Industry Leading Application GRC Platform Provides In-Depth Visibility Across Key ERP and LoB Applications

Pathlock, the leading provider of application governance, risk and compliance (GRC), today announced a new release of its Application Access Governance (AAG) product within the company's risk and compliance platform, Pathlock Cloud. Unlike other industry solutions that are focused on a single or limited number of applications, Pathlock AAG automates the vast majority of manual processes required to reduce the risks associated with application access across critical business systems. In addition to decreasing the cost of compliance for organizations, Pathlock AAG also provides the industry's most robust service solution for deep visibility insights into a wide array of applications.

Pathlock Cloud is a risk and compliance management platform that automates the controls testing and enforcement for enterprise resource planning (ERP) and business applications. With the industry's most robust library of controls content, it allows organizations to rapidly implement controls, analytics, and automated, AI-enhanced workflows to ensure granular and efficient compliance across diverse application landscapes. With today's release of AAG, users will have access to the following modules:

• Access Risk Analysis – automates the reporting and mitigation of Separation of Duties (SoD) violations and Sensitive Access Risks occurring across the business and IT.
• Compliant Provisioning – automates the process of user provisioning with the ability to ensure compliance with business and regulatory requirements through preventative risk checks and policy driven automated workflows.
• Certifications – automates user access reviews, risk and control revalidations, and more as part of the continuous refinement of entitlement assignments to manage and reduce risks.
• Elevated Access Management – facilitates temporary, time-bound, privileged access checkouts, monitors privileged use and collects action logs with the ability to enforce controls and automate log review.
• Role Management – facilitates the building of compliant technical and business roles with risk simulation analysis.

"Today's announcement is yet another step forward in achieving our vision of providing the industry's most comprehensive application GRC platform," said Piyush Pandey, CEO, Pathlock. "Our breadth of applications covered, combined with the depth of knowledge and capabilities within those applications, continue to be what sets Pathlock apart from our competition."

Organizations are increasingly struggling to maintain visibility across both the breadth and depth of their Line-of-Business (LoB) applications and are finding it difficult to ensure that employees only have access to what they need to do their jobs, especially within frequently shifting work environments. Companies are increasingly moving to a Zero Risk posture to manage the risk of material breaches, resulting in ongoing searches for an efficient way to enforce compliant provisioning and resolve SoD violations.

The new release of Pathlock AAG provides fine-grain visibility across the breadth and depth of LoB applications and harnesses automation to improve the productivity and efficiency of IT, business and audit teams in providing a risk-free environment. With AAG, controls testing costs and resource requirements are significantly reduced while providing a more robust audit trail and users can be onboarded and provisioned more quickly while providing a more secure environment. 

"The Pathlock platform is a leading-edge solution in the access control market for SAP and other LoB applications. While providing leading-edge support for SAP environments, its particular strength stems from the excellent support for a wide range of other LoB applications, thus serving the needs of customers running heterogeneous LoB application environments." – KuppingerCole Leadership Compass Access Controls for Multi-Vendor LoB Environments 2023 Report

Most recently, Pathlock was named an overall leader in KuppingerCole's Leadership Compass industry report titled 'Access Control Tools for Multi-Vendor LoB Environments' in recognition of the company's superior product capabilities, innovation and market reach.

Closer ties with Swedish software product company to enhance telecommunication testing and network transformation capabilities

UST, a leading digital transformation solutions company, has announced a strategic investment in VoerEir, a Swedish software product company specializing in the development of advanced software solutions for testing, benchmarking, and certifying the physical and virtual networks of Communications Service Providers (CSP). VoerEir solutions significantly streamline the process of deploying network infrastructure to the cloud. This investment strengthens UST's position as a leading provider of DevSecOps services in network engineering for 5G and beyond.

UST is expanding its presence in the rapidly growing telecommunications sector, partnering with innovative companies, and making strategic acquisitions positioned to address the primary challenges facing Tier-1 CSPs. Bolstered by the network engineering capabilities of the recently acquired telecom engineering firm MobileComm, UST's significant cloud, data, and DevSecOps expertise combines with VoerEir's Touchstone platform to ensure heightened network performance and reliability in a fully virtualized 5G network.

