Archive: September 29, 2022

Jason Derulo, Kelis, Parov Stelar, DJ Snake and Damian Lazarus performed to a sold out crowd at AZIMUTH AlUla

AlUla, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – September 2022

More than 2000 music fans flocked to the ancient desert city of AlUla’s this weekend to attend the boutique music and arts event, AZIMUTH. The sold out event, delivered by MDLBEAST, the Saudi-based music entertainment company, returned in its second edition showcasing the best of EDM with DJs and acts flown in from around the world to delight audiences in the Saudi Arabian heritage heartland.

The two day event featured international acts including the crowd-rousing DJ Snake; Kelis who performed her 2003 smash hit Milkshake; and the prolific tastemaker of house and modern techno Damian Lazarus on day one. Day two turned up the volume even more with an epic performance from the seven piece band of Austrian artist Parov Stelar, and American R&B superstar Jason Derulo who opened with his chart-topping hit Whatcha Say and had the excitable crowd dancing and asking for more.

Local acts from the flourishing Saudi music scene included a lineup of rising female stars DJ Kayan, Birdperson and Cosmicat plus perennially popular Dish Dash and Majid Jordan. DISCO MISR delighted and surprised with their unique 80s and 90s infused Arabic pop. The unique sunset to sunrise event had artists clamouring to be involved with early morning sets by Vinyl Mode, Nomad, Anmarz. Local hero, DJ Baloo pulled off a stand-out performance in the final hours, as did BKR with his set timed to coincide with the final sunrise moment to an audience eager for more. The AlUla moment capped off an event set in an ancient land with a nod to the past but with eyes firmly fixed on the future. AZIMUTH is an event that is sure to be on the radar for festival goers around the world.

The stage was set within the stunning natural landscape of AlUla with the intimate arena surrounded by the rock formations that have stood for millions of years. A light show using the ancient rocks as the canvas and impressive stage production provided further entertainment to the crowd.

Taking place on the Saudi National Day weekend from sunset on 22nd September to sunrise on 24th September in the same canyon that hosted Desert X AlUla, those lucky enough to secure one of only 1000 tickets per day also had the privilege of seeing some of the remaining artworks that were showcased as part of the event set up.

AZIMUTH was the first of a long list of exciting events and festivals under the AlUla Moments calendar, cementing the Arabian Peninsula city as the arts and culture capital it once was as the crossroads of civilisations dating back 7000 years.

Follow @alulamoments on social media platforms to get the latest updates on schedule or visit experiencealula.com
Use #AZIMUTHAlUla

Rentokil Initial Hygiene Launches Sani Pro Green – a first-in-category process for recycling Sanitary Napkins

Hyderabad, 29^th September 2022 – Safe and hygienic disposal of sanitary napkins is an ongoing challenge in India. Studies say that India generates around 12.3 billion sanitary napkins translating into 113,000 tonnes of menstrual waste annually*.  Rentokil Initial Hygiene, the leading hygiene service provider in India, has introduced a unique process to recycle sanitary napkins by launching all-new ‘Sani Pro Green’ initiative.

By adopting a sustainability-focused strategy whereby used sanitary napkins can be recycled, the initiative has been created to assist women in accessing safe and hygienic feminine services while also protecting our environment.

As part of the ‘Sani Pro Green’ process innovation, Rentokil Initial Hygiene will recycle the used sanitary napkins collected in feminine hygiene units from its customers. The recycling process would be performed under LTTD (Low-temperature thermal decomposition) and would not have any hazardous effects on the environment or release any dangerous by-products. The entire process is completely environmentally friendly and is a big step towards the sustainability agenda that Rentokil Initial Hygiene is committed to across the globe.

Rentokil Initial Hygiene has supported several other endeavors to provide women with hygiene safety in line with global hygiene standards. To promote the cause of women’s health and sanitation, Rentokil Initial Hygiene provides Feminine Hygiene Units for safe disposal of used sanitary napkins as well as sanitary napkin vending machines to address menstrual emergencies. It also offers the widest range of washroom hygiene services, including the provision and maintenance of products such as soap and hand sanitizer dispensers, hand dryers, air care, and purification, large area scenting, cubicle and surface sanitizers,  and floor protection mats.

The ‘Sani Pro Green’ service will first be launched in Bangalore, soon followed by the rest of India.

