X-ite 2010

Vision behind Envision 2010

The Indian IT industry has played a key role in positioning India on the Global
map. The success of the IT industry has been phenomenal. IT has been instru-
mental in bringing the power to the grassroots levels. As cost arbitrage is fal-
ling, companies are leveraging Indian centers for improving their bottom line
(as profit centers) instead of acting as low cost centers. BPO’s have also grown
up the value chain from being provided back office operations to flag bearers of
high end analytical services.
IT has brought new challenges with its success story and we as future managers
will be faced by enormous new possibilities. XIMB has tried to inculcate the
best values in its students so that they as future leaders expand the horizon of
knowledge even more and come out with compelling solutions. Envision pro-
vides this platform to XIMBians to interact with Intellectuals and visualize a po-
tential direction for the road ahead. It provides an endeavour for knowledge
sharing which is embedded in the culture of XIMB.

SPEAKERS FOR ENVISION 2010:

Mr Ashit Mahapatra
CEO Dhanei KGFS- IFMR Trust

Mr Ananta Rao, Mangalagiri
CGM(IT), Orissa Power Transmission Corporation Ltd

Prof. Gopal Krishna Nayak
Director IIIT, Bhubaneswar

Mr Abhijit Sen
DC- Head, Infosys Bhubaneswar

Mr Srijat Mishra
MD and CEO, Kalingasoft Private Ltd

Page 1

Message from the Director

I am extremely happy to know that XSys –
The Systems Association of XIMB is hosting
Envision 2010 after the successful Envision
2009 last year. This national level IT Sum-
mit would be an excellent platform for
young aspiring managers to appreciate and
understand the emerging trends in the In-
formation Technology sector and also en-
hance their capabilities as potential IT man-
agers.

I am sure that the eminent personalities drawn from various sectors of IT,
Education and Governance with their deliberations and thoughts would
elevate this national IT summit to heights of excellence. The Paper Writing
Competition on issues relevant to the theme of Envision-2010 would also
be a pathfinder for insights into emerging areas of IT and communications.
Envision 2010 has a dynamic theme this year titled “Vision, Practices and
IT Strategies: Steering Innovation.” This theme would lead to brainstorm-
ing and elicit valuable interactions which would further the cause of IT de-
velopment and managerial competency.

My best wishes with Xsys for this novel initiative.

God Bless You

Fr. P T Joseph S J
Director
Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar

Page 2

From the Editor’s desk

IT has been evolving. The way the industries
use IT is also evolving. The Innovation in IT is
driven by two forces. The invention of tech-
nology is one such force. The inventive use of
this technology is the other force. This edi-
tion of X-ite focuses on the topic of innova-
tion in IT.
We at XIMB have embraced IT as a strategic component of educational system.
The campus network, information resources are geared towards this end.

We started building Academic Information System (AIS) as a system to adminis-
ter our academics. Over the years it has morphed into an ERP system. It has fea-
tures like courseware management, accounting and payroll, materials manage-
ment, Library management and a lot more.

Over 12 years of use AIS has turned into a veritable storehouse of knowledge.
The notice board can lead you down the memory lane. The discussion forums
can remind you of the thoughts that crossed your mind when you were a stu-
dent. The Information gathered over the years offer enormous potential for
data mining.

AIS has been an innovative tool and is used innovatively by the XIMB commu-
nity. The software has given the institute a techy image.

I am sure you will find this issue of X-ite exciting .

Prof. Gopal Krishna Nayak,
XIMB

Page 3

Xavier Institute Of
Management, Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar, previously a prosaic resi-
dential city and a desirable tourist desti-
nation, has come of age and with the eco-
nomic liberalization, has received large in-
vestmen-ts in the fields of telecommunica-
tions, IT and higher education. The city ac-
counts for almost all of the IT revenue of
Orissa and is one of the fastest growing re-
gions in India in this sector.

Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, established in 1987 and popu-
larly known as XIMB, owes its origin to a Social Contract between the Govern-
ment of Orissa and the Orissa Jesuit Society. The Institute is led by a Governing
Board consisting of representatives from Orissa Jesuit Society, Government of
India, Government of Orissa, and eminent industrialists and educationists.
Sprawling over an area of about 20 acres, with a total capacity of 180 Business
Management and 60 Rural Management students per batch and with thorough
constant focus on quality, rigorous education, academic infrastructure, technol-
ogy and innovation, the campus is a fertile ground for grooming managerial tal-
ent. A strong fibre optic backbone, latest Wi-Fi technology, a vibrant intranet,
rich information resources coupled with a 100 MBPS Ethernet technology takes
it one of the most technology intensive campuses in India. XIMB is the only B
school in India that provides common field of learning to both Business Man-
agement studies as well as Rural Management. A mixture of theory and practice,
case based teaching, extensive focus on real time projects along with the vast
knowledge base of the faculty and their co-operation with students, gives XIMB
that extra edge to stand out among the other B-schools. Apart from the academ-
ics, the campus time is filled by various corporate events, seminars, out bound
learning trips etc. organized by administration as well as various student core
and interest committees. XIMB is an experience that very often transcends the
terrains of a B-School and becomes a part of life.
Welcome to XIMB.

Page 4

XSYS Events

Envision: the National IT Summit, is one
of the greatest events on campus. Some of
the eminent personalities from the IT in-
dustry and academia participate in a
panel discussion relating various IT
trends, emerging opportunities and chal-
lenges of the IT industry worldwide.

Parikrama: is an all-online game con-
ducted by X-sys . The game is a single
round event, consisting of a series of cryptic questions testing the participants
on various skills at solving puzzles.

Xigabytes: can be seen as a fun break from the usual fast paced life of a b-
schooler Packed with movie screenings, online quizzes and LAN game competi-
tions , the event, held every 2 months, comes as a package of excitement for the
XIMBians.

CyberShoppe: is an initiative taken by
Team Xsys to provide computer periph-
erals such as headphones, flash drives,
speakers and other hardware at reduced
prices within the campus.

Industrix: was launched for the first
time in 2009. It is a forum where indus-
try news from different newsletters are
collected and updated fortnightly. This is done to keep the XIMB fraternity
abreast with the latest trends, changes and Mergers and Acquisitions in the IT
industry.

Page 5

IndustriX
Industry News

Dell claims the PC No. 1 Brand spot in India: Easy as Dell.
In a close competition, leveraging on its unique supply
chain management techniques and unique delivery sys-
tem, Dell India has become the new No 1 PC brand in the
country, ending 21 quarter-on-quarter market leadership
of HP. According to a Gartner report, around 2.47 million
PCs were sold during Q2 (April to June) 2010 in the coun-
try. Dell India sold 2,35,000 notebooks and around
1,18,000 desktops to clock a cumulative number of
3,53,000 PCs for the quarter. At the second position, HP sold 1,79,000 note-
books and 1,52,000 desktops during the same period for a tally of 3,31,000 PCs.
Acer came third selling 122,000 notebooks and 150,000 desktops, to clock a fig-
ure of 272,000 PCs. The analysts say that Dell has done exceedingly well in con-
sumer, SMB and education segment during Q2 recording a substantial gain over
Q1. HP on the other hand has seen a negative growth over Q1 primarily because
of the introduction of its new distribution policy in the consumer space. Experts
attribute the success of Dell to its well known innovative supply chain manage-
ment and e-commerce.

Cloud’s Future is not so cloudy
Though cloud is the in-thing in the modern world of IT services today, but still
there is a general apprehension that cloud is not secure when it comes to han-
dling the sensitive data. There is still a big gap between those who are inter-
ested in cloud and those who really want to implement it. Even those who em-
brace cloud are actually not willing to share their core data with the cloud ser-
vice provider. So major companies like Verizon are trying to convince the other
companies about the flexibility of scaling up and down. But the companies are
still asking the same question: How secure is cloud? Apart from economy and
convenience, it is the question of security that perplexes cloud customers. But
the service provides are on their toes convincing the customers that the cloud is
fully secure. The attack mainly comes from their applications and it never
comes from cloud. The researchers have

