Global Gyaan

So long and thanks for everything

2011-10-06T21:11:00.001+05:30

It's not often that you cry when someone you've never met passes away. Steve Jobs had that impact on me (and millions others worldwide). From the day I first used an Apple computer at IIMA to design a brochure to now where my life is surrounded by all things Apple, no other technology company or person has had the influence on my life the way Apple and Steve Jobs have.

As a manager, I have learnt so much from Steve Jobs, almost like Ekalavya did from a guru who didn't know the student existed. Three things stand out.

Business strategy is as much about what you don't do as it is about all the stuff you do, even if it means going against conventional wisdom. Think of the missing floppy drives on Macs or the lack of USB ports on the iPad or the lean SKU structure of all iThings - Apple made tough choices even if popular "demand" suggested otherwise.

Second, passion and persistence pay off. Steve Jobs' story is that of rising above adversities; he won against the odds, in business and in life. If you love what you are doing and believe in your capability to achieve your goal, nobody can hold you back.

Third, Steve Jobs built an institution at Apple. Yes, he was the visionary and creative leader but undoubtedly a large part of Apple's success is due to the extremely talented people that he was able to motivate and the entrepreneurial agility that he created at a large organization. A leader without great followers / team is at best a maverick.

And one more thing. Steve Jobs realised the power of presentation, the visual impact and drama that brought chips, glass and software alive. I shamelessly ape Steve's style (if you haven't already noticed) and hope I can make even a fraction of the impact he made to technology, business and life.

Sent from my iPad

Posted via email from Global Gyan

iPhone 4S: The most amazing iPhone ever, yet...

2011-10-05T13:19:00.001+05:30

Last night, I almost faced an Internet blackout at home, minutes before the iPhone announcement was to commence. The broadband connection which was down for a day had not yet been restored and both my cellular data connections were wavering, refusing to open most sites. Having announced earlier in the day that I was expecting something dramatic at the keynote and that my resolution to skip an iPhone generation was wavering, I wondered if I'd miss the excitement of the live coverage of Apple's event.

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addepalli
16mos after IP4 and with a new CEO in the spotlight, today's iPhone announcement's got be dramatic, I expect. My resolve is weakening….
10/4/11 11:12 AM

However, persistence paid off… I was able to get the Twitter feed on my iPhone 4 (running on a weak 3G signal) and also accessed the Engadget live-blog on my iMac connected to the Tata CDMA EVDO network (through my Blackberry). I was all set as Tim Cook took the stage for his first product launch at Apple.

90 minutes later, I was a bit disappointed. Obviously, expectations were quite high, particularly because the iPhone 4 was an amazing upgrade to the 3GS. There were several rumors predicting a minor update only (4S), but I was hoping for a surprise. This was, after all, Tim's first public appearance as CEO. Unfortunately, he didn't say much - his colleagues did most of the talking. And, more than half the time was spent repeating stuff (iOS5 and iCloud) that had been announced earlier.

The new iPhone 4S (the most amazing iPhone ever) made no changes to the exterior of the iPhone 4… well, not that there was any real reason to. Maybe they could have adopted the iPad 2 form factor, but not really required. The 4S had three major "internal" changes:

1. Faster proceessor, with the A5 dual-core. Apple showed off how it creates amazing gaming performance. Well, my iPad 2 does that too, and I don't spend too much time on my iPhone with games (except the occasional Angry Birds while I am waiting for a meeting). Anyway, this processor was a pre-requisite for the next two changes, I guess.

2. Superior camera. With my limited knowledge of cameras, it appears that the 4S camera is a massive improvement (over the IP4 and other smartphone cameras) for still and video photography. Having just invested massively in my first DSLR (and assorted lenses & accessories), I am kind of content with the mobility of the IP4 camera and the quality of the DSLR. The camera in the 4S is not sufficient to induce purchase.

3. Voice Assistant. The real WOW moment of the keynote was the demo of Siri, the voice-activated personal assistant that is built into the 4S. Voice recognition stuff has been around for many years, but what Apple showcased yesterday was amongst the best ever implementation of natural language conversations with a machine. It appeared so good that it was kind of scary… Rohan Joshi (@mojorojo) tweeted something very apt:

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mojorojo
When Skynet kills us all na, we'll all stop being so amazed by this Siri shit. "NO SIRI! STOP! STOP NO! AARRRGGGHHH"
10/4/11 11:57 PM

Siri is the only compelling reason to upgrade from the iPhone 4 to 4S.

If you are with the 3GS or any other "smartphone", I'd say go buy the 4S. Also, if your carrier is subsidizing 70% of the cost of the phone, then again, you could upgrade. But if you have to spend another US $650 for the 4S (having spent a similar amount a year ago), I would advise restraint. Wait till 2012; your iPhone 4 with iOS 5 and iCloud will continue to amaze you for some more time. Hopefully Apple will get back to its summer schedule of launching iPhones and you will have a new iPhone 6 (the most amazing iPhone ever) in less than a year.

Posted via email from Global Gyan

Why I am Reluctant to Support Anna Hazare Today.

2011-08-24T00:24:00.001+05:30

(Adapted from a Facebook note that I posted on August 19, 2011)

With millions of Indians supporting Anna Hazare (as per media or FB, at least), is it so difficult for IAC to find one MP who will introduce their version of the Lokpal bill in Parliament and then get a majority of the MPs to vote in favour?

If they can, they should pursue that path. If they cannot, they should continue to protest / debate till they can convince enough MPs. Threatening the Government with deadlines & fasts unto death is excessive and arbitrary. This Government may be discredited, but the institutions of Parliament & Executive needn't be. Also, if the Government / politicians are as bad as we imagine they are, do we think that getting them to agree to the JLP bill will end corruption? If they have delayed the Lokpal for so many years, they can delay effective implementation for a long time to come.

There is no denying that most Indians are fed up of corruption; they are also fed up with lethargy in decision making and reforms. India, in the 21st century, has failed to keep pace with our aspirations and expectations. The middle class that has tasted the benefits of superior economic growth and competitive choice has no patience for poor infrastructure or galloping inflation. This angst requires solutions; it requires leadership. Unfortunately, not one amongst the political class has stood up to be counted. The opposition, in particular, failed miserably to capitalize on a wonderful opportunity to grab the initiative.

What you have is a motley crowd of activists, NGOs, godmen and others that have captured popular imagination. Ok, so they'll probably win this round. What happens next? We are back to the same old choices. You know what I'd love to see: Anna Hazare and his team should convert IAC into a political party, demand mid-term elections and seek to come to power, if not now, perhaps by 2014. Then, I might vote for IAC - if I agree with their politics and economics.

A democracy requires politicians; whether they are good ones or bad ones is our choice.

(Disclosure: I disagree that Jan Lokpal Bill is the solution to the corruption problem that we are facing. I strongly believe that reducing government and related controls is the 'cure' to big ticket corruption that has characterized the last decade. For the daily corruption that all of us face, I think that this suggestion from Kaushik Basu is seriously worth evaluating.)

PS. I had an interesting discussion with my friend Mohan Kannegal in the comments of my FB note; offered without any further comment.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Posted via email from Global Gyan

The Escalation Problem

2011-05-03T17:28:00.001+05:30

A couple of months ago, Shachin Bharadwaj, founder of TastyKhana in Pune, sent me this Twitter message...

This was in response to...

Just days later, I faced an almost similar situation. I was trying to buy some products urgently for my home and reached out to the relevant sales guys in Pune. For almost a week there was no response, in spite of several calls and messages. Finally, I called a friend who is a senior manager in that company. Although he was not responsible for this line of products, I called him on a Sunday morning, having run out of ideas. Within an hour, the sales guy called me asking for the details.

I receive several "escalations" from customers and friends, even though I am not in a "line" role... I am sure those who are in business sales / marketing or customer service leadership roles are inundated with escalations. Why does this happen? Why is it that large organizations - usually - are often unable to handle sales or customer service issues at the operating level? Surely they realize that "escalations" are not good for them, not only from a reputation perspective but also from a cost point of view.

Corporates would argue that such escalations are few, relative to the overall number of transactions that they manage, and therefore, statistically insignificant. If you have a 100 million subscribers with 10 "transactions" each, even a 99.9% quality level would still leave a million "failed" transactions. The best businesses would have (or aspire to) lower failure rates, however, it is impossible even for them to achieve 100% out of their operations.

Earlier, they could have gotten away with it. An individual (customer) had limited ability to influence others or have her voice heard. An aggrieved customer could write to the company's senior management or to a publication and hope that something would come out of it. Perhaps some would go to a consumer court. Things have changed today. One aggrieved customer (even if accounting for the fourth decimal of all transactions) can ruin a company's carefully crafted (usually at huge expense) image.

The only way to get it always right is if every member of the organization focuses on solving customer issues or preventing the creation of any issues. How often does that happen? I can think of three main reasons why issues do not get addressed at the operating / first level and lead to dissatisfaction, frustration and inevitably, escalation.

1. Lack (or Mismatch) of Incentives

What are the most popular metrics for customer service organizations? Call centre staff are usually measured on number of calls, hold time, etc. A telecom service engineer is measured on network uptime, capacity utilization, etc. Very rarely are they tasked to enable happy customers. Customer satisfaction indices become part of larger corporate imperatives and company performance scores. I have not seen too many companies that directly measure (and consequently, incentivize) customer satisfaction - satisfaction that is tracked at an individual transaction level and not at the aggregate in an annual or quarterly survey.

Similarly, a sales person is tasked to maximize new sales or revenues; most companies have complex commission structures that encourage sales of certain products (or to certain segments) over others. A sales person inevitably follows the money. If you are not a "priority" customer segment or seeking a low-value product, the sales guy has no interest in you, period. In my case where the sales folks showed no interest in my order, I suspect that there is no (or very little) incentive for sales to a "group" employee, so why would a sales guy waste time on my order when there are other deals to pursue in the market?

2. Lack of Empowerment

What are you willing to do to solve a customer issue? Ask any senior manager and you will always hear the answer, "Anything, customer is king." Unfortunately, that message rarely reaches the line staff -- not from a communication perspective, mind you, but in terms of policies and delegations. Does the organization recognize and celebrate moments when difficult customer issues were resolved speedily? Were employees who went out of their way to solve the problem rewarded immediately? Or was the first reaction of the management to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the event?

Empowerment is also in terms of information. Customers are, mostly, not irrational. They understand that things/systems/machines do fail. What they'd like to know is why, and more importantly, how/when will the issue be resolved. I have never seen a customer service executive that has been empowered with such information. In the absence of facts, the CSE responds with vague promises and a generic assurance of resolving the issue within 24 hours or 48.

A few years ago, my broadband connection was down and every time I called, I was told the issue would be resolved "soon". A week later, the connection was still down and my blood pressure was up. After a few rounds of escalation, I learnt that some equipment had been damaged due to a short-circuit and that the new equipment was waiting for the electricity department's go ahead for reconnection. This permission was awaited and could take a few more days; the telco could do nothing about it. Fine, but if only I had been informed earlier, I might have made other temporary arrangements for Internet connectivity without staring at the modem daily or shouting at the customer service staff.

3. Lack of Learning from Mistakes

Each escalation is a moment of learning. Why did it not get addressed at the level it should have been? What was lacking? Senior executives that receive escalations focus on the immediate solution (as they must) but often fail to deep dive into the real problem. Whether it is a change in incentives or a process, or a reprimand in case of negligence, something must change after each deviation from the norm of operations.

It is also important that even after an escalation, the issue be addressed by the operating teams. That sends a message to the operating staff as well as to the customer: the escalation was an exception, the point of contact for the issues does not change. Escalation should not become a habit.

Of the three, I believe that wrong measurement/incentives is the most serious. Organization structures by business units, functions, regions, etc. and their corresponding incentive systems worsen the situation. Most employees in any organization do not think they are responsible for customers or customer "service". In a telecom company, network, operations and finance staff would constitute over two-thirds of the organization; how many of them are measured directly on customer related parameters? I am sure similar situations exist in financial services, travel, retail, etc. Are there examples of companies where customer-related metrics drive business performance and incentives?

Posted via email from Global Gyan

The Leadership Dilemma

2011-03-13T14:59:00.001+05:30

Continuing from my previous post about Prof. Ram Charan's seminar on Putting People Before Numbers, I wanted to share and discuss a hypothesis that most organizations fail to distinguish between Managers and Leaders.

Prof. Ram Charan had shared a concept of segmenting managers into categories like P&L Managers, Functional Managers, Experts, etc. That is a wonderful way of thinking about people, capabilities and careers. I had also shared about the popular perception that the P&L Manager role is the one that everyone aspires to (or is expected to aspire to). What this has led to is the confusion between a Manager's job and that of a Leader. It is popularly understood that a leader, whether that of a Business Unit or an Organization, is the ultimate P&L Manager. Therefore, by default, the best P&L Manager is expected to become the CEO or the best Function Manager is asked to lead a function or a division.

This is the biggest mistake that many organizations make.

A leader need not be the best manager that an organization has. Leadership has been defined by many gurus, so I will only provide three things that I believe characterize leaders:

1. Vision: A leader has a clear picture of the future, aspirational state of the organization, and the confidence that we will get there.

2. Inspiring: Either through crystal-clear communication or pure induction, the leader inspires her team to believe in the vision and strategy.

3. Collaborating: The leader attracts the best people into his team and enables superior performance, jointly and individually, towards the shared vision.

The third quality includes, by extension, the ability to spot talented people and future leaders.

How often have we not seen that the crack sales person, crafty financial expert or creative marketing lead possesses none of these qualities. However, the accepted career progression for a wonderful manager is to become a "leader". It is likely that a good leader was a good manager, but it is not at all necessary that every successful manager would be an effective leader. But who can argue against established career paths? Both are hurt in this process: many a great manager starts underperforming when thrust with a leadership role; many potential leaders languish in roles where their capabilities are under-utllized.

