With the rise of the Internet of Things [IoT] companies are inundated with opportunities to improve their business. Every field, from hospitality to healthcare, can streamline services and offerings with new devices arriving on the market daily. But with a constant rotation of new devices being connected to the internet, there are some serious risks to consider as IoT advances and grows.
Image Source – GoToTags
From the lack of a unified platform to lackluster security standards, there are many things to consider as more devices are created and implemented. In fact, a study on IoT was done by The Internet Society that highlights some of the critical issues. As the technology expands, keeping these concerns in the back of your mind can save you from some major disasters down the line.
Here are some of the greatest challenges IoT faces as it grows
Infrastructure Concerns
What is IoT ? It’s a complex interconnection of hardware, usually comprised of sensors and actuators, and software that works at the assembly level. It’s the basis of what IoT is that presents a complicated problem. There’s no dedicated platform for IoT. We have companies like Apple and Google creating their own infrastructure, designing things that works specifically for their own products, rather than developing an open source platform that can unify the experience. Having an open source platform would help to aid collaboration & inspire creativity, but at the moment, everything exists in its own ecosystem.
Privacy Issues
There are devices for everything, gathering personal information and medical history, sometimes without even asking for permission to do so. This makes the ever present concern about privacy and security a big topic in the space. There are a number of things to consider here – Potential surveillance by government and private agencies, Credit card and bank information, and Access to personal emails.
At the moment, there’s not a clear cut regulation in place that prevents businesses from utilizing the data they receive from the devices they sell. Which means they can do whatever they want with the data they collect.
Without a concrete law that encompasses the various layers of IoT, the plethora of devices connected raise serious security concerns. Devices are being connected to the internet 24/7/365 and it is unclear if the current liability laws can, or will, extend to cover them. Being aware of where your data is going and what can be done with it, is critical before you implement any device.
Battery Powered Devices
Think about the number of devices that are already connected to IoT. Now, think about how many of those use batteries. Chances are, almost all of them do. With an estimated twenty-four billion devices expected to be connected to the internet by 2020, it is imperative that we think of a new way to power them. Battery life is short, and doesn’t last forever, making the need for consistent replacements a very real possibility. In industries that shell out a fortune for devices, this presents a major problem.
In fact, Kansas State University is already researching possible solutions for this. They’ve been developing energy-harvesting radios that draw power from boards made of solar cells.
Over-saturation of Data
IoT has the potential to amass a huge amount of data. From devices that are collecting information on the changes in weather to the ones we wear on our wrists to track our health, at any given time one of these devices could be collecting more data than it knows what to do with. Of course, at some point all this data gets sent to the end user, and they determine what they need and what they don’t.
The ability to aggregate this data, weed out the relevant information from what is unnecessary, and compile it into useful documentation, would make these devices even more useful for any industry. Organizing the information into common data models and making it accessible for reporting, monitoring, maintenance, and policy settings would streamline these devices even further.
False Readings
Technology is not foolproof, therefore, it’s safe to assume the same goes for your IoT device. One of the downsides to these devices is when they become psychotic devices, which is a term for when the sensor goes bad and begins sending false readings. This can happen for any number of reasons – low battery, a software bug, or a complete device failure.
Depending on what the device is used for, this kind of failure can be catastrophic. Implementing techniques that compare anomalous readings to the output of neighboring sensors, is one way to prevent a problem, but these are not techniques that are currently built in. It’s one of the aspects of IoT that has yet to be fully addressed with potential preventative measures. But with more companies relying heavily on IoT devices, this is one of the biggest problems facing the industry.
For many companies and individuals, IoT saves time, streamlines processes, and improves business operations in a big way. But being aware of these concerns, the possible failure points, and what can be done to address them is just as important as implementing the devices themselves. Needless to say, always proceed with caution and research any device that will be supplied with sensitive information, that your company relies on, or that has the potential to drain your power and resources.
About the author
Autumn Haile has over the span of her 12 year career as a freelance writer and content curator, Autumn has worked in a variety of fields including telecommunications, entertainment, culinary, and literature. Through her work with companies like Universal Music Group, Lonely Planet, and Transbeam she’s taken part in large scale social media campaigns, copywriting, and the curation of marketing content. She’s written for a variety of different mediums including NKD Magazine, Rare Country, and Word of Mouth Conversations.
