A 2-day hackathon at #ITC Infotech campus

As part of iTech2015, ITC Infotech conducted a 2-day hackathon themed around Internet of Things (IoT).A total of 36 teams participated, which were sifted from over 700 entries received. The teams presented their solutions to business users and validated their ideas through live simulations of real business scenarios. The solutions were judged on whether it addresses a real business problem, if it is differentiated from alternatives in the market and if the solution was demonstrated successfully.

A 2-day hackathon at ITC Infotech pic.twitter.com/zRsxX9VU3y

— Press Release Watch (@PrReleaseWatch) July 6, 2015

A panel discussion on ‘Creating future ready businesses with IoT’ witnessed the likes of Ravi Gururaj – Chairman & Co-Founder of Frictionless Ventures; Dr. Srikanth Sundararajan – Venture Partner, Helion Venture Partners; Derick Jose – Co-founder & Chief Product Officer, Flutura Decision Sciences & Analytics and V V Rajasekhar – Senior Vice President, ITC Infotech and Chief Information Officer, ITC Limited.

#ITC has given Rs.10 crore to Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF)

ITC chairman YC Deveshwar has handed over a Rs. 10 crore cheque to PM Modi towards the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) for the flood-affected people of Jammu and Kashmir.

#ITC has given Rs.10 crore to Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) pic.twitter.com/Su1LhXiB2L
— Press Release Watch (@PrReleaseWatch) September 21, 2014

Chennai's SRM University also donated Rs. 1 crore for the PMNRF. Sashastra Seema Bal chief BD Sharma handed over Rs. 2.12 crore cheque to PM Modi on behalf of the force to PMNRF.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently appealed to the nation to contribute generously for flood victims of J&K.

#ITC Infotech's Testing Assessment Services Receives TMMi Accreditation

TMMi(Testing Maturity Model integration), an independent apex industry body, has accredited the assessment method developed by ITC Infotech. ITC Infotech’s Testing methodology is at par with the latest TAMAR requirements (TAMAR Release 1.0). The accreditation enables ITC Infotech to assess IT organisations based on the TMMi Model. The assessment includes a comprehensive study of an organisation’s testing landscape to identify and define incremental steps for improvement so as to optimise the organisation's testing capabilities. The TMMi accreditation also benchmarks the test maturity of an organisation against the industry standard.

Commenting on this initiative, Mr. Vijay Balasubramaniam, Head of Testing Services, ITC Infotech,said, “The Pareto approach to the issue of effective testingled us to the enhancement of our internal testing capabilities with the inclusion of the ITC Infotech-TMMi Assessment Method (ITC-TAM). With this solution in place, we have successfully been able to addressorganisationaltesting needs for all testing accounts and projects. The TMMi accreditation is testimony to a robust testing practice at ITC Infotech and we are proud to have been recognised byTMMi.”

Cloud Comes of Age for Business

The adoption of cloud seems to have gained critical mass, with the concept gaining widespread traction in businesses and homes around the world. While this growth is driven by the benefits of a cloud-based approach to business, concerns still remain with regard to the practical challenges of adopting these highly disruptive technologies. Despite the proven cost saving and business advantages offered by cloud computing, some CXOs are still wary about making the shift and addressing the potential challenges that come with such a migration.

Senior Vice President and Head – Infrastructure Services, ITC Infotech, Prasad Natu says, “There is no doubt that there are several complexities related to cloud migration, but delaying a move or poorly executing the migration process could impact the competitiveness of organisations. CIOs that follow a disciplined approach to cloud migration end up harnessing unprecedented levels of business efficiency and growth. Organisations that do so in a precipitous manner may run into risks from which it would become difficult to recover. A strategy that smoothly manages cloud transition costs and risks can lead to exponential business benefits.”

