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In Focus

Shibabrata  Mondal, Founder and CEO

Wizergos

Low-code, no-code is poised to be a digital transformation catalyst.

May 23, 2021 | In Focus

Enterprises globally and in India have to contend with pressures to deliver products and services with speed to account for rapidly evolving customer requirements and ensure business resiliency at all times. The “low-code, no-code” theme has never been more dominant especially since the onset of the current pandemic. It would not be an exaggeration to mention that a direct fallout of the pandemic has been an acceleration of digital transformation initiatives, which is where most of the action in enterprises lies currently.

Wizergos has developed its low-code platform to cater to enterprises’ rapid development needs in the wake of the ongoing rush for digital transformation.

Better World conducted an email interview with Shibabrata Mondal, Founder and CEO, Wizergos, to gauge the present and future potential of the low-code paradigm and how organizations can use it optimally.

Excerpts of the interview:

Better World: Of late, there has been a lot of buzz in the industry for low-code/no-code application development platforms. Please explain why organizations should explore these platforms for app development.

Shibabrata Mondal: To explain the evolution and value of low-code/no-code platforms, I believe it is pertinent for us to go back in time and consider the history of computer science in general and software development specifically. There has always been an effort to provide tools and systems to enable developing high quality, complex, and enterprise-grade software while considering the business requirements of agility and ease of use.

So, the progression from machine language, micro code to C/C++ to Java/Python, or the various development frameworks was necessitated with the aim to make software development easier, more accessible, more robust and error free at the same time. Similarly, the concepts of libraries/packages, or the more recently introduced microservices and APIs are also advancements in the same direction. To me, low-code/no-code is but a natural extension of this movement. These platforms allow developers with no programming experience and even business users to build and publish applications using a web-based drag and drop kind of experience.

In such projects, enterprises are building some custom applications for enhanced user experience and management or automating some business processes. These are also projects where the requirements and functionalities would be controlled by the business teams. And by nature these would need quick updates as new products or services are introduced or changes are set in motion in processes or regulatory environments. So, these solutions have to be architected such that they are not only built rapidly and go to market quickly, but also changes can be done in matter of hours and days instead of weeks and months. Speed, agility, and quicker time to market are tenets of the value proposition of low-code/ no-code platforms that the tech buyer community must actively consider.

Better World: In this low-code/no-code evolution, how is Wizergos positioned to help organizations? Please help us understand Wizergos’ origin and vision. 

Shibabrata Mondal, Founder and CEO, Wizergos

Wizergos is a low-code application platform company.
Shibabrata is an IT industry veteran with around 23 years of experience in product development, software engineering, and entrepreneurship. He started Wizergos in 2015 with the aim of democratizing product and digital innovation through low-code platforms.
Prior to starting Wizergos, he was the Global Director, Software Engineering for HGST (a Western Digital Company) where he was managing the product development (Dataplane) team and pre-sales in India. He has also worked with Cisco in the San Franciso Bay Area for over six years where he was involved in product development and in companies such as Wipro and Atlas Software Technologies.
He is an engineering graduate from the IIT, Kharagpur,a premier engineering institute in India.

Shibabrata Mondal: We started Wizergos Low-Code Platform with three key theses that we placed our bets on. First, increasingly enterprise software development activities will be carried out for digital transformation projects, with requirements driven by business teams, tighter time to market requirements, and the need for rapid changes to address evolving needs in the market and business. These need a different architectural approach and traditional software development methods and tools will not be able to serve these needs effectively. Second, going forward, enterprise software needs to be available in a multitude of channels where the customers are more likely to be present. Low-code platforms would be required to natively make multi-device, multi-touchpoint, multi-modal applications. For instance, web and mobile apps, along with capabilities embedded in wearable devices, popular chat platforms (like WhatsApp, FB messenger), voice, and email. Lastly, we observed that enterprises are experimenting with new technologies like AI/ML and AR/VR and are not successful in developing multiple enterprise-grade, production ready use cases. Here too we posited that a platform approach is needed to bring these technologies to production use cases.

