Gamerji, one of India’s most prominent e-sports tournament platform has become the first ever Indian startup to be selected in the accelerator program by Qatar Sports Tech – A sports-centric startup investor and accelerator based in Doha, Qatar.
Qatar Sports Tech runs an accelerator program for startups that use cutting edge technology to reshape the industry of sports. Having competed against 1600 startups from over 15 countries. Gamerji was selected in the top 10 list of startups from across the world for the program.
As part of the program, Qatar Sports Tech will invest USD 150K in Gamerji and incubate the company while also creating a base in Qatar, opening avenues to the Middle East market. Launched in 2019, Gamerji was founded by Soham Thacker and Varun Gajjar. Within a short span, Gamerji already has over 120K gamers on their platform.
Gamerji allows gamers to compete, communicate, share content and win cash prizes by conducting more than 15 tournaments every day. Gamers can leverage their skills and earn money from the hours spent. It presently offers games such as PUBG, Clash Royale and Call of Duty. Offered to the public as a mobile application, it is available for Android and iOS users for convenient use.
Speaking on the expansion and funding, Soham Thacker, Co-Founder, Gamerji said
E-sports as an industry is rapidly growing and Gamerji has the capacity to have more than a million gamers competing in the next 6 months. The company is also looking to raise its seed round soon.
E-sports as an industry is fairly new in the Indian market. Most tournaments held are hosted offline or on social media platforms. While the registrations, player management and payments are handled using different platforms. Gamerji has consolidated these procedures and is now a one-stop platform for e-sports tournaments.
While most the e-sports companies are focused on either conducting offline tournaments on a grand scale or sponsoring teams, there has been no attention on casual gamers who comprise of the majority of the market. Gamerji has researched and has taken interest in the mindset of today’s casual gamer who on an average spend over 2+ hours daily playing online games. These gamers are looking for an opportunity to make money and attain recognition by using their skills, and Gamerji provides them with this opportunity.
The home automation market is growing at an unprecedented pace, especially in the urban parts of India. Many well-known real-estate developers are now providing homes to its customers with cutting-edge technologies being the core USP [Unique Selling Point]. The demand for smart-homes is largely being driven by the increased concerns about safety, privacy & security in the urban parts in India.
Image Source
As per a report titled ‘India Home Automation Market by Product Type, Technology, and End-User: Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2019-2026’, the Indian home-automation market is expected to reach $13,574.1 million by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 29.8% during the period 2019~2016 [Source].
Growing mobile internet penetration, competition between different ISPs [Internet Service Providers], growing disposable income, improved lifestyle, and increased awareness about the advantages of home automation are some of the major drivers behind the growth of home automation in India. Smart lighting systems, smart bulbs, smart cameras, and other avenues related to smart-homes are expected to fuel the growth of the segment.
For the young generation, smart homes are no longer a differentiated offering but essential components of the dwelling specifications. When it comes to converting an existing home into a smart home, there are a lot of doubts in the minds of the users. Some of the pertinent questions are:
Will there be any re-wiring for fitting the smart-home essentials?
What if there is no internet connectivity? Can I fall-back to the older system for operating the connected devices?
What will be the AMC [Annual Maintenance Contract] charges?
Easy Homes by Schneider Electric
Keeping these and a number of other questions that arise in the mind of the customers, Schneider Electric, the global leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation announced the launch of Easy Homes – one of their innovations in the Smart Home space in December 2019. There were a number of technology bloggers and tech journalists present at the launch event in Bengaluru.
I could not blog about the event in December due to personal & professional commitments after I moved into full-time writing in the month of November 2019. To maintain the same motivation in blogging is one of my new year resolutions of 2020 :). Let’s get back to the launch by Schneider Electric.
Easy Homes by Schneider Electric is one of their innovations in the Smart Home space. Bringing IoT to power homes, Schneider Electric’s Easy Homes empowers customers to manage power in their homes through a single app.
