|In: e-commerce|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Vamaship has won one of the most coveted & prestigious Logistics Startup of the Year award at the seventh Annual Entrepreneur Awards 2017.  The Founder & CEO of Vamaship, Bhavik Chinai received the award from the hands of renowned author Gurcharan Das and Ritu Marya, Editor in chief for Franchise India Holdings Pvt. Ltd

These awards aim to recognize and acknowledge the initiative and hard work of various entrepreneurs and their contribution to the society. The awards felicitated the best entrepreneurs from diverse industries in several categories, chosen from 5000+ award nominations and among 2000+ attendees. The event also had an overall presence of 350+ speakers.

Indian author Gurcharan Das, Editor In Chief for Franchise India, Ms. Ritu Marya presenting the Logistics Startup of the Year award to Bhavik Chinai, Founder & CEO of Vamaship

The award recognizes impact made on supply chains, logistics, fulfillment & delivery and companies which have built a business model to make a difference to these areas.

On this occasion, Bhavik Chinai – Founder & CEO, Vamaship stated

I feel honored and humbled for having received this prestigious award. Each Vamashipper strives to enhance the shipping experience for customers every day and a big thank you to the jury for recognizing this commitment.

About Vamaship

Launched in October 2015, Vamaship is a revolution in logistics that connects shippers with industry’s best logistics companies. Vamaship as a market place facilitates shipments to over 10,000 pin codes in India and to 200 countries from India. With a nationwide network of partners, Vamaship brings the best of technology and logistics to create a seamless shipping experience. For more information, please visit Vamaship

|In: Guest Blogging|Last Updated: | 2 Comments

The growing demand for skilled professionals in IT sector has compelled many training institutes to adapt advance tech tools to keep their candidates aligned with the latest skills. Tech skills are more important than ever, as digital advancements have radically transformed the working world.

Image Source – Skills

Avinash Bharwani, Vice President–New Business, Jetking

Technology changes every month with new updates coming and going. If you work as a data analyst, the online tools you use don’t change quite so quickly, but you can surely update every few years. In coming years, the skills of the digital age will be linked very closely to SMAC i.e. Social-Mobile-Analytic and Cloud. If we look at 2016, it was a year when most of companies layed off their employees for not being equipped with the required skillset in the sector. Ecstasy of the previous year made the job market to make the correction.

Let’s look at the hottest, most in-demand skills around the world

Ethical Hacker

One of the most exciting skills on the list is that of ethical hacking. As the businesses are taking support of cloud share data, the businesses today are increasingly on the lookout for professionals with ethical hacking skills.

This is because they look to analyse the security of their private, public & hybrid cloud deployments. These ethical hackers combine a series of tools, to track hacking and penetration techniques in order to search for weaknesses in the entire systems.

Cloud Computing

Cloud and distributed computing has lingered in the No. 1 spot for the past couple of years. Subsequent statistical analysis and data mining remained in 2 positions last year and in first position in 2014.

These skills are in such high demand for the reason that they are at the cutting edge of technology. Employers need employees with cloud & distributed computing, statistical analysis and data mining skills to stay competitive.

Big data/Developer/Analytics

Boasting a strong information technology (IT) background is advantageous for a big data analyst. IT professionals are skilled at information handling and programming. This gives them a leg up on the competition. Data analysts and data scientists continue to be in great demand since they acquire unique skills in areas such as mathematics, statistics and management science, combined with associated IT skills. In conclusion becoming a big data analyst requires the mastery of the five essential skills.

  • Interpretation of Data
  • Programming skills
  • Quantitative
  • Multiple technologies
  • Better understanding of business outcome

Network and Information Security

The demand for skills in Network and information sector has increased by 13% since 2016. The increased demand for IT networking professionals is fuelled in virtualization and cloud computing programmes.

Hiring managers seek candidates with skills & experience in VMware, Citrix, etc to track, organize and manage their company’s virtualization strategy.

Digital Marketing

The need for digital marketers has never been higher, yet the digital skills gap has never been wider. This discrepancy can provide people with the perfect opportunity to express their value and capability.

