Vodafone Idea Collaborates with IBM to Enhance Customer Experience Powered by Big Data Platform

• IBM Services implements data transformation with open technologies to propel Vodafone Idea’s hybrid cloud strategy.
• Remote end-to-end project management, delivery and implementation during COVID-19 lockdown

IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL) today announced that IBM Services has been selected to help the leading telecom operator embrace open source at scale across the enterprise by implementing the Big Data Platform on open source Hadoop framework. As VIL's strategic technology partner, IBM is leading the end-to-end implementation and management of the Big Data Platform.

As a part of the implementation, IBM is responsible for program management, consulting, system integration, infrastructure services, application operations, and maintenance support. Additionally, IBM is helping in enhancing network security. The IBM team's expertise is integral to supporting VIL achieve a reduction in the overall cost of data analytics. The insights from advanced data mining is empowering employees and partners in faster decision making and elevating the omnichannel, digital-first experience, for end customers.

The implementation builds on IBM’s existing work to advance VIL’s hybrid cloud transformation using open technologies. This includes an agreement earlier this year to deliver its Open Universal Cloud with IBM and Red Hat to accelerate network and IT modernization. IBM has been a strategic IT partner to Vodafone Idea for more than a decade.

With the world’s largest IT and network integration, Vodafone Idea has a need for large scale data transformation with a focus on architecture modernization, open-source adoption and using predictive analytics for data modernization.

By partnering on this implementation, IBM is helping VIL transform the way data is optimized and delivered to partners, employees and internal systems. Fragmented, siloed data can now be streamlined for seamless data availability. VIL will also be able to combine insights from the Big Data Platform and better leverage cloud native technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance revenues, reduce costs and elevate customer experiences.

Currently, insights derived from the data are leveraged for management dashboards, campaign management, network analytics, usage traffic analysis, product analysis, amongst others.

Talking about the success of the project, Vishant Vora, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone Idea Limited said, “With the successful completion of the world’s largest integration in record time, we have embarked on a journey equipped with augmented data insights to help millions of our customers with customized and faster service launches. VIL has set up world-class network with largest spectrum portfolio, huge capacity and deployed many principles of 5G architecture that has helped us transform into a future-fit, digital network for the changing customer needs. Along with IBM we have implemented many first-of-kind projects and the big data and analytics engagement is one such initiative. The open source approach has helped us in modernizing infrastructure and network experience, helping our people and partners in quicker business decision making. The power of data will help transform our cloud and AI journey in the future."

Sharing his views Sandip Patel, Managing Director, IBM India/South Asia said, “VIL is at the forefront of adopting open technologies helping shape the telecom landscape in India. The modernized and future-ready data platform is helping VIL get daily actionable insights to make strategic and operational level decisions effectively. IBM and VIL team worked together in challenging times of COVID-19 lockdown to seamlessly execute a complex and enterprise-wide deployment remotely. We are excited to be part of VIL’s Digital Transformation powered by Data. The engagement will help VIL further lay the foundations for accelerating its hybrid cloud journey.”

IIT Roorkee Alumnus Wins Prestigious Zinnov Award'20 for Contribution to AI and Big Data Analytics

Dr. Sunil Kumar Vuppala, an IIT Roorkee alumnus 2004 batch of Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, has won the prestigious Zinnov Award 2020 for his contribution to the field of Artificial Intelligence - AI and Data Analytics. 

The objective of the award is to recognize the contribution of individuals as well as organizations that have enabled business continuity driven innovation along with diversity. Dr. Sunil Kumar Vuppala is currently serving as Director - Data Science, Ericsson and Co-chair, Industry Engagement, IEEE Bangalore Section. He has been conferred the award in the Technical Role Model-Emerging Technology - AI & Big data analytics award category in a virtual ceremony on 31^st July 2020. 

“We extend our heartiest congratulations to Dr. Vuppala for winning this prestigious award. It is a proud moment for IIT Roorkee. His achievement will inspire other alumni as well as current students,” said Prof. Ajit K Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee

“I am elated to receive the award. I would like to thank my family, my alma mater- IIT Roorkee and well-wishers for their support and guidance. The tech-driven education at IIT Roorkee laid the foundation for my strong fundamentals in the emerging technologies domain. Equally relevant is the role of the faculty at IIT Roorkee, who has been a constant pillar of support,” said Dr. Sunil Kumar VuppalaDirector - Data Science, Ericsson R&D

Other notable recipients of the 2020 Awards included Manish Bhide Chief Architect, IBM Watson OpenScale and Shibi Panikkar Distinguished Engineer from Dell Technologies.