With these theses as our guide, we have built the Wizergos Low-Code Platform, and continue to focus our efforts in augmenting it. Our focus is on working with clients on projects where all or some of these points are coming together to build a business case for low-code platforms.

Better World: What is the current business traction for Wizergos in India and globally? Which customer segments and use cases are you working with?

Shibabrata Mondal: Two years ago, we spent time exploring and co-creating applications for a select number of use cases to prove the value of our platform. Since then, I am pleased, we have grown with a steady business traction and projects. One of our largest and most successful projects is with ICICI Lombard where we have leveraged our low-code platform to process over one million support workflows for customers every month (in their contact center set up) and significantly increased First-Call-Resolution rates for its Customer Service teams. This has ensured our sustained engagement with them for several new use cases.  We have also empowered Fidelis Insurance (UK), and a market research firm and ITC for market research applications over WhatsApp. Additionally, we have also developed mobile applications for several product engineering companies using our Low-Code platform.

We believe that Wizergos Low-Code Platform is a horizontal solution and will find application in multiple industries. Currently, we are focusing on the BFSI sector considering the volume and quality of digital transformation projects in this sector, combined with relatively higher technology maturity of BFSI companies that enables them to explore emerging technologies such as low-code/ no-code.

Better World: Going forward, how do you see the Low-code/no-code industry as a whole evolving (w.r.t. customer adoption, challenges, and so on)?

Shibabrata Mondal: I think adoption of low-code platforms will accelerate in the near to mid-term, as more success stories are seen and IT leaders realize some distinct advantages of using these platforms, viz. low maintenance, quicker enhancements to their software capabilities leading to faster time to market, robustness of applications, and so on.

Additionally, with the realization of early successes, organizations will plan low-code expansion drives for a slew of their DX initiatives across several business functions. This view is supported by research conducted by leading firms. The worldwide Low-Code development technologies market is slated to be worth USD13.8 billion in 2021 (registering around 22.6% annual growth), as per a Gartner report. In the same vein, Gartner predicts that by 2023, over 50% of medium to large enterprises will have adopted a low-code application platform as one of their strategic application platforms.

One of the challenges I see is for enterprises to figure use cases for low-code and no-code because, although we are putting all the platforms together as a category currently, they are quite different from each other in terms of what use cases they were designed for and where each one excels. Going forward there might be sub-categories created to help the enterprises make the right decisions. Additionally, organizations also need support to evaluate the appropriate low-code/ no-code platform vendors to engage with.

Better World: Could you please highlight some key priorities for Wizergos to tap the opportunities/address customer challenges moving ahead?

Shibabrata Mondal: Having executed several deep enterprise projects with larger established enterprises has made us more confident of our theories and vision and propelled us for our next wave of growth.

Our immediate priority is a focused approach towards expanding our business in select industry verticals – we intend to leverage our expertise and initial traction to build further inroads into insurance, banking, and financial services companies. It is also our responsibility as an industry stakeholder to help spread awareness about the value of low-code platforms, as we have noticed that low-code platforms can be very confusing for IT leaders and so decision making can be slow. To support the decision-making process of the tech leaders, we are working on a compendium of use cases and success stories to help them make the right decisions. As a key pillar of our GTM strategy, partner expansion is another priority area for us going ahead in the near to mid-term.

To read more InFocus interviews, click here. 

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Water conservation drive planned for schools

Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ will launch ‘Samagra Shiksha-Jal Suraksha’ drive to create awareness about water conservation among all school students in the country. This mega drive would be launched at Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Auditorium, Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 2 in Delhi Cantt.

Inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s impetus to Jal Sanchay, Government of India has launched the Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA). It is a time bound campaign with a mission mode approach. This concept of water conservation is essential for students so that they can understand the importance of water and how it is shaping their lives meaningfully, thereby enabling them to participate in water conservation activities in their day to day lives.

The Department of School Education & Literacy, MHRD has launched the ‘Samagra Shiksha-Jal Suraksha’ drive to promote water conservation activities for School Students, so that they can become competent, conscientious and committed water citizens of our nation. The department has prepared a detailed outline to implement this program in all the schools of the country.

