Smart-sourcing strategies: Techology, Business, Finance

India's Aspiring English Speakers

An article by Sadanand Dhume is good one but its hardly a news but still worth noting especially as H1B debate heats up in USA. Fact of business life is that work will go to the workers that business owners think provide the best value (quality for money). For IT industry for past couple of decades that place is primarily India. Many other countries are climbing up the ladder fast as India is also moving up on the value chain.

At 8 p.m. on a Saturday, Rajeev Chamoli could be glued to a television screen watching cricket, or out with friends at one of this city's many pubs. Instead, Mr. Chamoli, a 27-year-old software programmer, sits under a ceiling fan in a boxy classroom practicing his English along with five other students. "I would say I'm a very positive attitude guy," says Mr. Chamoli in response to a teacher's question. "I have an aggressive personality."

I think that in a true free market, the real decision factors behind the work flow and place of work are not politics or laws of country. It has been proved again and again that - Isolationism or protectionism in long run do not work. Unions can limit the growth of industry and can severely affect competitiveness. Policies and laws can curtail or slow down the work flowing to other countries but not completely stop it. They can very well do so but only at the price of innovation and  market leadership.

Real decision factors are Consumers and (consumer focused) Businesses!

Salesforce Chatter: Dynamic landscape of business development

So, immediately after Google announced its social networking strategy Buzz, Salesforce launched their own social networking service Chatter in Beta. Although Salesforce did announce their service in November - well before Buzz. Buzz is aimed at Facebook. Chatter is mainly focused towards businesses.

Salesforce CEO says - "I know when my friends have gone to the movies, but I don't know when my VP of sales last visited my top customer," said Benioff on the Dreamforce stage. "I know when I've been tagged in a photo, but don't know when a key document has been updated."

This feature and ability is fantastic! Like any businessman, I personally would love to have this kind of information at my finger tips about my company's sales leads and clients. What better leverage technology can provide your business other than competitive advantage?

This made me think about other aspect of this paradigm shifting technology. How do users (salesforce users for example) keep up with the pace of these 'new ways of doing things (NWODT)'? I look after majority of business development activities for my company. Agreed that our salesforce is much smaller compared to big corporations and also our business network. But, still first question is - To what extent do NWODT really help users to be more effective and how can one measure the increase in effectiveness? In order to see what's happened (an event) - someone who is making it happen needs to update the status. And, that will need wider adaptability of this NWODT. Only then, one can leverage its full benefit.

Second question is - how many of the people involved in sales & marketing actually keep up with these changes in technology and trends and leverage it for the competitive advantage. It is one thing to socially network on LinkedIN and Facebook. It is also quite normal to use recommendation, introductions and other features that come with these networks. This type is usage can be categorized as - logging, browsing and researching. But, how many users actually seek introduction and/or receive such requests for introduction and/or get introduced? Answer may vary among users, but chances are common answer is 'Not Much!'. When was the time you received an request for introduction and acted upon it?

So my point is this - technology is a wonderful thing. Early adaption is exciting. NWODT is great. But one thing that none of this can provide or replace is - sense of purpose! Organizational focus and passion!! That is an essential element for success. And when that is there, these technologies such as Buzz and Chatter will amplify the efforts to great heights. I think in order to be more successful, your business  must have One before it seeks Two.

Business Innovation and Impact of Blue Oceans

Here is a good article from Dr. Y. L. R. Moorthi in WSJ. Dr. Moorthi is Professor at one of the prestigious management institute in India. He has great mastery and authority on business management  subject. 

He has made some very good observations in his article, particularly about Nokia being the #1 camera seller in India and Airtel being the #1 music seller in India.

Who sells the largest number of cameras in India?

Your guess is likely to be Sony, Canon or Nikon. The answer is: None of the above. The winner is Nokia, whose main line of business in India is not cameras but cellphones.

