"The 10 Booming Ed-Tech Startups To Watch"

www.insightssuccess.in December 2018

Maven’s Mentorship How Technology Has Changed The Teaching Methodology For Good

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BOOMING

EDTECH STARTUPS TO WATCH

Dr. Amit Pareek Founder & CEO

Ask. Learn. Lead

Editor's Frame Ed-Tech Startups Transforming the Indian Education System for Better

Editorial

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ech-based education is burgeoning at a rapid pace with its potential to change the way students learn and grow. With changing times, this Ed-Tech industry is attracting investments and creating a platform which can debar the traditional learning speculations in order to sculpt an erudite earth for the Gen Z. Thanks to the Ed-Tech Entrepreneurs who have gained success in holding the reins of innovation through technology. For taking significant steps for the betterment of the society. For recognizing the loopholes in the conventional processes and remolding this scenario into a “revolution like never before”.

Gone are the days, when a college degree was the only stepping stone to unlock job opportunities. Today, the Ed-Tech entrepreneurs are playing a vital role in embracing the evolving technology and leaving no stone unturned in instilling learning to every nook and corner of the world. Thinking is evolving and entrepreneurs in the Ed-Tech space are going beyond the ordinary and being ingenious in offering customised solutions quenching the growing demands. Acknowledging that the market research is a fundamental aspect of entrepreneurship, these players are deploying products which are defining the true essence of student’s needs. Creating a product which has the knacks to make an impact on the market is becoming their forte. Also, they are keeping student-teacher relationship and their feedback to utmost priority.

A Thanks Giving to the Ed-Tech Entrepreneurs

With sheer determination and unified efforts, the Ed-Tech entrepreneurs are changing the education landscape through ‘Digital Learning’. Instead of replacing educators, they are empowering students and teachers with improved learning podium. With each passing day, they are coming up with products which have the power to unlock diverse opportunities for the betterment of the education world. This in turn will magnificently cater the niche sector where people are very particular when it comes to their child’s education.

Ed-Tech entrepreneurs are disrupting the learning processes with a perfect blend of creativity and alacrity. Connecting the dots of the industry, they are on a mission to fill the gaps between the demand and supply. The future will employ individuals who can share the same vision and develop a product that can withstand the complexities of the market. A future which has no room for barriers and where knowledge will be the only power to reach at the top of the pyramid.

Rahul Niraj Rahul Niraj

Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Managing Editor Shweta Priyadarshini Executive Editor Rahul Niraj Art & Design Head Amol Kamble Associate Designer Poonam, Shweta Art & Picture Editor Rahul Kavnekar Co-designer Asha Bange Business Development Manager Akansha Garewal Marketing Manager Dhruv Apte Sales Executives

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Eduncle.com Bringing Quality Education to Every Door-Step with the ASK & LEARN Platform

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Expert’s Insight

Maven’s Mentorship

InQUIZitive Learners

How Technology Has Changed The Teaching Methodology For Good

Edupreneur’s Perspective Ongoing Trends in the Education Industry: From an Edupreneur's Perspective

Articles Editor's Frame

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Ed-Tech Startups Transforming the Indian Education System for Better

Roots of Transformation Secrets to Pick-up the Right Ed-Tech Tool

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C O N T E N T S

Cover Story

Interview with Insights Success 20 Fundamentor Where Education is Fun!

32 Genext Students Providing Best Home Tutors at Students' Doorsteps

28 Eupheus Learning Exploring Education to the Core

40 Les Transformations Designing Resultoriented Solutions Empowering Education

46 Wonderslate Technologies A Digital Step towards Smart Learning

16 Exambazaar RedeďŹ ning Learning at its Best

BOOMING T H E

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EdTech STARTUPS TO WATCH

Ed-Tech Startups: Connecting the Dots of Education

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ooking back into the past where learning was a stressful process is no longer true today. The new-age education has built a platform where learning is continuous, interactive and highly effective. A platform driven by gamification, personalization, and positive messaging. A platform empowering students to stand tall and rip the future challenges to pieces. Thanks to the Ed-Tech startups which are embracing every opportunity and transforming the classroom experience with their novel approach.

While 2017 was an enthusiastic year for the engineering sector, 2018 is a year which has taken it beyond the success horizons. Recognizing the startups that are revolutionizing the education space and keeping innovation on their radar by staying up-to-speed with the developments, we have come up with this special edition of “The 10 Booming Ed-Tech Startups To Watch.” This issue has featured a handful of professionals offering a diverse and engaging mix of creativity and distinctiveness. This edition of ours will help you to walk through a list of companies embracing multi-disciplinary approach and covering a range of relevant issues in its sector.

In the Cover of the issue, we have featured Eduncle which is bringing Quality Education to every door step of India.

The company is outshining its competitors with its innovative solutions and redefining the learning landscape.

Apart from such an insightful cover story, we have also enlisted Fundamentor, a globally awarded gamified skill assessment and development company, Genext Students is one of its kind AI-powered home tutoring eco-system combining the best of physical tutoring and technology-aided learning, Les Transformations is a pioneer in providing developmental learning services especially to student community across the globe, and Wonderslate Technologies is a platform built to cater comprehensive solutions to the education world.

While flipping the pages, take a note not to miss out exclusive Interviews with Sarvesh Shrivastava, Co-founder of Eupheus Learning, and Gaurav Parashar and Saloni Khandelwal, Co-founders of Exambazaar.

Turning some more pages will help you find out articles masterly crafted by our in-house editors which include Ed-Tech Startups Transforming the Indian Education System for Better from Editor’s Frame and Secrets to Pick-up the Right Ed-Tech Tool from Roots of Transformation. The articles Ongoing Trends in the Education Industry: From an Edupreneur’s Perspective, How Technology has Changed the Teaching Methodology for Good, and InQUIZitive Learners by industry experts would take you on a journey showcasing the tech-based innovations in the Education world.

Looking at the emerging opportunities and the growing possibilities, this issue of ours will introduce you to a whole new world of novelty.

So enjoy the exciting read!

COVER STORY

Eduncle.com- Bringing Quality Education to Every Door-Step with the ASK & LEARN Platform

BOOMING T H E

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EdTech STARTUPS TO WATCH

Dr. Amit Pareek Founder & CEO Eduncle India Pvt. Ltd

With an aim to Transform Lives through Bringing Quality Education to Every Door Step of India, Eduncle India Pvt. Ltd was established in 2016.

From its origin as a small Kota based Ed-Tech startup, the company has emerged amongst the leading companies in the online trend of Indian Education. The Unstoppable One is what best describes Eduncle.

Eduncle have 3 online courses for higher education exams such as – IIT JAM, UGC NET and CSIR NET. In the very first session of operations, Eduncle proved to be successful in touching the lives of around two lakh students. With the time span of only three years, Eduncle has witnessed an outstanding growth from one selection to 750+ selections in CSIR NET, IIT JAM as well as UGC NET exams.

With sheer dedication and unified efforts, the company has efficaciously attained the trust of around 2.6 Million monthly visitors in 2018.

Why Choose Eduncle?

Eduncle is on a mission - With technology and media, provide better learning, mentorship, and doubt solution to build strong knowledge base so that students can excel in their lives.

Eduncle started providing its courses in online domain at first along with offline mode for the students who still don’t have access to the internet services.

The courses are available pan India with multiple ways to make payment for its reasonable courses including Cash on Delivery which is very convenient for the students.

Making it the reality for Indian students to get the quality education right through their own places, the company has come up with a new generation Personalized Learning and Doubt Solution Platform that helps students in achieving their learning goals.

With this idea of learning, students can do the following: - Freely Ask their doubts to the top mentors - Learn anywhere and anytime with the

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ndia comprises the world’s largest student base which is rapidly growing. With the development of technology, India has witnessed an enhanced acceptance of online education over a period of few years.

Although, this growth in accessibility of education is remarkable but the major problem that is being faced by majority of Indian students is the lack of qualified faculty & quality education. As, such, they have to move to the bigger cities and expend a lot of money to fulfil their learning goals.

ease from the content curated by highly experienced and qualified faculty members - And ultimately Lead in their lives with the power of knowledge.

Meet the Prudent and Persuaded Leader Dr. Amit Kumar Pareek is the Founder and CEO of Eduncle India Pvt. Ltd. Inspiration to his employees describes him the best. He is an online business consultant & entrepreneur with enriching domain experience of over nine years. Shifting to a bigger city from a village for getting the quality education, leaving his home and family, Dr. Amit struck with an idea of bringing education to every door step of India. His aim was big, so were his efforts! His unrelenting passion and impeccable drive motivated him to unveil Eduncle to the education world.

