Friday, August 31, 2018

E-Learning and Digital Initiatives – Reviving the Indian Education System


By the turn of century, the Indian educational sector has witnessed a gigantic change and continues to evolve at a steady pace. Since inception, education sector has been given utmost importance; however the growing imbalance of the student-teacher ratio stands to be a major concern in meeting the objective of imparting education to all. Also, traditional education has failed to transform itself in order to be relevant for today’s educational requirements. With the advent of technological innovations, E-learning and digital platforms are playing a crucial role in helping to bring a step change to ensure quality education for everyone.

With the passage of time and increased availability, the changing trends in education sector have created a broader choice for the students. Independent researchers suggest that by the end of 2018, the e-learning sector in India is expected to reach $1.29 billion, which is a staggering growth of seventeen percent. E-learning is a revolutionary concept which assists to deliver impactful courses that are fun and engaging. Incorporating e-learning into education sector have also helped to increase the IT skills of the teaching staffs. As the majority of workplaces have transformed into digital workplaces, e-learning is becoming widely popular platform in delivering education effectively.

The Paradigm Shift

Traditional education systems are slowly losing their relevance as both students and educators are embracing what e-learning offers – convenience, personalization, and agility. Merging education with technology has opened new gateways in terms of reach, quality, and awareness. The rapid increase of robust internet ecosystem has been an important catalyst for the growth of e-learning platform in the country. Other prominent factors like Government initiatives, multitude of local and global players is assisting e-learning make further inroads. The education sector is witnessing a paradigm shift from a one-size-fits-all factory approach, to a much more agile and tailored form of learning. Innovations like e-books, e-content, e-learning technologies have introduced a plethora of developments in the existing teaching methodologies.

Tapping New Horizons

As the number of internet users in India soars above five hundred million, India’s potential as a huge e-learning market is enormous. Majority of new users are accessing internet from their smartphones which is an ideal, personalized and commerce-enabled platform for e-learning education. Working as a cohesive unit, platform providers have played the role of content providers and curators of online modules. Emerging business models have further broadened the scope of online education in India. The C2C model provides a platform that connects prospective teachers with students whereas B2B business model offer higher education, where institutes accredit degree or diploma courses to students either through their own platform or by collaborating with third party aggregators.

Emerging Categories in Online Education

Although online education sector is witnessing a steady growth, few key categories are dominating the online education sector and are the driving force to enhance e-learning in India. Some of the mentionable categories are:

Primary and Secondary Education

Adoption of online supplementary courses alongside tuitions and classroom training is on a high note. Evolving consumer behavior is the major reason for this upsurge. Majority of science students are adopting this mode as it helps them for preparing for competitive exams in addition to the school curriculum.

Test Preparation

This category has the potential to be the highest growing sector in online education as it can evolve as a genuine substitute or supplement to the existing offline test preparation market. Independent researchers predict that online test preparation market is expected to be an eleven billion USD market by 2021.

Reskilling and Online Certifications

The online reskilling and certification market is growing at a steady pace due to the requirement from the professionals in corporate sectors. Continuous evolving technologies and demand from new entrants to the workforce is another prime reason for high demand.

Higher Education

Innovative learning technologies like virtual labs provide convenient access and increases acceptance of online education in the higher education sector. MBA and MCA courses are dominating the higher education sector in online domain.

Language and Casual Learning

The online language learning space is driven by the demand of learning English and other foreign languages. Language courses have a higher adoption rate as compared to other hobby related courses. The learning market is expected to grow further as industry players come up with newer, differentiated alternatives.

Future Prospective

Technology is leading to a revolution as every student is getting exposed to a world-class education system, something which is not available in the traditional system. With computers and digital elements entering the classrooms, students are finding it more exciting and easy to adapt the new environment. Innovative digital tools, applications, tablets, and laptops have transformed learner’s education process and delivery procedures as they are more engaging, entertaining and exploring. Evolution of ed-tech sector has made it possible for education to be accessed from anywhere and anytime. The ratio of online education in the rural sector is on a high trajectory as a result of affordable high-speed internet and direct-to-device-technologies are empowering students to access quality education. Going forward, there would be a convergence of digital and physical worlds, as internet becomes more flexible and accessible to everyone.



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Educational Videos: A Digital Touch to Our Future Education System


It has been always said that the learning is the only way to get to know the world around us and constitute us to be well aware and well knowledged about the multi-dimensional propositions of it. The process of learning starts at a very tender age and we always thought there has to be the most effective way to make the learning process simple and potent, and there comes the importance of digital media! Digital media is making its way through almost every sector of our lives and education too, is not far from its reach as this is the most constructive and fastest growing sector. Educational Videos are too perfect to get its way for spreading knowledge among the kids, but the best part is that, it is not strictly confined to this section only.

Improvise Education System

The growth and strategies of education have changed with the time. The learning process has recently taken diverse turns. Presently, we are at the mid of the digital era and as a matter of fact, our way of teaching and learning has taken a different dimension. The first change came with designing books with pictures and then it became more colourful to make it more relatable to the kids. Now, with the advancement of digitalization, we have taken a step forward towards digital learning and educational videos and animated videos, which are getting significant importance and immense success among the kids.

The Benefits of Educational Videos

We all know the concept of educational videos. But now comes the query, how it can be beneficial to the users, as they are mostly kids! Let us delve into the detail:

Educational videos have a great potentiality to be the best medium for learning, as they can create a visual impact, and sensory impact is the most powerful medium for learning and most trustworthy too.

Educational videos grab the attention of the kids like no other mediums. This becomes the smoothest way to help them learn. Mostly kids are inattentive to boring methods like explaining or teaching or preaching. But with something in motion in front of them, it at once catches the attention of them.

It is a more effective way to remember things. Yes, it is a fact that once you see something that remains in your heart for a long time, rather than mugging something without understanding or even realizing. Such videos can help in pictorial stimulation among the kids.

Educational videos save a lot of time and do not force the kids to spend hours seating impatiently. Or on the contrary, help the kids learn a lot in apparently lesser time.
  • The one big favour educational videos have done for the kids, is to relieve the poor souls from the black and white world of the classroom teaching.
  • We all agree that there are a lot of things to learn apart from the syllabus and such videos create the opportunity to learn extra curriculum activities with ease.
  • It is a cost-effective learning. This is one of the major facts that can create a great future for digital learning in a country like India. In interiors, where the schooling system is too feeble, educational videos can create the option of higher studies or to avail multiple courses.
Is it only a Medium for the Kids and Children?

