On 17 June 2016, IBM will host IBM DeveloperConnect, a first-of-its-kind meet up that will bring together the developer community. Designed to give developers a year’s worth of learning in one day, the event provides opportunities for hands on experimentation with next-gen technology on IBM Cloud, including Bluemix, Watson, IoT and Blockchain
Additionally, IBM executives will lead technology sessions and share key announcements on new products, offerings and initiatives. IBM speakers include
Sandy Carter, General Manager, Developer Ecosystem and Startups
Michael Gilfix, Vice President, Mobile and Transformation
Michael Rhodin, Senior Vice President, Watson Business Development
IBM will also host lightning demos and an immersive experience zone, where developers can test out the newest technologies and offerings on IBM technology.
Spinny, a Delhi based startup in the used car industry, has recently completed the merger of HopCar, another startup in the same industry. The merger will allow Spinny to strengthen its consumer products as well as the development of its technology while at the same time streamlining operations to achieve greater efficiency.
HopCar was established in August, 2015 to provide consumers with a one stop solution to buy and sell used cars. The online vertical focused on giving consumers value, trust, and convenience and targeted the information asymmetry of the used car market. In a similar vein, Spinny was established with the prime directive of improving the consumer experience and their interaction with the used car market. HopCar had been working to provide customers all the relevant information they required, whether they were buying or selling, so as to ensure information asymmetry didn’t take place at any point in the transaction.
HopCar’s founding team includes Arijit Biswas, Rahul Thakur, Anish Karan and Rahul Anand and between them they are bringing a wealth of experience and innovation to Spinny. The approach and the experience of the HopCar fit well with Spinny, which was the prime motive behind the merger.
On the occasion, CEO and Co-founder of Spinny, Niraj Singh said
The used car market is a very fragmented segment with many different players tackling the same issues in their own ways. HopCar was one such player who were working on very similar lines to our own at Spinny. The technology they were developing, their work philosophy, and their approach to the market made the merger with HopCar a natural choice. The merger brings immediate benefits for Spinny as it will allow Spinny to further strengthen its position in the Delhi-NCR region and bring greater efficiency to our operations in Bengaluru as well.
Adding to this, Co-founder of HopCar and now a core team member at Spinny, Arijit Biswas said
Our experience in the used car market has shown us that the issues in the market were too great to solve alone. However, finding a partner to tackle these issues wasn’t so straightforward either. Spinny’s vision synced naturally with our own and we look forward to working with Spinny and their team to deliver a satisfactory consumer experience.
Both companies were working on their own Price and Rating Engines. Through this merger, the engines will be combined, improving the accuracy and depth of the engines. This will help Spinny roll out fully featured and developed Algorithmic Engines that will help the consumer to understand the reasoning behind the pricing and certification provided by Spinny.
HopCar’s merger places Spinny in an advantageous position in the Delhi-NCR pre-owned car market. The company is currently streamlining its operations in Bangalore and looks to expand into Tier I and Tier II cities by the end of 2016. The introduction of the Price Engine and Rating Engine in the coming months will allow Spinny to better cater to consumer needs while at the same also further improve the overall consumer experience for people looking for a reliable, data-driven, and transparent platform to buy or sell pre-owned cars.
Despite the increasing number of data breaches and more than 3.9 billion data records worldwide being lost or stolen since 2013, organizations continue to believe perimeter security technologies are effective against data breaches. This is one of the many findings of the third-annual Data Security Confidence Index released by Gemalto, the world leader in digital security.
Key Findings
One-third of organizations have experienced a data breach in past 12 months
69% of IT professionals are not confident their data would be secure if perimeter defenses were breached
66% of IT professionals say unauthorized users can access their networks and 16% believe unauthorized users have access to their entire networks
Of the 1,100 IT decision makers surveyed worldwide, 61% said their perimeter security systems [firewall, IDPS, AV, content filtering, anomaly detection, etc.] were very effective at keeping unauthorized users out of their network. However, 69% said they are not confident their organization’s data would be secure if their perimeter security was breached. This is up from 66% in 2015 and 59% in 2014. Furthermore, 66% believe unauthorized users can access their network and nearly two in five [16%] said unauthorized users could access their entire network.