Page 6

found that most of the data breaches in cloud services come from the customer
web applications and hence if the customers have proper firewall in place,
cloud services are more than just secure. But now the customers are ready to
take risk and more and more companies understand the advantages of cloud. So
the future doesn’t seem so cloudy.
Near Field Communications (NFC) to go live
on Nokia Mobiles by 2011.
Recently, in a keynote presentation, Nokia's ex-
ecutive VP for markets Anssi Vanjoki said every
Nokia Smartphone built from 2011 on will be
equipped
with Near Field Communications (NFC) technology. NFC would allow users to
make payments by waving their phone near a compatible reader. Vanjoki said
all open business models of the technology would be supported, suggesting this
will include formats other than the Single Wire Protocol (SWP) Nokia previ-
ously used. Earlier this year, Nokia cancelled plans to launch its 6216 Classic
NFC phone, which supported the SWP standard. Nokia and other handset mak-
ers want the payment to be tied into a users' handset, while providers want to
keep it tied onto SIM cards. Near Field Communication or NFC, is a short-range
high frequency wireless communication technology which enables the ex-
change of data between devices over about a 10 centimetre (around 4 inches)
distance. Using this technology, a mobile device can be used as a debit/credit
payment card, smart posters, Travel cards e.t.c.
Apple: The Unshakable One
“Only when I fall do I get up again” is a phrase which Ap-
ple most appropriately personifies. There have been
highs; there have been lows but Apple like the unbeat-
able warrior has always stood up to the expectations.
Amidst the whole cobweb of problems that arise with
the rise in fame like patent infringement issues with HTC
and Nokia; or a major phone manufacture flaw which
rendered the most impeccable
phone in the eyes of people as below standards; Apple
has survived it all. Certainly a warrior! Forbes compiled a list of the 50 most
valuable brands of the year 2010 which, not surprisingly though has been
topped by none other than Apple Inc. Despite losing money seven times over
eight quarters at a stretch, Apple has become the most valuable brand with a
net worth of $57.4 billion. Apple is one company which has received shocks
from its surrounding business environment time and time again but has sur-
faced to form the cream of all the brands available in the world today. There was
a time during the 90’s when the sales of this company fell by as much as 46%
over a span of 4 years, but it truly has shown how a brand can survive the mar-
ket and outperform others even when the parent company has

Page 7

failed. The fact that technology has become more of a lifestyle for people today
than anything else, is evident from the top 5 takers of the list out of which only
1 seems to be a non-tech brand. The results have been great but the Top taker
has left most people happy and thrilled. After all, being a brand that caters to
products that are complete packages in themselves and are drooled over by bil-
lions of people has its own rewards.
Cisco Delivers the Borderless Mobility Experience
with Latest Wireless Innovation: CleanAir Tech-
nology

Cisco has announced new products and network support services that acceler-
ate the transition to the mobile workplace. Cisco's Borderless Mobility solu-
tions, including the new Cisco Aironet 3500 Series Access Points with CleanAir
technology, which allow companies to deliver a seamless mobility experience by
providing anywhere, anytime access to information. As more employees go mo-
bile, the wireless network must perform on par with the most critical networks.
In a recent Cisco survey of more than 600 U.S. companies, 78 percent consid-
ered all or part of their wireless network to be mission-critical to their business
operations. Cisco is the first to solve the challenge of wireless interference by
combining a patented CleanAir Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) in
the access point with system-level intelligence to detect, classify, locate and
mitigate the impact of wireless interference. CleanAir accurately detects, classi-
fies and locates more than 20 unique interference sources including cordless
phones, wireless video cameras, microwave ovens and Bluetooth devices while
simultaneously serving client traffic.
The highlights of this are the ability to self-heal and self-optimize the wireless
network by enhancing radio resource management to improve wireless reliabil-
ity without IT intervention. Interference correlation across multiple access
points to prevent duplicate events from the same interference source. CleanAir
technology can reduce wireless troubleshooting time from hours to minutes
and, in many cases, can automatically resolve problems. CleanAir's integrated
design can mitigate the impact of interference within 30 seconds by assessing
the problem and adjusting the wireless signal to operate in an unaffected spec-
trum.

Advantages over software based solution results in:

1) poor classification with only 25 percent accuracy
2) mistaken identification with 15 percent of classifications being incorrect
3) missed detection with 25 percent of major interference sources never being
detected

Page 8

Prof Sanjay Mohapatra

An approach for Green IT
Framework

The business environment has evolved over time and
there is a growing realization to view the business as
part of social and natural environment and that busi-
ness sustainability depends on keeping the social
and natural environments intact. IT industry has a
lot to contribute when it comes to energy manage-
ment and reducing waste. Green IT is the term that
denotes the initiatives an IT organization can pro-
mote to become environmentally sustainable. This
requires deviation from business-as-usual approach
and a new way of lifestyle has to emerge that values
resource-thrift.
Green IT needs to bring focus to customers, suppliers and employees as impor-
tant stakeholders in achieving success for Green IT. This approach needs to in-
clude (not limiting to) a balanced performance among governance, infrastruc-
ture, partnership, IT environment and Operations. With the emphasis shifting
to environmentally sustainable growth, companies need a roadmap to guide
them in formulating their Green IT strategy. The issue is concerned with ena-
bling the organization develop a new culture that imbibes a new way of con-
ducting its business. To help organsations develop their strategies and evaluate
their performance, global research and consulting firms have developed Green
IT frameworks. Global consulting firm Deloitte has a Green IT framework for
guiding a company in implementing their Green IT strategy by identifying key
sustainability processes. The eight-step approach starts with the formation of a
Green IT strategy aligned with the company’s sustainability goals and touches
on various facets of an organization which can be improved for ‘greening’ the
organization. The framework also talks about setting goals in line with the long-
term strategy of the organization. The step by step approach can lead the or-
ganization to the path of environmental sustainability.

Page 9

A balanced performance on all the five dimensions of the framework is an ideal
condition and when that happens, the company will definitely achieve a re-
spectable image in the business and social community and it makes sense for
the business growth. By following the framework, Indian IT Services companies
can greatly reduce their environmental impact and enhance the positive impact
on their business and bottom-line.
However, the framework could have limitations while being applied to certain
niche players. For example, an organization who is a provider of GIS maps and
has little or no software development activities, will not be able to apply the
framework. Even though the company is listed as a software service provider,
still the firm needs to follow customized framework rather than the general
framework as mentioned above. For the services companies with simpler IT en-
vironments, the framework again needs to be adjusted. Also, companies with
certain level of revenue stream and business requirements set up their own of-
fice buildings to attract customers, whereas many others may not be able to do
so. Proper adjustments for these variations need to be developed to establish
parity for green IT results.

Page 10

Book Review
8 Things we hate about I.T.

“8 Things I Hate about I.T.” , written by Susan Cramm puts forth the various
problems faced by the business managers in managing IT. The author tries to
reach out the “8 hates” of the managers and provides solutions for the same.
She starts by saying that getting what one wants of I.T. is very difficult. It brings
out the bold view that business managers are often confused about the whole
idea of solution of the IT-business relationship which is left entirely to them.
The book serves as a catalyst for positive
change.
The deliverables of the same, even if pro-
duced are late and it is disappointing as
it is no longer used. For personal uses,
troubled technology becomes an annoy-
ance as there are series of events before
one can find the solution and it’s expen-
sive too. Technology represses creative
entrepreneurialism that is critical to ad-
vancing state of business. She suggests
that IT must not only carry out specific
needs, but also creatively explore what
needs to be done.
When it comes to IT, grant of projects and approval of the same needs a lot of
resources. This involves a lot of working and reworking of business cases. The
painful process of defining functionality and detailed design heralds a litany of
requirements and architectural documents which further require multiple lev-
els of approvals. Though technology is an important factor to success, one does
not have a clue about handling it. The most exasperating part for the business
managers is their lack of exerting more control over the IT assets and the enter-
prise level decisions that fuel the business. Business Managers must realize IT
not only as a part of organizational structure, but also as a benefit.
Author also forwards that the idea of alignment to business brings in sluggish

Page 11

sales growth and steep IT prices. Companies that are more effective in deploy-
ing technology drive higher levels of business performance. Delivery improves
considerably when outcomes are realized, funding is allocated at different levels
and time is limited. Insights into business like what constitutes the lights-on
costs, what plans exist to renew the existing technology help in making busi-
ness run efficiently.

The author urges the business managers to realize that productive relations
with I.T. are inevitable. Otherwise the prices paid might be heavy as the man-
date, secure computing resources lead solely through IT. The relations with line
managers and IT leaders are often strained. Driving along with the counterparts
in IT can turn the system in support of the business managers. Collaborating
with IT managers in strategic and tactical planning becomes imperative when
support of IT is needed. All this is done for the basic cause of improving upon
the strategic impact. The business leaders must take the initiative of putting
forth the strategic plans.

Demand Management is the process of allocating limited resources to the over-
all benefit of the enterprise. Mrs Cramm argues that this provides the informa-
tion and capabilities to prioritize potential IT-enabled investments, understand
related costs and ensure that these drive the business results. This also helps
realize the managers the various expenses and changing unproductive costs ef-
fectively into investments. The author further goes ahead by providing solu-
tions to other important aspects or hates, like quicker and qualitative delivery,
customized standardization, and innovation in the hostile bureaucratic environ-
ment.

Mrs Cramm rightly cites that we must learn how to manage technology and not
let technology manage us. This book is indeed helpful in catalyzing one to get
what he needs to wants of technology and redefining the relationships with the
same.

About the author:
Susan Cramm is the founder and president of Valuedance. Susan received her
master's degree in management from Northwestern University, specializing in
finance, marketing and quantitative methods and her BA from University Cali-
fornia, San Diego, summa cum laude, specializing in management and computer
science. A former CFO and CIO, she is an expert on IT leadership. She has helped
pioneer the field of IT leadership coaching through her passion and gifts for de-
veloping others, as well as her keen insights regarding IT leadership, which are
derived from extensive research and years serving in executive level positions.
She has worked with executives from a number of Fortune Global 200 clients,
including Toyota, Sony, and Time Warner.