Nishat Goyal, Chief Operating Officer, Initial Hygiene India said, “We are pleased to announce our new ‘Sani Pro Green’ process – India’s first environmentally friendly service for recycling used sanitary napkins. This enables us to offer our hygienic, yet sustainability-focused feminine services to our customers at the workplace.”

For more details, visit the YouTube Video URL – https://youtu.be/fUpVJiBeu9w

Indian Superstar Ram Charan begins his Exciting ride with Hero Motocorp to Usher in Festive Season Riding the Stylish Glamour XTEC Motorcycle

Bengaluru, September 29, 2022: To bring added excitement for the customers in the festive season, Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters, today announced the appointment of Indian superstar, Ram Charan as the new brand ambassador.

The energized high-decibel campaign of Glamour XTEC – Gazab Style, Gazab Technology features Ram Charan riding stunning Glamour in Nexus Blue Colour. The actor is seen as a stylish protagonist who brings alive the unique aspects of the motorcycle such as connectivity, performance, style and safety. The Glamour XTEC personifies the evolved preferences of today’s youth with its elevated glamour quotient and consistent performance.

The new campaign taps into a new-age youth culture of ‘swiping’ and how with just a right or a left swipe they decide what they like and what they don’t. More importantly it’s with just a glance that they decide what they like which makes leaving a great first impression critical. The campaign depicts Glamour XTEC setting the benchmark in the market with its new-age features, premium and youthful appeal, thus leading the game.

Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Ranjivjit Singh, Chief Growth Officer, Hero MotoCorp said, “The association with the celebrated Indian actor, Ram Charan marks yet another significant milestone in the journey of one of India’s most popular two-wheeler brands, Glamour. With Ram Charan, we have gained a partner who shares the same X-factor as the new Glamour XTEC, and is equally youthful, performance-oriented, and vibrant. As the motorcycle continues to set new benchmarks in the 125cc segment this festive season, we are looking at building a deeper connection with our customers through our upcoming television campaign featuring Ram.”

On the appointment as the brand ambassador for Hero Glamour XTEC, the Indian actor Ram Charan said, “I am really excited to be a part of the Hero MotoCorp Family – the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters. And, I am really looking forward to a glamorous time ahead.”

The commercial will showcase both the effortless style and high fashion quotient as well as the attention-grabbing high-tech features. Within just a short period of time, Glamour XTEC has caught the imagination of the customers in the 125cc motorcycle segment. The motorcycle appeals to the youth with its exciting features, such as Bluetooth connectivity for call and SMS alerts, Navigation Assist, Built-in Mobile Charger, LED headlamp along with safety features, Side-Stand Engine cut off and Bank Angle Sensor.

Festive season likely to boost real estate demand, momentum to continue

The festive season which has already begun is considered to be an auspicious time to invest in residential real estate. It is a much-awaited time of the year when home buyers opt for high-ticket purchases, gives a significant thrust to the real estate sector, and is marked by the launch of new projects, combined with a spectrum of benefits to attract home buyers. A big booster to housing demand has been the increased importance of owning a property backed by consumer confidence in the overall economic scenario. To cash in on the sentiment, property developers come up with discounts and schemes to attract buyers, offering freebies such as gold coins, cars, holiday trips, modular kitchens, etc.

Runwal Group has brought in Runwal Dussehra Bonanza for their customers, where one can avail of exciting offers this festive season. The Group is rolling out an array of benefits such as Easy Payment Plans and Spot Offers for their projects Runwal Forests at Kanjurmarg West, Runwal Avenue at Kanjurmarg East, Runwal Pinnacle at Mulund West, and Runwal Gardens in Dombivli East. For their nearing possession project, Runwal Bliss at Kanjurmarg East, they are offering a 10:90 Payment Plan along with Spot Offers. The projects also come with a No Stamp Duty benefit. Offers are valid for a limited period only. T&C apply for all offers.

Rajat Rastogi, Executive Director, Runwal Group said, ”Festive occasions like Dussehra bring about a positive vibe and this helps in boosting consumer sentiment. Hence, festive seasons always see a spike in home buying activity. There is an upward movement in volumes and we have witnessed this trend on Gudi Padwa, Akshay Tritiya, Ganesh Chaturthi etc. Keeping this in mind, we have rolled out promotional offers at our projects to add a further boost to sales during this festive season. We have already been witnessing excellent volumes this year and we are extremely positive about the upcoming festive month. Like always, good projects by reputed developers will see increased traction and at Runwal Group we have ensured that our portfolio and pricing are optimized to cater to a wide range of customer requirements”

Pushpam Group presents an exclusive offer for their resort homes, Pushpam Sanskruti in Karjat to celebrate Navratri this year! Investing in Pushpam resort homes will ensure that you celebrate a little extra this festive season. The Group is offering an assured rental of Rs. 11,000/- from the day of the booking for its customers. The key highlights of the special Navratri Offers are monthly 20% ROI, more than 25 lavish amenities, RCI membership and unlimited holiday. Pushpam Group ensures their customers make a festive grab that turns out to be beneficial amidst the celebration. Offer valid for a limited period only till 05th October 2022. T&C apply.