Dr. Amit is aiming to take Eduncle to the highest peak of success by introducing the game changing learning methodologies for the students. By providing better learning not only to the urban areas but also the remotest areas of the country, he has set a perfect example of leadership.

Recently, he was also invited to the National Digital Library of India, GES 2018 by IIT Kharagpur for an Edupreneurship session.

Awards and Recognitions Over the years, Eduncle has been consistently felicitated by its students for the great learning stuff that it offers and is recognized as a front runner in the field of online education and delivering excellence. Apart from this, the company has earned accolades from various renowned platforms including the Top 10 Promising Digital Learning Portals 2018 by leading media publication house.

The Curated Set of Services Every student is different and to work towards increasing accessibility for students, Eduncle has designed its courses in digital as well as paper format. It offers self-paced courses that enhance the students’ flexibility in learning concepts and practicing them.

The company provides a platform for tutors and students to come along for doubt resolution.

The company believes in providing tech-based curated content to quench students’ needs.

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The all-inclusive package of course is divided in three segments:

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Learn – Here, student can get the concepts and topic wise study of the curriculum. The academics team keeps updating these concepts at par with student’s expectation.

Practice – Students can practice

questions from the concepts they have studied. They get flexibility of deciding which and how many topics they want to practice. They can also set a timer for time management.

Test – This segment is designed by the in-house team which helps students to improve their performance in the examination.

It is amongst the leading industry players in delivering exclusive courses for IIT JAM, CSIR NET, and UGC NET exams. These courses are in paperback study material format and e-book or pen drive altogether. The motive behind keeping these three formats is to make its study material in compliance with its idea of learning – study anytime, anywhere.

Eduncle provides study material across India; from Kashmir to Kanyakumari

Recognizing the necessity of students to connect with mentors, the company arranges their interaction sessions with toppers, scientists and experienced faculty members from JNU, Delhi School of Economics, ISI Kolkata, IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi and more via call.

A Comprehensive Vision The vision is empowering every student with the power of knowledge.

With technology, Eduncle is bridging the gap between quality education and needy students.

To make India a better place for learning, the Ed-Tech startups have come up with new technologies like AI, machine learning, and educational software. These technological innovations in learning aren’t just changing the field for students, they’re shaking up the role of educators, creating philosophical shifts in approaches to teaching, and remodelling the classroom.

The Internet penetration with the start of 4G services has face-lifted the online education industry so far. The Gen Z students are more comfortable with visual-audio study content rather than the conventional approach. Hence, accessibility to internet has a huge impact on Ed-Tech startup industry.

And, yes it has boosted the Ed-tech startups in terms of increased traffic and improved reach. Moreover, the online education is much flexible and affordable! Students can experience an enhanced version of classroom coaching in online mode. They can attend online classrooms during their

free time and have a chance to interact with other students and mentors virtually.

Fuelling the Young Minds Being a young entrepreneur, Dr. Amit has some hard-earned lessons that he is willing to share with the young entrepreneurs. Summing up all his learnings he says, “Know your customers, give them what makes them succeed, connect with people and grow together, inspire your team, act courageously, have gratitude, find joy in your work, achieve the goal, and repeat,” Futuristic Approach The Education industry is driven by a challenge – to live up expectations of students by creating well-designed courses with performance goals which gives plenty of opportunity for practice. In the coming years, technology that works towards

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and from Arunachal Pradesh to Rajasthan. Apart from this, its academics and research team is in sync with the latest development in the E-learning industry.

increasing accessibility for a diverse set of students would generate more personalized curriculum at an affordable cost which will be an uptick in the use of modern technologies.

Eduncle is developing its courses based on the demands that might arise in near future. Eduncle started with a dream, a thought to change the OLD and moreover build the NEW that can transform lives of many.

The company is planning to expand its wings to a diverse set of online courses. Currently, it is focusing on assembling the scattered education space for higher education in India by catering CSIR NET, UGC NET and IIT JAM in the most effective way by adding ten more exams. Additionally, it is committed to bring an ASK platform by 2019, which will enable students and teachers to connect with each other on finger tips. Extending expertise in online mode, Eduncle is going to create platform for students and teachers where it will offer all the education related solution by automating the learning to make it better and faster. Its research and development team have collaborated with expert academicians and e-Learning experts to curate study contents in such a way that it’s adaptive for every student.

This will personalize the whole learning experience by providing solutions on a particular weak area until the students’ master it. It will understand each individual’s learner persona and map the curated study content for them. With technology and media, Eduncle will be working towards more engaging learning content such as videos and visual-audio to match up the expectations of the Gen Z students.

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BOOMING T H E

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Management

EdTech STARTUPS TO WATCH

Brief

Awicon Technologies awicontech.com

Sukumar Ranga Partner

Awicon is today’s technology architect for tomorrow’s connected business - creating fully managed, self-healing, automated IoT environments

CosineLabs cosinelabs.com

Arindam Chatterjee Mentor

Cosine Labs is an IoT company focused on creating a revolutionary wireless smart home and connected living experience

Eduncle India Pvt. Ltd eduncle.com

Dr. Amit Pareek Founder & CEO

Eduncle is the leading Personalized Learning & Doubt-Solution Platform

Fundamentor fundamentor.com

Bhargavi AR Co-founder Amol Patkar Co-founder

Fundamentor is an innovative web application that enhances the Quantitative, Verbal, Data inference and Creative thinking aptitude in school students

Genext Students genextstudents.com

Ali Asgar Kagzi Co-founder & Director

Genext Students is a one-of-its-kind hybrid tutoring platform combining best of physical tutoring and technology-aided learning

Les Transformations lestransformations.com

Ankit Khanna Les Transformations enable schools to develop, teachers in Co-founder enhancing their performance, give holistic education to students, Rishabh Khanna and solidify the parent-school partnership Co-founder & Director

Sattva Automation Pvt. Ltd. sattvaautomation.com

Kshitij Deoghare Director

Sattva Automation specializes in premium home automation systems, home cinemas, high-end audio-video and access control systems in India

Smartify smartify.in

Abhi Bavishi CEO

Smartify prominently offers Management and Advice in the field of business management

Tronix Solutions tronixsolutions.in

Shailesh Partner

Tronix Solutions focuses on providing IT services with the highest levels of customer satisfaction

Wonderslate Technologies wonderslate.com

Anand Achyut Founder & CEO

Wonderslate Technologies is an educational deliverance, digital publishing and a test preparation platform

EXAMBAZAAR REDEFINING LEARNING AT ITS BEST

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stablished in 2017, with a mission to transform the Ed-Tech world is Exambazaar (Exambazaar.com), providing prominent services with a novel approach. Gaurav Parashar and Saloni Khandelwal are the Co-founders of the company. With sheer determination and unified efforts the company has successfully created a niche in its sector. To get more details about Exambazaar’s exclusive services and expertise, we bring you an exclusive interview with Gaurav and Saloni.

1. Kindly brief us about the company.

Exambazaar is one of India’s largest education discovery platforms, which provides comprehensive information about test preparation for 50+ entrance exams. Students can discover, shortlist and book a demo at 38000+ coaching institutes in every nook and cranny of India, with the help of exclusive videos, photographs, past results and faculty profiles of coachings in 400+ cities. It helps students in every aspect of test preparation by providing free previous year question papers online, daily EQAD (Exam Question a Day), daily current affairs and preparation strategies from past toppers and top coaching institutes. In addition, it provides valuable insights into colleges, courses and career options in India related to these exams.

2. Please tell us something about the Founder/CEO and his/her contribution towards the company.

Exambazaar has been founded by IIT – IIM Alumni Gaurav Parashar and Saloni Khandelwal. Gaurav Parashar studied at IIT Bombay, Computer Science (2006-10), and IIM Bangalore (2012-14). He worked in Investment Banking in top tier investment banks - Deutsche Bank & Goldman Sachs, London before moving back to India. Saloni Khandelwal is from Computer Science IIT Delhi (2007-11) and worked in Credit Structuring at Deutsche Bank, London for 5 years before starting Exambazaar. Saloni and Gaurav, both believe that education is the only way forward for the holistic development of India. Gaurav looks after the tech while Saloni looks after business at Exambazaar.

3. Your perspective about the Ed-Tech Startup world.

An average Indian thinks of education as an expense

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rather than an asset. It’s something they must do because it's required. They don’t know the possibilities which open up with higher quality of education (aka more spend) than the minimum education that they must have.

Hence Ed-Tech startups which focus on delivering higher quality solutions to consumers are tougher to scale.

Ed-Tech startups built around driving down costs to the end consumer will scale. Hence, building a company in education does not follow an Internet company’s growth curve. Entrepreneurs should focus on fixing problems in education for the next 20 years rather than quick fixes.