Please click to enlarge
Jason Hart, Vice President & Chief Technology Officer for Data Protection at Gemalto said
This research shows that there is indeed a big divide between perception and reality when it comes to the effectiveness of perimeter security. The days of breach prevention are over, yet many IT organizations continue to rely on perimeter security as the foundation of their security strategies. The new reality is that IT professionals need to shift their mind set from breach prevention to breach acceptance and focus more on securing the breach by protecting the data itself and the users accessing the data.
Perimeter security is a focus, but not a panacea for data breaches
According to the research findings, 78% of IT decision makers said they had adjusted their strategies as a result of high profile data breaches, up from 71% in 2015 and up 53% in 2014. 86% said they had increased spending on perimeter security and 85% believe that their current investments are going to the right security technologies.
Despite the increased focus on perimeter security, the findings show the reality many organizations face when it comes to preventing data breaches. 64% of those surveyed said their organizations experienced a breach at some time over the past five years. More than a quarter [27%] said they experienced a breach in the past 12 months, with a similar number of IT decision makers [30%] reporting the same frequency in 2015. This suggests that organizations have not made significant improvements in reducing the number of data breaches despite increased investments in perimeter security.
Jason Hart, Vice President & Chief Technology Officer for Data Protection at Gemalto concluded saying
While companies are confident in the amount of spending and where they are spending it, it’s clear the security protocols they are employing are not living up to expectations. While protecting the perimeter is important, organizations need to come to the realization that they need a layered approach to security in the event the perimeter is breached. By employing tools such as end-to-end encryption and two-factor authentication across the network and the cloud, they can protect the whole organization and, most importantly, the data.
To download the entire report & get India specific data, click here
About the Survey
Independent technology market research specialist Vanson Bourne surveyed 1,100 IT decision makers across the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, India, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Benelux and the Middle East on behalf of Gemalto. The sample was split between Manufacturing, Healthcare, Financial Services, Government, Telecoms, Retail, Utilities, Consultation and Real Estate, Insurance and Legal, organizations with 250 to more than 5,000 employees. For more information, please visit Gemalto
In the new Ericsson ConsumerLab Report – Wearable Technology and The Internet of things, six in ten smartphone users state that wearables have uses beyond health and wellness. Devices related to personal safety and security, such as panic buttons and personal locators, attract most interest.
[Image Source – Wearables]The report highlights key trends in wearable technology, such as:
One in three smartphone users believe they will use at least five connected wearables beyond 2020.
Early signs of detachment from smartphones are visible today with 40 percent of today’s smartwatch users already interacting less with their smartphones.
25 percent of smartwatch owners use their smartwatch to remotely control other digital devices at home, and 30 percent use voice search on their smartwatches.
38% of smartphone users say wearables will be used to perform most smartphone functions within just five years.
Top five most-wanted wearables across five markets surveyed [% interested & willing to buy]
Panic/SOS button – 32%
Smartwatch – 28%
Wearable Location Tracker – 27%
Identity Authenticator – 25%
Wearable Water Purifier – 24%
Click to enlarge
The report captures the opinions of 5,000 smartphone users [of which 2,500 are wearable users] in Brazil, China, South Korea, UK and US, representing the views of 280 million smartphone users globally. In addition to the top five most-wanted wearables, it shows consumers predict a booming wearables market beyond 2020, as well as that wearables might replace smartphones and will help consumers interact with physical things and objects in the internet of things [IoT] era:
A booming wearables market beyond 2020
Ownership of wearables among smartphone users in the surveyed markets has doubled in the past year. However, consumers predict it will take at least another year for the current generation of wearables to go mainstream. A more diverse set of wearables, such as personal safety devices and smart garments, will go mainstream beyond 2020 – but when they do, a booming market can be expected. One in three smartphone users believe they will use at least five connected wearables beyond 2020.
Wearables to turn smartphones into just screens
The integration of smartphones into every aspect of daily life makes it hard to envisage a future without them. But with two in five [43%] smartphone users expecting wearables might replace smartphones, this could indeed happen – although it may take some time. As wearables get smarter and more independent in terms of factors such as connectivity, the smartphone screen may become less significant. Thirty-eight percent of smartphone users say wearables will be used to perform most smartphone functions within just five years.