Page 12

Paper Writing Contest
Niranjan Raut, Manager IT & Innovation
(XPGP, XIMB)

Innovative IT or IT Enabled
Innovation—Ice breaking thoughts

A frequent dilemma most IT Managers
face is whether to adapt the IT Industry
Best Practices or “what the business
needs”. This of course is not applicable to
IT Industries since for them IT is the busi-
ness. We’re talking about a host of other
business verticals where IT is a tool, a ser-
vice or an enabler specially the SMEs.
For such industries adopting IT best prac-
tices may be little weird at times unless their business have been long into this
journey and is IT Savvy. The Managers in such industries often take the ap-
proach of gradually introducing IT systems and applications which suits the
business from requirement, adaptability, utility and ROI view points. One other
view would be opportunity cost point – which probes what if we did not do it by
an IT system – which in many cases – ironically is beneficial in industries with
economical alternatives to do things. That’s precisely the logic which propelled
many IT giants to come up with economical and scaled down versions of their
so long generic and mighty systems for SMEs in somewhat customized and
business focused forms. Even if they decide to use IT, there comes host of other
dilemmas like which functions to be IT enabled, whether to go for off-the shelf
systems or custom developed ones, whether to have own set of developers to
evolve the niche systems in house and of course whether to maintain them in
house or outsource them. Quite often the answers to them are different for vari-
ous industries and even in same industry vary significantly depending on their
competitive positioning. While all these are happening in IT implementation
front, the business has its own preferences to compete or in its journey to excel
in whatever it does. The role of CXO and CIO should intermingle here. Unless
they put themselves into each other’s shoes there would be a disjoint and IT ef-
forts would not be synergic to business. In an organization where CIO or CTO in
some cases understand the business needs and is complemented by CXOs un-
derstanding the IT horizon both from a spread and limit point, IT can flourish
as a business function and not merely as a tool or a gimmick on extremes.

Page 13

We had come across many futile implementations of big software systems since
they did not pass the fireball test of requirement, adaptability, utility and ROI. In
many cases we found that organization enforced certain system on its people
and functions which could not be used effectively or on other extreme CXOs
were so ignorant or negligent of the benefit IT can bring that they suppressed
IT efforts since it’d ask for change which is not always welcome! On a different
note many organizations are first movers as far as trying new IN things are con-
sidered. So they try out any and every new approach and IN things. In the proc-
ess they lose focus. For example CRM may bring benefits to Telecom more than
to Steel – but if a CIO is fanatic about the IN things would convince the business
for CRM and may not be able to justify it in practice due to many non technical
reasons. Just one more example could be a Steel industry using PLC tools think-
ing it’d be as effective as used by Auto Industries! On other extreme we all know
the pain we all go thorough in implementing very mundane things if the busi-
ness does not manage the change well enough!
So far we’ve seen that IT in normal day to day scenario is not very easy to im-
plement effectively or in a seamlessly integrated way into business. So, when it
comes to Innovation – one can imagine how far complicated it could be. It’s not
easy to justify that this very investment in IT would enable people to innovate.
The innovation may not come from IT but definitely IT can help business inno-
vate, given they understand each other or they’re actually one! What we mean
here is functional people and IT department are not different in business acu-
men but IT is just a role business manager play from time to time! We know cer-
tain organizations where best functional managers are sent to IT departments
to lead things while they get technical expertise hired – and they are really suc-
cessful in intermingling of CXOs and CIOs since for example a CFO or a Chief
SCM plays the role of CIO in some point of time. This practice itself is innovative
enough but many find it difficult to do it effectively due to certain maturity and
organizational design issues!
Given all these free flowing thoughts although somewhat disorganized we feel
there is enough to consider while we talk about innovation and IT together for a
non-IT company. But nevertheless gives a certain inclination towards the con-
cept of IT Enabled Innovation rather than Innovative IT!

Page 14

Vasanth Kumar (LIBA)

“Vision, Practices and
IT Strategies: Steering Innovation”

“It’s Not the Big that Eat the Small, It’s the Fast that Eat the Slow” - this is the ti-
tle of a book written by Jason Jennings and Laurence Haughton. This is very
much applicable to the IT industry when seen from the holistic perspective.
Google is a classic example to substantiate this fact. Google was not a pioneer in
the search engine concept. The company was perhaps the eighth entrant in the
competition of Internet search engines after Hot-Bot, Lycos, Excite, Web
Crawler, Meta Crawler, Yahoo and Info seek. But, it overpowered all competing
search engines with its superior technology that today it holds about 67% mar-
ket share globally. Perhaps, still many believe that Google is the first search en-
gine ever launched!

In the backdrop of a growing customer population, an outburst of a myriad of
IT companies and services, it is the creative use of technology coupled with in-
novative business model and new strategies that will enable a IT Service Pro-
vider (be it small or big) achieve a competitive advantage in the long term. In IT
sector, ‘Steering innovation’ means, coming up with any new technology or
product or service that solves an age old problem in a modern and socially use-
ful way. Innovations in Information Technology sector takes many, out of which
three distinct trends are conspicuously seen worldwide.

Product Innovation:
Product Innovations are usually in line with the company’s vision statement.
Google’s vision reads, “To organize the world’s information, and make it univer-
sally accessible and useful”. Two products of Google would substantiate the fact
that their practice, strategies and innovations are all in line with this vision
statement.
The first product is their recently launched Operating System for mobile
phones, ‘Android’. Why would Google develop a mobile phone operating system,
which was not their core business? The reason is because; today there are mo-
bile phones in this world than cars. Three things that people carry with them in

Page 15

their handbags always are Keys, Money and Mobile Phones. Information from
across the world is available right there in a single touch of a mobile. There are
a wide gamut of services that can be delivered through a mobile phone by in-
dustrial sectors such as airlines, logistics, banking, insurance and news agencies
(to name a few). These industrial sectors have already started to communicate
with their customers via mobile phones more than E-mails or official websites.
So, Google has steered innovation by spotting a new potential market and re-
leasing a product which has many elements that one would have only read in
the science fiction books. Android has features like device control through
voice, 3-D graphics, and integration of all personal social updates into a single
interface. The highlight feature of Android is that it is an open source code and
the product focuses on co-creation of value from end users and technical enthu-
siasts. Google calls this the innovation driver, which means that it provides huge
opportunities for customization by its users. Extrapolating the applications of
Android in future, what one could foresee is that this could very well become a
complete digitally automated system over the cloud for replacing anything that
the customer might want. It could range from being a singer who plays music
any time, to a bearer who fetches food any time, to a manager who extracts
work from sales personnel and much more.
Another new conceptual product of Google called, ‘Google Vision’ is in the pipe-
line. This is Google’s first tangible product designed for the end customer. Built
with Image Recognition System, Google Vision is set to put an end for all the
pains that one has to undergo to seek information. This is a compact, sleek de-
sign, retractable screen gadget that uses wireless internet and provides the user
with geographical information about wherever they are. This combines the
Global Positioning System (GPS), and advanced Image Recognition Technology
that can even recognize landmarks in a particular locality. So, this is an all-in-
one, personal tour guide for those travelers and tourists who would like to seek
information in an unknown land. Thus, both these products by Google typically
align themselves with their vision statement in terms of functionality, accessi-
bility and ease of use by the end customer.

Innovation in Technology, Services and Best Practices
The emerging new wave in technology is cloud computing. Though this technol-
ogy is still in its nascent stage of development, it would surely be a game
changer of the future. In a nut shell, cloud computing is all about increasing the
capabilities and capacity of IT firms without having to invest much in infra-
structure. This means, no more brick and mortar expansions, no more addition
of much human capital and no more licensing of new software. Everything can
be got on a pay per service basis which would be managed by virtual servers.
The first milestone in the evolution of this idea started with the launch of Ama-
zon Web Services in 2002. This was followed by Google Application Engine

Page 16

which was launched in 2008. Google Application Engine provides the highest
storage facility at the lowest cost even today. This was followed by Microsoft
with the launch of Windows Azure in 2009. So, the competition is getting more
and more intense on exploiting this emerging technology which could very well
be a game changer in the IT industry that needs effectiveness in terms of bring-
ing down operational costs.
Another area of innovation especially in the IT services sector is the effective
human capital management. In this field, especially in India, which is the big-
gest human asset based nation, Indian IT players like TCS, Infosys and Wipro
are implementing organization wide best practices in terms of initiatives like
‘Knowledge Management’, ‘Innovation canters of excellence’ etc…
Knowledge Management has been a traditional, but, innovative best practice
which focuses on creating a common pool of knowledge accessible across the
organization using Intranet. This in the long run, facilitates efficient training of
human resources and maintains a rich repository of past experiences which can
be used by programmers to create efficient applications.
‘Innovative centers of excellence’ is an initiative undertaken by some IT compa-
nies which focuses on implementable innovative ideas contributed by the com-
pany’s employees. Employees who contribute innovative ideas would be made
an idea champion. Thus, the Indian companies constantly focus on maintaining
their agility in terms of providing world-class service through constant innova-
tion.