Most leaders know about the importance of talent management, yet they fail to do much about it. A reason I mentioned in the earlier post was that talent management has been mystified. Perhaps there is another reason. Maybe many of those who are in leadership roles are not leaders themselves and therefore, do not possess that innate quality of identifying and nurturing talent. Have we become victim to traditional norms of career progressions and promotions?

This is a controversial topic, and as I mentioned in the seminar, usually a "career limiting" one for those who raise it. All I have for my hypothesis is anecdotal evidence. This requires more research and discussion. I welcome your thoughts and feedback.

Posted via email from Global Gyan

Apple iPad 2 Event: Quick Summary

2011-03-03T12:15:00.001+05:30

The long awaited Apple Keynote happened last night; most of you would have caught the news from various blogs and news reports. So without getting into too much detail. here is my perspective on what was announced yesterday:

1. The Announcement

As expected, the new iPad 2 was announced. It will be available March 11 in the US (orders start only that day) and March 25 in 26 other countries (of course, no India). The price points remain the same, starting at $499 and it comes in 6 configurations (16/32/64G; Wifi and 3G... note that there are now two 3G versions: GSM and CDMA). Whether the CDMA version can be activated on the Indian CDMA networks is a question mark.

2. Hardware

* Two cameras, similar to the iPhone 4... front-facing & rear. Supports FaceTime (and other video chat apps like Skype)

* Redesigned body... now quite similar to the iPod Touch. Much thinner than the earlier iPad; thinner than the iPhone 4 too. Therefore, lighter.

* 2 colour options. Black and White. White will be available from Day1.

* Faster processor... dual core A5 chip. iPad was fast, iPad 2 should be a scorcher.

* HDMI Out through an adaptor, and mirroring of iPad on the TV/screen. It is not fully clear how this feature & accessory will work with iPad but it appears from this TUAW article that the accessory will work with older iDevices but only for 720p quality slideshows and movies, and will not do full mirroring.

3. Software

iOS 4.3 will be available from March 11. Please note that most features of iOS 4.3 (except camera related) should work with the iPad.

* Airplay -- will let you play out video/photos from any app or website/Safari to your Apple TV or Airport Express (or any of the new systems that are Airplay compliant)

* iTunes Home Sharing -- now access iTunes on your computer from your iPad and watch/listen to content residing on your computer

* Small but important -- you can now choose (in the Settings) what you want to use the Mute button for... Mute/Unmute or Screen Orientation Lock (like earlier)...

New Apps: iMovie (to create and edit movies) and GarageBand (to create and edit music/instruments) on the iPad for 5bucks each (these appear to be restricted to the iPad 2)

4. Accessories

* The new Smart Cover is a piece of brilliant product design. You have to watch the demo video on this page. I loved it.

* Digital AV Adaptor for HDMI (described above)

What was missing?

* There were some expectations of improved display (Retina Display)... but this was unlikely till Apple could double the screen resolution (to keep the Apps backward compatible). This should happen with iPad 3.

* There were many rumours of USB or SD Card support... I think this was wishful thinking.

* Wild rumours of Flash support

Verdict

The iPad 2 is not an incremental feature upgrade. It is indeed a complete overhaul of the iPad design and specs. Makes the iPad highly competitive (features/price equation) with all the other tablets out there... In my opinion, Xoom is overpriced and Playbook is too small to be of use.

If you don't have an iPad -- you should get one on March 11. iPad 2 is the 'best' tablet out there for 2011 (even taking into account all the others that are promised for this year). Unless of course, you are highly committed to Android or Blackberry. Even then.

If you already have an iPad -- it is a tough decision, particularly if you've got one in the last 6-9 months... I would suggest you wait for iPad 3 (which is probably a year away, despite the rumours of a Fall release)... with iOS 4.3, you will have many of the features that the iPad 2 will get you (except the cameras).

But there are five situations in which you could consider upgrading to the iPad 2:

1. You use the iPad to make presentations, sharing with teams, etc. The Video Mirroring feature is unique to iPad 2... and it is a compelling feature.

2. You use a lot of video chat *and* you don't have an iPhone 4.

3. You want to treat yourself to special gift this new financial year.

4. Your spouse/kids use the iPad more than you, so you may as well give the old one to them.

5. You are like me. :-)

Ah, and by the way, Steve Jobs did the keynote yesterday. It was a wonderful surprise. He appeared reasonably healthy, and here's wishing him better health and many more magical surprises for years to come.

Posted via email from Global Gyan

At home tech primer

2010-12-13T14:41:00.001+05:30

(This article first appeared in the Mint on 25 November, 2010 in the Business of Life section.)

So you finally decided to create a home office? A home office is not the same as occasionally working from home after work hours or during holidays. You can get by without much ado for the latter; the former requires more planning, technology and facilities. Whether it’s high-speed Internet or admin support on-call, there are many things that we take for granted in an office—a home office will require you to organize all these for yourself. Yes, you do not have your boss watching over your shoulder but neither will you get endless coffee on demand. If you want to be really productive, you need to get your set-up right. Over time, most enterprises will create plug and play “home office” packages to instantly enable their remote workers. Till then, you may need to invest some time and money to create an environment that makes you feel at office in the home.

TELEPHONY

You obviously already have a mobile phone; you should probably get a landline. Mobile phones are not always reliable or convenient when you have to get on to a 2-hour conference call. A landline will also be useful for Internet connectivity (see below). Don’t forget to activate international subscriber dialling (ISD) on your phone—you will need it to dial international toll-free numbers (000-800 numbers) that most conference bridges use.

TIP:If your company uses IP telephony from Cisco, Avaya, etc., ask for a soft-phone application on your computer; this will enable you to replicate your office phone and call your office extensions (using voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP).

BROADBAND

Trust me, get two Broadband connections. Ideally, one of them would be a DSL connection on your landline or a fixed wireless connection (for example, WiMax), with an assured speed of about 1 Mbps and unlimited data usage. In addition, you should get a wireless Internet connection (data-card) that can act as a backup as well as provide you with mobility. Wait for the 3G networks to go live to get more options and possibly better price plans. In any case, Broadband access could cost Rs2,000-3,000 per month—the biggest expense for working from home. However, you cannot work from home if you do not have reliable Internet connectivity.

TIP: Create a local wireless network using a Wi-Fi router; this will provide you some flexibility to move your workplace around and also connect multiple devices to the same Broadband connection.

BASICS FIRST

Find yourself a room or a corner of a room that you can convert into an office. Get yourself a comfortable chair and a work desk. A few filing cabinets and a waste-paper bin would also be nice. Make sure that you have enough electric points nearby, else get a couple of extension strips. A coffee maker, perhaps…

TIP: Check with your employer if they have a policy to support the creation of a home office. Some companies such as BT and P&G provide their remote workers with furniture or other amenities to replicate an office environment at home.

COMPUTING

You would most likely be using your company-provided laptop as your primary computing device. An external LCD monitor (20 inch or more) would be a useful addition to ease pressure on your eyes; it can also work as a projection screen if you ever have to have a team meeting at home. Similarly, an external mouse and keyboard (preferably wireless/Bluetooth) would make your desk experience more flexible.

You will find that a printer is useful; you may need to print the occasional e-ticket or your monthly expense vouchers or something of that sort. An all-in-one deskjet device (less than Rs5,000) or even a laserjet printer (around Rs10,000) from Hewlett-Packard (HP) or Samsung that prints, copies and scans would meet most typical requirements; most of them can be connected to your Wi-Fi router and operated wirelessly.

TIP: For most document scans, it will work if you just click a picture with a phone-camera and email the photo. If you have an iPhone, there are free apps such as Genius Scan that give you several edit features. You should also keep digital (scan) versions of your photo, passport, ID card, signature, etc., handy—these are very often required at short notice for visas or other official purposes.

SECURITY AND BACKUP

Access to your corporate network, information and resources would mostly be through a virtual private network (VPN) for which you may need an additional password or a token. Make sure that your computer is configured for full remote access and you have IT helpdesk details handy.

You ought to also have your email configured on a mobile device (BlackBerry or any other smartphone) in case your laptop fails to connect for some reason. Many companies create periodic backups of all computers on their network; if not, or in addition, you may want to create a local backup using an external hard drive—do check your company’s IT and data policies before you copy data on to a personal disc.

TIP: Unless your office is nearby or you have an official IT support resource handy, consider investing in a personal desktop or a netbook. This will let you remain connected to your work, even if your office laptop is non-functional for some reason. It would be good to identify an IT troubleshooter in your neighbourhood—usually an IT hardware reseller, a computer engineering student or a geek.

SUPER SAVERS

Without these nifty tips, working from home may just become an expensive proposition

• Consider asking your employer to fund purchase of furniture or allow you to use spare stuff from the office. You should also seek reimbursement for your telecom and Internet expenses; remember, you are saving your employer a lot of cost by working from home.

• If you need to make a lot of calls to the US or Europe, sign up for a VoIP service such as Skype, Vonage or Line2, which will give you a local US number on your computer or smartphone to make and receive unlimited calls for a small fee.

• Microsoft and other software providers have special enterprise deals that enable employees to use expensive Office software in their home computers for almost free. Check with your IT department for such offers.

• Don’t let anybody in your neighbourhood know that you have a printer at home. Printers attract urgent printing jobs such as children’s school projects and ‘puja’ manuals that you will be unable to refuse. Remember, printer cartridges, over the lifetime of a printer, can cost three-four times the cost of the printer itself.

Posted via email from Global Gyan

Home Alone

2010-12-13T14:32:00.001+05:30

(This article first appeared in the Mint on 23rd November, 2010 in the Business of Life section)

"Some day, I will become senior enough to work when I want, where I want.” Or perhaps, “I will retire from the 10-8 routine and work flexible hours.” Telecommuting or working from home is every manager’s dream; achieving work-life balance the ultimate goal. In a survey (Flexible Work Models) conducted in October in Europe, the US, Asia and India by strategy consulting firm, Bain & Co., nearly 86% of next-generation employees said they expect flexibility from their employer. Changes in work practices and technology have made this a reality now. However, working from home is not as easy or attractive as it is made out to be. Through his week-long tweets, we take a peek into the life of a senior executive, who works from home and grapples with multiple “tiny issues”. From what to wear when working from home to can “balance” really be achieved, work-from-home raises several questions. Perhaps there are some lessons to be learnt.

Monday

8.00 AM Wow, the apt complex gym has really changed a lot since I last visited it. via Twitter for BlackBerry

9.20 AM L’s gone to school and the missus to work. Aha, feels great when it takes you 10seconds to reach office. #FTW

10.00 AM Done with overnight email. Disconnecting myself for the next 2 hours. #tata

12.00 PM Finished the Board presentation draft! No tension for the rest of the day.

5.00 PM Gartner publishes latest APAC IT market forecasts; no surprises. http://bit.ly/Grtnr #yam #in

5.15 PM (Yammer) @marketingguru Do you really think so? Aren’t our latest numbers more or less in line with the Gartner sizing estimates? Anyone from Singapore have a point of view?

Plan your day’s schedule, just as you would if you were working from office. Take opportunities to shut yourself from the world for a thinking session or an urgent task.

Tuesday

4.22 PM #NoteToSelfWear a shirt even if it is very hot, particularly when you join a web-conference.

9.00 PM Rather embarrassing to be told by Sridhar that he could see me in my vest during Webex meeting. #fail

9.01 PM Don’t know how the webcam turned itself on!! Should stick a post-it on the cam when not in use.

Try to replicate elements of work environment; that includes dressing to work. You never know when you’ll need to jump on to a video chat.

Wednesday

9.30 AM At work! Busy day ahead.

1.00 PM Lunch time!! Nothing like ghar ka khana. But I miss the mango milk-shake in the canteen. Trade-offs.

1.45 PM Staying awake post-lunch is always a challenge. Particularly when your bed is a few feet away. Attention!

9.30 PM What a #uberfail evening. How to fire somebody for writing a poor report when ”Pappu Can’t Dance” is blaring in the other room?!

9.31 PM Can’t really blame L; I should have gone to the local office for the team review call. Or get my room sound-proofed.

9.35 PM (Yammer TeamGroup) Guys, sorry for the background sound during today’s meeting. Hope you could hear me clearly.

Create an office space for yourself that is audibly separated from your regular living area. If you cannot spare a room, consider going to the office or using a nearby business centre for important calls or meetings.

Thursday

7.00 AM Day trip to Delhi. Waiting for the flight to take off. How I love these early morning flights /sarcasmvia Twitter for BlackBerry

9.20 AM Delhi is hot! Make that very hot. #YetIWearATievia Twitter for BlackBerry

5.00 PM Headed back to the airport. Delhi’s roads seem to be improving but the traffic’s still the same mess. via Twitter for BlackBerry

11.00 PM Just landed; flight late. 21-hour day for a 2 hour meeting — what a waste! I am done with traveling.via Twitter for BlackBerry

Videoconferencing and telepresence are now real substitutes to business travel. Consider creating home infrastructure to support video, or identify a shared facility that you can use.

Friday

11.30 AM Sporadic start today; some home repairs underway. Anyway, not much work this AM.

5.00 PM Headed to TP room for monthly leadership meeting. Looking fwd to meeting colleagues from all over the world. Virtually, of course.via Twitter for BlackBerry

9.30 PM Exhausted. TelePresence much more engaging than audio calls. TP at home would be great. Hmm..maybe not.via Twitter for BlackBerry

Working from home offers you the flexibility to take time off for any urgent chores, as long as you are disciplined enough to get your deliverables out on time.

Saturday

10.00 AM Saturday is just another day but with fewer e-mails.

1.00 PM STOP. WORKING. NOW.

10.00 PM Ok, so I sneaked in. But I do need to get the Key Imperatives sorted out; it was due on Friday.

A home office can easily become a 24X7 office and defeat its very purpose, if you are not consciously managing your time. A home office does not automatically mean more time with the family.

Sunday

11.00 AM Nothing much happening on e-mail, Yammer and Twitter. Is this a long weekend, guys? #yam

11.10 AM (Yammer) D marketingguru Aha! I knew you’d be around :-) Any update on that Gartner report analysis?

11.12 AM (Yammer) D marketingguruThat sounds plausible. Hey, got to go: some birthday party and I am getting those dirty stares! I’ll be in office next week – let’s catch up.