Easy Homes – The ‘Smart’ Integration
With four interfaces, it can be operated by everyone through Alexa or Google Home, smartphone, remote and switches to control power usage in the house. Designed to meet the unique requirements of everyone, it converts homes into a smart home, turning every switch and appliance into a connected device.
While most of the smart home solutions are designed to be installed in new homes, existing homes and retrofit projects need to be made smart. Schneider Electric believes that it is imperative to design smart home solutions for Indian customers comprising families with people across generations – from millennials to parents and grandparents.
Srinivas Shanbhogue, Vice President, Retail Business, Schneider Electric India
Speaking about the solution, Srinivas Shanbhogue, Vice President, Retail Business, Schneider Electric India, said
At Schneider Electric, we are committed to providing ease of access to the new age customers through energy-efficient smart home solutions. Apart from ensuring energy efficiency, smart home solutions should be easy to install and operate thereby making life easy for individuals navigating small struggles of managing electricity touchpoints in the home seamlessly. We understand that the #StruggleIsReal and with Easy Homes, we hope to address these.
With the IoT taking over the lives, automation has made lives simpler and homes smarter. Smart homes are the base of smart cities and à more efficient lifestyle. Connected home technology is designed to automate functions and bring to individuals control over their property.
Smart homes make lifestyle easy with its smart features like
Easy to install
Easy on pocket
Easy to Operate
Converts houses into smart home without disruption of existing wiring
Allows connectivity through 4 interfaces – Voice, App, Remote and the existing switches work too
24*7 helpline to help troubleshoot issues
Easy to buy, through an online eShop
Can be customized to individual needs
Schneider Electric’s Easy Homes is for every home – existing, old, and new.
A number of questions about efficient handling of voltage fluctuations, wiring, AMC and durability, and more were patiently answered by the Schneider Electric team.
Easy Homes – Pricing
Starting at Rs. 28,998, Easy Homes is affordable and can be installed without changing the existing electrical setup, upgrading homes in just about four hours. Further, in case of any challenges, a local electrician is available 24*7 to troubleshoot the device, thereby easing the overall maintenance process.
Easy Homes – Where to Buy
It is easy to buy Easy Homes from Schneider Electric and one can purchase the product in just three simple steps on the website.
Wrapping it up
There are already a number of devices like smart bulbs, smart fans, etc. available in the market which are preferred by DIY [Do It Yourself] enthusiasts. However, there is no single-point contact to isolate & solve problems in case the device falters or stops working. The advantage of Easy Homes is that it comes from a reputed brand like Schneider and their platform acts as a single-point contact for all your smart home needs.
Easy Homes addresses to the entire spectrum of consumers who aim to convert their normal homes into smart-homes without much hassles or getting into the technicalities of the technology.
With digital transformation gaining traction and the acceleration of next-gen technologies such as Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence [AI], Machine Learning [ML] and others, organisations are becoming future-ready.
The Indian IT industry will be marching at a greater pace than ever towards Industry 4.0 by adhering to future technologies through digital transformation. Gartner estimates that IT spending in India will total $94 billion in 2020, an increase of 6.6% compared to the current levels.
Here are some of the top technology trends to watch out for in 2020
Intelligent Automation [RPA and AI] – moving to a collaborative model
As cognitive technology deployments mature, value-centric activities will gain mindshare in the future. Combining cognitive technologies would allow bots to work in more complex scenarios that would typically require human judgment or decision making.
The investment of global enterprises in Intelligent Automation [IA] is on the rise with BFSI, retail and consumer packaged goods [CPG] being the key driving sectors.
While ML, predictive analytics and autonomics are moving up the maturity curve, AI-enabled chatbots and virtual assistants are already being used widely. Gartner predicts that 25% of customer service operations will be using virtual customer assistants by 2020.
