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“Highly recommended and very professional. Azure has become our strategic partner – they go the extra step.”
- Global Network Manager, Harris Interactive
“Very responsive and professional in approach. Azure provided guidance and regular updates, which we hugely appreciated. Azure delivers high quality end results which keep on improving each year.”
- Lead Analyst, Datamonitor
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Company |
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Azure Knowledge Corporation is a leading provider of market research services with more than twelve years of experience in serving Fortune 500
clients across the globe. Azure is globally recognized and respected for its capabilities
and experience and is a preferred service provider to leading companies in market research,consulting,telecom,
banking, insurance, healthcare, automotive, consumer goods and retail sectors.
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Azure specializes in providing primary research, secondary research and support services outsourcing solutions to clients.
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Some Key Facts:
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- Among the largest and most respected market research service providers in India
and China
- More than 3500 trained knowledge professionals in the Azure group
- Multi-location operations covering India, China, Kenya and USA
- Serving Fortune 500 clients since 2001
- ISO 9001--certified operations and quality processes
- ISO 27001--certified Information Security infrastructure and practices
- Multilingual staff interacting with respondents/customers across more than 105 countries
in 24 international languages
- State-of-the-art infrastructure with best-in-class technology including hardware,
software, connectivity and storage
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Azure has been the recipient of several international accolades and awards by industry
associations as well as clients for performance and service excellence.
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What clients appreciate about Azure is:
- It?s Process Oriented approach in providing services by meticulously planning the
workflow and support systems
- Setting the right benchmarks for quality and delivery
- Using technology as a backbone to provide faster, better and cost-effective services
to clients
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Service Quality Assurance
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Transparency
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- Process oriented approach
- Systems driven operations and delivery model
- Focus on continuous training and improvement
- Intelligent reuse of data and respondent/customer history to increase effectiveness
of future transactions
- Knowledge Portal for each process with incentives for submission and usage of knowledge
assets
- Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) defined and put in place for each process
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Client Extension Teams
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- Dedicated teams trained on client industry, organization and processes
- Client involvement in team member selection, orientation and induction
- Secured VPN connectivity between client and Azure site allowing Azure team to work
on client systems as they would work if at client site
- Exclusive operations floor/area with access restricted only to Azure team members
dedicated to client
- SOPs defined in consultation with client and as an extension of client's current
processes
- Technology/Systems setup so as to replicate client environment within Azure
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- Real-time Reporting of data/statistics with graphs and charts available to Client
on any computing/mobile device
- Facility for Live Monitoring of associates by Client using their regular phone/mobile
device from anywhere in the world
- Single Point of Contact (SPOC) available for client during client specified business
hours for updates, action implementation, status/performance discussion, issue resolution
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Business Continuity
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- 1:3 redundancy on voice and data connectivity including carrier redundancy
- 1:2 redundancy on all technological equipments to ensure 99.98% uptime
- Well defined and documented Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP)
- Strong financial health and backing by investors
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SBU Structure
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- Greater ownership to team/unit dedicated to a Client Process
- Agility of a small company
- Clear accountability of activities and actions
- Diversification of operational risk for Client
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Azure Knowledge Corporation:
- Among the largest and most respected KPO/BPO service providers in Western India
and China
- More than 3500 trained knowledge professionals
- Multi-location operations covering India, China, Kenya and USA
- Serving Fortune 500 clients since 2001
- ISO 9001 certified operations and quality processes
- ISO 27001 certified Information Security infrastructure and practices
- Multilingual staff interacting with respondents/customers across more than 105 countries
in 24 international languages
- State-of-the-art infrastructure with best-in-class technology including hardware,
software, connectivity and storage
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"To ENABLE our clients to effectively COMPETE AND WIN by constantly DELIVERING
VALUE through KNOWLEDGE and INNOVATION "
Azure envisions being a company owned, managed and shared by Azureians.