Innovations in Sustainable and Green IT solutions
Innovation in Information Technology systems cannot just focus on making
profits for one’s own self. Rather, there has to be an element of social cause in
whatever new applications are being developed. Today, the world is facing the
biggest issue of climate change. The past decade has witnessed one of the worst
climatic changes on a global level. Excessive emission of carbon and deforesta-
tion are adding to the problem. Is there something that Information Technology
could do to curb this global phenomenon and drive every individual in creating
a green world? Perhaps yes. That is the concept of Sustainable, Green Informa-
tion Technology systems which are currently gaining popularity in the devel-
oped countries.
So far, the perspective of using IT was rather confined to businesses. Now,
it has evolved into a stage where it can be used effectively to monitor individu-
als and organizations who over exploit natural resources. Modern day Informa-
tion Technology Systems allow real time monitoring of vehicular emissions in
countries like the USA. Wireless emission data from automobiles can thereafter
be used to offer differential fuel pricing to the owner/driver of the vehicle. This
idea has gained some shape in the recent times. The same concept can also be
applied to corporate bodies for creating smart buildings, smart grids, reducing
their travel by monitoring fuel usage, thereby improving the overall energy

Page 17

efficiency. This idea can be extrapolated one step further where in every indi-
vidual in a nation will be given a green index rating. This can be easily imple-
mented in India because of the upcoming UID project by the government. The
readings from the green index would appear in various social media websites
wherein the new identity of an individual would be judged by the efficient
green rating that one would post in his profile. Maybe in future, people would
start comparing their ratings with those of their friends thereby enabling their
entire network to take notice and be a part of the green world transformation
initiative.
Pervasive collaboration is made possible by Information Technology. IT breaks
down borders and connects people from different economies, organizations and
governments in innovative ways. Since, these connections are underpinned by
Information Technology; companies are presented with a huge business oppor-
tunity for marketing the idea of Sustainable Information System concept to the
target group. It is certainly not easy to get the society to behave green unless
there is a sound IT infrastructure in place from both businesses and govern-
ments, there lays a company strategy for marketing the idea and transforming
the society. For, the world needs a socially responsible company to lay the foun-
dation for a change. This is a potential strategy as well as a huge opportunity
that will unfold over the next two decades for IT service enablers worldwide.

CONCLUSION:
To summarize, steering innovation in Information Technology is the way ahead.
In this written presentation, three facets of innovation were explained (though
not exhaustive). The first facet dealt with innovation in products like Google’s,
‘Android’ and ‘Google Vision’. The second facet was on the emerging trend of
cloud computing and how it would be a game changer in this industry. The third
facet dealt with the strategy of marketing the concept of sustainable informa-
tion systems which would be the most sought applications of the future because
of growing climate change concerns.
To conclude, IT has become a global phenomenon. Many countries have devel-
oped a vision of the future where IT industry is seen as an engine of transfor-
mation. The future state of any nation will be e-enabled. The vision of India and
Malaysia by 2020 would happen only when backed up by IT. E-Japan vision
which focuses on the society where everyone is touched by IT also needs inno-
vation in the forefront to set the pace. The vision of Canada to make it the most
connected country in the world also needs a strategic implementation of IT in-
frastructure. Thus, there are huge borderless opportunities for IT in the near
future which are purely anchored on innovation. Steering innovation in every
facet of Information Technology holds the key to success!

Page 18

Up Romi Chandra (XLRI, Jamshedpur)
ers

Outsourcing: from Compromise to
nn
Ru

Strength
Rajat, a 24 yr. old, B.com grad who hails
from a small town works in one of the call
center for an American electronics com-
pany giving solutions to the customers’
problems. Thanks to his command in Eng-
lish. Anita, who is recently married, works
with a business process outsourcer. She
says that it’s a good way of earning and
raising the status of the family. Similar to
Rajat and Anita, there are thousands of
young grads who are working day and
night in the call centers, bpos, kpos, etc. an-
swering to all the queries raised by the cus-
tomers of their clients or helping their clients in some backend operations. One
of the important strategies of any company is how to get more out of existing
resources or in other words how to reduce cost and get the same/more produc-
tivity, higher margins, less hassle, etc. Outsourcing comes to the rescue.
Outsource tr. v. to purchase goods or subcontract services from an outside sup-
plier or source or to contract out jobs and services In simpler terms, it is con-
tracting out technical as well as non technical to external provider(s). Handling
over of IT Help Desk spans under technology related domain while catering to
telephone based customer service center falls under non-technical.

Introduction
Although the prime motive of going for outsourcing is reduction in costs but
most of the firms fail to realize this benefit owing to lack of foresight and plan-
ning, according to Gartner. The firm also predicts that about 30 percent of deals
would fail by 2012. This came out after they surveyed a group of businesses
worldwide spanning across different industries in 2008 which gave the star-
tling figure of 55 percent who focus more on operational issues rather than
strategic management of contracts. The firm director Frank Ridder is of the
opinion that to achieve positive sourcing outcomes, there is a need to develop

Page 19

efficient and effective sourcing environment and this become difficult when
organizations fail to estimate end-to-end effort required to achieve the de-
sired results. So, a good chunk of deals fails owing to one or the other reason.
And due to this, companies get a double blow. One, they incur a large loss due
to the project failure. Second, because of outsourcing there are high chances
of compromising on innovation which they might achieve by not outsourcing
it. This is the basis of my article wherein I am emphasizing on how outsourc-
ing leads to reduction in innovation and there is a requirement on the part of
both service providers as well as the outsourcer to drive the passion for inno-
vation in the project concerned.
Existing Scenarios
When one of the firms tries to go for outsourcing and supposedly results in
getting the cost factor reduced, it compels other players in the markets to fol-
low the suit else they will not be able to sustain themselves in the market with
relatively higher costs. This leads to one disaster of sending the jobs to places
where it is cost effective. Many of the times it leads to job reduction in that
particular locality, area, city or country which ultimately causes unrest among
the locals as can be seen in the case of USA, UK and when the government
tries to rationalize things, global players puts the blame of protectionism. This
is more of a moral issue and my article is not focusing on it. The point of get-
ting it in picture is owing to the outsourcing the firms ignore the innovation
part. Also, sourcing to the native people would definitely get more of innova-
tion as they would be having a knack of understanding the markets more and
can easily adapt to the conditions prevailing. A vendor most of the time sitting
far off would not be able to gather that much information which might help to
innovate and provide better service/product. In this case it becomes essential
for the client to share the information with the vendors which they might feel
that vendor may share with other competitive party. One of the researches
proved that the top performers in the markets outsource to a lesser extent as
compared to average performer who most of the times fail to drive value
achieved due to IT and lacks in flexibility in the ever changing global scenar-
ios. It proves that outsourcing leading to compromise on innovation is a
known issue in the market but people do go for outsourcing owing to various
reasons like limited resources (cash) available, don’t give much importance
on innovation and rely completely on the vendor for providing atleast some-
thing on that front. Most of the vendors are very good when it comes to deliv-
ering of requirements or meeting with the deadlines but the question is do
these really make the client happy. The answer is clear and straight forward, a
big NO. Every client wants something extra to be delivered which is of the
value to its business. But most of the vendors use the standardized processes,
more or less same lines of code with a bit of tweaking here and there, same
old models, etc. so the whole point is that here too no hint of innovation is
seen. Many deals/contracts are signed with the expectation that the vendors

Page 20

will bring something innovative on the table which would help the clients
gaining a competitive or sustainable advantage in their respective markets but
most of the times, the vendors are content with adhering to the service level
agreements, the deadlines, the so called zero defect delivery and do not give
much heed to the innovation part. Some of the vendors now have R&D centers
but they don’t prove that useful for the clients and most of the time they work
for improving their own growth.
Those who expect innovations from their vendors fail to understand that the
job of vendor is to provide the developed requirements and not to do some in-
novative work on them as far as it is not mentioned in the contract. One of the
researchers quoted these vendors as running factories and not innovative cen-
ters. Unless some rewards are associated they won’t be doing any innovative
part. To be very true, this reward system alone will not be able to drive them to-
wards innovation. There needs to be a mechanism developed by the client so
that they can drive innovation from the vendors if the last option left is out-
sourcing. Well, innovation would be best when the firm’s internal IT depart-
ment deals with the requirements. If they are not having expertise over the sub-
ject matter still they should try to work in sync with the vendor to provide the
solution with a pinch of innovation in it. This way they will be aligning them-
selves with the innovation part.
The essence of this article is to focus on the dearth of innovation created due to
the outsourcing structure prevailing worldwide as of now. The IT service pro-
viders should come out of their cocoons and try to develop processes which
help them in becoming partners to their clients when it comes to innovation
part, basically a Win-Win situation for both the parties. Innovation can become
very much integral part of each and every contract by the active participation of
the client and vendor.
To look out for
A) When the client shares critical information with the vendor, it helps the ven-
dor
to get the deep understanding of the business which in turn helps to devise the
strategies and processes required to get the innovation going. This basically
requires the trust relationship to be build between the two parties as the
crucial information provided by client can be inner strategies, which might lead
to a disadvantage for them, if shared with other competitors.