In a recent web-based survey of 674 senior executives at organisations using cloud across 16 countries, KPMG assessed the status and impact of cloud adoption around the world [1]. The survey indicated that the majority of organisations have already begun to adopt some form of cloud technology, with all signs indicating that this is just the beginning. According to the study, respondents expect to realign more business processes to the cloud, expand the budget for cloud implementation and spend less time defending the move to cloud to their leadership. In addition, cost savings are already being achieved through cloud adoption. Seven out ten respondents agreed that the cloud environment had delivered significant efficiencies and cost savings, which KPMG says is creating a greater acceptance for cloud within the boardroom and across the enterprise.

However, data security, regulation and compliance have to be ensured from the start to allay any concerns when moving to the cloud. Despite these challenges, business leaders have clearly started to acknowledge that cloud adoption should actually improve security rather than lessen it, and that the cloud computing market is expected to grow from the $40.7 billion level it was at in 2011 to $241 billion in 2020.

Prasad Natu adds: “In this environment CIOs need to find ways to efficiently shift to cloud. They need to evaluate what should be moved to cloud, how to structure the relationship with their cloud service provider, and how to manage risks while operating in a cloud computing environment. CIOs should also take into consideration various security and application risks as well as process complexities, along with the degree of customisation required.”

John Players introduces the style stories of denims this season

John Players Jeans offers the effervescence of colorful Flurotouch denim tops and bottoms this season that adds a zing to your look. So come and pick your own cool retro print t-shirts, solid sprayed bright colored shirts and shorts to stay ahead of the crowd Step into a range inspired from military influences with Camouflage  printed polos, shirts, trousers, reversible denims and accessories.

Says Mr. Atul Chand, Divisional Chief Executive - ITC Lifestyle Retailing Business, “This season, an array of vibrant, peppy and pop colors have been used to cultivate and create the contemporary new looks that promises to bring out the individual style and help the youth express their own personalities and stand out in the crowd.”
JPJ collection is all about being in vogue and styling the best every season. The Spring Summer 2014 collection brings neo-printed denim shirts, vintage washed true blue jeans, tie-dyes and ombre’ dyed t-shirts along with innovative sprayed tops and bottoms.

Infrastructure Management services at FRHI Hotels & Resorts (FRHI) by ITC Infotech

ITC Infotech, a leading global IT services and solutions company, and a fully owned subsidiary of ITC Ltd., announced that the company has successfully deployed Helpdesk and Infrastructure Management services at FRHI Hotels & Resorts (FRHI), a luxury hotel management company headquartered in Toronto, Canada. The company operates three distinct brands: Raffles Hotels & Resorts, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, and Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts, which together provide a distinctive portfolio of luxury and upper upscale hotels.

Says Mr. Vineet Gupta, Executive Vice President & CIO, FRHI Hotels & Resorts, “With a significant footprint globally, we required a highly technical and experienced partner to support our IT infrastructure and make our helpdesk processes more streamlined and efficient. ITC Infotech ensures faster turnaround for issues that are reported by end users. Technical challenges are well supported by ITC Infotech, enabling our team to focus solely on strategic business initiatives. We are pleased to be associated with ITC Infotech whose top management focus is helping the company grow.”

ITC Infotech, with its proven capabilities in technical helpdesk management and extensive experience in service management and monitoring solution implementations offers a 24x7 Internal Help Desk support, Guest Help Desk support and Monitoring Services for FRHI from a dedicated offshore delivery centre. ITC Infotech’s rich experience in the hospitality industry, and their capability to provide multilingual support in languages such as English, French, Mandarin and Arabic  offer unmatched value for FRHI.

Commenting on the deployment, Mr. L N Balaji, President - North American Operations, ITC Infotech said, “We are happy to have partnered with one of the most prestigious hotel groups worldwide. Handling the helpdesk operations and monitoring infrastructure of a global hotel company that operates more than 105 properties, with over 40,000 users, is challenging and complex. Our deep understanding of the hospitality domain and proven capability in infrastructure management services makes us one of the leaders in this space. We are confident that FRHI Hotels & Resorts will benefit from this partnership and be able to realize significant value.”

