Exin is offering ITIL V3 bridge book for free. All you have to do is go to this link, add it to the cart, and check out. Select the procedure as invoice and the cost is Eur 0.
Take advantage of it while you can.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Who robbed the poor kid from the 100$ laptop?
Nicholas Negroponte, an MIT prof, decided to apply C.K.Prahlad's concept of trying to find gems at the bottom of the pyramid. He wanted to reduce parity in education which students get in the developing nations from those who get it in the developed nations. He formed the initiative OLPC or One Laptop Per Child. This was a brilliant effort by Prof Negroponte to work towards removing social iniquity. He got backing from the UN at Davos earlier.
Google stepped in to help as well - of course with money and a desire to sell their platform of SaaS software. Intel stepped in as they didn't want AMD to capture the market. Imagine what kind of market this brings for the vendors. A huge 200 million set of kids who will grow up with all this and eventually get used to it and demand the same thing when they go to work or consume at own expense when they grow up.
Operational difficulties and economics led to his price point going from 100$ to 188$. Volumes earlier estimated weren't there by orders of magnitude. The orders didn't come through. It is a hard-sell in these developing nations for spending 188$ on a kid when his/her entire schooling education can occur on that amount. The quest for capturing the market led Intel to come up with its own 230$-280$ laptop, slightly superior to the OLPC-made laptop.
However, the tech giants stomped the effort - check out this article. Who is to blame? Nicholas says that he is frustrated with the interference from the tech giants and the insidious sinister behavior which threw off his original calculations about the market-size and how much he would be able to capture - a classic business planning mistake by new entrepreneurs - not acknowledging and assessing competition correctly. Forget the tech-giants, the locals in India, Taiwan, etc competed to get a piece of the pie and I bet that Nicholas didn't have them in his business plan. Now, he feels frustrated !
On the other hand, Prof Nicholas expresses that we are not in laptop business. He must actually be happy that either this way or the other way, OLPC's objective must get satisfied - one laptop per child. Intel joined the board of OLPC - saw that these guys didn't know how to run the business the way it should be and decided to run off in their way - nothing wrong in it. Is it incestuous behavior? depends on who is looking at it...
Such contradictory stances by Nicholas probably sends out signals that his ego is hurt due to no success of his initiative. An academic devoting himself to nonprofit efforts must keep a check on his/her ego. I understand that the process of tech-giants muscling him out could have caused agony - but his original purpose was OLPC - he must have that in his mind - he will always be known as the guy who took this brave initiative of reducing the rift between developing nations and developed nations. I would always respect him for that !
Google stepped in to help as well - of course with money and a desire to sell their platform of SaaS software. Intel stepped in as they didn't want AMD to capture the market. Imagine what kind of market this brings for the vendors. A huge 200 million set of kids who will grow up with all this and eventually get used to it and demand the same thing when they go to work or consume at own expense when they grow up.
Operational difficulties and economics led to his price point going from 100$ to 188$. Volumes earlier estimated weren't there by orders of magnitude. The orders didn't come through. It is a hard-sell in these developing nations for spending 188$ on a kid when his/her entire schooling education can occur on that amount. The quest for capturing the market led Intel to come up with its own 230$-280$ laptop, slightly superior to the OLPC-made laptop.
However, the tech giants stomped the effort - check out this article. Who is to blame? Nicholas says that he is frustrated with the interference from the tech giants and the insidious sinister behavior which threw off his original calculations about the market-size and how much he would be able to capture - a classic business planning mistake by new entrepreneurs - not acknowledging and assessing competition correctly. Forget the tech-giants, the locals in India, Taiwan, etc competed to get a piece of the pie and I bet that Nicholas didn't have them in his business plan. Now, he feels frustrated !
On the other hand, Prof Nicholas expresses that we are not in laptop business. He must actually be happy that either this way or the other way, OLPC's objective must get satisfied - one laptop per child. Intel joined the board of OLPC - saw that these guys didn't know how to run the business the way it should be and decided to run off in their way - nothing wrong in it. Is it incestuous behavior? depends on who is looking at it...