Azure core values are summarized in its SPRITE
philosophy:
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SPIRIT:
Azureians shall always work with a positive spirit and an attitude of getting things
done
PROCESS ORIENTATION:
All activities undertaken by Azureians will be based on processes that are defined,
documented,continuously monitored and improved.
RESPONSIVENESS:
High responsiveness to the needs and expectations of all stakeholders.
INTEGRITY:
Integrity in interactions and dealings with all stakeholders including clients,
vendors, other Azureians and the society.
TRANSPARENCY:
Transparency and fairness across all transactions and decisions.
EFFECTIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY:
Use Azure’s strength in IT effectively to delight clients and maximize returns
for them.
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Year/Period
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Key Events
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2000 |
Set up a 200 seats Global Contact center to provide Market Research and Financial
Services to Fortune 500 companies |
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2003 |
Added Mortgage Processing and Mortgage Origination Support services;
First multi-country, multi-lingual B2B Market Research Project executed successfully |
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2004 |
Expand MR capabilities to include Survey Programming, Data Processing;
Conducted more than 30,000 web and phone interviews |
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2005 |
Added 2 Fortune 500 companies as key clients with long term contracts;
Financial services expansion to UK, Europe and Australia;
Expanded multi-lingual capability to cover 12 international languages |
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2006 |
ISO 27001 certification;
Azure bags financial services contract from one of the top 5 global financial companies;
Bags large IT solutions contracts |
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2007 |
Launched China office in Guangzhou; Took 49% stake in Citizens Financial Mortgage;
Ranked among the top ITES companies by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B);
Launches IT solutions company: SuccessCraft |
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2008 |
2008 Azure wins "Best Customer Responsiveness Practice" award instituted
by Avaya
Global Connect, adjudged by Ernst & Young and ACNielsen;
Setup 100 seat facility in Philadelphia, US;
Azure opens new facilities in Pune, Chennai, Noida (New Delhi).
Azure receives $12 Million funding from Greater Pacific Capital, UK. |
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2009 |
Azure wins " Best BPO/KPO company, Highest Employment Generator of Gujarat"
Award by Gesia
Azure wins "Top 50 ITES Companies of India" Award by Dun & Bradstreet
Azure wins "Best Service Partner for Hiring Excellence" Award by Vodafone
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2010 |
Azure wins "Top 50 Emerging IT/ITES companies of india" Award by NASSCOM
Azure wins "Excellent contributions towards business initiatives" Award
by Reliance
Azure wins "Best Service Partner for Hiring Excellence" Award by Vodafone
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2011 |
Azure wins "Best Rising Star in Revenue Growth" Award by IAOP
Azure wins "Best Rising Star in Number of Employees" Award by IAOP
Azure wins "Best Rising Star in Employee Growth" Award by IAOP
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Center Expansion Timeline
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Year/Period |
Locations |
# of Seats
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Professionals
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2000- 2004 |
Ahmedabad (1) |
200-310 |
100-300 |
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2005 |
Ahmedabad (1) |
450 |
550 |
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2006 |
Ahmedabad (3) |
1000 |
800 |
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2007 |
Ahmedabad (4),Guangzhou |
1500
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1600 |
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2008 |
Ahmedabad (4), Guangzhou, Philadelphia,
Pune, Chennai.
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1800 |
2500 |
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2009 |
Ahmedabad (4), Guangzhou, Philadelphia,
Pune, Chennai.
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2200 |
3200 |
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2010 |
Ahmedabad (4), Guangzhou, Philadelphia,
Nairobi, Chennai.
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3200 |
3500 |
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Dushyant Joshi |
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Founder
&
Managing Director
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Dushyant Joshi, Founder and Managing Director, is a management graduate from Anand,
India who started as a first generation entrepreneur at a very early age in his
career. He launched innovative business models in the IT Training industry in 1991
and built a very successful IT Training business to become the largest player in
the state of Gujarat, India by setting up more than 100 IT academies. In 1996, he
formalized all his business ventures under the name of AZURE, thus making AZURE
a leading IT Training brand in Western India.
