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|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Uber, the world’s largest ride-sharing company, announced a collaboration with Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., part of the US$ 19 billion Mahindra Group, which will explore the deployment of electric vehicles [EVs] on the Uber platform in several cities across India.

To begin with, the companies will deploy hundreds of electric vehicles in Delhi and Hyderabad. Mahindra’s electric vehicles on the Uber platform will include the e2oPlus hatch and the eVerito sedan. As part of this collaboration, both the companies will also explore deployment of Mahindra electric vehicles to other cities. The joint deployment of electric vehicles will further reinforce the strong relationship between Mahindra and Uber. Over the years, there has been a strong deployment of Mahindra vehicles on Uber’s platform and Mahindra is also a key financier for Uber’s driver partner through Mahindra Finance.

According to Madhu Kannan, Chief Business Officer, Uber India & Emerging Markets

We are extremely excited about our collaboration with the Mahindra Group to deploy this electric vehicles pilot in India. Aligned with the government’s vision, we aim to build a more sustainable future of mobility, moving more people needing on-demand services with fewer, fuller, and more efficient vehicle trips. We see a key role for high efficiency vehicle technologies, and therefore believe that this collaboration with Mahindra, the pioneers in the electric vehicles space, will be truly beneficial not just for Uber but for our driver partners, riders and the cities we operate in.

Speaking on the collaboration, Dr. Pawan Goenka, Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. said

Electric vehicle adoption is clearly gaining momentum in India. As the pioneers of electric vehicles in the country we would like to be at the forefront, leading this change toward smart and sustainable mobility.  Our collaboration with Uber is an important next step to help accelerate the large scale adoption of electric vehicles on shared mobility platforms, and meet the nation’s vision for EVs.

Through this collaboration, driver partners on the Uber app can avail of a package which will include Mahindra electric vehicles at competitive prices, attractive financing and insurance premiums as well as comprehensive maintenance packages from Mahindra and its associates. Further, to make this model sustainable, Mahindra and Uber will work closely with public and private players who are in the process of setting-up a common use charging ecosystem across multiple locations in the cities.

Mahindra will also support with driver education and training related to various aspects of electric vehicles. Going forward, electric vehicles will play a major role in reducing urban pollution plaguing several Indian cities and resulting in health hazards. With the increased penetration of EVs and eventual 100% transition, the country and its citizens stand to benefit tremendously.

All these initiatives align perfectly with Mahindra’s Rise philosophy of empowering people with the right products and services to enhance the quality of their lives and earnings.

|In: Fintech|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

BankBazaar, India’s leading Personal Finance marketplace, has revamped its mobile app with a host of new improvements. These include gold/silver and fuel rate trackers and personalized graphs for better visualization of expenses in the Personal Finance feature of the Android app. For the first time, a comprehensive number of Personal Finance features have been aggregated on one single interface to provide users a complete view of their finances.

With the new upgrade, the BankBazaar app now allows users to check specific details of their financial transaction history, letting them control their money better. Some of the other useful features include daily gold/silver and fuel rate updates, daily tips on money management and latest news from the world of finance. Moreover, the EMI calculator further simplifies all those complicated loan calculations, making the app a one-stop destination for everything related to personal finance.

Rati Shetty, Chief Product Officer, BankBazaar.com said

Our mission has been to help consumers access the right financial products and make their financial journey simpler. The introduction of Personal Finance feature in the BankBazaar mobile app is another step towards simplifying money management for users and encouraging responsible fiscal behaviour.

With more than 1M downloads, the BankBazaar app is one of the most handy personal finance apps available. The introduction of the provision to check Experian Credit Report on the go makes the app all the more versatile. Not just that, it also lets you track your bank balance and Credit Card dues. When put together, these features provide a holistic view of your finances that can help you:

  • Track better – The fuel trackers help you keep a city-wise watch on the rates, and let you manage and track your fuel spends. The option to view all monthly spends in graphical form will let you manage your money better.
  • Plan better – The Credit Card and EMI trackers keep you updated about your payment deadlines. When you have a clear picture of your balances and the payment deadlines, you can plan your finances better. With regular alerts prompting you to make the payments, you have lesser chance of missing a payment and letting it affect your Credit Score.
  • Save better – With all information available over a highly simplified interface on your mobile phone, you can manage your finances and control your expenses. These will eventually help you save better.