Transbeam offers one bill to manage all network needs for multi-site enterprises via our nationwide reach and strategic carrier interconnections. For more information visit Transbeam
Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management-Kerala [IIITM-K] and IBMhave announced the development of a real-time water quality management system – ‘Swatchpaani‘. The system, powered by IBM’s Watson Internet of Things [IoT] technologies, will continuously monitor water quality and measure temperature, pH and the presence of various metal/non-metal substances in the water, to ensure standard levels are not exceeded as prescribed by agencies.
The proposed solution will compose of Libelium, signal conditioning boards and sensors and Raspberry Pi for connecting these to IBM Bluemix Cloud services and Watson IoT platform for device and sensor data management, analysis and visualization. The system will support data analysis in real-time and trigger alerts if there are anomalies in the water samples. The project will also incorporate a pre-screening mechanism to test the water quality of mobile water distribution systems.
Dr. Ashraf, Principal Investigator, Swatchpaani Project, Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management – Kerala [IIITM-K] said
The conventional method of testing water quality is often inaccessible and time consuming. In this context, Swatchpaani offers a convenient, mobile, quick and cost effective solution for the pre-screening of water samples. The extensive lab tests may be mandated only when the pre-screening signals a potential threat.
The IBM Watson IoT platform is an easy-to-use, secure and scalable solution which provides seamless integration with various IoT devices to build specialized, integrated solutions to solve industry and business challenges. The Swachpaani project is one such result on Watson IoT that demonstrates the impact technology can bring to the life of an individual. IBM India continues to work with academia to create useful and meaningful innovation based on Watson technologies.
About IIITM-K
IIITM-K is an autonomous institute set up by Government of Kerala to promote higher education and research in the field of Information Technology and allied areas. IIITM-K’s Mission is to be an institution of excellence in education, research, development, and training in basic and applied Information Technology and Management and to be a leader in educational networking and services provider for higher education and professions. For more information on IIITM-K HomePage
Yahoo today announced the launch of Captain bot for Facebook Messenger. This comes as the first wave of bots on the newly announced Chat Extensions feature, which enables users to use Captain seamlessly with their friends and family right in Messenger.
Image Source – Captain
Captain on Messenger streamlines organization among groups, family and friends for managing activities with a shared tasks list. Use Captain to figure out who’s bringing what on your next backpacking trip or plan for an upcoming potluck dinner-without leaving Messenger. With Captain, you can make plans with your favourite people without overloading them with tons of notifications and long, unorganised lists of requests and questions.
Stan Chudnovsky, Vice President of Product for Messenger said
We are delighted that Yahoo is launching Captain on Messenger. This bot will help users simplify group coordination, which can get harder the larger the group and longer the thread. This experience makes that interaction seamless.
To start using Captain on Messenger, just add the bot to your group conversation.
Yahoo launched Captain last month for text messaging to help families stay organized. We continue to iterate on our products to help users make life easier and more fun.
News CorpVCCEdge, India’s leading publisher of alternative investment, deals and startup news, data and information and part of globally diversified media, education and information services group, News Corp, has today released its India Quarterly Deals report for Q1 CY2017.
Capturing funding deal activities encompassing private equity, venture capital, angel/seed investment transactions for the seventeen quarters ending March 2017, the report also offers information on mergers and acquisitions with sector and region-wise analysis.
Highlights of the News Corp VCCEdge India Quarterly Deals report
PE Investments see a sober start to the year
238 deals worth $3.04 bn in Q1, CY2017 vis-a-vis 432 deals worth USD 4.19 billion in Q1, CY 2016.
Median deal value quadrupled to USD 2.25 million for Q1, 2017 compared to USD 0.6 million in Q1, 2016.
Angel investments at a 4-year low at USD 28 million with VC investments dropping by 14% YoY.
The top PE deal for the quarter was the Bharti Infratel-KKR, CPPIB deal which at USD 946 million pushed up the average deal value.