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In the year 2000, under his leadership AZURE decided to diversify into IT-enabled
services (ITES) and set up Gujarat's first BPO and KPO center in Ahmedabad with
200 seats, which later expanded to more than 2500 seats and is now respected and
recognized to be among the largest KPO companies of India. He is recognized as the
pioneer of IT training and ITES industry in Gujarat.
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In 2009, he pioneered a new-age digital business called Smile of India? which focuses
on bridging the digital divide in the education sector through an innovative digital
platform ZOOMI?.
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Dushyant is known to mentor several entrepreneurs and start-ups and devotes his
time on several social initiatives concerning youth and education.
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Jay Ruparel |
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Co-Founder & CEO
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Jay Ruparel is the co-founder of Azure Knowledge Corporation and currently serves
as it's Chief Executive Officer.
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Jay is an Electronics & Communications Engineer with post graduation in management
from IIM Bangalore. He has worked with Infosys Technologies in Bangalore for 4 years
and with Bell Labs in Boston, prior to starting Azure Knowledge Corporation.
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Jay is Chairperson of the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) and Automation
Committee of CII Gujarat and the Co-Chairperson of ASSOCHAM Gujarat. He is also
Hon. Secretary and a Board of Director at GESIA. In the recent past, he has been
the Chairperson for India@75 Committee of CII for 2 years and the Chairperson for
CII ? Yi (Young Indians) Ahmedabad.
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Jay is currently on the Board of Advisors of the Entrepreneurship Development Center
at MICA and on the Academic Council of Entrepreneurship Development Institute of
India (EDI). He has been a visiting faculty taking sessions on Entrepreneurship
at IIM Ahmedabad, MICA and EDI. He has presented white-papers and articles at leading
international symposiums and conferences.
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Akshaya Prasad |
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Director
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Akshaya co-heads the Indian office of Greater Pacific Capital, a India-China focussed
Private Equity fund. Previously, Akshaya spent nine years at Goldman Sachs in London
and Mumbai. Most recently, he set up Goldman's infrastructure investment business
in India and was part of the senior team managing Goldman Sachs' US$6.5bn Infrastructure
Fund.
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Previously, Akshaya was an Executive Director in Goldman Sachs' Investment Banking
team based in London. In that role, he executed a number of large and complex international
transactions across various industry sectors. Akshaya started his career as a strategy
consultant in London.
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Joe Sealy |
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Joe is one of the founders of Greater Pacific Capital, an India-China focussed Private
Equity fund. Previously, he was a Managing Director in the Investment Banking division
at Goldman Sachs. Joe has been a specialist in providing strategic advice to clients
covering communications, media, entertainment, advertising and security.
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Joe has been an experienced strategic advisor to corporations, investors and government
institutions across multiple regions and industries. He has previously held the
position of Partner at KPMG in strategy consulting and implementation and has also
held various positions as an advisor in the public sector, specialising in privatisation
and outsourcing.
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Pradeep Udhas |
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Pradeep is Executive Director with KPMG, heading IT/ITeS sector. Prior to this,
Pradeep was Managing Director of Greater Pacific Capital, an Indo-China private
equity firm, heading India operations.
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Previously, Pradeep was a partner with KPMG where his
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responsibilities included heading Sourcing Advisory practice globally. He also headed
Markets for India which covered major sectors, including Consumer Markets, Industrial
Markets, Private Equity, IT, & Telecom. Pradeep also had responsibility to oversee
Risk Advisory Services for the Middle-East and South-East Asia (MESA) region as
Chief Operating Officer.
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Prior to that, he was one of the partners from KPMG USA, who founded the Indian
practice. Pradeep held responsibility for KPMG’s ICE (Information Communication
& Entertainment) line of business. Pradeep established many long term client
relationships like Oracle, Lucent, Cognizant, Hughes telecom, etc. He also played
a key role in a major KPMG Europe initiative to set up an end to end IT solutions
supply chain for e-business.
