TCS Recognized as a Leader and Star Performer in Digital Workplace Services by Everest Group
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS) has been named a Leader and Star Performer in the Everest Group PEAK Matrix® for Digital Workplace Services
In an assessment of 26 digital workplace service providers, TCS was placed highest for its Market Impact. Highlighted as a key strength was the company’s significant investment in new intellectual property such as TCS Cognix™. The report highlighted that TCS’ Secure Borderless Workspaces™ (SBWS™) solution gained good client traction during the pandemic.
Also cited as a strength is TCS’ focus on innovation and its investments in co-innovation with clients through Pace Ports, CX centers and innovation labs. According to the report, TCS has one of the lowest attrition rates among the major global providers, owing to a strong talent retention strategy that focuses on employees’ overall well-being and training.
“The rapid pace of digital transformation and adoption of hybrid work models are resulting in enterprises reimagining the future of work. TCS helps customers leverage cognitive, AI and other digital technologies to enable a workplace that fosters collaboration and provides consumer-grade employee experience,” said Ashok Pai, Global Head, Cognitive Business Operations, TCS. “Our leadership position is a reflection of our comprehensive portfolio of offerings, investments in innovation and ability to help customers enhance their employee experience.”
TCS offers a comprehensive portfolio of consulting-led services across the workplace services value chain and leverages SBWS, its transformative operating model to enable touchless, intelligent, agile, and digital operations that deliver superior business outcomes.
TCS Cognix for Workspace is an AI driven human-machine collaboration suite, powered by TCS’ Machine First™ Delivery Model that helps enterprises create intuitive, immersive, and intelligent workspaces – a key to delightful employee experiences. It comes with an array of easy-to-deploy, modular and scalable value builders that bring together multiple digital levers and enable zero-touch IT, the next-gen workplace and enhanced employee experience. Some examples of these value builders are cognitive virtual assistants, experience assurance manager, a user segment analyzer, and a proactive endpoint remediator.
Its SBWS remote working operating model allows organizations to take full advantage of their talent ecosystem to maximize business opportunities. It encompasses a wide range of human functions, including infrastructure, talent management and employee engagement; processes, tools, and governance mechanisms; and collaboration and engagement practices to enable companies to realize the potential of the new world of work.
TCS’ Smart Meetings solution helps transform the meeting experience for remote working employees with comprehensive services, full lifecycle support and global coverage. It includes integrating business applications to help drive productivity, enterprise voice enablement using direct routing, meeting room experiences, adoption, and change management with round-the-clock managed support.
TCS also ensures seamless adoption of digital workplace initiatives within enterprises through solutions such as TCS Office 365 Engage – a curated, personalized, and gamified adoption cum learning platform that curates the learning journey based on the Office 365 usage pattern, role, activities, and geography. Its subtle gamification elements make it more interesting to explore Office 365.
To drive workplace innovation and transformation, TCS has invested in a network of globally distributed coinnovation hubs called TCS Pace Ports™ that bring together a collaborative ecosystem of startups, technology partners, and academia. Its Innovation Showcase is a premiere immersive presentation zone where client executives are invited to explore possibilities in their industries. TCS contextualizes its digital workplace solutions for customers and demonstrates them at the Innovation Showcase to trigger conversations around innovation.
“To build a sustainable workplace ecosystem, a conscious effort is needed to move away from stopgap solutions and enhance the focus on critical components of the digital workplace that have been eclipsed by business continuity challenges in the last two years, such as governance, employee experience management, employee burnout, virtual culture and talent building, data privacy, user enablement, and compliance,” said Udit Singh, Practice Director, Everest Group. “TCS’ focus on co-innovation with clients, investments in its IPs such as TCS Cognix, and thought leadership exhibited by focused sales and marketing efforts have contributed to its position as a Leader and Star Performer in Everest Group’s Digital Workplace Services PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2022. Clients have highlighted TCS’ partnership approach to workplace transformation, relationship management, and flexibility as key differentiators.”
"TCS' portfolio of edge to cloud workplace solutions integrates experience, applications, and infrastructure, backed by research and innovation in behavior sciences and workplace automation. This has helped our customers to design frictionless workplace experiences for their employees, creating competitive advantages in attracting and retaining talent,” said Ashok Krish, Global Head, Digital Workplace, Microsoft Business Unit, TCS.