This was the 11^thedition of the annual awards that witnessed participation from over 600+ companies in 10+ countries. In the past 11 years, Zinnov Confluence Series has honoured numerous individuals as well as entities for their contribution to global technology and for making a difference in the global ecosystem. A technology thought leadership summit, Zinnov Awards has become synonymous with change in the Global R&D and Product Development space.

IIT Roorkee is an institute of national importance imparting higher education in engineering, sciences, management, architecture and planning, and humanities and social sciences. Since its establishment in 1847, the Institute has played a vital role in providing technical human resources and know-how to the country.

Comm Ministry to Create Big Data & AI-enabled Data Management and Research Unit

The Commerce Ministry is in the process of restructuring its Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S) for creating a new Data Management and Research Unit (DMRU), sources said.

The Kolkata-based DGCI&S is an organisation for collection, compilation and dissemination of India's merchandise trade statistics and commercial information. Sources said that to bridge issues of data management and analysis being out of sync with policy related requirements, a complete integration is necessary.

The DGCI&S compiles and releases monthly export & import data on merchandise trade. It also compiles and releases yearly data on inter-state movement of goods in India by river, rail & air and customs & excise revenue collections of the Indian union, inland coasting trade consignments of India and foreign coastal cargo movements of India.

Private users can obtain data from DGCI&S through its web based system and on payment basis.

The entire organization of DMRU will be placed in New Delhi, and there will be a comprehensive revamp of IT system and data management. As per the plan there will be two stages of implementation, they added.

While the first stage will address data access for official use and migration into a cloud-based server system, the second stage will be a comprehensive revamp of data collection and processing.

The implementation of commercial intelligence operations will be moved to the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).

"As per the plan, DGCI&S will be merged with the department of commerce and it will be replaced by DMRU," sources added.

Further, DMRU will build capabilities in big data analysis, deployment of artificial intelligence and it will be responsible to bring data driven policy making in the department.

It will also work closely with DGTR (Directorate General of Trade Remedies) and DGFT to build capabilities in trade defense, fraud prevention as well as data led export promotion.

The new unit will integrate with trade commissioners at various Indian embassies and territorial divisions with a view to systematically and regularly collect inputs regarding commercial opportunities abroad and create a portal based access restricted to Indian business persons.

Besides, it will collect trade and commercial intelligence about non-tariff barriers faced by Indian imports, information about government subsidies, intelligence about dumping and circumvention and disseminate the same to relevant wings of the department of commerce and line ministries based on the need.

"DMRU will be responsible to set up data exchange mechanisms with other departments and ministries for trade related data. It shall build data repositories by setting up exchanges with GSTN as well as line ministries responsible for administration of different industrial sectors," sources said.

It will also be responsible to set up data exchange mechanisms with partner countries and international organisations. There will be a total of 17 Group A officers in the new unit.

On the need for the new unit, sources added that considerable mismatches have been detected in DGCI&S data. It was also not capturing data related to trans-shipments, last known country of destination and other vital data for policy making.

The institution originated in pre-independent India in 1871 and is located in Kolkata.

~ With Inputs from PTI

NEC, CSIR sign MoU to Use AI, ML based Solutions for Society like Water Shortages, Energy, Agri

NEC Technologies India (NECTI), a subsidiary of NEC Corporation (TSE: 6701), and the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) signed an MoU to collaborate in the development of innovative solutions using big data analytics and High-Performance Computing (HPC). 

Under this collaboration, NECTI and CSIR will jointly harness the capabilities of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in data science to solve critical issues plaguing society in areas including water shortages, energy, agriculture, healthcare and social security. 

NECTI and CSIR plan to set up a Center of Excellence to create and test new solutions. It will also facilitate local talent development, particularly in the areas of big data analytics and machine learning. 

[caption id="attachment_138828" align="aligncenter" width="962"] NEC and CSIR signs MoU[/caption]

Mr. Takayuki Inaba, Managing Director, NECTI said, “This collaboration between NECTI and the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research combines our strengths and expertise and will help spur the development of innovative solutions across verticals such as Smart City, Smart Healthcare and Smart Agriculture in India. We are proud to be a part of this joint effort to empower India’s businesses and its citizens.”    

Dr Shekhar Mande, DG, CSIR and Secretary said, “We are delighted to partner with NEC Technologies India and believe that this cooperation will open up new avenues of research. We look forward to a fruitful collaboration as we work towards building a safe and secure society.”

Headquartered in Japan, NEC brings more than 100 years of expertise in technological innovation to provide solutions for empowering people, businesses and society.

