Every morning I walk the air cooled corridors of my company. The icy blast of air from the ceiling provides welcome relief from the oppressive heat outside. I walk quietly, afraid of disturbing the early birds, already at work. I think about my work and begin to plan my day. I also think about how I am going to do this for a long time to come, an unbreaking ritual till the day I am broken by age or my uselessness.

I try not to think of the world outside, the insane collapse that is happening all around! This is the time I feel grateful for my situation. I have a job, tons of work to complete and more in the offing. I feel good batting on a stable wicket. Sounds like a dream, but could have been a nightmare too, as it is for many unfortunates who have been ruthlessly awakened from their starry eyed dreams of a career in the IT world.

The same corridors of the IT world are now fraught with tension and uncertainty, the twin enemies of the software engineer. Wannabe employees are tense with thoughts of not being able to get in anymore. veterans are tense with thoughts of finding themselves outside! Gone, gone, gone – the damage done.

The prevalent global meltdown of economies and subsequently corporations has hit the IT industry the hardest. What was once a roller coaster ride for Indian IT firms has come to a screeching halt now. From the merry days of huge paychecks, mega bonuses and hikes to almost nothing!

Everybody wakie wakie, the party’s over!

I have been in the fortunate situation of knowing no one who has lost his or her job but I know enough people who are on the edge. Heck, I could be one of them too, if things slide down further! I look around me and only see anxious faces. I wonder when it will get over. The signs of the recession are around me. I reach for a cup of coffee to soothe my aching mind and I notice the coffee machine is a new one. The old one, a familiar swanky chap, has made his exit. Instead, all I get are sound and fury from the new machine and bad coffee. I drink it nevertheless, convincing myself that it is good.

In the name of cost cutting lay offs, reduced onsite stay, and near 100% billing are the norms adopted by corporates to keep the recession at bay. Hiring has been frozen at some levels, but a few new employees do trickle in. Unnecessary expenses like cab services & corporate parties have been done away with. Employees are urged to put in as many hours as possible.

The idea is to keep the ship afloat by trimming excess fat which is not so bad if see one sees the big picture. Some win here and some lose. It depends on which side of the fence you are.Words of wisdom about surviving the crash/meltdown/slowdown are being given free of cost everywhere. It is a classic case of buy one piece of wisdom and get 10 free. Learn new skills, change your industry, do an MBA, pick up a hobby, travel and ‘discover’ yourself -as if this tragedy is not enough to discover that we are helpless and don’t matter! This is also an interesting time for a reason – for the first time in history, I have the power and the freedom to blame the other guy for my situation. The other guy here being the sub prime guys, the greedy corporates honchos whose greed now lies at the root of the American economy and is giving me sleepless nights and days! But, as a fortunate job holder and one who has staked his career on a resurgent IT industry, I can’t help feeling that this phase is temporary and the industry will get back on it’s feet.

I base my faith on the fact that our IT industry is capable of building new markets in new geographies. Europe, Japan, SE Asia and countries down under are emerging markets waiting to be explored. Once these markets are built, we are back in business. As long as this is not a death blow to the world economy, there is hope. It will be a long inevitable wait but  IT will be worth it.

Image Credit: Derrick T

Popularity: 11%

I had to read this book as a part of my professional requirement, to be able to talk about what the gurus of Innovation have to say in their latest book. The book obviously has been launched in various cities with the author’s tours, huge publicity on all kinds of media and through paid seminars.

The book talks one major new concept, or rather I would say documents it in the form of a model as this concept had always existed in certain segments. The concept is N=1, R=G. This primarily means that to serve one customer, you have to access / use / leverage global resources, and a corollary to which is that you have to customize the offerings for each customer and cater to their unique requirements. To do this there are certain capacities / capabilities and flexibilities that you need to build in your business systems, in your human capital and your geographical reach.

There are two diagrams in the book that summarize the whole book. The first one is a diagram showing a transformation from ‘one organization serving multiple customers’ to ‘many organizations or global resources coming together to serve a single customer’. The second diagram is the house kind of structure which says to enable N=1, R=G, you need to enable your technical architecture and your social architecture. This is all explained in the first two chapters.