It is now simpler than ever to track all your finances on the go using your phone. Be it your credit, Credit Score, savings or expenses, the BankBazaar app can help you keep a track of every aspect of your finances and get a better handle on your money.

BankBazaar hosts the widest range of financial products from over 50+ of the biggest public and private sector banks, NBFCs, and Mutual Funds players in India. It gets an average of 20 million visitors per month. The company raised USD 110M through funding from investors such as Amazon.com, Experian, Fidelity Growth Partners, Mousse Partners, Sequoia Capital, and Walden International.

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

In a bid to ensure hassle-free communication and booking experience for its guests, OYO – India’s largest hospitality company, has started testing WhatsApp enterprise solution.

Travellers booking an OYO will now have the choice to receive their booking confirmations along with cancellation and navigation details for locating a hotel via WhatsApp. This development is in line with OYO’s pioneering use of technology in budget hotel operations in India – enabling users to book a hotel across 230 cities in India, Malaysia and Nepal within seconds via the OYO app.

Once a booking is created, the integration will allow OYO to send a  confirmation message through WhatsApp. Customers will receive the message through OYO’s verified profile to ensure reliability. In case of connectivity issues, OYO will further notify the guests through SMS. Users who do not use WhatsApp will receive notifications through SMS and email.

In order to ensure privacy and security for guests, the company will only send relevant information about a guest’s stay through WhatsApp. Guests will also receive directions for locating their hotel on the day of the check-in and notification in case a booking is cancelled.

Commenting on the development, Anil Goel, CTO – OYO, said

Technology has been the biggest driver for OYO to create value in India’s hospitality industry and also the experience we offer to our guests. Since OYO’s inception, we have built first-in-industry tech solutions – such as OYO consumer app, Krypton and the Owner app for our hotel partners. With the latest WhatsApp integration, we will make the post-booking experience hassle-free for our guests. They can now easily access their booking details via WhatsApp, which enjoys a huge reach in India with over 200 million active users. It’s fast, secure and hassle-free – exactly how the OYO experience is.

Through innovation in technology, training and strong brand recall, OYO has established its leadership in the hospitality segment today with 8,500-plus hotels in more than 230 cities within its network.

About OYO

OYO is India’s largest hospitality company operating in more than 230 cities across India, Malaysia and Nepal. These include major metros, regional business hubs, top leisure destinations as well as pilgrimage towns. OYO was recently chosen as India’s Most Promising Hotel Network [HolidayIQ Better Holiday Awards 2017]. It was also recognized by Business Today as among the Coolest Startups in India [2016] and ranked by LinkedIn as one of the top employee attractors in India two years in a row [2016 and 2017]. For more information, please visit OYO

|In: Marketing|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

CleverTap, the pioneering provider of a mobile analytics and user engagement platform announced their integration with cloud telephony solution from Exotel as part of their holistic product offering.

With this partnership, CleverTap’s diverse range of clients can engage with users via SMS in a more timely, personalized, and effective manner. This further increases the efficacy of CleverTap’s industry-leading analytics and segmentation engine, helping clients run multi-channel SMS campaigns to increase user engagement and retention.

Speaking on this latest development, Kuldeep Dhankar, Head of Business at CleverTap, said

In today’s hyper-competitive market landscape, a satisfactory customer experience drives business growth. Thus, it is vital for businesses to have the right technology in place to deliver the best possible user experience and stay one step ahead of the competition. At CleverTap, we adopt a customer-first approach and take into account all the feedback and requests that we receive.

Based on their requests, we decided to integrate SMS as a user engagement channel on our platform. Exotel’s proven track record convinced us to choose their service offering. This will help our clients run personalized engagement campaigns right from our dynamic platform using push notifications, in-app messages, web notifications, emails, and now SMS as well.

