this manner. Accion knew to assemble quality solutions (using software building blocks), a unique skill set was required.

As most can relate, the coronavirus pandemic greatly impacted how Accion operated and continues to operate business. For Accion, collaboration is an essential pillar for driving innovation and the company had to adapt to drive opportunities virtually following the sudden shift to remove work. The company continues to overcome this challenge by implementing safe and creative engagement opportunities through personal enrichment and education sessions, virtual celebrations, and volunteer opportunities. As always, the company endeavors to keep its employees involved and motivated.

Giving this vision life, a model was created which through engagement with Accion, software companies could rapidly build their products free of all logistics; hiring, facility set up, product testing, etc. Such a model enabled companies to deliver products early and avoid making early-stage fixed-cost commitments.

Currently and with proper safety protocols, Accion is slowly opening its office doors and encouraging employees to come together in person once again.

HOW ITS GOING

ACHIEVEMENTS

Since its original founding Accion has expanded its innovation engineering capabilities. Through organic growth and strategic acquisitions, 22 locations (and counting) are serviced worldwide and 4500+ engineers work to bring visions to life.

• • •

Presently, with this global infrastructure, Accion is helping 100+ clients reimagine their business ecosystem while making social impacts and increasing stakeholder engagement, happiness, and value. Such clients include enterprise organizations, tech startups, SaaS, and platform firms. Industry experience ranges across e-commerce, fintech, healthcare, hospitality, insurance, non-profit, retail /supply chain, telecom, to utilities and many more.

• • • •

Accion attributes its decade growth to word-of-mouth referrals; a direct outcome of consistently exceeding delivery expectations for its clients. To ensure and uphold excellent service, Accion’s approach focuses on quality engineering, inherently assuring that the best practices are implemented and adhered to.

Stratus Award for Cloud Computing - IoT (2021) Smart Business Magazine - 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 Smart 50 Honoree Kinesh Doshi (Top 50 CEO’s in Pittsburgh) Smart Business Magazine - 2018, 2019 Innovation category award winner Pittsburgh Business Times Fastest Growing Companies in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 2019 Pittsburgh Business Choice Awards “Software Development” Kinesh Doshi was named Entrepreneur of the Year for Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia Region in 2015 by EY 2019 Pittsburgh Business Choice Awards “Software Development

PLANNING TO…

“Accion plans to continue to expand operations in Mexico and Romania, and strengthen its existing global locations.”

THE DNA OF ACCION

Accion’s motto is “Driving Outcomes Through Actions.” Through a collaborative environment, solutions are sought for tomorrow and built today. An expansive and global network of various career backgrounds, cultures, and experiences, assimilate to produce world class outcomes.

KINESH DOSHI CEO

Accion treats its employees as its clients. Known among the Accion family as the “Employee=Customer” philosophy. It is only through the creativity, intelligence, and strong work ethics of its employees that Accion is fortunate to call some of the world’s leading technology companies their clients. Beyond the office, Accion encourages a strong work / life harmony. Enjoying family and personal time, celebrating cultural holidays, household milestones, and Friday team luncheons are essential to connect and elevate employees and in turn induce quality productivity. Standing with Ashutosh, and two founders, CEO, Kinesh Doshi and VP of Sales , Tony Kernan, a dynamic leadership team drives the success of the company. 21

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siliconindia

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August 2019

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BRUCE T DUGAN: A Daredevil Technopreneur

Bruce T. Dugan CEO, Incognito Worldwide

Indranil Roy | Business Connect

Digitization and its explosive opportunities have inspired entrepreneurs and business leaders to step beyond the fence. They have actuated digital interaction with business and people, automation, and much more; in short, our way of life. Based on these innovative inputs, it’s safe to say that they’re continually demonstrating their ingenuity. Being innovative is the need of this era. We are living at the edge of transformations, and it is important for leaders to adapt to grow. Bruce T. Dugan, the founder of Incognito Worldwide and several other tech-enabled enterprises, is a native New Yorker with imaginative and experienced leadership. It’s unusual for an entrepreneur to go to a country on a short-term project, then meet a few locals and form a business around them. He did, and the result was Incognito Worldwide. Let’s dive into this dignitary’s entrepreneurial journey to know more about him and him and his company.