Such contradictory stances by Nicholas probably sends out signals that his ego is hurt due to no success of his initiative. An academic devoting himself to nonprofit efforts must keep a check on his/her ego. I understand that the process of tech-giants muscling him out could have caused agony - but his original purpose was OLPC - he must have that in his mind - he will always be known as the guy who took this brave initiative of reducing the rift between developing nations and developed nations. I would always respect him for that !
Citi needs service management !
I had blogged earlier about Citi slashing IT jobs here. With the latest news about Citi planning to reduce the workforce by upto 45,000 employees, I have come to a realization that the company needs a re-alignment. I am not for the cause of re-org by breaking up the firm into pieces. What they have right now is a giant behemoth which no one would be able to grapple around. Even Reuben, a man who handled the asian currency crisis, denied to take up the responsibilities after Chuck Prince quit. To realize the synergies from their earlier mergers, Citi needs operations' experts in place.
Operations experts, huh? Then hire management consultants... outsiders, objective, etc etc...
The reality is - Citi is a listed company and consultants get chopped off when the cost constraints hover on the head of the middle managers. Consultants charge huge rates. Instead, Citi can directly buy this talent from the market as they need on-going success and not a one-time remedy. So, what qualities they need in their operations-experts?
Citi's services are mostly commoditized. They need to check out what's mentioned in Service Strategy module of Service Management's latest version 3 - differentiate on the outside and simplification on the inside ! If how's their question then they must start to operate similar to the PE controlled firms.
Citi - you have a long way to go - the results of all this will take atleast a few quarters - provided there is a mindset change amongst the existing employees.
Operations experts, huh? Then hire management consultants... outsiders, objective, etc etc...
The reality is - Citi is a listed company and consultants get chopped off when the cost constraints hover on the head of the middle managers. Consultants charge huge rates. Instead, Citi can directly buy this talent from the market as they need on-going success and not a one-time remedy. So, what qualities they need in their operations-experts?
Last week, the Wall Street Journal had this article on how "tough" bosses were the most successful bosses at private equity backed firms:
The academics found that these five traits were the most important to success…"We found that hard skills, which are all about getting things done, were paramount," says lead author Steven Kaplan, a professor of finance and entrepreneurship. "Soft skills centering on teamwork weren’t as pivotal. That was a bit of a surprise to us."…
Mark Gallogly, a co-founder of Centerbridge Partners, a New York private-equity firm, says the academics’ findings match many of his beliefs about what’s important in a CEO. He puts a premium on bosses who can hire well, excel at efficiency and execution, and can be aggressive but respectful. By contrast, public-company CEOs may need more soft skills to manage relations with wide shareholder bases and other diverse constituencies."
- Persistence
- Attention to detail
- Efficiency
- Analytical skills
- Setting high standards
- Strong oral communication
- Teamwork
- Flexibility/adaptability
- Enthusiasm
- Listening skills
Citi's services are mostly commoditized. They need to check out what's mentioned in Service Strategy module of Service Management's latest version 3 - differentiate on the outside and simplification on the inside ! If how's their question then they must start to operate similar to the PE controlled firms.
Citi - you have a long way to go - the results of all this will take atleast a few quarters - provided there is a mindset change amongst the existing employees.
Monday, November 12, 2007
architecture patterns and IT service management
While researching for patterns mentioned in v3, I stumbled upon this book titled "Architecture and Patterns for IT Service Management, Resource Planning, and Governance: Making Shoes for the Cobbler's Children " over here.
v3's Service strategy discusses about patterns in services' resources' requirements. This puts architecture patterns in the driving seat.
Surprisingly enough, Prof Krishnan (CMU fame) and myself were planning to work on something in this direction with Mellon Bank for Sourcing services. Having such patterns back from the service providers can help clients to retain the knowledge and to a certain degree, control on their architecture.