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Pradeep also founded e2e Technologies, along with other partners from KPMG and some
leading information technology professionals. e2e had offices in NJ, USA, Hong Kong
and Mumbai and offered solution architecture and program management services to
clients like Verizon, PCCW, Hong Kong, etc. Pradeep has been a major contributor
to the technology industry. While working in IBM, USA, Pradeep, along with other
IBM colleagues, pioneered the offshore delivery paradigm for IBM, US and setup operations
in India in 1990.
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Pradeep has served as a member of the Executive Council of NASSCOM, a think tank
of Indian Software Industry consisting of CEOs/Country Heads from companies such
as IBM, Tata Consulting Services, Infosys, Oracle, etc, which influences major policy
decisions of the Indian Government. His contributions to the Indian Software Industry
have been well acclaimed. He was closely involved in strategy formulations of major
software companies. Pradeep was also appointed as an Information Technology advisor
to the Prime Minister Perry Christie of the Bahamas. Pradeep is currently serving
as western region President of of the Indo-US Chamber of Commerce and is also the
board member of TiE, Mumbai.
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Pradeep has an MBA with MIS / Computer Science major from Union College, Schenectady,
NY.
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Abhilash Mankad |
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Chief
Operating Officer
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Abhilash Mankad, Chief Operating Officer, has over 16 years of experience in the
Information, Communication and Technology industry with expertise in managing Multi-Country
Operations, Service Delivery to Fortune 500 clients and Client/Account Relationship
Management across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
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Abhilash has been associated with Azure since its inception and prior to his current
role, Abhilash was the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Azure responsible for strategy,
planning, execution and management of all IT/Technology assets and initiatives across
the organization.
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Abhilash directly oversees the International Market Research business at Azure and
has in-depth experience in managing large scale, multi-lingual, multi-mode research
studies for leading MR companies globally. He has spent considerable time in China
setting up Azure?s China operations and in managing research across China, Hong
Kong, Japan and Korea.
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Biraj Ganguly |
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Vice President Research Services
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Biraj Ganguly currently serves as Vice President - Research Services and is responsible
for managing marketing and sales for the Research Services domain of Azure. He has
been with Azure since May 2010 and earlier also managed Vendor Partner relationships
at Azure along with his Sales & Marketing role. Prior to Azure, he worked in a leading
MR company where he was responsible for managing vendor partner relationships. Biraj
has experience and understanding of the market research industry that allows him
to assist clients in planning and executing their global market research projects
efficiently.
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He graduated from Maharishi Dayanand University with a bachelor?s degree in Technology
(B. Tech.), specialising in Electronics and Communications. Being an engineer, he
loves playing with numbers and trying new/different approaches to make project execution
more efficient. Biraj is a member of ESOMAR and has represented Azure at the ESOMAR
Congress and other local events. His experience in global market research combined
with Azure?s network of reliable partners, allows him to provide clients access
to local intelligence and competitive costs across markets. |
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When he is not working on a proposal with a client or trying to find that unique
approach to solve a client?s research problem, Biraj can be found hooked to automotive
forums or enjoying a long drive in his car.
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Shivang A. Bhatt |
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Vice President
Training and Development
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Shivang A. Bhatt, Vice President Training & Development at Azure, brings significant
training and operational experience of serving Fortune 500 Companies to Azure. With
a Masters degree in Law and Business Management, Shivang has been associated with
Azure Knowledge Corporation since its inception in 2001. He has expertise in setting
up and managing Training & Operations ecosystem, processes and resources, as necessary,
for various industry verticals including Telecom, BFSI and Education.
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Shivang’s other key area of expertise is Political and Educational Research.
He also manages operations and training for "Smile of India", an
associated venture of Azure, which provides digital platform and services to universities
and educational institutes across the globe.
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Shivang is a prolific speaker, having addressed audiences at national and international
seminars/conferences, a voracious reader of books and popularly called the Walking
Wikipedia at Azure.