Page 21

B) To instill the sense of innovation among the vendors or to sustain the ongo-
ing
one, the client needs to introduce the reward system or some value sharing
mechanism so that the vendors also feel good about the returns they get from
the work done and hence will be encouraged for more innovative

C) When the client discriminates between service providers on the basis of
processes employed to deliver the service or the effectiveness in delivering,
this in a way helps vendors to streamline their processes so that they come in
the consideration set of prospective outsourcers. This will help them to set a
benchmark for their work and then they can continuously work upon the set
baseline.

D) Another way of getting innovation going is by providing constant input to the
vendors on the innovation part basically becoming partners in innovation
delivery along with the regular deliverables. This joint working will help to
devise out of box solutions leading to end user’s delight.

E) A combination of outsourcing and innovation help in reduction of costs for
both the parties in the long run and hence helps them in maintaining or sustain-
ing the competitive edge in the respective markets they operate.

Page 22

Conclusion
It is quite apparent that for innovation to be part of outsourcing, both client
and the vendor needs to jointly plan out the phases or the lifecycle of the pro-
ject keeping in mind the innovation part. Go for brainstorming sessions, meet-
ings to finalize the things. Most of the times both the parties tries to maintain
a status quo and don’t give proper attention to the innovation part. It’s the
time when they need to look upon innovation as a differentiating strategy and
should discuss at length about its applicability. One more thing to be kept in
mind is the duration to get the reaped benefits out of innovation is not very
much evident in short term. So, one has to be patient enough to obtain the de-
sired results. Keeping above things in mind, I think the apt time has come that
weakness has to be converted into strength and then should be leveraged to
get the maximum benefits accruing out of it.

Page 23

Crossword

1 2

3

4 5

6

7

8

9 10 11 12

13

14

15

16

17

18 19

ACROSS by masquerading as a trustwor- DOWN
2. Practices in production and thy entity in an electronic com- 1. Type of RAM
development that promote access munication. 3. Bridge between applications
to the end product's source mate- 15. Smallest unit of processing and the actual data processing
rials that can be scheduled by an oper- 4. Worldwide leader in net-
3. Amazon product for the ren- ating system working
dering and displaying of e-books 16. Device that interchanges 7. Malware that appears to
5. Large data processing systems packets of data perform a desirable function
6. Re-programming of a system to 17. Technology that allows a for the user prior to run or in-
function in ways not facilitated computer to detect voice and stall but instead facilitates un-
by the owner dual-tone multi-frequency signal- authorized access of the user's
8. Used to determine where to ing keypad inputs. computer system.
send a packet in Linux 18. Popular search engine 10. Term used to characterize
9. Founder of linkedin 19. Famous computer magazine a programming language
13. Criminally fraudulent process 11. An antivirus program
of attempting to acquire sensitive 12. People who study, experi-
information such as usernames, ment with, or explore telecom-
passwords and credit card details munication systems

Page 24

Aafrozy Ara (PGP, XIMB)

Shopping Experiences

You have just walked into your favorite music store across the street. Just
as you pick up a Justin Bieber album off the shelf, digital trackers embedded in
the walls identify the album with its RFID tag. A Plasma panel at the store be-
gins to play the latest video of the pop star. As you walk towards the screen to
watch this video, sensors in the store track your movements, and a high defini-
tion Prosilica camera captures your picture, feeding it to complex algorithms
that morph these images. Within seconds, you are pleasantly surprised to see
yourself inside the TV screen in the video, gyrating right beside the teen pop
star!
Delighted with the experience, you begin to explore the rest of the store.
As you walk down the aisles, biometric iris recognition software detects your
digital identity, and instantly downloads your past purchase and publicly avail-
able social networking history into the store’s central database. Eye motion sen-
sors identify which shelf you are looking at, and LCD panels display the mes-
sage - You “liked” Enrique’s Insomniac on Facebook, would you like to check out
his new album “Euphoria” ? Your friend Maria has already bought it, and 59
buddies spoke about it on Twitter!!

Well, if you thought all this was a page
out of a science fiction book, then think again.
This is not a futuristic wish anymore, and so-
phisticated technologies like these are al-
ready being deployed in retail stores right
now. With the advent of Web 2.0 and ad-
vanced digital electronics, consumer retail
has morphed dramatically. Leapfrogging into
the future, innovation in IT is now making
the customer the center of this“Digital Uni-
verse”.

Page 25

The new age consumer with deep pockets and short attention spans is
now more individualistic and much harder to please. With razor thin margins
and a consuming need for differentiation, retailers are increasingly pushed
towards cutting-edge innovation. Retailing giants like Wal-Mart, Carrefour
and Tesco have already boarded the bandwagon, and the others have no
choice but to follow. The key is to involve consumers at an emotional and sen-
sory level, and shoppers are now spoilt for choice.
IT innovation in retail is not just confined to the developed nations, and
emerging economies have caught up fast with this trend. It is estimated that
more than $2.5 billion will be spent on IT infrastructure in the Indian retail
sector by 2010. This spending would include the cost of maintaining the exist-
ing infrastructure as well as that of new assets.As the industry structure
transmutes with increased dependence on IT, innovation wars are inevitable.
Retailers are now leveraging IT to enhance the end user experience, re-
duce costs, manage growth and capture multicultural markets. IT innovation
is being used to have a consumer centric view to solve problems, achieve
creative differentiation and provide complete solutions to task oriented shop-
pers. In this era of Do-It-for-me marketing, consumers demand retailers to
speed up their transactions,driving changes in store concepts, and providing
faster and convenient transaction processing and payment.

"Ethnography is the new core competence" remarkedAndrew Jones in
his book “Innovation acid test”.Working closely with market research,
"knowledge activists"now explore the innovative aspects of any business
proposition bycognizing customer intelligence.Corporations compete to iden-
tify and “Catch a wave”, creating opportunities to generate growth and fantas-
tic financial performance.Digital immersive technologies like Augmented Re-
ality are being used to integrate branding and entertainment with customer
experiences, offering services that resonates with the target customer.
When you look for avenues of innovation in retail, the opportunities are
endless. Starting from the use of RFID to measure inventory, warehousing,
distribution operations and the supply chain, to providing an enhanced shop-
ping experience for product and brand differentiation, IT can be used as an
enabler at every step. All that we need is an imagination to sell the dream!

Page 26

Balasubramaniam N Iyer (PGP PMIR XLRI)


“What makes a resource truly strategic – What gives it
the capacity to be the basis for a sustainable competitive
advantage – is not ubiquity but scarcity. By now, the core
functions of IT – data storage, data processing and data
transport – have become available and affordable to all.
Their very power and presence have begun to transform
them from potentially strategic resources into commod-
ity factors of production.” Nicolas G. Carr1

In today’s world, the validity of this argument by Nicolas Carr can be seriously
questioned; it is the ability to understand how IT can be best used for trans-
forming business that truly differentiates the winners. So, it all starts with the
top management having a clear understanding of the business they are in, what
factors drive the business, what trends are observed in the industry as a whole.
With a clear understanding of the current situation of the organization, and a
desired future state, an IT strategy aligned with the business strategy can be
crafted.
OTIS Elevators2 made created sustainable competitive ad-
vantage for themselves under the leadership of Mr Ari
Bousbib, President, OTIS elevators. He brought about a
paradigm shift in the way business was looked at by OTIS.
Earlier, OTIS viewed themselves as a designer, manufac-
turer, installer and servicer of elevators, thereby looking at
them as a manufacturing organization.
Mr Bousbib looked at OTIS as a service organization that should focus on “not
making things, but, moving things”. With a single, customer centric business
model in mind, he focused on improvement in logistics and service through im-
plementation of IT in a manner that suited the business requirements at OTIS.