Personally, I think that based on industry, definition of IT service management may blur or become accentuated. For instance, in the financial services space, it is less efficient if one differentiates between a business service and IT service. I feel that the whole part is a business service and IT service is so embedded in it that the IT folks cannot live in isolation in most of the cases. Of course, there are certain functions in which they can be siloed out and made to function. For instance, infrastructure. However, in case of other IT services - they are all integrated to the business services tightly. This puts another most debated question in front of us - shouldn't ITIL name be expanded to have IT Service Management rather than having the term Infrastructure in it? Shanon Taylor, architect of v3, is working in that direction.
Finally, IT Service Management will evolve to become a subset of Business Service Management - which has been around since a while now. I am not trying to nominalize the value that ITIL v3 brings - I am just expressing that it is an old wine in a new bottle :P
v3's Service strategy discusses about patterns in services' resources' requirements. This puts architecture patterns in the driving seat.
Surprisingly enough, Prof Krishnan (CMU fame) and myself were planning to work on something in this direction with Mellon Bank for Sourcing services. Having such patterns back from the service providers can help clients to retain the knowledge and to a certain degree, control on their architecture.
Personally, I think that based on industry, definition of IT service management may blur or become accentuated. For instance, in the financial services space, it is less efficient if one differentiates between a business service and IT service. I feel that the whole part is a business service and IT service is so embedded in it that the IT folks cannot live in isolation in most of the cases. Of course, there are certain functions in which they can be siloed out and made to function. For instance, infrastructure. However, in case of other IT services - they are all integrated to the business services tightly. This puts another most debated question in front of us - shouldn't ITIL name be expanded to have IT Service Management rather than having the term Infrastructure in it? Shanon Taylor, architect of v3, is working in that direction.
Finally, IT Service Management will evolve to become a subset of Business Service Management - which has been around since a while now. I am not trying to nominalize the value that ITIL v3 brings - I am just expressing that it is an old wine in a new bottle :P
why MISMers should focus on Google APM?
Consulting is a hot favorite for the MISMers (MISM students) as they want to utilize and deploy their newly gained knowledge about business-enabling via technology and running technology as a business immediately.
However, Google APM is a profile that helps you achieve that as well. Check out this set of 18 globe-trotting Google APMs. Of course, this is also a publicity stunt run by Google recruitment to attract the best talent at cheaper rates (yea, Google's cheap in their payscale - but what the heck, they give awesome stock-grants - about 200 shares per APM and on top of that, such perks). Check out this take on Google's APM program.
Unlike the consulting firms, Google maintains the entrepreneurial spirit of these young bright minds by providing them opportunity to spin their own projects, enabling them to be successful, and finally, bringing those to the market for the greater good of humanity. Much credit goes to initial founders and global product development chief such as Marissa Myers. Ms. Myers is young, energetic, and understands that the new generation folks would get put off if they are restrained from doing certain other things at work. How to channelize this huge burst of energy for the company's benefit is something that the Google leadership has mastered. Of course, it may appear that everyone's running amuck with any idea - however, that's not true. There is method to the madness and I wont divulge more details given to me by an ex-Product Manager during my interview for Product Management position earlier this year.
I would strongly recommend Google Product Management for those MISM students who yearn for the blaze of glory via entrepreneurial pursuits. I was oblivious about this opportunity till half-way into my program. When I discovered about it, I was obsessed with it. Google didnt' move fast and after 5 months of waiting I had to sign up my papers with my current employer, as Google was dragging the recruitment decision.
Google has been sharp enough to identify MISM as a program to source their PMs and APMs. Last year, they started having CMU on their radar for the same. Earlier, they saw CMU as a location for Devs, etc. However, the perception has changed and they intend to hire APMs and PMs as well. I hope this relation builds over a period of time and gets formalized making Google as a formal recruiter for the MISM program, similar to the consulting firms such as Deloitte, Diamond, McKinsey, etc.
However, Google APM is a profile that helps you achieve that as well. Check out this set of 18 globe-trotting Google APMs. Of course, this is also a publicity stunt run by Google recruitment to attract the best talent at cheaper rates (yea, Google's cheap in their payscale - but what the heck, they give awesome stock-grants - about 200 shares per APM and on top of that, such perks). Check out this take on Google's APM program.