4. Mention any awards and appreciations that your company has received.

Exambazaar is incubated at Bhamashah Techno Hub, India's largest business incubator. We were shortlisted for the prestigious YCombinator programme, S18 batch interviews (600 startups shortlisted among 10000 global startups). We have been published in YourStory, YouthKiAwaaz, Internshala, Ed-Tech Review, Campus Twist and several other publications.

5. Please describe the journey of your organization so far.

Exambazaar started in April 2017 in a coffee shop in Jaipur with a blueprint sprawled across tissue papers.

Since then we have grown to be one of India’s largest Ed-Tech startups with a 25-strong team and a host of products. We started out with one objective – building deep listings for all coaching institutes in the country. We met with hundreds of coaching institutes personally to get their views on bringing the coaching market online including the biggest names like Allen, Bansal, Career Launcher, Career Point, etc. With a small team of interns, we built our database -from scratch to now having contact information, courses, photos, videos, faculty profiles, past results and reviews of over 38,000 coaching institutes spanning across 400+ cities. With our base ready, we branched out into building a complete package for a student preparing for competitive exams. We realized that the most important elements of preparation are strategy, consistency and practice. And we set out to solving each of these problems through exclusive

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Interview with Insights Success

Saloni Khandelwal | Gaurav Parashar Co-founders

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strategy blogs by experts and past toppers, daily quizzes, previous year question papers for 50+ exams, all for FREE for the student. We have slowly launched new unique propositions and grown our team to provide the best information and assistance to students. Our next step is to bring the entire coaching course buying process online to provide the ultimate convenience to the students!

6. Kindly describe in detail about your distinct services and products / Describe the unique solutions/products that make your company stand out amongst the rest.

Exambazaar is India’s largest Coaching Classes discovery and comparison platform by far. We differentiate ourselves on both quality and quantity on information and services we provide. We have more than 38000 Coaching Classes in 400+ Cities covering 50+ exams. Why we stand apart from listing websites like Just Dial and Sulekha are our deep listings with exhaustive, verified information about fees, photos, videos, past toppers and reviews of coaching classes. Our proprietary rating system based on 15+ objective and subjective rating parameters is first of its kind and rivals MHRD’s NIRF. Map search for the best, closest, cost-efficient coachings and the ability to book demo lectures instantly online makes the process hassle free for the students. But the best part is the exclusive discounts that we provide on coaching courses that makes coaching affordable for all!

We continue to help the students throughout their test preparation duration with a host of different products for FREE Question Papers - Previous Year Question Papers of 50+ Exams available to attempt or download. Proprietary Testing interface, customisable for every exam.

EQAD – Daily Exam Practice with Free Exam Question A Day in your inbox or on the website itself.

Current Affairs – The Most Important Daily Current Affairs, hand-picked for IAS, SSC, Bank, RRB, Govt Exams with summaries of important points, complete with weekly, monthly and section wise revision Capsules.

Preparation Guides – Preparation Strategies by exam toppers and the best coachings for the exam, by invite only In addition, the student can benefit from our unique and innovative tools like ‘Best Coachings’ which has Expert reviews of the best Coaching Classes across India, ‘ExamWiki’ where students can get a List of ALL Exams they can write just by entering their qualifications and the latest exam updates for 150+ exams! In short, no

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platform in India provides the range of content for test preparation or covers the breadth of streams and exams that we do.

7. What has been your game of plan to tackle the challenges in terms of changing trends, market players and innovations happening in the Ed-Tech startup industry?

Online Coaching Classes have picked up in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Even MOOC websites now host courses for low involvement exams like SSC and Bank PO. We think that consolidation in offline coaching can fight with the pricing pressure coachings face. Marketable products in the AR/VR space for education are still to be developed, but those can fundamentally change how the students in India learn. We stand at the cusp of change in terms of how students view education, and we are ready to embrace the move to online education because our platform caters to all formats of courses.

8. Enlighten us about any new advancements and technologies that have had a huge impact on the Ed-Tech startup industry.

With introduction of Jio and the follow through in mobile data prices across companies, video streaming for coaching classes has become a lot easier and, more importantly, possible in the Tier 3 and 4 cities and villages. Many startups have shifted from USB / Tablet based coaching to online classes which can be streamed via the app. Super cheap mobile data prices in India have become a big boost to Ed-Tech startup industry overall.

9. What is your advice to the young entrepreneurs in the Ed-Tech Startup Industry?

Ed-Tech as a sector is tough and patience in the founding team is paramount. Most entrepreneurs in education build the wrong type of business, because entrepreneurs think of education as a quality problem. The average person thinks of it as a cost problem. Try to find ways to disrupt the status quo of the current market rather than incremental innovation.

10. How do you portray the future of your company?

Tell us something about your upcoming solutions.

Our ultimate goal is to become the one stop shop both for students and coaching classes. We aim to make sure that if a student thinks about entrance exams, he thinks about Exambazaar! We will square off our test preparation universe with the facility to buy all coaching courses online, thousands of mock tests and online study material for FREE. On the coaching side, we want to become the most effective and efficient marketing channel for coaching institutes who wish to advertise their strengths, market discounts or sells out early bird or last seats.

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FUNDAMENTOR Where Education is Fun! personalized, and adaptive. It is on a mission to build a framework where learners have fun while learning and receives learning inputs in bite sized doses to prevent information overload and boredom.

The company has been developed by professionals who have worked globally at senior positions in Fortune 500 companies. Team Fundamentor consists of alumni from top engineering and business schools in India and the US. Currently, the company has over twenty-seven thousand users across 100 + organisations, which includes schools, colleges, and corporates.

The Hardship Story of the Dynamic Duo Bhargavi AR and Amol Patkar are the Co-Founders of Fundamentor. Bhargavi and Amol graduated from Delhi College of Engineering and further went ahead to pursue their MBAs, being passionate about education. While Bhargavi did her MBA from FMS, Amol did his MBA from IIM Calcutta.

Bhargavi AR | Amol Patkar Co-founder

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stablished in 2014, Fundamentor is a globally awarded gamified skill assessment and development company. Developing children for future is what best describes the company. The company's flagship online product is targeted towards improving life skills and cognitive aptitude among the school children.

Fundamentor’s expertise in building customized learning and assessment solutions has helped it to attain customers across India, the US, Singapore and UAE. Acknowledging the evolving technology, the company prominently offers Gamified Learning & Assessment Platform, Customised Courseware, and Engaging Learning Content with an aim to transform the learning landscape. Its innovative game based solutions are proficiently driven by Critical thinking, Data inference, Communication, Problem-solving, and Decision-making needed to deal with changing landscape of professional choices. Since inception, Fundamentor has been using technology, gamification, animation, and analytics to make learning fun,

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The primary challenge faced by most Ed-Tech companies is demonstrating that the product actually solves the learning problem that they are trying to solve. It is because learning is not like the various industries where the solution can provide instant gratification. The effectiveness of learning solution from a long term perspective is difficult to measure in the short term. Meeting the same challenge, Bhargavi and Amol successfully addressed this problem by ensuring that the platform focuses on bite size learning, repeated assessment and analytics-based instant feedback for improvement. They efficaciously embraced these techniques in their quizzes as well as in the learning videos.

With sheer determination and unified efforts, they are taking the Ed-Tech space beyond the comprehensive educational curve.

“Leaving our well-settled jobs was the easiest part. Also launching our idea and getting a team together was a smooth process too,” asserts the duo. But, there were various challenges which the company had to overcome and convert them into opportunities during its initial stage. One of the major challenges was to find an appropriate location to place the cornerstones of the company as the co-founders were based in Dubai and Mumbai. But, they successfully overcame this challenge by making frequent trips to India.

Also, Vendor selection was not an easy task, but they solved

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BOOMING

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EdTech STARTUPS TO WATCH

this challenge by identifying and selecting vendors through referrals and subsequent evaluation Another major challenge was meeting the stakeholders in schools and making them interested in the products offered

by Fundamentor. Under the co-founders’ aegis, the company has built a minimum viable product at its embryonic stage and took it to twenty schools and colleges in India and UAE. More about Fundamentor “We are unique not because of the technology that we use but the overall use of technology and UI/UX to execute a very successful model of gamification for the learning use case,” say the co-founders.

The company uses Ruby, Node.js, LAMP, Mongo and PosgreSQL for the web applications. Its extensive use of analytics to track user experience makes it distinctive.

Updating the application to user feedback and ensure high level of engagement makes Fundamentor a successful learning platform.

Team Fundamentor has its presence in five locations across four cities including Bangalore, Pune, Delhi and Dubai.