NEC started operations in India in the 1950s, accelerating its growth through the expansion of business to global markets. NEC in India expanded its business from telecommunications to public safety, logistics, transportation, retail, finance, unified communication and IT platforms, serving across governments, businesses as well as individuals. With its Centre of Excellence for analytics platform solutions, big data, biometrics, mobile and retail, NEC in India offers innovative new services and solutions for India and global markets. NEC operates across India with offices in New Delhi (head office), Noida, Mumbai, Chennai, and Bengaluru.

NEC is a registered trademark of NEC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Other product or service marks mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners. 

The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), known for its cutting edge R&D knowledgebase in diverse S&T areas, is a contemporary R&D organization. Having a pan-India presence, CSIR has a dynamic network of 38 national laboratories, 39 outreach centres, 3 Innovation Complexes and 5 units. CSIR’s R&D expertise and experience is embodied in about 4600 active scientists supported by about 8000 scientific and technical personnel.

CSIR covers a wide spectrum of science and technology – from radio and space physics, oceanography, geophysics, chemicals, drugs, genomics, biotechnology and nanotechnology to mining, aeronautics, instrumentation, environmental engineering and information technology. It provides significant technological intervention in many areas with regard to societal efforts which include environment, health, drinking water, food, housing, energy, farm and non-farm sectors. Further, CSIR’s role in S&T human resource development is noteworthy.

CSIR is ranked at 84th among 4851 institutions worldwide and is the only Indian organization among the top 100 global institutions, according to the Scimago Institutions Ranking World Report 2014. CSIR holds the 17th rank in Asia and leads the country at the first position.

TVS Motor Invests $7 Mn in US-based Scienaptic, An AI-powered Big Data Firm

TVS Motor Company on Monday said it has inked a pact to invest USD 7 million (around Rs 48.25 crore) in New York-based Scienaptic Systems Inc, which has an engineering centre in Bengaluru.

TVS Motor (Singapore) Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, has signed definitive agreements to invest in Scienaptic, a Delaware corporation, TVS Motor Company said in a statement.

Headquartered in New York, Scienaptic was started in 2014 by Pankaj Kulshreshtha and has an engineering centre in Bengaluru. The company has received strategic investments from the senior industry leader and former Nasscom Chairman, Pramod Bhasin.

Scienaptic has combined latest big data technologies and proprietary Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms on its decision platform, ‘Ether'. Solutions built on Ether enable enterprises to improve risk and credit assessment, monitor evolving fraud patterns, and improve customer journeys and experience. Scienaptic has several Fortune 100 enterprises as its clients.

[caption id="attachment_132176" align="aligncenter" width="949"] Pankaj Kulshreshtha, Founder, Scienaptic Systems[/caption]

"Scienaptic's end-to-end data analytics solution with applicability to customers in various industries has the potential to generate a new profit stream for our group,” Board Member of TVS Motor Company and CEO of TVS Motor (Singapore) Rajesh Narasimhan said.

Scienaptic Founder and CEO Pankaj Kulshreshtha said the investment by TVS enables it to accelerate its sales and product development.

"We found a significant match in value systems between the two organisations and believe that our collective strengths will enable Scienaptic to grow exponentially and become a global leader in AI-powered decisioning space,” he added.

TVS shares Monday ended 4.12 per cent down at Rs 379.65 on the BSE.

To recall, in May TVS Motor, along with and its Singapore-based subsidiary, had invested $3.85 million in TagBox, a Bangalore-based IoT and Analytics solutions startup catering Cold Chain Logistics supply chain market,

Here's How Big Data Applications Drive Industries

Modern world seems to be more magical than ever…

• Doctors are performing operations without being physically present at the same location as the patient


• Self-driving cars that can sense their environment are running on the streets with little or no human input


• Customer sentiments can now be analyzed simply through the comments they share on the internet


• For planning a successful 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, weather forecasting is being used to determine the probability of natural disasters

What’s making these things possible? Connectivity and superb computing powers!

And at the centre of all this is “Big Data Analytics”- the technology that provides ground-breaking insights in real-time!

Industries are Making the Most from Big Data

Big data analytics is a complex process of examining varied and large data sets:

• It helps in delivering valuable insights to an organisation


• It empowers organizations to improve business practices

The data analyzed can very well uncover information related to unknown correlations, customer preferences, hidden patterns etc. and usually comes from different sources:

• Social data: comments, tweets, likes, video uploads


• Machine data: weblogs, industrial equipments, medical devices, cameras, satellites, smart meters


• Transactional data: Invoices, storage records, delivery receipts, payment orders

Over the past few years, big data has become a game changer for many industries - whether it's manufacturing, government or insurance. Every industry is leveraging the insights offered by big data application.