The reason is that cameras bundled with cellphones are outselling standalone cameras. Now, what prevents the cellphone from replacing the camera outright? Nothing at all.

Try this. Who runs the biggest music business in India? The answer is Airtel. By selling caller tunes (that play for 30 seconds) Airtel earns more than music companies do by selling albums.

However, I don't completely agree about some of his other observations and predictions.

Remember, if there is one place where Newton's law of gravity is applicable besides physics it is in electronic hardware, where prices consistently fall. Between 1977 and 1991, prices of the now-dead VCR crashed to one third of their original levels in India. PC prices also dropped. If this trend repeats itself, then videoconferencing prices will also crash. Imagine the fate of airlines then.

Basic difference between VCR, PC and Videoconferencing is this - VCR and PC each were products by itself. Once could use each of these products (VCR with a cassette and PC with monitor, of-course)  by itself. Videoconferencing is not a product but a service. Hardware is just one component of it. Other one, and major one, is bandwidth. Looking at struggle between and Apple and AT&T in USA over bandwidth and  AT&T planning to charge more heavy usage - chances are Videoconferencing cost possibly might go up in short to mid term before (after considerable time) it will come down.

Same is true for his example of airline industry. 

In 2008, who was the toughest competitor to British Airways for international flights in India? Singapore Airlines? Indian Airlines? Maybe, but there is a more interesting answer: The videoconferencing services of Hewlett-Packard and Cisco.

This observations is true for only business travel. Although, videoconferencing will adversely impact business travel in India, most of this impact will be nullified by new middle class leisure travelers. This new, upper middle class is air traveling more and traveling frequent. And it is becoming very common for this class to fly to Dubai, Malaysia, Thailand and even to Europe for small and long vacations. So, I think, Yes, there will be impact and airlines will need to change their offering to attract families and vacationers. But they will not have the same fate as type-writers or fountain pens.

Testing India's graduates: The engineering gap | The Economist

This article in Economist is good one but nothing new really. Many leading IT companies are cognizant about this fact for years and each of the leading companies has its own training programs to overcome this limitation.It is observed that, what engineers in India receive from colleges is a basic framework. IT companies then make an investment in to these resources by training them into cutting edge resources - technical and domain specific.

According to the company, only 4.2% of India’s engineers are fit to work in a software product firm, and just 17.8% are employable by an IT services company, even with up to six months’ training. A larger share could cope in business-process outsourcing (call centres and the like). These findings are even gloomier than the 25% figure for employability that has been bandied about since 2005, when McKinsey released the results of a survey of international companies.

via www.economist.com

It is very important for an American company looking to partner with an Indian company - to scrutinize intellectual and techno-functional knowledge base during due diligence phase. My company is a US based SaaS and cloud computing solutions company. We work with many offshore vendors from various countries. We run several key initiatives to make sure that each and every team has enough width and depth - in both required technology and business knowledge. And, we maintain and provide periodic metrics to our clients. So, yes Economist article does point to the problem, but companies have already been addressing this issue successfully for years now.

From YouTube video to Hollywood contract

Here is a very good article by Gaurav Jain in WSJ about a small computer animation team in in Uruguay who made a small animation film which eventually won them a contract from Hollywood studio for $30 Million. Gaurav himself is a head of an animation company based in Mumbai and his observation and perspective about the subject naturally gives him authority:

Unfortunately, India continues to struggle in this regard. The Indian film industry is notoriously difficult to break into for outsiders and aspirants have to fight a strong current of nepotism. Over the last decade, established film makers have begun to offer newer talent the opportunity to create films but there is still a long way to go until it becomes a meritocracy.

In addition, Indian artists suffer from a general lack of self esteem regarding their skills. Very few ever bother to go beyond the call of duty and create anything that stems from personal effort and vision. Most artists treat their jobs as a 9 to 5 ordeal, necessary for survival. When they leave the studio they switch off.

Although I don't know much about animation industry, I have over the years seen similar traits in software industry. 