Jasmeet Singh Sethi, Consumer Insight Expert, Ericsson ConsumerLab, says – Early signs of detachment from smartphones are visible today with 40 percent of today’s smartwatch users already interacting less with their smartphones.
Wearables bringing people into IoT
Wearable technology will also accelerate the convergence of the digital and human worlds, by bringing people into the [IoT]. While consumers are confident that wearable technology will help them interact with objects in their surroundings, they also say that this technology may not necessarily be devices. 60 percent believe that ingestible pills and chips under the skin will be commonly used in the next five years – not only to track vital health data, but also to unlock doors, authenticate transactions and identity, and to control objects. Already today, 25 percent of smartwatch owners use their smartwatch to remotely control other digital devices at home, and 30 percent use voice search on their smartwatches.
Jasmeet Singh Sethi, Consumer Insight Expert, Ericsson ConsumerLab, says Although consumers show greatest interest in devices related to safety, we also see an openness to wearable technology further away from today’s generation. In five years’ time, walking around with an ingestible sensor, which tracks your body temperature and adjusts the thermostat setting automatically once you arrive home, may be a reality.
The complete Ericsson ConsumerLab Report – Wearable Technology and The Internet of things report can be downloaded from here
VMware,Inc have announced the findings of a study on corporate data security practices conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit, which VMware sponsored globally. The research highlights growing cyber-security vulnerabilities in India, with nearly 8 in 10 IT and C-suite business leaders experiencing increased cyber-attacks on their firms in 2015.
Indian businesses are under increasing risk from serious cyber-attacks, with a third [33 percent] of the respondents expecting to be targeted within 90 days – a number higher than the Asia-Pacific region. These findings suggest that many leaders in India are concerned about growing instances of cyber-attacks and their lack of preparedness as they explore new IT innovations to advance their business. This reinforces the need for a new approach to security.
Conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit in the first quarter of 2016, the survey’s primary objective was to analyze the differences, if any, between the C-suite and senior IT executives on data security.
A key finding from the study is the opposing view of the perceived importance of cyber-security as a high-priority initiative in India. IT leaders [32 per cent] in India regard cyber-security as their number one corporate priority, while only 8 percent of C-suite business leaders share a similar point of view. Similarly, while 36 percent of IT leaders believe security budgets will significantly increase in the next two years, only 21 percent of C-suite business leaders foresee likewise.
Forward-thinking organizations understand that the reactive security approach of today is no longer doing its job. They also acknowledge that people and systems can be easily bypassed or blindsided if the business lacks a ubiquitous IT architectural plan that cuts across all levels of compute, network, storage, clouds and devices. By taking a software-defined approach to IT, security is ‘architected’ into everything, empowering organizations to gain the flexibility required to succeed as a digital business.
Critical risks identified by both groups were ‘unknown cyber threats that move faster than their defenses’, ‘resources and data that may unknowingly reside in the cloud’, ’employees who are careless or untrained in cyber-security’ and ‘illegitimate users and devices accessing corporate networks’. Leaders in India are more concerned about the ‘theft of customer data’ than their regional counterparts, with four in 10 [31.8 percent] believing that this could cause the greatest harm to their businesses.
As cyber threats grow in sophistication, any gaps in security resulting from a ‘disconnect’ between C-suite and IT leaders can lead to the loss of intellectual property, competitive positioning and customer data. IT leaders must therefore become more conversant with business risks and objectives. By having deeper conversations and translating cyber risks into business terms, IT leaders can justify requests for more investment in security. The C-suite can then better understand the business implications associated with evolving threats and make informed decisions around strategy and budgets.
VMware NSX : The Platform for Network Virtualization
A layer in between physical infrastructure and applications will be necessary for businesses to detect and respond to cyber-attackers taking advantage of new gaps or exposed frontiers. Virtualization has become the most ubiquitous infrastructure layer covering compute, network, storage, clouds and devices.