This structure offers employees with an independence to achieve their objectives and contribute to Fundamentor's success. The company works on weekly, quarterly and annual objectives through its online tools where the roles and responsibilities are clear among individuals. Its work culture truly provides support and encourages the people at its best. All these factors combine to keep the employees motivated and the work environment hassle-free.

Fundamentor, being a SaaS-based platform, offers innovative assessment and learning products in a costeffective manner – a reasonable per user subscription. The value of these benefits outweighs the costs, hence the company has been able to maintain client relations with utmost resilience.

Noteworthy Recognitions Over the years, Fundamentor has successfully collected various jewels in its pocket including: • Selected for Google Launchpad Build • Winners of impact award in Facebook’s India Innovation Challenge • IBM Startup Star Finalist • Winners of UK Govt.Tech Rocketship Award at the Indo UK Tech Summit • Winner of MIT School of Telecom Startup Award for Innovation • Selected for NASSCOM 10 K Startup Program

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• Selected for Village Capital India Education 2017 program • Featured in key vendors in “Global Education Gamification Market 2016-2020” and “Global Education Gamification Market 2017-2021” by a leading UK based market research organisation.

Edifying the Beginners Education is not an industry where instant gratification or get-rich-quick schemes will work in the longer run.

Fundamentor advices the young minds to have patience, as it takes time to build a reputation in the Ed-Tech world.

Future Ahead The company perceives a great and bright future for EdTech startups ahead. There is a greater scope for providing personalized and adaptive learning tools, which the learner can learn as per his/her pace as well as convenient time and location.

Fundamentor has a set of unique tools which can gamify learning, assess written & verbal communication skills, and also develop cognitive aptitude. The company is working on game-based assessment, where user plays a game with a provision to attain their assessed profile and tools for social media footprint-based psychometric assessment.

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We provide a well-structured and fun curriculum for developing cognitive aptitude

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ranjeetha Golde Vincent is the Engagement Associate at Walnut Knowledge Solutions Pvt. Ltd. With a Masters in Human Development she is a part of the research and content team. Passionate about children, she was previously involved in working with children with special needs. Reliable and organized is what best describes Ranjeetha.

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InQUIZitive Learners

Ranjeetha Golde Vincent Engagement Associate

|December 2018|

Expert’s Insight

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hat’s at the bottom of the sea? Why do we get dreams? How are doughnuts made? Who, what, where, when, why, how? Ma’am, do you have answers to my questions? To the despair of my teachers as a child, I used to ask a great deal of questions. Some would take great efforts to answer all of them while others would hush me up!

Albert Einstein once said, “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” Maybe this is what made him follow the pursuit of knowledge!

Great learners never stop asking questions! Children are innately curious and this nature begins during the early childhood years. Curiosity has proven to make children smarter and as they grow, they excel at seeking answers. As teachers and educationists, it becomes crucial for us to encourage them to do this. Intelligence is sharpened through constant learning and is continuous through life.

This continuity is because of curiosity that needs to be used as a tool to inspire them towards greater learning.

Providing an atmosphere of curious learning is as important as answering children’s questions. It isn’t an arduous task to provide such an atmosphere. Some of the ways are; to build a framework of a quizzing technique in the classroom that inculcates interest in learning. Perhaps, a quiz is called so because it makes one inquisitive! Creating a curriculum where answers are worked out in a systematic way by fostering children to use their thinking skills. To question, analyse and process the information put forth and finally inferring out a conclusion. This kind of a systematic approach will not just teach the child to simplify and work out problems, it is sure to hone their critical thinking.

Another approach to instill curiosity is by, maneuvering them to the “Socratic Method of Learning.” Here, the teacher doesn’t merely rely on children to ask questions, rather she can curate a set of questions with workable clues and hints, and allow children to brainstorm answers. The questions can be in the form of texts, videos, audios, GIFS and images. This kind of learning builds a strong foundation for problem-solving skills in children. Research has time and again shown that our brain retains information better if we’re are curious about it, thus making it more receptive for learning.

answers. Every classroom is teacher-driven! An excellent curriculum can’t get any better if the teacher in the classroom doesn’t possess the passion for teaching. She will always want to inspire children in the classroom. She wouldn’t shun their questions rather, make efforts to answer through explanation and riddling them further. She will go the extra mile to introduce various techniques of teaching that are suitable to tap children’s curiosity by adding an element of fun as well. A passionate teacher is curious herself, therefore igniting her children’s mind. Well, passion for learning is contagious!

Did you know, that learning begins when the child is in the womb itself? Thus, who plays a greater role in the initial stages of a child’s curiosity? Needless to say, it’s the mother! Hence parents play a pivotal role in their child becoming a curious learner. Parents need to provide various opportunities to explore and discover as this leads to mastering and acquiring new skills. This in turn, proves to enhance their sense of self-esteem and making them confident learners. Answering to the child’s queries; making a visit to the museum, zoo, parks, etc; doing activities; storytelling, playing educational games on phones and laptops (Psst! Limiting the screen time!) are some of the ways to nurture the child’s thirst for knowledge.

Besides, technology has proven to harness children’s innate curiosity. With easy access to search engines and educational apps, they get to research information at the click of a button. Virtual reality has made it possible for a stimulated and experiential learning. Online platforms like Google Museum and Google Earth give them an edge over exploring various places and game-based learning motivates them to learn more. The infiltrations of technology such as these are leading the education sector towards a new method of learning and it is sure to change how children learn permanently. There is no doubt that innovative Ed-Tech is going to rule the future of education.

But the challenge would be to constantly keep the flame of curiosity burning through technology and for parents and teachers to navigate them in the direction to sustain it.

A teacher is a significant individual to pique children’s curiosity. They need to act as a facilitator, observer, sculptor of children’s minds and a motivator to help them seek |December 2018|

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Ed-Tech Startups Transforming the Indian

Education System for Better

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he technology advancements are paving a creative pathway towards empowering the existing as well as the next-gen. The tech-enabled discoveries are transforming both, teaching and learning. Acknowledging the teacherstudent relationship, the Ed-Tech startups are embracing the technology changes and rolling-out prominent solutions for the well-being of the society. These startups are redefining the way teachers and students gather, access, analyse, present and transmit information. Bringing novelties to existence, these are transforming the education system for better.

Gone are the days where education system was being recognized as theoretical, exams-driven, and impractical. Today, the emerging as well as the existing Ed-Tech startups are changing this scenario and providing relevant education in simple yet effective ways. Leveraging digital platforms, these startups are defining the true essence of learning and education. A platform which is accessible for users across India. This implies that the combination of digital media and education is enhancing the distance education along with the cultural preservation. Further, the EdTech startups are blending user

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experience and analytics and generating profitable learning outcomes.

The changing education game theory is developing newer opportunities which are boosting the civilization.

Breaking the Traditional Barriers The traditional academic approach dealt with the content that encouraged linear learning – an approach moving from one chapter to the other. Basically humans learn in pieces and have the capabilities to connect these dots, when necessary. Recognizing these loopholes, the Ed-Tech startups are working with the publishing houses, academicians to create content based on the past pedagogy and educational experiences. With a number of interdisciplinary skills, the startups are attaining interconnections between technology platforms, influencers, educators, publishers, administrators and learners. This in turn is enhancing the critical thinking instead of forcing steps from a textbook. These tech-enabled startups are developing content that empowers the studentteacher relationship, especially at the school level.

Currently, the education system is a book, which is full of chapters

showcasing personalised assessments, VR content, parent engagement, gamification, soft skills development, and digital libraries. Student networking, test preparation, procurement marketplaces, learning analytics, language tools, internship location, and real-time scenario engagement are also some of the key areas, where the Ed-Tech startups are benchmarking their presence.

The Practical Approach Nowadays, the educational institutes, especially schools opts an interactive educational product which stimulates the sensory system by staging a playful atmosphere for movement. Thanks to the Ed-Tech startups which are enhancing collaboration and teamwork among students, right from the beginning with a practical approach.

As such, the students can easily remember and recall things – they just have to replicate their experiences and improve on it.

The digital products initiated by these startups boost the teachers to conceptualize and create simulated games that support learning. This helps the students to interact with the stimulations – via a motion sensor (using hands and feet) – and solve the games. These games are a pathway to

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Editor’s Frame encourage students’ collaboration at right age. On the other hand, the Ed-Tech startups also cherish epistemic games – students play various roles like engineers, city planners, reporters, public administrators, judges and so on, to create awareness in them about the real-world problems. Further, the startups are working at an exponential rate in providing these solutions to schools and other educational institutes in order to help the students learn important real-time concepts.