An Unbridled Passion For Entrepreneurship

AN UNORTHODOX INCEPTION In 2012, Bruce visited Bangalore to hire a friend’s firm to complete a project he was involved in. His sole intent was to stay for a month to design the project, then fly to Thailand while that team completed coding, before returning to Bangalore for the final phase of the project. But fate had something else in store for him. He found a group of young people and decided to launch an offshore digital service company built around them. Two years later it was selected ‘Startup of the Year’ and quickly went from 3 people to 20. Incognito Worldwide has evolved from a web development company to a full-fledged digital services firm, offering branding & design, website development, online marketing, and automated platform solutions. Another Inicia subsidiary, I2MEDIALAB, provides high-level custom software, and platform development, while the parent company, Inicia Incorporated, manages operations of these and other brands. while also offering additional services to startups, SBEs, and large corporations alike, including accounting, investment materials development. and specific industry consulting. The group of companies forms an end-to-end provider with a single point of contact. www.businessconnectindia.in | Vol. 4 | Special Edition March 2022 INDIA

Bruce is a serial entrepreneur who has conceived, launched, and operated several innovative startups over the years, beginning with Worldway Freight Systems in 1982. He was a thought-leader in that industry with innovative accounting and bookkeeping systems, and a service leader of point-to-point LTL long haul delivery. He exec-produced and secured distribution for two films, and launched two nationally distributed record labels. before finding his way into technology and media in 2005. But it was during his logistics years working closely with Fortune-100 manufacturers and branded consumer product companies that he gained eclectic insights -across a broad range of industry sectors -- from his client’s operations that he would later use in his career to recognize operational pain points and choke points, and then develop strategies to increase productivity and/or reducing redundancy. While Bruce learned how the big corporations were structured and operated, as an SME he had to be able to adapt to changing conditions much faster and combine the two, or in his words “be nimble enough to dance between the elephant’s legs.” Recognizing the need to share and channel values, visions, plans, and strategies with his team and team leaders, his operating philosophy had been to identify the company and team goals, and then allow the team leaders the freedom to (A) pursue their own strategies, (B) learn from those successes, and (C) rinse and repeat. With the overall company and subsidiaries integrated but sprawled out over three continents, the company has been a remote-based operation long before anyone knew the word COVID-19. Bruce and the executives invested extensive time and energy into building the company processes and infrastructure on technology that could transcend time and distance barriers. They hold regular virtual meetings, oversee and manage projects, layout long/shortterm goals, and action plans, utilizing that technology with each department communicating in real-time to fulfill client needs. 24

As an American, Bruce, also focused on teaching his India-based team how to adapt to a U.S. client mindset, during his 6-year residency in India. Those efforts have seen stellar client reviews, affording them the luxury to pick and choose which customers they work with, with nearly 100% client satisfaction. To date. most new customers are acquired via referrals. He had his share of failures but used each to learn and adapt. His team endured setbacks and challenges but emerged stronger and more resilient from each, Today they operate several brands, including i2Medialab, Incognito, I2Webservices, First Drum Films, Intech Creative LLC, Dinevite, and several online magazines and resource directories. UNABASHED BY TECHNOLOGY IMPEDIMENTS Incognito Worldwide avoids tech-speak and maintains clear communications with clients to meet expectations. Whether it’s as simple as making an appealing logo, developing websites, web or mobile apps and/or marketing them, or helping clients streamline their operations. the team’s track-record has been impressive.

AN ADRENALINE PUNCHED PERSONA While Bruce had deep knowledge and experience in startups. logistics, production, marketing, and distribution, he approaches projects with an abstract vision combined with a linear process and excels at industry trend recognition, strategic and planning & development. The result is his ability in deep market research and to convert client’s vision into practical reality. In 2020 he and his co-founder & CTO, Mario Delfino, along with the Incognito directors. Kiran K, Nihanth K, and creative directors Shalini V and Ruby Gonsalez, , successfully designed, built, and published Dinevite.me, both now available in the Apple and Google app stores, and oversee the marketing roll-out.

According to Mr. Dugan, “the goal of the company isn’t making money; that is merely the result of a job well done, and my co-founding partner Mario and Incognito directors have contributed to make that a reality: I could not have achieved it without their passionate commitment and efforts. We’ve been blessed to have been able to help so many SMEs achieve their own success, to developing complex custom projects for the city of Buenos Aires, banks, and industry leading brands.” JOURNEY OF AN ACHIEVER Bruce’s efforts in business and leadership is quite significant and has attracted major attention. Some of the recent accolades include: • 25 most valuable CEO’s in India ( profiled Bruce T. Dugan ) • Entrepreneurs to Watch, 2018 ( profiled Kiran Kumar R ) • Technology 50 Emerging Company, 2020 ( profiled Mario Delfino )

Bruce has been a maverick throughout his career, often proving naysayers wrong to foresee coming trends, but also embodies the concept of being a digital nomad and adventurer. At the age of 60, along with Nihanth, they took motorcycles and set out on a 30-day motorcycle adventure from Bangalore to Kardung La (https:// rideofyourlife.in/), the highest road in the world located in the Indian Himalayas. He and team would often spend weeks each year in huts on the beach of South Goa where they’d decompress, working a few hours each day. He is well-traveled and lived in Buenos Aires, Cannes France, and San Pedro, Mexico. currently running the company from Cancun, Mexico.