Unlike the consulting firms, Google maintains the entrepreneurial spirit of these young bright minds by providing them opportunity to spin their own projects, enabling them to be successful, and finally, bringing those to the market for the greater good of humanity. Much credit goes to initial founders and global product development chief such as Marissa Myers. Ms. Myers is young, energetic, and understands that the new generation folks would get put off if they are restrained from doing certain other things at work. How to channelize this huge burst of energy for the company's benefit is something that the Google leadership has mastered. Of course, it may appear that everyone's running amuck with any idea - however, that's not true. There is method to the madness and I wont divulge more details given to me by an ex-Product Manager during my interview for Product Management position earlier this year.
I would strongly recommend Google Product Management for those MISM students who yearn for the blaze of glory via entrepreneurial pursuits. I was oblivious about this opportunity till half-way into my program. When I discovered about it, I was obsessed with it. Google didnt' move fast and after 5 months of waiting I had to sign up my papers with my current employer, as Google was dragging the recruitment decision.
Google has been sharp enough to identify MISM as a program to source their PMs and APMs. Last year, they started having CMU on their radar for the same. Earlier, they saw CMU as a location for Devs, etc. However, the perception has changed and they intend to hire APMs and PMs as well. I hope this relation builds over a period of time and gets formalized making Google as a formal recruiter for the MISM program, similar to the consulting firms such as Deloitte, Diamond, McKinsey, etc.
Saturday, November 03, 2007
google health
Google wants to digitize your health data. Check this article for more details. Rationale is simple: it is aligned with their original vision of the firm - To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
Well, I must say - they are well on their tracks. I like Marrisa's quote on "I am feeling yucky" !
On a side note related to this, they are also working towards mapping human genome. Google's helping the lead scientist in the field do that. They are good at organizing large amounts of information such that it's easily accessible - that's what they will do with their algorithms and techniques for the Human Genome project.
Well, I must say - they are well on their tracks. I like Marrisa's quote on "I am feeling yucky" !
On a side note related to this, they are also working towards mapping human genome. Google's helping the lead scientist in the field do that. They are good at organizing large amounts of information such that it's easily accessible - that's what they will do with their algorithms and techniques for the Human Genome project.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
certifications in the new world
Gartner predicts that the current and emerging new hot skills are as follows:
I felt that a valuable way to indicate one's proficiency in atleast the knowledge about the same can be with the help of certifications. However, this is not to say that anything can replace practical experience. Theoretical knowledge and certifications (by passing tests) cannot substitute an experience.
I've listed the relevant certifications:
PMP - for Project Management
ITIL - for Service Management
CGEIT - for IT Governance
eSCM - for Sourcing Management
I hope this is helpful for budding IT operations management professionals.
- Project Management
- Service Management
- IT Governance
- Sourcing Management
I felt that a valuable way to indicate one's proficiency in atleast the knowledge about the same can be with the help of certifications. However, this is not to say that anything can replace practical experience. Theoretical knowledge and certifications (by passing tests) cannot substitute an experience.
I've listed the relevant certifications:
PMP - for Project Management
ITIL - for Service Management
CGEIT - for IT Governance
eSCM - for Sourcing Management
I hope this is helpful for budding IT operations management professionals.
which version of google are you on?
Fred Luddy, the CEO of Service-now.com, mentioned this phrase at the NYC Executive briefing as he was trying to emphasize the importance of flexibility in SaaS implementation for Service Management tools. I was invited for the event by VP, Strategy at the company, who is a good acquaintance of mine.
Truly enough, Google's version is not known to anyone. It is irrelevant for the front user as long as all his data in various dimensions is stored for future retrieval and analysis by back-end data storage.
My close encounter and the dialogues with Fred revealed me his persona of an architect, a researcher, a scientist - being dominant over his persona as a CEO. He was former chief software architect at Peregrine, which got bought over by HP.
Surprisingly enough, service-now.com has been able to come up with an on-premise deployment for clients who may be wary of data residing on service providers servers in a SaaS model. For instance, the event had a leading global investment bank indicating how they plan to rip off their older software of Peregrine for IT Asset Management and install service-now.com's suite.
