Published
- 08:00 am
Today Rentivo, a vacation rental marketing and management software company, announced it has successfully oversubscribed its CrowdCube.com crowdfunding campaign, raising £341K/$425K and exceeding its goal by 36%. The funds will be used to accelerate technology development, sales and marketing.
With the exponential growth in the home sharing economy and millions of property listings worldwide, it has become increasingly challenging for vacation rental owners and property managers to stand out from the crowd and attract new and repeat guests," said Richard Vaughton, Rentivo co-founder and CEO.
As such, existing revenue streams and businesses are at stake. "Our crowdfunding success underscores the need for new ways for vacation rental property owners and managers to secure direct bookings and take more control over revenue generation instead of relying solely on Online Travel Agencies, such as Airbnb, HomeAway and TripAdvisor, for business."
Direct bookings also help alleviate the financial squeeze felt by property providers and guests from OTA commissions and service fees, respectively. Currently, these fees can be in excess of 20% for hosts and as high as 12% for guests, who are often completely unaware of these charges.
Rentivo, which has been serving the vacation rental market since 2013 and features a guest-centric, collaborative business model that supports the mutual interests of groups of property managers, has an estimated 300% growth rate in 2017.
The company is privately owned, self-funded, debt free and holds all IP rights. The launch of its web builder and interest from collaborative and niche listing sites have accelerated growth. Additionally, Rentivo's guest re-marketing products and payment systems will see increased traction and revenue streams in 2017.
Chris Atkinson, the CTO and co-founder says that, "Homeowners and managers are hoping to improve their bottom line and business controls, which cannot happen if OTA's solely, manage the booking flow and guest experience."
- 03:00 am
AIT Partnership Group Ltd has won the tender for 2 lots on the CPC framework for ICT Solutions and Supply of Network Infrastructure. CPC is a purchasing consortium, owned and run by the FE sector. They provide members with specialist advice on best spending practices and how to obtain best value for money. AIT has been selected as suppler on Lot 4, Networking Equipment and Services and Lot 6 Maintenance Installation and Support.
In a separate tender AIT has also been accepted onto the Crown Commercial Suppliers Digital Outcomes and Specialists 2 framework and authorised to provide its bespoke web portals and management systems for Wi Fi and energy and infrastructure capacity management solutions. Commenting on the success AIT MD Steve Bailey said "it's a testament to our capability as a company and provides our public sector clients with a great value way to purchase our solutions. We are already on a the JISC framework and G-Cloud and this broadens the range of clients who can benefit from a direct relationship with AIT".
Recent Education sector solutions include a full LAN and WLAN implementation for Coleg Gwent and Wi Fi solutions for London Metropolitan University and Bangor University including a bespoke guest on boarding portal. AIT is also engaged with many public bodies helping them to improve the management of their infrastructure including the Met Office, Highways England, and the BBC.
- 01:00 am
Today ARRIS International plc revealed that China Network Systems (CNS), one of Taiwan's major cable operators, has selected ARRIS HMC4100 set-tops, with the ARRIS KreaTV application platform, to further enhance its digital video services.
Taiwanese government regulations require all cable operators to digitize their TV services by the end of 2017. The ARRIS HMC4100 is a hybrid DVB-C set-top that enables CNS to fully digitize its services and offer new high-definition (HD) on-demand, local PVR and streaming video services to subscribers in Taiwan. Also, the set-top includes a DOCSIS 3.0 modem which enables CNS to simplify install and add two-way interactive applications to its digital TV service.
CNS will begin rolling out the new HMC4100 set-tops in March 2017. ARRIS and CNS have a long- standing relationship spanning both consumer devices and network solutions, including ARRIS's CCAP solution - the E6000® Converged Edge Router. CNS has deployed ARRIS HMC series set-tops with the ARRIS KreaTV Application platform since 2013.
"As the industry moves to fully digitize TV services by the end of this year, our customers are expecting improved viewing experiences such as high-definition and streaming video," said Henry Chang, CEO of CNS. "We are partnering with ARRIS to deliver compelling experiences today while catering to the evolving viewing habits of our subscribers. With the ARRIS KreaTV platform, we have flexibility to rapidly develop new applications for the future."