TATA STEEL LONG PRODUCTS DECLARED THE WINNING BIDDER FOR NEELACHAL ISPAT NIGAM LIMITED
: Tata Steel Limited (‘Tata Steel’) announces that Tata Steel Long Products Limited, a subsidiary of Tata Steel has been announced as the winner of the bidding process to acquire a 93.71% stake in the 1 million ton per annum Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (‘NINL’) in accordance with the process being run by Department of Disinvestment & Public Asset Management (‘DIPAM’), Government of India
While Tata Steel’s growth in Flat Products would be pursued through the Kalinganagar and Meramandalli sites in Odisha apart from the existing capacity in Jamshedpur, NINL will become the hub for its Long Products business in the future. Located in the close proximity to Tata Steel’s world class site of Kalinganagar, this is a strategic acquisition for the Tata Steel business in India with around one million tons per annum of steel-making capacity, 2500 acres of land for future growth and iron ore reserves of around 100 million tons. The acquisition of NINL provides a significant opportunity for Tata Steel to not only restart the one million ton per annum steel plant expeditiously but also begin work immediately to build a 4.5 million ton per annum state of the art long products complex in the next few years, and further expand it to 10 million ton per annum by around 2030. The acquisition of NINL is critical for Tata Steel to build such a dedicated long products complex which will also be best positioned to leverage synergies with the shared infrastructure of Tata Steel in the area. It is Tata Steel’s endeavour to utilise its expertise in operating excellence, mining and project management to transform NINL into a state of the art, competitive and sustainable enterprise in the future. This investment also reflects Tata Steel’s commitment to the state of Odisha and the communities around our operations.
The long products segment in India is poised to witness significant growth as India builds its infrastructure and industrialisation through the Atmanirbhar Bharat Program of the Government. Tata Steel will leverage its capability in the long products business using its strong brand equity, particularly in the retail construction segment, and its extensive, pan-India retail and distribution network to drive scale and profitability in Long Products. The acquisition will also facilitate growth in downstream solutions and specialty high end products catering to customers in the construction, heavy engineering and automotive space.
The total consideration of Rs.12,100 Crore reflects the enterprise value (including all recorded liabilities) as part of the acquisition of 93.71% equity stake in NINL. The acquisition is being financed through a combination of internal accruals and bridge loans which are expected to be paid down through internal generation of Tata Steel over the next few quarters. Tata Steel continues to be focused on its enterprise strategy to deleverage its Balance Sheet while it pursues its growth priorities. The transaction is scheduled for closure within the next couple of months as per the process timelines announced by DIPAM, Government of India.
SBI launches ‘Surya Shakti Cell’; partners with Tata Power for financing Solar projects
With an aim to strengthen the existing financing arrangement for solar power projects, the country’s largest lender viz. State Bank of India (SBI) has launched a dedicated centralized processing cell - ‘Surya Shakti Cell’. The Bank has entered into an Agreement with Tata Power Solar Systems Ltd. (a wholly owned subsidiary of The Tata Power Company Limited) for financing solar projects. Set-up in the Ballard Estate in Mumbai, the Surya Shakti Cell will process all the loan applications for Solar Projects (capacity up to 1 MW) sourced from across India, for installation by business entities as well as households. The Surya Shakti Cell was inaugurated by Shri Dinesh Khara, Chairman, SBI in the presence of Dr. Praveer Sinha, CEO & MD, Tata Power Company Ltd.
The Bank aims to provide an end-to-end platform for digital and hassle-free journey to the loan applicants for financing Solar projects. With this digital initiative, SBI will offer a complete solution at competitive rates for Solar projects. Besides this, the entire eco system has been thoughtfully set up to ensure that the customers get all necessary support and guidance to choose the right equipment, resolve technical issues at their door steps and get expeditious approvals of their loans at competitive rates.
Shri Dinesh Khara, Chairman, SBI said, “We are delighted to launch the Surya Shakti Cell with an objective to provide a new direction to solar projects financing in India. We are very happy to partner with Tata Power Solar Systems Ltd. in this initiative, which is in line with the global objectives of the COP26 Agreement in reducing the carbon footprint. We believe, with sustainable solar power, we can solve the prevailing challenges related to use of conventional energy as well as climate change. Initiatives like these will also help build local economies and enable the country to move towards a secure energy future. We, at SBI, are strong proponents of renewable energy and are committed towards reducing carbon footprint in the country.”
