ITV

Tag: Oracle

  • Drivex shifts gears with Vivekanand Kini to steer tech-driven growth

    Drivex shifts gears with Vivekanand Kini to steer tech-driven growth

    MUMBAI: Drivex is revving up its digital engine, and at the helm of this acceleration is Vivekanand Kini, appointed as senior vice president for technology & product. With 18 plus years of experience in technology and product engineering, including 8 years in leadership roles, Kini joins as the pre-owned two-wheeler disruptor doubles down on its tech-first strategy.

    From cloud-native architectures and microservices to scaling B2B and B2C SaaS platforms, Kini’s career spans leadership roles at Acko, Ivy Mobility, Khoros, and Opentext, with earlier stints at Oracle. At Acko, he spearheaded transformational initiatives that reshaped engineering operations expertise now set to drive Drivex’s ambition of building a robust digital backbone for India’s fragmented pre-owned two-wheeler market.

    “Mobility is being reshaped through technology, and Drivex is at the forefront of this transformation,” said Kini, adding that his focus will be on building scalable platforms to deliver seamless customer journeys from discovery and financing to after-sales.

    Welcoming him aboard, Padma Shri Narain Karthikeyan director Drivex said: “Technology powers every touchpoint at Drivex from smarter vehicle evaluations and strict quality checks to complete transparency on every two-wheeler parameter. Vivekanand’s expertise in scaling platforms and leading high-performing teams will help us strengthen our digital backbone and redefine the pre-owned mobility category.”

    The timing is critical. Drivex is in rapid expansion mode, opening new stores across Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, while also scaling Drivex Direct, its C2C platform that offers consumers greater choice and convenience. With ambitions of deeper market penetration, Kini’s appointment signals Drivex’s determination to transform customer experience through tech innovation.

    As the pre-owned two-wheeler space shifts into higher gear, Drivex is banking on Kini to keep its engine running smooth, fast, and future-ready.

     

  • Infobip becomes an Oracle Independent Software Vendor partner

    Infobip becomes an Oracle Independent Software Vendor partner

    Mumbai – Infobip, a global cloud communications platform and a member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN), today announced it has enhanced its relationship with Oracle, becoming an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) with access to Oracle Integration Cloud.

    Now, businesses using any Oracle solution can access Infobip’s omnichannel platform through Oracle Cloud Marketplace (OCM). They can quickly orchestrate powerful interactions, help increase customer satisfaction, boost sales, and improve campaign performance.

    Oracle Cloud Marketplace is a one-stop shop for Oracle customers seeking trusted business applications and services offering unique solutions, including ones that extend Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications.

    Infobip’s communication channels will enable businesses to deliver conversational experiences across many sectors including banking and financial services, retail and ecommerce, and hospitality and leisure. Through Infobip’s collaboration, Oracle users will gain customer insights, enabling them to adjust campaign strategies and nurture leads across every stage of the buying process. Oracle users can connect additional channels to a single solution to help them work together, carry conversations from one channel to another, and set up failover options to ensure customers receive time-sensitive alerts and information. Infobip will also be building additional integrations through the Oracle Integration Cloud.

    Businesses can achieve their objectives through Infobip’s network of more than 800 direct operator connections and reliable network delivering more than 100 billion messages a year, and Oracle’s best-in-class marketing and sales solutions for B2C and B2B companies.

    “Oracle is committed to providing leading customer experience solutions that help our global business-to-business and business-to-consumer customers use data more intelligently to significantly enhance the engagements they have with their customers,” said Oracle marketing VP of product management Stephen Streich. “Our collaboration with Infobip will give our customers access to the latest communication solutions to help continuously deliver value.”

    Infobip started its collaboration with Oracle in 2018 as a member of OPN, enabling Oracle Cloud Customer Experience (CX) customers to orchestrate consumer interactions using Oracle Responsys, Oracle Eloqua, and Oracle Digital Assistant. Infobip’s solutions have helped enable businesses deliver personalized, omnichannel messaging and nurture customer relationships across WhatsApp, Viber, and SMS. More than 18 billion interactions have been managed across 65 customers through these integrations so far.

    “Consumers want to have conversational experiences with a business or brand over the channels they use with their families and friends. This means firms must offer and integrate a broad range of communications channels. That’s why we’ve enhanced our collaboration with Oracle by becoming an Oracle ISV,” said Infobip global VP for Strategic Alliances & Partnerships Veselin Vuković. “With the ability to integrate our full omnichannel communications platform across any Oracle solution, available through Oracle Cloud Marketplace, we can help enterprises, no matter their sector or use case, create conversational experiences that increase conversions, boost sales and drive loyalty.” 