"With our global scale and strong heritage in providing high-quality broadband and video devices, we're collaborating with CNS to achieve their vision of transforming Taiwan's cable TV industry," said Eduardo Fichmann, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific Sales, ARRIS. "The ARRIS HMC4100 adds DOCSIS 3.0 connectivity to our leading HMC4000 whole-home DVR and multiscreen solution - simplifying the install process from two boxes to one."
- 01:00 am
MTFX Group of Companies is a leader in corporate foreign exchange and global payments unveiled the launch of its educational institution payment platform Paymytuition. The Paymytuition payment platform has been running in test phase over the last several months and is now available to educational institutions across North America. "We are delighted to add the educational institution space to the growing list of verticals we already service. We look forward to servicing the educational vertical by doing what we do best which is offering "high-tech, high-touch" solutions at a fraction of the cost of our competitors," said MTFX's Chief Market Strategist Arif Harji.
"We were surprised to see the pain points educational institutions face when processing their international payments. Educational institutions continue to contend with unidentified and missing payments, manual reconciliation processes, and cumbersome time-consuming payment processes for their international students," Harji said of conversations with numerous educational institutions revealing their pain points.
Harji explained that MTFX has developed a customized payment solution truly focused on the education industry that focuses on speed, cost, visibility, integration and compliance. Paymytuition offers students and schools complete visibility of the payment process at significantly better currency exchange rates than banks and competitors.
Next generation technology, a global banking network built over 20+ years, a stellar reputation in the market, a high level of personal service for both students and administrators, and our continued push for progress and innovation should propel MTFX's Paymytuition as a market leader.
MTFX leverages and integrates its global banking networks along with its leading-edge technology to provide unmatched solutions for foreign exchange and global payments in just about every business category.
- 04:00 am
Ther was the time when everyone was saying "the future of shopping is online"? It seems like that future is now and the current reality is that shopping in bricks and mortars retail stores is a less essential part in the seller-buyer experience. Digital shopping, particularly for retail consumers, has not only reshaped the payments industry, but has also left an indelible effect on how products are presented, displayed, compared, purchased, and eventually delivered. The traditional definition of shelf space and product face has been replaced with an overarching priority to showcase practical and functional utilities, alongside the focus on convenience of shipment and handling.
Answering the expectations of modern-age retailers, shippers and consumers, Dow Packaging & Specialty Plastics (P&SP) offers a new age ultra-efficient packing solution made from a blend of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) that delivers both convenience and quality. In markets like Asia where digital retail sales are growing faster than anywhere else in the world, packaging is an increasingly critical component of the total proposition. This innovative enhanced expanded polyethylene (EPE) foam solution from Dow offers better protection from stress - with its flexibility and firmness, and delivers greater value - through its prolific cost-efficiency.
Rise of e-commerce leading to a vibrant logistics industry
In emerging economies like India and Indonesia, the digital retailing sector experienced stellar growth rates of 129.5% and 65.6%, respectively in 2015. While China, another fast-growing market for online shopping, accounts for 40% of the world's retail e-commerce sales. Similarly, the economies of other Asian countries like Malaysia and Singapore also offer an amazing level of potential for retailers who can leverage the digital opportunity. One doesn't need to go farther than the nearest metropolis to understand how a rising middle class and a culture of consumerism are fueling the growth of online shopping. From tech-gadgets to household articles to fashion - online shopping platforms like Amazon, Alibaba and Flipkart are discovering effective ways to deliver goods to people's doorsteps.
Most importantly, smartphones have made it even easier for people to search, compare, and order things from anywhere and anytime. When your favorite marketplace is at your fingertips, you are likely to have more choices and expected to seek more flexibility. And this notion of flexibility extends beyond the physical product itself. From packaging to shipment to delivery, today's consumers look for a seamless and positive experience that ultimately contributes to maintaining the integrity of the brand.
Needless to say, the shipment and logistics aspects play a decisive, often underestimated role in delivering a positive customer experience - maintaining the integrity of the brand's image. Where Dow's revolutionary EPE solution adds real value is in durability, convenience and safety of the shipped package. Sellers would want the packaging to not only withstand automated and manual processing especially when in transit, but also leave a hassle-free impression in the consumer's mind when the product reaches its destination. The bottom-line: the best customer experience ensured by safely delivering the product in the most efficient packaging.