One should just want to make sure that they have strengthened the right skills. If you want to set yourself apart from the competition and establish yourself as an in-demand marketing professional, then you need to know which capabilities count. One should refine digital marketing skills in the following sector:

  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Video Content Marketing
  • Community Management
  • Marketing Automation

If you have any of these skills in the year 2017 you will definitely make your career brighter. Even if you don’t have these skills, now is the perfect time to perceive it. Professional or fresher can explore opportunities in this field by up skilling themselves. Acquiring these skills will immensely help techies, making them more efficient in entire process. While some skills become void every couple of months, we strongly propose that tech skills will still be needed for years to come, in every industry. Now is a great time for professionals to acquire the skills they need to be more marketable.

About the author

Avinash Bharwani is the Vice President–New Business, Jetking. Jetking is a Computer Hardware and Networking Training Institute, which trains technical and non-technical students. Jetking has 100 centers spread across India. You can view his profile here

|In: Review|Last Updated: | 3 Comments

Technology has become an integral part of our lives, be it whether you are sleeping, eating or performing any activity [working out, jogging, etc.]. There is a significant proportion of people who are interested in tracking their sleep patterns, quality of food they intake, calories burnt, the quantity of water intake, etc.

Image Source – Water Filter

However, Technology is only acting as an ‘Enabler’ but the central control still lies in your hands 🙂 Though you might have advanced gadgets at your disposal, you need to put them to the right use. For example, you might be having very stringent rules to consume ‘certain’ amount of water during the day but did you even ‘care’ to check the quality of water being consumed! Just like growing Pollution is spoiling the quality of the air we intake, Water also is no longer good to consume in its purest form. In a number of cities in India, there are households that directly utilize municipal tap-water for consumption but it is always recommended that the water goes through the purification process. Irrespective of where you reside in India, quality of drinking water has become a major concern since it might contain harmful toxic compounds.

Just like having healthy food is an integral part of becoming fit, consuming clean water that is free from every kind of impurity is essential to keep our health in check. Water is a principal component of all the body fluids and the human body is composed of 70% water. According to the World Health Organization & United Nations Children Fund, more than one in six people –or 894 million – worldwide live in areas where the availability of safe water is limited [ Source]. Hence it is always advisable to not have tap water directly since it might contain chlorine, heavy metals, fluorides, arsenic, etc. It goes without saying that having safe water keeps you healthy and free from any water-borne diseases.

If you are very particular about tracking your water intake using ‘wearable technologies’, then why not be more particular in ensuring that you intake ‘safe drinking water’ 🙂 This is where ‘water purification’ plays a very important role in ensuring that the water is free from all the impurities. LivPure has been the torch-bearer in bringing clean drinking water by ensuring purity in consumers’ lives through pure water & pure air. Their key mantra is ‘Keep your family safe with healthy drinking water‘. They offer India’s first smart touch RO+UV+UF+Taste Enhancer at customer’s doorstep; one of the best water purifiers in India available online that provides 100% safe, tasty, and healthy drinking water.

LivPure water purifiers have an innovative next generation design built with smart technology. They have multi-dispensing options, variable storage tank capacity to address different needs of consumers, purification capacity up to 15 liters per day and more. They have the best water purifier addressing your needs.

Most of the water purifiers from LivPure have indicators for amount of water being consumed as well as Filter change indicator. The best part is you can book a demo or buy the water purifier online. Water purifiers from LivPure follow a seven stage purification process:

  • Pre-Filter
  • Sediment Filter
  • Pre-Activated Carbon cum Absorber
  • Antiscalant Cartridge
  • Reverse Osmosis [RO] Membrane
  • Ultra Violet [UV] Disinfection Column
  • Ultra Filtration Cartridge [Source]

Developing a good product is only ‘half the job done’ since it still needs to undergo a significant amount of testing. Each of the water purifiers from LivPure goes through various levels of testing, right from lab testing to live testing.

Remember, water is a healthy resource that helps your body grow, sustain and function optimally, so why not rejuvenate your system by consuming water regularly on a daily basis. If you are an existing user of LivPure Water Purifiers, do leave your experience in the comments section…

|In: Digital|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

LinkedIn followed by Facebook and Twitter have emerged as the leading platforms for healthcare and pharmaceuticals companies in India for digital engagement according to the data revealed by the ‘India Digital Health Report 2017‘.

Image Source – LinkedIn

The report was published by D Yellow Elephant – a Full-service Digital & Social media firm, with a specialized focus on pharmaceuticals, medical technology, healthcare, and wellness.