Interestingly a lot of people have the thought in mind that educational videos are for the kids, which only help them in their initial learning days. But we often forget digital media can never have that minimal reinforcement in the field of education. This can be a great way to spread the knowledge among the old ones also. Even in rural areas, where you cannot come up with a structural educational system like schools and other institutions, to provide adequate knowledge to the poor farmers or fishers about the latest technologies in their respective fields, educational videos can do the trick. It can be a great encouragement in women literacy too, in villages and interiors. Educational videos help students from all over the world to get the degrees from prestigious institutions nowadays, making the doors wide open for global education. Thus we can say at once that the digital education and the use of educational videos have their wide-stretched arms to embrace all!

The digital enhancement is everywhere. It has become part and parcel of our lives and education being the most formidable sector, cannot be devoid of its touch. India is growing rapidly digitally, making us curious how many more ways it can touch the lives of a country like India. Aspiring on the current scenarios, we are awaiting the glorious day when every kid of our nation will be digitally educated.



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Ensuring Data Privacy through Personal Data Protection Solutions


The world is moving fully into a digital realm, a scale which is too large. Though, freedom and privacy cannot be taken for granted. Today, the personal data actually refers to data, that’s been created by users. True or not, an individual can be identified from the data and other information to which the organization likely to have access. The word “Privacy” is a fundamental human right. But, nowadays the understanding of the term privacy refers towards the end users data privacy or information privacy.

Protecting privacy and personal data is an issue of risk and trust for organizations. By protecting privacy the risks of costly incidents, reputational harm, regulatory penalties, and other harms lessens. Each and every organization depends upon the trust of its existing and eventual customers, clients, business partners, vendors, and employees. So, when this trust is lost, it might have a devastating impact on an organization.

While dealing with data privacy issues, the solution needs to address data security controls, cloud infrastructure security controls, technical tools and security assurance. Along with technical security controls, the solution has to address governance controls at process and people.

Avoid Data Theft by Enhancing Data Security

It is necessary for organizations to limit the data access by holding privileged access to their sensitive data to a number of employees and insiders. For every organizations, it is really important to be aware of identify their sensitive data. Though, it will be probably around 5-10% of the total data. This could result in an immense loss of reputation and revenue to a company.

To mitigate a cyber-attack, one needs to prepare a list of security measures and data security policies. Through these policies, immediate reaction against cyber threat can be done in order to prevent extreme impacts of a cyber-attack. With access management and rights, employee access could be identified easily and creates on awareness on the user in the organization, who could have the potential to breach.

An organization can secure their sensitive data from hackers by using strong and different passwords for every department. It can also manage using a password manager tool and ensuring that all employees receive proper data security training and password tips, making the hacker feel much more unlikely and difficult. Further, it is really helpful for an organization to have regular data backup and update their data to be on the safer side during unexpected attack or data breach.

The most number of breaches is done in five major industry verticals: banking/credit/finance, business, education, government/military and medical/healthcare. Almost 90 percent of the medical and healthcare breaches the number of records compromised were identified.

Technical Tools for Preventing Data Loss

Data loss prevention tools (DLP) afford ways to identify uncertain data-handling activity and enforce a remediation action. Use modern strategy to keep data secure from theft.

Data Classification: A technique of organizing data into categories for effective use. A classification tool should be scalable, ease compliance with regulatory requirements, and provide incident response features in the case of a data breach. This categorized data will not only ease up the data management but will also boon from getting affected due to cyber security comprising.

User Behavior Analytics: The data loss prevention practices dictate some form of user behavior analytics to combat any insider threats within the enterprise. In case of firewalls and anti-malware software analyze and block potential outside threats, user behavior analytics technology inspects user action for malicious behavior. Force point insider threat, a data loss prevention software constantly monitor and analyze your users behavior, identifying the users who are most likely to compromise the data either accidentally or maliciously.

“Hardware is easy to protect: lock it in a room, chain it to a desk, or buy a spare. Information poses more of a problem. It can exist in more than one place; be transported halfway across the planet in seconds; and be stolen without your knowledge.”– Bruce Schneier, an independent consultant at counterpane systems.

Offline DLP: This is a standard feature for data loss prevention software. As most DLP software is installed directly onto the user’s machine, it can still monitor and protect against attacks while it is disconnected from the network. If an incident occurs, the machine contains the attack details locally until it is reconnected, upon which an incident report will be generated.

By using the right DLP software and policy, every enterprise can determine their own data loss prevention practices to eliminate data loss. Since data breaches become more adept, enterprises should consider data loss prevention a viable addition to their information security strategy.

At present, personal data is increasingly being seen as a personal property. The business firms collect massive volumes of personal data from individuals to use the data to personalize customer offerings, unveil products and diversify into new markets.



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Organization’s Essential Deliberations in Managing the Risks to Cyber-world


Over the years, there has been gigantic development in the cyber-world due to the extreme growth in the information technology. But the security of this cyber-world is often exploited and is at risk. Currently, there is a severe threat to very basic and highly confidential data. The security organizations are majorly focusing on cyber-security threats rather than other means of attack/ than any other means of attack. These organizations are presently working on the cutting-edge spying techniques and other methodologies to manage cyber-security risk. The expansion of technology from cell phone to the smartphone has engaged the government to work closely with the private sector to secure the cyber network.

Sharing the Information

The confidential information leaking can bring the stability of an organization into danger. Securing and managing this information is a perfect insight to create a strong base for an organization. The investors must be alert to the risks, predominantly of cross-cutting and shared risks, and be involved in complex decision-making processes. Information sharing should involve appropriate communication processes. These processes must embrace thresholds and criteria for communicating and escalating risks. Tools used for sharing information, such as dashboards of pertinent metrics, can keep investors conscious and involved. Sharing the information helps to identify, asses, and respond to a cyber-security risk and permit risk decisions to be well informed, well considered, and built with a perspective to satisfy organizational objectives.

