Connect with us

Technology

Standard Chartered and Dun & Bradstreet launch Women Entrepreneurship Optimism Index

Published

on

MUMBAI, India, March 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Standard Chartered Bank and Dun & Bradstreet, a global leader in business decisioning data and analytics, today released the first-ever edition of Women Entrepreneurship Optimism Index (WEOI). The composite Women Entrepreneurship Optimism Index for Q4 2024 stood at 68.93 (up by 97 basis points from 67.90 in Q3 2024), indicating that women entrepreneurs had anticipated improved prospects in the last quarter of 2024.

The WEOI has been launched as part of the SC WIN – the Women’s International Network programme of Standard Chartered Bank that supports women-led businesses with funding, cash management, dedicated managers, and a community for supporting them in their growth journey.

This first-of-its-kind index is based on a survey of more than 200 women entrepreneurs across a wide range of industries and cities, and presents effective insights into the outlook, opportunities and challenges faced by women entrepreneurs. It focusses on five key dimensions that shape women entrepreneurs’ confidence: business performance, access to finance, skill development, digital adoption, and support of government policies along with personal and professional networks.

Some of the key findings of the survey are:

Thriving business confidence among women entrepreneurs can be attributed to the projected increase in domestic orders, which in turn reflects buoyant demand for their products and services in domestic markets.Women entrepreneurs in Tier 1 cities were more optimistic than those in Tier 2 cities, especially regarding digital adoption and confidence in their skills.Entrepreneurs in health services and those engaged in production of basic and intermediate goods exhibited lower optimism, and those in consumer goods sector seemed to be most optimistic about Q4 2024.In Q4 2024, 64% of the women business owners surveyed expressed interest to digitise their business operations – including Financial Management – to modernise processes and improve efficiency.With the goal of expanding customer base, they also displayed strong preference towards investing in tech tools, with 70% women entrepreneurs planning to invest more on digital tools and processes for customer acquisition in Q4 2024.For growing their business, women business leaders placed topmost importance on leadership and management skills, along with an entrepreneurial mindset.There is also a growing demand for government-backed skill development programs and support initiatives, with 2 in every 5 conveying optimism about the value of these resources.71% women entrepreneurs did not expect to find access to finance easy.

Launching the WEOI Q4 2024 report, Aditya Mandloi, Managing Director, Head, Wealth and Retail Banking, India and South Asia, Standard Chartered Bank, said, “Women entrepreneurs are a powerful force in India’s business landscape, yet systemic barriers continue to hinder their progress. SC WIN reflects Standard Chartered’s commitment to breaking these barriers by equipping women with the resources and opportunities they need to thrive. The Women Entrepreneurship Optimism Index further reinforces this commitment, providing data-driven insights to shape policies and initiatives that drive meaningful change.”

Avinash Gupta, Managing Director & CEO – India, Dun & Bradstreet, said, “The Women Entrepreneurship Optimism Index is an essential resource for policymakers, financial institutions, and other key players to create strategies that help women entrepreneurs thrive as it pinpoints factors that either boost or hinder growth. The Index is expected to serve as a barometer to gauge the tone and direction in which our women entrepreneurs perceive their business would grow.”

To download the report for free, log on to the SC-WIN website: https://www.sc.com/in/business/sc-win/You can also download it from the Dun & Bradstreet India website: https://www.dnb.co.in/perspective/reports-and-insights

About Standard Chartered:

Standard Chartered Bank has been operating in India with a continuous presence of over 165 years making it one of the oldest foreign banks in the country. The Bank has a network of 100 branches across 42 cities. Key business segments include Corporate and Investment Banking and Wealth and Retail Banking. For more information, visit https://www.sc.com/in/

Globally, we are a leading international banking group, with a presence in 52 of the world’s most dynamic markets. Our purpose is to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, and our heritage and values are expressed in our brand promise, here for good.

Standard Chartered PLC is listed on the London and Hong Kong stock exchanges.

For more stories and expert opinions, please visit Insights at sc.com. Follow Standard Chartered on X, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

About Dun & Bradstreet: 

Dun & Bradstreet, a leading global provider of business decisioning data and analytics, enables companies around the world to improve their business performance. Dun & Bradstreet’s Data Cloud fuels solutions and delivers insights that empower customers to accelerate revenue, lower cost, mitigate risk and transform their businesses. Since 1841, companies of every size have relied on Dun & Bradstreet to help them manage risk and reveal opportunity. For more information on Dun & Bradstreet, please visit www.dnb.com

Dun & Bradstreet Information Services India Private Limited is headquartered in Mumbai and provides clients with data-driven products and technology-driven platforms to help them take faster and more accurate decisions across finance, risk, compliance, information technology and marketing. Working towards Government of India’s vision of creating an Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India) by supporting the Make in India initiative, Dun & Bradstreet India has a special focus on helping entrepreneurs enhance their visibility, increase their credibility, expand access to global markets, and identify potential customers & suppliers, while managing risk and opportunity. 