24/7/365 business processing with seamless automation is feasible with an AI-enabled ERP. Integrating ERP with RPA technology can replace mundane and repetitive processes with nimble and agile process automation to achieve quick ROI. As per estimates, 40% of RPA adopters moving beyond experimentation with AI-enabled processes.
Hybrid Cloud Computing – adoption moving to newer areas
Global cloud computing spending is predicted to almost double by 2022. Hybrid cloud adoption saw a big rise in recent years, with an expected CAGR of 17%. The security features on cloud have become promising and it is becoming a priority to safeguard and protect application data and infrastructure.
High cloud adoption is observed in finance and accounting, supply chain and logistics, and IT management. The emerging areas are customer management, marketing, procurement and manufacturing and operations. On demand scalability and optimal utilization as per demands can facilitate cost savings by migrating to an ERP on cloud.
Internet of Things – moving to cloud-edge architecture
Investments in IoT technology services is growing faster than that in IoT products. Cloud service providers, analytics and infrastructure providers are driving the IoT solutions market. As a technological shift, IoT is moving from a centralized to a cloud-edge architecture and moving away from conventional processor chip enabling new edge architecture.
In the Indian market, 20 billion devices are to be connected to IoT by 2021. IoT is growing at a rapid pace and its adoption is spreading into various industries such as telecom, healthcare, retail, automobiles, manufacturing, supply chain, and service operations. However, security remains as one of the barriers.
Industrial IoT [IIoT] opportunity is set to surpass consumer internet by 2020. IIoT enables seamless dataflow across systems/applications/equipment and ERP for centralized monitoring, management and control centre.
Blockchain – moving to a business case centric model
Globally and in India blockchain has progressed to different levels of maturity, and in India, it is looking promising. The government is the most critical stakeholder and enabler of blockchain; while BFSI leads adoption in India.
Currently, 40+ blockchain initiatives are being executed by the public sector in India. At nearly 50%, BFSI has the maximum production level implementations in India. Logistics, retail, and manufacturing account for nearly 25% of blockchain implementations.
Blockchain is transforming from the experimental model to a business case centric model, which will result in more projects moving to the production phase where over 70% of implementations will deliver cost savings or operational efficiencies.
Integration of finance and supply chain domain with blockchain using industry-specific blockchain scenarios will be facilitated by modern ERPs. Blockchain enhances the existing benefits of ERP system to another level.
Industrial Robotics – a strong use case in ERP
Automotive is one of the leading verticals for industrial robotics and recently demand has been driven by tier 1/ tier 2 suppliers. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are pushing suppliers to invest in robotics to ensure better quality and faster production. Collaborative robots [Co-Bots] allow sharing heavy payloads and improve cycle times achieving an optimal degree of automation.
Strong growth of the e-commerce industry in India and of logistics subsequently has pushed automation to keep up with high throughput requirements. ERP could not be better automated without robotics forming part of most manufacturing automations.
About the Author
Mr. Padmanabhan Iyer is the Managing Director and Global CEO of 3i Infotech. You can find more information about him here.
The Indian Media & Entertainment [M&E] industry is at the forefront of disruption. The availability of high-speed mobile internet at affordable rates, growing literacy, and smartphone adoption are some of the reasons for the growing consumption of media in the country.
There are currently 451 million monthly active internet users in Indiaand that number is growing at a rapid pace. This has led to changing patterns predominantly in the digital video consumption space which is growing at a staggering 46% CAGR over the last two years. There was a sharp rise in the consumption of non-Hindi or non-English content i.e. regional content with the evolution of new OTT [Over the Top] players targetting that customer segment. Alt Balaji, MX Player, Amazon Prime, NetFlix, HOOQ, Zee5, Voot, AltBalaji, Hoichoi, etc. are some of the OTT players that are capitalizing on the ‘video consumption wave’.
If you are from the urban part of India, there is a high possibility that you may have paid subscription of one or more OTT services like NetFlix, Amazon Prime, or more. What if the content from major OTT players is accessible in a single location? You and your loved ones can binge watch shows in 4K together sitting in the comfort of your homes.