However, Bruce says his greatest achievements have been the ability to work with creative people and interesting projects of choice. amassing a multi-dimensional multi-cultural client base, and robust team of friends. who have become more like family. 25

www.businessconnectindia.in | Vol. 4 | Special Edition March 2022 INDIA

A REKNOWNED NAME OFFERING STERLING SERVICES IN THE IOT HEALTHCARE DOMAIN Avishek Singh | Business Connect accuracy, and recovery. This unique platform is vendor-neutral, HIPAA compliant, and secure as well. Providing a suite of biometric measurements(basic vitals, waveform, and imaging measurements) with real-time consultation, it is assisting the physicians to employ the right support to patients.

Ravi Amble | CEO & Founder

he Healthcare industry is assisting society with its standardized products and services by rescuing people from adversities put forth by the global pandemic. Creating harmony in the processes with the latest trends of the market, many players have pioneered in the relevant field providing exemplary services to their clients. Aiming to revolutionize the healthcare industry with its uniquely ubiquitous offerings, Suquino, Inc. is transforming telehealth with ‘Saffron’, which is a Machine Learning/ AI driven PaaS platform. The Company offers this exclusive platform, that integrates with the third-party medical devices, systems and software, to enable holistic and remote care in real-time within a connected care ecosystem. EXCLUSIVE OFFERINGS- PROBLEMS THEY ARE SOLVING There are many disparate systems of patient care-provider, caretaker, specialist, payor and many more, that can slow down the process of diagnosis and caretaking, impacting the understanding and treatment of patients. Alongside this, a fragmented ecosystem emerged from the outdated legacy systems and silos of data from multiple devices, failing to offer a solution for the holistic needs of people, including access to physicians and caretakers and more personalized medical care. The rising healthcare costs have impacted the health and productivity of the workforce and population adversely. Saffron helps to enhance patient’s health, diagnosis speed and

www.businessconnectindia.in | Vol. 4 | Special Edition March 2022 INDIA

ABOUT THE KEY OFFICIALS AND THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THIS VENTURE Being an accomplished business technologist and entrepreneur, the Founder and CEO, Ravi Amble acquired more than 15 years of experience in building telehealth networks in the IT industry. He has been well-recognized as a pioneer-entrepreneur in Telehealth domain springboarded by NASA, by building one of the the largest telemedicine networks in the world with the opportunity provided by the Indian government and ISRO. The success of this led to building the Pan-African telemedicine network as well. The ubiquitous, diagnostic-level PaaS platform constructed by him- Saffron, represents a next-generation telehealth system that brings interoperability among legacy systems and third-party medical devices to global healthcare networks. Global VP of Business Development, Meredith Sossman has more than 20 years of experience in health care device legal defence, FDA regulatory consulting for early-stage medical device and pharmaceutical companies, and international legal experience in health-related risk management. Meredith holds a telehealth facilitator certification from Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. Her strategic planning in execution has been praised by client organizations as “authentic, results-driven, and insightful.” After experiencing struggles in personal healthcare and family losses, the adept team of Suquino became focused on making a platform that is durable and can

serve the chronic care to the ageing population. Their efforts were converged on to render care with dignity and offer a better quality of life. The unique architecture of this platform allows it to fit seamlessly into any healthcare ecosystem and bring together, not only the software and medical devices, but it also allows doctors and caretakers to connect with patients anywhere in real-time to deliver diagnostic level of care. This platform can utilize biometrics and its evolving AI/ML engine, Ginger, provides physicians and healthcare professionals with immediate data processing at the time of treatment to assist in diagnostic and care plan decision support for better. ENSURING COMPREHENSIVE MEDICAL FACILITIES The whole world has been hit adversely by the COVID19 pandemic and amid this alarming situation, it is the need of the hour to come up with some exclusive healthcare solutions. The ace Founder of the Organization says, “The COVID-19 crisis has forced the world to witness a global expansion of telemedicine, but Saffron is a unique solution that allows patients to remain safe at home and still receive a holistic and personalized diagnostic level medical examination from the relevant physicians. Patients, who otherwise would have been forced to go to hospitals and risk exposure to COVID-19, are prominently using the Saffron system to remain safe at home, and receive full medical examination and treatment without any risk involved. It is a ubiquitous, diagnostic-level platform that can interact and bring together the myriad of medical software, third party devices, mHealth wearables and put that data in one place for seamless, secure sharing and transfer of information about a patient. Doctors can now stop performing data entry in multiple areas and have one place to bring together the holistic view of their patients to drive better diagnosis and care options for their patients using Saffron.” Ravi Amble, Founder & CEO