VoerEir's market-leading Touchstone platform helps telecom operators identify and resolve pain points in their telecom cloud environments, enabling greater Network Functions Virtualization (NFV). Touchstone is a comprehensive test system with extensive automated test cases and pre-packaged tools. It empowers its users to evaluate the performance, functionality, robustness, stability, and security of their cloud infrastructure for telecom applications. Furthermore, the dynamic solution supports Openstack and Kubernetes environments and offers deployment support for private and public cloud deployments.

UST's investment ensures that VoerEir is positioned to scale its business by leveraging UST's deep expertise in cloud solutions, artificial intelligence/machine learning, and the telecommunications sector.

"We welcome this strategic investment from UST, and believe that our closer relationship with the company will equip us with the capabilities and scale we need to continue growing as a credible and dependable partner in facilitating the transformation of CSPs from traditional legacy solutions to cutting-edge cloud based NFV architecture. UST shares our vision for transforming the telecommunications industry through cloud, data and DevSecOps, and our growing ties will allow us to improve at scale as we innovate to meet evolving demand in a growing sector," said Javier Garcia Gomez, Chief Executive Officer, VoerEir.

"This partnership further strengthens the growth strategy of UST's telecommunications vertical oriented around cloud, DevSecOps and data. We are excited to apply UST's experience and insights to VoerEir's innovative Touchstone platform to empower telecom operators. Our collaboration will simplify and streamline the evaluation of performance, functionality, robustness, stability, and the security of their cloud infrastructure for telecom applications," said Aravind Nandanan, General Manager, Telecommunications, UST.

VoerEir currently serves various marquee customers, including three of the top four Tier-1 Europe-headquartered multinational CSPs; and one of the top three Tier-1 US-headquartered hyperscaler cloud providers. VoerEir's Touchstone platform perfectly complements UST's telco network engineering, DevSecOps, and cloud capabilities, positioning these two leading companies to offer cutting-edge solutions to Tier-1 CSPs.

Industrial Design division crosses Rs. 100 crores for the first time in company history, grows 35.4% YoY. Tata Elxsi continues to invest in talent, adding 585 employees during the quarter.

Tata Elxsi, amongst the world's leading providers of design led technology services, announced its second quarter results for the period ending 30^th September 2023.

Highlights of the Quarter Ended September 30, 2023:

• Revenues from operations at Rs. 881.7 Cr, + 3.7% QoQ, + 15.5% YoY
• Operating revenue growth +3.4% QoQ and +10.1% YoY on constant currency basis
• Operating Margin at 29.9%; Net Margin (PBT) at 28.9%
• Profit Before Tax (PBT) at Rs. 263.9 Cr, +6.3% QoQ, +20.4% YoY
• Profit After Tax (PAT) at Rs. 200.0 Cr, +5.9% QoQ, +14.8% YoY
• Earning Per Share (EPS) at Rs. 32.12, +5.9% QoQ, +14.8% YoY

For the quarter ending 30^th September 2023, company reported Rs. 881.7 Cr of operating revenue, a growth of 15.5% over the same quarter of previous year (YoY).

Business Highlights:

• Transportation growth at 7.1% QoQ, 26.1% YoY, aided by large deals and strong traction in Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) engagements.
• Healthcare growth at 3.6% QoQ, 8.5% YoY, driven by new product engineering, digital health and regulatory services.
• Media and Communications grew marginally at 0.1% QoQ and 2.8% YoY, aided by platform-led deals and growth in key accounts, amidst widespread industry slowdown.
• Industrial Design revenue crosses Rs. 100 crores for the first time, growing 35.4% YoY.

Mr. Manoj Raghavan, CEO and Managing Director, Tata Elxsi, commenting on the company's performance in the second quarter of FY24, said:

"We are happy to report a healthy performance in the second quarter with a top-line growth of 3.7% QoQ and 15.5% YoY in a challenging quarter for the industry. Our EBITDA has grown 4.8% QoQ and 16.3% YoY and our EBITDA margin has improved by 31 bps to 29.9%. This underlines our strong focus on delivery and operational excellence, key account management and differentiated offerings.