In the next three chapters authors explain the technical architecture. They emphasize the need of IT, the commodity and non-commodity part of IT, the needs of analytics and the way analytics can contribute to the insights for next innovations in the organizations, and how legacy systems need to be replaced to make the organization more flexible to accommodate the N=1, R=G model. It presents a case of lot of Indian companies who have adapted this model and have built flexibilities in their systems. He makes a case for the strategic importance of IT and how organizations can not afford to write it off as a commodity.

In the next three chapters he explains the mindset changes that the managers need to go through to accept and be the change that would enable the organization for this new model. It talks about the new requirements in talent management which again needs to be both flexible and mobile. Authors also talk about the role of leadership in bringing in these changes in the organization.

While I like the way the concept has been packaged and presented, I am not sure if I agree with the universality of this concept. It is definitely applicable to service industry, but it had been there in that industry in some basic form. Say in medical services, each case is a unique case and a doctor or a surgeon has to bring different resources, may be from different sources every time to serve the patient. Authors themselves talk about layers in the structure which are commoditized, and these commodity providers obviously do not adhere to this model. They would still go with standard / universal offerings and everything else will be designed according to their standards.

At times the book gives a feeling of being written for IT companies, especially those having major base in India. You get to see a lot of their point of views. I wish there were as many cases or examples from old traditional companies who have transformed or remodeled themselves to adapt to the model proposed in the book.

It is an easy reading for anyone who has been a part of business at any point in time, with a lot of case studies and examples.

Thanks Shankar for gifting me this book.

Popularity: 12%

The rise of China and India is a favorite topic among many across the world. While China is way ahead of India in the manufacturing sector, India continues to dominate the IT services industry. There are many who think that China will one day overtake India in the IT services industry too. But skeptics point out that India will continue to be Number 1 in IT as long as China’s English language skills do not reach the level of India’s. As an Indian living in China, here are some of my observations about English in China.

English is rarely used in China outside the metropolitan cities like Shanghai and Beijing. It is extremely difficult for a non-Chinese speaker to get around the country. However, English is very common in Hong Kong, which is a country by itself under the control of the Chinese government. Shanghai is perhaps the most English friendly city in China since it has a long history of engagement with the west. British and French did trading (opium brought from India dominated the trade) here for a long time.

Shanghai has a large international population that includes expats, students, tourists and Western scholars studying Chinese culture. Naturally, there is a big market for English language newspapers and TV channels. There are two English TV channels, CCTV English and International Channel Shanghai (ICS). CCTV is the government’s official TV channel and equivalent to Doordarshan in India.

While these channels are a relief for the foreigners, Chinese who want to learn and improve their English watch these channels in large numbers. For their part, these channels try to cater to this domestic audience. For example, ICS broadcasts the super hit TV serial in USA, Hannah Montana with commentary in English and some Chinese. They also have Chinese subtitles. However, the most popular program is broadcast by CCTV English. The program is called CCTV Cup English speaking contest and has been wildly popular over the last 7 years.

The CCTV Cup has a structure similar to the TV talent shows like American/Indian Idol with college students across the country participating in preliminary rounds in their respective provinces. At the end of a grueling selection process, 23 students get to take part in the final rounds and the eventual winners are selected.

I got a chance to watch final rounds of the 2008 competition and I must say I was quiet impressed with the talent of the participants. These participants displayed great eloquence, fluency and also an excellent understanding of international issues. Overall, their mastery over English was as good as or even better than many Indians who grew up using English. Even though the Chinese have a long way to go, this English speaking contest showed the aspirations of young Chinese college students and the amount of hard work they put in mastering English. I believe that China will definitely give India a run for its money in the IT industry in the next 5-10 years. It will be interesting to see how things play out during this period.

On a related note, I found this interesting article on how Japanese students are using US President Obama’s speeches to learn English. This article confirms my belief that when the British left India, they left behind a great tool called English which we have taken so much for granted.

Read or watch the article here, and enjoy!!!

Image Credit: Baba Steve

Popularity: 14%

Hugh Jackman is back to host the Academy Awards. He welcomes Daniel “Mr. Bond” Craig and Sarah Jessica Parker, from the “Sex & The City”. They announce the award for Art Direction.

