what would Social Media be in 2009

Social Media cloud

Social Media, blogs, twitter, mashups….the year 2008 has been all action and Action and more INNOVATIVE Action!!

Things have changed in a way which have certainly created new offerings, newer business models, personal branding are amongst the BUZZzzzz today!

Great is we have all this!! Let me now come straight to the point!

1. There are Social Mediums
   • Blogs
   • Slideshare
   • YouTube
   • Ning
   • LinkedIn
   • Twitter
2. There is content
   • There are videos
   • There are presentations

There is all this and MORE. Things have moved really fast in the past year. 2008 has been an year full of action, the coming year 2009, is according to me the ‘Year of Consolidation‘!!

YES! I have met so many people both online and offline saying that lets connect here, lets connect there. but what happens post connecting! There have been great stories of people making lots of money on the Social platforms. We are all amazed at how one can be a millionaire on YouTube!!

So I have put on my thinking hats!!

The question now is what NEXT? After you have been bombarded with content all around, you have flying social media tags and clouds, how do you recognize the silver lining within?

Where does all this content lead to? Isnt’ it leading to finding the needle from the hay? Isnt’ it all becoming too much?

Well, I would say YES and NO!

2009 would be the year of Consolidation!!

Yes you have it! With economies all around in bad shape, I feel there would definitely be some more innovations around which would follow on from 2008. But the year would sound and spell CONSOLIDATION.

I know of people across the globe through a popular professional social networking channel, who are doing probably the similar work as many of their counterparts in India (like us). And all these people are looking towards gaining the first movers advantage in defining a solid offering into Social Media.

The question I ask are:

1. How do you assess the worth of a Social Media channel for your clients
   • On the basis of clients’ business
     • Do you have statistics to prove why would a channel work in a certain case and why not in the other?
   • On the basis of the Social Media channel
     • How do you justify a Social Media channel as being more for a client and less for the other
2. How do you measure the success factors of your implementation of the Social Media for the client?
3. Apart from Branding and Messaging and Communication what else do you provide to the client?

These are a few of the list of questions I have on the Social Media consolidation front. And I feel its the time to answer these questions to stand apart and be able to “Find the needle for your clients, from the stack”!!

Happy Socializing and my wishes to all Social Animals on this new year!

Best,

Paritosh Sharma

The shore is near, together we’ll make it through!

I’m bleeding, hold me tight! Wait for a few moments the shore is near, Together we’ll make it through!

No, I’m not narrating a hollywood scene. Listen closely to your heart and what does that so elusive client of yours who says I don’t have enough money to continue on paying you mean? The economic conditions have taken a toll!

Why are you still sitting on that seat? Go, this is the time to re-assure your client that you are always there in times good and bad! Its always easier working as a team and innovating together, sailing through the rough tide, rather than trying to make it through, on your own. This is the time for strengthening your relationships. Your clients business wants a makeover. The business processes need innovation. Go hold his hand, he needs you now! Why should I do it?

Well, the answer may not come to you right away, but let the conditions stabilize and this client would always stick around.

But how do I do it? Times are equally bad for me as well! What do I suggest him when I am innovating myself? When I fear of losing him and I have to acquire new clients myself!

Well, first things first, acquiring a new client would take you much time as compared to what it takes in retaining an existing client. Secondly yes times are equally bad, thus what you need are innovative ideas which would help you-:

1. Explore new market opportunities
2. Monitor your ROI, by focusing on meaningful investments
3. Innovate your business processes (Ex: looking at innovative methods of reaching relevant traffic to increase sales in a cost effective manner)
4. Position your offering and Brand to the relevant traffic, being cost effective at the same time

So how do I do it?

Well, what about Internet? Its another thing being 500+ on LinkedIn and famous on Facebook, but how do leverage your brand to attract potential customers through these Social Media?

Yes, you have got it right, SOCIAL MEDIA!

A simple yet powerful example are the recent presidential elections held in the US, which had Barack Obama rising up from nowhere, shattering 26 years of political force (Mccain) with just 4 years of relevant and effective branding online.

So how do you explain the benefits of an accurate social media model for your clients’ business?

Ask your client does he know why Barack Obama is the President-elect and Mccain is not!

If your client does know it, well, half your work is done and if he does not hmmm…you have a perfect playground to set your rules!