2.15 PM Seriously, where’s everybody this weekend? #yamvia Twitter for BlackBerry

It’s not wise to work from home 100% of the time; a 60-40 mix between remote and on-site is advisable. Use enterprise social media tools to stay in touch with what’s happening in the office even when you’re home.

Posted via email from Global Gyan

About Value Systems and Economic Power

2010-09-14T16:50:00.001+05:30

Extract from Thomas Friedman's Op-Ed in New York Times: We're No. 1(1)!

Who will tell the people? China and India have been catching up to America not only via cheap labor and currencies. They are catching us because they now have free markets like we do, education like we do, access to capital and technology like we do, but, most importantly, values like our Greatest Generation had. That is, a willingness to postpone gratification, invest for the future, work harder than the next guy and hold their kids to the highest expectations.

In a flat world where everyone has access to everything, values matter more than ever. Right now the Hindus and Confucians have more Protestant ethics than we do, and as long as that is the case we’ll be No. 11!

via nytimes.com

I liked this article that seeks to distinguish the USA of the early 20th century and now, and how India and China, demonstrating the same great values that the earlier USA had, are emerging as major threats to US economic dominance. Thomas Friedman has always been brutally honest with his opinions. Some may disagree with his conclusions (or the approach with which he arrives at them), but there is no denying that Mr. Friedman has admirably managed to simplify and put in context complex macro-economic shifts that we are all part of.

The India that he briefly describes in the above op-ed is the India that I have generally known; the India in which most of us grew up in; the India that thankfully still exists in many small towns and villages.

A common scene in most towns of India - amidst the chaos, institutes of English and Computer education stand out.

My fear is that India is changing fast. Instant wealth / success and gratification are now more sought after than the rigour of education and hard-work. What was earlier perhaps limited to the glitz capital, Mumbai is now spreading wide across the country, thanks to televised shows and new media.

Will a Times of India op-ed in 2050 lament the loss of Indian values? Maybe these are the cycles of life, the ups and downs in the fortunes of various nations. Or can a nation's leaders and thinkers steer a different course? Governance in India, in the current times, does not give such confidence. We have many strategists; we are missing the leaders.

Posted via email from Global Gyan

Let Neutrality not lead to Mediocrity

2010-08-21T22:11:00.001+05:30

Recently, Thomas K Thomas of Hindu Business Line wrote an article regarding the Net Neutrality issue that is being debated in several countries and was introduced into the Broadband debate in India by Google. While TKT was kind enough to quote my views, there's only so much one can express in a quote. Therefore, this post to elaborate on the quote:

But Indian telecom operators are not in favour of any such regulation. Srinivasa Addepalli, Senior Vice-President, Corporate Strategy, Tata Communication, says that more than it being a question of principles it is a commercial issue. “It is fair that consumers should have unrestricted access to the Internet. It is also a fact that telecom operators are investing billions of dollars in creating infrastructure. The Internet is at the core of private enterprise today; network operators, like the content/service providers, should be allowed to develop their commercial models without additional regulatory constraints,” Addeppali says.

There was a twist in the Net Neutrality debate in the US with Google and Verizon announcing a joint proposal and with AT&T jumping into the fray with its support of said proposal (or at least one key element of the proposal). Proponents of an open Internet accused Google of a sell-out and Google responded with an analysis of myths and facts related to the proposal. (By the way, I liked this reasonably objective teardown of the Google-Verizon proposal).

Whatever the outcome of the current round of debate on Net Neutrality proposals, I guess there are some key issues that one needs to consider here.

Is the Internet a public good or a private enterprise?

What might have started out in defence and academic circles, is now the primary platform for knowledge, collaboration, commerce, entertainment, and more. On one hand you have the largest encyclopedia in the world that is user-managed and runs on donations, and on the other you also have the most valuable brand in the world, both of which owe their existence to the Internet. The late Dewang Mehta of Nasscom once famously included Internet bandwidth as a fundamental right of all (Indian) citizens and rightly so. But it is not just information or governance that the Internet provides us now and nor is the Internet "free". Content providers and commercial enterprises are free however, to charge their customers (or not) for access to their services as they deem fit. There is no regulation that determines how much a song download should cost or what the pricing of a hosting plan should be. You can sign up for a free, 'lite' version or upgrade to a pricey, 'premium' version. It's a competitive market out there, and a reasonably free market.

Is Internet Access a monopoly or a scarce resource?

In the early days of telecom (30 yrs back in developed markets, 5-15 yrs back in several emerging markets), customers had no choice, whether it was voice services or data connectivity. Regulators were introduced in most of these markets to break incumbent monopolies and encourage competition. Even until a few years ago, customers had very few choices for broadband connectivity, one or two service providers at most in any market. But that has changed. Wireless broadband access has emerged as a reasonable alternative to wireline, particularly in developing markets that have had very poor wireline in any case. Most markets have at least three such providers; extreme cases like India have 6-7 (and growing) wireless operators. Of course, these broadband networks (both wireline and wireless) have failed to keep pace with the exponential growth in Internet traffic demand but that does not reflect scarcity or monopoly behaviour.

Regulators, I believe, should aim to make themselves redundant. That can only happen by encouraging competition, not just in terms of numbers of players, but also ensuring that each of the players has the requisite resources to be an effective competitor. Regulations should define the minimum acceptable performance levels, for customers and competitors; beyond that, effective competition should take care of creating sufficient customer choice.

Broadband Networks: No longer commodity utilities

For long, telecom networks have been called the pipes, equating them with other utilities like water pipelines and electric wires. Broadband networks, as critical to human existence now as the aforementioned utilities, have features that set them apart from the other pipes. For one, as mentioned earlier, they are no longer primarily provided by local or national government bodies and are not monopolies. In addition, the "content" that flows through them is also varied, competitive and unregulated (unlike water or electricity), The highway example is an interesting one, with several similar characteristics to the broadband network. As one of the industry experts in TKT's article says:

It's like any toll road in the country where every type of vehicle gets to use the expressway but the toll charges vary depending on the type of vehicle.

Everyone can use the roads to travel as they please, however, there are several rules that govern how traffic flows on the roads. There are certain roads (highways or expressways) that place limitations on who (or what type of vehicles) enter the road and charge them in a differential manner. Traffic on these roads is regulated in different ways; certain types of vehicles get priority to use fast lanes and some have to stick to the slower ones. On some roads, the authorities may mandate some capacity to be reserved for public transport by creating special bus or taxi lanes, even if it slows down the rest of the traffic. Finally, in specific circumstances, private roads can be built and the owners determine what they are used for and how. What do we gather from this:

A) Rules of what is allowed and what the charges are should be clear to the users (and to the regulators)

B) Differential treatment to users is permitted. In the light of (A), users can choose what they prefer. (By the way, roads are a near monopoly or maybe duopolies; telecom networks, we have established earlier, are more competitive than roads)

C) Certain capacity of the 'public' infrastructure can be reserved or set aside for critical usage or public interest.

D) Customers can, in certain circumstances, negotiate and build private infrastructure and use it the way they want.

As a Broadband customer, I would be willing to pay a premium for a network that understood my priority applications and provided a superior performance for such core services, even at the expense of other stuff. For instance, I would surely like to access my enterprise applications (Intranet, Mail, etc.) much faster / better than say, a YouTube video. A doctor providing remote medical assistance would surely want her tele-medicine application to not be choked mid-way through the procedure. On the other hand, a movie junkie (perhaps the doctor, on vacation) would want nothing more than super-fast download of the latest iTunes movie (in HD). Should we let this be left to fate (or best effort, in Internet / telecom parlance)? I say, No. Internet service providers need to make their networks more capable, to discriminate intelligently and individually across different types of content / applications. In a world where our lives are going to revolve around the cloud, networks have to become more than dumb pipes. Intelligent networks will create more value to the customers as well as the content providers.

Maybe most customers do not want such intelligence. Maybe most content providers do not care about it. But for the few that want the choice, let regulation not take it away and relegate them, in the name of neutrality, to an "average" experience.

I welcome your comments and feedback, particularly because the "Net Neutrality" debate is still not defined well enough in developing markets.

Posted via email from Global Gyan

My iPad Review

2010-04-23T00:30:00.001+05:30

When the iPad was announced earlier this year, I had written about the iPad being a device that will appeal to new segments of the "computer" market: the GAAKS. Now that the iPad is here, and with me for almost two weeks (though I could not use it much during the first week due to work and travel), I am sharing my first impressions of the iPad. Whether it will meet the expectations of Apple, its fanboys and the gaaks, is still unclear, although sales of half a million in the first fortnight appear impressive.

Here it goes:

Download now or preview on posterous

iPad_Review_-_Srini.pdf (1241 KB)

I have not gone into the tech details nor waxed eloquent about the entertainment / gaming features of the iPad... Do you have specific questions about the iPad - use the comments below to ask them, and I will try and share whatever I can.

Posted via web from Global Gyan

iPad - the device for the gaaks.

2010-02-02T12:34:00.001+05:30

Most of us have become experts at seeing what isn't, so we miss out simple 'what is' facts. The other problem that we face is that of wanting everything, everytime, everywhere.

Apple's latest creation, the iPad, has underwhelmed the tech media and analysts; they are unable to see why somebody would use a large smartphone or an inferior laptop. Many others are aghast at the iPad's lack of Flash support or multi-tasking. That there aren't two cameras to support photography and video-chatting has let down a few more. Of course, some can't get over the "i" jokes and worse still, the "pad" jokes.

I beg to differ. I see here (and in a few other such devices) an opportunity to expand the market for digital services. Take it beyond the tech workers and fans of gadget blogs, take it beyond the home and office use, take it beyond the developed markets. I firmly believe that iPad has the opportunity to define its market, not as a large smartphone or as a cheaper/smaller laptop but as the primary digital device for the GAAKS, as against the geeks! (More about the gaaks, later.)

Broadband penetration remains relatively low in several emerging markets, not only because of supply constraints but also because prospective customers do not see value in the service. The primary interface device is a computer that is as "complex" as it is expensive. Most kids and senior citizens (all 45+ would qualify!) that have not received "formal" IT education would not venture to use a computer without assistance. Even when they do use a computer, it is rarely for its computing or processing power but really for the purpose of communication, media consumption and sharing. Finally, the keyboard is the most counter-intuitive input/control device that puts-off even highly educated people, leave alone those that aren't.

It is obvious that the next Broadband access device has to be developed using the same principles that have made mobile phones and media players accessible to several billion people worldwide. Simple and intuitive user interface that helps in communication/sharing and digital media management. A device that two-year old kids can manage and so can 60+ old grannies. Something that the neighborhood aunty will find as appealing as students focusing on their courseware. Something that the average-J can use to be more productive at work. Move over geeks, we need to serve the grannies, aunties, average-j, kids and students. The GAAKS.

Using a few personal, albeit anecdotal, experiences, let me outline needs of the gaaks in the context of a digital device:

Grannies: Simple visual control-interface, limited need for typing. Big, bright screen; large icons. Mostly photos, videos and music. Reading books. The occasional video chat. Home use.

Aunties: Cool looks. Fit in handbag. Idiot-proof controls (Oh, did I delete something!?). Music, videos and photos. Calendar. Facebook. Mail reader and forwarder. Home + nomadic use.

Average-J at work: Portable. Simple but secure. VPN/Exchange connectivity. Mail, Calendar & Contacts. Notes. Presentations (on-screen or projector). Document editor. Corporate apps. Occasional media (IT rules permitting). Mobile use.

Kids: Rugged (4-feet drop proof). Delete-proof. Intuitive physical & visual interface. Music, videos, games. Education apps. Occasional books/comics. Anywhere the parents want a silent kid.

Students: Cool looks. Portable (fit in a ruck-sack with other assorted stuff). Social networking. Music, videos, photos & games. Camera or camera-phone interface. Search. Reading books & making/sharing notes. Everywhere use.

(I have described generic / average usage scenarios. There are bound to be exceptions in each of these categories. Have also not included stuff that can be done using pretty much any mobile phone: yakking, texting, FM radio, etc.)

Which device is more likely to serve these large user segments: a laptop-variant or an iPod Touch variant? Remember, most of these people already have access to a mobile phone, so they have basic voice and narrowband connectivity. A bigger, brighter and more capable iPod Touch or an iPhone appears to be more relevant to these users than a laptop or a netbook. The iPad may not yet address all these requirements but from a hardware perspective, it appears to have all features (except a video camera for chat: surprising but not a deal-breaker). The interface and software are almost ideal for the gaaks; a few rough edges should get resolved through software upgrades.

Us geeks will still buy the iPad because, well, we just have to have it. It will add to the bag-load of devices and accessories that we carry with us everywhere. The significance of the recent Apple announcement is that a whole new, untapped market is about to open up. What they call "blue-ocean" stuff in management consulting parlance. More power to the gaaks.

Posted via email from Global Gyan

Roof-top Capers

2010-01-31T15:20:00.001+05:30

It was another morning. I had not slept much the previous night, having stayed awake to complete a Harry Potter book. My friend had gifted me this big, hardbound book a few days before, and I had reluctantly started reading it. And could not put it down. Unfortunately, it was the middle of the week. I was still new at work and hadn't yet learnt any bunking/goofing off tricks. So I missed the 8.19 to Churchgate (for what else happens when I miss the 8.19, check out: The Day Shahrukh Khan Saved My Life) for the first time.

There's nothing more irritating than seeing the local train leave the platform right in front of your eyes, particularly when the next train on that platform is about ten minutes later, sure to result in the disapproving eye-brow from the big boss. And my project manager had ended the previous evening with a 'let's catch up first thing tomorrow morning' threat of more work. Platform 7 was to offer me no relief, so I proceeded to the overbridge, looking for options. It's easy to generate multiple "strategic options" on a slide but Andheri station, that morning, was in no mood to support my cause.