Maintain a Culture

The framework of an organization depends upon the way it establishes a culture of the cyber-security. This helps the organization to identify risks early and implement suitable operations to mitigate them. The leaders should maintain a culture of cyber-security to prevent incidents or attenuate their influence to the cyber world. They should establish some principles of cyber-security and risk management throughout the organization. However, the organization should focus on training practices to build a structure to maintain the expertise and deal with new critical risks. Appropriate leadership involvement, accountability, and training would create a culture-defining a governance structure and communicate the objectives and expectations. There must be policies and techniques which can interconnect cyber-security risk management expectations, risk definitions, and guidance throughout the enterprise.

Swiftness is Necessary

The cyber threat can be mitigated with immediate and rapid action. Early identification of the risk to the confidential information will help an organization to stabilize its network. This speedy response can manage and reduce the impact of an organization exposed to the cyber-security risk. Quick planning and preparation can help in incident management.

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Improving Cargo & Courier Services by Adapting Technology


For the sake of growth and prosperity, every business sectors are required to send their products and packages more quickly to the target destination. Consequently, the role of courier service companies is quite essential for smooth functioning of business. Days are gone, where the consumer had to wait for several days to receive their products and packages. Today, the companies are being more reliable on courier service providers in order to outsource their consignment delivery as quick as possible. No matter how fast the product is manufactured, if it is not delivering at right time, the rest of the efforts would be wasteful.

Even the courier companies give values to their customers by providing online tracking and safety actions facilities, so that the package does not reach the wrong hands. They also support the customers through identification codes so that they stay assured that the product would safely reach the target destination. The effectiveness of courier services is entirely dependent on the time factor and the level of organization and management of the whole process. The new achievements in technology and innovation, including the development of electronic technologies adapted to the process of providing courier services are the basis for achieving higher delivery speed, higher quality and more competitive prices of these services.

Around the globe, business companies are taking advantages from price discount offer by courier companies. This enables the business to cut down their overall cost of product. There are several online booking centers available which are getting heavy discounts from many international courier companies. This is the reason why the businesses are showing interest in making corporate relations with these online service providers in order to get the maximum benefit.

Even the customers who are digitally connected are gazing for lower cost with greater convenience and a seamless experience while buying, receiving and returning products. The business companies are forcing the post and parcel companies to rethink traditional parcel delivery.

Courier Services Adapting to Technology Advancement

The courier industry is developing immensely on the speed and reliability when making a delivery, because of the technology that has been implemented. The fast development of the postal and courier services sector, the high customer requirements and constantly increasing competition are sufficient reasons for active search for new technologies and innovations by courier service providers, aiming to adapt and use them within the service delivery process. Here’s a note on how the technology is impacting on courier services

Advancement in courier through Online Services

The online services are the most popular technology advancement that’s affecting the courier industry. Currently, courier services allow their clients to do pretty much everything online including booking pickup, scheduling delivery, selecting packaging, making payments, and much more.

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History and Advancement of Logistics


The probable origin of the term logistic is the Greek logistikos, meaning ‘skilled in calculating’. It was initially developed in the context of military activities in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and it launched from the military logistics of World War II. It was initially a military activity concerned with getting soldiers and munitions to the battlefront in time for flight. Military typically incorporate the supply, movement and quartering of troops in a set. The main background of its development is that the recession of America in the 1950s caused the industrial to place importance on goods circulations. Now it is seen as an integral part of the modern production process. Business logistics was not an academic subject until the 1960s. A key element of logistics, the trade-off between transport and inventory costs, was formally recognized in economics at least as early as the mid-1880s.

Before the 1950s, logistics was under the dormant condition. Production was the main part of the managers concerned, and industry logistics was once regarded as “necessary evil” in this period. During the 1950s to and 1960s, applying new ideas of administration on business was a tendency.

Due to petroleum price rise in 1973, the effects of logistics activities on enterprises grew. Slow growth of market, pressure of high stagflation, release of transportation control, and competitions of the third world on products and materials all increased the significance of logistics system on planning and business at that time. The further tendency of logistics in the early 21st century is logistics alliance, Third Party Logistics (TPL) and globalized logistics.

Logistics circulation is an essential of business activities and sustaining competitiveness, however, to conduct and manage a large company is cost consuming and not economic. Therefore, alliance of international industries could save working costs and cooperation with TPL could specialize in logistics area.

Since logistics advanced from 1950s, due to the trend of nationalization and globalization in recent decades, the importance of logistics management has been growing in various areas. For industries, logistics helps to optimize the existing production and distribution processes based on the same resources through management techniques for promoting the efficiency and competitiveness of enterprises. The key element in a logistics chain is transportation system, which joints the separated activities. Transportation occupies one-third of the amount in the logistics costs and transportation systems influence the performance of logistics system hugely. Transporting is required in the whole production procedures, from manufacturing to delivery to the final consumers and returns. Only a good coordination between each component would bring the benefits to a maximum.



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The Role of Transportation in Service Quality


The role that transportation plays in logistics system is more complex than carrying goods for the proprietors. Its complexity can take effect only through highly quality management. By means of well-handled transport system, goods could be sent to the right place at right time in order to satisfy customers’ demands. It brings efficacy, and also it builds a bridge between producers and consumers. Therefore, transportation is the base of efficiency and economy in business logistics and expands other functions of logistics system. In addition, a good transport system performing in logistics activities brings benefits not only to service quality but also to company competitiveness.

Without well-developed transportation systems, logistics could not bring its advantages into full play. A good transport system in logistics activities could provide better logistics efficiency, reduce operation cost, and promote service quality. The improvement of transportation systems needs the effort from both public and private sectors. A well-operated logistics system could increase both the competitiveness of the government and enterprises

Transportation plays a connective role among the several steps that result in the conversion of resources into useful goods in the name of the ultimate consumer. It is the planning of all these functions and sub-functions into a system of goods movement in order to minimize cost maximize service to the customers that constitutes the concept of business logistics. The system, once put in place, must be effectively managed. Traditionally these steps involved separate companies for production, storage, transportation, wholesaling, and retail sale, however basically, production/manufacturing plants, warehousing services, merchandising establishments are all about doing transportation. Production or manufacturing plants required the assembly of materials, components, and supplies, with or without storage, processing and material handling within the plant and plant inventory. Warehousing services between plants and marketing outlets involved separate transport.