Going Hand-in-Hand The digital learning is adding various colors to the learning and training process. But, the significance of humans in education system cannot be understated. The Indian Ed-Tech startups are building a perfect blend of online and offline learning - augments human connect between the teacher and the students, and yet automating and personalizing the experience. This enables the teachers to be a mentor rather than being an administrator. Furthermore, this imparts the students with their own independent perspective about the education. It influences the children at every level with the virtues of trust, safety, ethics, relevance and focus in cyberspace.

Future with Ed-Tech Startups It is necessary for a student to develop a learning-based creative thinking to withstand the future challenges. The Ed-Tech startups are all set to nurture the students’ life with problem solving skills, abilities to deal with high level of stress and expectations as well as professional values and ethics.

Keeping-up the same momentum, these startups are just at the right position to dismantle the future educational challenges. This is a way towards achieving better literacy rate in the coming years.

The future with Ed-Tech startups would present a scenario which would help students in collaborative activities, ranking, and asking questions, not just answering them! The Ed-Tech startups are definitely a way to bring high-end education and learning to the masses with comparatively lower cost.

The Ed-Tech transformations are the rays of hope for creating diversified opportunities for a better future. All in all, these startups are one of the key factors in shaping the Indian youth and workforce in the coming decades.

- Rahul Niraj |December 2018|

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Eupheus Learning Exploring Education to the Core

Vishwas Jain Managing Director

Sarvesh Shrivastava Co-founder & MD

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|December 2018|

Interview with Insights Success

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atering comprehensive solutions to the Education world, one-stop shop for the all the learning requirements; Eupheus Learning is one of the leading Ed-Tech companies. Sarvesh Shrivastava is the Co-founder and Managing Director of the company.

Since its inception, the company has been consistently delivering quality services in a cost-effective way for its customers. To get more insight about Eupheus’s exclusive services and uniqueness, we bring you an exclusive interview with Sarvesh.

1. Kindly brief us about the company.

Eupheus Learning is a Delhi based Ed-Tech company which aims to bridge the gap between in-class and at-home learning by offering pedagogically differentiated, technology-led solutions in the K-12 space. Our start up offers solutions that are applicable at home as much as they are in the classroom, so that there is no discontinuity in what is being learned.

2. Please tell us something about the Founder/CEO and his/her contribution towards the company.

I have been working in the education and IT sectors for more than 30 years now. After spending these many years in the industry, I witnessed the changing paradigm of the education sector in India. I have always envisioned creating an organization dedicated to offering pedagogically differentiated technology driven solutions that lead to critical thinking and achievement of higher learning outcomes in the K-12 space. I started Eupheus Learning with the aim of making education fun and engaging for kids of all learning capabilities.

We have partnered with 11 international companies so far, such as World Book and ETS from the USA, Sanako from Finland, Fiction Express from Spain, Primo Toys from UK, and Robo Garden from Canada to curate Global solutions.

3. Your perspective about the Ed-Tech Startup world.

Kids these days are smart enough and know where to access tutorials, lectures and solutions on the internet. A lot of youngsters are already using online learning tools to further advance what they’ve learnt in school and college like coding tutorials, animation and graphic designing, programming etc. We can look forward to the integration of online learning systems and tools within school educational programs where kids will be able to learn more at home also without the need of a human teacher.

4. Mention any awards and appreciations that your company has received.

• 20 Most Promising K12 Tech Solutions Provider 2018

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– CIO Review India • Best Training Practices – Runners Up - 8th Genius HR Excellence Award 2018 5. Please describe the journey of your organization so far.

Before starting this journey of Entrepreneurship, the management team, which is leading Eupheus Learning, did a successful turnaround of the Indian arm of a global education entity and made it profitable in a short span of time. But we felt that there were some unresolved ongoing challenges which we would be able to address only if we were doing the journey on our own.

Today, we are glad we made that transition, because now, since the company’s inception, we have reached to over One million students and approx. 2000 institutions who subscribe to our various solutions. We plan to reach about 5000 schools and be accessible to at least Five million students by the beginning of next year. We plan to create an impact on more than 10 million student’s lives over the next five years.

6. Kindly describe in detail about your distinct services and products.

From an early stage, the curriculum must expose the learner towards skill sets or talent they possess so that they can develop those talents and not just do what everyone else is doing. We have curated solutions for Coding, Reading, Spoken English, Reference, Kinaesthetic Learning, etc. so that we can cater to distinct gap areas in the K-12 space in India. These solutions are aligned to CBSE / ICSE and help students gain expertise in 21st century skills which shall help making them Employable when they grow up.

7. What has been your game of plan to tackle the challenges in terms of changing trends, market players and innovations happening in the Ed-Tech startup industry?

Change is good! Innovations keep us on our toes and keeps us motivated to out-do the best in trend. Our plan is very simple – Learn, Unlearn and Relearn.

8. Enlighten us about any new advancements and technologies that have had a huge impact on the Ed-Tech startup industry.

There are three things that have had a huge impact on the Ed-Tech startup industry- innovative ways of teaching with technology, games-based learning.

9. Describe the unique solutions/products that make your company stand out amongst the rest.

We offer solutions that are applicable at home as much as

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they are in the classroom, so there is no discontinuity in what is being learned; this is what sets us apart.

Unique solutions/products: 1. WORLD BOOK INC. (USA) – Age appropriate Reference solutions in print and digital form.

2. SANAKO (FINLAND) – Language Learning digital solution in offline and online form 3. FICTION EXPRESS (SPAIN) – Reading program in form of Live books - students vote for the next chapter of the book which is then written by the author.

4. CUBETTO (UK) – Coding program for three to eight-year-old kids via wooden robot, a board and instruction blocks (no digital screen intervention needed).

5. WIZEFLOOR (DENMARK) – Kinaesthetic learning program for kids thru Interactive floor 6. ROBOGARDEN (ALBERTA, CANADA) – To learn coding in a gamified environment via adventures, journeys and missions.

7. ALLIED PUBLISHERS – Curriculum Catalogue of over 350 titles for both CBSE and ICSE boards.

Eupheus Learning to relaunch all titles in print and digital forms.

8. INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR OLYMPIAD (ISFO) – Organized by Eupheus Learning, ISFO is a truly International Olympiad for Math, Science, English and G.K. in India and UAE, in collaboration with the Singapore and Asian Schools Math Olympiad (SASMO).

9. TECHB (ATAL TINKERING LABS) – Eupheus Learning in association with TECHB provides the best in class hardware and training for Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL), a Government of India initiative and is a preferred vendor to setup the laboratories in schools across India.

10. ETS (USA) – TOEFL Certification for kids of Age 8 – 14.

10. What is your advice to the young entrepreneurs in the Ed-Tech Startup Industry?

There are many entrepreneur’s hoping to change the face of education with promises to resolve an issue. But before you do so please make sure you understand the education sector well before entering. It is a complex

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marketplace over saturated with products and idea, therefore in order to be seen and heard doesn’t try and solve already solved problems. Technology should engage and improve students in the classroom, not isolate them. Create engaging and unique products that will bring out the best in them.

11. How do you portray the future of your company?

Tell us something about your upcoming solutions.

We plan to work towards making Eupheus Learning a number one learning solutions provider. We have all the ingredients to be that organization; a team of best in industry editorial resources, dedicated sales and marketing professionals and credible partners which make us potentially a single possible partner for providing engaging solutions to a decision maker at a school.

We are going to introduce some exciting Apps and solutions soon…

1. Analytics platform – AVOCADO Practice makes you perfect - The mantra behind Avocado (full of omega3 fatty acid – essential element for brain development) It is an online platform to practice the questions from your Eupheus Learning textbook. Avocado App identifies the gaps and helps in understanding 'where he/she needs help from a teacher / parent'. It provides active tracking of the identified areas and provides analytics on the improvement achieved over a period, thereby getting a clear picture on speed as well as accuracy. Teachers can also precisely monitor the performance of their students and personalize teaching style/material accordingly.

2. BBC Muzzy – The world's # 1 multimedia, multilingual, multi-platform and multi-awarded language learning course for children.

Using captivating cartoon characters that tell a video story, MUZZY BBC uses a natural immersion approach to language learning that mimics the process we all used to acquire our native tongue. The unique MUZZY design is effective for visual/spatial, verbal, kinaesthetic, musical, and logical/mathematical learners.

3. Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) powered APP for learning Grammar – RADIANT-LY Radiant-ly app helps in brushing up the grammar skills in a fun an interactive way. Based on the lessons taken from the renowned and time-tested New Radiant Readers, the app works beautifully on both, mobile phones as well on web.

