Espresso: Bezos' final day as CEO, and Tata Steel's Aashiyana
It is always Day 1 at Amazon, but this will be iconic founder Jeff Bezos' final day as CEO. Plus, other notes from the intersection of business and technology.
Jeff Bezos’ final day as CEO
It may always be Day 1 at Amazon. But July 5, 2021, will be the last day as CEO for its iconic founder, Jeff Bezos. He had started the company in July 1994.
Bezos, 57, will be succeeded by Andy Jassy who has successfully commercialised Amazon’s cloud business AWS. Bezos will however continue as Executive Chairman. So, Amazon directors still have his loud laughter to contend with in the boardroom.
More interestingly, Bezos will be off to suborbital space on board the Blue Origin flight, New Shepherd, a fortnight from today. Bezos had founded Blue Origin in 2003, with a cool motto: Gradatim Ferociter (Latin for ‘Step by Step, Ferociously’).
Bharat Biotech releases data of Phase 3 trial
Covaxin has demonstrated 77.8 percent effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19, and 65.2 percent protection against the new Delta variant, according to Bharat Biotech, which has developed the vaccine in partnership with the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology, Pune.
Bharat Biotech said on Saturday that it had completed the final analysis of Covaxin efficacy from its Phase 3 clinical trial. It involved an analysis of 130 symptomatic COVID-19 cases, reported at least two weeks after the second dose, conducted at 25 sites across India.
The preprint data of COVAXIN efficacy is yet to be certified by peer-review, according to Medrxiv in which the Phase3 trials data was published.
Aashiyana takes wing for Tata Steel
Aashiyana, the Tata Steel e-commerce platform for individual home builders, clocked Rs 257 crore in the first quarter of the 2022 fiscal. The revenue grew by seven times over the same period of the previous financial year (FY).
Individual builders use the Aashiyana portal to buy steel building materials, including rebars and hollow sections, steel tools and sturdy steel doors. Aashiyana was started in May 2018, and complements Tata Tiscon, which has a network of 7,000 dealers across India to serve home builders.
But, the broader numbers for Tata Steel India were disappointing in the first quarter because of the partial lockdowns across states, necessitated by the COVID-19 second wave. Steel production saw a 2.6 percent dip over the previous quarter. In all, Tata Steel India produced 4.62 million tonnes in the first quarter.
Firstsource grows banking and financial services business
Leading BPO firm Firstsource Solutions’ latest annual report highlighted its improved performance in the banking and financial services (BFS) industry, and a revenue boost from the US market.
Firstsource had clocked revenue of Rs 5,078 crore in FY2021, representing 23.9 percent growth in rupee term and 17.9 percent in constant currency term over FY2020. BFS contributed 52 percent (up from 40 percent in FY2020) to the FY2021 revenue.
“The changes triggered by the pandemic have forced banks and financial institutions globally to focus on a more virtualized, SaaS-based, agile, digital setup,” according to the Firstsource Solutions 2020-21 annual report. “In the times ahead, these technologies will provide the foundation, enabling a modern customer experience, improving operational efficiency, and decreasing the cost to serve—while enhancing risk monitoring and management capabilities for the banks.”
The US contribution to Firstsource Solutions' revenue also grew 37 percent over the previous year, and now accounts for 68 percent of its revenue.
Robots production rising in China
Robot production has grown for 13 consecutive months in China since March 2020, and demand for robots is recovering fast in the US this year, according to a HSBC Global Research report dated July 2, 2021.
With the COVID-19 pandemic causing labour shortages and production disruption over the past year, the HSBC Global Research report sees demand for automation surging. “As companies go increasingly digital, data collection and transparency are becoming key to realising productivity benefits (in predictive maintenance, for example),” the report added.
China accounted for 37 percent of global new robot installations. Globally, the automotive industry has been one of the largest consumers of automation. The researchers identified logistics, agriculture and the food preparation industry to be future drivers of growth in robotics.
Ransomware attack in the US
There was a ransomware attack on managed service providers using virtual storage appliance (VSA) software, developed by Kaseya. The attack occurred on Saturday, and has already impacted more than 1,000 companies globally.
VSA is a storage controller that runs on a virtual machine to create shared storage without the cost of additional hardware. Kaseya, which operates from the US, develops VSA software to manage networks, systems, and IT infrastructure.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are probing the supply-chain ransomware attack.
Edited by Kunal Talgeri