Dr. Praveer Sinha, CEO & MD, Tata Power said, “We are pleased to partner with SBI in its Surya Shakti Cell initiative which is a testament to our commitment to making sustainable energy products and services more affordable and accessible to our customers. This first of its kind association will aid us in our #DoGreen mission by encouraging our customers to embrace solar energy solutions and join us in co-creating a greener future."
HCL Technologies Expands Partnership with Husqvarna Group to Drive Digital Transformation
HCL Technologies (HCL), a leading global technology company, has expanded its partnership with Husqvarna Group with a new multi-year IT services contract. The engagement will advance Husqvarna’s digital transformation journey by leveraging automation and facilitating an agile and customer-focused workforce.
The Husqvarna Group is a leading global producer of outdoor power products, watering products, cutting equipment and power tools. The expanded partnership builds upon HCL’s existing infrastructure and application development agreement to deliver leading-edge hybrid cloud management, digital workplace and security services. These services will establish a world-class IT foundation, enabling Husqvarna to enhance service delivery and user experience for its more than 10,000 employees worldwide. In addition, HCL will join forces with Husqvarna on its innovation journey to create products and services for global clients.
The engagement represents HCL and Husqvarna’s commitment to achieving transformation through joint business outcomes. The contract follows University of Tennessee’s award-winning Vested® business model. Together organizations create highly collaborative win-win relationships where both partners are equally committed to each other’s success.
“We are excited to take our relationship with HCL Technologies to the next level,” said Pavel Hajman, Senior Vice President of Global Information Services and CIO, Husqvarna. “Both organizations are focused on creating business value and this is a fantastic foundation for us to continue to transform our IT operations and business. The partnership will enable us to deliver an outstanding service to our end clients and further drive our transformational programs.”
“The trust between the two organizations gives us a ringside view of Husqvarna’s operations,” said Pankaj Tagra, Corporate Vice President and Nordic and DACH Head, HCL Technologies. “As our collaboration grows stronger, we are committed to supporting Husqvarna’s digitalization to meet its business goals. The Vested principles mark a significant chapter in our Nordics success story. HCL has worked closely with Husqvarna and University of Tennessee to create a contract that has trust and transparency at its heart.”
Birla Cellulose aims ‘Net Zero Carbon emissions across all its operations by 2040’
Birla Cellulose, the pulp and fibre business of Grasim Industries Ltd. a flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group, today announced its goal to bring down its net carbon emissions to zero across all its operations by 2040, with a possibility to reach it earlier by 2035. This is the most ambitious target set by any company in the Man-made cellulosic fibre (MMCF) industry globally.
The company also targets to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity to half by 2030 from the baseline of 2019. Birla Cellulose’s commitment to carbon neutrality and GHG reductions includes scope 1, scope 2, scope 3 emissions, and the carbon sequestration in managed forests and are derived using science-based methods.
Birla Cellulose’s net-zero announcement aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 7 & 13 on climate change and affordable and clean energy
Sharing his thoughts on the announcement, Mr. H K Agarwal, Managing Director Grasim Industries Ltd and Business Director, Birla Cellulose said, “This is a natural progression in Birla Cellulose’s global leadership in the area of sustainability. Birla Cellulose’s climate target is at the core of its business strategy that aims to address climate change-related risks and adapt to changing consumer preferences for more sustainable, nature-based, and low emission products.” He added, “With a legacy of innovation in the MMCF industry spanning seven decades, Birla Cellulose continues to work on cutting-edge technologies that will accelerate this transition.”
The roadmap would include increased use of renewable energy in its processes, investment in innovative low emission technologies, net positive carbon sequestration in its managed forests, and a sharp focus on circular fashion.
Currently, around 40% of the energy for the global operations of Birla Cellulose comes from renewable sources. In addition to this, in an assessment carried by E&Y in 2019, the carbon sequestered in its directly managed forests exceeded the entire scope 1 and scope 2 emissions from global sites during the year.