Back of the envelope calculation revealed that a Slow train after 8.25am would not work; there was no option but to go for a Fast local. I had come to this conclusion even before I had reached the top stair of the bridge, all I had to do now was to go to the correct platform. They don't teach you in b-school not to jump to conclusions too fast, they don't teach you in life too. You have to learn it the hard way, so there I was running fast to catch the next Fast.

All the while, there was a song playing in my head, just refusing to go away. Chaiyya Chaiyaa. With Jhankaar Beats. It had been playing in the auto that brought me to the station and the words looped tunelessly in my mind. It was perhaps coincidental that I was reminded of this song, featuring a train and others, at a train station, but at that time, it was just a background score.

I shall not go into the painful details of how I got into the First Class compartment of the next Fast local: it was from Virar and painfully over-crowded, there were even some chaps sitting on top of the local train! Getting into a Virar-Churchgate local during peak hours was obviously a very stupid thing but such was my dedication to work that I took the chance. Luckily, I did not suffer much physical damage while I was pushed inside; I managed to find some space to stand and held an overhead handle tight.

Whether it was the gentle swaying of the train or my night-out with Harry Potter, I felt drowsy. Standing. My mind's iPod continued to play Chaiyya Chaiyya in a repeat mode.

I must admit that I had always been fascinated by that song. Of course, Malaika Arora was mind-blowing and Shahrukh Khan outdid himself in this foot-tapping song, but the most exciting part for me was its picturization on top of a moving train! What a fun way to experience the thrill of a train journey and the beauty of nature all-around. If you had friends with you, some steaming chai and hot pakoras. Aaah! And, yeah, if someone like Malaika was dancing too, then it would be heaven. But, nah! that only happens in movies, so I would settle for the rest.

I guess my fascination for train-top journeys began in a more sober setting. Ben Kingsley, playing Mohandas Gandhi, joins other passengers on top of a train in his discovery of India journey. What a moment in his realization of what the true India was. Even today, almost 90 years later, hundreds of people travel on train roofs, often because there is no space for them elsewhere but sometimes because it offers the best view, conversations and air conditioning. I had never travelled on a train roof in spite of my several train journeys across India. Wouldn't it be fun to try it out sometime?

My thoughts turned to other famous train roof-top scenes from my favourite movies. Young Indy making his escape from the circus train in Last Crusade and of course, the climax of Mission Impossible. Too much! Well, I could do with less adventure, I suppose. But, the chai and pakoras were a must.

The train stopped with a sudden shudder. Irritated that my pleasant reverie was disturbed, I opened my eyes and looked around. We had stopped in between stations and there was some commotion from a few compartments away. There was a buzz in ours too. Somebody must have pulled the chain, was the most popular view. Maybe the power has failed, ventured a few others. A couple of guys who were sitting close to where I was could not bear the uncertainty and got up to conduct an inquiry. A few people jumped down from the train and moved towards the source of the noise.

I seized the opportunity and sat down. If that guy returned later, well, it was his fault; he didn't have a reservation for this seat. I retrieved the Economic Times from my bag and looked at the crossword. Why did it have to be in the inner pages and not conveniently in the last one, I cribbed as if that would help me crack more clues! A few minutes passed and the train remained still. Would I lose the Fast train advantage due to this halt? I went back to looking for the anagram clues. Chaiyya Chaiyya continued to compete for attention.

Five or more minutes passed, I reconciled myself to seeing the boss' eyebrows shoot up today; others were also discussing their respective excuses at work. Suddenly there was more buzz, some guys climbed back into the train (quite a feat, that!!) and the train's horn indicated its readiness to resume the journey. Some adventure and a major waste of time, I thought.

The check-shirt guy, surely a broker, whose seat I was occupying did not seem to be in a hurry to reclaim his position. He was in an animated conversation with others standing around him. The buzz in the train refused to die. Unable to hold my curiosity any longer, I looked up and asked, to nobody in particular, 'Kya hua?' I must have spoken loudly because there was a sudden break in all conversation; the broker heard it and said, "Ek ladka gir gaya train se, abhi zinda hai lekin serious. Shaayad current laga tha, train ke oopar baitha tha." (A boy fell from the train, he's still alive but in a serious condition. Probably electrocuted, he was sitting on the roof.)

Gandhiji, SRK, Indy, Ethan... I am not joining you on the roof, thank you.

This is the fourth in a series of stories from and about train journeys. Other similar stories can be found here.

Posted via email from Global Gyan

The Day Shahrukh Khan Saved My Life

2010-01-22T14:20:00.001+05:30

For the first two years of my work-life, 8.19 was central to everything. The slow local that originated at Andheri station, to get me to Churchgate, determined how the day would go. If we (some of my colleagues and I) got a seat - at least before Bandra, we would have the opportunity to 'put fight' on the Economic Times crossword, be relaxed enough to get our shoes polished when we disembarked and then reach our Colaba office before the boss did. If we missed the train, then anything could happen. Usually for the worse.

That fateful morning in April - we were in the midst of appraisals, I remember - I was running late. Every auto, it seemed, was taken. I stood in front of my building, waving at every passing auto. But Juhu Versova Link Road was filled with hundreds and thousands like me, all competing for the 8.19. Most of us were wearing blue or white shirts or blue and white shirts, with dark trousers and black shoes. You would find black or brown leather bags on our shoulders, a few lucky ones just carried a newspaper in their hands. We were all recent MBAs landed in Mumbai with shared accommodation in Andheri and the ambition to move south-wards. We were the 8.19 First Class crowd.

About ten minutes later, I was in an auto, sharing it with some other guy who I only knew as the guy with a discman. He usually sat by himself in the train and listened to music till we reached Churchgate. In tough circumstances such as those of that morning, you made friends with anybody, particularly if the other person was getting into an auto alone. We hardly spoke during the fifteen minute ride to the station; this auto, like many other new ones, was fitted with a tape-player and a T-Series cassette. Kumar Sanu was belting out some old Kishore hits and that was sufficient excuse for us not to engage in conversation.

It was almost 8.15 by the time we reached the Juhu Galli-SV Road junction signal, the final barrier before we hit the entrance to platform 7. The signal had just turned red and we waited impatiently, urging the driver, "Chalo, chalo," almost willing him to break the signal and get ahead. The auto-driver was not really in favour of such heroics at that five-way junction; he fiddled with the springy thing that was hanging from the rear-view mirror. As the signal turned green, Discman and I settled our accounts with the driver and got ready to jump out of the auto. Our three-wheeler, in pole position at the junction, got into the one-way lane towards the station ahead of five others that were vying for the honours. Changing gears, he led the race to the platform entrance. The train stood on the platform.

Having entered the auto later, I was the first to get out. I crossed the road and was climbing the steps when I heard the train horn. The train had decided that it would not wait for me. I did not give up - oftentimes these train drivers would have a false start and be called back to the starting line. And the First Class compartment was right there, in front of me. So I ran.

I glanced backwards to see if the Discman was also giving chase, but he was still at the gate and had obviously given up. The backward glance, as they often say during cricket commentary, lost me two precious seconds and was to prove costly. I was (and am) a tall guy; I was (and am not) quite fit and agile. I decided that I could get into the 8.19 with a bit of effort. Any well-reasoning guy, like Discman, would have told you that it was just not possible; the train was cleared to leave the platform and the motorman, obviously well-fed that bright and sunny morning, was raring to show his moves. He took off with a vengeance. But it was one of those times when reason takes a quick nap to permit perverse foolishness to take over (some call it adrenalin). So I ran faster.

Pushing one or two by-standers, I made a dash for the First Class compartment. It is not very easy to run on any Mumbai suburban platform, particularly when you are wearing formal shoes and have a shoulder bag filled with McKinsey Quarterly and HBR print-outs. However, I was possessed and got pretty close to the compartment door. This is the moment where Hindi movies like DDLJ get it all wrong: you feel that jumping onto a running train and getting hold of a handle is quite easy. I mean, it's been done countless times, and Shahrukh Khan's always around, no? Let me tell you, in case you are planning to attempt a similar stunt in future, that not only is it very difficult to coordinate so many parts of your body and the train at the same time, but it is also very dangerous, given the liberal gap between the train and the platform. So I jumped.

(see 2:00 to 2:30 in this DDLJ video; sorry for the poor quality but it has sub-titles too)

I may have alluded to it earlier, now is the time to clarify that the 8.19 was a very popular train and left Andheri station with 200% capacity utilization. Not much floor space in the train, even in the First Class rake, was left spare for idiots like me. Whereas I was hoping to get my left foot on the train floor and the left hand on the pole that bisected the entrance, said floor and pole were fully accounted for. But like the Light Brigade I had no option to turn back, I was committed. My left shoe made an uninvited entry to the shoe party on the floor; my left hand sought friendship with a strange other. It was a precarious situation, my left limbs were trying to make themselves wanted while most of my body and bag were experiencing loss of gravity. We were now out of Andheri station.

Although nobody outright rejected the intruder, there weren't welcome songs either. Instead of the violins I heard a few people cursing me and my family for my stupidity. Those words probably helped clear my mind and woke reason from its slumber. I was terrified. The sweat in my palms did not help my grip and my foot was still trying to find space for itself. I shifted my body inwards and tried to force my right foot also into the party. At that point, the train shivered a bit as it changed tracks. My hand began to disengage and I knew that something bad was going to happen. He held my wrist and pulled me in. Whether it was extreme-fear induced adrenalin or that guy's strength, I don't know, but two seconds later I found myself mostly inside. My right hand groped for support and found something, my feet too were on something solid. I was breathless and out of my wits for a few minutes. We reached Vile Parle station and more people got in through the other door. I was held in place by everyone else around. By the time we got to Bandra, I had been pushed right inside and had some space and air around me.

I looked around, remembering that somebody had helped me get in, nay, saved my life. I had no clue, there were too many people all around. I didn't know which one of them was my Shahrukh Khan.

(Title Inspiration: Allan Seally's "How Raj Kapoor Saved My Life")

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Comfortably Numb!

2010-01-18T17:14:00.000+05:30

It must have been during our third year in engineering that Suraj and I went to Anand to attend a Spic-Macay meeting at the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA). We got into one of several trains that passed by Surat on their way to Ahmedabad. I remember we reached Anand by about 11am and were hajaar impressed by the IRMA campus, and more importantly, the food that was served in the hostel mess for lunch. I have no recollection of what happened at that meeting but that's fair enough, I guess.

The meeting ended by late afternoon and we took an auto rickshaw to the Anand station. The queue at the ticket counter and the crowd on the platform should have given me some premonition of what would happen later, but I was twenty then and didn't care much about anything really. Suraj and I were more excited about IRMA, in fact. Not a bad choice for post-graduate studies if we didn't make it to the tier-1 MBA institutes. Of course, we were not too kicked by the rural management part of the whole thing, however, they seemed to have good placements. Moreover, the campus was great, there were real women on campus and the mess was wonderful. What more could two twenty-year olds ask for?

We were still thinking through the scenarios when we felt the mood change on the platform. There was palpable tension, a feeling of anticipation like a batsman taking guard at the wicket. I took a deep breath of air, straightened my shoulders, patted the jhola on my back to check that it was still there, balanced my body with a slight hunch while glancing at my Lotto shoes that gave me a competitive advantage and prepared for the assault. The train had not yet slowed down when two opposing forces began their battle at the doors. There were men and women, mostly men actually, seeking to alight from the train who were met by a thicker wall of those that wanted to pierce their way into the train. I must admit that I used my height and thick head to good advantage and managed to breach the fortress. As I paused to catch my breath, I looked around for a status check on Suraj. Suraj, if I haven't mentioned it earlier, was six feet and three inches tall (the same height as Amitabh Bachchan, he never failed to remind us) and reasonably well built. He was using his long hands and longer legs to good use, scaring everyone into submission. Within minutes, the train jerked and began chugging along. We were inside the train, without loss of limb or respect.

As the train picked speed, so did the sound levels in the compartment. We were standing somewhere in between the toilets and the doors, sharing the space with about thirty others. Some were in deep conversation, some were trying to park their backsides at the same place where they were vertical earlier, some others were opening their bags for assorted eatables and chewables, a few even chose to use the anonymity of the situation to pass wind. Such an environment did not deter Suraj and me from continuing our discussions about career options and male-female ratios in each of those options. Baroda, about forty minutes later, however, had better exit to entry ratio, and we were able to make our way to the other door for some fresh air.

The sun had decided it had had enough for the day as the train pulled out of Baroda, and was on its way out. When one of the passengers mentioned that the platform at the only other stop would be on the other side, we promptly sat down at the door, with our feet on the steps. We were wearing jeans, so it didn't matter how dirty the floor was: jeans were designed for such use only. The cool breeze was exhilarating as was the feeling that our career plans were falling into place. One hand held the handle while the other contributed to the animated discussion that we continued. Villages passed by and so did a couple of culverts. The train swerved suddenly on a few occasions and we hung on for dear life, but all in all, we had the best seats in the train.

One doesn't realize how time passes by when you are young and more so with a friend; we had left behind Ankleshwar and were about half an hour away from Surat, home to our engineering college and hostel. It was reasonably dark now, a bit chilly and, I must admit, slightly scary. It's easy to sit at the door during the day, hearing the wheels grind the rails and seeing poles whizz by; at night, it's a different matter. Not only are the senses dulled by the harmonic motion of the train, there was also a general sense of quiet within the compartment, with loud conversations having given way to whispers, yawns and surprise, even snoring. I was getting a bit restless now and was ready to get off the train and stretch the legs. I could see a few lights in the distance and perhaps the outline of a few houses. We were close to Surat but not nearly there, I said to myself, when a platform appeared. On our side.

My right foot which was resting on the middle step made contact with the platform with an upward jerk. The train continued speeding, unaware of the predicament my foot found itself in. For about twenty or thirty feet, I was too shocked to react, then survival instinct kicked in. I pulled my foot, sheathed in size ten Lottos, inwards first, disengaged it from the platform and then twisting it sideways pulled it up to the top step, just above the platform to give company to the left. The nameless station passed by.