Five major objectives of the program are:

  • To educate students learn about conservation of water
  • To sensitize Students about the impact of scarcity of water
  • To empower Students to learn to protect the natural sources of water
  • To help every Student to save at least one litre of water per day
  • To encourage Students towards judicious use and minimum wastage of water at home and school level

The program targets to achieve the following:

  • One Student – One Day – Save One Liter Water
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EoIs for biofuel coming on World Biofuel Day

EoIs for biofuel coming on World Biofuel Day

World Biofuel Day is observed every year on 10th of August to create awareness about the importance of non-fossil fuels as an alternative to conventional fossil fuels and highlight the various efforts made by Government in the biofuel sector. Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas will organize World Biofuel Day on 10th August 2019 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas & Steel Dharmendra Pradhan will inaugurate the program. Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Dr Harsh Vardhan will be the Chief Guest of the function. This year the theme of the World Biofuel Day is “Production of Biodiesel from Used Cooking Oil (UCO).”

Biofuels have the benefits of reduction of import dependence, cleaner environment, additional income to farmers and employment generation. Biofuel program also compliments Government of India’s initiatives for Make in India, Swachh Bharat and increasing farmers income. A number of initiatives have been undertaken to increase production and blending of biofuels since 2014.

In India, the same cooking oil is used for repeated frying which adversely affects the health due to formation of polar compounds during frying. These polar compounds are associated with diseases such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, liver diseases among others. UCO is either not discarded at all or disposed off in an environmentally hazardous manner choking drains and sewerage systems.

The National Policy on Biofuels, released by the Government of India in 2018, envisages production of biofuel from UCO. Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is implementing a strategy to divert UCO from the food value chain and curb current illegal usage. The benefits of transformation of UCO will help bring health benefits as there would be no recycling of the UCO, employment generation, infrastructural investment in rural areas & cleaner environment with reduced carbon footprint.

At present, approximately 850 crore liters of High Speed Diesel (HSD) is consumed on a monthly basis in India. The National Policy on Biofuels – 2018 envisages a target of 5% blending of Biodiesel in HSD by 2030. In order to achieve the blending target, 500 crore liters of biodiesel is required in a year. In India, approximately, 22.7 MMTPA (2700 crore liters) of Cooking Oil is used out of which 1.2 MMTPA (140 crore) UCO can be collected from Bulk Consumers such as hotels, restaurants, canteens, etc. for conversion, which will give approximately 110 crore liters of biodiesel in one year. Presently there is no established collection chain for UCO. Thus, there is a huge opportunity in production of biodiesel from UCO.

To facilitate the production of Biodiesel from UCO, the Oil Marketing Companies shall float an Expression of Interest (EOI) for procurement of biodiesel from used cooking oil across 100 cities. The purpose of inviting this EOI is to encourage the applicants to set up biodiesel producing plants from used cooking oil (UCO), processing plants and further utilizing the existing potential of UCO based bio-diesel in India.

On this occasion, a sticker on RUCO viz., Repurpose Used Cooking Oil and a mobile app to facilitate the collection of UCO shall also be released by FSSAI.

Interactive sessions on Second Generation Ethanol & Biodiesel from UCO shall also be held. The sessions will focus on issues and hurdles being faced by the sector and dwell on how to overcome these hurdles for effective implementation of the blending program across the country.

Soon, 5,595 new electric buses for 64 cities 

Soon, 5,595 new electric buses for 64 cities 

Electric bus charging (representative image).

The Department of Heavy Industry has approved the sanction of 5,595 electric buses to 64 Cities, State Government Entities, and State Transport Undertakings (STUs) for intra-city and intercity operation under FAME India scheme phase II in order to give a further push to clean mobility in public transportation.

The Phase-II of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles (FAME-India) Scheme proposes to give a push to electric vehicles (EVs) in public transport and seeks to encourage adoption of EVs by way of market creation and demand aggregation.

The Department had invited the Expression of Interest (EoI) from million-plus cities, smart cities, State/UT capitals and cities from special category states for submission of proposal for deployment of electric buses on operational cost basis.