  • Pepperfry onboards Naveen Murali as VP and head of marketing

    Pepperfry onboards Naveen Murali as VP and head of marketing

    Mumbai: Homegrown furniture and home products marketplace Pepperfry continues to strengthen its leadership team as it announced the appointment of Naveen Murali as vice president and head of marketing. 

    In his new role, Murali will lead Pepperfry’s marketing and brand strategies with an aim to drive brand awareness across lucrative untapped markets as well as capture a share in the furniture and home décor industry.

    As a new-age marketing evangelist, Murali will work towards charting out a strategy that helps to break the barriers that consumers have towards shopping online, especially for big-ticket items, said the company.

    Commenting on the appointment, Pepperfry co-founder & CEO Ambareesh Murty said, “Our mission is to spark a feeling called home across India and I am confident that Naveen’s addition to team Pepperfry will help expand and accelerate our marketing agenda towards cementing our leadership of India’s home and living market.”

    Murali has extensive experience of over ten years in marketing, sales and building business competencies. Prior to joining Pepperfry, he was associated with brands like Asian Paints and Oracle across business and marketing roles. 

    He is an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode and holds a degree in Engineering from NIT Warangal. 

    Commenting on the new role, Naveen Murali said, “Pepperfry has transformed the way Indians shop for furniture and build their dream homes. Over the years, Pepperfry has secured a significant consumer mind share in the country. I am super excited to work towards enabling Pepperfry to further increase this share and build an unrivaled brand of the future.”

  • Vodafone Idea appoints Reema Jain as chief digital officer

    Vodafone Idea appoints Reema Jain as chief digital officer

    New Delhi: Vodafone Idea Ltd has appointed Reema Jain as its chief digital officer. She will lead the company’s digital strategies, execution, and adoption.

    Jain will report directly to managing director and chief executive officer Ravinder Takkar.

    She was previously associated with FMCG major Unilever as head of IT where she was responsible for Supply Chain delivering Digital solutions. Jain spent five years at Unilever and has also served the company at the global level as IT Director – Digital Integration and IT Director –Application Management. Before Unilever, she worked as Oracle’s Technology Leader at GE.

    With over two decades of experience in the industry, Jain has expertise in IT Strategy, Technology Delivery, Digital Solutions, Transformation Project Management, Operational Excellence, and Agile Methodologies. 

  • Oracle unveils world’s first ad measurement tech for 3D in-game environments

    Oracle unveils world’s first ad measurement tech for 3D in-game environments

    KERALA: Cloud major Oracle has unveiled the world’s first ad measurement technology for 3D in-game environments that could help marketers to understand more about advertising performance in video games. 

    The latest updates to Oracle Advertising and Customer Experience (CX) include impressions delivery and General Invalid Traffic (GIVT) measurement for PC, mobile, and web-based gaming environments in Oracle Moat Measurement.

    The new ad-measurement tech will help to measure impressions and GIVT, and thus advertisers can make more informed decisions around their investments and will allow them to better protect ad spend. It will also help marketers understand whether the ad was served to a human, thus aiding them to avoid ad spend on invalid traffic or fraudulent activity. 

    “As the gaming industry continues to grow and become a key area of investment for advertisers, it’s crucial that advertisers can measure whether an ad was served to a human and detect any fraudulent ad activity inside games,” said Oracle Advertising chief product officer Derek Wise. 

    Calling the new tech an important step in understanding ad performance in 3D in-game environments, Wise said that the company is “proud to be able to equip advertisers with the confidence and tools they need to make more informed buying decisions to reach these highly engaged audiences.” 

  • Trump approves TikTok deal ‘in concept’

    Trump approves TikTok deal ‘in concept’

    NEW DELHI: It seems that the Byte Dance owned short video platform TikTok has got a breather in the US after the president had ordered the app to be banned in the region, citing national security concerns.

    During the weekend, President Donald Trump gave his nod to a multiparty deal ‘in concept’, under which TikTok will be partly owned by Oracle and Walmart. Media reports say that TikTok is seeking a valuation of 60 billion dollars of. Oracle will hold 12.5 per cent and Walmart will hold 7.5 per cent stake. Sequoia Capital and General Atlantic, already investors in TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance, are also expected to take stakes in the new company.

    “I have given the deal my blessing. If they get it done that’s great. If they don’t, that’s OK too,” Trump told reporters Saturday. “I approved the deal in concept.”

    Read more news on TikTok

    TikTok and ByteDance both welcomed President Trump’s approval of a proposed deal, which would still need to be signed off by the Chinese government.

    TikTok said the deal would ensure US national security requirements were fully satisfied, while ByteDance said it was working to reach an agreement that was “in line with the US and Chinese law” as soon as possible.