Wild pain in the foot succeeded wild panic in the mind. I must have uttered several four letter words causing Suraj to take notice (he, by the way, had kept his long legs out danger's way by keeping them close to himself). In seconds, before I could even reply to Suraj, I felt my right foot missing. I mean, I could not feel it. My leg entered the shoe and danced with infinity. "I can't feel much... am like comfortably numb, man!" I assured Suraj. "Cool! By the way, did you know that there's a Pink Floyd song called Comfortably Numb?" said he, perhaps in an attempt to divert my attention. In those days, almost blasphemously, I hadn't discovered Time or most of the Floyd classics and knew them only as Another Brick in the Wall. And I didn't particularly care, at that time, for an education.

Luckily, Surat did arrive ten minutes later and with Suraj's help, I limped my way to an auto. Suraj, ever the practical guy, suggested that we should see a doctor before we reached the hostel. He remembered that there was a bloke near the college gate whom he had consulted in the first year and whose clinic stayed open late. Doctor Something Shah, when we reached his abode a little later, suggested I put some Iodex and went to sleep, 'everything be alright tomorrow, young boy'. Next morning did not bring much cheer and we went back to Dr. Shah. He reluctantly advised me to get an X-Ray done at a nearby setup, gave it a dismissive glance and wrote me a prescription of two tablets for three days.

Two weeks passed. The swelling of the foot reduced but did not go away. There was an occasional shooting pain when I put pressure on the right foot. But I was going home soon to Bombay for study holidays, so I just did not bother. Copying the syllabus for the exams and photocopying notes from my friends kept me busy for a few days. My slight limp did not escape my father's attention, though, when I reached home. "I slipped in bathroom and fell," I explained - the train story might read well in a book, not with parents. A visit to the orthopedic in the neighborhood was suggested and complied with. I showed him the X-Ray and the prescription.

"There is a clear hair-line fracture visible in the X-Ray," the ortho said. "This could not have been caused by slipping and falling," he clarified unnecessarily. "And, these medicines are for malaria," he concluded.

This is the second in a series of stories from and about train journeys. Other similar stories can be found here.

Posted via email from Global Gyan

A train, India, and countless stories.

2010-01-12T17:14:00.000+05:30

I cannot remember when I traveled in a train for the first time but my mother tells me it must have been when I was a couple of months old. My father, a bank officer, would get transferred every few years and we would set off, discovering new parts of India. And wherever we were, thrice a year we would be on a train to my grandparents' house in Rajahmundry, on the banks of River Godavari.

My affair with trains intensified when I joined boarding school in Bangalore for my 11th and 12th standard. Every term break, I would take a night train to Madras (as it was called then, and still is, in my memories) and change to the Coromandel Express the next morning to Vijayawada. I loved traveling alone, charting out what I would do next. I'd spend most of the eight hours standing or sitting at the door, taking in the beautiful sights of Indian countryside. Filmfare, CineBlitz and other assorted magazines would be devoured alongwith samosas, coffee, dal-vadas and soan papdi.

My English text had Ruskin Bond's Eyes Have It as one of twelve short stories; I had also read his Night Train at Deoli. I dreamt of such romantic encounters on my journeys too, but alas, that wasn't to be. Perhaps I didn't have the finesse of Bond or maybe Dehra and Mussourie were where the action was!

For eight years during my hostel life, I must have made countless journeys. From Bangalore to Vijayawada, Surat and Ahmedabad to Mumbai, Surat to Tirupati and Ahmedabad to Cochin, each was a thrilling adventure. I was a romantic poet in one, I broke a foot in another, I ran barefoot on a platform at midnight looking for chai during a third, I slept under a berth in one other...

As I make this twenty hour journey with my wife and two daughters in the comfort of an AC First Class compartment, in the company of Ruskin Bond's Short Stories, I cannot but feel nostalgic about the journeys that shaped my youth.

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Cracked the Scene. So?

2010-01-08T15:57:00.000+05:30

My friend from school and I met for dinner after a very long time and got chatting about our other friends. He said, you know nobody from our 1993 batch at high-school has really cracked the scene. Is that really true, I countered, somebody had become a Partner at McKinsey, one co-founded a hedge fund at New York, some others were hot-shot investment bankers in India, Singapore and elsewhere and there were others moving up the corporate ladder. Seemed to me that everybody was doing reasonably well. But nothing spectacular, he said.

Most of us have been working for about 10-11years, assuming that we spent 5-6 years studying further (BE+MBA, in most cases!), and are nearing our mid-thirties. Not bad, I'd say, if I compared this to what our parents' generation might have achieved. But nobody is a CEO of a big company yet. Or a well-known scientist or a management guru.

You know, I have no idea what the hedge fund founder's kids' names were or what the Singapore I-banker did beyond I-banking... the occasional Facebook update tells me that most of us have put on weight, added new faces to the family photos and took an annual vacation somewhere. Everybody is happy. So it appears.

If any of us had become the youngest CEO in the history of our companies, would it have made us happier than what we were now? We would have surely cracked the scene, but would it make our 3 or 5-year old kids happier? As CEOs, we might even install Telepresence at home, and meet the family face to face when on the road, more often now. Did we need the additional responsibility of being a CEO just when the responsibility as a parent was beginning to peak?

Is it really progress (or cracking the scene?) if the envelope of a professional career is shrunk rapidly? Earlier CEOs were typically 50-year olds, now its passe to reach the top in the 40's and the target is to get there before the 40th birthday. So during the most productive years, all attention is focused on professional excellence and "success", with the hope that one can retire early and then enjoy life. But it is difficult to go trekking at the age of 45 when you are under medication for diabetes and hypertension. It is difficult to lift your fifteen year old child and fling her in the air while playing in the garden. So we cracked the scene at work but what about life, in general?

Anaggh Desai tweeted today, "Isn't it surprising that only Head Honchos talk and manage to practice Work - Life Balance?" I believe that though Head Honchos talk a lot about Work-Life Balance (WLB), most don't really practise it. There are very few who have the aptitude as well as an environment conducive to WLB. Balance is usually a euphemism for compromise; and when Head Honchos compromise between Work and Life, it is not difficult to guess which direction the scale typically tilts.

I read somewhere, very long ago that the best way to plan one's life's goals was to write your own obituary. What would you like your near and dear, at home and at work, to think of you when you are no longer around? What are the first things that you want others to say about you?

Are our actions today helping us achieve that "end-goal"?

A burst of colours in the new year!

2010-01-04T18:28:00.001+05:30

Finally (10 years later!) I lived up to my "Kissan" (farmer) nickname from IIMA... Here's some freshly grown palak (spinach) and dhaniya (coriander)... tomatoes, brinjal and lady fingers are on their way!

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3 Idiots: Dreams and Reality

2010-01-04T10:02:00.001+05:30

NOTE: This is an update to my previous post on 3 Idiots. This one, after seeing the movie today.

Follow your dreams.

That's the key message of 3I (and countless other stories)... and obviously, there's nothing wrong with that message.

But what if you cannot follow your dreams. Circumstances don't let you. What does one do? There are few in this world who are like Rancho (not Aamir Khan, mind you) - inherently brilliant, good-natured and attractive - who are also provided the opportunity to follow their dreams. Remember, it is Mr. Shyamaldas Chanjad who sees Rancho through school and college for his own selfish motive. And unlike Raju Rastogi, Rancho does not have a family of three, surviving on Rs 2500 per month, hoping that their son will get a job and sustain the family's livelihood.

Every dream clashes with reality, in some way, else it wouldn't be a "dream". Everyone has to make choices, day in and day out, about balancing the two. And given the ephemeral nature of dreams, they can change from time to time, just like reality will. Are we awake to such shifts, are we flexible to adapt to circumstances?

The flaw with 3I (amongst many others that I will not get into here because this is not a movie review) is that it seeks to use a broad brush in favour of the dream-way. With Aamir-can-do-no-wrong-Khan in the lead, all others are reduced to being caricatures. And eventually, all of them bow to the only way of the only master.

Jahapanaah, Tussi Great Ho!

PS: I was shocked at the 'pissing on a live wire' episodes, presented as cool stunts! This used to be a popular ragging sequence in medical colleges, with very dangerous consequences. I just hope that some stupid kids don't try this out for fun!

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Entrepreneur or Entrepreneurial?

2010-01-02T16:10:00.001+05:30

Had an interesting discussion on entrepreneurship with my friend Janani who has recently started out on her own. In fact, she and her hubby (& my classmate) Marlee gave up fundoo MBA careers (bank/consult) to start an interesting concept in the education space. We were chatting about start-ups, and what helps/impedes their growth.

An important element of entrepreneurship, in my opinion, is the ability of the visionaries/owners to attract professional managers into what might seem like a 'family' concern. A successful start-up has to eventually morph into a large business/organization - that requires building a good management team. Can the entrepreneur attract, encourage and retain high quality managers who can help scale up the business? Can you share control with other qualified professionals and let them handle key elements of growing the business?

This can become a critical issue if the business requires external funding to scale. Venture capitalists back entrepreneurs and concepts; private equity investors, on the other hand, back business models and management teams. The most successful Indian start-up (in my view), Infosys, made the transition from being an entrepreneurs-led start-up to a professional organization early in its journey. The founders behaved, through the company's history, as "managers" and not "owners". In fact, two of them have even "retired" from the company and let others take on leadership roles. At the same time, they created a company where many of the employees work in an entrepreneurial manner.

How can that happen in large organizations? How can thousands of employees/managers develop the same passion and innovation that entrepreneurs bring to a business? We need leaders/entrepreneurs/investors to create an environment where every manager believes he/she has an equal stake in the success of the venture. And this goes beyond stock options/profit sharing. It is to do with trust, delegation and respect. You have to make each employee feel that they have a say, the right to determine the future of the business as well as a duty to.

I have often been asked by friends, why don't you do something on your own? Perhaps it is a risk thing, but also, maybe because I feel that my "job" lets me do my own thing. Lets me dream big and go after it. How many entrepreneurs let their "employees" determine the direction and pace?

What do you think?

Note: I have no experience of being an "entrepreneur" though I have watched / heard from others. I have advised entrepreneurs and (through my company) invested in entrepreneurial ventures. I would like to hear other perspectives / alternative views.

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3 Idiots: Yahaan ka system hi hai kharab!

2010-01-02T16:00:00.000+05:30

I haven't seen 3 Idiots yet... but I have read Sahil's review here to get a good sense of what the movie is about.

I will probably watch it soon because it is the movie of 2009/10 and it's supposed to be a well-made movie... I loved Lage Raho Munnabhai and that's enough reason to watch the next Raju Hirani movie.

But I will go into the movie with a prejudice: I don't agree with the "message" that the education system is completely screwed up. That "formal" learning systems or even learning by rote are to be completely discarded. That our educators/professors/teachers are caricatures to be made fun of. That just creativity, without the rigour of analysis, can solve all problems.

I will not deny that our education system needs a major overhaul. We need to get more practical and more up-to-date. But that does not mean we kill the system itself. Remember, it is the same system that has produced whatever it has till now. It is the same system that has ensured that India grew at 8% this year when most "developed" countries were reeling with recession. It is the same system that is slowly leading to the flattening of the population pyramid.

Yes, the ranking system forces unhealthy competitive behaviour amongst children and we need to find ways to make "selection" more rounded and not just limited to "exam results". But, at the end of the day, can we get away from the fact that there will be "selection"? Humans are what they are because of natural selection. We have chosen capitalism as our way of life; to wish that everyone be alike is just a wish.

My daughter is just learning her 2-times table. She often forgets what she learnt "by rote"... but her learning process also taught her that she can add two to the previous answer to get the next one. And so on for the 3-times and 4-times tables. So she is using some creativity to get to the answer when she is stuck. Eventually, it won't matter whether she knows 4X9=36 by rote or by a creative deduction of the answer. She will know it. And she needs to know it. That's the problem with formal education... it is a somewhat painful process when we go through it and it is easy to discredit what we have learnt. But if we hadn't learnt many of those things, where would we be today?

What the system lacks is the flexibility for people to find their interest areas and to be able to customize their higher education in a way that suits their interests. We are stuck with rigid definitions of education options: Science, Commerce or Arts after the 10th; Engineering, Computers, Commerce, Science or Arts after the 12th... Why not a mix of them? Why can't an Engineering major do a bit of Arts and Commerce to develop other perspectives? Or the other way around...

The problem that I have with these movies (TZP, 3I, MB-MBBS) is that the studious are caricatured as nerds and the creative/dreamy types as studs. The teachers have to be of the worst category possible, except of course if Aamir is the teacher himself. The world needs the engineers, accountants, scientists, managers or other nerdy types as much as it needs the poets, photographers, artists, singers or the filmy types. Remember, the smart alec had the opportunity to come up with the fundoo "pencil, not pen" choice only because several brilliant mathematicians, scientists and engineers at NASA applied a lot of theorems, equations, algebra, design, etc. to build a craft that would take humans to space.

Tomorrow, I will surely enjoy 3 Idiots and all the funny / senti moments and the twists that are promised in the movie. But on Monday, I will also insist that my six-year old learn her 2 to 5 tables by rote.

Business of Education

2009-11-09T11:01:00.001+05:30

Why isn't there a national chain of K12 schools in India? In fact, why aren't there many?

I understand that education in India is for non-profit only but is there even a debate on the topic? And I can't believe that all the politicians who have set up schools in their names have been done out of only good intentions!!

When a manufacturing major decides to set up a mega-plant, it asks the Government for mines and power and other essential raw materials. They look for vertical integration to protect their long term interests. Then why are IT and BPO majors depending purely on Government action to provide them their essential 'raw material'? Every year they are hiring tens of thousands each, yet they have no control over the quality or mindset of the people they employ. No wonder they have to invest in almost recreating their education. The Knowledge Economy is predicated on India churning out sufficient numbers of well qualified youngsters. Note we are not just talking of call center execs or software code writers; the opportunity is in design, animation, law, financial analysis, research, education, management.... almost endless, if only we had the right talent. After years of suffering whimsical and incompetent people, the HRD ministry seems to now have a leader who appears to have his heart and mind in the right place. But can we let India's future: Vision 2020 and beyond, be left to the luck of the political draw?