Dr. Sachin Chopda, Managing Director, Pushpam Group said, “Indians are optimistic that investing in a property will bring good fortune during these occasions like Navratri and Dussehra since these days are considered as one of the holiest days of the year for new beginnings. This time of the year witnesses a strong demand for investment in the real estate segment as the feasible rates become even more reasonable because of lucrative offers by reputed developers.”

This Festive Season, Tridhaatu Realty brings an exclusive offer for their customers, where one can avail of Premium 2 BHK Air Conditioned Homes furnished by IKEA in their project Tridhaatu Morya located at Chembur along with 20:70:10 payment plans, Zero Stamp Duty, Zero GST, and spot booking benefits. The project is Nearing Completion. Offers are valid for a limited period and for limited inventory. So, hurry and grab the exciting offers!

Mr. Govind Krishnan Muthukumar, Co-founder & Director, of Tridhaatu Realty said, “We at Tridhaatu Realty are celebrating the festive season by providing offers that will meet the modern needs of the homebuyers. We are providing our customers an attractive value proposition, amidst the rising property prices, where we should see their confidence in the sector increase, and boost consumption. We are optimistic that this season will give the much-needed positivity and hope the real estate sector needs.”

Taste the authenticity of “Durga Pujor Mahabhoj”at Hilton Bangalore Embassy GolfLinks

Encapsulate the grandeur of deep–rooted culture of the city of Joy, Kolkata with a delightful feast of “Durgapujor Mahabhoj” from 1st October to 5th October, at Hilton Bangalore Embassy GolfLinks. Durga Puja, also known as Durgotsava is synonymous with homecoming; warm hospitality, and authentic food which is widely observed across the country and in major cities of the world by the Bengali diaspora.

Setting the atmosphere right for all the Bengalis in Bangalore bedecked with the intricate festive décor. Relish the authentic “Durgapujor Mahabhoj”, as each of the 5 days will have different reflections on the food that is eaten on the day. For example, while on Shashthi and Saptami days, the menu will have “Kolkata biryani” or “Chingri Machher Malai Curry”, Astami will have “Bhoger Khichuri with Labra” and Nabami with “Kosha mangsho”.

To curate the menu, the hotel roped in the help of a foodpreneur, Debopama who hails from Kolkata. From bite-sized culinary delights to lavish feasts, the skilled culinary team has curated an elaborate lunch from the taste palette of a Bengali. The menu celebrates a unique amalgamation of authentic age-old recipes along with Bengali favorites to tantalize the taste buds of the guests.

Delve into an indulgent gastronomic affair with an extensive spread of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes such as Postor bora, Kosha Mangsho, Chingri Maachher Malai Curry, Kolkata Chicken Biryani and Bhoger mangsho. The restaurant will also serve specialties from the recipes of the famed Tagore family of Calcutta like The Mohan Polao, Komola Polao and Darbesh. Adding to the epicurean feast, guests can satisfy their sweet tooth from a wide selection of traditional Bengali desserts like ‘Thakur barir darbesh, Labango latika’, Golap kachagolla, and more.

Hilton Bangalore Embassy GolfLinks is all set to make this year’s Durga Puja wholesome with an eclectic menu, perfect ambiance and traditional dishes of Bengal.

Honda Cars India launches its new Brand Campaign ‘A Honda Goes Beyond’

Mumbai, September 29, 2022: Honda Cars India Ltd. (HCIL), leading manufacturer of premium cars in India, today launched its new brand campaign ‘A Honda Goes Beyond’. The new campaign aims to connect with brand enthusiasts and a new generation of customers by showcasing Honda values of offering Innovative and Futuristic Technology products. Every Honda car is designed keeping superior customer experience at the core, to help people make their lives better today and into future.  Honda shows how it is forever determined to meet and exceed the expectations of customers, and therefore the brand promise of ‘A Honda Goes Beyond’. 

