Brands
Brands keep up positivity during Covid-19 pandemic
MUMBAI: As millions of people across the world are isolating themselves inside their homes to fight the spread of novel coronavirus, the need for positivity assumes far more significance. This might look like an unusual time to talk about positivity. Nevertheless, positivity remains the main ingredient to create a healthy recipe of not giving up in crisis.
People posting messages on social media brands are coming forward to bring a positive sentiment among people during these troubling times. And amidst the global challenges posed by COVID-19, brands are trying to spread positivity through various campaigns.
Mankind Pharma has come up with #Thanksforbeingmyfamily – a short film that showcases the hard work done by doctors and medical staff for the society.
Mankind Pharma CEO Rajeev Juneja says: “With the exponential rise in coronavirus cases in our country, we should acknowledge our medical fraternity like doctors, nurses and paramedics for their fighting spirit and selfless services. Let’s all of us follow required guidelines and help them by taking care of our own self.”
#Thanksforbeingmyfamily resonates everyone's thoughts of saluting the medical personnel, who are not giving up even in the adverse situation.
The COVID19 virus has been affecting hundreds of thousands of people and is having a growing impact on the global economy.
Says Metro vice president – marketing and e-commerce Alisha Malik: “At Metro Brands, the safety of our customers and employees is at the top of the priority list. All necessary safety measures like regular cleaning, sanitization, creating awareness among staff, work from home, setting up helplines internally and many other measures have been taken to ensure the safety of employees. We have also implemented all the best-known safety guidelines available for both employees and customers. It’s extremely important to keep employees motivated as well. Hence, we have been constantly motivating our employees, working from home, to utilise this time to enhance their own skills.”
Private radio network 93.5 RED FM has launched an on-air initiative ‘Care Karona’ that puts the spotlight on spreading authentic information about Coronavirus. Amidst the ongoing global health crisis, it has become more important to protect and safeguard everybody irrespective of their professions. With a similar vision, RED FM is encouraging its listeners to become facilitators of correct information by educating their maids, and drivers who are in direct contact with people to contain the ripple effect of virus.
Sarva founder and Diva Yoga co-founder Sarvesh Shashi said, “The Coronavirus outbreak has left many of us worried and restricted to our homes. Although our physical studios are currently non-operational, we have launched special online classes and a gratitude feature for those who wish to stay at home and practice. The classes are not only meant for our members but anyone and everyone who wants to continue their fitness regimen despite being unable to venture out. These are aimed at three things – physical fitness, immunity building and anxiety management. Both SARVA and DIVA yoga are utilising technology in the best possible way to help people achieve this and tide over the crisis.”
Housejoy CEO Sanchit Gaurav has launched a Virus Fumigation Service for offices and homes. “The products we use have proven to be highly effective in curbing the spread of 65 strains of viruses, 400 strains of bacteria and 100 strains of fungi. We are currently providing free services to a few old-age homes and hospitals and in the process of creating a brief guideline for anyone wanting to sanitize their homes."
“We at Munchilicious take this opportunity through our social media posts to create awareness and communicate directing our consumers to stay safe, stay at home and eat healthy. The major purpose is to focus on angles like social distancing, healthy eating and pro tips which are the most needed in this kind of pandemic. It also intends to provide a solution to the eating patterns for all those who are working from home because of this pandemic,” adds SOCH Foods LLP founder Rohit Pugalia
Joining the bandwagon is Schindler India, a provider of escalators and elevators. It has launched an additional employee assistance programme called 'Schindler cares' – a wellbeing initiative.
Speaking about the initiative, Schindler India and South Asia chief people officer Shubha Arora says, “As a leader in employee engagement, we recognise the link between happiness, wellbeing and fulfilment for achieving productivity at the workplace. Schindler India values the wellbeing of its employees and we understand that preventive measures need to be taken to fight this current outbreak of COVID-19.
“Our employees and their families through our Employee Assistance Programme ‘Schindler Cares’ can access wellbeing services confidentially. We are pleased to have partnered with Santulan, and their team of experts to help provide guidance and counselling to deal with life’s expected and unexpected events,” said Arora.
Brands
Zscaler, Airtel launch India AI Cyber Research Centre
New hub to boost cyber resilience and trusted AI use
NEW DELHI: As India’s digital engine roars ahead, so do the risks riding shotgun. In response, Zscaler, Inc. and Bharti Airtel have joined hands to launch the AI and Cyber Threat Research Center – India, a national initiative aimed at strengthening the country’s cyber defences and accelerating responsible AI adoption.
The centre is designed as a multi stakeholder platform that brings together industry, government and academia. Its mission is clear: protect critical sectors such as telecom, banking and energy, shield everyday digital users, and future proof India’s fast expanding online ecosystem.
India has long been a major innovation hub for Zscaler, with a substantial portion of its cyber research talent based here. With this new centre, that footprint evolves into a national collaboration engine. The idea is simple but ambitious, build in India, for India, and help power the country’s journey towards a secure and digitally self reliant future.
The timing is telling. India is building digital systems at population scale, not just enterprise scale. That scale has widened the attack surface dramatically. At the same time, cyber criminals and nation state actors are deploying AI to scan, probe and exploit vulnerabilities in minutes.
Zscaler’s research arm, ThreatLabz India, reports millions of infiltration attempts every month. These include espionage campaigns linked to regional geopolitical tensions, 1.2 million intrusion attempts from 20,000 sources targeting 58 Indian digital entities, and a rise in zero day exploit attempts across multiple industries.
In such an environment, perimeter based security models are struggling to keep pace. The new centre aims to push a shift towards secure by design systems and Zero Trust architecture.
Its strategy rests on four pillars: protect through real time intelligence, remediate by working directly with government agencies, facilitate adoption of AI driven security and Zero Trust frameworks, and build a stronger cybersecurity talent pipeline through specialised certifications.
As founding members, Zscaler and Airtel will combine global threat intelligence with local network visibility. Zscaler will deploy a dedicated India focused research team and draw insights from its Zero Trust Exchange platform, which processes over 500 billion daily transactions worldwide. Airtel, meanwhile, will contribute deep visibility into IoT and mobile traffic, helping detect suspicious activity faster and coordinate response across the ecosystem.
Bharti Airtel executive vice chairman Gopal Vittal, said the partnership extends Airtel’s commitment to safeguarding customers and the nation’s digital fabric. He added that the collaboration would address challenges unique to the Indian market and encourage secure and confident digital engagement.
Zscaler chief executive, chairman and founder Jay Chaudhry, said India’s digital ambition cannot be secured with legacy firewalls and VPNs. He noted that a modern Zero Trust architecture is essential for a hyper connected world and that the new centre would harness the scale of Zscaler’s global security cloud while empowering a new generation of Indian cyber defenders.
Additional members from critical public and private sectors are expected to join the initiative in the coming months, expanding its scope and deepening collaboration.
In a world where threats travel at machine speed, India’s answer is to think faster, collaborate wider and build smarter.