And the award goes to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Donald Burt and Victor comes to collect it.

The award for best Costume Designer goes to Michael O Connor for The Duchess.

The award for best Make Up goes to Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Greg Cannom wins it. More than make up, he seems to be too fast at pronouncing names he wanted to thank in his 45 second speech.

Benjamin Button receives its second Oscar award.

Time is 9:27 PM EST

The vampire star from The Twilight comes to announce “Romance of The Oscars”.

Ben Stiller and Natalie comes to announce the best award for the Oscars. Ben Stiller looks funny with that beard and dirty chewing gum. He says Slumdog Millionaire was shot on the cellphone. He looks lost J, pretending funny- may be…Oh yeah, talking about the wizard cinematography.

Who will win this award – Slumdog ? Lets wait and watch.

And the Oscar goes to Anthony Dod Mantle for Slumdog Millionaire. He wants to thank 1000 people but can’t.

Congratulations – The Slumdog Millionaire team for the second Oscar award. I am excited!

Time is 9:36. Time for a break!…

Image Credit: MasterOrz

Popularity: 16%

The Oscar fever has caught on and for the first time, I am blogging live watching the Oscars, from the comforts of my home. Nothing can beat this experience. Seeing it live, munching my favourite triscuit, watching my two kids screaming louder than the Oscar host and blogging as Slumdog Millionaire is about to win Oscars – At this point, I don’t know how many, though!

The expectations are high among Indians that music maestro AR Rahman, who has bagged three nominations for “Slumdog Millionaire”, will bring home the coveted trophy. What a moment that will be!

Other two Indian films vying for the glory are “Smile Pinki” and “The Final Inch”.

The time is 8.30 PM EST.

Ok, the Oscar Awards has begun and so is this live blogging.

The time is 8:33 PM

Singer, Dancer, Actor Hugh Jackman enters the show with startling display of his talent. He starts of with the song on Slumdog Millionaire, moves onto Benjamin Button – what a startling display, picks up Anne Hathaway for an impromptu dance. Jackman performs about the other movies – The Reader, The Wrestler and Nixon. What a Live Performance that was!

The time is 8:40 PM

Hugh Jackman introduces all the nominees including Mickey Rourke, the couple – Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie, the guy who played Nixon, Demi Moore.

The time is 8:45 PM

5 yesteryear Oscar actress winners including Whoopi Goldberg introduces Penelope Cruz, Marisa Tomei, Demi Moore et al.

Penelope Cruz wins Oscar for the best actress. She goes to the stage and thinks she would faint…but doesn’t. She gave an emotional speech saying it is art which unites the universe. You are too good and beautiful. Penelope – Congratulations !

The time is 8:54 PM

Some type pad clicks. Few sentences and sounds of a typewriter. I don’t know what is happening.

Enter Steve Martin and Tina Fei. They starts joking around, as usual and soon picks up the mike for announcing the best screenplay. Now I understand why there were those type sounds.

The best screenplay award goes to Dustin Lance Black for Milk. Dustin, on the stage, emotionally talks of “Hope” for Gays and Lesbians across America.

Next comes the award for the best adopted screenplay…and the award goes to Simon Beaufoy, the writer for Slumdog Millionaire.

Oscar # 1 for Slumdog Millionaire. Wondering why Vikas Swarup for Original Screenplay. But yes, he thanked Vikas Swarup and the other two musketeers and his love for India.

I am so excited now. My friend, Madhavan, who wrote Will Slumdog Millionaire Win the Oscar Awards, pings me on Gmail. We exchange congratulations for the first in the kitty and many to go.

The time is 9:03.

Enters Kungfu Panda and his star friends…I am talking of Jack Black and Jennifer Aniston. He is hilarious.

The best animated feature film goes to Wall-E. Oscar is taken by Andrew Stanton. He thanks everyone..nothing extraordinary of a speech. The show goes on

The best animated short film goes to La Maison En Petites. Kunio Kato collects the award and “Sanks” everyone!…Sankooo..meaning Thank You.

Time for a break!

