Nipuna Neupane, Author at CellApp Innovations

Managing life in lockdown!

May 15, 2020Disaster & Emergency Response, Experiences, Impact, Startup 0

Day 53 of the nationwide lockdown today when I am writing this and as of now, the duration of this pandemic can only be guessed. It could be months before it is safe to return to our pre-Corona lifestyles. Personally for me, it has been quite an experience adjusting to this life in lockdown. Everything from work, learning, communication has been online and without much social interaction, things can get quite monotonous and it might affect our mood, behavior and mental health.

HOW AM I COPING WITH THE LOCKDOWN?

As soon as I realized that this lockdown could last a very long time (that was a week into the lockdown), I decided on some things to help adjust with this unfortunate situation. These were what I decided was required:

• Acceptance was first in line. I accepted that the fact that we are in a perishable situation and staying home is what must be done in order to control the spreading of the virus. It can extend to an indefinite period of time.

• After that I needed a routine. How to get along with my day? As I am working from home, it was perhaps easier for me to deal with being locked down as work keeps your mind off other things. Working at Cellapp Innovations and SmartPalika, it is amazing to see how efficiently things get done even while working from home! If you are not working, you could think of things to do like learning to play a new instrument or watching all the best rated movies in IMDB or anything else. It does not have to be a compulsion, just make a flexible routine but meet your targets, get things done!

• I decided to follow a daily workout routine (I don’t really exercise)! As our movements halt, no sports, no going out for activities, we must at least stretch our body once a day. Just to condition the body.

• As I went on thinking about ways to cope with the lockdown, I decided to focus on the positive things that is happening due to this lockdown. Personally for me, I thought of things like: Spending quality time with family. Healthy homemade food every day. Watching sunsets. Working from your bed (not advisable). Learning new skills (I cut my dad’s hair). You could have your own experiences, but we must always try and look forward with optimism and positivity.

• I decided to take at least 15 minutes every day to meditate. Does wonders, trust me!

After all, we must make the most out of what we are dealt with in life!

SO, IS IT WORKING? AM I REAPING THE BENEFITS?

I would say that I am doing very well. In terms of my mental health and well-being, I feel fresh and I look forward to each day with hope, optimism and positivity. The things I do every day have made it easier for me to adjust and mold into this lockdown.

Professionally, I am proud to be able to contribute in helping develop, distribute and implement a Covid-19 Management System to use for local governments of Nepal, free of cost. You can check our work timeline HERE.

It is a difficult time for all of us. Just remember that in a crisis, the winners come out swinging! Stay safe!

Thank You for reading. Pass me your comments below on how this read might have helped you.

Connect with me on LinkedIn.

COVID-19: Fighting back with Technology

May 11, 2020Disaster & Emergency Response, Impact 0

In order to fight the worldwide #COVID19 pandemic, our team at Cellapp Innovations has been working tirelessly since the very beginning in collaboration with SmartPalika and Rakshya. We hope our technological expertise and past experiences with Disaster Response will certainly assist in this mission of #CombatCovid.

After an initiation by SmartPalika, a few of us representing #COVID19 Projects from Ministries and other independent initiations discussed on how we could play an exemplary role in streamlining #CrisisManagement via Technology. We held a video conference using the Team Collab App.

We would like to learn your suggestions on this.

It goes without saying, we were so excited to learn that all of us are very much willing and looking for ways to contribute in this unfortunate time of crisis. There are the major points we concluded:

Learning more on the possibilities of Integrated #CovidResponse Systems with Standard Data Sharing, Security, etc. We talked about Synergy. Such systems are really helpful and may be most necessary if the situation goes worst. (Hopefully, this does not happen)
Looking at the initiations of Federal and Local Level Governments, we see lack of co-ordination, proper roadmap and the zeal to bring about best results. We discussed on the possibilities of being a platform of Initiators who can guide/suggest/transfer technology to the Governments in order to Streamline #CovidRespose Activities.
We talked about how in future (post COVID-19) we together can give a guidance to Local Governments regarding acquisition duplication, scattered systems, etc.

Further development will be updated as it unfolds!

We are overwhelmed by the response we have been receiving and pledge to do our part to overcome these tough times. You can check our work in Disaster response in the past by clicking HERE and all about our initiations for COVID-19 Response system HERE.

Some Snaps from the Video Discussion Session

Hack Corona Virus Impact: A Movement

May 11, 2020Disaster & Emergency Response, Impact, Technology 0

The Corona virus has spread around the world like wildfire and claimed the lives of so many people in a short span of time. Governments all over the world have either imposed a lockdown or advised their citizens to stay at home. Economies are crumbling and there is a deep sense of impending doom in the general atmosphere. Is this the end of the world?

CERTAINLY NOT! Among all this chaos, here at Cellapp Innovations, we are looking for ways to combat against this pandemic in the best way we know: by making meaningful and impact generating tools that can be used in our hack corona mission. We believe it is our responsibility as human beings to respond to any crisis that befalls upon us. During any crisis, we believe in following these steps in order to respond to it: Assess, Engage, Plan, Act and Communicate.

