As seen on PRWEB

Infocepts, a global leader of end-to-end data & analytics solutions, is honored to announce it’s recognition by Gartner as the ‘Highest Rated’ global data & analytics services firm, in the 2020 Gartner Peer Insights Review of Data & Analytics Service Providers. Gartner defines the market for Data and Analytics Services as consulting, implementation, and managed services for decision, analytics, and information capabilities, executed on a technology platform that supports an organization’s fact-based decision making.

A few comments shared by our customers:

  • “In my 3+ year of experience working with Infocepts – and this is the most important part of a good partner – is that that they challenge my assumptions and force me to think harder about our technology strategies”
  • “There are too many things I could go into detail about but I will limit myself to just one – Infocepts resources are highly talented and trained to think three steps ahead.”
  • “Infocepts is hands-down one of the best partners in the Data & Analytics space: Data ingestion, transformation, optimization, Cloud, Reporting, Visualizations, etc. If these are areas you have a need, then look no further.
  • “If you need support to help enhance or build a solid data infrastructure for your company’s ever growing needs for great data & analytics, you can’t go wrong with Infocepts. I literally can’t say enough good things about this vendor.”

As the highest-rated vendor in Gartner’s 2020 report, Infocepts earned an overall rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars. Additionally, 100% of Infocepts’ customers indicated a ‘willingness to recommend’ Infocepts end-to-end data & analytics services to others.

“We are truly honored to be recognized in this way by those who matter most – our customers,” said Shashank Garg, CEO and Co-founder of Infocepts. “This recognition reinforces the commitment we’ve made with our people, processes & proprietary technology to deliver successful business outcomes for our clients and we’re looking forward to what the future holds”.

A summary of Infocepts’ rating in this report is available here: https://www.infocepts.ai/blog/customers-rate-infocepts-highest-in-new-gartner-peer-insights/
The individual reviews found on Gartner Peer Insights are available here: https://www.gartner.com/reviews/technology-providers/reviews?market=345

The Gartner Peer Insights ‘Voice of the Customer’: Data and Analytics Service Providers report includes vendors in the market that received more than ten eligible reviews during the one-year period ending on June 30, 2020.

About Infocepts
Infocepts is a global leader of end-to-end data & analytics solutions which leverages people, process and proprietary technology to lead the modernization its customers data & analytics capabilities, in order to deliver successful business outcomes.
Founded in 2004, Infocepts is headquartered in Tysons Corner, VA, with offices throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Every day more than 130,000 people use solutions powered by Infocepts to make better decisions.

As seen on Microsoft

A global leader of end-to-end data analytics solutions and platform modernization—with operations in more than 20 countries—Infocepts has placed its employees at the core of its digital transformation strategies. With Office 365 as its all-in-one collaboration and communication platform, for 1,000-plus associates across 20 countries, the company is not only ensuring seamless business continuity, but it’s also building in new levels of agility, efficiency, and productivity within the workplace.

Data is at the crux of every business decision, and it is the force behind every organizational strategy. Its ubiquitous nature and invaluable presence in the modern-day business environment requires that companies understand and ascribe appropriate value to the role of data in the overall operational framework.

How can businesses unlock actionable insights from the vast volumes of data that are generated on a routine basis? How can companies turn data-driven transformations into a competitive advantage? These are questions that Infocepts, a leading provider of data and analytics solutions, places at the heart of its value proposition and the solutions it provides.

Founded in 2004, Infocepts has built a formidable presence across the globe, helping companies resolve seemingly intractable challenges and find cutting-edge solutions through the intelligent use of data and analytics. With a robust team of 1,000-plus data experts working across 20 countries, the company offers modern analytics, cloud and platform modernization, managed services, and data management solutions, among others. Given its broad portfolio and geographic spread, cross-functional collaboration—with co-workers, customers, and business partners—is a critical business requirement.

Modern platforms for a modern workforce

A digital disruptor with a widespread global presence, Infocepts is always seeking new ways to connect and collaborate. In the past, the company had adopted a mix of platforms, with Skype for Business being the primary mode of communication. In 2017, the company began re-evaluating its tools to bolster security, cohesion, and to build a seamless chat-based information exchange through a unified communication platform.

“As a leading provider of data and analytics services across the globe, collaboration is a key facet of our business. We chose Office 365 as our internal collaboration tool to empower our 1,000-plus associates spread across eight different time zones,” explains Shashank Garg, Chief Executive Officer at Infocepts. “As more and more of our customers adopt Office 365, we are becoming much more agile and efficient.”