A dynamic industry where one size doesn't fit all
Contrary to traditional shelf packaging, which involves a large number of identical or similar products, e-commerce logistics deals with products of different types, shapes and sizes that are packed together and transported to the same or neighboring destinations. The co-location of products of many different types and shapes makes it essential to use suitable packaging that would protect the goods from shocks and hazards during transportation, and from each other too. The primary (exterior) packaging of an e-commerce shipment - which could be a corrugated box, courier bag, tube, padded envelope or carton - doesn't suffice; so, a secondary or sometimes tertiary packaging is commonly applied to wrap and protect the products. Materials traditionally used for this include enhanced expanded polyethylene (EPE), air bubble films, inflatable air, and cushion bags.
EPE, lovingly called pearl cotton, is one of the most popular types of protective packaging that is durable and flexible at the same time. This material can be shaped and tailored into various forms, such as rolls, mesh and planks, making it suitable for various usage types. It is typically an unfailing material that protects a wide variety of goods - from small electronic components and food items to large machinery and home appliances.
A revolutionary solution from a global leader
Dow is not only a global leader in packaging materials, it is also a pioneer in supporting the e-commerce sector. Staying true to its tradition of industry engagement and continuous innovation, Dow keeps a constant track of developments in the logistics and packaging sectors. Here in Asia, based on intensive research and development, the company has developed a range of flexible packaging solutions to meet the needs of the vibrant e-commerce market in this region. Dow's innovative EPE technology is the perfect example of a practical solution from a global leader who has deep understanding of the market and the customers.
DOWTM LDPE 450E and ELITETM LLDPE blend can deliver a 20% greater strength and almost twice the tear strength vs. standard EPE resin. These LDPE/LLDPE blends are better able to protect e-commerce goods by minimizing damage risks during shipping and handling. As a result of its cost-efficient performance and reliability, smart businesses are choosing this solution over conventional options available in the market.
Dow's EPE solution brings functional benefits coupled with superior performance
The foaming in traditional EPE solutions uses 100% LDPE, making the material too brittle, damage-prone and more susceptible to in-transit wear and tear. Dow's patented technology for enhanced EPE goes to the heart of these issues and offers a reliable fix by blending LDPE with LLDPE which has higher tear strength than 100% LDPE.
Dow's EPE technologies can be adopted across a wide range of applications. This innovative solution is compatible to pack many consumer goods types that were previously unsuitable for EPE packaging due to poor compression and tear strength. Sharp or edgy objects, thorny fruits like Durian, and heavy items such as appliances can now be safely packed and wrapped using Dow's LDPE solution.
A key advantage of this advanced EPE solution is its superior cushioning delivered through higher compression ability. It requires less secondary and tertiary packaging, reducing costs and weight, streamlining packing operations. Foamed EPE sheets using Dow's advanced technology enable merchants to reduce the number of layers needed, for instance, from five-six to three-four without affecting the packaging integrity. Apart from savings on space, it also cuts down material and transportation costs, and benefits the environment by lowering energy consumption and reducing the amount of packaging diverted to landfills.
Comprehensive Polyethylene (PE) Packaging
Dow offers a full suite of PE products for e-commerce packaging. In particular, its DOWTM LDPE, DOWLEXTM, and ELITETM resins can be formulated into bubble films, air cushion bags, and heat sealing and binding materials that can be used to produce air column bags. Dow also collaborates with e-commerce logistics value chain partners to improve the comprehensive performance of related products and technologies. The company's LDPE/LLDPE blends make packaging lighter, often leaner, and improves shipping economics.
By delivering innovative packaging solutions, such as enhanced EPE, Dow is enabling e-commerce merchants to optimize logistics and minimize damage to products during shipment. Avoiding excessive packaging, and the need for less storage space, also means eliminating wastage of resources and ensuring a positive customer experience.
In fact, this innovation from Dow can potentially benefit e-commerce businesses and customers across Asia, by customizing the solution according to respective market and sector needs, and contribute to an overall improvement in industry efficiency and sustainability.
- 06:00 am
Today Profile Software, an international financial solutions vendor, revealed that Abu Dhabi National Insurance Company (ADNIC) in the UAE, one of the leading regional multi-line insurance providers for corporates and individuals, is using the IMSplus Insurance Investment Management solution to achieve operational efficiency of its investment management operations.
