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<p>Money is elusive, and so is the financial peddle. In all likelihood, deep regulation of financial services stems from this belief. Over the past few years, Financial Institutions (FIs) have coordinated with FinTechs on varied facets of the business. As the financial industry is built with intricacy and uncertainty, regulations play a key role in driving changes and influencing their pace. Technology once more takes part in easing the backs of risk and compliance officers, by automating the repetitive work they used to do in Excel sheets and legacy systems. Speaking of RegTech, many believe it to be just perhaps a subset of FinTech. But how true is that? Let’s take a deeper look. <h3><strong>An In-Depth Look at RegTech</strong></h3><p> Regulatory Technology, widely known as RegTech, is the use of technology to enhance the way businesses govern regulatory compliance. RegTech as a concept brings in three significant elements, namely; People, Data, and Regulations — intended to enable firms in achieving a compliance culture. <strong>The Categories of RegTech</strong> Let’s understand the Regtech landscape with various solutions aligned with the four existing processes;[image_with_animation image_url="806" image_size="full" animation_type="entrance" animation="Fade In" hover_animation="none" alignment="" border_radius="none" box_shadow="none" image_loading="default" max_width="100%" max_width_mobile="default"]<b>Regulatory Monitoring: </b>Tools that deliver regulatory content are in the form of a content library, feed, or resource center. Regulatory content is combined into one platform by content tools, increasing the efficiency of the research and horizon scanning. <b>Regulatory Obligations:</b> Technology that facilitates regulatory knowledge represents a quantum leap beyond content. In this category, the raw text is transformed into actionable knowledge, including the specific obligations that a company must comply with. <b>Compliance Management: </b>Regulatory containers include technologies such as GRC (governance, risk, and compliance) platforms and other workflow systems, which contain all of an organization’s regulatory obligations, controls, procedures, and policies. Users can use workflow to track and manage compliance efforts. <b>Execution of Compliance:</b> Having consolidated the regulatory information into a preferred container, firms can implement additional point solutions by either executing a task according to regulations or measuring compliance with regulations. Technological evolution and the outpour of digital products and services have shot-up data breaches, cyber-attacks, tax evasion, and other forged activities. In light of dealing with these competencies effectively, RegTech solutions have become a requisite. The perfect example of RegTech’s inevitable use is the electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) process which helps banks verify the identities of the people who open new accounts digitally. KYC is a critical part of the banking regulations process now, obsoleting the manual process of verification. With RegTech, this verification is now digitized, automated, and can be concluded in less than 3 minutes. Regulation and privacy are talking points for regulators, making RegTech a niche segment within the FinTech ecosystem. Several interesting use cases may be explored by FI-FinTech partnerships in the coming years. <b><i>Chainalysis</i></b> is a leading blockchain-based RegTech company that concentrates on investigation, compliance, and risk management tools with a foresight to combat money laundering, fraud, and compliance violations in cryptocurrency. It has backed considerable digital payment companies like Gemini, Nets, etc. to certify Bitcoin transactions and comply with federal regulations. California-based <b><i>Hummingbird</i></b> offers an anti-money laundering platform to banks, fintech, lending, and credit companies. <b><i>Sift</i></b> is yet another RegTech company that uses AI, ML, and Big Data to assist organizations to identify fraud, detecting money laundering, and striking out fake accounts.[image_with_animation image_url="807" image_size="full" animation_type="entrance" animation="Fade In" hover_animation="none" alignment="" border_radius="none" box_shadow="none" image_loading="default" max_width="100%" max_width_mobile="default"]Mushrooming technologies such as cloud, big data, and machine learning when harnessed under the umbrella of RegTech, reduce the risk of money laundering through the compliance department. </p><h3><strong>The Equation</strong></h3><p> RegTech tools are designed to monitor transactions, that appear online in real-time and potentially identify issues and irregularities that take place in the digital payment space. It is immediately communicated to the financial entity if any type of anomaly is detected to determine if fraud is occurring. When companies identify financial threats at the onset, they can reduce risks and associated shortcomings, such as data breaches and lost funds. To achieve this, RegTech companies work in collaboration with financial institutions and regulatory bodies to leverage the power of cloud computing and big data to share information. </p><h3><strong>RegTech a Distinct Subset in FinTech</strong></h3><p> As a subcategory of FinTech, RegTech should be viewed as a separate phenomenon. RegTechs and FinTechs are changing the face of financial institutions and banks; however, it’s important to understand that RegTech has a much broader application and encompasses an even wider range of industry verticals. Money and numerous regulatory requirements are a part of every business. As a result, RegTech goes beyond financial services and banking. <b>Benefits of RegTech</b> For financial services, RegTech offers enormous benefits:<b>Effective growth:</b> Advancement of regulations aids technology and compliance authorities to operate placidly and thus uplifts effectiveness and productivity at a far-fetched pace. <b>Adequate accountability and comprehensiveness:</b> Manual depository processes may forge certain limitations in compliance operations, resulting in human errors and long exposure. Thereby, adopting