Merchandising establishments completed the chain with delivery to the consumers. The manufacturers limited themselves to the production of goods, leaving marketing and distribution to other firms. Warehousing and storage can be considered in terms of services for the production process and for product distribution. There have been major changes in the number and location of facilities with the closure of many single user warehouses and an expansion of consolidation facilities and distribution centres. These developments reflect factors such as better transport services and pressures to improve logistics performance.



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Augmented Reality: The Next Big Blessing for the Healthcare Industry


The power of Augmented Reality (AR) to let the end user keep in touch with the reality and presenting the information into eyesight as fast as possible makes it unique among other burgeoning IT technologies. The popularity of Pokemon game is a world known phenomenon from where AR technology got a huge boost. Many experts believe that AR technology has the potential to change the landscape of healthcare industry too in a gigantic way for both the physicians and patients alike. There are many applications where AR proves to be a boon for the healthcare sector which is described in this article.

Augmented Reality can Save Lives by Locating nearby Defibrillators in Quickest Possible Time

What would a person generally do when person next to him collapsed suddenly? The first thought generally comes to anyone’s mind is to call the ambulance or contact the close one’s of the traumatized person. But does doing anyone of these things suffice in all the circumstances especially in the critical ones? Definitely not!! With the help of augmented reality technology, you can help a distressed person in much better way. With the power of augmented reality, a person can locate automated external defibrillators or AEDs. Interestingly, this technology can let the end user find exact location of the nearest AEDs in a shortest possible time, may be in a minute and thus help troubled person in quickest possible time.

Patients can describe their Medical Situation in a Better Way

In many cases, patients find it difficult to explain their symptoms to the doctors accurately. In some cases patient describe the situations much more and worse than the actual reality and in some cases they report their situation as a much little problem which was not the exact case either all the time. In ophthalmology field of medicine, augmented reality thus proves to be a game changer for patient consultation.

In ophthalmology, using augmented reality, a camera can display the exact conditions that impact a person’s vision. Using apps like EyeDecide, doctors can show simulation of the vision of a person suffering from specific eye disease. With this technology, doctors can demonstrate the impact of Cataract to the patient and help them understand their actual medical condition and future situation as well. Thus by looking into the long term impact on their health, it could motivate people to make positive change.

Finding Veins becomes Easier with Augmented Reality

When things get out of control, applying needle is the only way out to get well soon, but Doctors and Nurses find it difficult in many cases to find the vein in first instance. According to one prominent marketing specialist, 40% of IVs (Intravenous injections) miss the vein on the first time, and this figure gets worse if it includes elderly and children’s.

With Augmented reality technology now both the nurses and doctors finds it easier to do this job. Using augmented reality technology, a handheld scanner throws rays over to the patient’s skin and shows nurses and doctors the exact locations of patient’s veins. Thus, it makes doctors’ job easier to find the vein and inject the syringe to the exact location with minimum pain to the patient. Interestingly, it is estimated that using AR technology finding vein on the first stick has become 3.5x higher.

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Organized Marketing of Hospitals and its Future Trends


The hospitals, nursing homes, healthcare organizations, rehabilitation centers have been practicing on improving marketing strategies since the 1970’s. During the initial days, there was a thread-like conflict between the healthcare organizations and marketing. However, now the healthcare organizations are changing their focus from being product orientated towards being user-friendly. The organized marketing goals serve better customer relationships and ultimately assist in the revenue growth of organizations.

The organized hospitals comprise of fundamental elements responsible for its ‘systematic’ marketing structures which include professional referral marketing, internet and external marketing, branding and public relations.

Nevertheless, the patients should be the center of the decision-making process as the patient-oriented decisions make the marketing strategies more effective. In this patient-centric world, convenience has become a new competitive currency. Patients need prompt and feasible appointment timings as they could not wait for weeks or days for an appointment. Hence, the healthcare organizations should keep an eye open on providing prompt services to their patients.

The healthcare sector is growing and marketers have the best chances to set up their companies to achieve a leading position in the market. Hence, it is the time for the healthcare organizations to keep an eye open on the trends and activities which are arising in the healthcare markets.

Social Messaging Applications as a Marketing Platform

Social Messaging Apps such as Whatsapp, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, etc. are lightning with a high volt in the market. These apps are flexible and provide a fast-developing multipurpose platform which is a great need to enhance the market. Real-time customer discussions and relationships are the conventional origins of the messaging. One can expect to see new advertising and marketing probabilities to arise as chat apps will continue to grow.

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Trends that are Driving e-Commerce in India


Indians are known for their ‘street smart’ economic mindset that enables them to find solutions to impregnable challenges despite the constraints.

This is the similar ‘innovative mindset’ which is making Indian entrepreneurs embrace analytics, digitisation, and technology to develop platforms and deliver services and products to the end customer creating a new online buying behavior.

In the context, India’s retail opportunity is substantial and affected by several factors such as the rising standards of living, hyper-connected young population, upwardly mobile middle class, the explosion of social media platforms, deeper internet penetration, and increased smartphone penetration. So, a significant growth of e-Commerce is expected in the next two years.

Gaining Momentum of Government Initiatives

The Government of India has been active in leveraging and embracing e-Commerce digital platforms to transform and organize traditional offline markets such as those of agricultural product. The Government has launched an e-commerce platform to link the farmers with the vegetable markets of various states to sell the agro commodities. Also, flagship initiatives such as Start-up India, Digital India, Skill India, and Innovation Fund are contributing to the growth of the e-commerce industry.

Increase in the Internet Penetration

The e-commerce industry in India has been growing with the rise in the internet penetration due to major improvements in the telecom infrastructure. While the 3G and 4G services are making a way into India along with declining data tariffs, internet data spend is growing significantly. Even when India ranks the lowest in Asia in internet speed, the data rates in India are 3 times cheaper than in the US and 2 times cheaper than in China. Government schemes such as a National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN) can significantly increase the internet penetration in the rural communities as well as provide a means for e-commerce companies to tap the huge market potential there.