Eight six proposals from 26 States/UTs for the deployment of 14,988 e-Buses were received. After evaluation of these proposals as per EoI, on the advice of Project Implementation and Sanctioning Committee (PISC) the Government sanctioned 5095 electric buses to 64 Cities / State Transport Corporations for intra-city operation, 400 electric buses for intercity operation, and 100 electric buses for last-mile connectivity to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

Each selected City/STUs is required to initiate the procurement process in a time bound manner for deployment of sanctioned electric buses on operational cost basis. As per EoI, buses which satisfy required localization level and technical eligibility notified under FAME India scheme phase II will be eligible for funding under FAME India scheme phase II.

These buses will run about 4 billion kilometers during their contract period and are expected to save cumulatively about 1.2 billion liters of fuel over the contract period, which will result into avoidance of 2.6 million tonnes of CO2 emission.

Workshop lays focus on bamboonomics

Workshop lays focus on bamboonomics

A tribal woman (representative image)

Arjun Munda, Union Minister for Tribal Affairs inaugurated a “National Workshop on Tribal Enterprise with focus on Honey, Bamboo and Lac” organized by TRIFED and Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) in Delhi today. Renuka Singh, MoS for Tribal Affairs, Deepak Khandekar, Secretary, MoTA and Pravir Krishna, MD, TRIFED were present. Munda released flyers and reports on bamboo and bamboonomics; lac; and honey on the occasion. A National Workshop was organized to fine-tune its action plan on promoting tribal enterprise on bamboo, honey, and lac.

Delivering the inaugural address, Munda said that the focus of such efforts should not be confined to job creation only but should focus on fulfilling the needs of the market. Support system and research should be market driven and equilibrium should be maintained between the demand and supply in the market. For these products, markets should be innovation and research based. The quality and prices of the products should also be maintained properly. The tribals should be treated as entrepreneurs and efforts should be made to upgrade them in technology.

Addressing on the occasion, Renuka Singh said that such initiatives will strengthen ‘Van Dhan Vikas Kendras.’ The integration of ‘Van Dhan, Jan Dhan and Pashu Dhan’ will reform the lives of tribals considerably. Van Dhan scheme has the cluster of self-help groups to support tribals and is the mainstay for their family income who are living in and around the forest areas.

Deepak Khandekar in his welcome address said that the reason behind bamboo, honey and lac taken up for Van Dhan Scheme is that, these commodities are already having existing markets which enable producers i.e. tribal entrepreneurs catch on to the chain of procurement- primary level processing-storage value addition and marketing.

After inaugural session, technical sessions were held on the bamboo products, lac products and honey in which experts presented their presentations on the success stories, production, use and business related to these products. National Workshop was an initiative to formulate a strategy for establishing tribal enterprises based on skill and local resources available particularly in bamboo, honey and lac. In the workshop, national and international experts deliberated and gave their views and ideas for establishing implementable and commercially viable tribal enterprises. The expert insight and deliberation will explore the significance of bamboo, lac and honey to address livelihoods of tribal communities across the country. The workshop also introduced feasible technologies and process for production of value-added products from bamboo, lac and honey.

Bamboo
India is the world’s second largest cultivator of bamboo after China, with 136 species and 23 general (out of which about 19 care indigenous) spread over 13.96 million hectares. According to the Union Ministry of Agricultural and Former Welfare, India’s annual bamboo production is estimated at 3.23 million tons. Poor yield of Bamboo is one of the perennial problems in India. In contrast to China’s average yield of 50 MT/Ha, the maximal yield range in India is 10-15 MT/ha. This shows that there is lot of scope for bamboo enterprise based on the good stock. The bamboo is used in different types of products and it is a very good earning option for the tribals, for which necessary seed money, facilities and expertise need to be provided to tribal artisans. The bamboo enterprises can give immediate results leading to substantial increase in income of tribal artisans.

Honey
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The tribals can be provided with trainings along with tools and kits for scientific extraction/collection and processing of honey from the beehive and thus the tribal SHGs can play a crucial role in this regard. Besides collaboration with KVlC, there is a need to collaborate with the forest departments for wild honey collection and protection, conservation and propagation of the tree species like Adina Cardifolia and Trivia Nudiflora that are preferred by bees to nest colonies.