Page 27

REM elevator engineering technology which used micro-controllers in eleva-
tor systems helped communicate problems to a computer terminal in the
Head Quarters. The terminal analysed problems and helped despatch service
mechanics to handle issues even before customers knew about it, leading to
high levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Innovation in this case is evident in terms of superior understanding of
business requirements by the top management and exploiting IT systems for
business excellence.
Novartis4 transformed its HR by implementing an HRIS
system that shifted the role of HR from transactional
processor and administrative expert to strategic business
partner and change agent. This bit of innovation led to a
huge reduction in HR operating costs and helped speed

The way IT works
The top management in an organization should craft a business strategy,
keeping in mind the current organizational scenario and a desired future state
The top management should work in conjunction with the CIO to discuss his
business strategy
Based on this discussion, the CIO should come up with an IT Strategy that is
aligned with business strategy
The IT strategy aligned with Business strategy should be executed
The results need to be compared with what was expected to take corrective
action

Page 28

er Sony Saha (ICFAI, Hyderabad)
inn
W

Market opportunities and strategy
for the Cloud IT services providers

Cloud computing or cloud service is an
emerging concept where there is large
shared pool of different computing re-
sources like software, hardware, develop-
ment platforms or services. The resources
can be dynamically reconfigured to adjust
the variable cost in the project which re-
sults in optimum utilization. However it is
interesting to note that the Cloud IT ser-
vices is an emerging delivery model that
IT services firms should adopt. The cloud,
as a concept has been tipped as the next
idea to revolutionize the IT industry in
general and the IT product industry in
particular. These Cloud IT services can be provided by Fully Private Cloud
model or Partial Private Cloud model or Public Cloud Model. For this, there is a
need to analyze the services which can be provided through these models tak-
ing into consideration the data security and privacy for each client. It is de-
signed on the 'Factory Model' that enables organizations manage globally dis-
tributed functions or services efficiently, through combination of virtual shared
services organization, process standardization and re-use. Through this model
commoditized IT services can be provided to the clients where the billing to the
client is done on the outcome based pricing or menu based pricing or catalogue
based pricing.
In services industry unlike products, pricing is a key differentiator. Many IT ser-
vice providers like Amazon, Wipro, IBM, and HCL etc. are providing the Cloud IT
services like Software-as-a-service (SaaS), Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS)
and Platform-as-a-service (PaaS). Apart from this, it is recommended that they
can also provide Production support-as-a-service (PSaaS), Testing-as-a-service
(TaaS) and Maintenance-as-a-service (MaaS).

Page 30

Never has cutting cost, been so imperative in IT services industry, than in the
current age, with cost being the biggest differentiator. Hence, the cloud IT ser-
vices PSaaS, TaaS and MaaS can be provided using the application of “pay-per-
use” model in competitive price to the clients. This model helps to avoid the
huge investment by the client i.e. to avoid the initial fixed cost and to charge on
the basis of the output or activities being provided to the client. The model is
designed on basis of variable cost. The fixed cost is charged to the client only to
cover the baseline of the services provided to the client. So there is the migra-
tion from “Huge Fixed cost” to “small fixed cost + variable cost”. Variable cost is
to be charged to the client depending on usage of the service by the client. The
pricing for the PSaaS service can be calculated taking the different parameters
into consideration with the allocation of weightages for each parameter.
For each parameter the complexity factor is calculated as follows and added to-
gether to get the total complexity scores (CS Total).

• If the CS Total is simple then Rate/service = R1

• If the CS Total is medium then Rate/service = R2

• If the CS Total is high then Rate/service = R3

where X, Y, Z are the no. of units of simple, medium and complex services pro-
vided respectively.
In this scenario it has to be kept in mind that as the client is paying the Cloud IT
service provider on the basis of activities done by EOD. Sometimes it might hap-
pen that there is sub-optimum utilization of the IT human resources whereas
the company has to pay the monthly salary to the employee but himself being

Page 31

paid from the client according to the “pay-per-use” model. It might bring less
profit to the service provider. In order to mitigate the risk of sub-optimum utili-
zation of the IT human resources resulting in loss to the service provider, it is
recommended that the organization needs to cross train the employee to work
either for different projects for the same client or different projects for different
clients i.e. sharing of the human resources is to be done to engage the employee
for the full working hours using the concept of “cloud computing”. In this sce-
nario the clients have to be ready to share the human resources who are work-
ing for their project to work for other clients while providing the cloud IT ser-
vices like PSaaS, TaaS and MaaS following Fully Private Cloud model (same re-
sources working for single client and single project) or Partial Private Cloud
model (same human resources working for single client and multiple projects)
or Public Cloud Model (same human resources working for multiple clients and
multiple projects).

Page 32

Hence, it can be seen that the client is charged 10 % less and there about
38.46% increase in the gross profit if the company follows recommended Out-
come based pricing model rather than Time and Material pricing model as re-
flected in Table1 and Table2.
After analyzing the market trend it was found that the clients are more inclined
to go for outcome based pricing or menu based pricing that is calculated on the
pay-per-use model instead of a traditional Time & Material or Fixed Cost pricing
model. From the Enterprise and SMB Hardware Survey done by Forrester re-
search team in 2008, it is has been found that the Global enterprises (35%),
Very large enterprises (37%), Large Enterprises (34%), medium large enter-
prises (36%) of North America and Europe are interested to migrate to the “pay
-per-use” model. Moreover, it has been found that PaaS models for private
clouds in outsourced data centre will show hyper growth in the year 2012 and
hence, it is necessary for the IT service providers to analyse the emerging needs
of the market in a better manner.
There is enormous business opportunity to provide the IT services through
cloud. The way ahead and the vision for the IT industry would be to provide
strategic solutions like Production support-as-a-service, Testing-as-a-service
and Maintenance-as-a-service using the menu based pricing model. The IT ser-
vice providers should target the America and Europe and then Asia pacific to
provide these services. They should promote the cloud IT services through con-
ference, webinar, dinner/ lunch hosting, campaign, print ads and through com-
pany website to bring new business from the existing as well as new clients. By
using the factory model and the pay-per-use model, human resources can be
shared across multiple projects to provide the cloud IT services. This leverages
on the fact that sharing the human resources helps in increasing efficiency and
passing on the benefits to the service providers as well as the clients. Providing
the proposed cloud IT services like PSaaS, TaaS, MaaS through menu based pric-
ing strategy is a win-win situation for both the clients and the service provider.

Page 33

Jins Jose (SIBM, Bangalore)


Introduction
A flashback through the long roads
of Information Technology’s history
will show too many scenes – birth
and death of computer generations,
evolution of machine languages,
numerous technological inven-
tions.....and much more. As Thomas
Freidman narrates in his master-
piece ‘The world is flat’, this IT
revolution gave birth to the ‘ten
flatteners’ including outsourcing. At
the doorstep of new millennium, it
was the call for India in the form of
Y2K, to lead the IT revolution for future which started flattening the world. In-
dian IT businesses could successfully exploit that opportunity to showcase their
expertise to the world with help of professionals, skilled both technically as well
as in English. For every business, the value offering and quality of service to the
customer are really important. Today’s highly dynamic environment needs IT
businesses to be more customer-specific. It’s very important- how a business
determines its vision and practices the same providing unique propositions to
the customer. The article is an attempt to identify need and impact of innova-
tion in IT businesses addressing certain strategic approaches commonly fol-
lowed for being innovative, emphasizing the Indian context. As move forward,
we will see how some businesses steered innovation to advance in their race
obtaining a competitive edge.

Necessity- the mother of innovation!
India’s growth in the IT enabled services sector, in the last two decades was re-
markable. Cost advantage and the availability of skilled human talent made In-
dia, one of the best global outsourcing destinations. Albeit lacking in product

Page 34

developments, Indian software companies are at par or even better in terms of
software services offerings. But quite recently several challenges started arising
against this unanimous leadership position. While the increased salary hikes
eat into the profitability of Indian software industry, countries like Philippines .
pose strong challenges in the BPO sector. US Senate’s recent approval of border
security bill supporting the decision to raise application fee for H-1B and L-1
visa by $2000 is the latest threat to profitability. It is the crucial moment for In-
dian IT industry to find means to be more cost effective while offering superior
value for the customers. A product innovation usually carries more advantages
over a service innovation. While service innovations can be copied easily, prod-
uct innovations provide the company relevant Intellectual Property Rights and
bring larger profits. On the other hand product innovation is quite an extensive
task requiring lot of time, R&D and investments. Also customer is interested in
solutions rather than technology, which is just an enabler. The kind of expertise
and competencies needed to offer IT products is entirely different from what is
needed for software services. That’s why, even after finding its financial solu-
tions product- ‘finacle’ to be a success Infosys didn’t look into expanding its
product portfolio much. Never the less Indian companies have realized the im-
portance of making their service offerings, more tangible and unique to the cus-
tomers. Moreover they emphasize innovation in all stages of their value chain.
Going by industry sources and analysts, mergers and acquisitions in the Indian
IT services sector is bound to increase as there is not much headroom for
growth for small IT firms offering generic services who lack innovation. On the
other hand, specialist businesses providing services in areas like healthcare or
banking have a far better chance of attracting investment and scale up further.
But many of those companies are lacking in innovation and find it difficult to
sustain. For IT services, need of the hour is to literally follow the Cisco way of
innovation- “Emphasize C&D rather than R&D”, showing the importance of
‘connecting with the customer for developing the relationships’. Girish Paranjpe
- joint CEO of Wipro underlines the vitality of innovation in IT industry- “Today
we can’t run large businesses without thinking of global competitiveness and
benchmarks of excellence......any access to resources, markets and methods will
be replicated by competition in a short time. What will distinguish us is our
ability to constantly innovate and adapt”.