Furthermore, the company sought an opportunity for its young developer community. “We wanted a very simple way to navigate different hierarchies,” explains Rajendra Jodhpurkar, EVP Strategic Initiatives at Infocepts. “When we started looking at it from our IT roadmap perspective, Microsoft 365 was the natural choice. Its advanced features, familiarity, and enterprise-grade security best met our needs,” he adds.

This decision marked InfoCept’s transformation journey with Microsoft technologies.

A collaborative culture

Post-migration to Microsoft 365, all departments and functions within Infocepts have embraced Microsoft Teams as their collaboration platform. As the all-in-one, chat-based tool, Teams has helped break silos, bring in alignment, and drive transparency in the way people work. With Teams, Infocepts has switched from a culture swamped by emails to a culture of informational communication to get things done.

“The biggest value comes in when you have cross-functional teams,” Jodhpurkar adds. “We wanted to reduce the number of synchronous meetings. Now, on a Teams channel, we can easily create group chats and keep talking and exchanging action items any time. Whenever people find time, they can take a look. No need to find a time slot that fits everyone’s schedule. No need for everyone to make time for something. Also, it’s been providing a lot of transparency. If the CEO is talking to the HR head about something, and the heads of sales, delivery, and finance teams are also on the same channel, they’ll all be on the same page.”

Infocepts’ digital-first culture, enabled by Microsoft 365, was a critical enabler of business continuity when the COVID-19 crisis struck. The leaders could quickly ideate on Teams and support associates spread across countries. The company’s leadership came together on the platform to assess the needs and offer solutions. They went on to acquire approximately 400 laptops to meet IT requirements. The Teams framework also enabled the company’s business leaders to keep all channels of communication open at all times and ensure the well-being of employees and associates.

“When COVID-19 hit, Infocepts switched to a 100 percent remote working model in less than a week. This would not have happened without Microsoft 365. Our adoption of Microsoft technologies helped us stay connected with all our internal and external stakeholders,” Garg remarks.

Sharp focus on productivity, innovation

Over the last three years, Infocepts has accelerated its collaborative culture by weaving in these Microsoft products into its organizational fabric.

  • OneNote: To prepare for meetings and translate project goals into reality is now easier than ever. Everyone can share the call agenda, add feedback, and brainstorm new ideas on OneNote. Employees can co-author documents and access all relevant files in one place.
  • Forms: To understand how employees are coping with the pandemic, Infocepts is conducting surveys on Forms and collating feedback across the United States, India, Singapore, and other countries. “Through these surveys, we’re checking in with people about how they are doing, how their work-life balance is. Within a week, we share the results of the survey. Such insights are helping us address the pain points of our people and support them in any way we can,” notes Jodhpurkar.
  • Yammer: To engage with employees across the spectrum effectively and meaningfully, the company has been using Yammer as its professional networking platform. With Yammer, Infocepts has been able to spread positivity, keep its knowledge workforce engaged, and spark conversation within the community. Senior leaders are conducting monthly talk shows, to disseminate corporate communication and interact with employees on a casual note. The videos are stored on Stream to be accessed later by those who missed the sessions.
  • Sway: To share internal communication and update everyone about exciting things happening across the board, Infocepts is rolling out monthly newsletters. Known as InfoGram, these newsletters are curated and developed entirely from a remote working team on Sway. “Sway is one of those unsung apps in Microsoft 365. When we were looking for options, we found that it was very easy to create our newsletters on Sway, without any external involvement,” remarks Katherine Gabriel, Director of Marketing at Infocepts.
  • Power Apps: Given that the company operates in the data science space and uses various software to serve clients, it is also striving to simplify internal processes through apps strung together with Power Apps.

“We don’t want our people to depend only on the IT team to develop line-of-business (LOB) apps. We just want to give them the right platform and an easy learning curve so that they can build their own apps for their teams. In fact, our QA head built an app on Power Apps and is using it to track delivery risks. He has built another app where associates can record their achievements easily. At the end of the year, you will have a compiled list of everyone’s accomplishments at your fingertips. We’ve had such impressive use cases in other teams too,” says Jodhpurkar.

Moving ahead as a single organism

Building on its culture of chat-based collaboration and file sharing in the cloud, Infocepts has recorded remarkable benefits:

  • Seamless transition to a remote work ecosystem within one week.
  • Smooth collaboration with internal and external stakeholders, enabling remote go-live of its ERP platform.
  • A 58 percent increase in the adoption of Yammer during the COVID-19 crisis.
  • Reduction of generic emails by 20 to 30 percent. The company plans to reduce emails further by 50 percent, using Yammer to share birthday greetings, salary statements, and operations updates, such as server availability.
  • A 50 percent reduction in travel bills.