Popularity: 27%

These are certainly tough times. With Federal Governments stepping in to bail out firms that are struggling to keep themselves afloat and tough measures being looked at to ensure that the ones who stay afloat eventually swim, these are unprecedented times. To top things, Governments want to have a say in the review of employment practices and also looking to cap executive compensation. There’s this patriotic wave that is on the rise and a ton of people out there saying “Go American”. It all seems to be happening out there with literally no sight of any light at the end of the tunnel.

Industry veterans who’ve seen tough times tell me they have never seen anything that is even half as close. I was reading something recently that suggested the Fed was contemplating moves along with the US treasury to deny firms that rely on the use of H1B workers won’t get a share of the so called TARP money, and, that companies must certainly look to stop off-shoring. This is music for the staunch opponents of free trade and liberalization. While Obama has been a name on every lip, large sections of the Indian IT industry expressed several concerns on his proposed policies to curb outsourcing.

Worried?

Yes – for sure. Over time, we have moved from a traditional manufacturing and agriculture based economy to a service oriented economy. The role of IT / ITES in the Indian economy is something that you can’t easily discount. An aspect of the economy that has grown significantly over time, it faces purists throwing out some weird stats like the sector contributing to 10% of the economy, five hundred thousand people – but for me, it’s a lot of crap. While I appreciate data, the thing with data is that you can make it to look anyway in which you want it to look like. A few slices, a few dices and viola!  You can see what you want to see. So, numbers may not be a real representation of the facts. The fact is, this is a sector on the rise!

This sector is particularly under the pump these days. While the collapse of large financial behemoths has left a direct impact on this sector, the slowdown is forcing organizations to do something it’s never done before – H1B workers for different IT majors in the US are asked to come back, and back home, the industry is relooking at the way it used to look at the bottom performers – the “chalta hai” hat is fast becoming a thing of the old and families put to a lot of distress due to the spiraling domino.

If these issues are not enough to deal with, our folks continue to put the industry under further stress. I was recently travelling and pretty much every other person I met paused to check about the IT major that went down, dubbed very popularly in the west as India’s Enron! I saw a note on the headlines of a large TV network that said an Indian, running a company in the United States was arrested on the charge of forging documents to get H1B workers into the US. Viswa Mandalapu, CEO of Vision Systems in New Jersey has been arrested.

In times when there is so much pressure on this category of the workforce which happens to be the toast of India, this is a bolt from the blue. The folks crying for curbs will jump at any opportunity thrown towards them, adding fuel to the fire. I can already see the downstream effects of this with the concerned authorities tightening controls. I’ve over the course of my career seen the hopes of people rise when companies tend to file work visas for them. My job also gets me to counsel people who feel they fell from fifty thousand feet when they go through the painful procedure of applying and then hear that their visa was rejected. It’s like the world is against them!

It’s really sad that the people who do activities like this fail to think of the downstream. Their conviction invariably leads the world to paint all Indians with the same brush. While I know it is extremely unfair to do something like that, I can’t but help to think like the people who do so. It’s only but natural at the end of the day.

It’s a big deal for someone from India to go and live abroad – The family thinks they have arrived in life, their friends think they are very good and the neighbors think they are very rich. While these are cultural aspects of our society, in the eyes of the world that we live in, we are still Indians. Can we start to act with a little more responsibility in a manner that will not bring reputational damage to our nation?

Are you listening Mr.Mandalapu?

Aah!! How can you? You are in jail!  I hope a few of your other friends are, at least, they learn and don’t put us to any more disrepute!

Image Credit: Lanuiop

Popularity: 25%

A brisk walk into our history expounds facts whose traits are still found in our current work culture. Hitherto, we saw an era where the title “King” had all powers in a kingdom. All the people were to obey the orders of King and working people had no choice but to abide by his rules, even if they were to disagree.

Zamindar system then setup ordinary people to work for landlords. Again the people had to obey his/her orders and honor his/her title. It’s a big transformation in India from dynasties to British Rule to Corporate world. But even today some of the old traits continue to show up in today’s corporate work culture in India.

Superior-Subordinate Relationship

It’s still a norm we see in India where subordinates abide superiors. “Boss is always right” still holds good. Subordinates follow his/her decision without any objection even if they do not want to. It’s a give-in attitude most of the time. There is no right or wrong behavior here. We Indians by nature do not like to be in bad books of anyone, and we are being nurtured in the family that teaches us to respect our elders. Most of the times seniority takes precedence over talent (or merit).