How to be innovative?
A typical product innovation includes 5 stages- discovery which means insight
generation, prototype development, pilot test, build and diffuses. More of the
innovations in IT services are process oriented which can happen at any link of
the company value chain. Some of them will be purely technical while others
being functional innovations. Wipro’s marketing innovation which repositioned
itself as a provider of innovative solutions for business problems is an interest-
ing example. Wipro launched global innovation awards in 2007 to recognize

Page 35

innovations that had been achieved in a collaborative manner with a partner.
Businesses apply diverse strategies to be innovative and thus, competitive.
Many innovations have taken place in the IT sector in terms of both improving
the existing services as well as identifying new potential offerings. IT services
companies have started offering consultancy services in niche areas like busi-
ness intelligence, healthcare, remote infrastructure management, financial sec-
tor, procurement outsourcing etc. It has become a very successful strategy for
big players to acquire these niche service providers and expand or strengthen
their portfolios. To strengthen its offerings in infrastructure management ser-
vices, IT consulting and services company Mindtree Ltd recently acquired a Re-
mote Infrastructure Management (RIM) firm, 7Strata. Indian IT businesses have
recently come up with the innovative ‘rural BPO’ business model, which utilizes
the work force in rural areas in order to leverage upon both cost advantage as
well as social responsibility goodwill. Today many businesses promote the idea
of ‘intrapreneurship’ aiming to create an entrepreneurial culture within the or-
ganization from the grassroots level. Many IT firms have found it as the poten-
tial way of bottom up innovation, which creates innumerous ideas that help the
organization to be open-minded and innovative always.

Practitioner, the perfecter...
It is an interesting story that how Infosys innovated its delivery model. They
started recruiting fresh engineers of varied disciplines and training them to be-
come software programmers; also hired successful MBAs from non-IT indus-
tries and trained them to sell business solutions rather than mere technology.
These HR innovations allowed Infosys to scale and control quality and be more
profitable. Cognizant, which has emerged as a major competitor in the Indian IT
industry within a short span of time, established an innovative service delivery
model called “two-in-a-box” structure. For every customer account, Cognizant
has a senior account manager onsite and a dedicated delivery head. Some 800
client facing professionals today form the company’s “two-in-a-box” team,
helped by the same number of staff in delivery locations such as India. This
helps Cognizant focus on fewer customers such as JPMorgan Chase and UBS,
and increase share of their outsourcing spend.

Conclusion
When a unique idea is converted in to reality, an invention takes place. It could
be a product, a service or a package of offering. Innovation is all about imple-
menting that invention. As IT business emphasize effectiveness of the service
offerings, every company should have a vision to provide the best value to its
customer. “The simplest definition of innovation is- wow”, said Tom Peters once.
Customer gets delighted with the solution and value he has been provided with,
rather than the technology been used. IT business with a strategy that supports
and steers innovation can definitely bring that customer delight.

Page 36

Amit Kaundinya (PGP, XIMB)

IT Innovations in Rural India

Introduction
Look at any of the most admired
companies of today. Be it Google or
Apple, Xerox or Oracle, the key to
their success and growth has been
their ability to innovate. All major
companies understand that innova-
tion plays an important role in de-
fining their success story. Thus, you
would find innovation centres and
innovation wings being present in
almost most of the big companies
today. TCS has over 15 innovation would provide a glimpse on the IT
labs spread across the globe. The (information technology) innova-
TATA group also celebrates tions in Rural India. Rural India
“Innovation Day” on 29th July every brings with it a wide array of prob-
year, which encourages innovative lems and problems are the fodder
ideas to be implemented across to innovation. Some of the areas
group companies through a compe- where innovation has been done
tition: “TATA Innovista”. and which can be done in Rural In-
So what exactly is innovation? If I dia are:
were to be asked this question, my 1. Making computers affordable for
answer would be simple: all.
“Innovation is the ability to think 2. Make the desktop mobile and
differently, to go beyond what al- reach the masses.
ready exists and create solutions 3. Impart literacy programs via mo-
that facilitates and drives growth.” bile
While innovation has been the man- 4. Providing knowledge to farmers
tra for quickened growth and suc- 5. A solution to manage rural fi-
cess in various sectors, this article nances.

Page 37

6. Provide equitable medical help. get their opinions on the same. It
also helps literacy-challenged farm-
Pointers to be kept in mind for IT ers by allowing them to send que-
Innovations in Rural Sector ries and receive advice and infor-
1. Cost: Solution developed should mation as ‘voice SMS.’ Thus mKrishi
be cost effective. High cost, low re- aims to reduce the last mile gap be-
turns services will not be well ac- tween farmers and their eco system
cepted in the rural sector. partners such as agriculture ex-
2. Customisation: Illiteracy rates are perts, markets, government offi-
high in rural India. Some people cials, banks etc.
know to read only their local lan- 2. e-Choupal : An initiative by In-
guage, while many are unable to do dia’s leading FMCG, ITC, e-Choupal
that too. So while developing a solu- has been a powerful innovation in
tion, it needs to be kept in mind that passing on the benefits to the farm-
the services can be customised in ers. By providing them with farm-
the local languages, they should ing information and services, timely
have text readers to necessitate the and relevant weather information,
effective use of the service. transparent price discovery and ac-
3. Usability: Services developed for cess to wider markets, e- Choupal
the rural sector should be easy to has provided power to the farmers.
use. Training should be provided It has educated the poor and un-
for the effective use of the same. educated farmers on how to con-
4. GUI : The graphical user interface duct e-commerce transactions with
needs to be attractive at the same ease and to get themselves out of
time not too cluttered and compli- the clutches the middle-men. e-
cated Choupal has helped farmers in pric-
5. Product Naming : The name of ing their crops and taking decisions
the product should be selected in on when and where to sell their
such a way that it can be related to produce to get more profits.
by the end users (rural customer) 3. Parry India Agriline: Is an innova-
and also provides information of tion by EID Parry (a Tamil Nadu
the service. For an all India use, the based agriculture company) that
service should preferably have a aims at leveraging the use of inter-
Hindi name to it. net to provide benefits to the rural
sector. Agriline connects farmers
IT Innovations In The Rural Sec- and others in rural India to mar-
tor kets. Information like market price,
1. mKRISHI: the award winning weather data, agricultural extension
agro advisory innovation developed services and crop cultivation prac-
by Tata Consultancy Services is tises, are provided to the farmers.
used by farmers to send farming The website is viewable in Tamil
related queries through mobile in too, keeping in mind the language
their local language to experts and needs of their end users. Parry

Page 38

Agriline aims to create rural pros- locals access services/information
perity by Networking India Virtu- for a charge. The laptop is equipped
ally. with a solar panel in order to pro-
4. Gappa Goshti : The multimedia vide charging of the laptop. The ser-
based mobile phone solution devel- vice has become very popular
oped by TCS is a means of social amongst rural consumers as it
networking for rural India. The helps linking thevillages to com-
product name is Marathi for “chit mercial, health and agricultural ser-
chat”. It uses the power of synergy vices.
to provide benefits to the farmers. It
is a mobile based social networking Conclusion
application for the rural masses. Be- While this article throws light on
ing a mobile-based application, it only a small percentage of the many
can be easily accessed by users all innovations that information tech-
the time. The solution also has a nology has brought about in rural
channel for expert opinions on agri- India, numerous such innovations
culture sector. The constraints in- are providing benefits to the rural
troduced while using a desktop cli- base. If you observe closely a link
ent like mobility and time con- between all the five innovations
straint, affordability and continuous mentioned here are their usability
power are eliminated. The main aim advantage, customisation in local
of Gappa Goshti is to enable rural languages, low cost and immediate
masses to connect, communicate, benefits to the end users. I will
and socialize with each other. conclude by a thought by C.K. Prah-
5. Computer On Wheels : IIT Mum- lad, ““The Bottom of the Pyramid
bai in collaboration with an NGO market provides a new growth op-
has provided this service in Me- portunity for the private sector and
hboob Nagar in Andhra Pradesh, a forum for innovation”. There is
whereby the service provider definitely a lot of scope still present
brings a laptop to villages along for innovating and providing bene-
with a GPRS connectivity and helps fits to the rural user base.

Page 39

Tech Buzz

iPad Killer from India : Notion Inks Adam
This is a full touch screen tablet designed and devel-
oped by Bangalore based start-up Notion Ink. Run-
ning on NVIDIA’s second-gen Tegra- 250 HD-capable
chipset this Android based tablet boasts of the hav-
ing the world first Pixel Q‘s transflective display.
Apart from this this has all the regular features like
flash support, GPS, Wifi, USB and a 3.2 Megapixel
Camera. Can it take on the iPad ?

Harman Kardon Sound Sticks II :
This is not part of any Sci – Fi movie but a set
of 2.1 speaker system by acoustics pioneer
Harman Kardon. The Harman Kardon Sound-
Sticks II system is clearly superior with an awe-
some 20-watt powered subwoofer, eight full-
range transducers and plug-and-play compati-

And a museum-honored design that perfectly matches the clarity of the sound.
It brings a new level of excitement to music, games and movies – and looks
spectacular doing it.

Page 40

VIZIO Razor LED mobile TV : Vizio’s new 7, 9, and 10-inch Razor LED mobile
TVs that tune into ATSC-M/H broadcasts got a lot of press at CES this year.
These handy hand-held TVs are all less than an inch thick
and offer 800 by 480-pixel resolution with LED back-
lighting.