Encouraged by the success of its digital transformation, Infocepts intends to amplify its technology focus. The organization plans to use Microsoft Power BI as the visualization and insights generation tool of its data council.

“Microsoft technologies will have a significant place in our IT roadmap. How do we improve the employee experience? How do we make them more and more productive using various apps? That’s what we are trying to get at. With complete backing of the leadership to invest in the right technologies for these purposes, we’re planning to go all out!” concludes Jodhpurkar.

As seen on Forbes.

As consumers and businesses alike become increasingly concerned with how their information is being used, data privacy regulations are coming online both overseas and in the U.S. However, there is currently no single, universal law that dictates data protection, so tech leaders have to take extra care to stay “in the know.”

The members of Forbes Technology Council understand the importance of keeping up with ever-changing data privacy regulations. Below, they share 16 tips for tech leaders looking to maintain compliance with growing and changing data privacy laws.

1. View privacy regulations as an opportunity.

Don’t see privacy regulation as a limitation. It’s an opportunity. Think seat belts or the Clean Air Act: Companies that adapted early were well ahead of the game. Tech leaders who look for creative solutions now—such as providerless tech in the fraud prevention industry—can make regulations many companies fear into a real boost for their tech infrastructure and their customer experience. – Itay Levy, Identiq

2. Make data privacy a core value.

In the wake of the EU’s strict General Data Protection Regulation, more and more data privacy regulations are being introduced around the world. The best way to stay compliant is by taking a holistic approach and institutionalizing data privacy as a core value in your organization. Be transparent, practice privacy by design and privacy by default, use data minimization, and avoid transferring data outside the EU. – Robert E.G. Beens, Startpage.com

3. Consult compliance and legal experts.

Consult compliance experts and legal departments regularly to keep abreast of changes and ensure that your policies, procedures and controls are updated. The acceleration of data privacy laws is forcing a mindset shift for organizations toward considering data privacy in terms of current and future processes. Pay attention to reporting requirements; permitted notification windows can be exceedingly short! – Cody Cornell, Swimlane

4. Integrate customer data.

Double down on customer data integration efforts. You’ve been trying to master siloed data to build a complete 360-degree view so that you can add new customers and build relationships with them. Now you need to know where all that customer data resides when they decide to change these relationships with you. It’s the same data problem but with a very different level of rigor necessary to avoid issues. – Mark Marinelli, Tamr

5. Only collect the data you really need.

The primary aspect is to understand the real need for the data. There are so many companies capturing all kinds of data without knowing if they really need it or will use it. I would recommend not going after big data. Rather, go after smart data—data that is really needed for the organization. After data collection, secure it and be careful in sharing it with others. – Asokan Ashok, UnfoldLabs Inc.

6. Set up automated systems to monitor new policy releases.

Tie your inner policies to all the regulations. The quantity of the new policies rises so fast that it might be really hard to keep track of them. But you can easily keep track of your own policies. Keep some AI or ML tools that will update you on the need to change your policies and you will automatically learn when a new security standard arises. – Daria Leshchenko, SupportYourApp Inc.

7. Take the initiative and adapt quickly.

Pay attention to regulation changes and adapt accordingly. Speed is crucial in the tech sector. Dealing with new regulations can be tough, but those who don’t keep up are only sabotaging themselves. If you take the initiative and adapt quickly, customers will see that you care. At a time when reputations can crumble overnight due to a data breach, establishing trust is priceless. – Marc Fischer, Dogtown Media LLC

8. Hire a privacy officer.

Organizations should create a strong privacy foundation, hire a privacy officer and have a well-thought-out policy to stay ahead of the game. You should make data privacy a core value so that it is easier to react to changing regulations because infrastructure, personnel and awareness are already in place. A key message to imbibe is “Data privacy is everyone’s responsibility.” – Shashank Garg, Infocepts

9. Consider adopting a privacy framework.

Many organizations are already using security frameworks as the foundation for their IT security program. For example, the NIST Privacy Framework is agnostic to specific regulations and can provide the basis and controls to make it easier to adapt to future changes in the regulatory landscape. – Ilia Sotnikov, Netwrix

10. Subscribe to relevant publications.

It’s essential to have a dedicated person or team who can follow the legal changes. And since most tech companies are unique either because of their products, industry or location, you’d be wise to subscribe to relevant blogs, publications and legal trade journals for your business category or industry. They’ll have the latest information that you can use to develop future product strategies. – Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster

11. Audit and update your data processes.

Businesses have become natural hoarders of data. But we all know data protection and privacy is not going away any time soon, so business leaders should use this as an opportunity to thoroughly audit, cleanse and update their data stores, policies and procedures. Throw out data that isn’t benefiting you and tighten up the rest. Getting on top of data management ahead of regulation is key. – Sam Amrani, Olvin

12. Map out your data supply chain.

Technology leaders need to focus on mapping their data supply chains—including gaining and maintaining an understanding of data sources, use restrictions and other constraints—to appropriately manage privacy and security regulations and best practices. Basic efforts to inventory data sets and to understand how data is transformed and combined are paramount to success. – Jason Crabtree, QOMPLX, Inc.