ACT Fibernet, the third-largest wired broadband service provider in India is known for offering high-speed internet [upto 1 Gbps] at competitive rates. It also offers DTH services in certain parts of India. A couple of months back, the company unveiled its new brand identity and announced its plans to be more than an ISP. Through #FeelTheAdvantage, ACT Fibernet is transforming and aiming to be the future of streaming, gaming, smart homes, and more. ACT Stream TV 4K is its foray into the media streaming space.
ACT Stream TV 4k Review
If you are already an ACT Fibrnet user and an ardent fan of originals [on OTT platforms], you might be interested to give a shot to ACT Stream TV 4K. ACT Stream TV 4K is an Android based devcie that runs the TV version of Android Pie. We have been using this Android-based offering for a couple of months and this our detailed review based on that experience.
ACT Stream TV 4k – What’s In The Box
The packaging was minimal and impressive. ACR Stream TV 4K is a small rectangular shaped streaming device that has right number of ports and the minimalistic design makes it ultra-portable. Below are the contents that you would receive in the retail packaging:
Remote Controller
Power Adapter
LAN Cable
HDMI Cable
RCA Cable
User Manual
2 AAA batteries
ACT Stream TV 4K box
Though the device works only on ACT Fibernet, the review device that we tested had that feature bypassed. Some of the streaming services, including installation of software updates were tested using an Internet Dongle and it worked perfetcly fine!
Our tests also included random disconnection of internet during firmware updates and as expected, the device passed all those tests.
ACT Stream TV 4k – The Hardware
The device runs on Android 9 Pie. It is powered by Hi Silicon 3798M V200 that has Multi-core 64-bit high-performance ARM Cortex CPUs and a dedicated Multi-core high-performance GPU. The chipset supports maximum 4K x 2K@60 fps 10-bit decoding and 1080p@30 fps video encoding. It is capable of decoding multiple file formats, including H.265/HEVC, AVS, H.264/AVC MVC, MPEG-1/2/4, VC-1, and more. Below is the snapshot of key features of Hi Silicon 3798M V200 chipset that powers the ACT Stream TV 4K:
The box has 2 USB ports, 1 ethernet port, 1 HDMI port, 1 AV output, and 1 SD card slot. The device has 2GB RAM and 8GB Flash. The device has Dual band WiFi [2.4G & 5G] and 802.11 ac. It also has Bluetooth connection. The device has enough processing capability and storage capacity to download apps and games from the Play Store. You can also connect USB drive, Joystick, or smart camera to the USB ports. The box supports Dolby Audio and is capable of playing 4K content as well as HDR 10 content. Since it is Android based, it also supports Google Assistant and Google Chromecast.
ACT Stream TV 4k device is accompanied with a remote controller that is ergnomic in nature. The remote controller is beautiful to hold in hands and the keys have excellent tactile feedback. It has IR and Bluetooth connectivity. Other than the normal Volume [Up & Down] keys; there is a circular navigation button and couple of hot keys present at appropriate locations on the remote. There are hot keys for Google Assistant, Google Play, Live TV, NetFlix, and YouTube.
During our testing, we did not much inconvenience while searching for content on the box using the remote. We even tested search using Google Voice and the accuracy was good. Along with the hot keys, you would also find the normal keys like Mute, Power, Back, and Home keys that are present on normal remote controllers.
It is important to note that currently ACT StreamTV4k is available only for ACT Fibernet customers.
ACT Stream TV 4k – Getting Started
For setting up the ACT Stream TV 4K, connect the ACT StreamTV4k HDMI output with the TV’s HDMI input using the HDMI cable provided in the box. Then connect the power adaptor to ACT StreamTV 4k. Once the ACT StreamTV4k is ON, follow the series of instructions on your screen.