Media and Entertainment

To gain customer data and insight, media and entertainment companies earlier used TV rankings, reviews and customer interviews. This is no longer the case. Today, across all media and device types, big data analytics is leveraged to easily track:

• Views


• Engagement


• Clicks


• Shares

Organizations today are handling enormous amounts of data:

• Requests handled every day by Google: 5 billion


• Data gathered and processed daily by Facebook: more than 500 TB


• Events provided by Netflix during peak times: more than 8 millionconsuming 24 GB/Second

Big data application is making this gigantic task possible by helping organizations to:

• Predict what the audience wants: demand of genre of music, shows, and other content on different channels for a given age group

 

• Optimize scheduling of media streams: identifying the exact content audiences want to see and the time they will most likely view it

 

• Effective Ad Targeting: understanding the kind of ads consumers are willing to see and creating more personalized ads to increase conversions

 

• Content Monetization: understanding the current market better to know what the viewers want to receive, resulting in increased ROI

For instance, Amazon Prime heavily relies on big data to offer music, video, and Kindle books in a one-stop solution. Likewise, Spotify (on-demand music service) collects data from millions of customers using Hadoop big data to give music recommendations.

Retail and E-commerce

Retail and e-commerce have witnessed a paradigm shift in their operations over the last few years:

• Customers approach different stores/shopping websites at the same time


• They make their final purchase decision only after comparing prices and products

To stay in business, retailers are looking at different ways to manage their resources and engage customers. Interestingly, yet again big data is playing a major role in this. Retailers, both offline and online, are adopting the data-first strategy for understanding customer behaviour. Here’s how:

• Forecasting trends: understanding the market demands by using demographic data

• Customizing and personalizing promotions: understanding how customers interact with the brand, both online and offline and provide highly personalized promotions for customers

• Analyzing brands: by using brand website traffic analysis and social media analysis

 

• Customer Journey Analytics: understanding what’s happening across every step in the customer journey

Banking and Securities

As per the study carried out in top 10 retail and investment banks, the challenges in this industry include,

• Card fraud detection


• Enterprise credit risk reporting


• Transformation of customer data


• Securities fraud early warning

Here’s how big data is driving this industry:

• Big data is used for trade analytics by hedge funds, retails traders and other huge banks


• Natural language processors and network analytics is utilized by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to screen illegal trading activity


• Big data is likewise utilized for fraud risk analytics, which includes, mitigation, anti-money laundering, Know Your Customer etc.

Healthcare Sector

The application of big data in healthcare has a lot of life-saving and positive outcomes. It has paved the way for new opportunities in:

• Treatment of patients


• Precision medicine


• Drug development


• Advanced cancer therapy

The industry is benefiting from the big data initiatives like:

• Electronic Health Records: where every patient has own digital record which includes medical history, allergies, demographics and laboratory test results

 

• Real-Time Alerting: by continuously monitoring the body vitals, potential health issues can be identified to provide care before the situation gets worse

 

• Eliminating medication errors: Flagging potential out of place prescription for reducing human errors and saving lives

 

• Telemedicine: includes primary consultations, remote patient monitoring and telesurgery

What Does It Take to Leverage Big Data into Business Decisions?

Abundant data is available today. And only organizations realizing the importance of analyzing data can lead their business in the direction of change or improvement.

To leverage big data into business decisions, therefore, data lakes, processing and real-time analysis are imperative. The good news is, massive data explosion can be properly supported by storage and processing repositories called “Data Centres”.

Data centres are a group of networked servers used for data:

• Storage


• Processing


• Distribution

In simple words, “If “data is the oil”, then Data Centers are the “gas stations”.

Moreover, data centres can be owned or collocated. Many organizations today are moving towards colocation data centre facilities in Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, and other cities, instead of creating their own data centres from scratch.

The Rise in Data Center Outsourcing

Global IT spending is expected to see an upward movement in the coming years. This points to an expected rise in data centre outsourcing, regardless of the industry in which a business operates and its size.

Simply put, data centres are leading the way when it comes to IT outsourcing as they allow corporations to house their business-critical information and applications reliably and securely.

These colocation facilities provide and support:

• Underlying infrastructure


• Address increasingly larger data storage requirements

In fact, colocation data centres are now seen as a key business parameter, and not just as an external facility for storage. Leading data centre providers like STT GDC India, with data centre in Chennai, Mumbai and other cities, are directly helping businesses to:

• Protect critical data


• Increase server security


• Upgrade with ease

Moreover, the colocation data centres, whether in Chennai, or other locations, are playing a critical role in re-engineering the IT infrastructure of organizations.