Growth in Smartphone Adoption

Smartphone growth has been massive over the years and is expected to exhibit more growth in the coming years. The smartphone’s adoption in India is propelled by several factors such as low prices due to high competition, ease of accessibility to content, and prevalence of internet enabled services. According to a report, India has the highest share of globally 41% of mobile based e-commerce sales. Almost 70-75% of the online traffic of e-commerce sites come from mobile phones, the leading e-commerce companies stated and thus higher revenues are coming from mobile applications like 50% for Flipkart while 70% for Quikr.

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Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Empowering Students to Actualize their Dreams of Higher Education



Quality education is a must for a complete and successful life. For many, it is equivalent to graduating from a top institution. The cost of education is however increasing rapidly. In fact, the cost of studying at reputed institutions is already quite high. Keeping this in mind, parents, who want to provide their children with the best possible education, invest their money in mutual funds, fixed deposits, unit-linked insurance plans, etc., for the long term.

But despite all this, one may still encounter a shortage of funds. An education loan, therefore, plays a vital role in such a scenario by helping to bridge the gap between the shortfall and the required amount. But less than 3% students, mostly belonging to middle-income families in India avail of education loans, against 85% in the UK, 77% the US and 70% in Germany and France, according to a study.

The study also highlights, that though there are many schemes for providing financial aid to poor students, however the amount given is very low and procedure to avail the facility is very cumbersome. That is why the percentage for education loan seekers is extremely low. Moreover, Education Loan is the second largest asset class in the USA, with over $ 1.2 Trillion worth of total student loans outstanding. Despite India’s population being four times that of the USA, all lenders put together, the total Education Loan portfolio outstanding is just about $12 Billion.

Thus with an aim to pioneer the private education loan industry in India, Ajay Bohora & Anil Bohora launched India’s First Dedicated Education Loan Company, Credila, which focuses exclusively on funding students for their higher education in India and overseas. What HDFC Ltd. is for Home Loans, Credila is for Education Loans.

Ajay Bohora is the Co-Founder & MD of HDFC Credila Financial Services, an HDFC Ltd. Company. He has earned Bachelor of Engineering from VJTI, Bombay University and MBA from Hofstra University, New York.

He started his career with Tata Exports Ltd. and then went to New York to pursue his MBA. After that, he worked in the field of Finance at various positions for six years at MetLife in its New York offices. After 8 years in the USA, he returned to India, to start a joint venture in partnership with a USA Company.

With a track record of success, in 2006, along with his brother Anil, he founded Credila, which provides Education Loans to students for their higher studies in India and abroad. While he was pursuing this career, due to his immense passion for Education, he co-founded New Era English School in Nasik, along with his family. New Era English School has been recognized by The Week Magazine as one of the “Top 10 Most Innovative Schools in India”.

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Priti Shah: An Innovative Leader Redefining Payment Processes and Empowering People across India


One of the most celebrated Brazilian lyricist and novelist Paulo Coelho had once said, “Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.” And, for entrepreneurs, life is nothing but a bag full of surprises where risk forms the foundation to monuments of success down the line.

Meet Priti Shah, the one who believes that the biggest risk is not taking any risk. The difference is to understand between daring and caution, While breaking all the stereotypical thoughts and odds of the society, Priti emerged as a businesswoman with an aim to be an extraordinary entrepreneur.

Let’s hear the inspiring story of Priti Shah, the CEO and, Co-Founder of Payswiff, an Omni-channel payment solution provider which deals in providing GST solution, billing and retail software integrated with payments. It is one such company that is set to capitalize on the evolving dynamics by setting its business model on delivering technology services to the banks and acting as a Payment Service Provider (PSP). Most interestingly, Payswiff is also an enabler and plays its role in the cause of “Digital India”, majorly focused to Bharat part of India for financial inclusion.

Inspired by many and motivated by self, Priti says, “There are a number of good ways that can have a ripple effect and enable one to move forward. It increases their sense of self -efficacy and the tendency to focus with a balanced perspective. With time, one learns to be more resilient and open to ideas. My failures were business I started young in travel and also some decisions that went wrong in business but I learnt taking the wrong decisions is the first step to take the right decisions. As long as you are in the faster mode for correcting the wrong you increase your ability to embrace success.”

A Journey that Turned an Enthusiast into an Entrepreneur

Priti, born and brought up in Mumbai, started her career early at a very young age of 17. It is then when she opted for a Diploma in Administration Services from Premlila Vithaldas Polytechnic, Juhu. Being passionate about entrepreneurship, Priti began her career as a trainee and pursued her graduation at parallel.

If one is driven by passion, focus and dedication, nothing can stop the person from achieving his/her milestone. Priti’s life validates this statement. Even after getting married at an early age of 21 and being blessed with a daughter at the age of 22; her urge towards learning new things took her acheive multiple landmarks in her career.

Priti’s passion took her forward and that is what drove her to pursue teaching and also to be the visiting faculty at SNDT University for Travel & Tourism for Postgraduate students. She has a wealth of experiences topped with a doctorate in Management from the National institute of Management.

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Priyanka Agrawal: Chasing Perfection through Ideation and Disruptive Solutions



Passion and hard work accompany success. Vince Lombardi quoted once, “Leaders are made, they are not born”. Priyanka Agrawal is one such leader, who has come to the forefront of business with her hard work and dedication, which in turn moulded her to be a best-fit in order to stand amongst the world’s top most talented entrepreneurs.

Priyanka is the Co-founder, COO and Chief Experience Officer of Fractal Ink Design Studio–Linked by Isobar. After graduating in 1999, as an architect from BIT Mesra, Priyanka started her own firm called ‘Ambiaance Designs’ in 2001 along with her life partner, Tanay. In 2006, they sold off that company and went to London, where she pursued her Master’s in Design. Later on, she worked with DMGT (The Daily Mail Group) in London where she got exposure to the field of User Experience in its full glory.

In 2010, she landed in India with high aspirations and big dreams of starting a new venture. That’s when the foundation for Fractal Ink Design Studio Pvt. Ltd. was laid with her fellow co-founders Geeta, Hemant and Tanay.

As a Founder and Chief Experience Officer, Priyanka aims to be a consultant and makes clients aware of the various possibilities in their domain. She tries to show them the vision of what they can do, rather than just look at the competition and trying to mimic them. “I think my biggest strength is ideation and looking out for disruptive solutions. Diversifying their thoughts using design thinking principles and then converting them into the right solution is my prime goal,” asserts Priyanka.