Fund infusion sees better times though investors tread cautiously
Investment values doubled against last quarter to USD 820 million for Q1 CY2017, though this was a fraction of the USD 2,500 million for Q1 CY2016.
There were no fresh investments of USD 250 million or more from investors, this quarter.
The top four fund infusions involving Oman India Joint Investment Fund II, KKR India Credit Fund, ICICI Venture Fund Management’s India Advantage Fund Series IV and IDFC Private Equity Fund IV captured a major share of total funds at USD 641 million.
Ominous times for PE funds as exit values fall
YoY, the situation seems grim with exits having fallen to USD 1.4 billion for Q1 CY2017 vis-a-vis USD 2.1 billion for the same quarter last year
Open markets dominated exit deal values at USD 945 million, bouncing back as the preferred exit route
Key exits recorded for the quarter were the Providence Equity Partners-Idea Cellular deal and the Khazanah Nasional Berhad-Apollo Hospitals deal.
Delhi NCR continues to rule the roost
At USD 1,246 million, Delhi saw more action this quarter than Mumbai [USD 692 million] and Bangalore [USD 441 million] put together.
Information Technology continued to dominate the space in Delhi NCR with 29 deals in the sector followed by 9 deals in Consumer Discretionary and 4 each in Consumer Staples and Industrials.
Coming second in terms of deal value was Mumbai with 47 deals amounting to USD 692 million, with Information Technology leading the way with 23 deals followed by Consumer Discretionary with 7 deals and Financials at 6 deals.
Bengaluru registered 53 deals amounting to USD 441 million with close to 60% being in the Information Technology space and ~19% in the Consumer Discretionary space. Pune with 8 deals to the tune of USD 62 million and Hyderabad with 18 deals amounting to USD 32 million made it to the top-5 investment destinations of India.
Vodafone-Idea deal dominates M&A space
M&A deal numbers came in at 226 as opposed to 237 for the last quarter, with the trend of a few large deals contributing to the total value continuing.
Of the total of USD 16 billion deal value for Q1 CY2017, the Vodafone-Idea deal saw a majority deal value of USD 12.4 billion.
Low median value across deals in the past 5 quarters vis-a-vis higher average deal values indicate a larger number of small ticket transactions in the space.
The Electronic Components space saw 3 deals followed by Wireless Telecommunications and Pharmaceuticals at 2 each.
Sharing her views on the News Corp VCCEdge India Quarterly Deals report, Nita Kapoor, Head India-New Ventures, News Corp & CEO, News Corp VCCircle said
PE sentiment seems to be extremely cautious and this is clearly reflecting in market performance. Appetite for risk is low with consolidation, job cuts and rollback of funding plans underway. A dip of 22% in deal values with simultaneous decline in exit figures is worrisome, though these are early days and a bounce back is possible, if not probable in the immediate future.
About VCCEdge
VCCEdge is an online financial research platform of the VCCircle Network which is owned by the global diversified media, news, education and information services company – News Corp. VCCEdge offers information on mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital transactions including deal terms, structures, deal amounts and valuations. It also contains entity information on all companies involved in the transactions including target companies, investors and advisors. For more information, please visit VCCEdge
Few weeks back, we reviewed MoneyTap which is India’s first app based credit line. You can find the MoneyTap review here. As mentioned in the review, MoneyTap offers unsecured loans for salaried professionals in association with its partner banks.
Unlike P2P lending companies, the interest rate is much lesser and the loan process is fast & simple 🙂 Today we have a chat with Bala Parthasarathy, Co-founder & CEO of MoneyTap about MoneyTap, the P2P lending market, opportunities in Fintech, impact of Digital India & much more. So let’s get started with the Q&A….
How did you come up with the idea of MoneyTap ?
It was a combination of personal experiences as well as general observation. Growing up in India in the 80’s & 90’s and coming from middle-income group families, we have all faced shortage of additional funds at some point. We observed the market need and realised that the middle income group [the salaried class] has always been facing challenges with respect to credits, especially small amounts. People are not comfortable going to banks for loans for minimal amounts-this could be anywhere from Rs. 3000 to Rs.50,000 to 1 or 2 Lakhs.