Who vs. What

Superiors usually do not check what issue has been escalated to them instead look for who escalated an issue. Title, status does matter in Indian management. A subordinate challenging a superior is taken as insolence or hurting the ego of the superior instead of being open to new thoughts.

“Growth” – A Mistaken Word

This is perhaps the most widely mistaken word in work environment. Growth is calculated in terms of promotions and title but not in knowledge and experience. Every individual is worried of his/her promotion and tries to compare his/her position and title with peers they are aware of. Promotions appease job contentment. If there is no progression in one’s career, he/she is considered as non-performing individual. We need to be mindful that professionals like Doctors and Lawyers do not have promotions. But they are still highly respectable professionals in the society.

Work Takes Precedence Over Family

It’s the other way round about family here. Not that we don’t love family and don’t like to spend time, but market competition warrants individual to slog for more than normal hours. Fear of being considered as non-performer, if they are not being slogged. Also it was the expectation set by predecessors during “unemployment era” to woo the employers and that trend (and expectation) continued for years thereafter.

Never Say “No”

Saying “No” is considered as impolite behavior. Most of the times a straight no is masked (or camouflaged) with long statements that might confuse the client and make him feel we are beating around the bushes. It’s again just the cultural difference that we don’t want to be seen as impolite by not saying No.

As you can see we have acquired some of the behavioral traits from our history and some from our culture. Time would tell us if we continue to behave this way or if we would change.

Image Credit: KM Photography

Popularity: 41%

What is a recession? The generally accepted definition of a recession is two successive quarters of negative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth.

It’s a known fact that we are in deep recession, deeper in US, UK and other developed nations as compared to the developing countries. Developing countries are not immune to this, as the consumption and demand from these would be impacted as a result of recession and hence a cascading affect across the globe. China reported 20 million job loss and it’s premiere has been making rounds other side of the world to ensure the ‘doors are not being shut on them..’ India reported 500K plus job losses in textile, jewellery, auto and manufacturing. IT saw a marginal growth, however NASSCOM did lower the growth expectation from 21-24% to 17%, (may be a breather for some in the near  term.)

Defence budget put under scanner, budgets tightened, expansion plans seen the door at a faster pace than one could imagine. Recently Britain, shelved a plan to buy a £13 billion naval warship.

All said and done, we are coming to terms with it and we have no choice.

So why recession?

The right question to initiate a blame game, to blame it all on the financial decisions that grossly went wrong, made by the once gurus of financial world. The same DNA that made them last for more than a century? There’s more to it than that meets the eye.

Let’s go back and glance at our economics books which states product is an accumulation of labour. Unless there is labour there is not going to be any product. Over the last decade, growth in entertainment, luxury, & multiplexes across the length and breadth of the country has out paced the growth in any other industry. There is a mad rush for the latest gadgets, to achieve the zenith of luxury and live as much a comfortable life as one can possibly imagine, hoping that this will continue forever.

Something to ponder and introspect on.

Image Credit: Eden Pictures

Popularity: 15%

What do you guys think? Are we not tired of news about foreign investors taking over Indian companies all these days? Have we not aspired of a day where Indian company involved in international sponsorship?

Well this had been the trend all these days on growing foreign investors acquiring more and more Indian companies. Recent one on the news was about Hutch being acquired by Vodafone. But of late we seem to have turned the tables around.

The news that impressed and compelled me to share these thoughts is about news on Sahara India.

Sahara India – Very well known brand to all of us, isn’t it? How can we cricket lovers forget about this brand. Our Men In Blue flashes it day in day out on the field.

Manchester United, the coveted and richest football club in the world, looking to renew its sponsorship through Sahara India. So the Men In Red might soon flash Sahara brand on the field. What a great feeling to see Indian brand in the game that’s followed by billions across the globe.

So who are the other ones made the difference:

Mittals, The Iron Men – Arcelor merger made all Indians have that smirk on their face in pride of what an Indian can do on a foreign soil.

Mallya, The Kingfisher – His venture of co-owning F1 racing has taken India Inc to the next level. Indeed it was a great feeling for me to see Indian face on the dais at the opening ceremony.