Birla Cellulose leads the industry in sustainability practices such as sustainable forestry (ranked #1 in Canopy Hot Button Ranking 2021) and has set the industry benchmark for the lowest water intensity for viscose and lyocell production. It has recently commissioned the first Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) plant in the MMCF industry globally and has the largest social responsibility program in the industry.
GAIL starts India's maiden project of blending hydrogen into CGD network
GAIL (India) Limited has commenced India's first-of-it's-kind project of mixing hydrogen into natural gas system at Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The hydrogen blended natural gas will be supplied to Avantika Gas Limited, one of GAIL's Joint Venture (JV) company with HPCL, operating in Indore.
In line with the National Hydrogen Mission, GAIL has started hydrogen blending as a pilot project to establish the techno-commercial feasibility of blending hydrogen in City Gas Distribution (CGD) network. This project marks the stepping stone of India's journey towards hydrogen based and carbon neutral future.
GAIL started injection of grey hydrogen at City Gate Station (CGS), Indore. This grey hydrogen would subsequently be replaced by green hydrogen. GAIL has already obtained necessary regulatory permissions to commence the project. GAIL has also engaged domain experts to carry out the impact assessment of blending of hydro gen in natural gas.
GAIL has always been committed to the growth of a gas-based economy in India and to India's vision of a greener and cleaner enviromnent. As our country is moving forward with ambitious goal of achieving a carbon-neutral and self-reliant future, this project is a significant step in that direction.
It is expected that this pilot project would help in creation of a robust standard and regulatory framework in India to cover the aspects of injecting hydrogen into natural gas. This will pave the path for carrying out more similar projects in India
ALKEM enters into an exclusive license agreement with Johns Hopkins University
We are pleased to announce that Johns Hopkins University, on behalf of its School of Medicine (JHU) and Alkem Laboratories Limited (Alkem), one of India's largest global pharmaceutical companies, have entered into an exclusive license agreement for the development and commercialization of JHU's novel target and technology that will help patients with colorectal cancer. This technology, a novel target, will serve as a bona fide biomarker and antagonist in human colorectal cancer based on angiogenesis and inflammation.
According to Alkem's Managing Director, Mr. Sandeep Singh: "This collaboration is a stepping stone to a longterm symbiotic relationship between JHU and Alkem, to help bring novel therapies to market". Further, Alkem's President & Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Akhilesh Sharma stated: "We aspire that this will be a significant step in fostering continued academic and clinical collaboration between Alkem and JHU for addressing unmet patient needs." He further added that, Alkem will be working with the Director of the Sphingolipid Signaling and Vascular Biology Laboratory at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine on this novel target". Alkem acknowledges Mr. Jay Nadkami's role in the said collaboration.
Airtel acquires ~25% strategic stake in SD-WAN startup Lavelle Networks
Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s premier communications solutions provider, today announced an agreement to acquire appx. 25% equity stake in Bengaluru based technology startup, Lavelle Networks. The agreement is subject to applicable statutory approvals.
The home grown Lavelle Networks specialises in Software-defined Wide Area Network solutions and it serves a range of industry segments. Its platform has connected several thousands of Indian enterprises from the nation's largest financial institutions to e-commerce networks
As more enterprise move to cloud based applications to serve their customers in a digital-first eco system, they require on-demand and reliable network connectivity. As a result, there is a surge in demand for software defined solutions that have the agility to serve a cloud based hybrid IT environment.
"SD-WAN is the necessary arsenal for enterprises to transform and future-proof their network infrastructure in this digital age. Its market in India is expected to grow exponentially at a CAGR of 55% in 2022-2026. As per F&S End-User Survey 2021, about 62% of enterprises plan to deploy SD-WAN across their organization in the next 1-2 years. Some of the major drivers which would contribute to this phenomenal run include the need for seamless management of Hybrid Networks, faster deployment of new sites, and network cost-efficiency." Apalak Ghosh, Associate Director and Head of ICT, Frost & Sullivan South Asia
Airtel Business’ Network as a service (NaaS) is a digital platform, which is built to address the emerging connectivity requirements of enterprises as they go through the cloud & digital adoption and acceleration journey. As part of its NaaS portfolio, Airtel will offer software defined connectivity solution from Lavelle Networks and co-create a host of innovations as part of its NaaS platform. This also aims to bring “Made in India” products & solutions for enterprises by offering cutting edge technology and cost efficiencies.
Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO – Airtel Business said: “We are pleased to support Lavelle’s growth journey and excited to collaborate with them to take their world-class solutions to enterprise customers in the fast growing Indian NaaS market. With our end-to-end solutions play and brand trust, we are uniquely positioned to serve the needs of India’s fast growing digital economy.”
Shyamal Kumar, co-founder & CEO, Lavelle Networks said: "Digital India's businesses are racing away to applications, cloud and software. Connecting all of this together are our enterprise data networks. We are extremely excited that our product and early market success will now be massively accelerated by this transformational partnership with Airtel."
Airtel Business serves over one million businesses through its integrated portfolio of – connectivity, conferencing, cloud & data centers, cyber security, IoT, Ad-tech, CPaaS (Airtel IQ), and more. It is the market leader in India’s enterprise connectivity segment.
Capital Trust Limited Pledges to accelerate Digital Lending to Scale up Financial Inclusion in India
Celebrating 75 years of Independence of India, named the celebration as 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav', and on the occasion of India’s 73 rd Republic Day celebrations, Capital Trust Limited announces its pledge to accelerate digital lending by scaling up financial inclusion of the most underserved and unserved population of India. Today, India has massive growth potential in the digital lending landscape, which is a key goal of the Government of India. The expanding smart phone penetration in India, and the India Stack, are acting as powerful catalysts towards bridging the gap between the borrowers and lenders. Using these tools with an innovative Rural Doorstep-Fintech business model, Capital Trust is accelerating its reach through its perfect blend of the digital and physical mode.
Capital Trust Limited (Capital Trust), is a digitally enabled non-banking finance company (NBFC), specialising in providing digital loans in Tier III to V regions through its 315 branches, spread across 94 districts in 10 states. The ticket size of these loans ranges from ~INR 5,000 to INR 60,000.
Capital Trust has many 'firsts’ to its credit when it comes to digital lending at the base of the pyramid. For instance, the Company pioneered digital lending via 100% digital disbursements way back in 2015, followed by the launch of Capital Sales smartphone application in 2016; the introduction of geo-tagged digital receipts rather than physical passbook in 2017; the launch of client-facing Capital Connect smartphone application in 2018; and the ushering in of 100% cashless collection as first mode of payment in 2019. Today more than 55% of the borrowers pay digitally on or before due dates through National Automated Clearing House.
Through its journey of more than 36 years, the Company has disbursed loans of more than INR 3,000 crores to over 9 Lakh borrowers . These loans have not only helped transform the lives of lakhs of people but have also made them active contributors in the growth of the economy
Commenting upon this, Mr. Yogen Khosla, Chairman and Managing Director, Capital Trust Limited, said, “The Government of India’s target of reaching $5 Trillion economy is only possible through the financial inclusion of people at the bottom of the pyramid via digital lending. We have seen Industry talking about digital lending only after COVID 19, but we had started our digital journey way back in 2015. I feel proud in stating that our processes were so robust that we never needed a refresh button while navigating through the pandemic. I would also like to add that India’s Rural sector is tough enough to bounce back faster and stronger from any given situation, and that gives us added conviction to keep serving the sector”.
“Even though Digital Lending in India has registered a growth of 12x from 2017 to 2020, the ratio of Digital Lending to Physical Lending is still at a nascent stage. The strong growth in Digital Lending indicates the huge untapped potential in India, in which we can play a meaningful role in bridging efficiently through the use of technology. We have seen two COVID 19 waves back to back which had battered the Indian economy to a great extent, but at Capital Trust, we are standing strong with the Capital Digital Initiative’s (loans sources post FY20) collection efficiency at 97% and average collection efficiency of 92% during Q3FY22. The quick bounce back in our collections has been possible due to our strong digital focus and niche technologies. On the back of our digitally enabled processes, we are capable of disbursing loan within 12 business hours to potential borrowers. Moreover, our Database and relationship with more than 9 Lakh customers provides us with immense opportunity to tap the market opportunity”, added Mr. Vahin Khosla, Executive Director, Capital Trust Limited.