Priyanka always tries to create a balance between Research and Analysis with proper science behind why and how they should be implementing solutions, at the same time push boundaries and build an innovation layer that might require a leap of faith to see if it succeeds. When it comes to honest opinions Priyanka’s clients always trust her. According to her, the biggest win is when they keep coming back for it.

Priyanka attributes her success to her biggest mentor and inspiration in life, her Dad, who has given a perspective to look at this world with an immense amount of optimism. In her journey, Priyanka relies on two other people as well, Geeta and Tanay, who are not only the Co-founders but also a great support system who help take the vision of Fractal Ink to greater heights with their amazing energy and talent.

Fractal Ink Design Studio

Fractal Ink Design Studio has grown from an initial setup in a small garage like office with 6 people, to around a 100 people company, as seen now. The company has come a long way in establishing itself as one of the best in the craft of Experience Design.

Fractal Ink is built inside out on the philosophy of “User Centric Design” approach. The Experience Design studio focuses on understanding the clients’ business needs and the users’ objectives and addressing them with innovative ideas and solutions that are effective and engaging. The organization’s work spans over sectors from BFSI to e-commerce, enterprise to devices and everything in between. The company works with top global consulting firms to provide digital design services to their clients. The underlying bedrock idea in establishing Fractal Ink is to push the boundaries of experience design and to be persistent in the efforts to look for ‘What next’ rather than ‘What is’.

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Moving towards Data-Driven Entrepreneurship


Every day it seems that the technology is pushing the boundaries of what entrepreneurship can deliver to the society. Recent developments in technology are shaping the future of the entrepreneurship. The current approach towards entrepreneurship in India has gone through a great change. We are living in a data-driven society where numerous tools are available to track customer habits, preferences, and purchases. Today, entrepreneurs have access to this entire customer’s data. This data is used as the foundation of new business ventures. It is interesting to imagine the power that entrepreneurs are going to have when so many different sorts of data are available.

In India, data science domain has a great potential and opportunity to drive change in the society. As per the alarming trend, India is in need of as many as 45,000 data scientists at this moment. Institute of product leadership recently hosted data science summit 2018 in Bangalore. The motto of this summit was to skill professionals to become a data-driven entrepreneur and create newer entrepreneurship models. Every professional who is engaged in customer and business-driven innovation should become a data-driven entrepreneur for better business growth.

Social Problems Signifying an Opportunity

In India, social problems have huge potential to encourage the data-driven entrepreneurship. Recognition of problems in a correct manner is the most important factor for data-driven models. Traffic management shows a great opportunity for data-driven models as data generated in this sector is immense. The placement of sensors on traffic signals and roads to monitor the vehicle density at given time creates a large amount of data and it is possible to control traffic signal through IoT by using this data system. Many startups in India are eager to collaborate with the government to resolve traffic problems and emerge with innovative ideas.

Other sectors which could get maximum benefits from data-driven models are Healthcare and Agriculture. Data-driven entrepreneurship has the ability to transform the healthcare sector. Healthcare sector has the large amount of medical data which is helpful to predict and prevent the disease, reduce medical cost and improve personal healthcare. In this sector, numerous organizations are using this data to personalize and increase the healthcare of their patients. This data is gathered in the form of digital data as a result patients are using personal digital health tracking devices to take care of their health.

Apart from above sectors, agriculture could also get maximum benefit from data-driven models. Data-driven models help to resolve issues such as determine the correct market price for crops, weather conditions & correct method to cultivate crops.

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The Significance of Technology for Entrepreneurs


A lot has changed for entrepreneurs from the previous decades. Majority of these changes are brought by the advancements in the technology. These technology tools are used to achieve more profit with fewer investments. In terms of electronics, the competition in today’s world has paved the way for less-expensive hardware and software. Furthermore, there is a rise in open source software. Communities prefer to use open source software that provides availability and the ability to modify the software as per requirement. Such digital investments have aided in digitizing the major popular terms and now it has created a new term called ‘digital entrepreneurship’. Technology advancements have resulted in better communication, maintenance, supervising and performance enhancements. Customers are now connected without any hassles with blogs, websites, and social media.

The internet and global networking have enabled the corporations to reach out to the whole world with ease. Operations like conference calls, video calls, and webinars have simplified the process and have saved numerous costs. Easy access to educational resources, website development, app development, and communities has brought entrepreneurs together. All these technological advancements are making it easy for new entrepreneurs to start new businesses. Entrepreneurs, who started their businesses in the 70s or 80s, did not have these opportunities nor had such tools. However, still today many entrepreneurs are hesitant to embrace these tools that can be very powerful in mounting the ladder of success.

The Impact of Information Technology

Information Technology aid in analyzing various parameters economic conditions like firm’s financial position, technology trends, customers future mindset, and a number of competitors in the market. It is also possible to predict the future growth of the company using such tools. Using such information, young entrepreneurs can make tough decisions in difficult situations. Extreme research and in-depth knowledge of data will help them in penetrating the market seamlessly. Entrepreneurs will know the current market trends and will render out products and services relevant to these trends. Startups will be able to track data and meet deadlines efficiently. These technological tools help both small and big start-ups all around the world. Virtual offices and twenty-four-seven work from home processes have eased up the operations and have reduced operational costs. Moreover, these tools are affordable, easy to use, and intuitive. These tools have made the communication safe, secure and flexible. The two-way communication has become easy improving overall results in precise delivery of product and services. Such types of communications are necessary for the efficient flow of information between business conducting parties. The technology advancement has opened new channels of communication both internally and externally. It has streamlined the flow of all the information, which can be used to analyze for improved communications. Technological outlets have been created to gauge feedback for the interaction with customers improving and altering services according to their needs. Such communications has increased the customization, which is a key to success in startups. Using all these availabilities and easy accessibility, anyone can start any venture at any time.

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Here’s what to do in a volatile stock market


Perception: Market that did well is a good market;

Reality: Market that did well is a more expensive market.

Perception: Market that did badly is a worse market;

Reality: Market that did badly is a cheaper market.

Because of the gap between the perception of the investor and the reality in the stock market, we may tend to REACT to the market volatility emotionally. The following points will help you to RESPOND to the market volatility rationally.
  1. Define: Why do you invest
If you have a strong and specific “why”, you will have a clear “how”. If you have a stronger financial goal which is not vague but well defined, you will be clear on how to respond to the market volatility.