Don't take me wrong. India (and Indians) have great skills, tremendous zeal and knowledge about software and its nitty-gritty. India, no doubt, deserves the success it has achieved over the last two decades in IT. But, for many of engineers and talent workers in Indian IT industry, money or monetary awards generally associated with the software / technology industry still have been a primary motivation factor.

Just over 18-20 years ago, prior to 1990-92 (when Infosys was just over few million dollars company, or Lou Grestner hadn't become IBM CEO yet), I saw many of my friends and colleagues who entered software industry because of pure quest for intellectual challenges and sense of becoming part of 'changing the world' mindset. Apple, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak,  Microsoft were the magic words of discussions on campus and in office. Barrier to entry was low because there were not many people in that industry. Many colleges still didn't have IT or computers as one of the main offerings. Dataquest and India Express were the primary (and probably only) publications in India for IT then. Codd Yordon and Boch were read religiously. And, almost all of these techies who came to IT around then - DID routinely work more than 12-15 hours a day and even on weekends and were very happy about it.

There is no surprise then, that most of the techies who entered the filed during those days are either successful US, UK... or, currently in mid and high management positions in India leading India's revolution. And, I can say that just like many other globalization flattners for India, these techies, their dedication and work ethics provided a key strength and readiness for India to flourish as a global IT powerhouse. 

Coming back to Jain's story - just over a year ago I was in a project team meeting in India. It was a marathon meeting focused on discussing some key project challenges and issues. During the lunch while we were talking about other, non-work things, I happened to mention Steve Jobs and his legendary focus to perfection. I received NO feedback from the team! When I asked them if they knew about Steve Jobs - in the team of 15+ engineers working on a cutting edge project for a US client - NO ONE knew Steve Jobs!

Is this what the Jain implies? Are the IT professionals in India (and probably many other emerging countries) are too focused on playing the game for survival that they are not enjoying the game? What Jain says that Most artists [in India] treat their jobs as a 9 to 5 ordeal, necessary for survival. When they leave the studio they switch off; is it also true for IT professionals [in India]? Do most IT professionals [in India] treat their jobs as a 9 to 9 ordeal, necessary for survival and when they leave the office they switch off?

Great, Practical How-To's for a Current Day Entrepreneur.

Recently finished Mark Benioff's (Founder and CEO of a leading SaaS company salesforce.com) book Behind the Cloud. There are many great books based on the venture or a success of a leading company. But story that is told by those actually involved is always different and worth reading.

While reading, this book reminded me lot of Netscape Time a great one by Jim Clark, founder of Netscape - earliest .com company whose IPO on wall street was defined as one of the flatteners in another great book World is Flat.

How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world's fastest growing software company in less than a decade? For the first time, Marc Benioff, the visionary founder, chairman and CEO of salesforce.com, tells how he and his team created and used new business, technology, and philanthropic models tailored to this time of extraordinary change. Showing how salesforce.com not only survived the dotcom implosion of 2001, but went on to define itself as the leader of the cloud computing revolution and spark a $46-billion dollar industry, Benioff's story will help business leaders and entrepreneurs stand out, innovate better, and grow faster in any economic climate. (from amazon.com)

But to anyone looking for ways to build a solid company with innovation, passion for creating sustained customer value - this books is a must read. There are some technical words that you may not understand if you are not already familiar with the domain. However overall this book is fun and easy read.

Should Internet Search be charged for other countries and be treated as US Export?

Last part of the book on Warren Buffet talks lot about US dollar devaluation. It explains in detail how US is importing more and exporting lesser and lesser, and US dollar being under pressure. It's not a news anymore that China (with all the cheap goods) and Middle East (with all the oil money) own many American assets. If this trend continues for a while they will be in far more control. This very same thing has been explained really well in a movie - I.O.U.S.A.  with lot of animation.