ITC Infotech is a niche player in the workspace transformation domain and has been helping global enterprises to blueprint their infrastructure roadmap while evaluating and adopting right fit technologies. The company designs, builds and manages scalable infrastructures and ensures 24X7 availability of all business applications. ITC Infotech’s services have delivered consistent total cost of ownership (TCO) reduction for Fortune class customers, through multiple delivery models and service-level agreement (SLA)-based services which guarantee the best solution for customers.

Management Strategy More Crucial Than Ever for Testing Organisations

With software testing becoming ever more complex, the role of test management has assumed great significance However many testing organisations still lack the requisite test management tools and capabilities for the right levels of co-ordination across their organisations to ensure the timely release of quality-assured software.

In an ever more complex software testing world, good test management is an imperative that cannot be ignored. The often complex outsourcing deals in today’s context can lead to equally complex management issues. Indeed, according to Gartner [1] the leading cause of missed expectations is poor governance. When tackling these issues, test organisations are increasingly finding benefit from management tools.

Good test management delivers a range of benefits including reduced time to market, faster delivery, improved productivity through reduced rework, and better analytic results through increased visibility and control using dashboards. Such a test management function enables a centralised view across all elements of testing, both manual and automated, right from the development stage through to Quality Assurance (QA), during both the functional phase and performance. This activity can go a long way in ensuring full collaboration and control at every stage of the process.

Vijay Balasubramaniam, Global Head - Testing Practice at IT services and solutions expert ITC Infotech explains the central role that test management can play in the software testing process. “Software development companies are increasingly looking outside their own organisations for solutions to help them test their products while maintaining a high return on investment. One of the more successful models employed by these organisations is outsourcing the testing process to contractors, consultants, Testing Centres of Excellence (TCoEs) or external organisations which specialise in specific areas of testing. In such cases, the contracting organisation is still responsible for the overall quality of the products which it validates. The outsourced testers must have access to the right equipment, the right tools and the right infrastructure to get the job done effectively, within budget and within the timescales specified. To achieve these objectives a test management system has to be in place to provide a common platform for contractors, contracting organisations and other external specialists.”

A well planned test management strategy is required to ensure higher levels of organisation and control of the end-to-end testing activities and processes. Vijay Balasubramaniam adds: “At ITC Infotech, our test management approach is structured specifically to ensure effective application testing. We use a range of commercial and open-source test management and optimisation tools and techniques as well as open-source tools that store information about how the testing is to be done. This includes a detailed plan of the testing activities. We also use them to develop, execute and assess all our testing activities, gather execution data from automated tests, and report on the status of all of our quality assurance activities.”

One of the latest trends in testing is the concept of the Global cubicle where testing is carried out by a number of testers across different geographies and time zones. “It is more vital than ever to have a test management system that provides a common platform, bringing together the test process, artefacts used therein and work items from groups of testers working across geographical locations and time zones. It has become crucial than ever for organisations to implement a test management strategy that unifies and controls the entire software testing process,” states Vijay Balasubramaniam.

ITC Infotech Partners with LLamasoft

ITC Infotech, a leading global IT services and solutions company, today strengthened its supply chain services portfolio through its global partnership with LLamasoft Inc. This partnership will enable ITC Infotech to deliver LLamasoft’s globally-recognised strategic supply chain design tools such as supply chain network optimisation, inventory optimisation, cost-to-serve optimisation and transportation route optimisation. Under this agreement, ITC Infotech becomes a LLamasoft alliance partner, reseller, consulting partner and service provider.

The LLamasoft supply chain and transportation design software includes Supply Chain Guru, Transportation Guru and Data Guru. ITC Infotech has built a core team of supply chain business consultants with strategic supply chain expertise and trained on LLamasoft tools to efficiently implement the software. The tremendous market traction of the LLamasoft supply chain modelling technology will help ITC Infotech strengthen its existing supply chain expertise and satisfy customer requirements.