appropriate technology can mitigate these gaps and streamline compliance. <b>Substantial internal alignment: </b>Advanced technologies reinforce business by authorizing greater transparency and accountability and hence connecting siloed processes and people. This leads to catering useful insights amongst vast business products and developing a strong thread of compliance. <b>Enhanced risk management: </b>Through monitoring systems and informing personnel about suspicious activities, RegTech tools could mitigate many types of risks such as market abuse, cyber-attacks, fraud, unseen events, regulatory and legal risks, etc. Typically, FinTech looks at innovative solutions to bridge the gap between financial service organizations, the largest banks, and the bigger insurance businesses. While RegTech is scrutinizing varied aspects, there are some similar technologies, but the solution differs. According to ResearchAndMarkets.com, the global RegTech market reached a value of US$ 8.7 Billion in 2021, and the market is expected to reach US$ 29.2 Billion by 2027. In response to the increase in regulatory activity and compliance costs, investors and venture capital firms are turning to RegTech. By leveraging RegTech, businesses, banks, and insurers can comply with regulations more efficiently and effectively. </p><h3><strong>Increasing Need for RegTech</strong></h3><p> [image_with_animation image_url="808" image_size="full" animation_type="entrance" animation="Fade In" hover_animation="none" alignment="" border_radius="none" box_shadow="none" image_loading="default" max_width="100%" max_width_mobile="default"]Recent years have seen numerous changes and advancements within the financial sector. The changes have resulted in increased partnerships of several financial institutions with FinTech companies. Due to the growing pressure from regulators to ensure data compliance and governance, financial companies are paying equal attention to backend aspects. A lot of financial services sectors are advancing a transition towards the technology front. A growing number of financial companies today are transforming open API-based technology architectures, which are useful for easy integration of RegTech. According to experts, the reason for RegTech’s increasing popularity is the fact that financial services are looking forward to leveraging technology innovations. Due to volatility in the money market, RegTech solutions that are robust and effective are inevitable. Faced with the ever-increasing complexity of regulations, RegTech certainly holds a lot of promise. RegTech solutions are essential to assist FI in complying with regulatory requirements easily and in a more cost-effective manner due to the complexity of the financial industry, along with strict legal and regulatory requirements.</p></p>
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<p>The word “Trust” may have a lot of implications in our day-to-day lives and depends on the context. When it comes to Crypto, the Root of Trust (RoT) is a source that can always be trusted within a cryptographic system. For encrypting and decrypting data and generating digital signatures and verifying signatures, RoT schemes have a hardened hardware component. A principal example is the hardware security module (HSM) which generates and protects keys and performs cryptographic functions within its secure environment. Elementarily let’s delve into the Cryptographic Root of Trust, securing information and communication which involves the use of Secret Key Encryption. <h2><strong>Recurring Cases of Data Breaches</strong></h2><p> In the digital era, along with ensuring trustworthy relationships in an organization, there is a strong need for a cryptographic layer of trust to combat the data breaches we have witnessed lately. With most Indians moving to the digital bubble, data is a valuable asset of the knowledge age. In 2020, all the data breaches in India witnessed an increase of 37% in comparison to the first quarter of 2019. A study from IBM reported that the cost of the leaks in India reached a value of Rs. 14 crores in 2020 – a statistic that puts India as one of the top countries in cybercrime. According to a digital information firm, 15 billion credentials are up for sale with the close of the pandemic-spawned lockdown. The e-grocery BigBasket data leak is guarded to be the biggest haul in Indian Cyberspace. Another six major breaches that bewildered users include Haldiram Snacks Pvt Ltd, PM Modi’s personal website – www.narendramodi.in, Bharat Matrimony, and Indian Railways online ticketing portal, IRCTC. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories and Paytm Mall also encountered cyber-attacks later in the year 2020. Air India, Domino’s, Facebook, Mobikwik, and Upstox faced major data breaches in India in 2021. Major crypto firms such as Binance and FTX have also seen hacking of crypto wallets which amounts to the north of $1 billion. This goes to show difficult it is to <a href="https://www.purplequarter.com/decoding-cryptocurrency/">decode cryptocurrency</a>. For any platform or product, there is a need to ensure the data-storing entities are well protected with the exact cryptographic building blocks to authorize a cryptographic trust layer. This layer of trust will reassure the customer to submit data on that platform. </p><h2><strong>Cryptographic Authentication Process</strong></h2><p> Cryptographic authentication mechanisms are more reliable than people in a cryptographic context. Trust is derived from the authentication process which validates that the entity/person claims to be who they claim to be. Take a look at some of the properties cryptography allows us to achieve and how they are linked to the concept of trust. </p><h3><strong>Confidentiality</strong></h3><p> Confidentiality is one of the core components of cybersecurity. Simply put, the Confidentiality or Secrecy of information ensures that the data cannot be accessed by an unauthorized entity. <img class="alignnone wp-image-1749 size-large" src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd7a9c030f-Post-Crypto-2-1024x536.png" alt="Image" width="1024" height="536"> In this context, Alice is trusting the channel/platform