Asking for money from family and friends always has an embarrassment factor. The needs are what most of us have, that could be anything from medical, birth, death, school fees, deposit to take a rent on house, etc. In many cases, people even have fixed deposits that they just don’t want to break for a small need. This is where we thought of MoneyTap and wanted to be like a friend who could be reached out at fingertips.
At MoneyTap, we are on a mission to change this and make credit accessible to those who deserve it. The ubiquitous presence of smartphones and initiatives such as Aadhaar has made it possible for us to develop a truly powerful and disruptive financial instrument. The credit line for consumers with accessibility through an app is a new concept in India and we are excited about the opportunities it can bring to thousands of millions of Indians. MoneyTap is like a friend who gives you money when in need, be it marriage, birth sudden death in family, school fees, hospital bills or sudden cash crunch during the month end. We, at MoneyTap, want to make credit available for deserving and eligible candidates.
Can you share some details about the team behind MoneyTap ?
MoneyTap is based in Bengaluru and all the three of us have been entrepreneurs before with an IIT/ISB background. Bala has co-founded multiple startups in Silicon Valley including Snapfish [sold to Hewlett Packard], which he helped grow to 100M users and USD 300M in revenue. After moving to India in 2007, he volunteered for UIDAI under Mr. Nandan Nilekani before starting AngelPrime in 2011 [now Prime Venture Partners] where he helped create companies like ZipDial [sold to Twitter], EZETap, Happay, etc.
Kunal [ex Texas Instruments] & Anuj [ex Airtel & JWT] co-founded Tapstart that grew to 300K users and turned profitable in 2 years. They exited this venture in 2015.
What is the TAM of the consumer debt market that MoneyTap is trying to address ?
Consumer debt is growing fast in India. According to the last available consolidated data from the Reserve Bank of India [RBI], personal loans – extended by banks grew at 28.7% in 2015 and credit cards grew at 23.6%. But if we look at the actual numbers, there are just 24 million credit cards for a country of 1.2 billion! Middle income customers making Rs. 25,000 per month or more, facing frequent cash crunch for regular needs like education, medical, birth/death, etc. are not serviced by financial institutions today without putting up collateral such as gold.
Large needs, such as buying a vehicle, house, etc. are addressed by financial institutions unlike online and offline shopping. Though the latter often involves very high credit card interest rates of 40% if one doesn’t pay on time. This is the clear unaddressed need.
How different is lending based on Line Of Credit vis-a-vis P2P Lending or taking a loan [any type of loan, personal/housing/education,etc.]
We see the following major differences
1. Once a credit line is sanctioned with an upper limit, one can decide any amount of money from that limit and choose to withdraw only that specific sum from the credit line. So, if there’s an approved credit line of say Rs. 3 Lakh, one could withdraw a small amount like Rs. 5,000 or Rs. 50,000 and so on.
In contrast, a typical personal loan would force one to take the entire Rs. 3 Lakh in one shot, even though the need for money is spread over a period of time.
2. Interest would be charged only on the small amounts borrowed and not on the full Rs. 3 Lakh. Thus, if amounts of Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 50,000 are borrowed separately, then one would only have to pay interest on the total of Rs. 55,000 and not on the entire amount of Rs. 3 Lakh sum. This would have made a world of difference to a person’s monthly cash flows and overall financial condition.
The obvious contrast with a typical loan is that interest would be charged on the full Rs. 3 Lakh amount from day one. Usually a person has no choice in this scenario.
3. In most cases, the flexible borrowing options in a credit line come with the convenience of deciding payback periods for the separately borrowed amounts. Thus, for an amount of Rs. 5,000 borrowed from the credit line, one could choose to repay in 2 months and pick a longer tenure for the amount of Rs. 50,000, say anywhere between 12 months.
In contrast, a personal loan tenure would be fixed upfront with little or no flexibility in most cases. The advantage of a credit line is that as soon as EMIs are paid back, the credit line gets replenished automatically and one can continue the cycle of borrowing and repayments without needing to apply gain.
The infographic also explains how a credit line differs from a conventional loan:
What are some of the data points that MoneyTap uses in order to check whether an individual is creditworthy to be approved as a borrower on MoneyTap ?