13. Know where your data resides.

Think about where your data resides and which jurisdictions it could be subject to. If you’re operating a mission-critical application in a specific country, it may be beneficial to run your workloads on regional cloud infrastructure to simplify the number of jurisdictions where privacy regulations apply to your data. – Maddison Long, CloudOps

14. Develop documented, accessible audit trails.

Data privacy policies change by region or country relatively rapidly. At a minimum, have a governance policy in place and make sure all of your systems have well-documented and understandable audit trails available to all stakeholders. This rule documentation will help with faster adherence to new policies. – Ryan Peeler, Voxx Analytics

15. Increase your visibility and understanding.

Data privacy and data protection regulations continue to evolve. Increasing visibility and understanding across complex digital landscapes allows organizations to support countless value-added use cases while also meeting compliance requirements. Both compliance and insight improve significantly by simply being able to intelligently search for and pinpoint the right information. – Alexandre Bilger, Sinequa

16. Strive for clarity in your user experience.

Consumer privacy acts, both in the U.S. (California Consumer Privacy Act) and overseas (GDPR), now mandate how data is collected, stored and used. Though they vary in the specifics, the penalties for lack of transparency are universally punitive, whether the purpose was intentional or not. Strive for clarity on the front end of your UX and you’ll have fewer concerns about falling out of compliance on the back end. – Meghann Chilcott, XIL Consulting

Organizations of any size are concerned about data privacy, and they have good reasons for it. Data breaches, security threats, and cybercrime can lead to negative and harmful consequences for anyone, so it becomes important to know and comply with data privacy regulations.

Organizations that want to comply with data privacy regulations have to ensure data integrity, confidentiality, and availability with physical, technical, and administrative controls. These controls must be effective enough in detecting and stopping unauthorized access to data.

Here are four tips that we recommend technology leaders implement in their organization to ensure compliance with data privacy regulations:

1. Understand the core of privacy regulations

Ensuring legal compliance should be a key part of every company’s strategy and objectives. Protecting your customers’ data and trust is not optional, but a must nowadays. It is not just the responsibility of the owner, known as the controller, of the data but the liability, risk, and responsibility is passed on to the supplier, vendor or any third party engaged. Luckily, there are privacy management platforms that incorporate legal guidance, like DataGuidance, OneTrust, or Nymity, that you can use to keep up-to-date and to consult on any necessary legal changes around data privacy.

2. Create a strong privacy foundation:

Organizations should create a strong privacy foundation and have a well-thought-out policy to stay ahead of the game. By institutionalizing data privacy as a core value, it will be easier to react to changing regulations or specific legal obligations because the infrastructure, personnel, and awareness are already in place. Stay transparent with your customers through consent management and clearly defined and stated privacy policies.

3. Appoint a Privacy Officer or a Privacy team.

Evaluate how your business handles data. Do you fall under the data controller, data processor, or a third-party category? Ask yourself the following questions:

  1. What type of data as an organization do you have to?
  2. What is the flow of data and where do we fall in that flow)?
  3. What is the origin of data or what data do you have access to?
  4. What contractual obligations if any (either coming directly from contracts or through DPA) do we have?
  5. What is the work is performed by your organization?

Once you understand your role as per required privacy laws, create a Data Privacy office or appoint a Data Protection Officer (DPO), depending on the organization size. In order to be and stay compliant, continual monitoring, and governance of data privacy legislation, policies, incidents is highly required and can be done so through your DPO.

4. Cultivate general awareness

In order to create a culture of privacy in an organization, it is important to educate both technical and non-technical members about their role in privacy, security, and respecting and protecting the personal information of the organization and customers. Creating an awareness campaign that is tailored to the organization is likely to have a profound effect on its success.

Ultimately, creating a culture of “privacy is everyone’s responsibility” will save an organization time, stress, and money.

Ready to get started? No matter where you are in your data privacy journey, we are here to help. Get started now!

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