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Shoot those I-Bankers!!!

2009-10-06T18:18:00.001+05:30

The "vulgarest" of them all are the bankers! Most of them work for unlisted companies, so we don't even know how many digits are there in their salaries. And that, btw, is in US $.

So should we shoot them or easier still, take away their Mercs and sea-facing apartments?

Why are we grudging them their earnings in the first place? Nobody seems to be complaining that Dhoni makes Rs 50 crores for his skills and good looks or Akshay Kumar makes Rs 100 crore for neither.

And if that's what their customers paid them, then why would they look a gift horse in the mouth? Corporates are willing to pay bankers 0.5% to 2% of the deal value for any fund-raising activity or M&A deals... a bit like what real-estate agents earn from rental or buy/sell deals. The cost of doing the deal is quite limited - they just have to pay for plush offices and assistants to make wonderful slide packs. It's skills and good looks all the way.

Except when a deal goes sour after months of work (like the Bharti-MTN one), most bankers end up closing a few deals every year. Most large banks do not touch a deal if they cannot earn a minimum $1mn fees. If it is a large deal (by Indian standards), they ought to earn at least $3-5mn. Of course, that won't get split evenly... like everywhere, the big fish make much more than the junior analysts. An entry level banker (in India) should be making at least $50K (25L INR); successful senior folks wouldn't settle for anything less than $1mn. The CEOs obviously make several of those millions.

Do you need these guys to make deals happen? Many corporate executives will tell you, We don't really need these suits to come in; anyways we end up doing all the intelligent work. The bankers just look pretty at all the meetings. But, face it, can you do an M&A deal on magicbricks.com? Or launch your public offer at giveindia.com?

Corporates ought to re-look at the way I-banking fees are determined. Most companies don't want to pay for a failed transaction, and therefore, settle for a 1% success fee: if I am spending 100, what is 1 more? The i-bankers take all the risk of the deal, and end up getting a huge upside when a transaction is consummated. Perhaps, a fixed retainer that compensates the bankers for their work (like consultants get paid), even if a deal breaks, could reduce the super-normal upside of a successful transaction.

Till then, die you bankers!

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Vulgar salaries down down!!!

2009-10-06T10:02:00.001+05:30

... or so our politicians would have us believe.

Having imposed cattle class on their ilk, the high-priests of austerity have turned to a new, softer target: executive salaries. Never mind, that in our so-called "liberal" economy, the Government has no locus standi on determining or even influencing salaries in private sector enterprise.

It is the owners of the enterprise, the shareholders who must decide what they want to pay their managers. If they believe that a CEO is worth paying Rs 50 crores, so be it, even though it might be 12,500 times the per capita GDP of India (as TOI informed us recently). Remember, there are many CEOs, including those of blue-chip companies, whose CEOs get paid far less. Far, far less, in fact.

That is the question investors (and perhaps the Government as the regulator) must try and solve. Why can some companies attract CEOs - highly experienced professionals - for a compensation of about Rs 1-5 crores whereas other companies end up paying 10-50 times as much? It is very obvious that owner-CEOs have a significantly higher level of compensation than professional-CEOs. In a large Indian telecom company, the owner Executive Chairman received almost 8 times as much compensation as the professional MD.

Are the public and institutional shareholders exercising any control or influence over executive compensation, particularly when the "executive" is a significant shareholder himself/herself? The blame, if any, must then lie with the "independent" Directors who are letting the promoters decide how much to pay themselves. (Btw, politicians have the same problem: MPs vote for their own salary hikes in Parliament.)

So, Mr. Minister, the answer does not lie in "regulating" executive compensation and/or asking for "restraint". The Government needs to ensure, through regulation and education, that our publicly listed companies behave like public companies, with active public shareholders (represented by strong, knowledgeable and truly independent Directors). We have too many private fiefdoms masquerading as public companies in India.

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I hate School on Saturdays!

2009-09-25T22:34:00.001+05:30

For my daughter, that is. Her school has been functioning on Saturdays too, for the last 3 weeks and will do so for the next three, to make up for the days lost last month due to the Swine Flu scare. I can understand it if the higher classes were asked to catch up on lost tutoring because they may have external / Board exams in a few months' time. But what is the urgency for kindergarten and primary students to "make up" 6-8 lost days! Making them go to school 6 days in the week is quite painful, both for the kids (and the parents!).

Many of us who are used to a 5-day week find it very difficult and tiring when we have to sometimes work the weekends. Imagine, six-year olds having to do 6 consecutive 6-day weeks: not just school but also homework during all the days! Are we and our schools pushing our children too much, even before the know it, into a never-ending race to achieve more? Just to get closer and closer to nervous break-downs and cardiac ailments, perhaps at a record-breaking under-thirty age... My daughter is not yet complaining, but she doesn't yet know what it will be like in twenty-odd years, if this were to continue!

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My encounter with the Babus!

2009-09-22T21:11:00.001+05:30

I spent a couple of hours this morning at a Registrar's office in Navi Mumbai getting a document registered. During those two hours, there was no electricity in the area: part of the scheduled 3-4 hour load-shedding that is prevalent across all of urban Maharashtra excl. Mumbai (rural areas have longer power-cuts). Many homes and most businesses "beat" the power-cut by using inverters (a crude way of load-balancing, perhaps!), so they don't really bear the brunt of the heat and humidity.

What shocked me today was the observation that Government offices don't seem to have that benefit. Indeed, there was an inverter in the Registrar's office but only to run the PC and printer that was required for the registration activity. Not a single fan was working on this extremely hot and uncomfortable morning. Yet, the officials were all working, without too much of a complaint about the situation - for it must be a regular thing for them. The small office was crowded with people awaiting their turn, multiple parties signing documents and getting them stamped and so on. The sub-registrar, the boss of the place, sat in the centre of all this activity, with a soft smile on his face as he scrutinized agreements worth millions of rupees or marriages (worth much more!), and signed wherever he needed to. Not once during the two hours did I see him lose his temper or get irritated at anyone/anything. There was no way I could have kept my peace or lasted even a day in such an environment.

However, our public servants work in such an environment. Daily.

There is a lot that is wrong with the Government and the bureaucracy. Productivity is low, and there's corruption everywhere. But, the next time we sit in our air-conditioned offices (or lounges) and pass remarks about how all these babus are lazy and corrupt, spare a thought for those officers sweating it out in dingy, claustrophobic offices, without some of the basic amenities that we take for granted.

A lot needs to change...

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English is a Funny Language!

2009-09-21T13:14:00.001+05:30

My 6-yr old daughter is facing the biggest challenge of her life (so far...): trying to figure out how English words are spelt! English might be the default, global language and all that, but it faces a major disadvantage: it's got the funniest spelling system that can fox the most diligent of learners. Since most of the English words are actually derived from various other languages, Latin, Greek, etc., we end up with almost crazy spellings, replete with silent vowels and consonants!

My daughter just doesn't like learning spellings by rote... she tries to derive the spelling based on how it sounds. Which is how any logical brain must work. So she wrote "beautiful" as "butiful"... unfortunately, English is not a phonetic language, unlike, say, the Indian languages. Words don't spell as they sound. So, you need to "learn" the spellings of words... (this has of course spawned an industry in itself and a national pastime in the US called Spelling Bee)...

Most of us older people who have the excuse of character limit of an SMS or a Twitter message (or actually, sheer laziness!) have created our own version of English that is largely phonetic. All of us have turned on SpellCheck in our word processors and mail programs and don't have a real need to remember spellings. Voice to text conversion software is taking away the need for us to even type or write.

But, our kids have to learn, by heart, in an unnatural manner, spellings of words that sound very different from how they are taught to pronounce them.

As we heard in Namak Halaal, English is a very funny language!

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Tata Crucible Quiz for Corporates 2009 Pune Round

2009-09-21T11:02:00.001+05:30

If you are an avid quizzer and are in Pune today, don't waste your holiday idling in front of the TV (or the computer!)... the Pune regional round of the Tata Crucible Quiz for Corporates is being held today at the Taj Blue Diamond. The preliminaries begin at 3pm and the Final Rounds an hour later. Registrations have closed now, so if you just woke up, get over to the Taj and participate from the audience.

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India@75: What can India Inc. achieve in 15 years?

2008-06-09T15:47:00.003+05:30

Vision has been defined by some as the setting of bold and audacious goals. Prof. Prahlad has indeed set India some challenging goals for 2022, one amongst them being ‘30 of Fortune 100 from India’. Given that today not a single Indian company makes it to the list and only 6 feature in the top 500, it is indeed an audacious goal. At the same, it is not unachievable. Five of the top 20 global companies in 2008, by market capitalization, are already from emerging markets. Fifteen years to 2022 is a long and adequate time in today’s world for Indian companies to break into the Fortune 100.

One of the major reasons cited for Indian companies not being large enough compared to global peers is the relatively small size of the Indian market (the US pet food market size is as big as India’s entire FMCG industry, etc.). The trick, however, will lie in identifying opportunities that can leverage our inherent strengths and the rapid economic growth that we are experiencing. By 2022, India would be the third largest economy and will contribute nearly a billion strong workforce to the world. The market should provide adequate (volume) scale to create globally leading business models. Even today, the Indian mobile market is next only to the Chinese, in terms of size, and is growing faster than any other market worldwide. An additional challenge in India is to consolidate what are typically highly fragmented and unorganized markets. Leadership, in the true sense, in the home market is essential to achieve the scale that the Indian market can provide. Simultaneously, we also have to be prepared to access and compete in international markets if we truly want to achieve global leadership.

The key task for Indian firms is to leverage the power of the billion in creating globally competitive businesses. In order to eventually become globally leading, we need to first focus on benchmarking ourselves to the best in the world, on service level, cost and productivity measures. This is important for Indian companies so as to even remain competitive in the domestic Indian market which is seeing the entry of several international players. Tata Steel became the world’s lowest cost steel manufacturer several years before it commenced its global ambitions.

Being globally competitive will not be sufficient to achieve leadership. Successful firms lead through innovation, backed by open organization structures & culture and significant investments in research. We lag on both counts, more so on the latter. We have relied far too long on licensing technologies, reverse engineering and services models; now is the turn for us to create products, technologies and business models that will be replicated elsewhere. If over 80% of global incremental mobile adds are expected in emerging markets, who better to lead the implementation of profitable, low cost mobile business models than Indian operators? Why cannot India, a broadband starved country, drive the adoption and lead the growth of WiMax and other wireless broadband technologies? Thus, Indian companies are better advised to seek and succeed in opportunities in other growing, emerging markets rather than rush to the large but static markets of the developed world.

The next few years will be at the same time challenging and full of opportunities. Several markets, including USA and UK, are reeling from economic slowdown and financial crises. Consequently, most MNCs are seeking to grow into India (and other emerging markets) making these markets more competitive. We have to defend our domestic turf, not by creating entry barriers but by taking on global players head-on. At the same time, weak global markets are throwing up interesting acquisition opportunities at attractive valuations, opening up new markets in USA and Europe. This will enable our companies to also enter and take the fight to the global markets. Indian companies will have to master this block (at home) and tackle (abroad) strategy to win in the emerging world order.

So, can we get to 30 of Fortune 100 by 2022? My bets are in favour of us succeeding. BCG’s New Global Challengers report has already identified 20 Indian companies that have the potential to challenge and change the world. We have to just find ten more.

(A version of this article appeared in the Outlook Business June1-14, 2008 issue.)

Mobile Services Branding - Survey Results

2007-03-18T03:19:00.000+05:30

The results of my "sample" survey are ready... and here are some of the major findings. (Note: all respondents were post-paid subscribers, mostly Mumbai based.)

1. Hutch leads amongst post-paid subscribers

Nearly 50% of respondents were Hutch subscribers, and most of them had been with Hutch for several years.

2. The "brand" means nothing to the subscribers - they do not relate to it

Almost nobody "understood" what their service provider's brand meant. Consequently, there was no affinity towards their service provider.

3. However, they are generally "loyal" to their service provider

On an average, the respondents had been with their current service provider for over 3 years. A few had never changed service providers in the last 5-7 years.

4. Satisfaction is driven by network coverage & quality, billing and customer service.

Hygiene factors like signal quality, call drop rate and billing are the biggest drivers of satisfaction. Customer service (call center, ease of changing tariff plans, etc.) is reasonably important. VAS just does not show up.

5. Hutch can rest assured - brand name change will not cause churn

All respondents plan to stick to their service provider, brand name or no brand name. Deterioration in network quality is probably the only factor that could cause churn in these post-paid subscribers.

It is evident that for these post-paid subscribers, their phone number - which they have had for several years - is the most critical aspect of the service. They will bear with almost anything - poor billing, too many SMS promos, weak signals in some locations - to retain their phone number. Shows you how critical Number Portability is to create true competition in the market place.

It is also clear from the results, although it goes against my perceptions (see previous post), that branding has just not happened in the mobile service market. The mobile service is seen (at least amongst the professional, post-paid segment) as a must-have / necessity, and as long as the damn thing works and the phone number (an important social networking tool) is retained, the customer is happy. About time the mobile operators sacked their ad agencies, and spent some money on adding cell sites in the congested metros.

Surprisingly, value-added services or other service features do not seem to make any impact, as yet. Perhaps the new features / capabilities on the handset are keeping customers busy and satisfied. I would have believed that enterprise offerings like Blackberry / Push Mail and Internet connectivity (GPRS) would have been highlighted as important to my respondent group -- but, alas, not a mention. I wonder what this commotion about 3G is all about - some of the highest-paying customers in this country just don't seem to care about that.

Chalta Hai, Sasta Hai is the mantra.

Note: my research was as unscientific as it could get. Profs. Jain and Bijapurkar would have given me a D if I had done something like this in my market research course. So please take my findings above as indicators from a statistically insignificant, but commercially significant sample.