Meredith Sossman | Global VP of Business Development ACKNOWLEDGING THE NEED OF R&D The Founder understands the significance of Research and Development that can efficiently help the organization in scaling the heights of success. AI/ML is an evolving arena and the Firm has recently learned a great deal about the ethical use of machine learning, especially in medicine. The team is committed to offering a worldclass diagnostic support engine, but knows that no computer will or should replace the judgement of a doctor. AI/ML could serve as the decision supporters but not as the decision-makers.

The Founder says, “We believe that there is no better calling for us than to provide this service to the healthcare global community to serve humankind.”

ACCOMPLISHMENTS TO BOAST OF Suquino has efficiently expanded its dimensions by earning global co-creation partnerships with Microsoft Corporation and has also been featured at their ‘Inspire 2019 Conference’. The team of the Firm is privileged to see the Saffron system that is displayed at the headquarters of Microsoft in its Customer Experiences Center. Along with this, Suquino has also earned global partnership with Advantech and also provided an RRK ready solution for Intel. In March 2020, ‘Saffron’ won the ‘Peer-Reviewed Health Value Award’ from the Validation Institute.

The intelligent platform- Saffron can converge disparate medical data stored in systems that do not, or cannot easily communicate. Saffron’s ability to act as a medical data information system allows physicians, researchers, pharmaceutical trials and other healthcare professionals to bring collective learning together to serve patients and our community to improve outcomes and share important health insights.

WORDS TO CONVEY “Nothing compares to the value of your team, their dedication and willingness to turn the impossible into possible. The dedicated team of Suquino knows that vision, hard work and perseverance will ensure our mission of providing affordable, on-demand, outstanding healthcare for everyone, everywhere comes to fruition.” Meredith Sossman, Global VP of Business Development

INTENDING TO SERVE MANKIND With a team that has more than 150 years of experience in healthcare and technology, the Firm has professionally and personally invested in helping everyone to have access to on-demand, affordable healthcare.

www.businessconnectindia.in | Vol. 4 | Special Edition March 2022 INDIA

Health

CORRELATION BETWEEN HEALTH & ECONOMY

How Investment in Health Reflects on Economy There is a well-understood relationship that when you are healthy, automatically the country’s economy improves as well, your health performance is fully reflected in both the economy and health systems. As a healthy population, one can make an important contribution towards economic progress because the population that is healthy, lives more and are considered more productive. Investment in health is not only a desirable priority for most communities but also an important one, as it reflects on the economy. However, our health systems also face challenges that are daunting as well as complex, arising in part from new stresses such as ageing populations, the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, and the intensive use of costly but critical health technologies.

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A HEALTHIER INDIVIDUAL AFFECTS THE ECONOMY IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS: •

At work, a healthier individual can be more productive and earn higher incomes.

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A healthy person may spend more time in the labour force as compared to a less healthy individual who often takes sick leave or retires early.

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They will invest more in the process of learning new things in order to improve their efficiency.

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In anticipation of a longer life, a healthy individual may save more by raising the funds available to invest in the economy.

In order to briefly explain the relationship between health and economic development, the concept of health needs to be understood in a broad sense. When we speak about health, it is not just the absence of diseases, but also people’s capacity to grow during their lives to their potential. In combination with that welfare, an asset possessed by individuals has a significant source of well-being as well as instrumental importance. In terms of health, economic development is affected by health in a variety of ways. For example, it decreases production losses due to sickness of a worker, often increases adult productivity as a result of improved nutrition and lower absenteeism rates, and improves school children’s learning. Health also agrees with the use of natural resources that may usually be intended for ill health care.