Many of these data centers meet global standards and up-time, connectivity and security operations.

Reference links:
https://www.datamation.com/big-data/big-data-technologies.html
https://www.allerin.com/blog/3-big-data-use-cases-in-the-retail-industry
https://intellipaat.com/blog/7-big-data-examples-application-of-big-data-in-real-life/
https://www.tamoco.com/blog/big-data-retail-analytics/
http://www.ctrls.in/blog/benefits-virtualization-datacentres/

Modi Government Using Big-Data & Social Media To Assess Public Mood and Trending Issues

The Modi government came to power two years ago in 2014, thanks to an aggressive campaign done by Modi himself and his party Bhartiya Janta Party(BJP). There is no denying the fact that a considerate amount of BJP's success goes to the digital and social media campaigning route that it adopted back in the year 2014 and the amazing way in which it used the big data. Well, even after two years of being elected one thing is absolutely clear, Modi and his party's fondness for social media (and Photoshop) has only gained by heaps and bounds with time.

Once such example is the Prime Minster’s Office (PMO) using big data analytics to process the citizen’s sentiments and ideas through the mygov.in crowdsourcing platform. Along with this, the Modi government is also quite active on social media as it helps them get an overall picture of the citizen's concerns and expectations on government work.

According to information disclosed by a news piece, the Modi government is making use of quite a large professional data analytics team to filter and process all the key points that rise in debate on the platform mygov.in and also assesses popular public mood about important issues from social media networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. All the key findings from the mygov.in platform and the social media networking sites is then put together in special reports, along with concrete actionable measures. The Ministers are then requested to take into account all the findings of the report and take actions accordingly, especially on 19 key policy challenges that include job creation, energy conservation, expenditure reforms, skill development and famous government initiatives such as Clean Ganga, Clean India, and Digital India.



It is but natural that as the platform will gain more and more traction, scalability will be become a central issue. India currently occupies the second position in terms of world population and is most probably going to jump to first position by surpassing China by the year 2050. In fact, Modi has been politely asking and pursuing the Indian communities in Australia and America to make their contributions to mygov.in. According to experts, seeing the pace with which the platform is flourishing, a couple of years down the line, the platform will see an active contribution of about 30-50 million people.

Some experts see the PMO's use of big data in the project as a roadmap for democracy in the 21st century world. One of the biggest challenges that the governments face nowadays is how to be relevant to its citizens. If all the citizens of the nation are given the opportunity to collaborate, it will provide the administrators a grip over the nation's important needs rather than losing the message midway between the number of layers of bureaucracy.

In the west, most of the government treats their citizens as consumers, which is basically very upsetting and completely a wrong way to go. There is a need to understand that while a consumer pays the bills and cribs, a citizen on the other hand interacts in a different manner and owns up to his actions.

The current times are witnessing a criminal under-utilization of data by the federal departments. One of the biggest challenges that the big data faces with the governments is that it shouldn't supersede their ideologies and beliefs. In fact, statistics can be manipulated and twisted in order to give more fodder to ideologies. But, once it is pushed beyond correlation and into causality, data can become a major driving force.

One of the reasons that makes mygov.in platform highly distinguishable from others is the fact that it isn't just minting out data, but also transforming this data into actionable insights for helping out the Indian ministries.

In the current scenario where people are feeling extremely disconnected, disappointed and far from their governments, the Modi government's big data card could actually be a winner and revolutionise the way democracies function in the current century.

How Big-Data To Be A Big Part of India's Weather Insurance In The Year 2016

Big Data analysis has become a crucial part of business planning in the recent times. Gathering extensive information through innovative technological means and analyzing it has enabled companies and governments to not only operate efficiently but build sustainable strategies for the future. The ability to combine and calculate data has given corporations the ability to gain valuable insights about different aspects which impact profitability of ventures. Big Data has proved instrumental in spurring sectors such as Agricultural Insurance and Risk Management. Companies can now analyze data and implement more sustainable strategies thus minimizing risks.

For your information, 'Weather insurance' is an indemnity for losses that may arise due to abnormal weather conditions. These abnormal weather conditions can be events such as excess of rainfall, shortfall in rainfall or variations in temperature, wind speeds and humidity.