Strange it may sound, but if we trail the campaigns of both Obama and Mccain, one of the biggest differences that takes you where you least expect it is the effect of properly defined, structured and followed up Social Media. Obama’s campaign team leveraged the Social Media aspect of the internet so effeciently that Obama had a clear cut lead over Mccain online.

One of the best blogs on the internet which provides elaborat figures as to how Social media made all the difference, I found is: http://adultaddstrengths.com/2008/11/05/obama-vs-mccain-social-media/

NEARLY 6000% MORE PAGES ON Barack Obama’s website than Mccain’s.

Okay so lets dwell deeper…into figures…

SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS/WEBSITES

Social Media Website	Barack Obama	John McCain	% Lead	Leader
Facebook	567,000	18,700	2932	Obama
Facebook Supporters*	2,444,384	627,459	290	Obama
Facebook Wall Posts*	495,320	132,802	273	Obama
Facebook Notes*	1,669	125	1235	Obama
MySpace	859,000	319,000	169	Obama
MySpace Friends*	844,781	219,463	285	Obama
MySpace Comments*	147,630	none listed	147,630	Obama
Twitter	506,000	44,800	1029	Obama
Twitter Followers*	115,623	4911	2254	Obama
Twitter Updates*	262	25	948	Obama
Friend Feed	34,300	27,400	25	Obama
Youtube	358,000	191,000	87	Obama
Youtube Videos Posted*	1,819	330	451	Obama
Youtube Subscribers*	117,873	none 29,202	117,873 304	Obama
Youtube Friends*	25,226	none listed	25,226	Obama
WordPress.com	19,692	14,468	36	Obama
Flickr	73,076	15,168	382	Obama
Flickr Photostream*	50,218	No Profile	50,218	Obama
Flickr Contacts*	7,148	No Profile	7,148	Obama

Search Engine Results For “Barack Obama” and “John McCain”

Search Engine	Barack Obama	John McCain	% Lead	Leading
Google	56,200,000	42,800,000	31	Obama
Google News	136,000	371,620	173	McCain
Google Image	24,200,000	8,620,000	181	Obama
Google Video	136,000	89,800	51	Obama
Google Blog	4,633,997	3,094,453	50	Obama
Technorati	412,219	313,497	31	Obama

Internet Presence For Barack Obama’s and John McCain’s Offical Websites

Internet Presence	Barack Obama	John McCain	% Lead	Leading
Google Pagerank	8	8	0
Pages in Google	1,820,000	30,700	5828	Obama
Yahoo Links-Pages	643,416	513,665	25	Obama
Yahoo Links-Inlinks	255,334	165,296	54	Obama

So what do all these figures say? My client is getting confused!! What should I do?

Now you actually do not have to say much. Your client says he has multiple options in the internet domain who provide services at a lesser cost then why should he still go with you?

So its simple, either your client’s campaign could be Obama’s or Mccains.

What does this signify?

Well, in the Online Marketing space its not just the quality that matters, its also how well does your online marketing solutions provider (partner) unedrstands your business domain. How well does he/she understands your objectives and goals and then charts out a workable architecture, that’s how you should choose your online marketing partner.

Link to the post at the NASSCOM EMERGE Blog: http://blog.nasscom.in/emerge/2008/11/13/the-shore-is-near-together-well-make-it-through/

Yes We Can!

Try googling “yes we can” and the TOP two results that appear are related to none other than Barack Obama, the US President-elect.

Though Obama may not have remembered to invite our Mr. Prime minister at a meeting of leaders held (as in the news channels), this post is more about tracking the Obama Trail!

So is Barack Obama the first US “social media” President elect?

Watching Obama’s victory address, I could feel here in India, what a connect he makes with his words with people. I read sometime back somewhere “people move when their emotions are moved” and wow Mr. President elect, you’re on the move already! So many people in tears, believing in real change, it was as if people could feel a change in the air! Oprah (the famous star show host) in tears and then cheering for Obama clearly showed what an effect he leaves! Well, So much for Brand Obama.

What motivates me to discuss about Obama on this paltform? SOCIAL MEDIA!!

Yes!

Web sites have termed Obama as the first “social media” President in the US history. He’s the first one to understand and harness the power of the sharing and collaboration platforms available on the web, to reach out effectively to even the remotest and the passive voters. Obama’s campaign team leveraged the power of this media to its righteous advantage! not just blogs, pictures, videos, wiki’s, Tweets and talk about all of these tools on the net!