she uses to communicate with Bob is ethical and free of intruders. Such a channel can be a messaging app for example and confidentiality is typically established by means of end-to-end encryption. </p><h3><strong>Authentication</strong></h3><p> Authentication as the name implies is building the authenticity of the entities involved. For example, an entity James would claim to be an investment banker. The process which validates the authenticity of James and signifies trust that he is an investment banker is called authentication. Typically in cryptographic terminology, such authentication can occur as a means of authentication protocol. </p><h3><strong>Integrity</strong></h3><p> An entity is said to be of integrity if it has not been tampered with, as the term implies. A message, for instance, is described as having integrity when it is delivered to the recipient and is trusted to remain that way. Integrity can usually be established by means of authentication codes attached to the entity in question. </p><h3><strong>Non-repudiation</strong></h3><p> In particular, non-repudiation provides us with assurances of a message’s authenticity, ensuring that the entity cannot retract or deny a message’s contents. In the cryptographic sense, this is typically achieved through the use of Signatures. It goes without saying that these properties are crucial in any cryptographic layer of trust. </p><h3><strong>Key Protection is the Basic Root of Trust</strong></h3><p> When it comes to security, a ‘Root of Trust’ can be entrusted to ensure that the entire system is secure. In cryptography, the building block of ‘Root of Trust’ is that cryptographic keys remain secure and are safeguarded from theft. </p><div class="et_pb_row_inner et_pb_row_inner_2_tb_body"> <div class="et_pb_column et_pb_column_4_4 et_pb_column_inner et_pb_column_inner_3_tb_body et-last-child"> <div class="et_pb_module et_pb_post_content et_pb_post_content_0_tb_body"> <img class="alignnone wp-image-1748 size-large" src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd7acd1c30-Post-Crypto-1024x536.png" alt="Image" width="1024" height="536"> Encryption, signing, authentication, and authenticated key exchange are all cryptographic operations that rely on secret keys. If the secret key is disclosed by the attacker, the attacker is bound to perform all the things the legitimate parties can do. If the key is a signing key, then it can sign on any message, transaction, or document as the legitimate signer; if the key is a decryption key, it can decrypt the totality secured by the key; and if the key is for authentication of a person or a device, then it can enact that person or device at will. Moreover, the attacker can use these secrets in much the same way as the legitimate user, so identifying the attacker is challenging. As a result, rightly implemented cryptography can provide high levels of security and assurance. On the other hand, if the secret keys are stolen, the entire system collapses and defense goes down the drain. The secret keys must be stored and protected carefully in any cryptographic deployment. The ability to protect the system effectively is the root of trust for the entire system and is therefore indispensable. <h2><strong>Rising To The Challenge</strong></h2> The question of how to build strong roots of trust in an organization’s cryptographic infrastructure cannot be answered easily. In some cases, a combination of solutions is even needed. Although this is true, it is imperative that organizations rise to the challenge and build a cryptographic skyscraper that is firmly rooted in solid foundations which can scale the <a href="https://www.purplequarter.com/future-of-work-successfully-disrupting-the-work-culture/all-about-tech/">future of work</a>. With the complexity of building a strong Root of Trust, choosing a solution is crucial to building a clear threat model. Let’s decode Hardware Security Modules, Software Root of Trust, or Choose Third-Parties Key management as the Root of Trust solutions in the upcoming chapter of Cryptographic Trust. </div> </div> </div></p>
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<p>The explosion of Blockchain left everyone thinking when Twitter Co-founder Jack Dorsey’s first tweet was sold as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) for $2.9 million to a Malaysian businessman. Acclaimed digital artist Mike Winkelmann, known as Beeple, made history in March 2021 when his NFT titled ‘Every day's: The First 5000 Days’ sold for over $69 million at an auction at Christie’s — the most expensive NFT sale. In recent years, NFTs have become the talk of the town. These digital valuables are selling for millions of dollars from games and art to watches and tacos. Everyone seems to be investing, buying, or creating NFTs. <h2><strong>Decoding NFT</strong></h2><p> NFT or Non-Fungible Token is impossible to create, forge, exchange, or manipulate due to its unique properties and authentic certificates, generated through Blockchain technology curbed by cryptocurrency. NFTs exist only in the digital realm - they cannot be touched but can be owned. In addition to digital files, NFTs can also include real-world items, such as artwork, articles, music, memes, in-game items, and videos. They are bought and sold online. Although they have been around since 2014, NFTs are in the spotlight now owing to the trendier ways of buying and selling digital creatives. Asia has since emerged as the frontrunner in the global NFT craze, with Southeast Asians making up most NFT-based web traffic. Central and Southeast Asia accounted for 35% of the $22 billion in the global trade of NFTs, says research firm Chainalysis Inc. Three Southeast Asian countries — the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia – dominate Finder's web traffic ranking. The most popular countries for NFT searches were China, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and South Korea. The Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX launched South Asia’s first NFT marketplace in June 2021, with 15 NFT creators from across Asia. The platform allowed creators to pay minimal gas fees – payments made by NFT creators. Abhishek Kalyanpurkar, a 37-year-old