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GENEXT STUDENTS Providing Best Home Tutors at Students’ Doorsteps The Visionary Director Ali Asgar Kagzi is the mastermind behind Genext Students as its Co-founder & Director. During his post-graduation days at London School of Economics (LSE), he was fascinated with the use of technology in empowering education. He was convinced that the technology could prove to be a game-changer in the Indian context and Edtech will drive the next wave of innovation in India. After graduating, he went on to work as a consultant at Accenture, London. However, the seed of thought around starting an Ed-tech venture in India kept growing stronger in him. After a short, yet highly valuable stint at Accenture, he moved to India to put his thoughts into action and thus, was Genext Students born.

Ali Asgar Kagzi Co-founder & Director

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n today’s highly competitive era, every student aspires to excel in academics to ensure a bright future. A large number of parents and students seek after-school tutoring to get extra edge and achieve the best possible results. Every student is different according to their abilities and grasping power. A ‘one-solution-fits-all’ does not work anymore, hence, more and more parents and students are leaning towards the idea of private home tuition. Offering the same, Genext Students is one of its kind AI-powered home tutoring ecosystem combining the best of physical tutoring and technology-aided learning. The firms’ platform helps parents and students discover and connect with the right tutor as per relevant requirements. This tutor- student connection is further enhanced by the firms’ technology aided tools.

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A Determined Journey Initially, when the firm started, it lacked the building blocks of honesty and integrity from the parents and tutors.

Consequently, it worked closely and individually with its first few customers to provide the best possible services.

Genext Students started receiving a lot of referrals once these first customers were satisfied with its services. Today, the platform acquires more than fifty percent of tutor and student base every month through referrals. Secondly, in order to ensure that the organization has an efficient and lean operation to keep costs down, Genext Students built robust tech-oriented processes to help scale quickly while keeping its incremental costs low.

Hallmark-Quality Services For students, along with the provision to connect with tutors, the Ed-tech platform also provide comprehensive digital content for adaptive learning. This content comprises bench analysis, study notes, solutions to textbook question, sample question papers, past year board exam papers, video lessons along with very comprehensive and chapter wise assessment modules. All this is complemented by in-depth analytics-performance and analysis tools-which track and analyze student’s study progress and their performance. The analytics tools offer some very helpful and meaningful information about the students such as their strong and

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BOOMING

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EdTech STARTUPS TO WATCH

weak areas, subject-wise and chapter-wise scores and performance status, historical performances, top performers for that particular class or subject or chapter etc.

On the tutors’ front, Genext Students has created a platform where it aggregate, verify, train and brand the individual tutors and help them get discovered easily. In addition, it empowers these tutors with a suite of assessing and admin tools which help them discharge their tutoring efficiently.

These tools take care of tutors’ admin work and help them focus completely on their core responsibility of teaching.

These also include student and batch management system, attendance tracking system, tutor language proficiency testing module, test generators, student progress tracker, parent messaging and communication systems.

Filling the Industry Gaps According to the company, more than ninety percent of students in India opt for after-school classes or tuition.

Increasingly a large number of parents are getting inclined towards hiring home tutors for their children right from an early age.

Through Genext Students’ technology platform, parents and students can locate the best-suited tutor as per their requirement. There are individual tutors spread all across the country and the firms' platform aggregates and verifies alongside making them discoverable. According to the firm, following are the gaps that are needed to be addressed in the industry.

Firstly, students along with getting the best home tutor get access to the digital content, extensive assessment modules, and in-depth performance analysis. This increases their engagement in studies and motivates them towards achieving better results while making learning fun.

Secondly, these days’ parents are not able to keep a tab on the progress of their child’s study regularly. The Genext Students platform provides real-time test reports, comparative analysis and study progress to the parents.

Lastly, for tutors, the firm has created a suite of admin tools that helps students in discharging their duties efficiently.

There is a separate application for tutors which include parent messaging and communication system and student doubt clearing forum.

focusing on very good content or listing of tutors. However, no one is providing the end-to-end combination of services that Genext Students offers. Its platform has valuable offerings and tools for parents, students as well as tutors.

This helps the company to maintain the stickiness of all the stakeholders in the education ecosystem which is a great challenge. Moreover, its vision is to provide the right tutor as per the child’s learning needs at the click of a button in order to deliver a measured learning experience. The firms’ technology development and user experience enhancements and customer service are driven by this vision.

The firm states that, currently, the impact of technology is largely limited to urban areas and is at a very nascent stage.

There are several innovative solutions being implemented to make learning fun and highly impactful. However, over the next five-to-ten years, this impact would flow down to smaller towns and rural areas which will drive the next wave of revolution in the country. And that, precisely, is the power of technology that the firm is definitely going to use it in the near future. The firms’ home tutor connect services are available across Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, and Hyderabad and it is planning to expand it to other cities and states for which it already has content available.

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We are an end-to-end tech enabled tutoring services management platform

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Prepared to Deliver Next-Gen Education There are several Ed-tech providers, which are either

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HOW

TECHNOLOGYHAS

CHANGED TEACHING METHODOLOGY

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FOR

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GOOD |December 2018|

Maven’s Mentorship

About the Author A dynamic serial entrepreneur, Pradeep Jolly, is the Co-Founder of Wonderland and Early Learning Village Play Schools. Recognizing a huge lacuna in the preschool and kindergarten schooling arena, he established these schools which have excelled and have become examples of ideal pre-schools in the country. Pradeep has completed his graduation in Economics (Hons.) from Delhi University and MBA from Durham University.

Under his leadership, Early Learning Village has been ranked as the “Best Brand Identity in Asia 2018”.

Also, Wonderland Play School has bagged an award at ASSOCHAM “Best School in TeachingLearning Practices”. Apart from this, Pradeep has effectively set up and expanded many businesses like entertainment, numerous hospitals and real estate projects. |December 2018|

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ducation for toddlers has evolved over the years and the use of technology nowadays is significantly enabling and enriching the way education is delivered in early years learning centres.

Technology is playing a key role in making it easier for toddlers and kids to learn new concepts. Since the subject is now explained to the kids through a screen or a gadget with a lot of audio-visual elements, the children are able to understand them better as compared to when they are given mere oral lessons or explained with simple two-dimensional pictures. For Example, rhymes are now easily picked up by kids with the help of animated videos with alluring sound beats.

What technology has done is that it has made kids to show eagerness and involvement much more than in yesteryears.

Even they want to look at and experience these lessons like rhymes and puzzles when they are taught with the help of videos and other modern technology tools. Not just that, they are able to learn something new faster. The hrdimensional videos and caricatures help them understand things better.

These modern technology tools are also helping kids to retain the subject matter and new learning for a longer time.

Simple oral recitation of a poem or a rhyme by the teacher usually does not remain in their memories for a long time but the rhymes learnt with audio-visual aid tends to remain in their memories for far longer periods.

Children are also more adept in technology these days than earlier. If they are made to watch something on a tab, they don’t feel unfamiliar as they have already seen smartphones and tabs with their parents, and possibly fidgeted with them a bit too. Hence the teachers and instructors in preschools are blending in the new methodologies and cutting edge technologies along with the grooming and upbringing of the kids these days.

Various useful new teaching methodologies are emerging in the world, particularly in Finland and being adopted by new-age schools for delivering maximum results and improving overall learning experience of the children.

Phonics and other methodologies are being adopted in good schools these days to augment the learning experience of kids.

a document camera and various cards provided with the augmented reality kit. This helps the kids discern better and learn the sounds that animals make rather easily. Similarly, augmented reality is also helping far better in letter identification and letter sounds for enhanced learning of the kids. There is marked difference in the way children participate in the class and with the course content with phonetic word-building and better sentence structuring.

There are applications which make use of a phone, mostly iPad, to project the drawings of the kids on the classroom TV in three-dimensional pictures. The iPad is mounted with a special reflector on the top to mirror the camera of the phone to the TV screen. All the scribbling and work of the kids comes to life with the help of this technology. This makes the kids want to come to the class every day.

Research done in developed countries has shown that kids who work in pairs on an iPad fare better than those who work independently. Thus new-age schools in India have started inculcating these gadgets in the classroom teaching aids and then making kids work on them in pairs. This has shown remarkable results in collaborative skills of the kids in India too.

Technology tools are also helping bridge the gap between parents and the teachers. There are various new ways through which parents can communicate with the teacher, stay updated with their child's progress at school and know exactly where their wards may be lacking in class. There are apps and tools through which teachers can convey the exact areas where the child can be improved to the parents and then parents can work on those aspects at home with the child.

There is ample evidence that both parents and children are continuing to show more inclination for new-age and technological tools for learning. Schools, academicians and technology professionals are sharpening their focus on the children and are open to adopting any new technology which has proven efficacy and has the ability to enhance education experience and learning of kids.

Technology is here to stay and will only evolve for the better. Only modern schools that adopt these technology tools discreetly will survive in the long run as they will be able to deliver more to the kids and their parents in a meaningful way.