To use Google Assistant, the remote controller has to be paired with the TV via Bluetooth. Since the device is based on Google’s Android platform, Google credentials have to be entered to login to the ACT Stream TV 4k. As the box only works with an active ACT broadband connection, you would be asked ACT credentials which could either be your mobile number or email address used at the time of registration.
ACT Stream TV 4k – Experience
Before we jump into this main section where we talk about the user experience, let us tell you that the interface in the ACT Stream TV 4K is very much similar to Fire TV Stick. The good part about this is that there is not much learning curve involved in using the box as people who have used Fire TV Stick or Chromecast [which is very much likely] might like the device from the word go!
The box uses a clean interface where there are fixed tabs on top – Home, Apps & Games, Live TV, and Offers. Based on the currently active tab, the contents are updated based on the services that you have subscribed to. The first tab shows the featured content across different streaming platforms that come pre-bundled in the box, irrespective of whether you are subscriber or not. The next row shows a list of the OTT platforms that are available on the device. When you use this interface without loading any extra apps, it would show majority of the OTT platforms that come pre-loaded in the box i.e. Voot, Netflix, Hotstar, Hooq, Hungama Play, Eros Now, Zee5, YuppTV, and more.
It is worth noting that Amazon Prime does not come pre-installed in the box and you would need to download the same from the Google Play Store. You can also side load apps and also stream content via Chromecast. We received good number of OTA updates during the process of testing which means that ACT Fibernet is working hard to fix issues and improve the overall customer experience.
Customers can subscribe and unsubscribe to OTT services with a single click and the amount gets added in the ACT bill. This makes the entire experience very seamless. We are yet to test the ‘subscription’ feature using the ACT Android application. For people who are not interested in OTT services can opt to watch close to 300 TV channels. There is a mix of free and subscription based TV channels.
The ‘offers’ section lists the offers that are available with the box. Customers receive one month of Zee5 and two months of free HOOQ. These offers are subject to change depending on when you subscribed for ACT Stream TV 4K.
You can uninstall apps by performing long-press of the center button and clicking on the ‘uninstall’ option. Select apps/channels may not be available for pre-install and most of these are the one’s that come pre-loaded with the box. The ACT Stream TV 4K does not support recording of content of any form either on StreamTV 4K device. Last but not the least, ACT Stream TV 4K comes with a built-in Chromecast and also supports casting of mobile devices. All you need to do is select streamtv4k1007 for casting.
Though we faced couple of lags and hangs while using the device, the overall experience was very smooth. It is only a matter of time, the technical team behind the development of ACT StreamTV 4K fix the issues via FOTA updates.
ACT Stream TV 4k – Pricing
Services for ACT Stream TV 4K are available in four Indian cities – Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Delhi. The ACT Stream TV 4K is priced handsomely at Rs 4,499. If you are an ACT subscriber, you would definitely find lot of value in using the device as it provides a superlative experience. Below are the plans for the city of Bengaluru:
If you are residing in any of the cities where ACT Stream 4K TV is available, do check out the Stream TV 4K Plans. The pricing looks right as it is less expensive than Fire TV Stick 4K which is priced at Rs. 5,999.
ACT Stream TV 4k – Closing Remarks
The box and remote controller are well-designed and we liked the egronomic design of the remote controller. Barring aside a few software lags and resets, the experience with ACT Stream 4K TV was superlative. If you are already an ACT Fibernet customer, you should definitely go for ACT Stream TV 4k
Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist, Asha Jadeja Motwani has announced the launch of India Tech Park at CES2020, the largest and most influential technology event worldwide, which is going to be held in Las Vegas from January 7~10, 2020.
India Tech Park is a platform for Indian start-ups working towards a sustainable future utilizing technological innovation and creating products that tackle pressing global problems.
The purpose of the first ever India Tech Park is to showcase India’s blooming consumer electronic systems startups globally and provide them exposure to the international startup ecosystem. The startups chosen are driven by responsible young entrepreneurs with sensitivity to climate, water, and sustainable food practices.