Our Transportation business, which accounts for 46.2% of the revenue coming from three verticals, witnessed strong growth of 7.1% QoQ and 26.1% YoY. During the quarter, we also won a landmark multi-year large deal for SDV from one of the leading Automotive OEMs.

Our Healthcare & Lifesciences business too registered a healthy growth of 3.6% QoQ and 8.5% YoY. Our strong design capabilities are helping us win multi-year innovation deals with leading device manufacturers.

Our Media & Communication business continues to face a cautious industry environment and grew marginally at 0.1% QoQ and 2.8% YoY. We continue to closely engage with our key customers and are developing new offerings and relevant partnerships that will help them drive efficiencies and create new revenue streams in a challenging business environment.

Our Design-Digital strategy is playing out well and has helped our Industrial Design division to cross Rs. 100 crore revenue mark for the first time in company history. The division grew by 4.1% QoQ and 35.4% on a YoY basis, driven by strong demand for Design-Led engineering services.

We continue to invest in building our talent pipeline with a net add of 585 Elxsians in the quarter. Our employee engagement and talent retention strategies have contributed to attrition further improving to 13.7%.

We are starting our third quarter with the confidence in our differentiated Design-Digital capabilities and a strong deal pipeline."

NTT DATA Business Solutions AG publishes its first Sustainability Report, marking the start of regular annual reporting. Taking its cue from the guidelines of the German Sustainability Code (DNK), the report provides insights into the efforts made by the internationally operating SAP® consulting company to foster sustainability within the company and along the supply chain.

"I am proud of the publication of our first Sustainability Report. It is an important step for NTT DATA Business Solutions and illustrates our commitment to sustainability as a core element of our corporate strategy. For us as a company and for me as CEO, sustainability orientation and transparent communication of our actions are fundamental prerequisites. We have a responsibility towards our employees, business partners, and customers as well as towards the environment and society generally," explains Norbert Rotter, CEO of NTT DATA Business Solutions AG and EVP NTT DATA, Inc. "Technology can be an engine for positive change. As an IT service provider, we support our customers with innovative products and digital solutions that help them become more sustainable. While we recognize that we are still in the early stages of our journey, our first Sustainability Report is a clear statement of our aim to have a positive impact on our planet and on society."

One of the other crucial influencing resources is the international NTT DATA NET-ZERO Vision 2040, which the company is committed to as part of the NTT DATA Group. This stipulates that the NET ZERO target for Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions is to be achieved by 2035 – with an interim deadline of 2030 for the data centers.  By 2040, the NET ZERO target is then to be achieved along the entire value chain (Scope 3). The long-term sustainability strategy of NTT DATA Business Solutions has also been crucially informed by the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which were adopted by the United Nations. Twelve of these are linked particularly closely to the company's business activities and are considered directly in the report. The report is divided into three sections, headed Environment, Social, and Governance, for each of which concrete figures, measures and sample projects from the company are provided.

Data centers under the spotlight

Based on the data for fiscal year 2022/23 (reporting period: April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023), the report focuses on the countries and business units that account for the majority of overall revenues and have a substantial influence on matters relating to sustainability. These also include the data centers in Germany, Denmark, the USA, Poland, and Malaysia. Here, the focus is clearly on energy-efficient operation and use of self-generated solar power, explains Jürgen Pürzer, CFO of NTT DATA Business Solutions. "In Germany, our data centers account for some 80 percent of electricity consumption. Their planning back in 2011 already included aspects of sustainability and they have been operated exclusively using green power since 2021." In parallel with the increased use of renewable energies, the Travel and Mobility Policy is being revised with the aim of reducing emissions. "To us, 'Green IT' does not just mean 'Green Energy'; we also promote careful use of resources and actively support our customers with their green transformation by providing innovative software solutions."

Sustainable thanks to innovative IT solutions

Heading towards a climate-neutral circular economy, the SAP Platinum Partner develops IT solutions that will enable its customers to record and reduce emissions, optimize business processes, and lower costs. This involves above all the use of SAP sustainability solutions as well as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and IoT; in every case aiming at facilitating new intelligent business models and more efficient use of business software. The company also promotes the use of software solutions to manage societal challenges; examples include the provision of assistance to people at risk of suicide with the "AI Suicide Helpline", the transportation of medical goods in inaccessible areas using drones, and the promotion of digital education. All these examples and projects are presented in detail in the report, providing insights into the sustainability work done at NTT DATA Business Solutions.