Following ADNIC’s vendor selection process, Profile Software was appointed as the vendor of choice. With highly flexible and functionality-rich features, IMSplus is Profile Software’s leading investment management platform that is being used by many international insurance firms, across multiple locations. It offers an easily customizable solution that caters to current and future business needs. The platform enables users to comply with local and international markets, automate processes and efficiently manage back office investment management operations.
IMSplus offers a wealth of benefits to ADNIC through flexible and multi-level analysis features. ADNIC uses IMSplus to monitor sector and asset class exposures of its invested assets. The system’s reporting capabilities allow investment managers to perform comprehensive analyses of the company’s invested assets (cash, fixed term deposits, equities, bonds, funds, private equity and real estate) and performance. ADNIC also benefits from the quality and timely production of reports (for regulatory and management purposes) as well as the overall process automation, while reducing costs, increasing productivity and achieving greater efficiency across operations.
ADNIC’s selection of IMSplus expands Profile Software’s Insurance client portfolio and reaffirms its expertise in delivering competitive investment management solutions to the insurance industry. IMSplus is used by a range of regional and international insurance firms, offering integrated services and contributing to their operational excellence
- 07:00 am
Today Coupa Software, a leading provider of cloud-based spend management solutions, announced that major international oil and gas company, KMG Rompetrol, has selected Coupa to automate its procurement processes and increase efficiency across its operations.
Operating in a highly competitive global industry and with an expanding supplier and customer base, KMG Rompetrol required an agile solution that would not only allow its internal procurement activities to be automated, but also add value by providing insight into measurable key performance indicators (KPIs).
After a stringent evaluation of the marketplace, KMG Rompetrol chose Coupa’s S2P and analytics software, highlighting the mobility of the Coupa solution and intuitive user interface of the platform as important advantages.
“Coupa stood out to us immediately. Our suppliers are a vital part of our business and the fact that Coupa doesn’t charge them for collaboration on the platform was a key differentiator,” said Zamanbek Mirzayanov, global procurement director at KMG Rompetrol. “We wanted a solution that would allow us to streamline our procurement process completely, foster collaboration and allow us to focus our efforts on the more mission critical aspects of our business. It became clear very quickly why Coupa is recognised as an innovator and leader in the spend management space.”
In addition to KMG Rompetrol automating its financial processes with Coupa solutions, the oil and gas company also can provide employees with access to supplier information in even the most remote locations.
Headquartered in Bucharest, Romania, and a subsidiary of KazMunayGas, the state-owned oil and gas company of Kazakhstan, KMG Rompetrol is one of the most well-established oil companies in Europe. It has more than 7,000 employees in 12 countries with significant operations in the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea.
Coupa EMEA General Manager Alex Kleiner emphasised that by selecting Coupa, KMG Rompetrol can make it easier for its employees to transact and collaborate with suppliers, laying the foundations for long-lasting successful relationships.
“In a fast-moving competitive industry, it’s absolutely crucial for organisations to have the correct technology in place allowing them to automate their procurement processes as efficiently as possible,” Kleiner said. “At Coupa, we understand the importance of measuring KPIs and ensure that our solutions are optimised to provide insight into business spend, all of which helps deliver clear and measurable value. KMG Rompetrol, is one of the most recognised oil and gas organisations in the world, and we’re excited to have them join the Coupa family.”
- 03:00 am
Synechron Inc., a world's leading financial services consulting and technology services provider, has today announced the launch of “Neo,” a set of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based solutions for the financial services industry. Neo uniquely brings together Synechron’s digital, business and technology consulting to allow financial institutions to deploy cutting-edge, AI solutions that solve complex business challenges.
Synechron has built 14 reusable applications – Accelerators – that allow financial institutions to reduce time-to-market when applying AI to enhance business operations, reduce operating costs, and create better client experiences. Synechron’s AI Accelerators applications have taken a business challenge that can be best solved through AI and re-architected business processes to build a solution powered by artificial intelligence and optimized for user experience. The Accelerators use techniques like Natural Language Processing (NLP), Chatbots, Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Cognitive Machine Learning, Data Science, and Robo-Advisors to address a range of use cases. In addition to custom development work, Synechron has partnered with specialist FinTech firms such as Quantexa, Yseop and SQREEM.
