Registrations for the IBM Software Universe event organized annually have been announced. The event will be held at the Renaissance Convention Centre, Mumbai on November 4th and 5th. Software Universe is a buzzing two day affair filled with talks, presentations, demos and industry sessions. The sessions in the 2008 event were organized into various industry tracks – Manufacturing, Retail, BFSI, Telecom, and Media & Entertainment. These and two additional tracks covering IT services and General Business, were covered on Day…
Browsing Category Business
Social Media: What’s In It For Business?
Even if you take all the generous media attention and coverage away, the social media wave seems to be certainly picking momentum. And I don’t say that just by looking at the number of sign-ups Facebook has each day or how many tweets get fired each second. That doesn’t really suggest an organization should invest in this new trend. What seemed like a fad for college kids has soon made analysts, IT decision makers and vendors sit up and seriously…
OK, So Now I am Redundant. Now What?
Now, considering the response to my previous post Leadership and Redundancy, I think the number of people who have some strong opinions about their bosses is quite overwhelming. For, this post has drawn a huge audience through referrals.
Leadership and Redundancy
Recently, Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat state, made a statement about the Indian Prime Ministers absence from office. Modi had called Manmohan Singh a weak man and had criticised the Prime Minister for being away from office for several weeks despite knowing that the PM was undergoing surgery.
When The Cloud Becomes The Silver-Lining…
Cutting cost is no more an option. It is a must-do that is high on the priority of every organization that wants to survive this slowdown. And no stone is left unturned to find ways to achieve that. Interestingly, this anxiety to cut costs will result in a business that IDC expects will grow to $42 billion by 2012. Or so it seems. Yes, we are talking about cloud computing. If you are wondering how this business of IT keeps…
Headache Balmer…
I wrote this a day after Microsoft released its annual figures for 2008. But somehow haven’t found time to actually post it. Until today. For, today was a day that I will never forget. Today was a bitch. We have all been talking about the market slowdown, the global meltdown and all that, but today was the day that reality came up-close to my face – and planted a slap on it. It happened as I was walking out of…
Collaborating on Value, Collaborating for Innovation.
Just when I was thinking I have probably gone on about the innovation imperative a tad too much in these recent posts, something happens and here I am all fired up, writing to champion the case for innovation all over again. A few weeks ago, I attended the IBM Software Universe 2008 held here in Mumbai. And guess what the core theme for the whole two day event was? Real Innovations. Real Results. Ponani Gopalakrishnan, VP at IBM Labs in…
What’s The State Of Things?
There is widespread panic across the world. A looming breakdown of global economy has made us all sit up in anxiety. But don’t make a mistake by thinking it might be the end of the world. It probably is not. But, again, don’t make a mistake by thinking it won’t be. It just doesn’t have to. If the tough get going when the going gets tough, here is the situation that is going to be tough for the tough to…
Customer Support, How Can We Help You?
An endless number and combinations of technologies are available for organizations to use, woo and win customers and then keep them happy. There is even a spate of emerging technologies – like Enterprise 2.0, that is going to be immensely valuable in this. But, exactly how valuable? Like I had discussed in one of my earlier posts(Click:The Corrotion of Competitive Advantage), all these technologies are available equally to all players. But, obviously the same technologies or combination of technologies produce…
A Waste Or A Necessary Evil?
There is an exercise common to IT service companies that is so very critical that its importance can never be over-emphasised. It brings together the best effort of people from different departments, different roles, different levels and can make a big difference to the course an organization takes. And then there is an activity that is a terrible waste of time, so much so that it can completely drain away and collosally waste weeks or months of collective hard work…
The Corrosion of Competitive Advantage
Tom Felt much like Jonathon Livingston Seagull. He was surrounded by men wearing black hats, and they all smiled the same way, nodded the same way, shook hands the same way and made deals the same way. They ran on the same fuel and acted on the same thoughts. Tom knew he could be different. And in being different he could be better. And so one day he threw his black hat out and wore a blue hat. Life changed…
Not Much Has Changed…
Much has been written about the outsourcing debate. Americans are becoming more and more outspoken about their disapproval of the idea and there are many groups that question the way visas are being handed out to ‘aliens’, particularly Indian aliens. The current socio-political context in the US has further exacerbated the issue. Both Hillary and Obama are playing to the gallery and have sent unmistakable anti-outsourcing messages. The US Sub-prime led recessionary symptoms have made demands to protect local jobs…
Passive, Active, Or Proactive?
Sales people are result oriented. They don’t stop till they get things done. So this particular sales man drives a hard drive. He pushes and edges his way forward. He calls and counsels and goads. He sells hard, he sells soft. If the deal is hard, he thinks harder. He thinks out of the box, he thinks from inside it. He even ‘listens’ to the customer! He tells the customer what they want. And they listen with respect. He brushes…
A Challenge Called YOU
There is this problem of the convertibility that’s a big worry for IT vendors from India. There is the constant challenge quarter on quarter to grow steadily. There is perpetual fear of eroding margins. There is a constant need to improve quality. There is the constant demand for higher wages.