From fiscal year 2025/26, companies like NTT DATA Business Solutions will be subject to a sustainability reporting requirement. In order to develop a deeper understanding of its customers' needs and steadily expand its own capabilities in this area, the company made the decision to publish an annual sustainability report even before the above-mentioned requirement comes into force. With this decision, the SAP consulting company intends to create transparency internally and externally so that any improvement potential can be recognized and realized early on. "Transformation into a sustainable enterprise requires perseverance and long-term measures that go beyond short-term achievements. It is therefore necessary for companies to remain self-critical and to keep questioning the course they are on with the aid of sustainability reports and make adjustments if necessary," Norbert Rotter comments.

Uberall, the global trailblazer in location marketing, celebrates a decade of groundbreaking innovation while unveiling the awaited Fall release that ushers in a new era of AI-driven location-based growth.

In this latest release, Uberall introduces a game-changing platform enhancement, featuring cutting-edge AI-powered features set to redefine how local businesses connect with their customers. Here are the key highlights of Uberall's Fall 2023 Release:

• Meet the Message Assistant: Your ultimate solution for supercharging customer engagement through the magic of conversational intelligence. The newly unveiled Message Assistant taps into a vast array of knowledge sources to deliver rich, precise, and captivating responses across various messaging platforms, from Google and Facebook to Instagram and web chat. It harnesses the power of information by expanding the chatbot  knowledge base beyond location data to new horizons including website frequently asked questions, inventory, help articles and much more ensuring top-notch customer interactions. Moreover, it boasts expanded language support, enabling to effortlessly converse with customers in over 100 languages, no setup required, making multilingual interactions a breeze.
• Meet the Review Assistant: Your new trusty companion for managing online reviews with ease. The new review assistant excels in providing creative, context-sensitive, and linguistically spot-on responses with unmatched speed and efficiency. This AI-driven marvel simplifies response creation, offering suggestions that solve creative fatigue helping brands respond to hundreds of reviews in a unique way. It takes into account the review's sentiment, rating, business particulars, customer insights, and even the review's language, enabling the generation of tailor-made responses with a single click.

Florian Huebner, the CEO and co-founder of Uberall, reflects on this significant moment, saying, " "A decade ago, we embarked on a simple mission: to connect consumers with local businesses and empower them to thrive in their communities. It's been a journey that leaves me both humbled and excited for what comes next. At Uberall, we're all dedicated to harnessing the power of AI. We created an intelligent platform layer deeply integrated with our infrastructure and its unique ecosystem position. It already leverages our data expertise and user-friendly interfaces and empowers clients to intuitively supercharge their efficiency and capabilities – and overall boost their performance. Our AI vision focuses on enhancing every customer interaction and unlocking our clients' full potential. It's all about scaling authentic customer relationships"

The Uberall AI vision will set the future standard of location marketing with improved consumer experience and stronger performance of location-driven growth strategies. 

AidenAI will optimize and accelerate the design, development, and modernization of digital landscapes for enterprises

AidenAI, a global provider of AI-powered digital services, today announced the launch of its Digital Acceleration Platform. AidenAI will leverage AI and Unqork's leading codeless platform to accelerate clients' digital transformation goals and amplify enterprise potential. The collaboration between AidenAI and Unqork will bring businesses, especially financial services providers, the unmatched ability to orchestrate and automate complex business processes while at the same time delivering custom consumer-grade experiences. This will enable enterprises to rapidly transform by scaling human productivity with AI-powered solutions.

With operations spanning across the US, Canada, Australia, and India, AidenAI is strategically positioned to serve businesses on a global scale, specializing in AI-led digital and cloud transformation, driving velocity by rewiring monoliths, eliminating technical debt faster, and nurturing people productivity.