Health has its consequences directly through worker productivity and the economic burden of diseases on economic development. Health also indirectly influences economic development as factors such as child health influence people’s potential incomes through the effect that health has on education. If we take up a household example that is observed on a family basis, this sort of indirect effect is much easier to understand. When a family is safe, the father and mother will both have a job and earn money that helps them to eat, protect, and send their children to school. Children would do well in school if they are safe and well-nourished and this will have a positive effect on their future income. The lack of health often affects the poor to a great degree, as their body is often the only commodity they have. The correlation between Health and Economy goes hand in hand as the importance of investment in health refers to the betterment of economic development because a healthier individual can help to increase both the number of hours worked as well as the probability that they will be employed.

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Innovation

MUSHROOM CULTIVATION

A Sustainable Agribusiness In India “One of the major agricultural industries on the earth is mushroom processing.” Agriculture is vital to the Indian economy. According to the Economic Survey 2021, the share of agriculture in India’s GDP has increased to almost 20 percent in 2021. Farming in the traditional way is no longer a guarantee of profit. Through innovations in farming, farmers can increase their income if they wish. Recently, the Indian Government’s industrial policy and innovative creativity have encouraged research and entrepreneurship in mushroom cultivation. It has a lot of potential as a money maker. It is light-independent, feeds on organic matter, and does not require fertile soil to grow.

India’s unemployment rate has risen to 6.8 % and the youth is no longer confident of jobs. In such a situation, the interest of the educated youth has shifted more towards sustainable agribusiness. Farmers are making good profits in small areas by doing mushroom cultivation in a modern way. The Mushroom Cultivation Market is projected to be worth USD 16.7 billion in 2021, rising at a CAGR of 4% from 2021 to 2026, to hit a value of USD 20.4 billion. Rajkumari Binita Devi, a mushroom cultivator from Manipur, is a great example of someone who was influenced by experience and was able to make a fortune and receive awards despite being an unskilled mushroom cultivator.

WHAT IS A MUSHROOM?

A mushroom (Kukurmutta in Hindi) is a fungus’ umbrella-shaped fruit. It is a tasty food that is enjoyed by both children and elders all over the world. It’s also known as “the future vegetable,” as it’s a guarantee against food shortages, hunger, and medicinal value. With the increasing population across the globe, Mushroom demand has risen recently, because mushrooms meet the needs of health-conscious consumers and are a desirable alternative food, especially for vegetarians. www.businessconnectindia.in www.businessconnectindia.in||Vol. Vol.44||Special SpecialEdition EditionSeptember March 2022 2021 INDIA INDIA

Final Thoughts Mushroom cultivation is now India’s most active and profitable sector. It is rapidly gaining popularity in India because it turns farmers’ hard work into benefits in a short period. Agri-entrepreneurship programs especially in mushroom cultivation that involve capacity building and access to funds for youth should flourish to solve India’s brain drain issue. What today’s youth lack is the inspiration and entrepreneurship to see agriculture’s promise and prospects?. Youths are a source of creativity and a strong source of inspiration for others.

NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF MUSHROOMS

Mushrooms have a low-fat content and are high in simple carbohydrates. They’re also rich in digestible protein, high molecular weight polysaccharides, and a decent source of fibre, among other nutrients. Mushrooms also contain unsatu rated fatty acids, which account for more than 70% of total fatty acid content, as well as essential fatty acids, are low in calories, and high in vegetable proteins, minerals, and vitamins. They also contain a lot of secondary metabolites, which may be useful in nutraceuticals, pharmacology, and medicine. Some mushrooms have anti-inflammatory properties that can help prevent diseases like hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, atherosclerosis, and cancer.

HISTORY

About 600 A.D., the first mushroom, “Auricularia auricula”, was cultivated. “Flammulina velutipes” is later cultivated in China around 800-900 A. D. Commercial mushroom farming has only recently begun in India, with Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka leading the way. Andhra Pradesh is a big producer of mushrooms. Training of Mushroom cultivation in India Various government and 35

non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in India provide mushroom cultivation instruction. Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar and National Research Centre for Mushroom (NRCM), Solan, Himachal Pradesh are pioneer educational institutes. A “Mushroom Cultivation Technology” online training program is also available. Farmers, as well as entrepreneurs, would benefit from training programs. It is possible to have mushroom production three times a year because the length of 45 to 60 days is adequate for mushroom production. Diabetes flour, pickles, cookies, papad, and protein diet powder are made from mushrooms.

TYPES OF MUSHROOM

Button mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, and paddy straw mushrooms are the three primary varieties of mushroom harvest. These mushrooms are important in their own right, and they develop in different ways using different techniques and methods. To grow mushrooms, a special bed known as a compost bed is prepared. Cost of Mushroom Cultivation in India In India, the total cost of mushroom cultivation is around INR 1,50,00 0. Scrap Wooden Shelves (Rs. 20,000), Room Construction Costs (INR 1,25,000), and other Miscellaneous Costs are included (Rs. 5000).