There are augmented reality tools that make animals come alive on the classroom TV or smart screen with the help of

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|December 2018|

SECRETS TO PICK-UP THE RIGHT

Ed-Tech Tool T

he educational universe is witnessing technology advancements at an exponential rate. Recent upliftment in access to technology through bringyour-own-device (BYOD) and 1:1 initiatives are rolling out blended and virtual learning opportunities for the students. These advancements are becoming the cornerstones of novel discoveries – tools that elevate a student’s learning experience to exceptional levels. The traditional classrooms are evolving into an enriched tech-based space where the educators are looking for guidance on how to choose the best Ed-Tech tool in order to enhance the learning outcomes.

Ed-Tech tools have started becoming an integral part of a classroom. These tools can effectively empower the students as well the teachers when integrated wisely.

As modern classrooms are being transformed by technology, it is necessary to know which tools are the just right choices to improve learning in the classrooms.

Acknowledging the increasing number of tools available, let’s learn how to make the right call and choose the perfect Ed-Tech tool for a better education system.

Clear Learning Objectives The tools which overcome the traditional standards of education and fulfill the learning goals can prove to be the best for attaining a one-of-its-kind student-teacher relationship. It should be built on a foundation of clear learning objectives, competency-based and should frequently assess student progress until mastery is attained. Also, tools which facilitate learning objective as its prime motive can help students to learn in a more creative manner and explore the frames of education system with a simple click.

The Ed-Tech tools should be effective in satisfying the evidence-based requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) with respect to the clear learning objective. These evidence tiers include strong, moderate, or promising evidence. Institutions prioritizing evidence-based interventions or strategies while developing improvement plans will boost the education system with unique capabilities.

Engaging Students at its Best With tools where students are more likely to participate and voice their thoughts, better student engagement can be achieved. The Ed-Tech tools should engage students by delivering solutions with a choice of when and how they learn. These tools should pre-assess student knowledge and construct learning activities at the student’s zone of proximal development. Tools that allow students to co-engage with others leverage the theory – learning is socially constructed, and it provides opportunities through interaction for the tool to elicit higher-level cognitive skills through discussion, debate, and collaboration. This in turn, creates a win-win situation.

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Roots of Transformation

Accessibility at Ease It is significant to choose a tool which is accessible to all students in the classroom as well as at home. When choosing a tool, remember, the ease of access is the key to success. So, go for the one which uses a simple internet connection or Wi-Fi, allows for a single login in and is safe and secure. A tool which should be able to easily use, navigate and troubleshoot student problems. A tool enhanced with tutorials, guides and supports teachers and students – enabling students to use the technology with minimal or no supervision from the teacher. Also, this will lessen the time that teachers need to teach the functions of the tool to the students.

Effective Assessment – Leverage Technology Technology that can make Ed-Tech tools eye-pleasing and engaging can surely provide teachers with real-time data of the student performance, thereby lending a hand in students’ progress. Tech-enabled assessments can craft detailed information, help drive students’ learning experience towards a pathway of self-development. A tool which can help teachers in collecting data on the progress and performance of their students would be the best for achieving milestones. This would also target specific skills and knowledge of an individual. Also, these tools need to be adaptive – based on Computer-Adaptive Testing (CAT). This would offer accurate assessment data on students from a wider range of abilities. It will also eliminate the loopholes in fixed-form tests and empower customized learning paths that meet students more precisely.

Supporting Sound Teaching Change is the name of the game and choosing the right Ed-Tech tool in the constantly changing technology landscape is definitely a challenge. This implies that it is significant to link decision-making processes to sound foundations of teaching in order to generate a better learning result. Therefore, the institutions would focus on implementing tools which serve the students and teachers who use them. Fostering an engaging differentiated learning experience that connects with students and helps increase their knowledge and skills in an enhanced way.

The Next Big Thing While 2017 was an enthusiastic year for the passionate educators, institutes, erudites and other educational organizations, the end of the year 2018 will witness discoveries like never before. The Ed-Tech tools are coming up with limitless possibilities to transform the walls of classrooms into a best-in-class educational setting. There is a bright future waiting for the students with incomparable opportunities. In this robust environment, where new devices, apps, and even completely new technologies are entering the fold on a daily basis, the Ed-Tech tools will bring creativity, collaboration, and flexibility of the social and home lives to learning. The future outlook is brave enough to buck the current norm of standardization and unleash the potential of teachers and students at its best. This is the key to unlock newer success doors and a way towards civilization.

- Rahul Niraj

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LES TRANSFORMATIONS Designing Result-oriented Solutions Empowering Education With growing demand from various countries, the company is gradually becoming a global provider for quality and tangible teacher education.

LT started on-ground research almost a decade ago and got itself registered as a company three years ago. Their core offerings include teacher learning solutions, teacher affiliation and online certification programs for individual schools, for private group schools and government-run schools at district as well as state level.

Ankit Khanna

Rishabh Khanna

Co-founder

Co-founder & Director

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es Transformations (LT) is a pioneer in providing developmental learning services to schools across the globe. Les Transformations envision a future where learning is an effortless and continuous process. With this vision in mind, Les Transformations is dedicated to teacher education both in-service and pre-service. This is achieved through various programs that focus on overall development of pedagogical skill set of the teacher and track their learning patterns.

LT’s learning platform – SURAASA –helps teachers manage their career profile and enables them to explore work opportunities globally. The programs provided by LT are Certified by international bodies from Dubai and UK.

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The Proficient Leadership Ankit Khanna is the Co-founder of Les Transformations.

Setting the corner stones of the company, Ankit has led the genesis of innovative learning environments through integration of pedagogical methodologies with data science.

Through his proficiency in strategy planning and business acumen, he has developed solutions aimed at enhancing the quality of educators and education across the country.

Rishabh Khanna is the other Co-founder and Director of the company who is focused on Education Management and Learning & Development in schools. He is a Cognitive Scientist with a research focus towards the education domain. He has a rich entrepreneurial & operational experience in diversified educational organizations while developing and leading them from scratch.

Distinctive Solutions Filling the Loopholes Educators are the core of any educational institution and with the rapid change in industry dynamics, the need to upskill educators is growing. LT is a pioneer in tech-enabled certified teacher education with detailed analytical support for all learning programs. Its courses are accredited internationally and are based on its proprietary pedagogy to provide international qualifications. The company offers prominent programs not only giving exposure to international teaching methodologies but also unlocking global professional opportunities. LT’s programs take care of both pre-service and in-service teacher education. They are bridging the gap between the

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theoretical knowledge and practical implementation in the classroom. LT’s is the first company which is transforming intangible teacher training to evidence-based tangible teacher education which leads to better student learning outcomes.

Online learning can become quite monotonous if not curated properly. LT’ online learning modules are gamified and provide much human interaction during the learning process. Teacher from across the globe are connected via the courses to interact with each other and share their queries, experiences, and learnings. Acknowledging the pace of change that the world is witnessing, the company specializes in developing the full potential of one of the most valuable assets any organization possesses – Knowledge. It wants to make its contribution in strengthening the schools to withstand the complexities of the fourth industrial revolution.

Awarded as the “Best Teacher Training Company” by Indian Education Congress three times in a row, LT is embracing cutting-edge technology to give teachers and students the freedom of learning irrespective of place and time, be it school, home or anywhere else in the entire world. Company’s statistical models effectively gauge the learning levels and education leaders on the platform provide a global exposure to the participants while learning.

Their products also enable teachers to connect with each other and share their experiences.

More about Les Transformations Driven by an open work culture, people at LT come from different countries and time zones and collaborate to create a seamless experience for learners. This pursuit drives every team member to learn from each other and creates a diverse culture in the organization. This has helped LT to clinch a global perspective in all its products as well.

Enlightening the Ed-tech Entrepreneurs Over the years, the key mantra that Ed-Tech is ‘Ed enabled by tech’ has helped the company to stand tall and relevant in its sector. In these years of experience, LT has seen some wonderful tech products not been implemented as they were unable to drill smooth Ed transactions and educator convenience. It advices the beginners to go to the educationists, understand their pain points and foresee how their products solve that problem.

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A Tech-enabled Future Ed-Tech will make education transparent and will make human capital and skillset validation easier. Cognitive technologies will create seamless education transactions that might get accounted in blockchain enabled ledgers and might make many current educational functions redundant.

LT is striving to spearhead ‘Cognitive Technologies’ and tech-enabled learning experiences using AI. Currently, the company has a presence in two countries and is all set to launch its products in two more countries in 2019. It has been chasing the latest technologies and will upgrade its products with Big Data and AI in not so distant future. In short, it has already begun the development of AI based interactive learning environments to provide a novel online learning experience.