digital artist from Mumbai, one of the beneficiaries, shared to Asia Financial, “It has been life-altering; anyone who is a creator should tap into this growing market. The buyer transfers crypto to my Metamask wallet and I get the money converted through Binance Exchange.” </p><h2><strong>Southeast Asia Leads in NFT Trend</strong></h2><p> Social media channels like Discord and Twitter have seen a rise in the number of Central and South Asian artists. Another growth witnessed in the space is through NFT play-to-earn games. Southeast Asia boasts some of the highest rates of NFT ownership globally; one NFT game that saw rapid growth in Asia was the Play-To-Earn “Axie Infinity” game from Vietnamese company, Sky Mavis. To encash the gaming rewards for crypto gamers, Metamask, a soft wallet with 21 million users, claimed that the Philippines is its single biggest market and Vietnam takes the third place with 32% of adults admitting to owning at least one NFT. While Thailand has 27% of its correspondents claiming ownership of an NFT. The country also recently held its first virtual property sale, which allowed users to buy actual property inside Bangkok's downtown area and become virtual landowners in the Metaverse ecosystem. The most populous Southeast Asian country, Indonesia, looks particularly promising. Bali, Indonesia’s top tourist destination, is an emerging crypto hub. The nation’s largest crypto exchange, Tokocrypto, recently launched T-Hub, a physical fleet for Asia’s crypto community. Bali has its own physical NFT gallery, the Superlative Gallery, which opened to visitors in January 2022. With a physical crypto zone, an NFT gallery, and friendly visa regulations, Indonesia is a sleeping giant in the NFT scene. Over 4.5 million Filipinos lost their jobs due to the pandemic, and Axie Infinity became an alternative source of income for many. As part of the game, players are required to own an NFT minted as an avatar called "Axies." The Axies are purchased or traded through two cryptocurrencies - Smooth Love Potions (SLP) and Axie Infinity Shards (AXS). “Axie solves one crucial problem that is associated with NFTs – low liquidity,” said Nix Eniego, a 29-year-old Axie Scholarship manager from the Philippines. “While playing Axie, you can instantly use your Axie NFTs. This is not true for creators who sell their NFT art.” In Asia, there was also a growing number of NFT gatherings last year, including Art Moments Jakarta, Art Fair Philippines, and CryptoArt Week Asia. Furthermore, NFTs are being used for protests. Badiuco, an Australian-based Chinese political artist, raised various sensitive geopolitical issues in his Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics NFT collection. </p><h2><strong><img class="alignnone wp-image-1728 size-large" src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd7b45197a-Post-NFT2_2-1024x536.jpg" alt="Image" width="1024" height="536"></strong></h2><h2><strong>Phishing, bootlegging and stealing identities from NFTs</strong></h2><p> Despite the craze, the industry has its share of pitfalls. There have been numerous reports of plagiarized artwork, counterfeit products, and identity theft. Even on the world’s largest NFT marketplace, OpenSea, NFT artists complain that their requests to take down accounts copying their digital art are ignored. Geoffrey Huntley, an Australian IT professional and programmer, shares in an interview with the Business Insider, “Storing one gigabyte of data on a blockchain costs over $76,000, Many NFT artworks claiming to be stored on a blockchain are still using Google Drive or a web 2.0 host. You are spending billions of dollars on a clickable link that will lead you to an image.” 'NFT Thefts' is a Twitter page aimed at educating artists on how to secure their digital art from being stolen. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, for example, provides qualified online service providers like Google a safe harbor from monetary liability for copyright infringement claims. To protect an artist’s creation, NFT marketplaces initiated verification badges for artists owning the work, it remains to be seen if this suffices to assure their creation. Despite these problems, NFTs provide platforms for Asian artists to profit from blockchain technology with their artwork. Artists like Abhishek and other game players have substantially benefited from NFTs through trading their digital collectibles. </p><h2><strong>The Changing Society</strong></h2><p> Despite the Asian market stagnation for cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin, the NFT customer base is gaining quick momentum in Asia. Southeast Asia is leading the way. With blockchain technology still evolving and utilities being discovered by the day, the NFT market is still considered in its infancy. With most countries ranking high in terms of ownership, Southeast Asia may also become the hotbed of NFTs, as well as the litmus test of public acceptance. But are NFTs worth the money or just another hype? Some experts, even artists themselves believe it's just the bubble to pop or a passing fad. Others opine that NFTs are the future and are here to stay, which will revolutionize investing forever. While Asia continues to show healthy growth trends, NFTs are expected to explode further. </p><h3><strong>Authored by Pratheek. V</strong></h3><p> For more information, please reach out to the <a href="Marketing@purplequarter.com">Marketing Team.</a></p></p>