Speaking about the brand promise and the new campaign, Mr. Takuya Tsumura, President & CEO, Honda Cars India Ltd. said, “Honda’s journey in India has been nothing less than spectacular and credit goes to our customers who have bestowed their trust in Honda’s premium cars for the last 25 years. It has always been our endeavor to keep customers at the centre of our products and services. The current campaign is a celebration of bond that our customers share with us and we promise to go beyond in everything that we do.”

The concept of the campaign is deeply rooted in customer insight. Honda understands that before buying a car, people go through the loop of exploration and evaluation. They are overwhelmed with anticipation, reviews, comparisons, recommendations. The exploration is not about buying alone but also service, ownership and maintenance. They have a lot of expectation from the brands.

That’s where Honda promises to go the extra mile to make sure that every Honda journey is a joy and delight for its customers.  And this goes much beyond just the drive, the engineering and the cars. It is a commitment to every side of the ownership experience.  Honda fulfills all expectations, delighting the customer at every touchpoint throughout their relationship and therefore A Honda Goes Beyond.

The campaign will be featured across a wide range of high reach and high affinity digital and social platforms.

Tackling the great talent exodus in the Indian IT sector: TeamLease Digital

Mumbai, 29^th September 2022: One of the leading tech staffing firms, TeamLease Digital, has today launched its ‘Talent Exodus Report’, pertaining to the IT industry. The report ‘Brain Drain: Tackling the Great Talent Exodus’ is a comprehensive guide to increasing retention rates in the IT sector, highlighting the reasons for talent exodus, consequences of dysfunctional turnover, and possible ways and strategies to reduce quitting.

Basis the survey findings, TeamLease Digital iterates that there is a huge misconception with the sentiment in the candidate market, that a salary increase would improve performance and boost job satisfaction. While employees’ needs and priorities have changed, such as the desire for flexibility, career growth and employee value proposition. They are re-evaluating their careers based on these aspects and quitting their well-cushioned jobs in the mid-way. The alarming figures reveal that the flexible structure has heightened the choice.

Sharing his views, Mr Sunil Chemmankotil, Chief Executive Officer, TeamLease Digital, said, “The Indian IT sector has witnessed tremendous growth in the last decade. It has recorded 15.5% growth, which is the fastest in more than a decade and touched $227 billion, creating additional 5.5 lac jobs in FY22 alone. However, with the global pandemic disrupting the IT hiring chain, there is evidence of a reverse trend which indicates that retaining a business-critical talent has undergone a great change in the last two years. The survey indicates that 57% of IT professionals would not consider returning to the IT services sector in the future. With the usual demand for salary hikes and other benefits, the main attraction for employees in their new jobs is ‘Great Reflection’ on the internal policies and external factors that should be relooked at by employers as we are viewing great changes in the employees’ feelings about work and life.” 

“Organizations’ strategic hiring plans must contain goals towards their employees and their betterment. This ultimately translates into soul searching over whether an employee feels valued in his/her work or merely creates outcomes and value to benefit others. A fundamental change in the employment value proposition leads to deeper employee-employer relationships, a strong sense of owning and purpose-driven work,” he adds. 

The Talent Exodus Report is a result of the study that highlights 6 elements and 5 strategic suggestions to resolve the mass talent exodus that most IT companies are struggling with. The report is also intended to be a source of market information that helps organisations step up and fundamentally reexamine their business operating model to break the chain of mass exodus and inspire long-term talent growth, management and retention.

India’s $227 bn industry spurred global companies to bolster investments in services, ranging from cloud computing, digital payment infrastructure, cyber security, etc. The sector contributed 9% to the national GDP and accounted for 51% of services exports. The sector also added a total of 4.5 lac freshers in the current financial year which is the highest addition in a single year. Of this, 2 lac employees were women.

Genesys Introduces AI Experience, A Complete Way for Businesses to Orchestrate Unique Customer Journeys

India, Bangalore, 29 September, 2022: Genesys®, a global cloud leader in experience orchestration, today introduced Genesys Cloud AI Experience, a new solution designed to help organizations optimise customer journeys through accelerated experience innovation powered by smarter personalization, automation and prediction. With the new solution, Genesys has expanded its experience orchestration capabilities, enabling organizations to listen and understand customers and employees through seamless coordination of technology, interactions, and touchpoints. Now with greater ability to predict actions, automate journeys in real time and drive toward outcomes, Genesys Cloud AI Experience makes it possible for any organization to orchestrate people-centric experiences at scale, fostering long-lasting relationships.