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Bringing Transformation in schools with continuous teacher education

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Edupreneur’s Perspective

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ndian Education Sector has been taking leaps and bounds to reach to a place where it’s a win-win situation for everyone involved. Over the years, education in India has evolved, with new technologies, experiments and innovative ideas. Not just these, we have also adopted westernization in education, and that too is working wonders for us.

We have adopted and practiced several methods to impart effective knowledge to people. What we have failed to realise is that over the years, these methods have diverted towards money-making rather than spreading education.

Educating someone is a noble deed, and the nobility of education will pay you for life, if not materially.

India has one of the world's highest population of schoolgoing children. However, we wonder, if the quality of education has gone beyond the brick and mortar system.

What India lacks at present, are effective education methods, and that's where the focus of every aspiring edupreneur should lie on. And now that the Government has allowed a 100% FDI on Education Sector, the inflow of ideas with huge investment should be a cakewalk.

Let’s get straight here; the prime ladder of success for all aspiring edupreneurs, would be to prioritize on the needs and the expectations of the industry. Once that’s identified, half the battle is won, and there will be no stopping thereafter. If during the process, money-making becomes a necessity, then it’ll be justified, because you, as an edupreneur, will be providing the worth of the money you are earning.

As of now, amongst all the trends that are hovering around in the education industry, the few ones that an edupreneur can leverage on, are mentioned below: 1. AUGMENTED REALITY (AR) AND VIRTUAL REALITY (VR): Now that our country is progressing towards being dependent on technology for almost everything, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) is the next big step in education. Both of them have become every millennial’s dream and such high-tech devices will only lure them to be motivated to gain more knowledge about a variety of things, including their curriculum. Most highly advanced schools and institutions have started to adopt AR and VR as one medium of learning, right from course studies, to other subjects of importance like social issues, environment and nature, and much more.

2. LEARNING THROUGH GAMES AND OUTDOOR ACTIVITY: This method has slowly invaded the structure of studies |December 2018|

in schools, as children are more enthusiastic to learn more and more things and gain more knowledge. Such activities and games not only keep them involved in studying effectively, but also teach them the importance of physical fitness and good mental health.

3. TEACHING BY CORPORATES: Seeing a concern for future of employability of people, many big corporates have stepped in to provide custommade courses for students. This, as a part of the course curriculum, have been widely accepted by Management institutions and UG/PG colleges. Under this methods, corporates train the students, not only from the knowledge but also from the skills point of view, as their main focus is effective employability of students.

4. BALANCE BETWEEN TECHNOLOGY AND HUMAN NATURE: When it comes to process, technology has always taken the lead. However, it’s not to be forgotten that a human presence and vibe is important too. Education is a thing of faith and trust, and it can’t be fulfilled by gadgets and robots. Backing by them is still acceptable though.

Spreading education in its purest and the most faithful form is the responsibility of an edupreneur, who’s a human. When these two culminate together, they create an ultimate solution which takes the plunge to fulfil its purpose of a knowledgeable environment.

5. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI): All you have to do is sit back and relax and instruct Alexa or Google to teach you the subject of your interest. From art to maths, to politics and science, just instruct the AI-friendly device and you are good to go.

These trends aren’t enough. Newer trends and mediums have been coming up, day in and day out, which the edupreneurs can leverage on. The point is that, the traditional brick and mortar system of learning is no longer justifiable in today’s time, since it’s not making much difference to the future of the educated. In some parts of the country, education is still considered to be unnecessary, however, the fact is that they haven’t been exposed to a funfilled, effective and more purposeful learning till now.

The latest trends involve majority of technology, because most of the surveys, including the independent ones, have proven that people prefer spending more time on their available gadgets. As of now, for edupreneurs, it’s high-time that they leverage on all available trends, and invest wisely on the latest, trends, obviously considering the pros and cons of each. Every trend may involve different level of skill set, investment, resource deployment, but then all it takes is one idea to make it all happen.

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WONDERSLATE TECHNOLOGIES A Digital Step towards Smart Learning learning queries – adopted multiple marketing strategies to cater sub-segments within the education segment revolving around Quality, Alignment with the learning trends, Adoption, and Multi-point monetization.

Established in 2015, the company is a pioneer in building solutions for the stake holders of the current education system. The company proficiently offers solutions which are well equipped with key differentiating features for the education segment including Content Developers/Publishers, Institutions (Schools/Colleges/Coaching Centres), Teachers as well as Students.

Anand Achyut Founder & CEO

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oday’s digital learning has flooded with Static Content and Legacy systems. This static content has many limitations in this digital world including the lack of Smart Notes, Recommendations, Learning Patterns, Dynamic Test Preparations, and Performance Analytics. Many digital education systems are still focusing largely on the operations than learning. Even the eco system is fragmented due to multiple digital strategies and technologies.

Here comes Wonderslate Technologies, a tech-enabled learning platform, which is successfully embracing the concept of Smart Content and empowering the education space through Annotation, Test Generation, Multi-mode learning, Audio/Video Learning, etc. Wonderslate is a platform built to cater comprehensive solutions to the education world. It is a one-stop shop for the all the

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About the Maven Anand Achyut is the Founder and CEO of Wonderslate Technologies. He is a passionate Enterprise Architect turned Entrepreneur. Anand has a ravishing experience of more than two decades in building enterprise applications, e- procurement systems, distributed computing, software security, information risk management, data analytics, and architecting bespoke client applications. With sheer determination and unified efforts, he has efficaciously managed technical teams spread across different geographic locations.

The Success Saga Since inception, content aggregation and smart features have been the foundation of Wonderslate products.

Wonderslate’s agility and the research mindset helped it to solve various complex technology issues and create a niche in its sector. The concept of blended learning had challenges in adoption. With internet becoming affordable and content becoming smarter, it started taking pace.

Students are now getting used to multimodal content and online tools for tests and assessments.

The Workshops, Pilots and Demos to the eco system helped Wonderslate to popularize the concept and effectiveness of blended learning. Today, the company is prominently adapting to the emerging markets and rolling out services transforming the world for better. With each passing day,

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the company’s end-to-end deliverance concept is getting more traction and adoption in the market.

More about Wonderslate Wonderslate stood first in the Ed-Tech Hackathon 2018 conducted by a media platform. The company is a strong believer in maintaining a principled work-ethical culture.

While startup dynamics cannot be underplayed, every employee enjoys freedom and responsibility as operating principles at the company. It focuses on learning and building a high-quality product, which can withstand the complexities of the market and used by millions. Team Wonderslate is consistently aware that it is working on the cutting-edge technology as well as tools.

Over the years, the company has established itself into a one-of-its-kind brand with its unique capabilities comprising: - Streamline the learning experience.

- Increase the effectiveness through enrichment features and tools.

- Transform and Scale Enlightening the Pathseekers The emerging entrepreneurs have the advantage of the technology evolution happening across the world. Ed-tech as a sector is quite a closed sector in terms of change but is always open for meaningful solutions or services. Any idea can be a meaningful one if it can be connected to the users.

Wonderslate believes that solutions should not be an overhead, instead they should simplify or dismantle the existing issues and problems seen in the sector.

A Bright Picture Education as a segment is going through successive wave of changes. The fundamental methodology of teaching and learning is evolving in a huge way. On the other hand, India’s consumption of the internet is growing at an exponentially rate. Internet is becoming affordable and easy access to the internet is diminishing the digital gaps which existed in the various sectors.

Education sector too, capitalized on the shortfalls that existed when the internet was not a household thing.

Educators now reach out to students across the globe through blog and video lessons. Students find it convenient to get their questions answered whenever they are in doubt.

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This trending scenario has encouraged the innovators to embrace technology that influenced the education sector in a lot of positive ways. Thus, overcoming the conventional barriers and making learning free of constraints. With the availability of multi deliverance platforms, education content is on its way to add an extra flavor to the civilization. The future is full of game changing zests like Short yet Informative learning, Artificial Intelligence equals Customized learning experience, Gamification, and Analytics. The schools, colleges and institutes can combine the traditional classroom approach with digital learning features in order to revamp the education deliverance.

An independent research clearly suggests that blended learning has performed way better than traditional learning alone. Students perform better in the blended learning approach and learn efficiently. Wonderslate is an effort to bring the blended learning methodology into the education sector. Its future products will bring Multi Content Learning experience with a more of AI in Test Series and Assessments. Students should have the access to the best content across the world and Wonderslate’s multi monetization points would motivate to publish more content in the near future.

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Learn through our Smart Content and Solutions

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Omnichannel Agent and Customer Engagement Solutions Simplify and personalize the customer experience, empower agents and achieve business success with one workspace for all channel interactions, application integrations, and CX reporting.