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<p>Big giants who have been aggressively investing in the Web3 concept have given the smaller players a boost to seek and invest. A perfect merger between <a href="https://www.purplequarter.com/the-metaverse-revolution-in-the-mena-a-viewpoint/all-about-tech/">metaverse</a> and enterprises will pave the way for a plethora of opportunities. With time a domino effect of companies will roll the virtual world duplicating it just like the real one. Some of the early businesses that are thriving on the metaverse are… <h3><strong>Social Media</strong></h3><p> The utmost use of a virtual world is to invariably connect better thus implying rampant socializing. Mark Zuckerberg in his Meta launch video too described the metaverse as a virtual place where people (avatars) from different places on Earth can connect in a single place to socialize. While the face of socializing has already changed since the advent of the Internet, the next step with Web3 looks like a whole new approach. More Companies/ brands will be strategizing their marketing campaigns on these platforms to capture the target audience. The current social media platforms will become more immersive and much more engaging. Brands like Samsung have held product launch events in current metaverse platforms, for instance, offering users exclusive NFTs for their participation. </p><h3><strong>Virtual Events</strong></h3><p> One of the most spoken-about changes caused by the pandemic was hosting virtual events against the traditional ones. These events erased limitations of physical space, time and movement. Virtual events that have gained popularity in the last few years will have more takers in Metaverse; it seems a very promising platform to further enhance the experience of such events. Companies, exhibitors and participants will be able to connect, showcase & communicate unhinged by geographies. Concerts have been successful in connecting people from across the globe without having them leave their physical space. For instance, Travis Scott’s concert in the Videogame space was attended by over 2 million people in their digital avatars. One of the pioneering social media platforms to have held virtual concerts during the pandemic was, TikTok – where Canadian singer, The Weeknd’s virtual concert showcased an animated version of him performing his hit song “Blinded By the Lights,” along with virtual backup dancers performing the famous TikTok dance for the song. </p><h3><strong>Virtual Real Estate</strong></h3><p> As real estate in the physical world keeps getting scarce, brands and companies are jumping on investments in virtual land. Companies are bidding for real estate in the metaverse to set up their virtual stores for higher engagement of their consumers. NFT lands are getting popular among investors. Platforms like Sandbox and Decentraland are selling virtual lands through tokens such as SAND and MANA respectively. It is important to note that these lands cannot be purchased by normal currency, they can only be purchased by the use of crypto. Investors broke the digital real-estate records in November 2020, totalling nearly $5 million in one week in two transactions at $2.43 million on Decentraland and $2.3 million on Axie Infinity.[image_with_animation image_url="477" image_size="full" animation_type="entrance" animation="Fade In" hover_animation="none" alignment="" border_radius="none" box_shadow="none" image_loading="default" max_width="100%" max_width_mobile="default"] </p><h3><strong>Shopping Experiences</strong></h3><p> While companies are already <a href="https://www.purplequarter.com/beginners-guide-to-investing-in-the-metaverse-purple-quarter/all-about-tech/">investing in the metaverse</a> real estate, it only makes sense that they will further build on these lands to enhance their virtual presence. Fashion houses have already begun to experiment in the metaverse as it gives a viable platform to showcase their products. As the metaverse gives a 3D immersive level of engagement to its users, they can best use this to their advantage. The digital avatars of the users can try out the products in the virtual space before they make any purchases. The metaverse for businesses also offers the retail sector a platform to introduce new products. It is also helpful to businesses in conducting research, and understanding consumer behaviour and their purchasing patterns. To authenticate fashion experiences, brands are exploring virtual fashion shows. In March this year, MVFW – Metaverse Fashion Week 2022 was held. It was Decentraland’s Fashion Week built entirely on the blockchain, created on land sold as NFTs and digital fashion bought and worn as NFTs. Brands such as Etro, Dundas, Dolce & Gabbana and Estée Lauder participated in the 4-day long fashion fiesta. The concept generated hype and grabbed enough eyeballs. Decentralized Commerce will redefine consumer experiences in this reality. A case in point here is the Boson Protocol which enables a decentralized ecosystem that allows the participants to share what they create online for exchange of value. The use of NFTs in game theory ensures that the creators get a monetary exchange for their art. It is an open platform that lets anyone build anything they want that others can use and trust. A perfect match for the exchange of digital assets for physical products, services and experiences. Boson Protocol is taking the quintessential producer-consumer approach to a new level. </p><h3><strong>Learning Possibilities</strong></h3><p> “Sing Tao and ZIBS’s collaboration to promote the Metaverse Campus is a breakthrough in the metaverse, aiming to push the media and higher education into a new era,” shared CAI Jin, Co-CEO of Hong Kong-based media company Sing Tao News Corporation Limited. In officially launching its Metaverse campus in April 2022, Zhejiang University International Business School (ZIBS) had scholars, business leaders and experts from across the world celebrate and witness the grand event. Changing the learning landscape for the world to connect and develop beyond geographical borders is another entity – London-based Inspired Education which has expressed its plan on becoming the first to launch Metaverse School with groundbreaking VR technology. This makes learning and development possibilities in the metaverse a promising business opportunity. The educational sector had seen a drastic shift from classroom learning to e-learning where students across the globe adapted to these changes. The metaverse will further the sector with an immersive learning experience in the field of medicine, defence, and higher education among others. VR will be a major component in making this a success for the sector. This VR-based learning will improve the way students learn, adapt and understand various concepts and ideas. Moreover, the metaverse version of a classroom will surpass all language barriers. </p><h3><strong>Employee Engagement</strong></h3><p> Accenture, a