Sharing her vision about the India Tech Park, Asha Jadeja Motwani, Founder of Motwani Jadeja Foundation, said
The startup ecosystem in India is still evolving. The promise shown by Indian start-ups is incredible. Buoyed by bold, fresh economic policies and reduced red tape, Indian startups can truly lead the world and can contribute to the goal of a $5 Trillion economy by 2025 and even overshoot it to reach a $10 Trillion economy if nurtured and supported well.
The government has taken a lot of initiatives to provide a push to the startup culture in the country but the international exposure to the enterprising startups is still relatively low. Indian policy makers need to be part of the macroeconomic world and talk in global terms to compete in the world economy.
At the time, when connectivity and reach are no longer problems, the government must take a stride forward and push the startups to get the global exposure which would benefit the country as a whole and India Tech park is igniting the spark.
Few of the startups promoted by India Tech Park in CES 2020 are Calamus, Hyper Lychee, Wagr, Altifarm, Strom Motors, and Stempedia.
The recent launch of an agritech startup’s e-commerce platform for farmers in Barwani proves technology and startups are way beyond the big cities’ corridors. Recently, Barwani, an agri-centric region of Madhya Pradesh, witnessed a wave of a technological revolution in the form of Farmkart, a new generation startup transforming the Indian agriculture industry.
Founded in 2017 and based in Barwani, Farmkart offers pioneering solutions that digitize the agri-inputs’ buying process and simplify it, making the lives of rural farmers easier and their work more fruitful. Happy customers, increasing in number every day, validate Farmkart’s e-commerce platform as the much-awaited agritech revolution expands to rural villages across all states of India.
Farmkart, in broader terms, is changing the way others look at agriculture. No one could have ever imagined the potential of user experience that can be built around farmers and agriculture. We brought innovation to where it was needed the most. We as a team are growing every day, upgrading our own ideas and thinking of creating an impact in the everyday lives of farmers.
Farmkartis led by a core team of seven in Toronto, Canada, and its operations are executed by a fast-growing team in Barwani, bringing together the local knowledge and international expertise to make farming a profitable profession. To realize this vision, the team first researched the on-ground problems the farmers of the region were facing and then launched three products, designed with a combination of technology and human compatibility.
Farmkart Digital Platform – All of Farmkart’s technology solutions follow one simple rule ‘Everyone in the world knows how to count money’. Every farmer, whether educated or not, can get easy access to the most affordable agriculture products and services,right from the comfort of their home or farm.
Using Farmkart’s digital platform is as easy as counting from 0-9. The platform further provides farmers of the rural region access to world-class quality agriculture products at reasonable prices delivered to their doorstep within 36 hours, in just one click.
Unique Identification Code [UIC] – Putting its best foot forward, Farmkart has built a deep learning network that classifies and catalogues products based on a farmer’s profile and provides a smart personalized online shopping experience to each user in the palm of their hands. The UIC card not only encrypts the farmers’ individual identity, but also integrates their farm’s identity – i.e type of soil, crops, and products used by them – with the digital platform.
Farmkart’s advanced data analytics then transforms the farming experience by providing farmers with their own, personal digital agronomist. Farmkart’s Unique Identification Code [UIC] also allows them to shop and pay for their orders easily with a click of a button.
FarmkartUser to User Delivery – Farmkart User to User Delivery model is an innovative community-driven delivery model that paves the way for the community to come forward and become a part of an impact that Farmkart are trying to create on agriculture. One can easily carry out his/her daily activities and still can be a part of the U2U delivery process by a simple registration and identification process.
An initiative that has been designed such that it utilizes minimum resources for execution, saves transportation cost and increases accessibility while promoting local employment.
Agriculture Consulting & Service Centers – Through Farmkart Agri-Nidan, agriculture also gets its first personalized agriculture consulting service providing the farmers’ end-to-end solutions based on the soil testing results, land quality, cropping patterns and historical regional data analysis.