Firstly, an individual needs to qualify the MoneyTap eligibility criteria mentioned below:
23 years and above age
Salaried individuals with minimum salary of 20,000 pm.
Credible KYC documents
Residents of Delhi, NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Bharuch [will be launching in other cities soon]
Secondly, our partner bank check the creditworthiness of the applicant based on their credit history and thereby the applicant is approved/ disapproved basis all the steps. Once approved, their credit limit is set according to their credit history.
Few years back, there was huge wave about MFI’s (like SKS Microfinance), in 2016~17 the wave is around fin-tech sector (NBFC’s), what are your thoughts about the Fintech space in the coming years ?
Fintech will see significant growth and innovation in the next few years. Innovations like IndiaStack and deregulation in the form of GSTN, payment bank licenses and demonetisation along with a massive governmental push to move payments to digital will spur a significant growth in multiple areas in finance.
[L to R] MoneyTap founders – Kunal Verma, Anuj Kacker and Bala Parthasarathy
There is a general question with borrower, what happens if they are unable to pay an EMI on time/not able to return the money. How is the lingering question of Credit Risk taken care of ?
The same consequences of not paying one’s credit card bill or bank loans apply in this case as well. The Reserve Bank of India has nominated 4 credit agencies [e.g. CIBIL] that track an individual’s financial credit scores. If one does not repay or delay the repayment, our partner bank will automatically report it to these agencies, which will record the information. This can lower the borrower’s credit score.
Once an individual’s credit score is affected, they will not only lose MoneyTap access, but all future loan applications will be negatively impacted. He might not be able to get loans easily to buy a house, a car or a two-wheeler or get a credit-card, as all the lending institutions in the country check with these agencies before approving any loan. The bank might also initiate legal recourse to recover the money from the individual.
Can you please share some insights into the min/max loan that a person can avail on MoneyTap, interest rates, pre-closure charges, association with RBL Bank and any other details that would come in the mind of a personal availing a short-term credit
MoneyTap enables consumers to get instant credit from partner banks at the tap of a button on the app. Credit Line, a facility that was only available for businesses until now, is now being made available to consumers. The ‘Credit Line’ means that the bank will issue a limit of up to INR 5 lakhs, without any collateral or charging any interest. Against this limit, using the MoneyTap app, consumers can borrow as little as Rs. 3000 or as much as Rs. 5 lakhs and repay it as EMIs from 2 months to 3 years. The interest is paid only on the amount borrowed and the rates can be as low as 1.25% per month. The limit also gets automatically replenished as soon EMIs are paid back.
Any salaried employee can download this free Android app and in a few minutes, using a patent-pending Chatbot interface, provide all the information typically required by banks. The app securely connects with the banking systems to give them not only an instant approval but also a credit limit, depending on individual credit history.
The RBL Bank is the launch bank partner of MoneyTap. RBL’s technology enables MoneyTap to provide instant decision and instant access to money, 24/7, irrespective of holidays. Though all actions are initiated on the MoneyTap app, per RBI guidelines, all financial transactions such as billing, repayment or withdrawals will directly be with the bank using secure APIs.
As an added convenience for shopping needs, a ‘MoneyTap RBL Credit Card‘ is also provided for the user. This is a regular MasterCard Credit Card that is accepted at all locations and for all card purchases – offline and online.
According to your data, which is the biggest category where customers have opted for loan based on Line of Credit/MoneyTap ?
Our Top-3 categories are Wedding spends, Household related purchases and Education.
Currently MoneyTap is available only for working professionals, any time-line or plan on when you plan to open up this avenue for entrepreneurs, SMB’s, freelancers, etc.
As of now our only target is to expand our customer base among the salaried class. We have lowered the minimum salary limit for eligibility from Rs. 25,000 per month to Rs. 20,000 per month. MoneyTap now is also available for people staying in shared accommodations.
Normally Banks & other financial institutions take couple of days~weeks for KYC, how does technology [behind MoneyTap] ensure that the entire process of validation of credit-worthiness of an individual is expedited ?
The first step in our evaluation process is to understand the person’s credit profile. We are able to do this under 7-minutes on the MoneyTap app that you can download for free from the PlayStore. After that, qualified applicants who have their Aadhaar card and updated mobile number with Aadhaar, can eSign their documents so that absolutely no paperwork is required.