global consultancy firm 2020 had created an integrated employee engagement platform called the Nth floor. Built using Microsoft’s Mesh mixed-reality (MR) platform, it allowed Accenture workers to meet for presentations, socialize with each other and attend training sessions without actually meeting in person. Similarly, PwC designed its own PwC virtual parks allowing users to create avatars, move around and participate in events. Other cases of Hyundai and Siemens are already leveraging the metaverse for hiring people. This wide use of the metaverse will be to enhance employee engagement; what began as a zoom call to curb the shortcomings of the pandemic has evolved into so much more now that the metaverse has come to the scene. Companies are utilizing the metaverse to further build and strengthen employee engagement. Virtual workspaces with augmented reality applications can foster better connections, healthier engagement levels and build collaboration among diverse teams.[image_with_animation image_url="478" image_size="full" animation_type="entrance" animation="Fade In" hover_animation="none" alignment="" border_radius="none" box_shadow="none" image_loading="default" max_width="100%" max_width_mobile="default"] </p><h3><strong>Digital Assets</strong></h3><p> Cryptocurrency and blockchain go hand in hand when metaverse is discussed so do crypto tokens and NFTs. Everything on the metaverse right from the avatar to the dresses, accessories, experiences, shopping or any recreational activity of sorts is transacted in digital currency in the form of crypto or NFTs. Amongst all of these, there are NFTs, which allow for the purchase or sale of one-of-a-kind digital artworks on the blockchain. Businesses will purchase land, property, or sell their products too in the form of NFTs; there is no physical currency in the metaverse. Thus, the metaverse becomes an ideal place to own and trade in digital assets. As everyone proceeds to make their presence felt in Web3, governments and companies will have to look into implementing and laying down rules and regulations to guide the activities in the metaverse. VARA – Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority has already announced its entry into the Metaverse with the establishment of its Metaverse HQ in the dynamic virtual world of ‘The Sandbox’. At this point what is interesting is to witness how varied entities evolve, bring about changes or make additions to their current models to accommodate Web3 in its full capacity. This is only the beginning of a new era where machines, humans and ideas merge to create something extraordinary in this new realm of technology. </p><h3><strong>Authored by Richa</strong></h3><p> For more information, please reach out to the <a href="Marketing@purplequarter.com">Marketing Team.</a></p></p>
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<p>On a fateful day with back-to-back calls/ meetings what comes to our aid is a quick 15-minute snack delivery - courtesy of Quick Commerce - the newest approach to consuming commodities differently. <p>The Indian <a href="https://www.purplequarter.com/from-clicks-to-quantum-navigating-the-next-frontier-of-e-commerce/all-about-tech/">e-commerce</a> ecosystem is currently buzzing with qCommerce or Quick Commerce, due to the pulsating popularity of “on-demand delivery” at our beck and call. Quick Commerce delivers groceries, food, medicines or any other items of daily use quintessentially within 10 to 30 minutes from the time of order. Companies have switched from warehousing and retailing systems to more convenient ways; either partnering with local grocery stores or more often setting up a network of dark stores closer to points of delivery to service the orders within the timeframe. And the race to deliver the fastest has only become more aggressive. </p><p>The driving force behind quick commerce is twofold, typically that of <b><i>cost and convenience</i></b>. Brands are tapping on providing convenience to the consumers while they charge a competitive price for the same. These brands have limited catalogues (for instance a limited menu in case of restaurants and limited items in case of grocery stores) which ensure ease of access and availability. Most of the time these brands tap on one of the two components while striving to master both. </p><p><img class="aligncenter wp-image-1339 size-full" src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd7cfa4c4e-2.png" alt="Image" width="1200" height="800"></p><p>On a global scale, quick commerce has been more than just a recent addition to the trade and commerce ecosystem. However, in India, it is a rather fresh concept. Changing consumer buying patterns and behaviours during the pandemic majorly contributed to the emergence and acceptance of quick commerce in the metropolitan and tier 1 cities of India. The high demand directly reflects the increase in brands entering the market. </p><p>qCommerce does not intend to eliminate hypermarkets, rather its focus is on creating a more decentralized and localized kirana stores kind of space via close-knitted dark stores. Brands such as Dunzo, Swiggy Instamart, Blinkit, Zomato, Shadowfax and Zepto among others, leverage this model to deliver instant items in tier 1 and metropolitan cities of the country. It goes without saying that Tier 1 cities have the maximum participation and demand. It wouldn't be wrong to say that what began as a means of catering to the high demands of instant delivery, has now become the norm of the day for many caught in the loop of a fast-paced lifestyle.