Highlighting the strategic advantage of the partnership, Sandeep Kumar, Vice President & Head - Business Consulting Group (BCG), ITC Infotech, said “Our global partnership with LLamasoft and its strategic supply chain offerings help augment our position as a supply chain consulting partner. ITC Infotech will collaborate with LLamasoft to deliver complex and large consulting assignments worldwide, in addition to reselling LLamasoft licenses.”

“We are proud to have been selected by ITC Infotech as their tool of choice for supply chain and transportation network optimisation,” said Toby Brzoznowski, Executive Vice President, LLamasoft. “We look forward to a long relationship with as we work together to develop superior supply chain solutions.”

Over the past few years, ITC Infotech has been enhancing its capabilities in the supply chain management space and has built a strong team of consultants under its Business Consulting Group. These competencies have enabled ITC Infotech to run a host of supply chain engagements worldwide. Apart from training and expanding the expert pool of consultants, refinements are also being made based on current engagements. The company has also developed specific delivery models and go-to-market toolkits.

“The BCG team is also looking to add high value supply chain offerings to enable both new acquisition and cross selling in the existing supply chain intensive clients across manufacturing, CPG and retail industries. The supply chain practice at ITC Infotech looks forward to making this engagement with LLamasoft one of the most successful partnerships in the SCM space for ITC Infotech,” added Kumar.


About ITC Infotech

ITC Infotech provides IT services and solutions to leading global customers. The company has carved a niche for itself by addressing customer challenges through innovative IT solutions.

ITC Infotech is focused on servicing the BFSI (Banking, Financial Services & Insurance), CPG&R (Consumer Packaged Goods & Retail), Life Sciences, Manufacturing & Engineering Services, THT (Travel, Hospitality and Transportation) and Media & Entertainment industries.

For more information, please visit www.itcinfotech.com.

A global collaborative work environment for ‘Generation S’

In this era of globalisation, organisations around the world are operating round the clock, around the world in a networked business environment. The need of the hour for these organisations therefore, is to adopt systems that offer functionality above and beyond traditional company intranet portals. In this context it becomes not only prudent but also imperative to merge the collaborative usability of social media with solutions that are designed to provide the functionality that organisations need to operate efficiently in the current ultra-competitive environment.

Microsoft’s collaboration platform SharePoint, offers a solution for companies that face this challenge. And as the growth of social media has forever changed the manner in which people share and consume information, the lines between a traditional knowledge sharing portal, social media platform and company intranet are fast blurring.

Traditional intranet and knowledge-sharing portals that are unidirectional can are no longer enough to engage employees. What would once have sufficed as a message board and memo circulation system does not address the demand for an engaging company portal that embodies a culture of connectedness and provides opportunities to collaborate in real time.

Human Resources (HR) professionals are also increasingly under greater pressure to harness organisational knowledge, learning, experience and information. These strategic organisational assets often reside in silos, with limited visibility and access from the rest of the company. A people-centric and collaboration oriented portal goes a long way in creating a vibrant work environment.

With collaboration software such as Microsoft SharePoint working in tandem with ITC Infotech’s custom-built accelerators and frameworks, enterprise collaboration can be rolled out in a much quicker manner to unify different regions, lines of business and departments.

Vice President – Microsoft Technologies at ITC Infotech, Mahesh Prabhu, highlights how well-defined workflows and smart integration can help companies create a truly collaborative online portal. “The success of a corporate intranet portal depends on the active participation of employees, both as a consumers & creators of content. Our custom developed Enterprise Social Framework and Social plugin components help in engaging the users, and gives them the power to voice their opinions, thoughts and ideas. The framework enables integration of employee data residing in HR systems with the SharePoint portal, opening up a plethora of possibilities. In most global organisations, it is often difficult to put a face to a name, find details of colleagues in different locations and figure out the right people to address queries. Through this integration, the SharePoint portal becomes the de-facto comprehensive repository of employee data.”