So here;s a glimpse into Obama’s social media world:

1. Barack Obama’s blog: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hqblog
2. Barack Obama on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/barackobama
3. Barack Obama on Twitter: http://twitter.com/barackobama

So now you know where those 600 million dollars came from? Every American pitched in those 10, 20, 25 dollars they had and became part and witness to history!

So much for Obama, well the power behind the most successful campaign in the political history of the US has been the social media. Today we’re discussing the biggest financial crisis since the great depression, corporate cutting down on the advertising budgets and the rest. I personally would suggest people (both individuals and coroporate) to look at innovative methods of exploring new potential markets and reaching out to the relevant traffic and communities on the internet.

So you’re a part of Orkut, LinkedIn etc. and you may well boast of a 500+ links, but how many of them could truly be converted into potential relevance to your work, that is still a question.

So how do you go about building that elusive brand? Position your product right to the relevant market?

Go connect! Get linked! Create SIG’s (social media platforms, common interest groups). Let people find you and it’s been proven they do! A simple example in this case could be, the links I’v provided above, there would be a multitude of the EMERGE community members who would click and be directed to these pages, and ahy would you click? May be to know more about Obama or be interested into the right Social Media Market.

Innovation is the name of the game now and businesses understanding it right at the right time would EMERGE out winning!

Link to the post at the NASSCOM EMERGE Blog: http://blog.nasscom.in/emerge/2008/11/09/yes-we-can/

Outlook for Indian software product business

Blogging the Software Product Business meet @ NASSCOM, Delhi LIVE!

Key findings, Nov 2008 – research finding, Zinnov.

The NASSCOM software product study, what is it that we lack and how to help homegrown businesses go global was the focus for the research finding. We looked at the Silicon valley and other parts of the globe, exhibiting similar growth patterns in India could result into opening newer vistas into hugely untapped local markets.

First 45 minutes:

SO HOW DO WE DO IT?

We touched upon the various Indian SME’s, CIO’s and global CIO’s and why do they look at India into the product domain? In Banking products you have to look at India, have no other option.

• The Indian s/w product industry has witnesses an accelerated growth of 44% over the past 3 years

• While the top 5 players dominate, expansion in the tier-11 forms and startups has helped broad base the industry structure

Post studying over 500 products…

• Growth in s/w product startup activity over the last 3 years has also helped strengthen the industry product portfolio

Increased activity in the Indian software product industry is being witnessed only after 3 decades of its evolution about 350 companies got registered between 1985-1990, but all of a sudden the MNC’s were free to business in India, and hence Indian companies started slowing down.

If it all started very well why are we not going good?

The challenges being faced-:

1. Small size of the local Indian market
2. Lack of R&D talent
3. Lack of VC investment in the 1985-1994 era
4. Lack of distribution networks into the global markets
5. MNC’s came to sell their products, so they were able to grab the share
6. Parallel emergence of IT outsourcing

WHAT HAS CHANGED IN THE LAST 3 YEARS?

1. Talent pool
2. VC funding available for products, amost 273 VC offices set up in India
3. Emergence of incubation centres – very important for infrastructure and mentoring for such young companies
4. Role models – people who have been there, done that are now doing it in India
5. Market development – there is a huge market in India, about 35 million SMB’s to be tapped into
6. Technology disruption – an interesting trend, creating a level playing field for Indian companies, so the coming of an MNC within the same market does not hits the Indian counterpart

Dwelling DEEP into the above point now-:

• Entrepreneurs are being helped immensely with the market size and incubation centers

• Over time Indian based software companies have built highly successful product businesses

Indian software market is growing 2-3 times as the global market. High untapped opporttunity for entrepreneurs. Local requirements are huge. No one has actually figured out the right strategy for the local market.

The software building levers are changing and the way softwares are built are being changed:

1. Cloud computing/Vitualization/SOA/Open source
2. Delivery models as – SaaS

Innovation in delivery model has led to a radicl shift in global software distribution processes. SaaS has created new markets for SMB’s, hence newer markets are opening up, which sounds as opportunity for emerging entrepreneurs. Going forward we see a huge upsurge into the SaaS and such business software delivery models.

BASED ON THE OPPORTUNITY WE REALIZED

There is a huge opportunity for Indian businesses.