DYSON Air Multipliers : These are actually fans
without any blades unlike the conventional fans.
They use Air Multiplier™ technology to draw in air
and amplify it –15 to 18 times, depending on the
model. With no blades or grille, they’re safe and
easy to clean.
And they produce an uninterrupted stream of smooth
air, with no unpleasant buffeting (free flow of air with-
out any chopping).

Operating Systems for smart phones :Mobile phones are no longer just a
communication device .Its very much expected to do everything that a modern
computer does. Its needed to browse web, its needed to take pictures, send
emails, play 3 D games. make electronic spreadsheets and slew of other stuff
that were unthinkable some time back. With the evolution of phones into smart
phones ,there has also been an remarkable development in the Operating sys-
tems used by them.
Barely three years back there were three major operating systems for these
phone Symbian S series, windows mobile and palm OS. But we have seen entry
of many more and much powerful OS in this last few years. There is a great bat-
tle going on among them to regain supremacy over the other. The major Smart
phone Operating systems fighting it now are Symbian, Google’s Android, Apple’s
iPhone OS, RIM’s Blackberry OS, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, Palm OS , Sam-
sung Bada OS and now Nokia’s Maemo OS. This is surely going to be a interest-
ing battle for all of us to witness.

Page 41

Neha & Babu Phanish, PGDMRM II, XIM

IT innovations in rural areas

Introduction
With 70% of India in rural areas, rural development
becomes an essential criterion for the development
of economy. Efficient models need to be adopted for
creating sustainable development opportunities for
these areas. Herein, Information technology has
played a prominent role in bridging the gap, by pro-
viding various solutions to some of the numerous
problems faced by rural communities.

With changing lifestyle patterns, better communication network and rapidly
changing demand structure of consumers of rural area, considerable changes
are taking place in rural sector. In due course of time, it has changed the face of
IT too, which witnessed a role change, from providing only the networks to set-
ting-up customized technological programs in the rural area. Gyandoot, TARA-
haat, rural e-seva, Bhoomi are some of the IT service modules, which are opera-
tional in different states and have provided cost-effective services and informa-
tion regarding various issues to rural communities.

Some of the participatory models are discussed in detail below to provide a
glimpse of the operational aspects of these services and their impact.

Open Source Geographic Information System (GIS) for better designing of
sustainable Natural Resources Management

Usage of Global Positioning System (GPS) and 'Gram Panchayat QGIS' software
in participatory watershed development planning, implementation and moni-
toring has increased the effectiveness of the programme. Once the water reten-
tion in the dry/semi arid region increases, it has multiplier effect in the village

Page 42

economy. It impacts positively on the livelihood opportunities and widens the
revenue sources for the rural households. This pioneering innovation is pro-
moted jointly by IIT Madras and the Hyderabad based NGO Watershed Support
Services and Activities Network (WASSAN).

GIS is the main component in the mapping process of the region. The cost of
commercial GIS software increases the cost of the entire exercise and thus low
cost software has to be adopted. Thanks to the efforts by a group of open-source
community members who have developed a free, high quality and user-friendly
‘Quantum GIS’ software, this concern was taken care of. WASSAN-Hyderabad &
IIT Madras, supported by Department of Science & Technology (DST) & Depart-
ment of Land Resources (DoLR) projects, further simplified it as ‘Gram Pancha-
yat QGIS’ for use by grass root level village workers in developmental activities.
It includes using GIS to view summary data of a watershed on a national map
and simplifying free-and-open source QGIS for use by village workers.

GPS-based spatial data of various features in the field can be tagged with their
questionnaire-based attribute data and converted into GIS maps by village
workers using ‘Gram Panchayat QGIS’. These GIS maps can then be used in par-
ticipatory social analysis of plans and their implementation. These maps pro-
vide the crucial inputs for the micro level planning and other village level inter-
vention activities.

e-Sagu: An IT based Personalized Agro-Advisory System
ICTs for Agriculture and rural development (ICTARD), in collaboration with Me-
dia Lab Asia has built an IT-based personalized and scalable agro-advisory sys-
tem called e-Sagu with an aim to improve farm productivity, profitability and
sustainability by delivering quality personalized (farm-specific) agro-expert ad-
vice in a timely manner to each farm at the farmer's door-steps. So far e-Sagu is
operational in 300 villages covering six districts of Andhra Pradesh for 50 agri-
culture crops besides fish and prawn.

Under this system, literate youth in the villages are selected and trained to work
as co-ordinators. They capture the village farm conditions through pictures and
videos in mobile phones (Nokia N-95 is being used for this purpose). This data
is given to the e-Sagu village centres from where they are send to the main cen-
tre located in Hyderabad wherein they are stored in Agricultural Information
System. Agricultural experts then send in their advices to farmers through mo-
bile phone in form of messages and images. In collaboration with Media Lab
Asia, efforts are being made to develop a country-wide integrated agri-service
program (IASP) by providing multiple agri-related services (e-Sagu agro-
advisory, agri-inputs, finance and marketing) as single window to the farming.

Page 43

community.

Conclusion
Though the usage of Information Technology in rural India has been confined
mostly to youth, particularly men and the impact is restricted to certain comfort
zones; it has paved a path of prosperity for some and a ray of hope for many
more. IT possesses the capacity to change the fortunes of the rural masses.
Making IT solutions accessible to large number of beneficiaries and availability
of customized IT services depending upon the varied needs is the answer to nu-
merous problems of rural areas.

Although government agencies and NGOs are working for this, the impact of the
efforts would be much higher if more IT & ITeS companies come up with tech-
nology based solutions for rural areas. There should be more collaboration be-
tween the mainstream IT companies and NGOs who work for the rural areas so
that more innovative and practical solutions can be provided to the rural areas.

Page 44

Test Yourself

Match these famous IT related personalities with their respective
Companies:
1) A) Dell

2) B) TCS

3) C) Yahoo

4) D) HP

5) E) Apple

6) F) Google

Page 45

Who am I?
I was born in silicon valley of India. My father was the General Manager of My-
sore and Minerva Mills. Instead of going abroad for my graduation, I preferred
joining IIT Bombay for my Engineering. My entire division walked out of my
first company following a disagreement with the founders. We went on to build
one of the most iconic company, which is now worth of US $6 Billion.
Currently I am helping citizens of my country, to forge their identity.

Answers on the last page

Page 46

Believe - IT

1. To reach 50 million users Radio took 38 years, TV took 13 years, Internet
took 4 years, but Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months.
If Facebook was to be a country, it would be the world’s 4th largest.

2. The 2nd largest search engine after Google is not Yahoo, Msn or Bing, but
reportedly it’s Youtube which was sold to Google in 2006 for $1.65 Bil-
lion (commendable for a company which didn’t even exist before 2005). It
generally accounts for more than 25 percent searches on Google today.

3. It’s expected that by 2013, there will be super computers that will over-
power the computational capabilities of the human brain and by 2049
even a cheap computer will exceed the computational capabilities of the
entire human species.

4. In February 2008, John McCain raised $11 million for his U.S. presiden-
tial bid thru campaign fundraisers, but the same month Barack Obama
was able to raise $55 million in just 29 days leveraging on online social
networks.

5. Wikipedia launched more than 16 million articles in 200 different lan-
guages in 2001. But if we see the transmission capacity of Cisco’s Nexus
7000 data switch, it can move all of Wikipedia in just 0.01 seconds.

6. The minicomputer used in our cell phones today is a million times
cheaper, a thousand times more powerful and about a hundred thousand
times smaller than the one computer at MIT in 1965. It reinstates the pre-
diction of Ray Kurzweil : “So what used to fit in a building, now fits in our
pocket and what fits in our pocket now, will fit inside a blood cell in 25
years”.

Page 47

Fun Websites

Very entertaining and fun
filled Brain fitness and exercise
games designed by neuroscientists
that is scientifically demonstrated
to improve your memory, attention,
http://www.lumosity.com/ and processing speed.

Very interesting and
entertaining website on the
day to day common trivial
events surrounding our
daily lives. http://www.howstuffworks.com/

What's happening in the World
of Science ?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/

This website has many tests
which are designed to
measure the stupidity of
idiots. The members of this
site have an IQ of less than
78.2 and can share point less
hobbies http://www.not-mensa.com/

Page 48

Had a dream . You can match
your dream with people
around the world as to who
else are having similar dreams
and where . Also you can find
out the meaning of your
http://www.matchadream.com/ dreams.

World's highest website.
Currently 18.93 km long.

http://worlds-highest-website.com/

Next time you make a
JUMP , may be in ecstasy ,
excitement or FUN !!!!
Share your Jump photo
and your story with the
world.
http://www.thejumpproject.com/jump-

Answers to the Quiz
Match the Following
1-E
2-F
3-D
4-C
5-A
6-B
Who am I ?
Mr Nandan Nilekani

Page 49

X-ite 2010

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (18)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (16)

Similar to X-ite 2010

Similar to X-ite 2010 (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

X-ite 2010