Tatas, The Motor Giant – The recent acquisitions of Jaguar automobile company in the UK. Till date not even a single employee being made redundant by Tatas in the UK market. That shows the efficiency of business acumen with which these guys made India Inc so proud.

IT Companies – Needless to say how our nation is ruling the IT roost. I know there has been some unpleasant news recently but that might not take away the credit that our folks have made us proud in other streams.

Are these indications to see India is no more considered under “cheap Labour” category instead under “Rich Business acumen” category very soon?

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Popularity: 14%

If you’ve worked in a software company, I am sure you might have come across many funny situations that remind you of Dilbert, the famous cartoon strip.  I am just trying to present some of them (of course a bit exaggerated) within the frame of Indian IT companies.

Manager: We have to streamline our process.

Meaning: No billable work from the customer. Be prepared for documentation (Aaaargh!).

Manager: We have done a good job so far. We need to raise our bars and provide value added service to the customer.

Meaning: I am due for a promotion/appraisal.

Manager: Anyone can write a couple of lines of code and make it work; but how well we can adhere to the process and improve our productivity is something far more important.

Meaning: You are due for an appraisal (promotion is completely out of question).

Manager: Knowledge management and dissemination should top our agenda.

Meaning: Someone in the team has decided to leave the company.

Manager: (To someone outside the team) I think ‘my guys’ would be able to help you.

Meaning: You shouldn’t ask such technical questions to a Manager, that’s way too complicated for me.

Manager: Congratulations! You are nominated for the Employee of the year award!

Meaning: I came to know about the new [better] job offer you’ve got!

Team Lead: May be you can do a bit of research on this topic and give a presentation to the team.

Meaning: You’ve been asking too many questions and I don’t know the answer.

Team member (In a meeting): Do we have a team structure in place?

Meaning: Well, I think I am fit for the role of Team Leader..you know..if you insist..!(Imagine an accompanying evil grin)

Colleague: I am not interested to work in the US; I have lots of commitments here.

Meaning: To Hell with the embassy! They rejected my visa.

Team Member: I have written a new tool and it saves a lot of time for me, may be you all can give it a try.

Meaning:  I want an onsite (overseas assignment).

Team mate: What yaar, stupid company, stupid management, stupid project. We aren’t getting much exposure and I don’t think anyone in his right mind would work here! It’s high time to change our jobs.

Meaning: If you leave the company, I will stay, my position will be safe.

Colleague: How long is your onsite assignment?

Meaning: How much is he going to earn..(Sigh!)

To the Manager: (In an appraisal meeting) Is there going to be a change in our team structure?

Meaning:  I know I am not going to get any promotion, is there someone else getting one?

Team Mate: Please don’t forget to fill the timesheets, ok? (Chances are high that this question comes from your colleague one fine morning, leaving you in complete bewilderment.)

Meaning:  I have already ‘assumed’ the role of ‘Lead’ you see..! I will be the one approving your timesheets in future.

Image Credit: Oliver PK Mao

Popularity: 55%

Whole world is reeling under economic crisis. Growth rate of countries is slowing down. While some sectors have lost heavily, other sectors have revised their targets. Amidst all this turmoil, there is one industry that is making profits and guess what this could be?

It’s the epicenter of the financial tsunami-It’s the banking industry… The very cause of the turmoil in the world is now making money in India.

Is it the strict regulation of RBI or the traditional way of running the business that has helped the banks to be in profit ? Or is it the foresight of Indian banking system that has ensured that domestic banks are not heavily exposed to the credit derivatives like US banks ? The fact is that the Indian banks have not incurred huge losses unlike their counterparts in the US and rest of the world.

Banks which faced pressure on their margins till a couple of months back are now on their way to making money. With the RBI’s initiative to increase liquidity in the system, banks got huge amounts at their disposal for lending. Even the money that was lying with RBI and yielded very little profit is now available for banks for lending at higher rates. Banks are lending at higher than PLR to corporates due to the changes in circumstances and all these are helping banks to boost their bottom line.