We are able to do this because of our advanced technology as well as the increasing adoption of Aadhaar and IndiaStack.
MoneyTap is currently present in how many cities in India ?
MoneyTap is currently present in Bangalore, Delhi, NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Gandhinagar, Anand and Bharuch.
Are there are any RBI guidelines regulating the app based businesses [based on Line Of Credit] in India or to put it the other way round, is there a requirement to regulate lending based on Line Of Credit in India ?
Lending, whether they’re on an app, website or physical branches is regulated in the exact same way. There must be a bank or NBFC that meets all of RBI criteria. MoneyTap also meets with RBI from time to time to provide inputs so that the regulators can draft appropriate policies.
What are some of the things that a borrower needs to keep in mind while opting for repeated loans on MoneyTap [or for that matter any medium offering loan based on Line Of Credit] ?
Whether it is MoneyTap or not, basic rules of finance that we learnt from our parents and grandparents apply. Borrowing money to tide over medical emergencies or invest in things like education are good. Buying and spending things beyond the ability to pay it back will always have a bad ending.
In case of Loans, interest rates vary from Bank to Bank and are also dependent on external factors like market volatility, etc. can you let us know whether the interest rates are fixed on MoneyTap or whether it is like a normal loan [where for certain number of years interest rate is fixed and later it is variable] ?
A borrower has to pay interest only on the funds he uses. At the time of withdrawal, he can choose the terms of repayment, which can be anywhere between 2 months and 3 years. The repayment tenure he chooses will determine the EMIs.
The interest rate is equivalent to market rates for any ‘personal loan’ with zero collateral or security. It can be as low as 1.25% per month depending on the partner bank and the credit profile of the user.
Who are some of the competitors of MoneyTap ?
MoneyTap is the first credit line app in India. Until now the concept of credit line was present for traders through money lenders. We have introduced the concept for consumers for the first time. There is no competition that we see at present.
2016 was a tough year for startups [especially from funding point of view], how according to you should entrepreneurs deal with such adverse situations ?
Grin and bear it. Markets are always cyclical and the sky high valuations backed by even higher expectations were bound to come back to earth sooner or later. This is actually a great time to get excellent talent who are not overpaid and build great businesses.
Can you share some tips for building an effective team for startups [especially the initial core team].
There are three big rules:
Hire very, very smart people. You can’t substitute intellectual horsepower with anything else. And give them a lot of autonomy.
Smart people are rarely easy to work with. The ‘brains-premium’ is worth paying, up to a point.
If and when they get disruptive or if you made a mistake in hiring, quickly let them go. It’s better for both parties in the long term.
How important is it for early stage startups to pivot their business model [in case things are not working out as per their plan] or when is the right time to pivot ?
It is critical. But the problem with Indian entrepreneurs is not in recognizing the importance of pivoting. It is the execution of a pivot. They typically just add on the new business and keep the old one. That’s a ‘khichadi’ strategy, not a pivot strategy.
After demonetisation, there has been a huge demand for payment apps [including UPI], do you see that trend working in favour of apps like MoneyTap [that offer different services compared to e-wallet apps].
Absolutely. We are not a merchant or consumer UPI app like others. We are in the business of providing credit. UPI is a terrific way for our customers to take money out and pay back without the hassle of net-banking, etc.
Bala’s earlier venture Snapfish was acquired by HP, what according to you should entrepreneurs look for when there is interest [from other companies] for their startup getting acquired [and not acqui-hired].
Again, there are three rules for selling your company:
Good companies are bought, not sold. In other words, if you are actively out there selling your company, you will have to settle for peanuts.
You should always have multiple parties engaged, not just have one buyer.
Sell on a high note-when the company is doing great, potential buyers will extrapolate to value your company at an even more glorious future.
As per your entrepreneurial experience, when should an entrepreneur look out for external funding ?
When they really don’t need the money. It’s always the best time!
Some books that you highly recommend for entrepreneurs
There are lots of good books. The two I recommend are, ‘Zero to One’ by Peter Thiel and ‘Hard things about Hard Things’ by Ben Horowitz.