</p><p>The growing demand has led to high levels of funding and equally fast growth of qCommerce in India. The consulting firm, RedSeer estimates that the Indian quick commerce market will increase to $5 billion by 2025 from the current $0.3 billion. What is notable is that middle-class and upper-middle-class households are primarily driving this faster deliveries trend. Instant grocery delivery start-up, Zepto, launched in 2021 bagged funding of $100 million taking its valuation to $570 million. Swiggy, a leading food delivery app, also expressed its interest in investing $700 million in its express grocery delivery service, Swiggy Instamart, to scale up non-food delivery categories. A synonym for quick delivery - Dunzo, raised $240 million in its latest funding to double its presence, and increase its dark stores. Food delivery giant Zomato too sees quick commerce as a ‘huge addressable market’ with investments in Blinkit (formerly Grofers) and proposing 10-minute food delivery on its own platform. </p><p><img class="aligncenter wp-image-1338 size-full" src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd7d29d800-3.png" alt="Image" width="1200" height="800"></p><p>Each of the qCommerce brands has its own network of dark stores backing its demand and supply chains. One of the sought-after quick commerce brands - Blinkit claims to have an extensive network of 300 dark stores catering to its huge customer base across the country. Swiggy Instamart on the other hand has 150 partnered sellers running dark stores for instant deliveries across cities. Moving on to Dunzo, which is currently operating 75 dark stores and envisions to have over 200 by the end of 2022. </p><p>qCommerce players have devised interesting opportunities for their operational scale. Tapping on to mass favourite, Cricket, in the IPL season, quick commerce is booming. As per ET, the discounting and advertising during IPL have helped Swiggy Instamart and Zepto record an almost 40% spike in orders during match hours compared to non-match hours. New opportunities pave way for new entrants, Ola, a cab service provider is partnering with Mukunda Foods to launch a quick 10-minute delivery service under the brand <i>Ola Dash</i>. The service is already live in some parts of Bangalore, making it the next competitor to the pioneers - Dunzo, Blinkit and others. </p><p><img class="aligncenter wp-image-1340 size-full" src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd7d6059b1-5.png" alt="Image" width="1200" height="800"></p><p>When it comes to consumers, quick commerce adoption has mostly been well received. Pandemic-induced changing consumer patterns and behaviours have been the driving force primarily. Stuck at home or back in the office, consumers are opting for a faster shopping experience which is reshaping their purchase habits. Q-commerce gives consumers exactly what they want and when they want it. Speedy delivery and convenience cards have spelt magic for the quick commerce players. But on the backfoot, compromises on the quality of goods and safety concerns of the service providers have seen increased instances and raised valid concerns. </p><p><img class="aligncenter wp-image-1341 size-full" src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd7d9130b1-4.png" alt="Image" width="1200" height="800"></p><p>But the burning question of the moment remains - <b>is quick commerce really needed? </b>The answer really relies on the demand and supply of the equation. If there is demand for the model and even higher demand for quick deliveries, then it is a win-win for all. Whereas if the demand is short-lived and only solves immediate concerns, the model might not be feasible in the long run. Either driven by demand or otherwise, quick commerce has undoubtedly taken hold of the urban Indian population. In the last two years, there has been a significant uptake of q-commerce in major cities such as Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad among others. Whether qCommerce is a mere bubble or can successfully swim the rough waters of India's diverse consumer bracket remains to be seen as the qCommerce industry explodes. </p></p>
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<p>The demand for data centers is increasing due to their critical role in almost every sector for large amounts of data storage and distribution. The pandemic has also increased their growth with the greater need for cloud technology to connect and support the remote workforce. Considering all these factors, the respective market is bound to grow swiftly in the future. But growth brings certain challenges like capacity planning to meet the rising demands of the data centers. The dearth of quality talents and increased attrition has brought in dark clouds in the name of uncertainty. Many suppliers and operators are seeing technologies as a means to clear out the obstacle. It is expected that edge computing will play a significant role in helping to come out of the trap. Let us take a moment to look at the impact of edge technology in detail. <h2><b>Expansion in Data Center Market</b></h2><p> An increase in the adoption of IoT and cloud computing has aided the rapid growth data center market across the globe. In addition to the impact of the pandemic, it is further forecasted that the global market will reach $112.47 Bn by 2028, growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of nearly 11% from 2021 to 2028, as per <b>Verified Market Research</b>. The market is also expected to continue to mature as more companies now deeply understand their computing needs. The business leaders like <b>Microsoft, Amazon (AWS), Google</b>, etc. have also moved away from the public cloud in favor of colocation and private data centers in the last year. <img class="alignnone wp-image-1369 size-large" src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd7ea0dc1b-data-centre-staffing-01-1-2-1024x659.png" alt="Image" width="1024" height="659"> E-commerce databases are the key contributors to the expansion of the respective global market. They are being used by e-commerce firms to store and transfer large amounts of data sets for various organizational operations like promotional activities. One of the top organizations in this category to utilize data centers for analyzing consumer behaviors is <b>Walmart</b> with a 74% increase in e-commerce orders in the first quarter of 2021. Other technology firms like Fintech, Edtech, etc. are also expected to utilize it for different purposes, which will increase its growth globally. </p><h2><b>Staffing Crisis in Data Centers</b></h2><p> With the increase in the expansion of the market comes different challenges such as environmental concerns, liquid cooling, supply chain disruptions, etc. Technology staffing seems to be a consistent problem for the data centers from the past few years. More jobs are