Branding in Mobile Services

2007-03-11T09:54:00.000+05:30

A recent newspaper feature had several marketing and brand gurus talk about the brand question in the context of Vodafone's acquisition of Hutch in India. All of them seemed to suggest that Hutch (in the context of the Indian mobile market) was not a brand but just a "brand name" that could be easily replaced. That customers would not care what the name of their mobile service was.

Somehow, as a gut feel, I did not immediately agree with that view. So, with my (largely forgotten) knowledge of brand theory and also anecdotal evidence of mobile customer behavior that I have picked up, as a consumer myself, I am attempting to evaluate if there is any branding in mobile services.

A brand is a mix of the physical attributes that a product / service / offering provides to the customer, the relationship that the customer shares with the provider and the reflection it has on the customer's image. To achieve this, the provider has worked on creating a unique self-image that differentiates itself from others, has a culture or legacy that contributes to the relationship with the customer and has developed a personality that attracts its target audience. (Source: Kapferer's Brand Identity Prism)

Obviously, a brand is not born overnight, it is the result of a process of evolution.

Admittedly, most of the Indian mobile service providers have not had much time - the category is just about ten years old, and has - from a market size perspective - reached stature only four years ago. Even during this period, licenses and technology have evolved rapidly and so have ownership structures of the companies involved. Volumes have grown by a mind-boggling >100% for the last 4-5 years, perhaps leaving operators little time to bother about all that it takes to build a brand.

Of all the service providers, I would have thought that Hutch (earlier Orange in Mumbai and Delhi) had come closest to doing the things that would have made it a brand. I have always felt that Orange had a unique positioning in the market. (I, like many others, still have not got used to the Hutch name -- some evidence that an SMS sent overnight - or even many crores spent - is not sufficient to change the "brand name".) Orange was premium. It meant Prithvi Theatre Festival. Orange was transparent. It meant friendly caricatures explaining complex value-added services in simple terms. Orange was a friend. It meant my first mobile phone and the endearing "you and I, it's a beautiful world" campaign.
I was sad when Orange became Hutch and orange became pink. But that has not changed my relationship with the service provider. The company's values have remained the same. For me, Hutch is still premium, transparent and a friend. For me, it is a brand.

I am cautiously awaiting what Vodafone will do to that brand. They can go ahead and change the name. The orange square changed to a pink tristar and will now change to a red and white speechmark. That is just the visual and external part of the relationship. The real test of Vodafone's marketing would lie in their ability to migrate the Hutch "brand" to the Vodafone "brand" in a manner that is gradual and value enhancing to the Hutch subscribers, particularly the very high-ARPU post-paid subscribers that they have had in Mumbai and Delhi for several years now.

[Even as I wrote this post, I was not satisfied with the approach taken by the brand gurus, and me, in creating our view on the topic -- based on global gyaan and / or personal experiences. We need to get inputs from a reasonably large customer sample before reaching a conclusion. Since I did not have the immediate wherewithal to conduct a large survey, I initiated a small sample survey amongst post-paid subscribers. Results are awaited; I will share the analysis soon.]

Budget 2007-08 - Quick Comments

2007-02-28T23:39:00.000+05:30

There is almost nothing positive in this year's budget for the telecom sector.

1. Overall, effective taxation rate has increased because of higher education cess.
2. New services have been brought under service tax, including several telecom services.
3. While the FM has talked about rationalizing the taxation structure for telecom, there are no clear proposals in sight. With service tax, revenue share, USO contribution, ADC charges, spectrum charges, etc. telecom is one of the most heavily taxed sectors in the country -- over 30% of what the customer pays, goes towards government charges. This needs to change urgently.
4. There are no proposals to make broadband popular. While the Government has declared 2007 as the Year of Broadband, there are no incentives to support roll-out and adoption of broadband.

No wonder telecom stocks, like most other sector stocks, have tanked today. I expect they will recover -- the industry is doing well, in spite of various policy / regulatory constraints, and Budget 07-08 is unlikely to change that positive direction.

Mobile in India - Rule of Three

2007-02-25T15:15:00.000+05:30

A few years ago, Prof. Jagdish Seth (of the Rule of Three fame) predicted that the mobile industry would also move to the Three Players scenario, with Vodafone, Local Incumbent and China Mobile as the three dominant players in any market. I am not sure if politics will permit China Mobile to create much of a presence outside its own market, however, Vodafone as one of the dominant players appears to be coming true.

Take a quick look at Vodafone's statistics: it has operations in 25 countries, several 100% owned. It also has partner networks in a further 36 countries. Overall, Vodafone touches about 600 million customers (200 mn on equity % basis), making it the largest mobile operator in the world. India was the only market where Vodafone had an uncertain presence -- it exited its participation in RPG, Chennai (now part of Aircel), possibly for a loss, and then came in as a 10% investor in Bharti, but with almost no operating control. It is no secret that India has been on Vodafone's radar, particularly after Arun Sarin took over as CEO. It is also clear from Vodafone's portfolio that they prefer operating control so that they can leverage brand, devices & services and network procurement. With the Hutch India acquisition, they will finally get all that in the Indian market.

So will India follow the Rule of Three?

First, a quick look at the current wireless market structure in India:

Note: 100% is about 150 million; BPL Mobile is included in Hutch, although it is still “Others” today (legally).

There are six major mobile operators, with the top 4 accounting for nearly 75% of all subscribers. Five of them are Indian operators – with almost no wireless presence outside India. Hutch / Vodafone is the only international mobile operator amongst the large players. (Singtel has a stake in Bharti, but no operational control.)

As per Prof. Seth, Vodafone would be one of three. So that leaves two open spots, and five contenders. And what contenders! – they are the who’s who of India: the Government, Tata, Birla, Ambani and Mittal (in the order how folklore would treat them).

It is possible that in due course of time (taking a five year scenario), the Government would decide to list and privatize BSNL. It is highly likely that BSNL will acquire or be acquired by one of the other private operators. That still leaves two operators who have to “exit” – it is difficult to conceive at this time any of the four large Indian groups deciding to quit, but market economics have a strange way of overcoming sentimental barriers. (The merger of Tata Cellular and Birla-AT&T which led to the creation of Idea Cellular is a good example of strategic thinking as well as impact of market forces.)

Tata Tele and Idea Cellular (Birla) being the smallest of the top six could be considered to be potential consolidation targets. However, Tata Tele, with its pre-dominantly CDMA network and Tata backing is not an easy target; it is also unlikely to be the consolidator unless it is willing to accept the GSM technology. Idea Cellular, having just emerged from a distracting 3 year period of shareholder changes, may prefer to focus on consolidating its own operations and launching new circles. Its recent IPO and the Birla backing would ensure that funding is not a constraint. However, Idea still remains the best bet for Hutch / Vodafone to enhance its national coverage.

Reliance and Bharti Airtel are also tough calls. The former has a legacy of managing large businesses and projects, and in spite of the split, raising funds from the market has never been a constraint for Reliance. The CDMA-GSM medley could be a distraction, and it appears that GSM is the chosen way forward. Bharti is a darling of the stock market and has outperformed the street’s expectations. Some would argue that investor management is Bharti’s core competence, and not telecommunications, but that would be a dis-service to what Bharti has achieved in terms of scale and profitability. There is little history of how the Mittals would approach this business from a long term perspective.

The above analysis does not incorporate the plans of Aircel (Maxis) and Spice (Telkom Malaysia) which are also investing in growth, independently. Would they become candidates for consolidation or would they throw up surprises down the road? Hard to tell.

So where does that leave us? If the Rule of Three has to be valid for India (arguable, but I will let that be today), then I would stick my neck out and say this:

In about five years’ time, I expect that the three leading mobile operators in India would be (in alphabetical order): Reliance, Tata and Vodafone. Between them, they would have consolidated BSNL, Bharti and Idea. (I have some ideas about who might do what, but that is too much of conjecture for this blog.) There would be at least 2-3 smaller operators offering mobile voice & data services using WiMax and other new / emerging technologies.

So let us wait and watch...

(Disclaimer: These are purely personal opinions about what might happen in the Indian market.)

Fix the Fixed Lines

2007-01-13T10:20:00.001+05:30

I have not had a fixed line at home for several years now; my wife and I have four mobile phones between us and never felt the need for a fixed line at home. I thought, like many predict, that fixed lines would soon die. But just today, I applied for a fixed line at home. Not a fixed wireless, mind you, but the copper line that is uncharitably referred to as the plain old telephone service (POTS).

Why did I need to take such a "retrograde" step? There were several reasons:

1. The quality of the wireless network is erratic. I am unable to depend on my mobile phone for long phone conversations, particularly official conference calls. With flexi-work and international calls at late hours, the need for a reliable phone line at home has become a must.

2. Mobile call rates are still higher than that of fixed lines. Whether that reflects relative costs or not, it is surely true that calling from a wireline, particularly at high usage levels, is cheaper. My employer might be footing the bill, but still, why should I pay more when I call from a fixed / pre-determined location (home or office).

3. My mobile phone provides service to me as an individual, it can be shared only when I am at home. So if there is someone at home who needs to make a call when I am not home, say my parents or my child or a domestic help, the fixed line is a shared communication service. This is true even at the work-place where everyone does not necessarily have a mobile phone.

4. Finally, I must admit that I just like the convenience of using the fixed phone - the big black box which nowadays can pack in a lot of intelligence. While I need my mobile to be slim and light to fit into my shirt pocket, the form factor is not convenient for long conversations, particularly when you are in a fixed location. In spite of hands-free devices and bluetooth, voice clarity is still suspect on most mobile phones, even the high-end ones.

Just so you do not misunderstand, I am not saying that mobiles are in general inferior to fixed lines; just that in certain contexts, the POTS delivers greater value than a wireless service.

If there is, as demonstrated above, a reasonable case for the continuation of the fixed line at home, why is it that only about 15% of Indian homes have a fixed phone? It cannot be because of affordability: twice as many homes have cable TV at home, paying almost the same charge, every month. Further, data shows that the average # of mobile phones per home (in homes that have a mobile phone) is less than 1.5; given that household size in India is 4 to 5, there is clearly a gap in telecom coverage. Lack of competition in the fixed services space and the fixation of policy makers on wireless growth has completely choked the growth of wireline.

Let me correct that to lack of effective competition. There are a few access providers rolling out wireline networks - cherry-picking the enterprise locations and high-end homes. But more interestingly, some ISPs have also rolled out various forms of wireline (cable, fiber, copper) networks. However, none of them get any encouragement to continue their roll-out. There are no clear policies for RoW permissions - every municipality, authority and building society charges its pound of flesh for allowing network creation. Having created the network, with a very high capex per sub (usually Rs 15,000 to 25,000 per subscriber), the ISP can only offer Internet and limited Internet Telephony services. They do not have the opportunity to offer basic services like voice, which even today contribute a large portion of telcos' revenues globally. Obviously an ISP cannot hope to compete with the incumbent , while addressing just a fraction of the customer revenue but with the full (or more) capex.

What needs to be done

* Allow ISPs to migrate to new category of access license: Unified Access License - without spectrum, for a nominal entry fee. On terms similar to UASL, allow ISPs to offer access services, including full Internet Telephony.

* Encourage competition in fixed line services by mandating local loop unbundling - perhaps starting with all non-metros.

* Legislate free RoW for all access licensees (recovering just the actual re-instatement charges) and mandate sharing of existing ducts - on cost recovery basis - by all licensed operators.

Cheers!

National Broadband Access Network

2007-01-06T23:33:00.000+05:30

Singapore is considered a highly developed country and is used as a relevant benchmark for India, at least in the telecom sector. The Singapore Government has initiated an interesting and rather ambitious program to make the city nation the leading knowledge hub in the world. The masterplan called iN2015 (Intelligent Nation 2015), is a ten year blue-print to harness the power of infocomm for the nation (www.in2015.sg). One of the major initiatives within iN2015 is to build a Next Generation National Broadband Network (NBN). Just look at some of NBN's parameters: reach to 95% of all postal addresses, 100 Mbps capacity at each home / office on day 1 to be scaled upto 1Gbps in a few years' time!

The most interesting thing about NBN is that it is being driven by the regulator / licensor, Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) as a public-private partnership. The model is simple. The IDA intends to license an operator to create a high speed access network as an equal access, wholesale infrastructure. All service providers would be able to lease this access network and offer innovative content and applications to their target segments. Considering the targeted bandwidth, only a fiber based solution (FTTX) would be feasible. A global search for the appropriate partner(s) in this initiative is underway, expected to be completed by the middle of 2007.

In stark contrast, we have no such plan for the future, in fact, not even a discussion to arrive at such a plan. By defining Broadband at 256Kbps, we have already set our sights low. By treating Broadband Wireless as the panacea, we have converted a short-term bridging technology into our long term goal. By letting everyone do their own thing, we have ensured that the investments that are required to create a robust, national infrastructure are sub-optimally duplicated by several players.

India is a much "tougher" country than Singapore from a broadband perspective; the sheer geographical size of India that is required to be "broadbanded" is many, many times that of Singapore. More the reason why we need to plan today, if we want to be anywhere comparable in ten years' time.

What needs to be done

* Accept that true broadband will require a fiber-based infrastructure, even in the last mile.

* Develop a plan to create a National Broadband Access Network; select an operator / consortium to roll-out the network in phases, over the next 5 years. The NBAN operator should be a pure wholesaler (similar to IP-2 license) and cannot directly be a service provider. The NBAN operator must get automatic and free right of way across the country, and could be selected on the basis of lowest subsidy required for a target tariff.

* Release spectrum in 2.5GHz and 3.5GHz bands immediately for WiMax roll-out during 2007 - this will enable basic broadband services to be introduced in a ubiquitous manner.

Goodbye, 2006

2006-12-31T15:44:00.001+05:30

It is a bit of a ritual, is it not, to write about the year that went by, and talk about what one can expect from the next year. Every newspaper and every TV program worth its salt has these reviews and predictions. So what does a blogger like myself - one amongst million others - do, unique and interesting? Let me share with you highlights of my 2006 experiences:

1. I have the power!

So said He-Man. And so do several millions of Indians, who now have the capability to look their cable operator in the eye, and tell him, baaju ke ghar mein jaao! The availability of DTH (Direct-to-Home satellite TV) services from large business groups has introduced the much needed competition and choice in pay TV viewing. The implementation of CAS, effective tomorrow in select areas, will only accelerate the shift in balance of power towards the customer.