The report studied 160 India based companies across four verticals – pharmaceuticals, medical devices & equipment, diagnostics and hospitals on twelve key digital and social parameters – websites, apps, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, Blogger, Pinterest, Flickr, Instagram, and Tumblr.

Infographic – Report Overview

The companies are segregated into three categories – Digital Primes [the torch-bearers], Aspirants [gradually moving up on the digital curve] and Onlookers [silent observers] based on their presence, engagement, response, and consumer followership.

Aman Gupta, Managing Director, D Yellow Elephant, said

The report indicates that pharmaceutical and healthcare companies in India are affected by ‘Engagement Draught’ – present across most social media platforms but reluctant to engage with stakeholders. With HCPs [Health Care Professionals], patients, caregivers and policymakers consuming bulk of information online, it is imperative for companies to develop a digital ecosystem spread across multiple channels.

Launched in 2015, the India Digital Health Report has set benchmarks for digital presence across the sector. The second edition reveals that the digital journey for most companies has started, but restricted to presence. A robust digital engagement strategy should be integral to the corporate strategy, rather than an afterthought.

The study revealed that only 14% companies emerged as Digital Primes. 54% companies qualify as Digital Aspirants while the remaining 32% fall under the category of Digital Onlookers.

Infographic – Research Insights

Of the four industry verticals, pharma accounts for the highest number of Digital Primes [22%]. Medical devices & equipment and diagnostics have maximum Digital Aspirants, with 71% of the surveyed companies maintaining digital presence but lagging in engagement.

Apollo Diagnostics takes the overall top spot with a score of 70, followed by GE Healthcare with 65.5 and Pfizer with 65 points. Amongst hospitals, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital leads with 56 points.

About D Yellow Elephant

D Yellow Elephant is a Full-service Digital & Social media firm, with a specialized focus on pharmaceuticals, medical technology, healthcare and wellness. Spread across key verticals of Digital & Social Analytics, Strategy, Design, Development and marketing. A part of The Strategic Partners Group, D Yellow Elephant represents the specialist brand focused on social and digital strategy service offerings.

With a global footprint in key locations of Delhi, Mumbai, Singapore, London and New York, the firm comes with a deep understanding of the Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare market, offering specialized services in HCP engagements, consumer communications and sales force empowerment. The firm comes armed with 20+ years of core Pharma and Lifesciences expertise, with a clear understanding of the legal and regulatory framework. For more information, please visit D Yellow Elephant

|In: Internet|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

VeriSign, Inc. , a global leader in domain names and internet security have announced that approximately 1.3 million domain name registrations were added to the internet in the first quarter of 2017, bringing the total number of domain name registrations to approximately 330.6 million across all Top-Level Domains [TLDs] as of March 31, 2017.

Image Source – Domains

The increase of approximately 1.3 million domain name registrations globally equates to a growth rate of 0.4 percent over the fourth quarter of 2016. Domain name registrations have grown by 11.8 million, or 3.7 percent, year over year.

The .com and .net TLDs had a combined total of approximately 143.6 million domain name registrations in the domain name base in the first quarter of 2017. This represents a 0.8 percent increase year over year. As of March 31, 2017, the .com domain name base totaled 128.4 million domain name registrations, while the .net domain name base totaled 15.2 million domain name registrations.

New .com and .net domain name registrations totaled 9.5 million during the first quarter of 2017. In the first quarter of 2016, new .com and .net domain name registrations totaled 10 million.

Verisign publishes the Domain Name Industry Brief to provide internet users throughout the world with statistical and analytical research and data on the domain name industry. The first quarter 2017 Domain Name Industry Brief, as well as previous reports, can be obtained from here

|In: HealthCare|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

HealthifyMe, India’s largest and most loved mobile health and fitness application ‘HealthifyMe’ have announced an exclusive partnership with Amazon India to list its flagship Premium Plan on Amazon. The 2-month exclusive ‘Balance’ plan comes as a first for HealthifyMe and includes 2 dedicated coaches along with Rist an activity tracking device that lets users keep track of their distance, calories and steps.

Consumers will now be able to purchase the HealthifyMe Premium plans through the Amazon India website at special introductory prices. The 2-month plan along with the activity tracker is available for Rs. 2799. Apart from these, the other plans available are for 3 months [for Rs. 3699], 6 months [for Rs. 5699] and 12 months [for Rs. 9499].