Elaborating on the announcement, Shivakumar Ganesan, CEO and Founder at Exotel, said

We are delighted to partner with CleverTap to integrate Exotel’s solutions with their offerings. Technology can empower businesses to transform and create a profound impact. The combination of Exotel’s cloud telephony solutions with CleverTap’s next generation mobile engagement platform creates an enhanced user experience which is of significant value to the marketplace today. We value our relationship with CleverTap and remain committed to their success, as they continue to transform their services.

About CleverTap

CleverTap provides a comprehensive behavioural analytics and user engagement suite that enables brands to identify, target, engage, measure, and monetize users across mobile and web. CleverTap’s unique platform which combines analytics and engagement with industry-first features such as live user segments, is a powerful solution for businesses who want to design and implement real-time, personalized, and impactful strategies for rapid business growth.  For more information, please visit CleverTap

About Exotel

Exotel is the most reliable and scalable cloud telephony platform in India. Founded by Shivakumar Ganesan, Ishwar Sridharan and Siddharth Ramesh in 2011, the company powers voice communication for over a 1300 businesses including brands like Ola, Uber, Flipkart, Quikr, and Practo. For more information, please visit Exotel

|In: Android|Last Updated: | 1 Comment

Makaan.com, part of Elara Technologies Pte Ltd. which also owns Housing.com and PropTiger.com, has introduced an Instant App version for Makaan App. Makaan.com is India’s first digital real estate company to have made its app compatible to Google’s Instant Apps, available to Android users.

Image Source – Makaan

The Makaan Instant App is in line with the brand’s vision of empowering its users with top technology solutions. With Makaan Instant App, an Android user will now be able to experience the ease of Makaan App without actually having to install it on his/her mobile phone. If a user sends a link to property details from Makaan.com’s website to another user, the recipient will be able to access the details even if he/she doesn’t have the app installed.  Whereas, without Instant App, tapping on the link would’ve taken the recipient to the web version of the site.

A user simply has to go to ‘Settings’, select ‘Google’ and then activate ‘Instant Apps’ from the list. He then has to visit Makaan.com website through Google on his mobile phone and engage in the most seamless property search experience ever, similar to using an app. This helps users to save storage space in their phone.

Commenting on the development, Ravi Bhushan, Group CPTO, Housing.com, PropTiger.com and Makaan.com, said

The usage of mobile phones for transaction purposes has seen a huge surge in India. We have also observed that more than half of Makaan.com’s web traffic is on mobile browsers. In line with the belief of having our customers at the centre of our offerings, it was imperative to invest in a technology like Instant Apps to ensure the best customer experience for all.

Speaking on the rising demand for this feature, Ravi further added

Our current engagement metrics on Makaan App is more than 2x better than the web experience.  This clearly indicates that if more users start migrating to Instant App, the engagement levels will go up significantly and we will be able to offer better property search experience to more customers.

This service was introduced by Google in May 2017 and Makaan.com is one of the early adopters of this technology. Instant Apps also allows users to first check the interface of any app by selecting ‘Try-It-Now’ before downloading the app.

Get started with Makaan Instant App, you need to perform the following steps

Go to ‘Settings’ on your mobile phone and click on ‘Google’

In ‘Google’, click on ‘Instant Apps’

Activate ‘Instant Apps’ and switch it ‘On’

Now go to Google on your mobile browser and search for Makaan.com

You will find Makaan.com along with ‘Instant’ written across it in the search results

Click on Makaan.com and enjoy a seamless, app-like property search experience without installing the app on your phone

Do share your feedback/experience in the comments section…

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Uber, the world’s largest ride-sharing company, launched m.uber.com a light web-based version of Uber in India. In addition to m.uber.com, the company also pilots three new app features – offline search, request for a guest and call to ride.