Visit www.dnb.co.in for more information. Click here for all Dun & Bradstreet India press releases. 

 

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2314099/5170280/DB_Logo.jpg

 

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/standard-chartered-and-dun–bradstreet-launch-women-entrepreneurship-optimism-index-302407770.html

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Technology

JAMS Launches AI for Enterprise Job Scheduling: JAX and JAMS MCP, on the Model You Choose

Published

on

By

A new AI agent and an open-standard connector let IT teams query, diagnose, and manage automation in plain language, on the model they choose, with operational data staying inside their own network

LONDON, July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — JAMS Software, an orchestration solution for scheduled and event-driven automation, today announced the general availability of two AI capabilities for enterprise job scheduling: JAX, an AI agent built into the JAMS Web Client, and JAMS MCP, a connector built on the open Model Context Protocol standard that brings JAMS into external AI coding tools. Both capabilities ship at no additional cost as part of JAMS Web.

Automation environments grow faster than the teams that run them. Jobs multiply across SQL Server, Azure Data Factory, Airflow, SAP, JDE, and Banner, and when one fails, finding the root cause often means searching several consoles at once, frequently outside business hours. At the same time, IT leaders carry pressure to adopt AI while staying accountable for where operational data goes. JAX and JAMS MCP close both gaps together.

Full details on how JAX and JAMS MCP work, including the control model behind every action, are available at jamsscheduler.com/product/ai.

JAX is an AI agent that runs inside the JAMS Web Client. It finds jobs, troubleshoots failures, and answers how-to questions in plain language, with each response grounded in the JAMS user guide and checked against a built-in glossary. JAX acts only when a user asks it to. Reads flow freely, and every write action pauses for the user’s explicit approval before it runs. JAX does not learn between sessions, and conversations are not retained on the server.

JAMS MCP is a connector, built on the open Model Context Protocol standard, that brings JAMS into the AI tools engineering teams already use, including Cursor, VS Code with Copilot, Claude Code, Claude Desktop, and Codex. Users query jobs, investigate failures, and manage runs in plain language without leaving their tool.

Both capabilities run inside the customer’s own network and act as the signed-in user, with that user’s exact JAMS permissions. There is no elevated AI account: whatever a user cannot do in the JAMS interface, JAX and JAMS MCP cannot do on that user’s behalf. Every JAX and MCP operation is recorded in its own dedicated log, and changes made through the JAMS API land in the JAMS audit trail like any other change. Customers choose their own AI model, whether a commercial provider such as OpenAI or Anthropic or a model running entirely on their own hardware, and JAMS never trains on customer data. In the current release, neither feature edits or deletes a job, folder, schedule, or agent definition. For teams that must keep operational data within a defined boundary, JAX runs on a local model entirely inside the customer’s own network, so nothing leaves at all.

“Adopting AI usually means giving something up, most often visibility into where your data goes,” said Pete Hegland, Chief Executive Officer of JAMS Software. “We built JAX and JAMS MCP so that trade does not have to happen. Every action runs as the signed-in user, every change waits for approval, and the model itself can run entirely inside your own network.”

“IT teams across the United Kingdom and EMEA tell us the same thing: they want the benefit of AI without losing sight of where their data goes,” said Greg McLaughlin, Account Executive for EMEA at JAMS Software. “JAX and JAMS MCP let them keep operational data inside their own network and still get answers in plain language. That combination is what makes this practical for the teams I work with.”

JAX and JAMS MCP are available now to all JAMS Web customers across the United Kingdom and EMEA, with no separate licence, SKU, or additional cost. AI-assisted creation of new jobs and workflows from a plain-language description is on the roadmap for a future release, gated by the same approvals and permissions as every other action.

Learn how JAX and JAMS MCP work at https://jamsscheduler.com/product/ai.

Fast facts

JAX is an AI agent built into the JAMS Web Client for job scheduling and workflow automation.JAMS MCP is a connector built on the open Model Context Protocol standard, for Cursor, VS Code with Copilot, Claude Code, Claude Desktop, and Codex.Both act as the signed-in user, with that user’s exact JAMS permissions, and there is no elevated AI account.Customers choose the AI model, including a local model that runs entirely inside their own network.JAMS never trains on customer data.Both are available now at no additional cost as part of JAMS Web.

About JAMS Software

Founded in 1987, JAMS Software is an orchestration solution that helps IT teams centralize, automate, and manage scheduled and event-driven jobs across complex, hybrid environments. Over 850 customers rely on JAMS to run their automated workloads. JAMS Software, LLC is headquartered at 108 Patriot Drive, Suite A, Middletown, DE 19709.