Leveraging its digital consulting and platform expertise, AidenAI's services include:

• Consulting & Advisory: Experts provide strategic guidance in codeless integration & API strategy, along with pathways for modernization that enable enterprises to stay ahead.
• Tech Modernization: Specialize in the implementation and modernization of systems using the Unqork platform to build tech stacks that are agile, efficient, and future-proof.
• Digital Acceleration Platform: AI-led displacement platform is designed to revolutionize data, process, and logic for enterprises, driving efficiency and innovation.
• Industry Frameworks: Lightweight industry solutions cater specifically to the financial services and insurance sectors, providing tailored, ready-to-deploy frameworks.

AidenAI was founded in 2023 by Srinivas Kamadi (Srini) with the goal to accelerate digital outcomes for global clients with AI and codeless platforms. Srini has over 25 years of experience in leading complex change initiatives and digital transformation for Fortune 500 clients globally. He brings to AidenAI experience from having taken direct responsibility for a billion-dollar business delivering enterprise integration and services, where he led over 15,000 consultants as Senior Vice President and Global Head of Enterprise Applications and Services.

"Business leaders know they must prioritize digital transformation for sustained growth, but complexity and costs often hinder progress," said Srini Kamadi, CEO and founder, AidenAI. "AidenAI's AI-powered Digital Acceleration Platform, combined with Unqork's codeless architecture, simplifies and accelerates this transformation by providing predictable outcomes, better cost-effectiveness, and future-proof IT systems."

Unqork created the codeless architecture standard to reshape how organizations create, manage, and run mission-critical software. By eliminating the need for custom coding and subjective programming languages, codeless architecture frees enterprises from the pitfalls of technical debt. Unlike conventional no-code platforms, Unqork uses data – not code – to describe applications, allowing companies to cut operating costs and build applications that can be easily upgraded as technology evolves. Unqork serves many large organizations and provides industry-tailored solutions for customers in financial services, insurance, healthcare, and the public sector.

"AidenAI's embrace of our codeless platform is a testament to the growing appeal of codeless technology and the maturing ecosystem around Unqork", said Gary Hoberman, CEO and founder, Unqork. "I've been able to witness the passion of the full leadership team when they created their previous billion-dollar business. There, it was clear to see their excitement around Unqork's codeless technology, and I can't wait to see what they will soon achieve with AidenAI."

• Early discounts, inventory alerts, Amazon-trusted gift giving are highlights of Sitecore's third-annual report analyzing holiday shopping

• Spending habits are mixed this year with an equal number of consumers (nearly 1 in 3) saying they'll spend more (29%) or less (26%) money this holiday season

• Shoppers are concerned about product availability this year with 3 in 4 (78%) shoppers wanting brands to list product inventory levels and availability

Sitecore, a global leader in end-to-end digital experience software today released the results of its third annual U.S. Holiday Report. The 2023 report revealed that nearly 1 in 3 American shoppers will spend more money this holiday shopping season (29%) and have already started spending and shopping earlier this year (28%). Retailers who got an early start to delivering gift-giving experiences and building targeted content that meets the desires of potential customers are well-poised to thrive and survive this holiday season.

However, given the shaky economy, a near equal number of shoppers (26%) are more cautious about their purchasing this year and plan to spend less. In fact, almost half (43%) say they've already started saving to afford the holiday. Therefore, it's more important than ever for brands to build profiles of their customers to better understand concerns and avoid any cases where promoted products aren't relevant to shopper needs.

To make the holiday more affordable, consumers are looking for ways to cut back their expenses and subscriptions (55%), taking on side gigs (28%) and selling items they own to make extra money (23%). One in five (19%) will even re-gift items, and nearly 3 in 4 will buy cheaper (74%) and fewer (69%) gifts this year. When it comes to determining how (and where) they'll spend their money with brands this holiday season, shoppers will prioritize early discounts and deals (68%), online-only discounts and deals (59%) and exclusive pre-sale deals for loyal customers (38%). Promotional content needs to reflect the economic realities by offering targeted discounting, lower-price alternatives and – even – curated vintage items.

"While we expect many consumers will spend less as they're still reeling from the financial impact of inflation, we do expect to see higher spending this year compared to last year," said Hannah Grap, interim CMO at Sitecore. "But this increased spending doesn't come without strings attached for brands. Consumers will do their homework to keep tight control over their spend and will be selective in what and who they spend their money with this season. Brands must understand their purchasing habits and preferences to win over buyers – and they must build content and experience strategies that reflect these preferences."