ITC Infotech has in fact transformed its own intranet portal using Microsoft SharePoint technology, and its deep integration and technology expertise. The new portal has created a truly collaborative environment for the company’s 6,500 plus workforce spread across the globe. With pre-defined workflows, seamless integration with backend systems and devices and notifications, ITC Infotech’s Enterprise Social Accelerator today provides a dynamic workplace for its entire organisation.

Mahesh Prabhu concludes, “At ITC Infotech, we have developed and deployed our intranet portal on SharePoint. Our new portal now supports a wide array of feeds, notifications, and social components. Employees can also view trending topics, post questions and quickly resolve issues and view details of colleagues in a dynamically generated organisation chart. An intranet portal, knowledge management system, business process workflows, records and information repositories, as well as intuitive dashboards have all been brought together on one platform with an underlying theme of enterprise-level social network bundled with a rich user experience. It is this experience that makes the cut for employees, especially for ‘Generation-s’ the social generation.”


About ITC Infotech

ITC Infotech, a fully owned subsidiary of USD 7 billion ITC Ltd, provides IT services and solutions to leading global customers. The company has carved a niche for itself by addressing customer challenges through innovative IT solutions.

ITC Infotech is focused on servicing the BFSI (Banking, Financial Services & Insurance), CPG&R (Consumer Packaged Goods & Retail), Life Sciences, Manufacturing & Engineering Services, THT (Travel, Hospitality and Transportation) and Media & Entertainment industries.

For more information, please visit www.itcinfotech.com

"Wealth Out of Waste (WOW)” programme to include rag pickers and municipal workers

ITC’s unique programme – Wealth Out of Waste (WOW) – is today being extended to include rag-pickers, and municipal workers in 10 wards across Bengaluru city. These rag pickers and municipal workers will not only become brand ambassadors for the programme, but will also be the biggest beneficiaries of this programme, as this initiative also seeks to create a source of sustainable livelihoods for them. Initiated in 2007, the WOW programme is ITC’s intervention to spread awareness of the reduce-reuse-recycle approach to waste. The programme also seeks to inculcate the habit of source segregation and recycling among the general public.

As a pilot project, ITC has today associated with the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to extend the WOW programme for rag-pickers and municipal workers in 10 selected wards of Bengaluru. The programme will cover all segments like households, offices, shops, schools, other educational institutions, malls, supermarkets, banks, hotels and hospitals. The pilot programme also seeks to ensure collection of post-consumer FMCG waste, which has today become a major source of litter in the city. It is also expected that increasing the quantum of dry recyclable waste, will substantially improve the incomes of rag-pickers and municipal workers. In addition, BBMP will also support this initiative by providing Dry Waste collection Centres in each ward and ensuring that waste segregation is strictly implemented by their staff in each ward.

Present at the event, Mr M Lakshminarayana, IAS, Commissioner, Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) said, “ITC’s WOW programme is in line with our vision to make Bangalore a zero garbage city. It is imperative to educate people and inculcate the habit of segregation of waste at source. We are happy to be associated with this responsible corporate and appreciate their efforts in bringing in such a novel programme to our city.”

As part of the programme, ITC will provide necessary training to the rag-pickers and municipal workers on source segregation of dry waste and sorting into various categories like paper, plastic, glass and metal for recycling. They will implement the programme across the selected wards by providing durable HDPE bags to each household, shop, office and other collection centres. The rag-pickers and municipal workers will be compensated for the quantity of recyclables they bring at market prices. It is expected that their incomes should go up by at least Rs.3,000/- per month, which will substantially improve their living conditions and their socio-economic status.
Speaking at the event, Mr. Chitranjan Dar, Divisional Chief Executive, Foods Division, ITC Limited, said, “ITC’s WOW programme has been successful in bringing to fore the importance of source segregation and recycling. The programme’s acceptance and support of various Southern states have positively motivated us at ITC to keep the momentum alive to make our Earth a better and greener place to live in.”