Having a financial goal as “Want to retire early” or “want to accumulate 5 crores” is a vague goal. I would like to retire at the age of 55 with a corpus that can generate Rs.75000 per month income is a precise goal.

When you are clear with your goals, you know when you want to achieve it and how much money you need to achieve it. Then it will be easier for you to understand how this volatility will affect this goal in the short term and long term. You can take course correction if it is really required.

2. Set a pre-defined rebalancing mechanism

Based on the required rate of return and risk taking appetite, you can fix an asset allocation ratio.

Let us say you have fixed an asset allocation ratio of 70 (equity) : 30 (debt)

You can pre-define when you have to rebalance.

You may decide to rebalance at the end of every financial year or you may decide to rebalance it whenever market goes up or comes down by 20%.

As you have set a rebalancing mechanism, you will not emotionally react to the market volatility; you will respond to the market volatility rationally.

3. Don’t Panic

“Volatility scares enough people out of the market to generate superior returns for those who stay in.” – Jeremy Siegel

Please remember that equity investors get additional returns only if they tolerate volatility.

Don’t Panic. Selling now means selling low. Temporary declines in the stock market are only a notional loss. It will become an actual loss only if you sell.

Don’t alter your long term investment decisions based on the temporary short term market volatility.

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Challenges of Setting Up an Education Enterprise


Education and education allied services, like International education advisory and prep, are businesses built on trust. Impressionable, young adults entrust you with their dreams, at a very crucial stage of their lives. The first thing that I said to my team when I acquired the business and began defining Inspirus almost a year ago was that “You are in the business of setting the future on course, you need to know every turn, every cross road ahead. Dreams might not always turn into fairytales but they certainly cannot end in nightmares.”

It is that passion, that honesty and that earnestness that anybody stepping into the education space must commit themselves to.

And in that commitment lies the greatest business truth too. Education allied entities cannot sell on an individualized USP. The only game changer in the space is “experience”. Word of mouth and repeat referrals are where 90% sales come from.

While nurturing young futures the greatest challenge lies in keeping a few steps ahead of them always. With a dynamic environment, it isn’t enough to keep abreast with changing international policies that impact students and placement opportunities. The challenge is to keep the students’ confidence in your abilities to identify their strengths and then guide and prepare them to achieve the perfect admit that fits their end goals.

As such my biggest investment is my team of teachers, counselors and content developers. This is a team that has the ability to put the student first. Who believe in increasing profitability by putting the child’s welfare before business. The team ensures each child gets focused attention at every stage, including staying in touch with students in the initial days in the new university.

Becoming an entrepreneur in the current environment in India seems easy. From positive policy interventions; encouraging tax laws to VCs and angel investors, we seem to have it all. But in the education space the big challenge is coming from scalability and sustainability. Weak IP laws and easy accessibility to the technology challenge the stickiness of these businesses. But building a strong network of best practices that define the service quality across branches and franchise partnerships can go a long way. Strong internal processes and checks ensure quality delivery is consistent and constant.

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Importance of English Language in India


Introduction: English is one of the most important Global language. Most of the international transactions of recent times were concluded in English. The language has contributed significantly in bringing people and their culture closer.

The benefits of learning English can be seen in the economic, social and political life of the people of the country.

India has undertaken the gigantic task of rapidly developing its economy, and becoming a powerful country. To fulfil this, people must have up-to-date knowledge of the different branches of science. Without expert technicians, mechanics and engineers much progress is not possible. We need them in increasing numbers. In fact, in Medical Science countries like China & Japan are 3-4 years behind India. The very reason for this is that these countries are giving very low importance to English language learning.

Besides this, a growing nation has also to guard her against various internal dangers. Under such conditions, the selection of language to be studied by the youth of the country becomes very significant. English is the store-house of scientific knowledge. Hence, its study is of great importance for a developing country like India.

Importance of English Language in India’s international affairs: India’s foreign policy is the focus of attention of all the countries of the world. The whole of the world expects to quench its thirst for peace with this policy. India wants to be friendly with all countries. She has to explain and convince others that her point of views is correct. This cannot be done without an effective medium for the exchange of ideas. English provides us with such a medium. This is the language which enjoys the status of an International language. In the U.N.O., the discussions are carried on in this language. In fact, the majority of the countries of the world conduct their business in this tongue. If India wants to play her role in international matters effectively, her people must study English language.

Importance of English in internal matter: India is a country in which people living in different parts having their own languages. The regional languages are quite different from one another. Every few kilometres language changes in India. The leaders and the administrators of the country cannot remain in contact with all these regions without a common language. It is not possible for everyone to know ten or fourteen languages. We do not have any common language at present, except English.

During the English rule, all tried to learn this language. We can feel at home in any corner of the country, if we know this language. English is the language best suited for maintaining internal unity. If we want to crush the provincial, communal and separatist tendencies of our people, we must continue to study it. English is the most important means of national integration with terrorism raising its, ugly head in different parts of the country. We must study English.

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HOW CAN ENTREPRENEUR ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS IN LIFE


“The only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.”
– Michelle Obama

Most people have a romanticized version of who an entrepreneur is. But I guess it’s not their fault, they’re bombarded with Facebook humblebrags of entrepreneurs working from the comfort of a beach while sipping onto a pint of beer; they read excerpts about newly minted billionaires and don’t even get me started on the things that the TV shows.

One thing that we all as entrepreneurs have in common is the will to dream and a burning desire to achieve it. Being an entrepreneur is a way of life and not just a career choice. It consumes most of our lives and changes our perspective and approach to different things in life.

Everything that comes at us, becomes subject to evaluation and this high-level perspective changes the way we tackle demanding circumstances. It’s genetically pre-dispositioned in our DNA to merely survive but thrive towards passion.

Our species has proved day by day, that we have more than just survived; we’ve quite literally thrived, achieving eccentric results with our wild-eyed innovations and outlook on life. Not only do we wish to get the moon, but we also shoot for the stars.

Call it the pre-requisites of our job; it has never been easy for us to achieve our desired goals. But coupled with our gluttonous hunger for fulfilment and our yearning to run on the ostensibly endless epicurean treadmill – we have a track record of reaching for something better and bigger.