unfilled in the multiple roles in cloud and colocation due to the lack of finding a skilled workforce. According to an <b>Uptime Institute survey</b>, 47% of the operators reported difficulty finding qualified candidates for present job vacancies, and 32% among them informed that their employees were being hired away mostly by the competitors. It is also estimated that the staffing requirements will grow globally to nearly 2.3 mn full-time employees in 2025. <img class="alignnone wp-image-1371 " src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd7ec6cd92-Data-Center-Staffing-01.png" alt="Image" width="1044" height="549"> In the present situation, many organizations are finding it difficult to recruit high-demand roles such as technicians, analysts of power systems, control specialists of facilities, robotics technologists, etc. The success of this environment depends on a specialized mix of skills. There is also a great demand for IT and software expertise for today’s workplaces and offices of data center companies, resulting in a far higher proportion of skilled individuals to total jobs in the respective industry than in other sectors. As a result, many of them have been understaffed and overburdened in recent years with a higher than expected number of open roles that go unfilled. Bryon Price, Global Director of Technical Training at JLL stated, “The digital transformations during the pandemic have intensified the issue. But the real source of problems is a large number of data center staff hitting retirement age”. Most of the global data center employees are in the range of mid 45-55 age and are expected to retire in less than 10 years creating more job roles to fill for the operators which is a huge concern. Considering all these factors, it is expected that the respective industry will face a shrinking workforce and higher competition. </p><h2><b>Edge Computing to Edge out the Staffing woes</b></h2><p> Many of the data center operators are looking at technologies as a viable option for combating this crisis. Experts are of the opinion that the technologies will replace the human workforce in the data centers. But is this the way forward? Let us dwell more on this. Many technology firms state that one of the <a href="https://purplequarter.com/top-technology-trends-predictions-for-2022/">top technology trends and predictions for 2022</a> Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, etc. will be increasingly used to improve data center operations. But automating these jobs with the above technologies will not reduce the dependency on the human workforce. Henceforth, the respective operators are coming up with an interesting ploy to use edge computing technology for solving staffing problems. According to the Uptime survey, the confidence amongst the technology suppliers in the near-term growth of the edge has climbed, with 60% of them believing that most of their clientele will own small edge data centers within 5 years, which is increased from 48% last year. Nearly 75% of the companies informed that they are making changes to their products or services in response to the edge opportunity. Many experts suggest that redesigns and changes are necessary for deployments as edge technology includes delicate equipment like edge servers and edge devices. By deploying the edge data centers, the respective operators will not need dedicated staff to manage and control the day-to-day operations. An edge-based system from a single data center with zero-touch provisioning enables effective remote administration. Thus, organizations can have effective data center management along with overcoming staffing crises. </p><h3><b><img class="alignnone wp-image-1370 size-large" src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd7eeaa698-Data-Center-Staffing-02-1024x538.png" alt="Image" width="1024" height="538"></b></h3><h2><b>Outlook on the Edge Data Centers</b></h2><p> The trend of edge data centers promises greater distribution of computing power, and it’s become an area of interest for established IT powerhouses. Lin Gowen, VP of Business Development at 1623 Farnam says, “High capacity IT infrastructure is needed to support the idea of the metaverse, making edge data centers more crucial than ever”. It is being estimated that edge data center market size will grow from $7.2 bn in 2021 to $19.1 bn by 2026, at a CAGR of 21.4%, as per <b>Research and Markets</b> report. Many sectors which use real-time market insights to process data for driving innovations such as in manufacturing, supply-chain, healthcare, transportation, autonomous vehicles, etc. need them for the operations. <img class="alignnone wp-image-1372" src="https://admin.purplequarter.com/storage/posts/67fdd7f1cb3e7-Data-Center-Staffing-03.png" alt="Image" width="1027" height="540"> The benefits of their deployment outweigh the challenges. Some of the significant benefits are enabling faster performance and lower latency as companies will not have to move the data to extensive data centers to process it. The facilities also include high levels of physical and cyber security to prevent cyber attacks, less data is uploaded to the cloud, and a reduced amount of vulnerable data is available in transit. Edge technology allows for more immediate application of analytics and AI capabilities for meeting customers’ expectations for engaging and immersive real-time interactions. The setting up of edge data centers is expected to be a go-to approach for most companies with all the advantages that they bring in. Companies such as <b>Nvidia, Arista Networks,</b> etc. are ramping up the production of edge computing hardware expecting a bright future for edge data centers. Most trending technologies like <b>5G, IoT, AR/VR,</b> etc. need edge data centers and this will help in their increased deployment in the future. But the companies might still tread cautiously around the strategies to deploy it which will be critical for their future business plans. Also, the adoption of these technologies might vary across different sectors. But with the pace at which they are progressing, it will be hard for the companies to look beyond and act faster.</p></p>
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