So here is a question - What's most widely used product / service OR Intellectual Property across the world which originates from USA? Internet Search. Google. Bing. Yahoo. Millions of users from Hundreds of countries submit and benefit from Billions of Search queries  every day. And, although these companies have resources (employees and hardware and some advertisers) in many of these countries, most of the other countries are pure beneficiaries and don't contribute as much.

What if America asks other countries - with exception of some very active partners such as India, China, western European nations, etc. - to pay for the use of Internet Search and other related services that as of now are globally free?

Could Internet Search be treated as a product that is being exported out of the USA - adding to US coffers and of course, the company coffers?

Could Internet Search be denied to the countries as part of government sanctions?

If sale of an iPod or notebook to other country can add to the US export, why a set of 10,000 search queries originating from that same country (with some exceptions as noted above) shouldn't be treated as a 'product' and add to the US export?

Business Analytics - Next wave for India?

Analyzing all this data and coming to the meaningful conclusions which will actually help make business decision that will lead to growth and profits is itself challenging task. My company routinely consults with clients and develops BI solutions for them. What we find is - that companies are not necessarily always  clear about what they are trying to gain from the BI apps. Even starting with general goals and then zooming in to more specific insights can  lead to substantial Business Intelligence. 

Nice article in Information Week--

IBM's Business Analytics Center of Competency, headquartered in the tech center of Bangalore, will employ more than 200 consultants skilled in applying business analytics and data mining techniques to complex information challenges and opportunities, IBM said.

Make no mistake--this isn't low-margin, end-of-life commodityware Big Blue is tossing over the border. IBM CEO Sam Palmisano last week told my colleagues Bob Evans and Rob Preston that the business analytics wave "is just at the beginning" and that the technology, along with cloud computing, will have a profound impact on the IT segment in the years ahead.

The reasons behind vendors' rush to India for their business analytics needs are pretty straightforward. The country offers an abundant supply of low-cost, highly skilled labor, and geographic proximity to growing emerging markets--including India's own burgeoning domestic economy.

To boot, the creation of business analytics tools takes more than just traditional software development skills, it also calls for high-end math capabilities given the emphasis on data mining, statistical sampling and forecasting. India produces about 690,000 math and sciences graduates each year, according to a study released Friday. The comparable number for the U.S. is 420,000.

 Over the years, companies have created tons of data from their everyday business activity. And, storage price is cheap than ever. With challenging economic times, companies are struggling to create niche and/or competitive advantage.  Best way to start? Their own database of information. 

Charging more for Heavy iPhone Data Users

AT&T Threatens To Penalize Heavy iPhone Data Users

In the aftermath of a bruising advertising battle with Verizon Wireless that highlighted the limitations of AT&T's 3G network, an AT&T executive told investors that high-bandwidth iPhone users could face higher usage charges. Ralph de la Vega, AT&T's head of consumer services, told investors at a UBS conference in New York that people who consume a large amount of data would receive incentives to "reduce or modify their usage," the Associated Press reported.

Although this probably makes sense from business point of view - so they can invest mode in network or discourage users from over utilizing bandwidth over business users particularly at peak hours - it really doesn't make much sense from technology point of view.

My company develops applications for iPhone and mobile platform. After all, iPhone and mobile apps are becoming less of a lifestyle and more of a productivity tools. And, move such as this from a provider could probably move some serious users away. I hope this doesn't move from AT&T doesn't last long and they work on providing more coverage, bandwidth and redundancy through their network.

In the aftermath of a bruising advertising battle with Verizon Wireless that highlighted the limitations of AT&T's 3G network, an AT&T executive told investors that high-bandwidth iPhone users could face higher usage charges. Ralph de la Vega, AT&T's head of consumer services, told investors at a UBS conference in New York that people who consume a large amount of data would receive incentives to "reduce or modify their usage," the Associated Press reported.

Keeping America Great - Warren Buffett and Bill Gates

This is the great interview of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. Good questions and answers about economy, education, entrepreneurship and innovation.