As soon as the pandemic started to hit, we held brainstorming sessions and came up with many ideas on how we could help minimize the impact. Among the ideas that came up, we have tried and integrated those that we felt were essential and helpful. Apart from many campaigns in social media with MYTHBUSTERS, information about Covid-19 and such, Cellapp Innovations in collaboration with SmartPalika has been able to develop some benchmark tools to help hack Corona.

As many false rumours is circulating all over the internet about Corona virus, we felt that there must be a source for authenticated information. Our first step was integrating a Corona Information Module in all official SmartPalika mobile apps of respected local governments. This module contains authentic information gathered from sources such as WHO. The module has the following features :
                1. Symptoms
                2. Precautions to be taken
                3. Myths VS Reality
                4. Self-examination feature

Even though it was a great start, we are always looking to do bigger and better things. Hack Corona then led us into another dimension and we started to work towards building a complete disaster response system with full-fledged Quarantine Management along with Live tracking facilities. After a lot of hard work from our development team, we have come up with the complete system.

The COVID-19 Quarantine Management / Live Tracking System has the following features:

Basic Information (Symptoms, Precautions, Myths VS Reality)
Quarantine Management
Isolation/Self Isolation Management
Assessment/Self Assessment
Medical History and Case Reviews
Live Tracking
Contact Tracing
Relief Management
Inventory Management
Volunteer Management
Municipal Connect

Powered by Rakshya, we are providing this system to all 753 Local Governments of Nepal FREE OF COST! In times of crisis, we are here to help you with whatever we can offer. To see a timeline of how we worked , click HERE!
If you want to contribute in any way in our fight against Corona, please click HERE and learn more!

CiBot - Your sales assistant and a marketing bot - banner

CiBot – Your AI Assistant

May 21, 2020Business, Technology 0

Do you ever wish to have an assistant that is fully reliable and available 24/7? Has work schedule made your day hectic? Well, here we have a perfect sales assistant for you which is called “CiBOT”

Basically, a web bot, an internet bot or a marketing bot is a software that runs automated tasks over the internet. These bots perform tasks that are basic, structural and repetitive. Most available web bots are designed to respond to only queries of a limited type of inquiry. But a perfect marketing bot as an assistant who helps you 24/7 with many tasks with your website and social media is a dream for anyone. Well, to all who are seeking, you have your answer right here – CiBot!

What is CiBot?

CiBot is an AI bot of cellApp innovations that helps to bring a revolutionary change in how responses and inquiries are handled. It provides customers with a highly interactive and humanified version of auto-responders powered by AI. It provides interactive information to clients on basis of subject of conversation and inquiry ( Keyword specific answers ). CiBot is an assistant that is embedded to the website and your social media channels which will provide great assistance to areas such as inquiry response and customer relations.

The difference between other bots and CiBot

Many of you must be thinking,” How is CiBot different from other bots available in the market?” These features make CiBot the standout product of this category and range:

CiBot- Your sales assistant and a marketing bot

Powered by Artificial Intelligence
Embedded to website and social media channels
Auto Query Handling
Interactive with clients and answers as a Human
Can also be integrated into Facebook Messenger
Related Questions section with Categories
Never misses a client inquiry and generates more subscriber

YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS the CiBot! That is the call of the hour and we are here to provide it to you. If you already have a website but are looking for better inquiry handling and responses, it can also be integrated into existing websites as well! Don’t keep your customers waiting for a response, make them feel welcome and keep them immersed and involved with your very own CiBot!

Details of CiBot Components

Google BizFest and BizStart 2019

February 10, 2020Events 0

Google Business Group Kathmandu hosted the “Google Biz Fest and Biz Start 2019” event on 28^th December, 2019 at the premises of D.A.V School, Jawalakhel. The event was focused on providing a platform for startups to conduct interactions to give them an exposure and to exhibit their prowess in their respective fields.

CellApp Innovations was one of the many participating entities of the event. As an incubator having created, deployed and exited 7 startups till date, the purpose of CellApp Innovations was a little different from the other participating startups. We were looking to garner ideas and seeking collaborating partnerships in order to facilitate our upcoming startups and projects. CellApp Innovations also conducted an ‘On the Spot’ interview session for people looking for job placements in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

CellApp Innovations Team GBF startups event — *CellApp Innovations Team at the Event!*

The involvement and response from the participating crowd and other startups was overwhelming and encouraging as it is helping create a startup ecosystem in Nepal similar to the vision CellApp possesses. The interaction was significant so as to see how startups are going about their business in the context of Nepal. It is evident that a well versed startup atmosphere is slowly beginning to come into existence in our country and here at CellApp we believe we are doing our part in grooming and mentoring startups. The message that CellApp Innovations are always ready to assist and mentor any startup ideas that are worthwhile and innovative was conveyed to all participants with ideas who are looking to build a startup.

SmartPalika, one of the biggest startups by CellApp Innovations was also one of the participating startups in the event and claimed widespread plaudits from people visiting the event. SmartPalika is an integrated digital e-governance framework that has disrupted over 27 local governments till date and counting. The fact that SmartPalika was critically acclaimed and liked by so many people in the event instilled a sense of immense pride and fueled us to do even better in the coming future.