ITC’s ‘Wealth out of Waste’ programme creates awareness among general public about the “Reduce-Reuse-Recycle” approach and to inculcate the habit of source segregation. In line with ITC’s commitment to sustainable natural resource management, the WOW programme seeks to protect the environment, reduce the impact of global warming, improve green cover, reduce landfills, improve ground water quality, improve general health and hygiene, reduce garbage handling costs, improve civic amenities and also to provide cost competitive raw material to paper, plastics, metal and glass industries.

The pilot programme to include BBMP workers and rag-pickers was kick started on 20th June, 2013 with environmental quiz programmes, painting competitions, recyclables collection campaigns, road shows and slogan contests covering the entire city of Benguluru. These efforts have gone a long way to create large-scale awareness towards making the city clean and green.

In addition, the third anniversary of the National Recycling Day will be celebrated on July 1, 2013 at National College Grounds, Basavanagudi, Bengaluru. Pioneered by ITC in 2010, the National Recycling Day is a one-of-its-kind initiative in the world, and has today gained widespread support and recognition across various sections of society. The National Reycling Day celebrations will be graced by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Karnataka, Shri K Siddaramaiah as well as other dignitaries.  

ITC Limited
ITC is one of India's largest diversified conglomerates with interests in FMCG (Branded Packaged Foods, Personal Care Products, Cigarettes, Education and Stationery Products, Lifestyle Retailing, Incense Sticks and Safety Matches), Hotels, Paperboards and Packaging, Agri Business and Information Technology.  With a market capitalisation of over US$ 45 billion and a turnover of US$ 7 billion, ITC is acknowledged as one of India’s most valuable corporations. It has been ranked as the world’s sixth largest 'sustainable value creator' among consumer goods companies globally, according to a report by the Boston Consulting Group ITC Chairman Mr Y C Deveshwar was ranked the 7th Best Performing CEO in the world by the Harvard Business Review in its January-February 2013 edition.
It has also been ITC’s long-standing vision to create larger societal and environmental capital and sub-serve larger national priorities. ITC’s strong competitive capabilities, constant innovation and inclusive business models have enabled it to create more than 5 million sustainable livelihoods across value chains and touching the lives of many living at the margins in rural India. ITC is also the only company in the world that continues to be carbon positive (8 years in a row), water positive (11 consecutive years) and solid waste recycling positive (6 years in a row). Today, more than 40 % of the total energy requirements of the Company are met from renewable sources. All ITC's premium luxury hotels have the unique distinction of being LEED Platinum certified, making it the world's greenest luxury hotel chain. In recognition for its exemplary sustainability efforts, ITC was also honoured with the World Business and Development Award 2012 at the historic Rio+20 United Nations Summit.

ITC’s Paperboards and Specialty Papers Division
ITC's Paperboards and Specialty Papers Division is India's largest, technologically advanced and most eco-friendly, paper and paperboards business. The business caters to a wide spectrum of packaging, graphic, communication, writing, printing and specialty paper requirements through its four world-class manufacturing units, 7 sales offices and a network of more than 50 dealers in India, along with an international trade network of 18 distributors/ agents.
The division also established the country’s first Elemental Chlorine Free fibre line and Ozone Bleaching technology. It is also the first company in the country to gain membership of the Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN) of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Having pioneered many specialty applications like opaque papers, food grade packaging boards and tele-card boards, ITC's Paperboards and Specialty Papers business enjoys market leadership in the value-added paperboards segment, and also has a significant share of the Indian fine papers market. It is the largest exporter of coated boards from India. Committed to developing a sustainable raw material base, it has pioneered the social and farm forestry programme which has greened over 142000 hectares and created over 64 million person days of employment for tribals and marginal farmers.  All 4 of its manufacturing facilities are FSC-Chain of Custody certified. ITC’s Paperboards Unit at Bhadrachalam has been awarded the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Forest Management certification by the Rainforest Alliance.