Weather Insurance and risk management has come as a boon to agriculture in India. The Agricultural sector employs the largest share of India’s workforce but has seen its GDP share deplete gradually in recent times (17% as of 2014). Sustainable weather insurance schemes and damage control planning in case of blights and droughts have helped both farmers in fields and brands in markets achieve a more risk free and viable environment. Manufacturers like PEPSICO and Bayer Inc. have been able to collaborate with farmers in order to tackle agricultural hazards and increase yield of their raw material resources. Risk management firms through big data analytics have been able to provide security against unforeseen climatological based risks for corporations. They help farmers improve soil quality, revive from natural disasters, and gain adequate knowledge and resources for a better produce.

Ushering in of big data analytics in India has now been made easier through the very affordable cloud storage services initiated by global tech giants like IBM, Microsoft and Amazon. Storage of data in cloud is a convenient way to make collection, access and analysis of big data across sectors a reality in India.

The advent of the Internet of Things has taken technological collaboration and information sharing to the next level. A large network of hardware that can efficiently capture and share information has made researches much easier and thorough than ever before. IOT broadly refers to a network of multiple devices that share info through a cloud based application. An IOT framework has been established by globally acclaimed IT giant IBM which has made big data analytics much more efficient and commercially viable. This technological advancement has facilitated implementation of big data a reality across different sectors in the country. Another positive innovation witnessed in the field comes in the form of some very hi-tech and complicated microprocessors platforms established by international vendors like Raspberry that have made available easy integration of IOT network with a cloud based storage. With the accessibility to a cloud based internet of things platform, gathering information on climatic changes, upcoming weather phenomenon, tracking rains, improving soil quality as well as comfortably assisting farmers at the grass root level has become faster and more successful than ever before.

Smart IT services like, land surveying, remote sensing and GPS tracking has enabled corporations to aim for better produce and has helped insurance companies better assess situations. Big data analytics has been instrumental in helping more than 500,000 farmers across the country to efficiently deal with natural calamities. It has also enabled a surge in crop insurance across the country, taking the weather insurance sector for Rs. 300 Crore to Rs. 5000 Crore in less than 10 years. This trend is set to continue and with IOT and cloud based storage the sector is projected to show a rapid growth in both harvest and financial sustainability.

Firms like Weather Risk Management Services Ltd. (WRL) have been able to put these technological innovations in place and design strategies in collaboration with both government entities like SIDBI and Ministry of Agriculture and private corporations to better safeguard businesses. Research companies like WRL provide crucial data to assess ongoing and upcoming situations as well as integrate their technological prowess with big companies.

With such expertise and added 'big data' enabled prowess, weather insurance and risk management has greatly improved the industry scenarios in the recent times. Steps taken by technological pioneers like IBM and Microsoft to make big data analytics more achievable at a global scale will not only make sectors stable, it is likely to improve the condition of millions involved in agriculture around the country. With the help of resourceful platforms for IOT, the process of integration of big data analytics in business planning is set to significantly improve operations and performance across sectors leading to increased sustainability. Researches have projected this trend to continue to restructure business approach in different sectors in 2016, making IOT a reality in India.

[cp_messagebox align="left" color="#666666" shade="noshade" border="#CCCCCC" font_color="#000000"]This article is authored by Mr. Sonu Agrawal, Founder and MD, Weather Risk Management Services Ltd. (WRL)[/cp_messagebox]

How Big-Data To Be A Big Part of India's Weather Insurance In The Year 2016

Big Data analysis has become a crucial part of business planning in the recent times. Gathering extensive information through innovative technological means and analyzing it has enabled companies and governments to not only operate efficiently but build sustainable strategies for the future. The ability to combine and calculate data has given corporations the ability to gain valuable insights about different aspects which impact profitability of ventures. Big Data has proved instrumental in spurring sectors such as Agricultural Insurance and Risk Management. Companies can now analyze data and implement more sustainable strategies thus minimizing risks.

For your information, 'Weather insurance' is an indemnity for losses that may arise due to abnormal weather conditions. These abnormal weather conditions can be events such as excess of rainfall, shortfall in rainfall or variations in temperature, wind speeds and humidity.

Weather Insurance and risk management has come as a boon to agriculture in India. The Agricultural sector employs the largest share of India’s workforce but has seen its GDP share deplete gradually in recent times (17% as of 2014). Sustainable weather insurance schemes and damage control planning in case of blights and droughts have helped both farmers in fields and brands in markets achieve a more risk free and viable environment. Manufacturers like PEPSICO and Bayer Inc. have been able to collaborate with farmers in order to tackle agricultural hazards and increase yield of their raw material resources. Risk management firms through big data analytics have been able to provide security against unforeseen climatological based risks for corporations. They help farmers improve soil quality, revive from natural disasters, and gain adequate knowledge and resources for a better produce.