1. By 2050 we have a market size worth 350 billion dollars
2. BFSI sector
3. Telecom
4. BI and Analysis
5. ERM
6. Security
7. Retail
8. Storage
9. Mobile Applications
10. Online Gaming
11. SEM

Online search and marketing business is a highly successful business globally. In India its still to be structured more. Currently its a 100 million dollar market and growing at 33% YoY. There, hence is a sizeable opportunity for the Indian companies.

Action across four themes will help India based software companies to achieve accelerated growth.

1. Influencing the market
2. Enhance the talent pool
3. Strengthening the capital ecosystem
4. Facilitaing the support system

OUR STUDY SAYS: there is no BRAND built for Indian companies to put there products on the global domains.

Doing trade development efforts. There are other parts of the world where we can get high value. Leverge partnership models.

Global CIO’s don’t understand there is an option in India, how do we bridge that gap? How do you address piracy? Cost of product in India is very high, how do you address that?

Sustaining current growth momentum requires more active engagement amongst the various constituents of the s/w product ecosystem.

For entrepreneurs its immensely necessary to tap into these:

1. Idea and concept
2. Have a strong market research backing the Bplan
3. Build a prototype
4. Flexibility to change the idea/concept

Software product businesses require significant investments and it takes 36-48 months. So how do you so it?

Leverage partnerships. Ecosystems across the business value chain of the software products can help in rapid expansion of the business.

The session pre tea drew to a close with an interesting Q&A with discussions from the mind and mouth of an entrepreneur.

Link to the post at the NASSCOM EMERGE Blog: http://blog.nasscom.in/emerge/2008/11/07/outlook-for-indian-software-product-business/

From caterpillar to butterfly

Dheeraj dharm mitra aru nari aafat kal parakhiya chari”
- Tulsidas

Remarked Prof. Sanjiva Dubey, addressing the 40th Friday’s 2.0 session @ NASSCOM, New Delhi.

The session started with Mr. Ankur Lal, Chief Executive, Infozech software Ltd. introducing the participants to the session and the EMERGE community.

- I am a fellow traveller, said Sanjiv before igniting the present minds. Well it was not just igniting these minds, Sanjiv had a huge task of not only sharing his insights but more so in calming down the anxious people in the room, who all shared a BIG single concern, that of  - what to do in these market conditions?

Sanjiv’s opening line did the magic “an SME won’t turn into an Infosys in a matter of days or months, its rigorous practice”

In these BAD times, Sanjiv smiled with a GOOD news for all, “Every IT giant was an SME”, thus everyone grows! A few examples Sanjiv shared-

• Google, HP amd Apple were started in a garage
• Adobe was atarted by ex employees of Xerox and named it after a river that ran by the neighborhood.

Before we go further, how many of you would say that you don’t know this name – Western Indian Vegetable Products Ltd.?

Well, I am talking about WIPRO Ltd. in this case.

Thus was set the mood in the room, which made the participants feel that the bad times though have their share of “bad moments” but they come along with lots of opportunities as well.

Coming out with Unique-Creative-Innovative ideas, this is the right time to effectively implement these strategies into the SME’s business plans. Sanjiv in fact emphasized on the importance of the above for not only the SME’s but also every IT company, referring to his book.

All SME’s which emerged into a mammoth organization had just one “creative innovation”, on which the empire was built on, remarked the experienced professional.

Challenges for an SME

• Limited opportunities for Economies of Scale
• High Development cost, Low profits
• Losing customers, no repeat orders
• High cost of marketing

Enough to make these bad times, sound really BAD!

But Sanjiv keeping his poise, said in bad times SME’s should test these four -:

• Patience
• Persistence
• Pals
• Partners

Also were shared certain crucial things that according to Sanjiv, should never be done during a downturn -:

• Don’t panic
• Don’t let your clients/employees/investors panic
• Don’t believe everything you read
• Don;t brush aside everything what you hear
• Don’t isolate yourself. A team is more successful than an individual

An interesting thought and example that Sanjiv shared, was when he bagged a big contract competing with the market leaders a few years back, by creating and maintaining a “consortium” of companies, which was a lesson towards why a team is more important always.

Remain glued to the ground!

Whenever you’re glued to the ground(you know the situation and how would it affect you) you don’t panic as much.

Sustain a day at a time, which Sanjiv innovatively termed as the ICU(intensive care unit) model!