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Growth

7 TOP TIPS TO BOOST YOUR STARTUP BUSINESS Here are 7 valuable tips to give your fledgling company a boost: CASH FLOW FORECASTING

As Sir Richard Branson says “The cash flow of a company is the life and blood of a business, so never take your eyes off it.” Budgets that are long-term must provide reasonable estimates of potential revenue and expenditures. Start-up costs vary, but when they do, entrepreneurs should be prepared for the worst-case scenario. Since anything can happen over a business’s lifecycle, it’s best to build longterm budgets and financial estimates. Forecasting aids company owners in putting aside money for potential expenditures. These expenses can be both personal and business-related.

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SHOULD BE PRIORITIZED

Plan to continue reinforcing your brand and strengthening your image by focusing on customer service and satisfaction. The brand of a business is simply how it is viewed. A happy customer is more than a recommendation; it’s a powerful branding statement.

ENHANCE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILES

The advent of social media has altered how companies operate and how the general public interacts with them. While it used to be much more difficult for a customer to share their questions or experiences after a brand encounter, it is now easier than ever for the two to communicate and share details. The best websites are LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, AngelList, and Pinterest accounts. If you want to reach a larger audience, being more engaged with social media will help. It’s important to remember that social media is a two-way platform that allows people to communicate and share information. Rather than simply posting ads on your platform, try to engage with your potential and current customers by answering questions and providing opportunities for them to communicate with you further. Your customers will appreciate the effort, and you will appreciate the outcome.

PROVIDE THE AUDIENCE WITH USEFUL KNOWLEDGE

Many people, on the other hand, make the popular mistake of believing that marketing consists solely of commercials and promotional material. In reality, it’s a way of better communicating with your audience by getting a better understanding of their desires and needs, as well as demonstrating your importance to them. Sharing valuable and insightful content with your audience is a perfect way to do this. This will demonstrate to them that your goods or services are important to their needs and that you have the expertise and knowledge necessary to provide accurate information. An e-book or guide, case studies, infographics, blog posts can be a powerful tool for disseminating material, it’s worth taking the time to learn how to write one.

TAKE EXPERT ASSISTANCE WHEN REQUIRED, DON’T HESITATE TO CONTACT It’s tempting for new business owners to try to do everything themselves because it’s a good way to save money. However, this can sometimes stifle a company’s growth, and in some cases, relying on the experts is more effective. Take new ideas from experts to improve your business. Paying an expert will also save you time and allow you to concentrate more on the tasks you are better able to do if you are attempting something you are unfamiliar with, particularly if you are taking on a task that needs a highly specific skill set.

MAKE GOOD FRIENDS

Make an effort to form new friendships. Meet new people, strike up a conversation, and build meaningful relationships that will enhance your life and well-being.

BUILD AN ADVISORY BOARD

Business advisory boards can be extremely beneficial to a company’s growth. People with connections to top professionals with a variety of skills may be brought in as low-cost advisors to help the company expand.

Marketing is one of the best means of successful business promotion, and it can be a powerful way to expose the company to a wider audience.

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Running a company necessitates a high level of organization and adherence to a strategic plan. It’s important to strike a balance between all of your focus areas, as this will help you better manage your resources and coordinate your finances. The best part for Indian businesses is that the country has been declared the world’s third-largest tech start-up hub. Furthermore, India’s Ease of Doing Business index has risen significantly from 130 in 2016 to 63 in 2020. According to the most recent reports in India, start-ups come from 54 different sectors, with IT services and Healthcare & Lifesciences registering the most start-ups, followed by education. Thousands of young entrepreneurs have taken the plunge into starting their own businesses in the last few years as a way to gain leverage over their professional careers or raise their profits.

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Entrepreneurship can be described as recognizing change, seeking opportunity, accepting risk and obligation, innovating, bettering resource use, generating new value that is meaningful to customers, and repeating the process. Budget 2021 has recognized the importance of start-ups and small and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs) in India’s future, which includes growth in technology-driven and manufacturing businesses, which will help India achieve its goal of a $5 trillion economy.