Network virtualization through VMware NSX delivers a completely new operational model for networking that forms the foundation of the software-defined data center. NSX builds networks in software, allowing data center operators to achieve levels of agility, security and cost savings that were previously not possible through physical networks.
What’s needed is an organizing framework, a true architecture that all the leading players can align to so that security can be architected in. By changing the dynamics of how we deliver trusted services over vulnerable infrastructure, the IT security industry has an opportunity to chart a new path forward.
In January to February 2016, Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by VMware,Inc, surveyed 1,100 senior executives recruited from companies between $500 million and $5 billion in revenues, on data security practices within their firms. The survey’s primary objective was to analyze the differences, if any, between the C-suite and senior IT executives on data security. The full EIU research paper is available here.
Kuberplay, an SDK-based service, offers a solution for app developers to monetize their applications, retain users and enhance consumer experience by empowering mobile users who choose to watch videos, subscribe to services, install applications and participate in other types of advertisements.
India with around 300,000 app developers is the second largest Android developer community in the world and with the average mobile app usage in India growing by at least 131%, India has outpaced the global growth rate in app development. App development has created about 75,000 direct jobs in India and has the potential to reach 600,000 over a period of time. However, monetization of app development remains a challenge. Over 70% of app developers close shop because of inability to monetize their apps.
Kuberplay will help app developers monetize their app, especially the customers who access only the free component of the app, desire the complete app but are unable to buy the app because they are expensive. The global purchase of in-app purchase is only 2%; through Kuberplay this can increase up to 10% helping them towards financially viable business models. By integrating Kuberplay into their app the revenue of an App Developer in consumer premium space can increase by 25 to 30%.
Kuberplay, will change the game for app developers, and this will be the impetus for an evolution in mobile app development. The mobile has become a part of individual’s life management, and there is considerable development happening and possible through creation of new apps. We are happy to contribute towards this, as it will unleash the creativity and innovation, that earlier faced the challenge of monetization.
As a company, we have always been innovative in using our competencies in technology and our deep understanding of the mobile ecosystem to create platforms that provide a win- win scenario for all. We are hoping for this to be a complete game changer for the mobile app ecosystem.
How Kuberplay Works
The developer integrates Kuberplay to his app and while customers are using the app, it will display a list of app download offers with a fixed gratification against each offer.
For e.g. If a customer is playing the free version of a game or listening to the free song of a movie app, then on downloading and installing an app from the Kuberplay’s offer wall, the customer will get virtual coins or give user access to the paid version of the game or one more premium song or film.
About Kratos
Kratos is a leading advertisement technology company for developing mobile ad serving platforms.They are teamed with a bunch of talented individuals with more than 35 years of combined experience in the space of mobile and ad technology. Kratos was established in 2013 by Upal Pradhan,the managing director. Kratos already boasts a history of 3 successful startups in mobile technology space and one in the entertainment space.They developed their own mobile ad serving platform in a record time-span of less than four months.This platform is highly scalable, and forms the foundation of their ad network. For more information, please visit Kratos
Kickstart Jobs, a Gurgaon-based entry-level talent acquisition startup, raised an undisclosed amount of funding in its Series-seed round. Led in collaboration with ah! Ventures, this round saw investments from marquee investors like Vivek Joshi – Founder, Wyzen Tech; Mohit Satyanand – Chairman, Team Works Art; Amit Banati – President [Asia Pacific], Kellogg’s; Arun Khanna – President (Asia), Dun & Bradstreet and a few others including ah! Ventures themselves.
India, as a country, in addition to its existing market, has seen a tremendous spurt in its entrepreneurial outlook and is soon becoming a utopian land of thriving businesses. Unfortunately, this turn of events has still not transcended into the concurrent employment it should encourage, especially in the blue and grey collar jobs market. The core of this rut lies in the fact that there has been no bridge that connects the eager job seekers with the right employers. This is where Kickstart Jobs, a startup focusing on the niche talent acquisition in the entry level workforce, comes into the picture.