The FarmKart team
Additionally, Farmkart service centers provide low-cost repairs and maintenance with quick turnaround times, ensuring minimal disruption in farming activities. If there is one thing that is going to change the current situation of the agriculture community it’s the technological integration in the agriculture process.
As Farmkart unveils its experience through its products for the people of the agriculture community, it is giving them an experience they never thought they would have. It is initiating its journey towards its vision of making rural agriculture and farmers technologically compatible. In the coming years, Farmkart envisions to add more innovative products into the lives of farmers and agriculture and increase their productivity, output, and profitability.
Proptech is poised to revolutionise the real estate industry as we know it today. Driven by changing technology and consumption patterns, the term broadly refers to technological innovation in various aspects of the real estate segment. The emergence of the market was brought about by the convergence of technology and real estate sector, the largest asset class in the world.
With its cutting-edge technologies such as augmented reality, smart buildings, big data mining, 3D printing and cryptocurrency, proptech ventures are now equipped with the technical competence to enable energy consumption monitoring, creating and simulating interior designs, smart solutions for services such as parking, waste management and transportation. This is expected to improve the performance of organisations and benefit all stakeholders concerned with real estate market right from buyers to investors.
According to a JLL report, India is one of the most dynamic markets for proptech and it tops the list of countries in the Asia-pacific region in terms of number of deals made in the segment. Since the last 5 years, deals and investments amounting to USD 928 million has been made in the sector and this too is amongst the highest in the region.
The proptech revolution hit Indian markets in mid-2000s on two fronts; first the residential sector then commercial. The huge potential of the residential market propelled funding for the proptech industry and also resulted in the development of a standardised system in the real estate markets, online housing portals etc.
With a rapidly expanding commercial real estate sector, new players have entered the markets who aim at increasing the transparency in the sector in terms of data processing, as analytics providers etc.
Today, proptech is no longer a niche segment in the real estate sector, as enterprising entrepreneurs and businessmen have realised the potential of the largely untapped market. Investors are increasingly focussing on cost control and revenue maximisation, which can be easily achieved by aspects of proptech such as end to end process management software, and overall consolidation of the sector which would provide developers with a technological advantage. This would in turn eventually translate as economic gains for the organisation. Some of the prominent proptech trends to watch out for in the India include:
Blockchain Technology
While blockchain tech has already proved its mettle in the fintech industry it also holds great possibilities for the real estate sector. With data in the sector being increasingly digitised particularly with regards to property transactions, blockchain offers both buyers and developers additional security against possible fraudulent practices.
Augmented BI Tools
This mainly involves the application of analytic tools in order to determine value, make forecasts and gather useful business-related insight on a variety of aspects. These include maximisation of revenue, elimination of operational inefficiencies and improving general performance of the organisation. The rise of technology has enabled traditional BI tools to progress and even predict customer preferences from existing data in some cases.
Internet of Things (IOT)
Loosely defined as the inter-connectivity of everyday objects of even people the Internet of Things (IOT) is set to revolutionise the real estate sector. Home automation devices which forms an important part of the IOT is an indispensable aspect of efficient utilisation of urban spaces. They use artificial intelligence coupled with sensor-based technologies to offer an array of services in connection with the home environment.
Virtual Reality
Virtual reality (VR) not only enables a prospective buyer to visualise the property even before its completion but it also facilitates a 360-degree tour of the property and its surroundings within the comfort of one’s own home. Due to its highly immersive and engagement-based nature of functioning VR is slowly becoming a prominent part of real estate, architecture and interior decor today. Several start-ups that offer these services in VR have emerged in tech cities across the country.
The chatbot technology backed by the development of artificial intelligence assists realtors in generating leads and converting them into customers. Several eminent developers use chatbots to provide 24×7 services to potential customers. These are programmed to identify the needs of the potential customer and handle enquiries and in some cases even conduct follow ups. In addition to this CRM software automates the process by which an organisation keeps up with the customer preferences and needs. The software is even capable of running, tracking and following up on campaigns for the organisation.