Your organization is like the human body, with the Brain representing Creativity, Lungs the Cashflow and the Heart, Enthusiasm.

All the vital organs need to be kept alive at all costs to keep going, forging new relationships and leverga these learnings when the right opportunity arrives.

Socialize, serve others and don’t hesitate to collaborate!

We as IT companies are running towards getting into our own niches in the race to prove our niche expertise. But in these times its innovative collaboration which works!

Sign up at the first signal of ecosystem change, be observant and be quick to notice the change, was Sanjiv’s advice to the SME’s. Survical at any cost and rate is mandated.

So, you meet your team everyday? Well, go have lunch and meet them twice a day now!

Innovating the business model by the IT industry

• From labor based to annuity based
• From being just a cook, you now need to take care of the entire wedding

SME’s can do so by forging long lasting partnerships with already established IT leaders. Specialize on a particular domain. Niche matters!

Good news, In bad times, you’re not pressured for deadlines, thus what you have is time in hand to do what you could not have done and missed the bus while concentrating on other things in the emerging and happy times.

Corporate Discipline

Instill discipline in bad times. With a slide presentation showing the royal guards, Sanjiv made a point which he emphasized by saying that discipline is of utmost importance and cannot be negotiated upon.

The FIVE S (5S) formula-:

1. Sort
2. Straighten
3. Shine
4. Standardize
5. Sustain

In the context of the current market scenarios, Sanjiv essentially made a point which struck the right cord with the participants, who all consented that these things are important. Go build relationships, which was supported by an example from Sanjiv’s personal life, about a client for whom he went the extra mile, and the client still remembers him, (whether times are good or bad).

Flawless Execution

The client saves a lot by getting his work done, by an SME than by a big player, all it demands is flawless execution, responsiveness and customization. And the room was fresh with positive vibes

Finally -:

Go find a mentor who can help you in tough times, Sanjiv placed the importance of having the right Mentor high up on his list.

Guru gobind dono khade, kaku lagun pau…

balihari guru aapne gobind diyo bataye…

- Tulsidas

The session drew to a close, with Sanjiv again being one with the participants, re-assuring them that we all are in similar times, with his words-:

Main aap apni talash mei hun, mera koi rehnuma nahi hai..

Mai kya dikhaun raah tujhko, mera apna pata nahi hai..

Link to the post at the NASSCOM EMERGE Blog: http://blog.nasscom.in/emerge/2008/10/18/from-caterpillar-to-butterfly/

Who Dares Wins! – The valedictory session @ the NASSCOM EMERGE OUT Conclave!

The valedictory session @ the NASSCOM EMERGE OUT Conclave!

Its been a good long day of learning and a multitude of valuable lessons for startups and emerging companies.

What better than Mr. Kiran Karnik and Mr. Raman Roy delivering the session. A fiery charged up entrepreneur, discussing his Four ventures! Four ventures one may say, well he dared and created 35000 jobs! An answer worth to people who challenged Raman!

I cant write a great business plan, do you think DELL, Microsoft knew precisely all the problems? Did they know all what the problems could be? Well, I respect simple thought dare, and all these companies did dare, says Mr. Raman Roy, the founder Quattro BPO.

Initiating his talk by defining the word ‘WIN’ for the audience, Raman took the whole room to a different high! Sharing his story on how he stormed out of his American Express office and still be in touch with the HR guy who dropped the shell by daring him to either be successful or be sacked! Well a true spirited guy, Raman evolved! And today Quattro is the proof.

With strong learnings in the presentation, Raman has effectively conjured up the thoughts of all the business concepts.

Talk about Ford motors, well did you know they grew trees? Implementing quality control is an absolute essential today.
- Raman Roy!

Answer to one of the questions from the audience on in-sourcing.

Somebody stood up and dared to say, I’ll make a one lakh car with the words, a promise is a promise, point well taken Raman. Well when Mr. Tata said it, it was taken as stupid, silly…well, look at it now!

Nowhere in the world KFC offers full Veg meals, call it silly? Pretty revolutionary says Raman!

The session is being concluded by Mr. Karnik by re-iterating Raman’s high energy words which have truly inspired people in these difficult gloomy times for the markets, to which Raman simply replies yeah they are going bad, but there is still money to be made out of it! Somebody would have to go security by security leveraging something. There is an opportunity. The needs have undergone a change and we have to be nimble enough to understand. In the short term there is an issue, I agree, says Raman, but now the kind of opportunities that will now EMERGE are different.