Started in August 2015, Kickstart Jobs evolved to solve an inherent problem in the highly fragmented entry level workforce ecosystem. The company aims to create a scalable platform to connect entry level candidates with prospective employers and vice versa. Within a year of its commencement, Kickstart Jobs is already operational in the key north Indian territories of Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon, with a workforce of 10 employees and 2 promoters. It has, in this short span of time, registered more than 5000 candidates, enlisted about 3000 vacancies, conducted more than 2000 interviews and boasts of a month on month growth of 100% in the number of candidates scheduled for interviews via their platform.
KickStart Jobs Team
The conceptualization of the enterprise is credited to its two founders, Samriddhi Malhotra and Abhishek Srivastava. Samriddhi Malhotra, an XLRI Jamshedpur alumni, comes with a rich experience of working with numerous rural communities on a grass-root level. This background of hers helps her thoroughly understand the core requirements and competencies of the workforce at the entry level section. Samriddhi heads the product development and operations at Kickstart Jobs. Abhishek Srivastava, a mechanical engineer from ISM Dhanbad, comes with years of experience in managing domestic and international operations at a multinational corporation. Given his wide exposure, he spearheads the strategy and business development at Kickstart Jobs.
Kickstart has developed a unique operational proposition, wherein ‘Leaders’ are identified among the communities of job seekers and are in turn collaborated with, to utilize their strong network and connect with the entry level job seekers. The company believes in empowering these leaders with technology, currently in the form of a mobile app, thus bettering the process of data mapping.
Commenting on the need for a product like Kickstart Jobs, its unique proposition and the inclusion of technology, Co-Founder Samriddhi Malhotra said
The market for entry level hiring is one with both tremendous potential as well as enormous challenges. None of the solutions present in the market today have been able to really delve into the job seeker’s psyche and create a solution that works for both candidates and employers. Kickstart is attempting to do just that. We have closely observed existing patterns of job seeking at the entry level workforce and are leveraging this existing pattern and enabling it with technology.
Giving an investor’s perspective, Harshad Lahoti, Founder and CEO of ah! Ventures opined
As an investor, the growth that is about to unfold in this entry-level jobs sector in the near future is evident to me. This growth and spurt of service offerings in the sector is especially lucrative for the currently existing workforce of over 500+ million in the blue & grey collar ecosystem of India. And, given the fact that this number is increasing at about 12 million per year, the need to effectively harness these human resources becomes all the more essential. ah! Ventures and it’s investors saw that potential in Kickstart Jobs, not only in terms of their strong team but also in their unique methodology in operating and creating value for both, the job seeker & the employer. In our opinion such a product was long overdue, especially in a growing market like India, and we are sure to see stupendous success in the future of Kickstart Jobs.
ah! Ventures is India’s first full-spectrum startup investment network and platform comprising of over 750+ investors, including some of the renowned angels and early-stage VCs. The CLUB ah! Network today has over 10000+ startups, 675+ seed/angel investors and over 80 VCs & institutional investors, making it one of the largest platform of investors and startups. The network last year secured its first profitable exit from Ed-tech venture Harness Handitouch within two years of its investment. CLUB ah! has till date invested close to INR 85 crores in over 25 startups spread across varied industries and domains, including Kickstart Jobs.
On working with ah! Ventures, Co-founder Abhishek Srivastava said
ah! Ventures has been most helpful during our period of fund-raise. We approached ah! Ventures to close our funding requirement and they pro-actively helped us close in 5 days, in which they also participated. Their network is huge and the response has been extremely prompt. We wanted to bring ah! Ventures on-board as their reach and connections will keep us in good stead for future. We hope to use their industry and investor connects to scale our business.
ah! Ventures is a growth catalyst that brings together promising businesses and investors by creating wealth creation opportunities for both. ah!’s unique model serves investors, entrepreneurs & enablers through a unique blend of customised services, skill, and industry & domain experience. Founded in 2010, ah! Ventures has systematically disrupted the early stage funding ecosystem of India through its innovative approach toward startup investing. First of its kind initiatives like the CLUB ah! platform, ah! Angels [India’s largest angel network], ah! Seeders and ah! VC networks [India’s first seed & VC investment networks], have brought together and integrated the previously segregated startup funding life-cycle, under one roof. This, coupled with ah! Impact network, an impact investment network for investing in social enterprises and ah! Mentors network, a mentor network to engage with startups in their growth and expansion, has today made ah! Ventures one of India’s most respected change leaders and a formidable industry force to reckon with.
ah! Ventures is in the process of closing 2 more investments in the coming week.