Proptech today is shifting into a necessity in the real estate segment and is no longer a novelty factor in the market. The advent of technology in the real estate sector has not only made things more efficient but has also increased the transparency in the system. As the real estate market continues on its upward swing, entrepreneurs and businesses who harness technology in their organisation will reap the long-term benefits post the consolidation of the various aspects of the proptech sector.
Nevertheless, proptech still remains a trend whose full potential has not been explored in the Indian markets. We are going through a time of rapid innovation, and companies that view technology as an opportunity to enhance, or even revolutionise, their existing processes will more than likely emerge with competitive advantage.
About the Author
Madhusudhan G. is the Chairman & MD of Sumadhura Group. You can find more about him here.
Truecaller released the findings from their annual Truecaller Insights Report, that listed the Top 20 Countries Affected by Spam Calls in 2019.
This is the third edition of the report wherein there has been a significant shift in the ranking of countries that received the most spam calls.
A closer look at spam calls in India
According to the report, India has dropped down to the fifth position in terms of number of spam calls received by users globally, while Brazil continues to stay on top. However, spam calls received by users in India has continued to increase to 25.6 calls per user/month, which is a 15% upsurge from the previous year. One of the most interesting revelations that came from this year’s report was that 10% of spam calls came from financial service providers, a category that was not listed last year.
With regard to spam call categorization, operators continue to be the top spammers in India with 67% user calls received for upselling of various offers and reminders. However, with the rise of mobile payment systems and a growing middle economic class in the country, the study has witnessed banks & fintech-based organizations and telemarketing services emerging as big spammers recording 10% and 17% respectively.
Additionally, Truecaller also looked at the trends of spam SMS around the world and the report has indexed the top 20 countries that receive the most spam SMS. The data shows that spam messages are primarily received in emerging regions. India ranked at 8th position wherein users received an average of 61 spam SMS every month. The top three markets that are affected by this form of spam were in the African continent.
What other trends are we seeing?
Digging deeper into the bigger markets, Truecaller found common categories that tie all these spam calls together. The most prominent pattern seen was that operators across the world are the biggest spammers. Another pattern noted was that scam calls are on the rise globally, and spam calls from financial services are increasing.
Spam calls in Latin America have been increasing dramatically over the years. This year, the trend is even clearer. The countries that are seeing the biggest increase of spam calls are in Latin America. 5 out of the top 10 most affected markets are in that region.
Peru has seen a significant increase of spam calls. Users are now getting on average 30.9 spam calls a month, making Peru the 2nd most spammed country in the world.
The biggest increase of total spam calls comes from Indonesia. Last year Indonesia was ranked 16th, and this year the market jumped up to 3rd place, which makes it the biggest jump we have seen.
The country that has witnessed the biggest increase of spam calls in percentage is Lebanon. Users in the market have seen an increase of spam calls going from 2.8 average spam calls/user to 8.6 – that is a 208% increase in a year.
Although India has dropped to the 5th place (India used to be the top spammed country in the world), spam calls have been increasing by 15% over the year. Another devastating fact we found during this year is that 1 out of 3 women in India receive sexual harassment or inappropriate calls and SMS on a regular basis.
The U.S. continues to be in the top 10 list of the most spammed countries in the world. The market saw a 7% increase of spam calls compared to last year, where it actually was decreasing. Earlier this year, we conducted a study in the U.S. and found that phone scams caused Americans to lose 5 billion dollars in 2018, and nearly 1 in every 6 American adults falls victim to scam calls.
New markets to enter our list: UAE, Australia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Lebanon, Nigeria and Egypt.
Telcos/operators are still the biggest spammers in the world, and scam calls are on the rise globally.
Who are the top 5 markets to receive the most scam calls in the world? Malaysia (63%), Australia (60%), Lebanon (49%), Canada (48%), South Africa (39%).