Many organizations are challenged to find strategies for dealing with both rising customer volume and changes in expectations, while facing an uncertain business market. With pressure to deliver better experiences with less, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have the potential to help; yet many organizations are hamstrung by legacy business processes, siloed point solutions and insufficient technical resources. Outside of large companies, most lack the data scientists and resources to implement and deploy technologies orientated around their customers and employees while still supporting business objectives.

Experience Orchestration at Scale

With Genesys Cloud AI Experience, organizations can integrate real-time data and customer signals to easily orchestrate and optimise proactive, personalised engagement across digital and voice touchpoints. When AI works harmoniously in the background of every experience, customers are met with new levels of understanding and care, and employees are equipped with smarter tools and insight to improve every interaction.

Genesys Cloud AI Experience removes the barrier of entry to AI for most organizations by combining conversational AI, knowledge, agent assistance, predictive routing and predictive engagement into a single integrated solution. This enables stronger customer journeys in weeks versus quarters. By eliminating the friction of isolated systems, the solution embeds intelligence and intent across the end-to-end experience, allowing organizations to recognise the bespoke needs of every customer at any stage of a journey.

In addition, the solution helps organizations extract more value from their data so self-service and employee assisted engagements can be fine-tuned with greater precision. With turnkey implementation and fast time to value, organizations have all the tools they need to orchestrate better experiences at scale using the AI, digital and self-service capabilities included in Genesys Cloud AI Experience. Available now, organizations can add these capabilities to their existing Genesys Cloud CX™ contract or include it as a part of a new deployment.

“While AI and automation tools permeate throughout the customer and employee lifecycle, they are often adopted as separate point solutions that limit the ability to address consumers’ journeys holistically,” said Dave Schubmehl, research vice president, Conversational AI, IDC. “Organizations that leverage the integrated AI capabilities of Genesys Cloud AI Experience are positioned to address radically different use cases in customer experience, increasing the breadth of their impact.”

Improving Customer Journeys with AI-Driven Optimization

The newly enhanced components of Genesys Cloud AI Experience allow organizations to accelerate their path to customer journey optimization using the latest AI innovations from Genesys, including:

• Better digital experiences: To standout in an economy dictated by the experiences you provide, organizations face new pressures to satisfy and connect with customers. Instead of plain text, the new Genesys digital bot flow builder allows organizations to differentiate their customer self-service experiences using rich media, images, visual menus, added languages and more. With better digital bots, organizations can create engaging, visual, conversational experiences to solve a customers’ needs more effectively.
• Smart knowledge: Whether supported by a human or a bot, today’s customer service experiences are made or broken on the knowledge that powers them. However, too often, knowledge is trapped in silos. That’s why Genesys is making it easier for organizations to create, enrich and train knowledge across channels with a new centralised workbench powering self-serve and human-assisted service. Now, with access to images, dynamic articles, enhanced language dimensions and expanded search capabilities, organizations have smart tools at their disposal to support customers in real time. A new knowledge optimiser gives organizations deeper visibility into content effectiveness and usage, helping them detect the most valuable customer resources.
• AI transparency: To remove the “black box” approach many organizations take, Genesys launched an explainability feature to AI routing, by supplying insights into the factors driving better customer outcomes across voice and digital channels. It’s visualised, explained and accessed through an intuitive Genesys Predictive Routing guide that pinpoints features in its AI model via a user-friendly dashboard. This insight fosters confidence and trust in AI models and delivers new insights to drive better decisions.
• AI-driven orchestration optimization: Now with embedded data services, interaction data is captured while speech and text analytics, intent mining, and identity resolution are automatically applied. This gives organizations new insights they can use to personalise and refine engagements for best customer outcomes. In addition, with the audience size estimator recently added to Genesys Predictive Engagement, employees can see the impact of their predictive strategy on their operations, ensuring they have the right resources in place to handle elevated volumes.

“As a pioneer in Experience as a Service®, we’re making it easier for organizations of all sizes and scale to stay ahead of changing consumers’ needs through experience orchestration. Using Genesys Cloud AI Experience, we’re giving organizations a powerful foundation to help them innovate effortlessly and wow their customers through more proactive, personalised experiences,” said Olivier Jouve, executive vice president and general manager, Genesys Cloud CX.