Its time for new opportunities says Mr. karnik to the issue.

Video to be uploaded soon.

Link to the post at the NASSCOM EMERGE Blog: http://blog.nasscom.in/emerge/2008/09/29/who-dares-wins/

The NASSCOM EMERGE OUT Conclave – Go Kiss the World

Blogging it LIVE, well its 10:59 a.m and the room is already full of buzz. The NASSCOM EMERGE OUT community has truly evolved!

In the initial session, we had Mr. Som Mittal, Mr. KrishnaKumar Natarajan and Mr. Subroto Bagchi taking the court. With Pradeep’s post above, all would be aware of what great value add the session was! Particulary emphasizing on Subroto’s speak, well rules have been broken. And enough space been created for the Emerging Companies.

People talk statistics so did Subroto. And all were glued and all ears. How often do you get to get a lesson from a wild fish? You do! and the entire room did!
What do you do when one of the biggest clients that you are visiting for a sales pitch tells you, “I can chew you and spit you out, even before you know it”…you dont lose grip, you smile and create a MindTree!

The session was highly engaging and if you think how long can a human hold his breath and still be alive? Well today I know (30 minutes) that’s what happens when you have a Subroto Bagchi speaking! When they say a mentor’s hindsight is your foresight, its true!

While interacting with Subroto and Krishnakumar post the session one on one…I learnt something that I’m sure would be a lesson worth for many a Emerging companies. One of the founders of MindTree Ltd. Subroto started off with some other venture initially, which didn’t work and he again went back to Wipro, worked for another 10 years and founded MindTree! Entrepreneurs here’s a definition of dreams and commitment for you, from a dreamer.

The session concluded with an interesting Q&A.

The video would be posted soon!

Link to the post at the NASSCOM EMERGE OUT Conclave: http://blog.nasscom.in/emerge/2008/09/29/the-nasscom-emerge-out-conclave-go-kiss-the-world/

How Startups and Emerging companies can benefit from Social web and Enterprise 2.0

WEB 2.0, Yammer, Mashup, Dapper, Pipes, Widgets, Open API’s, WOMM…

Greek, does it sound?

Well, the 39th session of the NASSCOM Friday’s 2.0 (Emerging Companies Forum – Marketing) was a big draw, which had people belonging to a wide strata of the industry, participating with varied interests.

The session was chaired by Mr. Jay Pullur, the Founder and CEO, Pramati Technologies Pvt. Ltd. a technocrat and visionary, building teams from the scratch has been a key trait that helped Jay in establishing Pramati technologies, a company known for its innovation and quality.

The session started with Jay introducing innovative products from Pramati in the form of widgets which they evangelized as integral tools for building simple yet highly efficient methodologies for leveraging WEB 2.0

A formal kickoff then followed with Jay presenting the participants with a presentation which was a two sided discussion, with the participants engrossed.

Jay started with defining young companies. A statement which laid the foundation for the discussion “big companies already do all the old stuff well and in good scale”, made quite an impact in the participants and the focus hence shifted to how startups and emerging companies (young companies) could leverage WEB 2.0?!

WEB 2.0 and that too in 2 hours, well Jay smartly divided the presentation into Three (3) parts -:

1. What is this new WEB?
2. What does it mean to us?
3. Why is it challenging?

WEB 2.0, a new style of working!

WEB 2.0 is more about user participation, peer production and not just simple one way publishing.

Social Media
Two simple words, yet they made every mind in the room actively interact and participate. Well why someone would not be interested when you hear “the traffic on my web site has grown 25times over the past 20 odd days, due to the implementation of this FREE widget”!

‘FREE’ strikes! And it struck!

The greek words which we started this post with now started making sense, Mashups, Dapper, Intel Mash maker, Yahoo Pipes are all WEB 2.0 tools which are the most innovative and effective tools in leveraging WEB 2.0 for the organisation.

Marketing Opportunity – Widget

How does FREE stuff adds value?
-    Social Networking Applications
Jay provided with examples from some applications that Pramati did for the recently concluded Olympics at FaceBook, which generated quite a response all across.

Open social platforms were again an interesting topic of discussion which generated quite an interest in the room. Various platforms were discussed. Including the free google platform, open API’s and web services.

Extending the discussion, Jay proved how widgets could be effectively used in the promotion of products.