Daniel Graf, Vice President and Head of Product at Uber said

In India, we have a strong team of over 150 engineers and product champions in Bangalore and at the newly inaugurated Hyderabad engineering facility working on innovations and localization’s for markets around the world. As a part of our efforts to enable global access to Uber, we are focusing on two key areas for riders – building solutions for those who don’t have access to the Uber app and enabling our existing rider app to work better in emerging markets. Customer obsession is a key theme for us – we want to make sure we understand the rider, their needs, the barriers, and then build from there. We believe these features will help us better serve our rider needs and are very excited about the roll out.

M.uber.com – The light web-based version of Uber, m.uber.com provides riders with another convenient option to book an Uber. This feature will be helpful for riders who have basic smartphones, that can support web browsing but cannot support mobile apps due to limited storage space, or want to book a ride from a tablet or computer.

How it works

  • The experience is almost identical to the Uber app with a few modifications for improved performance on a browser, including the option to load the map
  • Open your browser, enter m.uber.com, browse the app and available options, sign into your Uber account when ready to book
  • Enter your destination, select your product as you normally would and confirm your ride
  • You will be able to follow along on the map as you normally

Call to ride – Calling over the phone is still a natural experience for emerging markets, and we have heard that some riders in India prefer booking a ride through a phone call. We are piloting a phone number that riders can call to book an Uber across popular zones in a city. This will be particularly useful for riders who only have a feature phone, areas with limited network or those who use a smartphone but have limited memory capacity or are running out of their data plan.

How it works

  • Riders can call single nationwide  phone number and enter a numeric code displayed on signage to help Uber identify their location
  • Once the ride is confirmed, the rider will also be sent a text message with information on the car and driver partner
  • An Uber will arrive at the exact location for easy pickups
  • The rider pays with cash at the end of the ride

Availability : This would be rolled out in Pune on a pilot basis.

Offline search – For riders using the app in limited network areas, Uber is enabling offline search by caching the top points of interest in the city so that riders can enter their destinations in the app without having to wait for the connection.

How it works

  • The feature will automatically work if the app detects limited networks

Availability : Rollout begins in the next few weeks

Request for a Guest – A fully redesigned and enhanced feature, riders will now be able to book an Uber for a loved one from from their Uber app no matter where the rider or guest is located. Their guest does not need a smartphone or the Uber app in order to ride.

How it works

  • To use this feature, the person requesting the ride for a guest can simply tap ‘Where to?’ as they normally would, then choose who is riding above their pickup location
  • The rider will receive trip information in an SMS text message – including ETA, car type, and driver contact information, enabling them to coordinate with the driver directly
  • The driver will see the rider’s name, and be able to contact that person, too [through a masked number, for privacy on both sides]
  • The ride will be charged to the requestor’s card on file unless the requestor selects cash as the payment

Availability : Rollout begins in the next few weeks

|In: Digital|Last Updated: | 2 Comments

BookMyShow, India’s largest online entertainment ticketing brand, has joined hands with India’s largest Indie distributor PVR Pictures for Vkaao, a web-platform that enables individuals to choose the films that play in their local cinemas. As part of this association, India’s leading entertainment brands have come together to bring curated content by empowering the fans and movie goers to choose films, screening time, and theatre locations at any PVR Cinema across the country.

While PVR Pictures will continue to focus on making available a variety of films across genres and languages, BookMyShow will leverage its advanced analytical capabilities to identify the right set of viewers and curate screenings backed by its decade long intelligence and incisive understanding of movie goers.

Since its inception in January 2017, Vkaao has screened hundreds of shows, including exclusive paid previews. Vkaao currently has a library of over 400 studio and independent titles and plans to grow this collection manifold over the next 12 months. Vkaao has emerged as an alternate distribution platform for Indie film makers becoming a direct link between them and the cinemas. With this strategic tie up, Vkaao will have the capability to be the turnkey theatrical distribution arm for film makers, providing promotional services, campaign strategy, advertising & theatre booking services. Vkaao will continue to provide its standard Theatre On Demand model for films not positioned for traditional theatrical release.