2. The power of many

I got myself an Apple MacBook, hoping to break my personal ties with Microsoft. Alas, that is not to be. I have been forced to install Microsoft Office for Mac to keep up with my work (at home / during travel). Further, the non-availability of some apps / programs (optimized) for Mac forces me to turn to Windows based computers. In spite of having better hardware, OS and software, Apple just cannot beat Microsoft in general purpose computing for corporate users.

3. Dot Com ver 2

Valuations of "dot coms" have been soaring to dizzying heights, bringing back memories of 1999-2000. The valuations are still based on the power of eye-balls, however, unlike in ver 1, there is now a revenue model. So there is still a chance for some entrepreneurs to become millionaires, but it appears unlikely that I will be able to buy Google a few years later in a fire sale.

4. Connected everywhere

During the last year, the only times I have been out of touch was when I shut all my phones / network connections. The seemingly all-pervasive reach of wireless (GPRS, CDMA, WiFi) networks and the mushrooming of connected devices means that voice and data communication goes with you, wherever you go (a bit like the Hutch ad). It is good news, and it is bad news.

5. India on top

India may not be the largest telecom market in the world, but it is the hottest, for sure. Whether you are an operator looking for growth, or an investor or a vendor - the center of gravity has shifted to India. Further, today Indian companies own large parts of the global submarine network, and are seeking to expand their presence in several emerging and developed markets. An Indian telecom MNC was born in 2006. A few more are on their way.

Let us, then, fondly bid adieu to 2006, and warmly welcome 2007. May the New Year bring prosperity and peace to all of us.

Cheers!

Broadband - contd.

2006-12-31T14:32:00.000+05:30

Since my previous post on Broadband, the TRAI has issued a consultation paper seeking comments on a variety of issues. I had planned to share my ideas on this blog before the year end, but I will now take some more time and incorporate other items that TRAI has sought comments on.

Broadly my views will cover the following:
1. Creating a National Broadband Access Infrastructure
2. Recognizing Broadband Service Providers as Access Providers
3. Laying down QoS norms for Cabl Service Providers

Here is hoping that 2007 will indeed be the Year of Broadband for India.

Cheers!

What Ails Broadband in India?

2006-12-25T18:07:00.001+05:30

1000,000,000 people

700,000,000 young people

600,000,000 literate people

180,000,000 telecom subscribers

100,000,000 with higher education

60,000,000 cable pay TV homes

40,000,000 Internet users

... and just about 2,000,000 broadband subscribers. Broadband, which by the way is defined in India at >=256Kbps: just about enough speed to let you experience the new, emerging Internet. The Indian Govt. has declared 2007 as the year of broadband, and a target of 9mn subs has been set for the year.

Just so you know, China has about 75 million broadband subscribers -- 60% of its Internet subscribers have broadband.

Why is a nation such as ours, IT superpower and aspiring global superpower, so poor when it comes to broadband penetration?

1. Very Poor Fixed Line Infrastructure

Most countries that have a high broadband penetration have (a) high wireline penetration, and / or (b) robust cable infrastructure. Simply speaking, if you do not have the basic infrastructure, you cannot provide a superior service such as broadband. Unfortunately for us, neither of these two conditions exist in India.

There are about 40-odd million fixed lines, of which only about 30% - about 10mn - are capable of providing broadband. In recent years, there has been almost no investment in increasing and/or improving the quality of fixed line infrastructure. The country has added 140mn wireless subscribers in the last 5 years, as against just 5mn wireline subs. While lack of focus on wireleine by the incumbents, BSNL and MTNL is an important factor, the blame must really be borned by the regulatory and policy regime which has not created an environment to encourage competition (and thereby, investment) in fixed line infrastructure / services in the country. The TRAI had recommended unbundling of the local loop as a step towards limited competition, but as has now almost become a norm, the TRAI recommendations were not accepted by the DoT.

Less said the better about cable infrastructure. It is a highly fragile and completely unregulated cobweb of many thousands of independent networks. It will take an investment of at least Rs 200 billion to upgrade the cable last mile to make it 2-way and broadband capable. Nobody, it appears, is willing to take that challenge up.

2. No Encouragement to Competition

It is well-recognized that the mobile revolution in India has been driven primarily by competition: 6-7 operators across the country. Private operators were licensed years before the incumbents were allowed to enter the mobile market; several steps have been taken towards creating a level playing field for all the licensed mobile operators. On the other hand, in broadband, there is absolutely no policy measure to encourage private operators to enter and compete; this in spite of the fact that none of them have any last mile infrastructure to speak of, and therefore, require considerable support in the initial years.

The incumbents that are riding on public-funded fixed line infrastructure have - in almost a predatory manner - dropped tariffs so much that India has, at the same time, the lowest broadband ARPU and the poorest broadband penetration in the world! Wireless broadband (read WiMax) is generally expected to become the competitive alternative - but there has simply been no urgency in creating the policy environment to encourage wireless. TRAI has finally issued its recommendations - suggesting that WiMax be implemented in the 3.3 - 3.6 GHz bands while the rest of the world is moving towards 2.5GHz. There is no clarity when these recommendations will be accepted and subsequently, implemented. One can guess that it will be late 2007 before any real competitive action will begin in broadband. Meanwhile, BSNL's juggernaut will continue - they have now announced 2Mbps speeds (up 4 times from 512 Kbps) for the same tariff.

Can something be done to salvage the situation?

Unfortunately, in the short term, I see no option for the customers and private operators. During 2007, the incumbents will strengthen their dominance in the broadband market (for whatever it is worth); private operators will half-heartedly roll out parallel copper / cable networks and will be plagued with quality issues. Everyone, including BSNL, will experiment with WiMax, and perhaps by the end of the year, commence full-fledged network roll-out.

The Broadband market will have to wait till 2008 for true competition, high quality and innovative services - available in all major towns and cities. But the rest of the world will not stay still. Will the gap between India and other markets such as US and Singapore widen? I am afraid, yes.

What a depressing thought to end 2006 with. Let us change that. My next post, hopefully before this year ends, will have some suggestions on medium and long terms measures on what can be done during 2007 to ensure that we catch up with the rest of the world before the end of this decade.

Cheers!

Google as a Software Company

2006-12-24T09:12:00.000+05:30

Last week, my colleague Vijay Shankar initiated a discussion on this topic - based on an article in the latest issue of The Economist. The article illustrates how the CIO of a university switched to Gmail as the email service provider for its 65,000 students, instead of using traditional products such as Microsoft Exchange. The university got access to the latest suite of collaboration and office applications - all web-based - at no cost! The beta version of Google's enterprise app suite offers e-mail, IM, calendar, and soon, word processing and spreadsheets, Apparently, tens of thousands of enterprises have already signed up.

Well, Google's competitors are not blind to these developments. For "software as a Service" (SaaS) is not entirely a new model; the ASP and hosted app models have been talked about for several years now. What has changed then? The increased penetration of Internet / Broadband is obviously an important enabling factor. Further, the emergence of a viable advertising-led web content business model allows applications to be given away free to users. Finally, the entry of large, well-known companies / brands into this space provides sufficient comfort to enterprises to "outsource" a large part of their IT app requirements.

I am not convinced that large enterprises will adopt this web-based model so readily. In the first instance, most of them already have a large installed base of infrastructure and applications, and hundreds of people involved in managing them. There is an increasing trend of these enterprises outsourcing their applications and networks to system integrators and / or telcos -- referred to generally as "managed services". The availability, quality and security parameters are considerably high -- driven by business and recently, regulatory requirements. The Internet is not yet a suitable substitute to managed, private networks.

The considerations are different for SMEs, however. They do not have the benefit (or is it burden?) of established infrastructure and IT teams. While quality and security are important to the SMEs, they are not at any cost. The ease of use/scalability, acceptable quality/security and extremely low cost are features that the CIO will find extremely appealing. For SoHos / retail customers, it appears almost a no-brainer. Of course, the availability of good quality, reliable broadband is a pre-requisite, and therefore, it might be sometime before we see this model take off (in a big way) in India.

We are watching this space...

Cheers, and Merry Christmas!

iTunes -- will it change the way TV works?

2006-12-15T17:11:00.000+05:30

Recently I bought some content on iTunes (more later on why Apple should launch an India store soon) using a pre-paid card. At the insistence of my daughter, I downloaded a couple of episodes of Dora The Explorer and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

The quality of the content was amazing! And for 2 bucks each, with no ads in between, it was reasonable value for money. Through the ipod and a standard cable, one can watch the show on the regular tube.

Can this change the way TV business models work? Perhaps not immediately, but in a couple of years?

Imagine this scenario: Your favorite TV show is available on iTunes, at about the same time it is broadcast on TV. Maybe a day later. Perhaps earlier. You choose what you want to watch and pay just for that episode. I watch at most 3-4 hours a week of non-news programming, and could buy it for say, 10 bucks. Why would I need to subscribe to pay TV at all? New devices (e.g. iTV) will wireless transmit Internet based / Digital video content directly from the PC to the TV, replacing the current set-top.

Could this be the most likely scenario for Triple Play? A fiber-based broadband connection, delivering the new Internet, VoIP and an on-demand Pay TV - at superior quality and improved economics. One wire coming into the home, One gateway (ethernet in, Wifi, ata, "stb" built-in), Three output devices (computer, phone, TV). Pretty simple.

Well, perhaps not. I don't doubt the availability of technology / network in making this happen. What might derail / delay this scenario are: regulation, IPR issues and absence of appropriate partnerships.

I am beginning to experiment with this model - in India, and will keep you updated on developments. This month, my cable TV connection goes, replaced by DTH (satellite TV). It is a matter of time before my broadband provider gives me an IP phone. Apple has promised to launch the iTV in Q12007. 2007 will indeed be the Year of Broadband in India (as announced by the Government recently). Well, for the few people who have managed to get broadband at home... (more on that later)

Cheers!

PS. Here's a tip for you: if you want to transmit your ipod content to the TV, you don't need to buy an expensive cable from the Apple store. If you have a handycam at home, you would have an AV cable (eighth inci - RCA) that you can use to connect the ipod to the TV. But watch out for the clever guys at Apple -- they switched the colors around. For more details, check out this link: http://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/mac/2005/11/18/video-ipod.html

Back in Action

2006-12-14T14:58:00.000+05:30

It has been quite al while since I wrote something. A shame, really.
When I signed up I did not realize the discipline this would require
- and let my usual work / life routine prevent an active expression
of my thoughts / ideas.

I have now resolved to take my blog more seriously, and work towards
at least one post a week. And, this doesn't count towards this week :-)

I am writing this in the Kingfisher lounge, waiting for my Delhi
flight to take off. As expected, it is late. Wot to do, it is like
this only. India Shining? Well, almost.

Cheers.

Why are we like this only?

2006-01-02T20:02:00.000+05:30

Happy New Year and all that... I know I have been tardy and not done justice to the Blog... but hopefully this year will be a new beginning...

I write this en route to China. I am quite excited about travelling to China - one hears so much about what's happening and what will happen there. Usually India and China are taken in the same breath when talking about growth & market potential. I am not sure such comparisons are deserved. I will talk about China after I return from there; this post is limited to reasons why we cannot compare ourselves to China - yet.

Infrastructure, Infrastructure, Infrastructure.

Try the roads in Andheri (East), the hub of software activity in Mumbai. Or Bandra (E) & Dharavi - which you must pass if you want to go to New Mumbai from the airport. Or in Chennai. Or in Bangalore. The traffic jams are not the issue - most developed countries / global cities have jams during peak hours. It is just the lack & very slow pace of development of the infrastructure.

The road leading up to the Mumbai international airport has been under construction for almost two years now. Every new road & fly-over gives rise to fresh slums, encroachments and garbage. Mumbai like Shanghai is just one of those political slogans (like Garibi Hatao) that make good press but remain just pipe-dreams.

I can see the Bandra sealink crawling its way to Worli. Maybe in a year's time that should be in place. But here is the problem - the bottleneck will just shift! Ask any ops engineer (or read The Goal) and you will realise that vehicles will zoom their way to Worli & Haji Ali, but they will all get stuck on Peddar Road. And of course, we are not planning for that now.

Take the Mumbai airport... for years the Government has been working towards its re-development. Progress - almost nil. The snaking queues at security counters, the almost cartoonish process of security checks, the inevitable delays, the circling of the airports..... the only change has been towards the worse.

The list of cribs can just go on.

We are not short of resources - capital or labour. It is just the will that is lacking, the drive to achieve results in a time-bound manner. A five year sinecure ensures that there is no accountability in the political system. Apathy and corruption have made the bureaucracy pretty much ineffective.

Do I sound depressed on the second day of the new year? I guess I am always like this when I travel abroad, and see every other country developing much faster than India is. Most newspapers / magazines are talking about how India Inc is taking on the world, becoming global. But don't we also need to put our own house in order, before it is too late...

A New Beginning!

2005-10-13T15:15:00.000+05:30

Welcome to my online gyaan corner...

For quite some time, I had been considering creating my own blog... but resisted the idea, because I did not want to do something just becos everyone else was. I was not sure what I was going to achieve.

Two incidents have changed my world view...

One, my colleague Ravikiran has been sending me links to latest content on his blog... made me realise that one's creative / writing talents can be nurtured even while being part of the mad, urgent corporate world.

And today, I saw the power of community at Rashmi's blog where a whole bunch of people have joined / supported her in exposing the truth about IIPM.

The 1% Inspiration bit is now in place. Now, I need to work on the 99% Perspiration. (Considering how the office AC is being kept low to cut costs and the way Mumbai temeperature has been soaring, Perspiration will probably happen naturally!)

More about me and what I plan to give gyaan on... in the next post.