Media Contact
Bobby Schmidt, Vice President of Marketing
press@jamssoftware.com
800.261.4267

 

 

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/3007577/JAMS_logo.jpg
Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/3007578/jams_jax_ai_agent_job_scheduling_1.jpg
Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/3007579/jams_jax_mcp_ai_control_model.jpg
Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/3007580/jams_mcp_ai_connector_claude_cursor.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/jams-launches-ai-for-enterprise-job-scheduling-jax-and-jams-mcp-on-the-model-you-choose-302833908.html

Continue Reading

Technology

Video: CNPC offers green chemical answer

Published

on

By

BEIJING, July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — A news report from chinadaily.com.cn:

Located on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the Tarim 1.2 MTA Phase II Ethylene Project and its supporting green and low-carbon demonstration facility of PetroChina Dushanzi Petrochemical Company, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation, are offering a new example of China’s low-carbon industrial transformation.

Watch the video to discover how CNPC is exploring a cleaner and more circular future for the industry.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/video-cnpc-offers-green-chemical-answer-302834036.html

SOURCE chinadaily.com.cn

Continue Reading

Technology

Shanghai Electric showcases embodied intelligence robot matrix and AI-native smart factory solutions at WAIC 2026

Published

on

By

Featuring humanoid robots with 41 degrees of freedom, pipe‑inspection robots with ±1mm positioning accuracy, and 51 industrial‑grade AI agents

SHANGHAI, July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Operations in high-end equipment manufacturing often involve confined spaces, complex objects, and fine manipulation tasks that demand sustained and stable precision. At the recent 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance (WAIC 2026), Shanghai Electric (SEHK: 02727, SSE: 601727) showcased its comprehensive portfolio of embodied intelligence solutions tailored to a range of industrial scenarios.

Themed “AI for All: Smart Squad, Shining Without Limits,” Shanghai Electric highlighted its capabilities across embodied AI robots, robot core components, and AI-native smart factory solutions, demonstrating end-to-end capabilities spanning complete robot systems, critical parts, industrial software, and smart factory architecture.

“The true value of embodied intelligence lies in understanding real industrial tasks: combining the strength, precision, and stability of machines with human experience and judgment to drive a genuine paradigm of ‘machine-assisted, human-machine collaboration,'” said Wang Chunlei, deputy general manager of the Robotics Business Unit at Shanghai Electric Automation Group.

Shanghai Electric’s robotics portfolio covers five key industrial scenarios: connector insertion, electrical operations, flexible sorting, intelligent assembly, and pipe processing. Highlights include:

“SUYUAN” bipedal humanoid robot: With 41 degrees of freedom for enhanced mobility, it is equipped with a multimodal visual sensing system on the head and torso, along with a dual-battery hot-swap system. It is well-suited for inspection, material handling, and assembly tasks.”TUOYUAN” industrial wheeled humanoid robot: Powered by an embodied intelligence foundation model and force-position hybrid control, it is capable of multi-spec connector insertion, material sorting, and loading/unloading of automotive sheet metal parts.”Mermaid” bionic wheeled humanoid robot: Capable of autonomously identifying buttons, knobs, and air switches, it generates real-time operation paths.Autonomous pipe inner-wall chamfering robot: Designed for confined spaces, it can position and process thousands of hole edges with accuracy within 1 millimeter while transmitting data in real time.

Shanghai Electric also showcased its portfolio of core components ranging from power-output to end effectors. Among them, the planetary roller screw offers more than three times the load capacity of traditional ball screws, while the DexHand dexterous hand is designed to meet diverse gripping and manipulation requirements.

Shanghai Electric launched 51 AI models and agents under its “StarCloud Intelligent Manufacturing” series across three domains: R&D and design, production and manufacturing, and operations and maintenance—covering critical equipment processes such as process optimization and wind power facility maintenance.

These industrial agents are embedded in robotic decision-making systems and the operational logic of AI-native smart factories, transforming industrial expertise into digitized, reusable capabilities. They support production-line scheduling, quality inspection, and predictive maintenance, driving the evolution of manufacturing systems from experience-driven to data-driven operations.

Shanghai Electric also released the “AI-Native Smart Factory Technology White Paper,” proposing an active evolution architecture that enables real‑time, closed‑loop optimization of production data, giving the factory self‑perception, self‑decision, and self‑execution capabilities. Built on First Principles, the AI‑native smart factory vertically integrates process flows, industrial software, agents, and smart equipment to dismantle traditional hierarchies while horizontally bridging data silos. The architecture features three core layers: the AI factory brain as the “control center,” industrial agents and embodied robots as the “execution network,” and the physical twin as the “digital mirror.”

Leveraging its deep industrial expertise and comprehensive solution capabilities, Shanghai Electric will continue to drive the implementation of AI in industrial settings, tackle technical challenges facing embodied intelligence in complex scenarios, accelerate the large‑scale deployment of AI‑native smart factories, and deliver replicable solutions across diverse manufacturing environments.

SOURCE Shanghai Electric

Continue Reading

Trending