The biggest hurdle people face in the course of achieving their goals is that they fail to set them right or even if they do, their approach towards it is all wrong. The best and most acquired way to achieve any goal in life is to not only set them in the right way but also to plan and execute their actions in accordance.

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Ayush Lohia- Developing and Implementing Strategies, and Managing the Overall Operations and Resources of Lohia Auto



1. How did your company’s journey as a preeminent brand begin? What was the underlying bedrock idea behind incorporating the company?

Lohia Global has diversified operation in various sectors like Automobile, Handicraft Export, Retail Warehousing, Real Estate, Brass coil manufacturing etc. Lohia Auto Industries is an automobile division of Lohia Global founded by visionary Late Mr. N.K. Lohia He was very much concerned about Fuel impact on environment and fuel dependency on imports and he wanted to explore alternative which is electric vehicles. With this vision Lohia Auto Industries was established in the year 2008 with an objective to provide clean, efficient, reliable and affordable inner-city & rural transportation.

2. What are the key aspects that demonstrate uniqueness of the company?

In the highly cluttered automobile market, company has carved a niche for itself with electric
scooters. Keeping in mind the energy security of the country, Lohia Auto has been continuously working towards giving last mile connectivity solutions in personal & public transportation and launched different models in electric 2w and electric three wheelers in passenger and cargo both segment. Lohia Auto also launched with its brand of Diesel/CNG Three wheelers
‘HUMSAFAR’ in both segment i.e. Passenger and Cargo for Domestic and Exports market. Diversified product portfolio is our uniqueness which gives last mile connectivity solution.

3. Tell us about yourself as a person, your educational background and as an entrepreneur. How do you use your skills to run your company above and beyond your competitors?

I started my entrepreneurial journey in the year 1999 with Design co- handicrafts export unit & part of Lohia Global. In Designco I had gained experience in marketing management. During this period I have also worked in export industry and developed an in-depth understanding of the market & industry trends. With an insight to the industry scenario, I have made a vital contribution in the multi-fold growth of Designco in my seven years of association. Later, I took-over the stainless steel manufacturing unit where I roped in an exposure to the production and development of the raw steel. With my vast experience in manufacturing, development and marketing, I introduced ‘automobile’ as a new vertical to group business. This is how we have established Lohia Auto Industries as an electric vehicle company.

4. How do you see your entrepreneurial journey till date? Could you name a person/mentor/book/ who has had a tremendous impact on your entrepreneurial journey?

I can safely call it as an absolutely incredible journey. I have learnt many things from my own experience. It has helped me in establishing Lohia Auto as a brand in highly cluttered automobile market. I have a habit of reading books which always impacts my decision making and working process. Some of my favourite books are – THE ONE THING, THE ANSWER, THE MILLIONIRE, CRITICAL CHAIN, THE CHOICE, EAT THAT FROG etc.

5. What is the biggest risk you have ever taken? What have been some of your failures, and what have you learned from them?

The biggest risk which I had taken was entering into B2C business i.e Automobile as our all group companies were in B2B segment. I would not like to talk about failures as I take it as learning and experience which always ensures better working and results further.

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Kedar Sabne: A Curious Entrepreneur Defining the Boundaries of Innovation


Entrepreneurship is a demanding and exciting field, one which brings forward new challenges, a sense of satisfaction, and adds spark to your ambitions. But jumping from the mundane 9-5 corporate job to being an entrepreneur is by no means a small feat to accomplish. It requires a positive mind-frame, effective planning, unwavering courage, and long-term vision to survive the entrepreneurial bandwagon. Kedar Sabne, Director of Inteliment, is one such individual who took off his corporate hat to put on his entrepreneurial hat and led his company to what it is known as today.

Boasting years of Corporate Experience

Kedar grew up in a corporate environment, one which he liked but felt the lack of freedom to get involved in things where he had an inherent capability to make things work better, efficient and simple. Born and brought in Pune in a middle-class family, Kedar took up Company Secretary Course along with graduation and immediately after that he completed Chartered Accountancy from one of the big 4s, Deloitte (erstwhile AFF& Co). It was a good start of a CS & CA career, handling audit, finance including legal aspects. Kedar had the privilege of working in larger organization since the inception of his career and had rose to level where things were streamed lined and growth was basically counting additional zeros either in numbers or geographies in which they were operating.

Jumping off the Toxic Ship

For Kedar, leaving the corporate landscape and associating with Inteliment was the boldest decision that he ever made. He realized that the road ahead would be full of obstacles, but he wasn’t entirely prepared for the challenge. He always wanted to get associated with such organization to which he can say it’s his own company and use all his years of experience in shaping up that organization for great heights, he wanted to play a role of a catalyst and be impactful. That’s where Kedar got associated with Inteliment through Prashant the CEO. Though, they knew each other as professionals, working with the founding team is has been a different feeling altogether. The freedom to take a decision is what matters the most.

Being a finance and legal professional and handled business set up in more than 20 countries, extensively worked on international and domestic arrangements and agreements, managed IP/trademarks, helped in filing and deciding patent strategy, raising finance and handling mergers and acquisitions helps him in pivoting the corporate strategy at Inteliment and perform his finance and legal role effectively. Every function works on data, KPIs and a qualified charted accountant is the best professional to add value. Inteliment is an EFQM Business Excellence accredited company for their quality of work and the way in which they do it, they have a process in place and always aims to benchmark the best practices, and once that is achieved, it translates into winning over competition.

Turning a Perceived Risk into Success

Kedar compares risk with a dream, to dare to dream is the most significant risk and being an entrepreneur is one such risk. Difficult times are bound to be there and withdrawing without trying enough is a “failure.” Kedar believes that just being passionate and dedicated towards work is not enough to convert the failure to success but the time to market is extremely crucial.

He further explains that one has to apply the rule of 80:20 in life, where one can give 80% as per the third party’s expectation, while 20% one should always be ready to work upon; only this will ensure that one doesn’t miss the opportunity.

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GBPS Networks Pvt Ltd: Uplifting the ISP Industry with Pioneering Internet Services

GBPS Networks Pvt Ltd : Uplifting the ISP Industry with Pioneering Internet Services The Internet Service Provider market has un...