Speaking about the partnership, Tushar Vashisht, Co-founder & CEO, HealthifyMe said

We are excited to bring this offering to a larger consumer base with the help of Amazon India. Our analysis of the Indian market shows that there is a growing diet and fitness consciousness in the country. The HealthifyMe 2-month Balance Plan is a unique offering of a complete health ecosystem for our consumers with a diet coach, a fitness coach and Rist, the activity tracker.

Jonathan Burks, GM, India and Category Leadership Consumer Electronics at Amazon said

At Amazon India, we are always striving to bring in newer range of products for our customers and this collaboration with HealthifyMe is a fantastic addition to our fitness portfolio. We’re glad to have India’s most loved health ecosystem listed exclusively with us.

Mobile health and fitness company HealthifyMe has raced to 2.5 million users in July 2017, more than doubling its user base from one million users in January this year.  HealthifyMe also excelled in its service quality during the period and its user ratings on the App Store grew to 4.5 Stars thus becoming India’s highest rated Health-tech according to App Annie. At the rating of 4.5, HealthifyMe is also ahead of all e-commerce and payments apps in India. Rist, the wearable fitness technology tracker along with the Amazon plans will be available for purchase on Amazon India starting 27th of July.

HealthifyMe Rist has a full digital display, pedometer and a 3-D accelerometer. The Bluetooth enabled smart devise tracks a users’ footsteps, as well as distance and syncs them to the mobile application for the HealthifyMe fitness trainers to track and evaluate progress of the user.

About HealthifyMe

HealthifyMe is a mobile health/fitness company that combines power of technology with real human services to deliver measurable impact. Cofounded in 2012 by Tushar Vashisht, Sachin Shenoy, Mathew Cherian, and incubated by Microsoft Accelerator, Bengaluru, it today is India’s largest digital wellness platform catering to 1 million users with over 150 coaches. Its app is rated 4.3/5 and has been featured by Google, Apple multiple times for quality. For more information, please visit Healthify. You can Download the Healthify app from Google Play and iOS Store

 

|In: Android|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

VoxWeb, the social networking app developed around ‘speaking-pics’ or voice-augmented photos have unveiled new designs and features on its Android and IOS Apps. The most significant of the new features – introduced after heavy user demand – is the ‘Embed Voxie’ option which allows users to embed a voice-augmented photo to their blogs and other websites/webpages. In addition to this, users can now store the newly created voice-augmented pic to their device without the compulsion of sharing or sending. Users can also create a private Voxie collection by leveraging this feature.

Also, in a major policy shift, VoxWeb disabled the likes and comments count on other users’ content [content creator will continue to have the like and comment counts along with the like list] to remove the ‘performance anxiety’ friction and thus encouraging users to post frequent updates without worrying about the number of likes they get on the post publicly.

Other new features introduced in the VoxWeb app include doodle drawings and sticker pasting options on pics, pin post to the top of profile page and two simple and effective privacy settings options. These features will provide users with an elevated photo sharing and social media experience while using the platform.

Speaking about the new app versions, VoxWeb representative said

These new features in VoxWeb social media platform adds another dimension to a user’s social media experience. We are continuously working to provide our users a unique and rich experience while revolutionizing the digital image-sharing and social media space. VoxWeb is excited to present these refreshing visual designs and new features to internet users.

The latest features and designs available are:

  1. Embed voxie option: Now users can embed a voice-augmented photo to their blogs or websites
  2. Private voxie collection: Users can transform their album or other photos to voice-augmented photos and  save them on the device, without the need to  post or send those photos. This creates a private rich collection of voice-augmented photos
  3. Doodle: Users can also add stickers and draw doodles on the ‘speaking-pic’ or a voxie created
  4. Pin-to-top: There is an option to pin a social media post at the top of their social media page
  5. Innovative approach to privacy settings: With a combination of merely 2 options, users can effectively enable the desired level of privacy and everything remains in sync with the fundamental nature of a ‘follower-following’ network
  6. Following list: VoxWeb has disabled the option to see a user’s ‘Following’ list to encourage following within the network
  7. Changes to update  likes and comments on the app: The platform will not display the number of likes and comments anymore [though comments to any post will always remain visible]. This ensures that sure users don’t have any ‘performance anxiety’ while creating a post that is a big friction on various one-to-many communication platforms.