2.    Strategy needs understanding of distribution models and uptake of new offerings

“Marketing is changing faster than ever”
-    Jay Pullur

“Usefulness is no longer the only thing that matters, it’s the experience that does”
-    Jay pullur

“Indian startups have not really kept the waves”
-    Jay Pullur

An interesting discussion ensued within the participants, which had WEB 2.0 researchers’ sharing their experiences into what they felt was lacking in the Indian startups and how could the power of WEB 2.0 still be leveraged.

Jay mentioned the Enterprise 2.0 platform which he simply explained as a very complex combination of openness and privacy.

The change in the WEB 2.0 space was very intelligently put across which had the participants in splits and was really a thought provoking idea…”who thought a simple application like twitter could ever work”?
Well, since people today are interested into other people’s lives, thus it’s not just working; in fact we all are Tweeting, day in, night out.

Yammer, Crunchbase, Semantic Web before the participants could say why English suddenly has become out of focus again, Jay explained the various tools and how they spell magic!

PART TWO
The session was now much more interesting as now Jay kept his point through which he gave what the audience wanted…good, but what does it mean to us?

1.    Specialize and grow on the fast track, remarked Jay

With a reference to the blue ocean strategy and other such methodologies, Jay was instrumental in providing the audience with methods of marketing new products and service offerings through WEB 2.0 tools.

PR2.0, Blogs, WOMM (word of mouth marketing) etc. were the cited examples

Beat the downturn, commoditization and Market pressures, remarked Jay

PART THREE
Why is it challenging?

1.    Competency bar is growing up

Before the participants could voice their concerns of implementing such WEB 2.0 strategies, Jay was quick in adding the various challenges that could be faced.

“Invest little to gain a standing” – the statement clearly reflected Jay’s long term standing in the IT industry. The experience was speaking for itself.

Post the formal discussion, Jay shared his experiences with the audience. What was engrossing was Jay’s openness in coming out with the go to market strategies that Pramati implemented while they were in the process of launching their Enterprise 2.0 solution.

Lesson well learnt, and such discussion was received with great response by all present.

The session concluded with a Q&A session and the forum opened for networking which also had Jay interacting very openly.

RocSearch also has done a report on Leveraging User Generated Content – An anecdotal assessment on what works for marketers and what does not…download the report at Rocsearch_leveraging-social-media_may-2008

Link to the post at the NASSCMO EMERGE Blog: http://blog.nasscom.in/emerge/2008/09/15/how-startups-and-emerging-companies-can-benefit-from-social-web-and-enterprise-20/

“On-Demand business in India” – (un)Conference session at NASSCOM EMERGEOUT Conclave

At the NASSCOM EMERGEOUT Conclave on 29th September, New Delhi, we will be putting forth an interactive session on “On-Demand business in India”.

The session would be led by Kishore from PK4 technologies and Arvind from Movico Technologies and this would be a unique mix of a segmented approach with the platform providing enough space for the participants to interact and seek clarifications and share experiences.

We invite the EMERGE community to share what value would they like to take away from the session. Your responses would help us in creating a more customized session with a high value proposition for the participants.

Companies, world over, are investing large sums of money to grow their top-line revenue while maintaining their focus on profit. They are being cautious about over heads, and when they do invest, they are looking at measurable returns, broken down in months and not in years.

Call it survival tactic in a rapidly changing business world, where change is driven by a whole new set of emerging business development tools as SaaS, which support the model of On-Demand Business and SOA.

With new business models such as SaaS, Cloud Computing in place, more and more companies are leveraging web technologies, thereby supporting enourmous economies of scale in deployment, management, and support for the application through the SDLC.

The session on the “On Demand business in India” would be structured on the SaaS model, which would have anchors introducing the key issues which would be presented to the audience, (acting as the multi tenant’s), thus we invite high interactivity and creativity.

We intend in creating high value propositions through all the sessions at the EMERGE OUT Conclave, which would be possible only through your inputs.

Looking forward to your suggestions.