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SAP Made Simple Better Your Business With SAP Innovation,

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LifeStyle

Pottery A Timeless And Diverse Craft Across India Pottery is an ancient, prominent craft in India; its origins here can be traced back to the earliest times of civilisation. It survived for aeons and is a massive source of employment in both rural and urban areas. As a mass of clay is turned into a pot, those lively eyes look at vigilant hands working relentlessly in unison on the wheel. One who sees it happen sings praise for the mesmerising abilities that these boys, who are considered to be potters, possess. In India, one such left out community is that of potters. Pottery is the art of carefully moulding clay to make different objects. The sheer hard work they put on and the abilities they develop these very pots through are magnificent. But since most factories are shut down, and most artisans are either idle or paying too little, their destiny appears to be sailing in choppy seas.

India’s Regional Pottery Craft Tradition •

Revisiting Pottery

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Jaipur Blue Pottery, Rajasthan

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Khawda Pottery, Gujrat

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Khurja Pottery, Uttarpradesh

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Longpi Pottery, Manipur

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Black Pottery and Terracotta, Madhya Pradesh

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Andretta Pottery, Himachal Pradesh

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Revisiting Pottery One of India’s most timeless living craft traditions is pottery. Pottery is practised across the length and breadth of the nation, from flower pots, terracotta chimes to the thirst-quenching ‘Surahi’ and ‘Matki’. A visit to the rural and “potter villages” speaks volumes about the economic significance of this craft. People use traditional manual potter’s wheels and kilns to engage in pottery along with subsistence farming, making earthenware an integral part of haat, bazaars and urban market spaces, particularly during the festive season.

Jaipur Blue Pottery, Rajasthan Jaipur Blue Pottery has a Geographical Indication (GI) tag. This is a glazed form of pottery that uses a blue glaze and is typical of intricate designs in blue and white. Pottery’s most distinguishing quality is that it is a commodity that is not clay. Mixing ground glass, quartz powder, Earths Fuller’s, borax, gum, soda bicarbonate, and water makes the dough for the pottery instead of clay.

Khawda Pottery, Gujrat A traditional art form originated in the village of Khavda, Rann of Kutch, using ‘Rann ki Mitti’. With painted symmetrical black and white patterns, the lovely ochre/group shades give this art form an earthy feel. Allegedly, the special mud with which it is made is acquired from near a lake.

Khurja Pottery, Uttar Pradesh Khurja is a popular tourist destination in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, thanks to the colourful pottery it makes. The Khurja Pottery, also known as the ‘ceramic city,’ which has a range of tea sets, crockery, and ceramic tile works, is the GI name. The method requires some labour-intensive activities, such as clay churning, moulding, colouring, followed by glazing, among the most common glazed pottery types.

Longpi Pottery, Manipur Longpi pottery has achieved international popularity due to its rugged design, originating in the Longpi villages of Manipur’s Ukhrul district. The classic black exterior with bamboo/cane woven around handles gives the clay-wares a unique identity, made from black serpentine stone and a form of clay that is found only in this region. Longpi pottery is also microwave-friendly and can be used for baking.

Black Pottery And Terracotta, Madhya Pradesh The age-old craft of clay and terracotta art is practised even today in its traditional way and with passion. Tribals of Madhya Pradesh region make traditional clay temples called ‘dhabas’ which has a small door where the deity is placed along with the fire lamp (Diya). During Diwali time they make clay idols of the goddess Mahalakshmi, elephants and horses with riders and the local form of Goddess Parvati.

Andretta Pottery, Himachal Pradesh Andretta pottery from Kangra in Himachal Pradesh has received fame in a small village nestled in the lap of nature. Glazed with fresh shades of blue and green, the Andretta Pottery and Crafts Society has made it famous. The colours used are reflective of nature, evergreen woods, and the mountains. The community conducts regular workshops as well.

More eco-friendly use should be encouraged to improve livelihoods and maintain pottery as an art and craft medium, under the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) goals for sustainable production and use. Similarly, trends such as #PottersKiDiwali, large-scale purchases made by the government and corporate departments, and tax exemptions granted to potters such as the one made on the occasion of Diwali, districts are nurturing pottery as an industry.