Quite a few factors have contributed to the profit margin of banks:

1. Reserve Bank of India has cut CRR by 3.5 % and brought it down to 5.5%
2. It has cut the repo rate by 1.5 % and got it to 7.5%
3. RBI cut the SLR by 1% and got it to 24%.
4. Banks used to lend to companies at below BPLR but now they are lending at higher than BPLR as the risk profile has increased due to the hit on the margins of the companies.
5. Banks used to shell higher deposit rates. But with the markets falling, people are finding deposits as a safe place to park their money and banks have cut down the deposit rate.

All these have increased the profit margin of the banks by 3%.

While all sectors of the economy are facing the heat of economic meltdown, it is surprising to see that our domestic banks are really making money.

Banking in India has been indeed a blessing in disguise. What do you think ?

Popularity: 16%

The year 2008 has probably been the worst year that the world has seen in more ways than one. Ideally I would have liked to reflect upon the past year at the end of the year. But with the turn of events in the last couple of weeks, forced me to write this article.

In the last couple of weeks, we have seen bloodbath on Sensex like never before. It all started at the beginning of 2008 on January 22^nd, if I recollect, when most of the stocks plummeted 20% or so and then SEBI had to intervene. That signaled the doom. But many of us saw that as an opportunity and like many other greedy like minded folks across the world (including yours truly), most of us invested in the Indian stock market thinking it is the time to encash, when the chips were down.

Result – A meltdown, followed by another meltdown and yet another meltdown and till this date the saga continues with no end in sight. That the market will continue further in the same pattern  at least for the next 1-2 years, is a no brainer. Having the guts to fight it out and emerge as a winner, needs a lot more than that – It needs the will power of a monster.

Just take a look at the sudden turn of events on Wall Street and the ripple affect it had on you over the last few days, if not months.

• Market collapse in January – owing to Sub prime crisis in the US, resulted in many BIG firms reporting losses thus leading to cut in their expenditure. What followed was a spate of lay offs, less spending in marketing or advertisement expenses etc. Net result – job losses in IT and BPO jobs in India
• The situation continued further. As Q2 results became more apparent, some very reputed firms came out of their hidden shell and started showing their true color. Net results – Overnight bankruptcy or bailout. Lehman, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, AIG et al bites the dust..
• Come end of Q3 and again we saw a global meltdown with Dow Jones losing almost 25% in the last 12 trading sessions. Sensex was no exception to the rule. We saw how Sensex tanked 20% in the last one week alone.

How has it affected the Indian market?

Many of you may have not realized it yet. But the truth is we are in some really difficult times. If you still haven’t realized that, take a look at the below and decide for yourself.

• Most of the IT institution has a large presence in the Financial Services sector providing support for many applications or software. When there is no business, where is the question of support? With it, all the support functions also will go away
• Industry would see lesser no .of transactions happening. This means a ramp down of the BPO industry.
• USA is a consumer economy. But now Americans are in a liquidity crisis. Most of the Americans will preserve their capital to meet their immediate needs. This means less expenditure. Bad for Exports
• No jobs in IT & BPO sector indirectly means relatively lesser disposable income and thereby lesser per capita purchasing power. That means our retail sectors get hit – Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle etc. will have to really gear up for this carnage
• Less of activity in retail would mean less activity in Manufacturing / Production based industries
• Job losses also means less housing, more housing defaults etc which indirectly hits our Banks and their liquidity – Folks in ICICI, HDFC etc better watch out. You are lucky if you are able to hold onto your job. Although the crisis in India may not be at the scale of the sub-prime market, but it could be very much closer to it.
• Job losses would also mean lesser chances of existence for service based organizations – Les Concierges, First Flight, Blue Dart etc
• First thing companies freeze when they have to cut cost is to cut travel expenditure. That means terrible to the airline, railway industries.
• Added to this, increasing fuel costs leads to less fuel consumption which in turn leads to a less vibrant auto sector.

The list can go on and on and on. The point is – All of us have to realize that this is the end of an era, an era where everything was booming, where everything sounded so hunky dory and everyone had an opportunity not just to survive but to excel. What can come out of this crisis is still a debatable issue – For all you know this could be just a passé and we would be sitting pretty again in the next 1-2 years..