Marzdi Kalianiwala, VP-Marketing & Business Intelligence, BookMyShow said

Our partnership with PVR Pictures only strengthens the existing successful movie viewing experiences we together provide our customers and now, we are excited to play a significant role in elevating the on-demand movie going experience with Vkaao. Over the last decade, BookMyShow has redefined the access to movies for millions of its users and through Vkaao, we are excited to bring them a curated selection of niche and exclusive films. This will be coupled with Vkaao’s cinematic experience that is highly personalised, and driven by people themselves, empowering them to share it with others with similar interests. Our analytical capabilities will definitely be able to bring together a new generation of cinema lovers and create a community that shares love for such films.

Deepak Sharma, COO – PVR Pictures said

Our successful association with BookMyShow spans decades and we are really excited to work with them on Vkaao.  As we continue to grow the Vkaao collection of films, our mission is to enable audiences to share an endless selection of films with friends, families and local communities, and to provide for a rich and engaging experience at PVR Cinemas. This new collaboration will help create a more seamless relationship between the theatrical and the digital experience. As part of this association, Vkaao, which is currently run as an independent platform will soon be integrated with PVR’s native digital platforms and BookMyShow.

About Vkaao

A fresh, disruptive medium of movie-going, Vkaao is a platform which gives viewers complete control of their movie watching experience at theatres. It allows them to select their preferred movie along with the location, date, and time of the screening at any theatre of their choice. This novel approach to movie going is why Vkaao is being considered as an exciting alternative to the conventional way of watching movies at the theatres. Vkaao’s USP lies in its focus on leveraging state-of-the-art technology in order to create a social, crowd-sourced movie going experience. For more information, please visit Vkaao

|In: SocialMedia|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Social media is truly a phenomenon. No longer than fifteen years ago, social media as we know it today had not even been thought of, most likely. Myspace was the first true social platform as we know it, and started gaining popularity around 2005, though it was originally released in 2003. After Myspace came Facebook in the years prior to 2010. Twitter came shortly after, then begat Instagram.

Image Source – Social Media Screening

Facebook has more than two billion – that’s 2,000,000,000 – regular users that log on at least once every month around the world. As you might imagine, it’s the largest social platform.

While most people use social media to keep in contact with friends, family, coworkers, and even meet people they’re not already familiar with IRL – in real life – another leading use of social media is for businesses, organizations, and other entities to connect with their customers and potential consumers.

Yet another purpose of social media – although it wasn’t originally intended to work as such – is exercised by employers. A majority of employers engage in social media screening to help weed out unqualified candidates. Here are several tips for screening applicants at your organization – take notes, and don’t try to tackle it without help – it’s OK to ask.

Reach out for help

Not every organization is experienced at hiring new employees. Even if an organization and its constituents are, in fact, seasoned in scouting the job world for ideal applicants, they might not be ready to screen them on social media. Besides, not outsourcing social media screening responsibilities forces employees to focus on responsibilities that they might not be passionate about, prepared for, or trained in.

Seek out social media screening agencies on the world wide web. We recommend trusting reputable agencies in assisting your organization with screening applicants on social media, including the likes of Fama.

Apply screening procedures equally across all applicants

In hiring, it’s important to subject all applicants to the same treatment. Not doing so can potentially result in organizations being accused of discriminating against those that they didn’t hire. Even if legal problems like this don’t pop up – they won’t, a vast majority of the time, although in today’s politically correct world, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Delegate the actual browsing of social profiles to others

While you should keep this responsibility within the walls of your organization, the person or people that make the final calls regarding hiring decisions should never be the ones that screen social media profiles.

If the entity you work for is large enough to have a human resources department, delegate digital job screening responsibilities to HR. If not, ask someone outside of the hiring process to look through applicants’ pages and provide a summary of all pages to the person making such decisions. Remember to never include any information regarded protected characteristics like age, sex, or race.

Be consistent in subjecting applicants to screening procedures

If you look through the top ten posts of a particular applicant’s Facebook page, then use a program to sort through every tweet that person has on Twitter, you should hold every single applicant to those same standards.

Not doing so, whether you recognize it or not, is not being fair to those seeking jobs at your organization.