    TikTok interim chief executive Vanessa Pappas said in a video posted on Saturday that the app was “here to stay” in the US.

     

     

    President Trump’s support for the deal comes days after his administration said it would bar people in the US from downloading TikTok through any app store starting 20 September.

    The deal is more like a joint venture between three companies where Oracle will be acting as a “trusted partner” safeguarding the data of users. If one looks closely at the newly proposed deal, it is not what president Trump has initially demanded as it still allows TikTok’s Chinese owner Bytedance a controlling stake.

    It is expected that TikTok Global will likely be headquartered in Texas and will hire “at least” 25,000 people, Trump said. TikTok will need to recruit thousands of content moderators, engineers and marketing staff that were previously located in China and around the world.

    At present, the ban on TikTok has been delayed by a week by the US authorities.

    For the record, the app has been already banned in India by the Indian government along with several other Chinese apps. 

  • TikTok selects Oracle in the US after rejecting Microsoft offer

    TikTok selects Oracle in the US after rejecting Microsoft offer

    KOLKATA: TikTok has chosen Oracle for a business partnership after abandoning talks with Microsoft. The Bytedance owned short-video app has chosen Oracle as a technology partner.

    According to reports, the terms of the deal are still evolving. It is not clear yet if Oracle would take an ownership stake in TikTok’s US operations. The decision comes at a time when the social media app is running out of time to close a deal in the US within the tight schedule given by the Trump administration. It has to block a deal within 20 September.

    Earlier on Sunday, tech giant Microsoft, another bidder for TikTok’s US operation announced that the latter has rejected its offer. “ByteDance let us know today they would not be selling TikTok’s U.S. operations to Microsoft,” Microsoft said. “We are confident our proposal would have been good for TikTok’s users, while protecting national security interests,” it added.

    However, the future of the deal is subject to approval from Washington and Beijing. TikTok’s US stake sell has turned to be more difficult since Beijing issued new restrictions or bans in late August on tech exports, requiring companies to seek government approval.

    TikTok has more than 175 million downloads in the US. While the administration alleged TikTok could misuse user information, the company has continuously refuted any claim of providing any US user data to the Chinese government. 

  • Hathway launches GPON in Chennai, to invest Rs 500 cr in south

    MUMBAI: Internet service-provider (ISP) and cable multi-system operator (MSO) Hathway, over the next three years, plans to invest to the tune of Rs 500 crore in south India as part of its strategy to launch highspeed broadband service. It will be establishing data centres and other infrastructure so as to cover five lakh customers in three years.

    A senior company official told PTI that the Mumbai-based firm, which is into providing internet service through “Docsis 3” technology, has made commercial launch of the service through Gigabite Passive Optical Networks Fiber to Home (GPON Fibre to Home) technology. The company on Thursday announced the launch of its services in India with ultra-high-speed broadband technology.

    Consumption of OTT content from the likes of Amazon Prime, Netflix and HOOQ has been increasing and this would require high-speed dependable services. With broadband business present in 10 cities, Hathway has tied up with Cisco, Oracle, ZTE and Nokia for hardware and software components.

    Hathway Cable and Datacom managing director Rajan Gupta said, in Chennai, they had observed an explosion in demand (for broadband internet) last year. The average broadband consumption across the country is 45GB whereas, in Chennai, it was 90GB per month. It has just commercially launched in Chennai with GPON technology, he added.

    Noting that the incumbent operators provided broadband service through copper wires, Gupta said that Hathway would offer high-speed end-to-end fibre solution through fibre cables with the package starting at Rs 999 a month for speeds up to 150Mbps and 1000GB data unload.

  • ZenithOptimedia creates new worldwide client leadership team

    ZenithOptimedia creates new worldwide client leadership team

    MUMBAI: ZenithOptimedia has created a new worldwide client leadership team as part of the network’s programme to drive business growth and enhance communication solutions for clients.

     

    The move, led by ZenithOptimedia global managing partner Belinda Rowe, will see a series of senior appointments at ZenithOptimedia’s London-based Worldwide division.

     

    Tamina Plum and Christian Lee have both been appointed managing partners, client solutions, worldwide and will take joint operational responsibility for all ZenithOptimedia’s Worldwide client teams in London.

     

    Plum was previously global client services director, and Lee was group managing partner, at ZenithOptimedia UK.

     

    Fraser Heaviside moves from worldwide business director to global client partner, and Grant Millar, who recently joined ZenithOptimedia Worldwide, will have global responsibility for the agency’s growing partnership with RB.

     

    Gordana Buccisano, currently global client services director, takes up the new role of head of client solutions at ZenithOptimedia’s performance marketing network Performics. Buccisano will work with Performics MD Jon King to establish a new service offering for international clients at Performics.