Link to the post at the NASSCOM EMERGE Blog: http://blog.nasscom.in/emerge/2008/09/08/on-demand-business-in-india-unconference-session-at-nasscom-emergeout-conclave/

Higher Employee Engagement Today Does Not Necessarily Reduce Attrition

Higher Employee Engagement Today Does Not Necessarily Reduce Attrition

What happens when you have a room full of HR pro’s from the industry? Well, sparks fly, literally but in the minds! Human Resource, one of the most crucial parts of any organisation today has evolved and how! A team of experienced human resource professionals came together on the 29^th august at VYK, NASSCOM office, a revival of the NASSCOM HR Best Practices. Mr. Aadesh Goyal, Chairman, PeopleStrong HR services, graced the occasion, with his thought provoking address to the members present.

Known for his meticulous business ethics, Aadesh, from the very beginning of the session, had the participants engrossed in the discussion.A two-way discussion ensued, which had innovative contributions by the fraternity. With a strong hold into the HR industry, Aadesh started by discussing the basics, which essentially helped in breaking down the ‘myths’, and giving a new shape and direction to what works, and how as a HR professional you need to mould and create customized solutions for your organisation, in accordance with industry standards. A heady mix of “theory” in the form of an engrossing power point presentation and “practical experiences” which discussed in detail how various companies across the board approach the problem and the various successfully implemented solutions.  Some of the key words discussed in the forum which created the ground for the talk were:Employee engagement, Compensation, Right Staffing, Attrition, Quality, Layered process, Deferred compensation, Line managers. The key words, though initially scattered across the table, were intelligently put together by Aadesh.

What would you say if someone told you, “A 1% decrease in compensation in software business would increase profit by 0.6 percentage points”?

Well, Aadesh did just the same, and the participants consented!

The questions at this stage that came up were:

• How do we create a nice compensation environment?

Even if as an organisation, we are not the best pay masters, still what is that we provide, which would be a major factor in attracting and retaining employees? See what impacts special events have on attrition!A one liner by Aadesh, powerful enough to have people thinking in the common direction. With a discussion over the same, newer ideas on Employee Engagement came to light!

• What delivers consistent quality?

‘Quality’, a highly debatable topic was very subtly handled by Aadesh.With a simple example of “if you are a packaged drinking water manufacturing company, how do you maintain quality?” Well, answers by the participants threw light on the importance of the topic and various innovative solutions came to the fore. Examples of organizations like HCL, were put across, which boast of such high HR practices, that allow them to make sense of Employee Engagement in the real sense. With attrition being the basis of the discussion, quality again lead to addressing the issue with a highly effective and efficient methodology of keeping a check on quality, while addressing attrition!

“Look at the kind of different attrition engagement techniques for different types of employees” remarked Aadesh.

The common voice consented to the same! Effectively addressing your attrition concerns, controlling costs, Aadesh put forth the suggestion of employing different engagement techniques for the various set of employees.

“I would not put my best engagement techniques, to the bottom most performers in the team, instead utilize the same for the top 20-25 percent of best performers”

The role of line managers?Research shows, in a normal BPO set up a team lead spends 80 percent of his time in preparing reports on his system, fro his boss and the boss’s bosses. If the team lead does not spend his maximum available time with the team on floor in action, well he is not being effectively utilized. Thus the suggestion of having line managers creating and following proper dashboards, which suggest to the senior management, the quality, attrition and various other factors about the base level employees. A line manager is the best person, who knows his subordinates, hence he should have a major responsibility in catching attrition young and in time, thus allowing the management to take effective measures. The same was put together by Aadesh in a structured three (3) layered process. 

Deferred compensation, does it work?YES! Remarked Aadesh. Its just a matter of mindsets. The same action that you consider as stopping someone’s basic salary, can be more structured in a structured salary break up (ex: incentive based) and told to the employee before joining. Aadesh sees the same as an effective tool in addressing attrition concerns, by the organisation.

Shape up or ship out!Though as an organisation, none would like to enter the hire and fire mode, but measures have to be taken to effectively address the attrition concerns! Training and development was discussed in this part of the session! Shape up or ship out the bottom performers, remarked Aadesh. With an interesting case study which brought about a great deal of change in increasing the effectiveness of the human resources, Aadesh captured the brains of one and all present. An eye opener for some of the non IT professionals and others who did not belong to the mainstream HR. The session concluded with a quick point put forth by Pankaj Bansal, the CEO and Founder PeopleStrong which pointed out the still hanging gaps in the HR industry!

Link to the post at the NASSCOM EMERGE Blog: http://blog.nasscom.in/emerge/2008/09/01/higher-employee-engagement-today-does-not-necessarily-reduce-attrition/