Financial institutions are looking to implement the latest technology to address real-world problems in financial services. Neo and Synechron’s AI Accelerators will be pivotal in helping clients be at the forefront of technological advancement, while providing a comprehensive set of tools to ease and streamline processes. This will allow businesses to deploy technology-enabled processes that augment the role of individuals, allowing them to be elevated to higher-value business tasks.
The AI Accelerators apply some of the most advanced AI and Deep Learning techniques, and algorithms including Google Tesseract’s OCR and binarization, the NLTK platform for sentiment analysis, SARIMA for time-series data, Self-Org Maps for clustering, Deep Learning Recurring Neural Networks (RNN) for dynamic classification, Support Vector Machines for classification, R for statistical modeling and reinforced learning, multi-level Perception for classification, and Apache Spark for big data and machine learning. They also draw on deep financial services expertise, and foundational programming languages and tools including OpenNLP, R, Python, Jflex, PDFBox, MS LUIS, Tessaract, Spark, Apache Solr and mongoDB, among others.
The AI engine, business and technical analysis at the core of these accelerators can be applied to additional use cases to progress more quickly with similar initiatives. Along with the use of the AI applications, the Accelerator Program offers access to Synechron’s team of consultants, technologists and digital teams who are experts in financial services business processes, products, regulation, operating models and data architectures which are critical to constructing affective AI applications.
- 02:00 am
TiVo Corporation is a world's leader in entertainment technology and audience insights. Today the company announced that TiVo and Sky, Europe’s leading entertainment company, has joined forces to deliver voice search for Sky’s next-generation box, Sky Q. TiVo is providing Sky Q with a natural language, voice-based search solution, making it quicker and easier for Sky Q customers to find the content they are looking for.
The solution delivered by TiVo lets consumers use their voice to search for digital entertainment across linear TV and video on demand (VOD). By implementing Conversation Services on Sky Q, Sky is making it easier for customers to discover entertainment, sport and movies by providing a conversational experience through language recognition and naturally spoken responses.
“With Sky Q, we continue to innovate and bring fantastic new features to our customers, who we know are watching more TV than ever before. We want to make it even faster and easier for them to search, discover and watch TV,” said Luke Bradley-Jones, Sky’s brand director of TV and content products. “That’s why we’ve introduced voice search. With the technology delivered by TiVo, we are enabling our customers to use natural, voice-based queries to find new and favourite TV to enjoy.”
The solution is built on TiVo’s knowledge graph engine, a dynamic knowledge base of entertainment metadata, capable of understanding trends and conversations. Updated continuously via data ingestion and news crawlers, the knowledge graph includes information produced and curated by hundreds of content editors, predictive search results, and behavioral indicators from social networks.
“With more and more content choices and a great range of entertainment available across TV, TiVo is helping partners like Sky provide the best user experience whilst driving content consumption,” said Matt Berry, senior vice president and general manager, advanced search and recommendations, TiVo. “We are pleased to extend our long-standing relationship with Sky. This implementation further reinforces the value of TiVo’s product portfolio in bringing the latest capabilities to pay-TV homes across Europe.”
- 02:00 am
Spanish banking group BBVA is contributing information on card transactions to a United Nations project trying to tap big data to combat climate change.
The UN Global Pulse Data for Climate Action open-innovation project is inviting data experts and researchers from around the world to pitch their ideas on how they can use information from private sector partners in the fight against climate change.
BBVA is among the firms backing the project, providing statistical data on transactions with its debit and credit cards in Spanish stores between 2014 and 2016, available through the bank's API Market.
Researchers picked by the UN will have four months to work on how they can use the data from BBVA, and others such as telco Orange and traffic app Waze, to further efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
"Driving effective action on climate change requires not only climate data, but also rich information about human behavior," says Robert Kirkpatrick, director of UN Global Pulse.
"Big data can provide dynamic feedback on how communities affect and are affected by the climate system, and enable innovation to increase sustainability and resilience. This data is primarily held by companies, like those participating in Data for Climate Action."
After the four months are up, a panel of climate change and data analysis experts will look at the methodology, relevance and potential impact of the projects before picking winners who will see their efforts brought into the real world.