Ushering in of big data analytics in India has now been made easier through the very affordable cloud storage services initiated by global tech giants like IBM, Microsoft and Amazon. Storage of data in cloud is a convenient way to make collection, access and analysis of big data across sectors a reality in India.

The advent of the Internet of Things has taken technological collaboration and information sharing to the next level. A large network of hardware that can efficiently capture and share information has made researches much easier and thorough than ever before. IOT broadly refers to a network of multiple devices that share info through a cloud based application. An IOT framework has been established by globally acclaimed IT giant IBM which has made big data analytics much more efficient and commercially viable. This technological advancement has facilitated implementation of big data a reality across different sectors in the country. Another positive innovation witnessed in the field comes in the form of some very hi-tech and complicated microprocessors platforms established by international vendors like Raspberry that have made available easy integration of IOT network with a cloud based storage. With the accessibility to a cloud based internet of things platform, gathering information on climatic changes, upcoming weather phenomenon, tracking rains, improving soil quality as well as comfortably assisting farmers at the grass root level has become faster and more successful than ever before.

Smart IT services like, land surveying, remote sensing and GPS tracking has enabled corporations to aim for better produce and has helped insurance companies better assess situations. Big data analytics has been instrumental in helping more than 500,000 farmers across the country to efficiently deal with natural calamities. It has also enabled a surge in crop insurance across the country, taking the weather insurance sector for Rs. 300 Crore to Rs. 5000 Crore in less than 10 years. This trend is set to continue and with IOT and cloud based storage the sector is projected to show a rapid growth in both harvest and financial sustainability.

Firms like Weather Risk Management Services Ltd. (WRL) have been able to put these technological innovations in place and design strategies in collaboration with both government entities like SIDBI and Ministry of Agriculture and private corporations to better safeguard businesses. Research companies like WRL provide crucial data to assess ongoing and upcoming situations as well as integrate their technological prowess with big companies.

With such expertise and added 'big data' enabled prowess, weather insurance and risk management has greatly improved the industry scenarios in the recent times. Steps taken by technological pioneers like IBM and Microsoft to make big data analytics more achievable at a global scale will not only make sectors stable, it is likely to improve the condition of millions involved in agriculture around the country. With the help of resourceful platforms for IOT, the process of integration of big data analytics in business planning is set to significantly improve operations and performance across sectors leading to increased sustainability. Researches have projected this trend to continue to restructure business approach in different sectors in 2016, making IOT a reality in India.

[cp_messagebox align="left" color="#666666" shade="noshade" border="#CCCCCC" font_color="#000000"]This article is authored by Mr. Sonu Agrawal, Founder and MD, Weather Risk Management Services Ltd. (WRL)[/cp_messagebox]

Big-data analytics startup Peel-Works got $2mn funding from IDG Ventures India and Inventus Capital Partners

Mumbai-based SaaS and big data analytics startup Peel-Works have got $2 million (about Rs 12 crore) in series-A of funding from IDG Ventures India and Inventus Capital Partner. Earlier in 2011, Indian Angel Network (IAN) had also invested a $1 million in Peel-Works.

"The two new key markets are the United States and south-east Asia, and we expect to have a present in these geographies in the next six to 12 months," said Sachin Chhabra, founder & CEO, Peel-Works.

Founded in 2010 by Sachin Chhabra, Peel-Works enables companies to keep tabs on people who close the sales cycle to check whether they are performing optimally. The start-up's cloud-based solution, called - 9Yards, gives companies analytics data on nine parameters to measure the performance of sales staff.

Another Peel-works' product called - Genius, analyses sales data, salesforce data and other relevant internal & external data to provide actionable insight on the employee performance, enabling companies to make quicker decision making.

The company has built a SaaS based Salesforce transformation and analytics platform that provides presence and performance management capabilities for companies with large extended salesforce.

This is also the second time that IDG Ventures and Inventus have joined hands to invest in a company. In October last year, both firm co-invested $2 million in Bangalore-based product recommendation platform Unbxd.

IDG Ventures is a global family of venture funds with approximately $3.6 billion under management. IDG Venture India has also been an investor in online companies such as Myntra, FirstCry.com, Yatra and Zivame.com. Inventus Capital partner on other hand had invested in Indian online startups such as - Dhingana, RedBus.in, PolicyBazaar.com and Vizury.