As per the latest government estimates, large scale employment in the beekeeping sector is estimated to generate around 3 lakh man-working days by maintaining 10,000 bee colonies. The honey is an excellent source of earning and TRIFED is committed towards Prime Minister’s vision of a “Sweet Revolution” by way of making people prosper though production and trade in honey.

Lac
“Lac resin was once imported in sizeable quantity into Europe from India along with Eastern woods. It has been seen that the Lac is mostly cultivated by poor tribals to supplement their agricultural income. Lac cultivation in India is mainly confined to the states of Jharkhand which contribute 57% of the total production, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 24% and the balance 19% is contributed by Maharashtra, Orissa and West Bengal. This cultivation has proved to be a subsidiary source of income for the tribals. In the mid-1950s. Indian annual production was about 50, 000 tons of stick lac and export about 29,000 tons of lac. By the late 1980s, the figures were about 12,000 tons and 7,000 tons respectively. However, during 1992-93, Indian lac exports fell further to 4,500 tons only. On the contrary, during the same period, the countries like Thailand & China were able to increase their lac exports. Presently Indian lac export is almost non-existent, which needs to be revived. Lac with its availability and possibilities of cultivation in tribal areas has a great potential in creating livelihood and income generation opportunities for tribal communities.

Karnataka lowers tariffs for grid connected solar

Karnataka lowers tariffs for grid connected solar

(Representative image)

The Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission has, in a recent order, determined new generic tariff for solar projects, as below:

  1. Rs 3.08 per unit for grid connected megawatt scale solar power projects of less than 5MW capacity;
  2. Rs 3.07 per unit (without capital subsidy) and Rs 2.32 only per unit (with capital subsidy) for grid connected solar rooftop photovoltaic projects of 1kW to 2000kW; and
  3. Rs 3.99 per unit (without capital subsidy) and Rs 2.97 per unit (with capital subsidy) for grid connected solar rooftop photovoltaic projects of I kW to 10 kW for domestic consumers;

The above tariff shall be applicable to all such new solar power projects for which PPAs are entered into on or after 1 April 2019 and approved by the Commission after the date of issue of this order, that achieve commercial operation on or after 1 April.

The tenure of the PPA, shall be for the life of the solar power projects, which is considered 25 years.

The Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission has been promoting generation of power from renewable sources, by determining the feed-in-tariff (generic tariff) periodically, based on the normative operational and financial parameters for different control periods from the year 2005 onwards.

The Commission, vide its Order dated 18 May 2018 had determined a levelized tariff of Rs 3.05 per unit for Megawatt scale solar projects and Rs 3.56 per unit for kW scale solar rooftop photovoltaic projects, applicable for the life of the projects, i.e., 25 years. This Order was in force till 31 March 2019.

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The move to electric continues the growth of Hyundai Motorsport, which has become well established in rallying and circuit racing since its inception in 2012. The multiple rally-winning WRC team, now in its sixth season, is currently leading a closely fought Manufacturers’ Championship.

The company also boasts a successful Customer Racing division, established in September 2015, which has developed the competitive i20 R5, i30 N TCR and Veloster N TCR cars that have between them claimed victories and championships in motorsport series around the world. The first glimpses of the new car can be seen in videos published on Hyundai Motorsport’s Social Media channels, offering a hint of what is to come at the official reveal next month.

Mirroring the move towards hybrid technology and electrification in the automotive industry, motorsport has also ventured into new territory in recent years with the introduction of electric and hybrid series and regulations. This exciting new chapter promises to showcase Hyundai’s high-performance capabilities, its green technology credentials and its unwavering passion for motorsport.

“A new era is dawning at Hyundai Motorsport. For many months, our team in Alzenau has been working hard on an exciting electric vehicle and soon we will be able to share the fruits of these labours,” Andrea Adamo, Team Director said. “It promises to be a new chapter for our company, a natural extension to our motorsport activities, one that links closely to the current trends and innovations in the wider automotive industry. There’s not much longer to wait; all will be revealed at the IAA in Frankfurt in early September.”

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