Some closing thoughts for our readers!
Entrepreneurship is not easy and not for everyone. But it is addictive and some of the most creative moments in your life will be during this journey. And there is no other [legal] way to have a huge financial windfall besides running your own company.
We thank Mr Bala for his time and sharing valuable insights with our readers! If you have any questions for Bala about MoneyTap, Fintech, scaling up, etc., please email them to himanshu.sheth@gmail.com or leave your question in the comments section.
Unisys have announced the winners of the eighth Unisys Cloud 20/20, one of India’s largest annual technical project contests. The contest is designed to foster innovation among students and create a talent pipeline for Unisys and the IT industry at large.
In this year’s contest, the project titled Fin Assistant by Arpan Kumar Mishra, Datla Manish Varma, Nabil Silva and Sailesh Sriram from Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal, won the first prize [Rs. 2,00,000 cash]. Nagashree T S, Nikitha Chowta and Sandhya S from Mangalore Institute of Technology & Engineering, Mangalore, took the second prize [Rs. 1,25,000 cash]for their project titled CO-DI-RA Messenger. This year, the third prize has been awarded to two teams [Rs. 1,00,000 each]; Shyam Suganth J, Hariharsudan S, Subash M and Thamarai Selvan S, of Sri Manakula Vinayagar Engineering College, Puducherry, for their project Envirinsta and Vinaydeep Kaur, Akriti Tyagi, M Kritika and Pratima Kumari from Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology, Bengaluru, for their project Crowd Sourcing Based Android Application for Structural Health Monitoring and Data Analytics of Roads Using Cloud Computing.
Winners of the Cloud 20/20 contest
Unisys project leads and subject matter experts supported the student contestants. This year’s topics included Internet of Things, data analytics, cloud-based applications and services, cloud security, computing everywhere, context-rich systems, cloud security, DevOps and potential future technologies.
The 2017 Cloud 20/20 contest drew 828 team registrations and 317 project submissions from colleges across India. In addition to the cash prize, Unisys will also offer the finalists internship and job opportunities, subject to winners’ eligibility and open positions within the company.
The finalist’s project details of the 2017 Cloud 20/20 contest are below
Ravikumar Sreedharan, MD, Unisys India and head, Global Delivery Network, Unisys said
As the IT industry moves toward automation, only those with strong skills in emerging technologies will make the cut in the job market. This increased competition is driving great changes to the talent requirements at the entry level. Given that new reality, the Cloud 20/20 contest plays an important role in encouraging student interest in new technologies and innovation.
Over the last eight years, Cloud 20/20 has attracted more than 22,000 team entries and generated cash awards, internships and full-time positions for many participants.
Tarek El-Sadany, senior vice president, Technology, and chief technology officer, Unisys said
Acquiring talent in social, mobile, analytics and cloud technologies will be key to driving digital transformation for enterprises in India and around the globe. Through initiatives like Cloud 20/20, Unisys is proud to team with institutions of higher education to enrich the learning environment for future leaders in digital technology.
For further information on Cloud 20/20, please log on here or here.
After creating a multi-million dollar company, GoodWorkLabs CEO Vishwas Mudagal and Co-Founder & MD Sonia Sharma have ventured into becoming Angel Investors in 2017. They are joining the leagues of marquee investors such as Tata Group patriarch Ratan Tata or Infosys Founder Narayana Murthy, who are investing in start-ups across the country and helping to raise the maturity of the start-up ecosystem in India by the launch of their Coworking Innovation hub, GoodWorks CoWork, a design-inspired co-working incubation studio, which is located in the heart of Bengaluru’s Silicon Valley—Whitefield.
It was in 2013 that Vishwas and Sonia started GoodWorkLabs, which now a multi-million dollar company is recording a 500% revenue growth YoY. Recently, GoodWorkLabs was also ranked as the 5th fastest growing tech company in India by Deloitte in 2016. Their products are being used by 60+ million people globally.
After successfully establishing GoodWorkLabs as a boutique Software and Mobile App Development Company in India and USA, Sonia and Vishwas are excited to build a thriving start-up community through the launch of GoodWorks CoWork. Not only that, this year they are also set to mentor upcoming start-ups and extend their Thought Leadership to help businesses grow. They plan to choose three promising start-ups that have a ‘real’ business model, growth and potential and plan to invest anywhere between USD $50,000 and USD $200,000.