Bangalore startup Vizury got $16 million funding from Intel & Ascent

Bangalore-based digital CRM firm Vizury today announced a $16 million (Rs 94 crore) Series C funding round led by Intel Capital with participation from Ascent Capital and existing investors, Nokia Growth Partnersand Inventus Capital Partners. This brings the total funds raised by Vizury to $27 million; Ojas Ventures had participated in the two earlier rounds.

Vizury will use the funds for research and development and to scale up operations in markets such as China, Japan, Latin America, Middle East and Korea.

Chetan Kulkarni, co-founder and CEO said "The funds will be used to drive product innovation on our mobile and cross-channel propositions and to scale operations in existing markets, especially in China, Japan, LATAM, Middle East and Korea. We are also evaluating our options of entering the US market."

Vizury, last year, launched a comprehensive mobile advertising retargeting product, MobiConvert, which includes mobile web and app retargeting on both iOS and Android devices and powerful conversion features like app deep linking and click-to-call.

The entire product suite across mobile and desktop is powered by Vizury’s big data platform which processes over 30 terabytes of data daily, including purchase intent data of nearly 500 million users and tens of billion dollars of retail transaction data. Meaningful insights derived from this data is used by Vizury’s proprietary bidding and recommendation algorithms to process over 5 billion daily bid requests to precisely target and engage users with highly personalized 1:1 messages.

"Big data analytics is primed for take-off with the ad-tech ecosystem providing a major impetus," said Sudheer Kuppam, Managing Director, Intel Capital APAC Region. “Vizury understands how data and technology are shaping the consumer marketing & advertising industries and is emerging as a leading player in this sector. Increasing internet penetration across APAC only augments this further. The investment led by Intel Capital will help Vizury take advantage of this big data opportunity."

Vizury was among the first multi-national ad-tech companies to enter China in 2009 where it now has strong advertiser relationships and a high caliber local team.

"Our emphasis, right from day one, on staying invested in challenging markets like China and Japan, and offering deep industry-focused solutions to enterprise clients has helped us get leadership positions in these markets,” Chetan said.

With a 400% CAGR, Vizury is one of the fastest growing tech companies in Asia. A revenue retention rate upwards of 190% demonstrates the consistent business value it delivers to clients.

Raja Kumar, Managing Director, Ascent Capital, added "Vizury, one of the most promising high-technology product companies to emerge out of India, has all ingredients to be a global leader in digital CRM."

Hyderabad Start-up Builds India's Largest Big-Data based Electoral database repository

Hyderabad based analytics startup - Modak Analytics, has built India's first Big-Data based Electoral Data Repository of 81.4 crore voters in India's 16th national election .

Started three years ago. Modak Analytics's first pan-India project making use of these in-house automation technologies is the extensive demographic data mining of India's 814 million voters for a leading national political party.

"The experience of mining 25 million open source data pages of Election Commission published in 12 local languages had given us the necessary push to develop customised data warehouses for corporates across the world," said Milind Chitgupakar, chief analytics officer of Modak.

The massive exercise involved 81.4 crore voters, the largest ever on the planet. Comparatively, USA has 19.36 crore voter, Indonesia 17.1, Brazil 13.58 and UK 4.55 crore.

Few of the major challenges faced by Modak in envisaging Big-Data repository of electoral data are:

• 543 Parliamentary and 4120 assembly constituencies



• 9.3 lakh polling booths



• Voter Rolls in PDF in 12 languages



• 9 lakh PDFs, amounting to 2.5 crore pages to be deciphered



• Diverse range of Voter Names and Information

The real challenge was extraction of voter info from 2.5 crore PDF pages and transliteration of the same into English to fuse with other sources. Technology was a big hurdle. The infrastructure, built especially for the project, included 64 node Hadoop, PostgreSQL and servers that process master file containing over 8 Terabytes of Data. Besides, Testing and Validation was another big task. ‘First of a Kind' Heuristic (machine learning) algorithms were developed for people classification based on Name, Geography etc., which help in identification of Religion, Caste and even Ethnicity.

"Data from multiple sources like Census, Economic and Social surveys were mapped to polling booths. Simultaneously, external and propriety data sources had to be fused with individual voters' data. Because of this complex nature, no big IT company ever ventured into this", informed Aarti Joshi.

Modak Analytics developed patent potential proprietary technologies - 'Rapid Extraction, Transformation and Loading (RapidETL)', Transliteration of Indian Languages, Data Dictionaries for all individual states (except Orissa). This was utilized to process unstructured data and quick transliteration while fuzzy logic helped match based on Indian names, address, villages. RapidETL automated transformation and merging of massive datasets which significantly reduced time and cost. Further, Math Quants produced actionable information to develop individual booth strategies.