Imagine the impact of this new paradigm - This nature of an on-premise deployment can help allay government's fears and make them a potential client for such services.
ITIL v3 talks about cost distribution of small proportion of fixed costs and large proportion of variable costs in order to make internal IT services' offerings competitive and flexible (to scale up and down based on business needs). Service-now's SaaS implementation ensures just that.
I see this company as a rising star. The product is awesome - way beyond what some of their competitors have to offer. The team is great. Finally, the timing is right - as US market starts ITIL adoption and we are reaching a point of inflexion for the same.
Truly enough, Google's version is not known to anyone. It is irrelevant for the front user as long as all his data in various dimensions is stored for future retrieval and analysis by back-end data storage.
My close encounter and the dialogues with Fred revealed me his persona of an architect, a researcher, a scientist - being dominant over his persona as a CEO. He was former chief software architect at Peregrine, which got bought over by HP.
Surprisingly enough, service-now.com has been able to come up with an on-premise deployment for clients who may be wary of data residing on service providers servers in a SaaS model. For instance, the event had a leading global investment bank indicating how they plan to rip off their older software of Peregrine for IT Asset Management and install service-now.com's suite.
Imagine the impact of this new paradigm - This nature of an on-premise deployment can help allay government's fears and make them a potential client for such services.
ITIL v3 talks about cost distribution of small proportion of fixed costs and large proportion of variable costs in order to make internal IT services' offerings competitive and flexible (to scale up and down based on business needs). Service-now's SaaS implementation ensures just that.
I see this company as a rising star. The product is awesome - way beyond what some of their competitors have to offer. The team is great. Finally, the timing is right - as US market starts ITIL adoption and we are reaching a point of inflexion for the same.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
does ITIL v3 marginalize value of CMU's MISM program?
As I read ITIL v3 since summer this year, I realised that most of the techniques mentioned in the books (primarily Service Strategy and in general, all the five books) are taught in MISM and more. Also, based on one's interests, one can shape program to become an operations expert for IT operations or services' operations. I had a doubt whether this was all the information/knowledge I paid for at MISM? Does the release of ITIL v3 appreciate value for one of the alums at the cost of rest of the current students?
Well, ITIL v3 does not marginalize MISM program. In fact, it enhances the value of the program - by highlighting that one of the alumni (Majid Iqbal) from the program was one of the authors for the ITIL v3 set of best practices. This highlights that CMU MISM program's students are thought leaders.
The pure inter-disciplinary approach that the school promotes and adopts creates a rich culture which leads to innovations. As Bill Gates mentioned on the Charlie Rose show, the world is far more inter-dependent today and we have multi-lateral alliances everywhere. In such a world, it is essential to create these linkages between various disciplines.
In future, plenty of new problems will emerge with newer dimensions. Whoever solves them will have certain set of best practices - those can get recorded into ITIL v4, v5, v6, etc. What CMU teaches you is how to approach a problem from different dimensions and solving problems with effective and enduring solutions.
I don't intend to spark a huge debate here by assuming superiority. There are a lot of aspects that can be changed in the program dynamics. However, it is clearly a program that's unmatched. If you want people who bring business solution by leveraging technology then currently, MISM is the place to hunt such people from.
Well, ITIL v3 does not marginalize MISM program. In fact, it enhances the value of the program - by highlighting that one of the alumni (Majid Iqbal) from the program was one of the authors for the ITIL v3 set of best practices. This highlights that CMU MISM program's students are thought leaders.
The pure inter-disciplinary approach that the school promotes and adopts creates a rich culture which leads to innovations. As Bill Gates mentioned on the Charlie Rose show, the world is far more inter-dependent today and we have multi-lateral alliances everywhere. In such a world, it is essential to create these linkages between various disciplines.
In future, plenty of new problems will emerge with newer dimensions. Whoever solves them will have certain set of best practices - those can get recorded into ITIL v4, v5, v6, etc. What CMU teaches you is how to approach a problem from different dimensions and solving problems with effective and enduring solutions.