We were invited to the GoodWorks CoWork office in Akshay Tech Park, Whitefield and the space looks amazing. The entrepreneurial zeal is clearly visible in the design of the office, some pitcures below:
Vishwas Mudagal(L), Himanshu Sheth [2nd from Right]Q&A time with Vishwas, in the picture is Himanshu ShethVishwas Mudagal gifting signed copy of Loosing My Religion to the bloggers present at the meetup.
The New Year was a great occasion for us to try out something that we have been wanting to do for a long time. It will mark a new beginning, a new chapter in our lives and we hope to give as much as we got from the ecosystem. Bengaluru is a great breeding ground for start-ups and we are extremely excited to provide the best ecosystem for start-ups to succeed.
By working at this 3000 sq ft. co-working space, the start-ups will get access to virtual offices, dedicated and private offices, conference & meeting rooms, high-speed internet, 24/7 surveillance, storage units, unlimited beverages, in-house security and maintenance, among others. However to entrepreneurs Sonia and Vishwas who are industry leaders with a strong entrepreneurial background, the GoodWorks CoWork studio is not just a shared office space. The start-ups will also get access to technology, marketing, design and PR as well as mentorship from Sonia and Vishwas. Not only that, they will also be able to tap the network of both Vishwas and Sonia and get funding for their ventures.
Sonia Sharma, Founder and Managing Director, GoodWorkLabs said
By giving access to core services for entrepreneurs, new and old alike, such as marketing, Accounts & Finance consulting, HR and recruitment, Tech consulting, Design, UI & UX consulting in addition to other facilities, we want to dig deep into assessing and mentoring new entrepreneurs who maybe just have an idea and a business model to support it, but might have limited resources to assess its scalability & growth. Also this will help create a symbiotic ecosystem additionally helping us to choose the startups we can fund.
About GoodWorkLabs
GoodWorkLabs is a world-leading outsourced product development company that designs and builds mobile apps, software products and games for top clientele globally. With offices in Bangalore, Kolkata and San Francisco Bay Area, the company is growing at 500% YoY and has established itself as a premium tech provider for Fortune 500 companies and startups. The company is led by industry veterans Vishwas Mudagal, CEO & Co-founder, and Sonia Sharma, MD & Founder, and is a valued member of NASSCOM. For more information on GoodWorkLabs, please visit GoodWorkLabs. To know more about the GoodWorks CoWork community please visit GoodWorks CoWork
Yahoo India have announced the launch of Yahoo Storytellers, a content marketing solution for brands and agencies that leverages Yahoo’s editorial expertise, extensive data, and native advertising through Yahoo Gemini. Now marketers in India can leverage Yahoo Storytellers to successfully develop, distribute and measure premium branded content that meets consumers’ high expectations and drives engagement.
Gurmit Singh, Vice President and Managing Director, Yahoo India said
A successful content marketing campaign equates to how well you understand your consumers. With Yahoo Storytellers, we’re offering a better way for brands to create powerful content that’s informed by data and engages the right audience. The promise of using data to make content marketing effective is hyper-personalization at work, making sure that content is valuable to both brands and users.
Yahoo Storytellers will help brands to build successful content marketing strategies, including content consulting services, development of premium video, a full range of editorial content and influencer activations across social platforms.
In India, Yahoo has partnered with multiple brands to help them create successful campaigns, including Accenture, Amazon, Madhya Pradesh Tourism and Tourism Australia among others.
For Madhya Pradesh Tourism, to activate their brand promise of MP mein dil hua bache sa [Reconnect with your inner child], Yahoo tapped into the creative community on Tumblr and commissioned four illustrators to create art-based travelogues. Over the course of the campaign, 32 articles were posted on MP Illustrated & shared through native advertising as well as earned social reach, thanks to a fresh approach to content.
With the expansion of its Content Marketing solutions through Yahoo Storytellers, Yahoo will help brands connect with a highly engaged audience and drive measurable results for their campaigns.