Link to try out the new features on the VoxWeb app.

About Voxweb

VoxWeb is a consumer internet company which designs and develops online communication and networking products. Incepted in Jan 2015, the company is based in Mumbai, India. The flagship product of the company, is the ‘speaking pictures’ [voice-augmented photos] social network VoxWeb. The platform is perfect for capturing and sharing moments through pictures which can be captioned using vocal sounds. A must-have camera and communication app for concerts, parties, sports and tourism, additionally, the app also facilitates creating selfies that can speak upon touching and the VoxWeb Team has christened these ‘speaking selfies’ as ‘Voxies’.

VoxWeb, aims to create a global consumer internet product from India and the app has already got more than half a million users from 97 different countries. Brain child of Yash Mishra, an IIT Kanpur graduate, VoxWeb was founded in 2015, to become the new age social media app for internet- users.

|In: AI|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

ITC Infotech, a global scale full service provider of technology solutions and a fully owned subsidiary of ITC Ltd, successfully concluded the third chapter of iTech 2017, its annual technology innovation & co-creation platform.  As part of iTech 2017, ITC Infotech organised a codeathon and a startup showcase on July 22 & 23, 2017, at its Bengaluru campus. Microsoft Azure was the official cloud partner  for the event.

At the Start-up Showcase, innovative start-ups from  across the country got an unique  opportunity  to present their solutions in front of ITC Infotech’s global client representatives and senior leadership of ITC Infotech and ITC Ltd.. These solutions, based on Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, AR, VR, etc., addressed real-world industry challenges crowd sourced from across ITC Infotech’s global client base, as well as from ITC Ltd.

Two start-ups, inFeedo and Aindra won a grant of Rs. 5 Lakhs for a paid POC each, and the chance to co-develop their solution with ITC Infotech as a part of its go-to-market strategy. inFeedo presented a chatbot that can talk to employees and proactively  identify those who are unhappy or most likely to leave. AIndra developed an AI based-face recognition/ verification/validation, visitor tracking, damage detection to use in machine learning, also, asset review and management.

The codeathon brought together some of the sharpest technology minds in the country  to compete, create & code for complex business applications. The participants addressed various challenges ranging from social chats to jigsaw puzzles to  demonstrate their programming expertise and mettle in technological innovation.

The winning group titled Latch, used Node JS, Django & Bots to create a social chat application. They walked home with a cash prize of Rs. 3 Lakhs. The first runners-up titled Offline Champs, demonstrated how to cache and update content offline using Magnolia CMS on the iOS Platform. They won a cash prize of Rs 2 Lakhs.

The second runners-up, titled: Sparks, created a smart solution for push notifications for all mobile platforms using Node JS and won a cash prize of Rs. 1 Lakh. Special jury awards of Rs. 25,000 each were also given to three promising participants.

The panel of judges consisted of business leaders from ITC Infotech’s partners and global clients, such as KONE, Sutter Health and Woolworths along with senior leaders from ITC’s businesses.

Commenting on the success of the event, Ms Sushma Rajagopalan, CEO & MD, ITC Infotech, said

iTech is not just another technology event but an innovation platform that creates an ecosystem of students, IT professionals, entrepreneurs,  start-ups, technology enthusiasts, clients and partners to create solutions for real business challenges. With each passing year, iTech has grown into an extremely  sought after platform,  inspiring new waves of technological advancements and innovations. This year again, it was successful in spotting the best talents across the country and brought to light the great technology potential of ‘Digital India’. Like each year, we will work closely with the winners and help them implement their solutions and assist them in gaining global market access in an accelerated time frame.

The third chapter of iTech 2017 received around 3,500 entries for its codeathon and 36 teams were shortlisted for the final round of development. For Start-up Showcase, 15 shortlisted start-ups were invited to showcase their solutions at the event as a part of the start-up showcase. Adding to the success of iTech 2015 and iTech 2016, iTech 2017 was another milestone achieved in nurturing the digital ecosystem and bringing together entrepreneurs to celebrate technology.

About iTech 2017

iTech, an ITC Infotech initiative, is an annual technology innovation platform. The platform focussed on leveraging emerging and disruptive technologies to create business-ready solutions, for addressing some of the most challenging problems faced by the industry. For more information, please visit iTech 2017