What we have seen in 2008 is the end of a Dashing Era. What we have not seen is the beginning of a more Dashing, more Vibrant, more Bouyant and even more Colorful Era which is yet to come. I am sure, with all our combined efforts, it is just a matter of time.

I am an eternal optimist but slightly realistic too. While I do want to see growth all over, I know that there are limitations and everything may not work as per our plan. Hence the best option now is to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

In the hope the best is yet to come, we at India Special wishes all its readers

A Very, Very Vibrant and Happy Dash-era!!!

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ITIL or ITSM ? Or is it ISO 20000 ? May be IEC 20000 or is it ISO/IEC 20000. Phew!!!

Exactly !!! Phew – Thats the expression that I still have after a month of joining my new organization. I quit my old job of a manager after a seven year stint to take up this role of an ITIL Consultant….or is it ITSM Consultant ?

Well I am still confused. I still haven’t figured out completely what all these terms stand for. Therefore in an attempt to confuse you more let me give you some insights about the subject. if you are already not confused, then you take it that you are overqualified to read this post.

Please bear with me for oversights if any. Well, I am sure this is bound to happen. So dont bother to bear with me.

Let me now make an attempt to define some of the key terminologies in my own words as I understand them for you (the lesser mortals like me

IT or  Information Technology

Everyone knows what this is…nice try…that was an easy way to avoid such questions, aaaha!!  Well, in my words its Technology used for managing information. Simple – isn’t it?

I always get confused with ‘it’ & ‘IT’ just like the word ‘us’ & ‘US’

IT Service:

Any service that uses IT. A service is an activity (like charity, like social service) which is done by someone for the benefit of another. In this case, its not charity, hence it comes at a price, which the beneficiary (getter, the enjoyer, the user :-0) has to pay to the service giver (= service provider). Mind you, the user and customer are different.

User is the one who gets the benefit of the service where as customer is the one who pays for it. An example that I can think of is of a father who buys a toy for his son. Here the father is the customer (who pays for the service, the toy) where as the son is the user who directly uses the service, the toy. Wow !!! awesome example I could come up with

IT Service Management:

This is simple. Its the management of IT Services being provided by one or more supplier/provider to one or more customer. I am tempted to think that my role could be more of an ITSM consultant than an ITIL consultant owing to the fact that I was a manager before taking up this role and this also involves management (IT Service Management)

ISO/IEC 20000

Aaaah ! This is something I could never understand much. Well, this is a standard way of determining where you stand in terms of ITSM among the rest of the industry folks. It tells you how effective and efficient is your ITSM, how robust you as an organization are in IT Service Management.

Now how does one tell or certify your status ? And who can certify you?

Well, an audit is conducted on the ITSM methods and processes, analyzed, and a certificate is awarded to the organization if it qualifies.

Who awards this certificate?

There are certain registered bodies that are qualified to conduct audits and certify.

ISO or International Organization for Standardization

Although it sounds like a short form the word ISO is taken from the Greek word ‘isos’ meaning equal. Remember we all studied ‘isobars’, ‘isotones’, ‘isotopes’, etc. while in school. Similarly ISO in ITSM is also the same word ‘iso’ derived from a Greek word which means ‘equal’. Hence its pronounced as ‘iso’ and not ‘ISO’ as acronym.

International Electro technical Commission (IEC)

Together ISO and IEC came up with ISO/IEC 20000 standardization based on its earlier version known as BS15000 (BS = British Standard). ISO/IEC 20000 has 2 parts – a) Specification b) Code of Practice.  This certification is not awarded to any individual. Its always awarded to an organization.

ITIL

Whooosh, what is an ITIL now? I completely forgot about that.

Well its a set of books or guidelines with best practices from the industry to help an organization have an effective and efficient ITSM. ITIL stands for IT Infrastructure Library. (To remember, relate library with books and therefore ITIL with a set of books on industry best practices)

ITIL is the baby of the UK Government of Commerce. It has 3 versions. The first came out in the early 1990s. The second version V2 was released in 2000. It lasted for approx 7 years. Now we have ITIL V3 since July 2007.

I think that’s all for now. Hope I have been able to confuse you enough

I moved from Manager role to a specialist role. Oh oh !!!. Am I now an ITSM consultant or an ITIL consultant ?

One day I shall surely explain

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