Grap adds, "Offering up discounts on big ticket luxury items won't be appreciated by customers tightening their belts. In fact, doing this may even be brand damaging. Time-poor and cash-strapped consumers will shop with the retailers who showcase the things they want at the price-points they need through an online experience that is intuitive, easy-to-engage with and exciting. Sitecore's 2023 U.S. Holiday Report reveals that the customer experience matters and things like showing shoppers item availability, offering free shipping and implementing direct-to-purchase options on social media could give brands an edge over competitors."

Additional findings from the report include:

• Free Shipping or Bust – Two in three (67%) won't purchase an item that doesn't offer free shipping and 84% will fill carts to meet minimum free shipping requirements.
• Inventory Frustration and FOMO – Two in three (67%) have purchased items only to be told after their purchase it isn't available – and that doesn't sit well with shoppers. When shopping this season, 78% say they want to see inventory levels to understand what products are available. If they know an item is low in stock, it will lead them to purchase it right away (43%) or put it in their cart (26%).
• A Tik Tok and Instagram Inspired Holiday – Two in five (41%) say they're influenced by holiday ads to decide what and where they purchase gifts. Of those who say they are inspired by social media, Tik Tok (62%) and Instagram (67%) are the top channels of inspiration to decide the gifts they'll purchase this year. Consumers are also just as likely to trust Amazon gift recommendations (43%) over recommendations made by family and friends (48%). The trust in gift recommendations from Amazon aligns with shopping habits as nearly three in five (58%) consumers say they'll shop from Amazon the most this season compared to purchasing directly from a brand's website (34%).
• Functional, Experiential and Sustainable – Americans' top gift choices this year will be functional (81%), sustainable (75%) and experiential (54%). Additionally, subscriptions (39%) and learning experiences (33%) will be popular gift choices. 
• Online Shopping Is Still King – Just 1 in 5 (20%) plan to do more of their holiday shopping in-store. While consumers plan to do more online shopping this season (47%), they do plan to visit stores in-person to research and browse for items (38%).
• Black Friday Is Bigger This Year – Two in three (66%) plan to holiday shop on Black Friday, which is a higher number of people who shopped in 2022 (56%). Nearly half will shop online only (45%) and 2 in 5 (38%) will shop online and in-store. Beyond the fact that it's just fun to shop on Black Friday (48%), most shoppers (86%) say it's more financially advantageous to shop during Black Friday and it helps them avoid last-minute shopping (34%).

Carbon management solution provides emission insights into complex supply chains

JAGGAER, the global leader in Autonomous Commerce, has announced its collaboration with carbmee in pursuit of its aim to help clients better identify and mitigate supply chain risks through partnerships with information providers. The Berlin-based company’s Environmental Intelligence System EIS™ gives organizations carbon transparency throughout their complex supply chains, with a specific focus on Scope 3.1 and 3.4, enabling them to identify carbon hotspots and engage with suppliers to reduce emissions. Scope 3 takes all indirect emissions into consideration, including materials production, manufacturing processes, distribution and other activities in the supply chain, to provide complete transparency into a company’s total carbon footprint.

“Procurement will make a huge contribution to the global drive to net zero emissions over the coming years and carbmee helps to automate the carbon accounting process. This will further support JAGGAER customers in their sourcing decision-making and give them a boost in their carbon management and reporting,” said Dawn Andre, Chief Product Officer, JAGGAER.

“Participants at our upcoming REV2023 conference will learn more about how to take sourcing decisions that consider the broad spectrum of ESG factors. I am delighted that carbmee will be present in person to demonstrate how their software solution will help JAGGAER customers gain the insights needed to hit their emission reduction targets,” Andre added.

Carbmee’s co-founder Robin Spickers commented: “We’re proud to partner with JAGGAER, combining our expertise to enhance procurement processes with deep ESG integration. By leveraging carbmee’s EIS™ platform and JAGGAER’s Autonomous Commerce capabilities, we’re not just streamlining data collection but truly unlocking carbon reduction potential. This isn’t about ticking boxes; it’s about empowering businesses to make profound, sustainable decisions, driving efficiency and competitive advantage in their industries.”