Overall, it was a very productive event where entrepreneurs from varied background and stories were gathered under the same room to share their products and stories alike. CellApp Innovations Team really enjoyed the event and learned about many new things happening around. We look forward to participating other similar events and gaining more knowledge and exposure.

E-commerce in Nepal

December 10, 2019Business, Technology 0

E-commerce in Nepal: Past, Present and Future

E-commerce in Nepal has started to grow and impact lives positively. Hungry and lazy? Food will be delivered at your doorsteps from your favorite eateries- choose the food, the restaurant and your method of payment, give them your location for delivery and BOOM food arrives where you want it! Gone are the days when you had to drunk drive to go get more booze while having a night out with your mates- service providers are ready to deliver the liquor of your choice at your doorsteps whenever you want it! These are just examples of how the evolution of online businesses have impacted the purchasing trends and scenarios in Nepal. Our country is currently taking baby steps towards a technical revolution and e-commerce in Nepal looks like a very promising and happening prospect.

To understand more about e-commerce in Nepal, first one must know the basic concept of e-commerce. E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the buying and selling of goods and services, or the transmitting of funds or data, over an electronic network, primarily the internet. These business transactions occur either as business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-consumer or consumer-to-business. So basically, e-commerce means buying or selling anything over the internet. The concept is that you browse for the product of your choice online, buy what you like and it gets delivered to you. It saves you the effort, time and fuel cost. How hectic is shopping when you have to go from shop to shop looking for merchandise? All this is solved by the introduction of e-commerce.

E-commerce in Nepal is a relatively budding prospect. About a decade ago, Send Gifts to Nepal was setup with the help of which people residing abroad sent gifts to their loved ones in Nepal. Although this wasn’t exactly Nepal based, it gave people a sneak peak of what buying things online looked like. Later on, platforms like Muncha.com, Bhatbhatenionline, Thamel.com, Giftmandu et cetera were introduced but could not get their expected popularity because back then people in Nepal were just getting familiar with the Internet and it’s many wonders. With the gradual increase in the number of internet users with time, right now, e-commerce in Nepal is flourishing and gaining huge momentum. People are loving this idea of shopping with the help of their devices- not only clothes but everything from furniture to food, liquor to electronic appliances.

With more people getting access to the internet, the future of e-commerce in Nepal looks even more promising. Because of that, even traditionally run businesses are looking to hire personnel to make their business e-commerce friendly as well. The market is evolving rapidly and those who do not keep up with it are bound to be swept off their feet. The internet is what’s trending right now and it will be the case for the foreseeable future. There may soon come a time when even a small Nepali household will buy their rice, lentils or toothpaste with the help of e-commerce. That is the potential right there. How it will progress depends on how well the businesses can integrate this into the lives of their customers. So far, so good!

If you want to create an amazing E-commerce website to amplify your business, contact us and venture into this amazing world of business with the help of the internet! Click here!

What is VPN?

December 27, 2019Technology 0

VPN: A brief overview

Does being in a developing third world country stop you from pursuing varied interests that you might have on the internet? Do you want to stream music online on Spotify but cannot because you live in Nepal and they do not provide this service here? Is the latest Rakuten TV documentary not available in your country but free to watch in Spain? All these problems could be solved if you could access the internet from a different location than your own, say, The United States or Spain for that matter. Well, fret not because you can actually indulge in the online recreation of your choice while you’re staying at your home in Nepal! Yes, you read it right! A rather useful technological tweak, namely VPN (Virtual Private Network) will do the trick.

In simple terms, with the help of VPN, you can alter the location: your IP address to be more precise so that you can disguise yourself as an internet user from that location and easily access content that would not be possible to access from your actual location. For the more technical people, A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network, and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network. So this is how it works: you request to get into a private network of your choice and eventually you are hauled into one by establishing a virtual point-to-point connection through the use of dedicated circuits or with tunneling protocols over existing networks. Then, you are good to go!

IS THIS LEGAL?

Yes, technically using a VPN is legal. But if you try and do illegal things by using it, it will obviously be against the law. The concept of VPN was originally developed to allow remote users and branch offices to access corporate applications and resources. For better understanding, we can take an example of a bank. Let us assume that a bank allows only a set of IPs from the head office in Kathmandu to access very confidential resources. Now if you are a branch in Mahendranagar and have to access these resources, how can it be made possible? The answer to this was VPN. This made things a lot easier. Contrary to this, nowadays VPN is being used in order to access content that the government or your Internet Service Provider(ISP) have banned. It is not legal, but is it worth it to use and have harmless fun delving into the wide range of services that the internet has to offer? DEFINITELY YES!

IS IT SAFE?

As long as you are not doing anything criminal and using the perks of VPN to enjoy the internet, it is safe. But if you try and indulge in criminal activities and want to use VPN as a cover, beware my friend because you will be found! It is advisable to not disclose your personal information while using VPN because it could be risky! Other than that, enjoy VPN until it lasts because companies are coming up with technologies to block VPN which would effectively and completely stop our foraying into the vast wilderness of internet beyond country boarders!