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Eupraxia Telecom Cloud Telephony Solutions

EUPRAXIA TELECOM

REVOLUTIONIZING TELEPHONY EXPERIENCES Avishek Singh | Business Connect

COMPANY OVERVIEW Eupraxia Telecom, incepted in January 2012, provides Cloud Telephony solutions that enhance the telephony experience of organizations, and enable them to improve efficiency in their area of work. They help derive cost efficiency in telecom expenses for corporations each month. They offer both private and public cloud solutions that connect multiple offices/locations through a single telephone number, thereby increasing the Top of Mind recall for the Brand. Apart from Office IVR & Call Center Solutions, Eupraxia Telecom also offers Auto Dialer, IVR Blast, Missed Call Auto Call Back, and Audio Conferencing Solutions. Eupraxia Telecom has helped MRF Vapour Cure Paints, TVS Motors, Redington, Medall, Apollo Hospitals and a number of share and commodity trading companies, SMEs with multiple branches, connect with single number.

who is in-charge of Strategic Technology Selection and Sales. He is a Doctorate in Telecommunication with about thirty-two years of experience in the technology industry. Eupraxia Telecom is a pioneer in Cloud Telephony Application Interface and specializes in lowmaintenance rural BPOs and providing cost-effective toll-free solutions. They are also known for developing single-number solutions for organizations which have multiple offices or outlets within the city or across a state or across the country. This is to drive a strong customer memory hook with the organization with a single outfacing number to increase the business and also to reduce marketing and telecom expenses. Eupraxia products are based on GSM SIM Cards, PRI and SIP trunks.

The core team at Eupraxia Telecom is headed by Dr. K P Ganeshraj, Founder and CEO,

Their cloud telephony solutions are aimed at providing enterprise grade telecom features to small and medium entrepreneurs connecting their telecom infrastructure. Eupraxia cloud solution, Receptionist In Air (RIA), puts a layer of intelligence over the existing telecom infrastructure. This results in a rich heuristics to analyse the existing telecom patterns and also to “Never to miss a business lead” with the call hopping functionality. The company has been involved in R&D of various TAPI Solution with a number of organizations interfacing their existing ERP and CRM.

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They are reputed for selling not products but solutions that solve the pain points of their customers, resulting in increased efficiency, productivity and profitability of the organisation. Each implementation of theirs is different from the other but closely tied to the business process of the organization.

The Eupraxia development team specializes in design, development and implementation of telecom solutions that are based on GSM, PRI and SIP based technologies. Eupraxia’s solutions are aimed at bringing an convergent communication platform which will enable multimode communications with seamless ease to enhance productivity and efficiency of the organization. Eupraxia guarantees high ROI for its clients. Companies spend a lot of money on digital marketing and receive only 10 to 20% conversion. Eupraxia Telephony products help increase the ROI by increasing the prospect conversion by a minimum of 60% with their telephony productivity tools. Eupraxia empowers enterprises to make their phone number as their brand identity. DEALING WITH COVID-19 Eupraxia had ‘work from homeready’ products from day zero. The company continued with business as usual with an extra focus on product development during the nation-wide lockdown. They always had remote working options available for employees as they have clients who work round the clock and run mission-critical applications. They helped all on-premise clients to migrate to work from home call centers. In places where there were issues with internet

connectivity, they provided dual-leg calling solutions which got them additional business. Keeping with the demands of the pandemic, no one was at the company working from the office. All were on work from home. Most of their employees were out of town, and those in town were not called to the office. They tied up with partnered IT support firms to give them onsite support in case of physical equipment failures. Occasionally, Mr. Ganeshraj had to personally visit some of their clients to provide uninterrupted support. Because of their carefulness and by God’s Grace, no one at Eupraxia tested positive. Even though it had no effect on their business operations as their products are designed for work from home, it did have a marginal effect on new acquisitions, as a few industries are going through tough times due to Covid. They concentrated on digital marketing and stayed regularly in touch with existing customers. Most of the business they acquired during this time was repeat orders from existing clients or their referrals. Their business is predominantly based on a pay per use model, which enables them to manage the working capital. Their several friends and partners that are in the IT hardware industry helped them out by supplying the material directly to their client sites, as needed. As their business operations were continuing more or less normally through work from home, they were

able to fulfill all their contractual obligations. They are continuing their service for the clients and accepting deferred and part payments to enable them to continue their business as usual. They distributed face masks to the needy, proving their mettle in these tough times. “Tough times don’t last, tough people do.” For Mr. Ganeshraj, the day starts and ends with video conference calls with all employees. The task for the day / status updates are shared with all in the morning and reviewed in the evening. Every week one employee is made to present 43

their personal and official talents and accolades which have improved the bonding. Due to the current pandemic, certain verticals of business have closed down. Having a contingency plan in place, Eupraxia is opening up new verticals like video conferencing to sustain the business revenue. “This year just surviving is a great profit. We will make millions as soon as the sky becomes clear.” Dr. K P Ganeshraj, Founder & CEO, Eupraxia Telecom www.businessconnectindia.in | Vol. 4 | Special Edition March 2022 INDIA

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