About Kickstart Jobs
Started in 2015, Kickstart Jobs is a startup founded by by IIT- XLRI alumni. The company focuses on talent acquisition, specific to the blue and grey collared workforce. Birthed to solve an inherent problem in the highly fragmented entry level workforce ecosystem, Kickstart Jobs, aims to create a scalable platform to get people at the entry level, to connect to the employers and vice versa. Within a year of its commencement, Kickstart Jobs is already operational in the key northern territories of Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon with a workforce of 10 employees and 2 promoters. It also boasts of 100% growth in the number of candidates scheduled for interviews via Kickstart. For more information, please visit Kickstart Jobs
About ah! ventures
ah! Ventures is a startup focused growth catalyst that brings together promising businesses and investors by creating wealth creation opportunities for both. ah!’s unique model serves investors, entrepreneurs and enablers through a unique blend of customized services, skill and industry & domain experience.
Students graduating in 2016 and considering beginning their professional life in Bengaluru can now rejoice, as Zenify [earlier coverage here], an online home rental aggregator & management startup, announces a complete package for those hoping to set up their new place via its platform. Zenify has tied up with various outlets like rental furniture, spas, eateries, salons, etc., in Bengaluru with special discounts to assist first-time job seekers in the city and help them adjust to their new surroundings. It will also reduce their expenses and offer them a complete hassle free stay.
Zenify will provide end to end solutions to students right from finding an apartment to setting it up and moving in. Individuals can rent 1/2/3 BHK apartments across Bengaluru with zero brokerage and a lower security deposit compared to current market standards. Additionally, with Zenify’s tie-up with various supermarkets and furniture companies, they will be able to avail discounts and offers on rental furniture, groceries, fine dining restaurants & pubs, local spas and salons, etc.
Bengaluru is the fifthmost populous city in India with an estimated demography of 8.5 million individuals reported in 2011. Known as the Silicon Valley of India, it has witnessed constant influx of professionals ever since its IT boom in 1990’s and thrives on its job market for young professionals. Therefore, increase in number of job seekers has given rise to an ever increasing demand for rental housing service providers.
Since most newcomers here are fresh graduates, they are usually cash crunched and have a tough time in figuring out their basic needs especially when they have to stay in another city. It is this challenge that prompted Zenify to specifically cater their latest home rental package for job aspirants, who are seeking a home in an unfamiliar city.
Commenting on this, Sudarshan Purohit, Co-Founder & CEO, Zenify said
When I initially moved to Bangalore, the most difficult aspect was to figure out where, what, and whom to approach for any kind of assistance. There were no such platforms or services available back then and surviving in this city could sometimes become very challenging for newcomers. Therefore, ensued by my personal experience,we decided to launch our latest rental package for first-time job seekers. Our vision has remained constant since the inception of Zenify-to offer end to end home rental solutions. It has become even more relevant now with such add-on perks offered on our platform.
Zenify, recently raised Rs 6 crores in Pre-Series A from High Networth Individuals [HNI], who have a minor stake in this company. Their target is to have 6000 properties listed by March 2017. The company foresees scaling its business across the major cities of the country in less than two years and becoming a prominent player in the rental segment.
Sudarshan Purohit, Kailash Rathi and Ankur Agarwal, alumni of IIT- Madras co-founded Zenify, which lists over 2000 properties available for rent across Bengaluru. The platform provides owners and tenants a hassle free system to find and rent an apartment. The company aims to standardise the market rental pricing by predicting the market value of each property listed on their portal.
About Zenify
Zenify is India’s only complete Home Aggregator and Rental Management Startup. Headquartered in Bengaluru, the technology driven startup, has simplified home rentals with technology. Through Zenify’s unique ZRP [Zenify Rental Price], Zenify brings in standardisation for home rentals. ZRP is a fixed rental price for each property that is available for rent, the price is fixed based on its localities and demands. For more information, please visit Zenify
![[Image Source - Wearables]](https://blog.himanshusheth.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/wearables.jpg)