     

    Driving business growth and developing new solutions for clients is a key global priority for ZenithOptimedia. This focus on developing the network’s client leadership capability is part of a broader investment programme, which is seeing ZenithOptimedia develop its product offering in key areas including: data & technology, strategy, performance marketing and content.

     

    All of these appointments reflect ZenithOptimedia’s investment in the network’s leading talent. Plum joined the network in 2012 from Starcom to lead Oracle. Lee has worked at ZenithOptimedia for 14 years, and has held several senior roles. Heaviside first joined ZenithOptimedia in 2001 and has held several roles within the network. Buccisano joined the network in 2001, and has played role in the growth of ZenithOptimedia’s international business.

     

    “ZenithOptimedia has one of the biggest central operations dedicated to managing global clients. Having the right talent to help drive business growth and lead our client solutions is critical, so I am absolutely delighted that we are creating this new leadership team by promoting some of our most experienced and successful leaders,” said Rowe.

  • Efforts on to make IT available to rural areas: economic survey

    Efforts on to make IT available to rural areas: economic survey

    NEW DELHI: The Government has formulated a proposal to establish 100,000 Common service Centres (CSCs) in rural areas, which will serve not only as the front-end for most government services but also as a means to connect the citizens of rural India to the World Wide Web.

    According to the Economic Survey 2006-07 tabled in Parliament today by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, the scheme will be implemented through Public Private Partnership (PPP). An outlay of Rs. 57.42 billion has been approved of which the share of the Central Government and the State Governments would be Rs 8.56 billion croe and Rs 7.93 billion, respectively. The balance would be invested by the private sector.

    Listing the Policy Initiatives For Electronics and IT Sector, the Survey says that In order to ensure that the benefits of IT reach the common man, the Government has initiated a move to make available tools and fonts in various Indian languages freely to the general public. Tamil, Hindi and Telugu software tools and fonts have already been released. All Indian languages are expected to be covered in the next one year.

    A proposal for Electronics and IT Hardware Manufacturing Policy is also under consideration which aims to rationalize tariff structure on capital goods and inputs, unify manufacturing for domestic market and exports, facilitate registration of international patents, transfer state-of-the-art technology (TOT) and enhance Research and Development.

    The Information Technology Amendment Bill has been introduced in the Parliament on 15 December, 2006 to put in place technology applications, security practices and procedures relating to such applications. Furthermore, it addresses the issue of technological neutrality in IT laws as recommended by UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Signature.

    The Survey noted that the Indian IT-enabled Services and Business Process Outsourcing (ITES-BPO) have demonstrated their superiority, sustained cost advantage and fundamentally-powered value proposition in the international market. The software and ITES exports from India grew from $12.9 billion (Rs 582.4 billion) in 2003-04 to $17.7 billion (Rs 782.3 billion) in 2004-05. Software and ITES exports from India estimated at $23.4 billion during 2005-06 was up 32 per cent from the previous year.

    This sector is growing with Indian companies expanding their service offerings, enabling customers to deepen their offshore engagements and shifting from low-end business processes to high-value ones.

    While there have been no spectacular achievements in the hardware segment as in the case of the software segment of the IT sector, there has been a steady progress in production and exports of hardware.

    Contrary to some popular misperceptions, the growth of the IT and ITES sector has had a salutary effect on the employment scenario with total number of professionals employed in this sector growing from an estimated 284,000 in 1999-2000 to
    1,287,000 in 2005-06. The increase in the number of employed person in the sector wasas high as 230,000 in 2005-06 itself. In addition, Indian IT-ITES is estimated to have helped create an additional 3 million job oppurtunities through indirect and induced employment in telecom, power, construction, facility management, IT transportation, catering and other services. Government has taken several steps to further enhance this industry.

    With strong demand over the past few years placing India among the fastest growing IT markets in the Asia-Pacific region, the industry’s contribution to GDP rose from 1.2 per cent in 1999-2000 to an estimated 4.8 per cent in 2005-06. Indian companies are enhancing their global services delivery capabilities through a combination of greenfield initiatives, cross-border mergers & acquisitions, partnerships and alliances with local players. This is enabling them to execute end-to-end delivery of new services. Global software giants such as Microsoft, Oracle and SAP, have established their captive development centres in India.

    A majority of the companies in India have already aligned their internal processes and practices to international standards such as ISO, CMM, and Six Sigma. This has helped establish India as a credible sourcing destination. As of December, 2006, over 400 Indian companies have acquired quality certifications with 82 companies certified at SEI CMM Level 5 – higher than any other country in the world.