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Best Rising Star in Employee Growth
Awarded By : IAOP
Awarded Year : 2011
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Best Rising Star in Number of Employees
Awarded By : IAOP
Awarded Year :2011
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Best Rising Star in Revenue Growth
Awarded By : IAOP
Awarded Year : 2011 |
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Excellent contributions towards business initiatives.
Awarded By : Reliance
Awarded Year : 2010
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Top 50 Emerging IT/ITES companies of india
Awarded By : NASSCOM
Awarded Year : 2010
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Best Service Partner for Hiring Excellence
Awarded By : Vodafone
Awarded Year : 2009 and 2010
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Top 50 ITES Companies of India
Awarded By : Dun & Bradstreet
Awarded Year : 2007 and 2009
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Best BPO/KPO company
Awarded By : Gesia
Awarded Year : 2007,2008,2009,2010
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50 Best Work Places of India
Awarded By : Great Place to Work Institute
Awarded Year : 2008
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Best BPO/KPO company, Highest Employment Generator of Gujarat
Awarded By : Gesia
Awarded Year : 2008
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Best Customer Responsiveness Practice Award
Awarded By : Avaya Global Connect
Awarded Year : 2008
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Azure wins NASSCOM award at NASSCOM EmergeOut Conclave
Awarded By : NASSCOM
Awarded Year : 2012
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Smile of India which is India’s first Interactive – Informative and
Intelligent Help Desk is a concept which acts as a one stop destination for its
users to gather information which is relevant – useful – credible –accurate
and intelligent which helps them to take informed and wise decisions in various
walks of life.
Over the last 3 years, Azure has focused on Smile of India, which empowers the student,
teaching and parent communities with their right to information on institutions,
courses, universities and eligibility, and helps them to to make the right career
decision.
With a captive database of over 37,000 unique colleges/institutes and over 7000
careers, Smile of India innovatively addresses a unique opportunity in the rapidly
rising education sector in India.
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Azure strongly believes in striving to fulfill its corporate social responsibilities,
and organizes events and other activities for supporting social causes.
Azure's contribution to Yuva Unstoppable as a part of its Corporate Social Responsibility,
has created a massive impact.
YUVA Unstoppable is an on-going revolution with 60000 young members across 30 cities
of India reaching more than 1.5 lakh municipal and less privileged kids through
organizational partnerships with schools, colleges, and corporate houses with the
vision of inspiring kindness.
To give our employees a platform to connect and contribute to the underprivileged
strata of society, the following are a few of the initiatives we have undertaken:
1. Session of Compassion: Municipal school kids visit our office premises to celebrate
and connect with our team members and we ensure that they get enough fuel for their
dreams to carry back.
2. Creating Knowledge Banks: Our team members donate books and other required resources
in order to create and manage libraries at assigned Municipal schools.
Azure's partnership with Yuva Unstoppable has enabled many children around to have
the opportunity of a lifetime, and continues to spread hope in order to fulfill
their dreams.
Azure employees spend their time with the young, and the old, and different sectors
of the society, help and encourage them to live a full life.
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Event: The Christmas Carnival
"Azure ? Yuva Group had organized the Christmas Carnival Event as a group effort
with Yuva Unstoppable. Team distributed gifts, snacks and chocolates to the students
of Municipality School. This event was held @ Ellisbridge School # 7 on 22nd December
2012".
Azure Day ( with Senior Citizens )
Azure Day ( Honoring Public servants )
Azure ? Yuva Group
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News |
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Best Rising Star in Employee Growth - IAOP 2011 Global Outsourcing 100 SUB-LISTS
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Best Rising Star in Number of Employees - IAOP 2011 Global Outsourcing 100 SUB-LISTS
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Best Rising Star in Revenue Growth - IAOP 2011 Global Outsourcing 100 SUB-LISTS
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Harris Interactive chooses Azure as Exclusive Partner for Indian Markets
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Azure Attends ESOMAR in Netherlands, September, 2011
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Azure wins NASSCOM award at NASSCOM EmergeOut Conclave
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Picture Gallery
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