I don't intend to spark a huge debate here by assuming superiority. There are a lot of aspects that can be changed in the program dynamics. However, it is clearly a program that's unmatched. If you want people who bring business solution by leveraging technology then currently, MISM is the place to hunt such people from.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
branded entertainment
Date: 10-18-2007
Venue: HBO office in midtown – 1100 Avenue of theAmericas , New York , NY
Venue: HBO office in midtown – 1100 Avenue of the
Organized by – IRTS Foundation, a foundation that offers
§ Robert Friedman – President, Media & Entertainment, Radical Media
§ Robert (Bob) Riesenberg – President & CEO,
Network folks:
§ Dan Longest – Sr VP, Integrated Marketing & Promotions, ABC
§ Linda Yaccarino – Exec VP & Gen Manager, Turner Entertainment, Ad Sales & Marketing
Hollywood Reporter rep, Gail Schiller was the moderator for the Q&A session.
Broadcasting and Publishing were the two prime domains of the audience.
Notes from the Q&A:
Branded Entertainment’s demand drivers:
§ Declining engagement power of the 30-second TV spot – however, its not going to go away
§ Fragmentation in the media industry – this leads to difficulty in reaching critical masses
§ Time-shift leading to use of devices such as the TiVo.
§ Relevance: They want to have the right spot in the program for the right brand
§ Limited inventory: The networks want to ensure that the inventory does not lose ratings due to incessant brand-placements.
§ They may not be ready themselves (this was not discussed at all)
§ Mobility – multi-layered communication
§ The other means are not enough for the advertisers
Business models are one of the two:
§ Revenue sharing
§ Barter system
Mostly, it is the latter in case of large networks as they are not running behind the ad agencies.
Challenges:
§ Infancy stage of the industry
§ Impatience shown by the advertisers – Ratings, Retention, Recall become a challenge for the networks if they don’t turn down the impatient advertisers
§ Focus: Large project teams – cross-functional service areas within the networks and/or ad agencies. In order to address this issue, liaison groups are being formed (say Promo development group at Turner which liaisons between the ad sales group and the programming group)
§ Fit: Brand must fit naturally with the content, adding to the story in a relevant and a tangible manner. However, folks are bringing in money to get irrelevant stuff done. This may kill the industry in its pre-mature stage.
§ Scalability: Limited inventory and controlled environment by the networks leads to lack of scalability in the model. Networks have the control. They do exert it. However, they are undertaking initiatives for the same – such as staff augmentation and/or staff training in the BE direction.
New trends:
§ Pressure on “creatives”: Creatives are going to find themselves squeezed due to the huge demand for the BE content. Network sales folks have aligned themselves with the best interest of the network. For instance, for the network sales folks, the focus has changed from selling programs to selling “commercial pods”. This will further put pressure on creatives to align themselves with network’s objectives.
I think this can lead to inflation of wages or significant terms and conditions change for the writers. Writers’ guild has already asked compensation for brand placements in their scripts.
§ Cross-media: A new emerging trend is in the increasing demand for cross-media BE.
Monday, October 22, 2007
deck creation and consulting
CMU MISM instilled certain slides' deck-creation qualities in me which cannot be emphasized any more. My success at deck-creation and logical structuring have helped me quite a bit at my consulting job. Creating decks instantly with MECE, Mynto's pyramid principle, etc comes naturally to me - thanks to CMU MISM. These were directly or indirectly learnt in the CMU environment.
Also, the creation of POVs were inspired from the Telecom Management class of Dr. Sakir Yucel and the Managing Services Organizations by Majid Iqbal. This training has helped me develop some provocative POVs at the firm.
Ramayya Krishnan, the chief architect of the program, has well said in this video - how IT/IS interact with policies, how they interact with the business processes, etc is very important to leverage IT's capabilities. Business technology and IT Management are forte for CMU MISM students. Andy Wasser summarizes well in this video by saying "... the students who want to see a business opportunity and intelligently know how to apply technology !" CMU MISM is a business technology program.
Currently, only progressive consulting firms have realised this aspect. Sooner or later, the rest of the IT world will realize that and source their talent from this program.
Also, the creation of POVs were inspired from the Telecom Management class of Dr. Sakir Yucel and the Managing Services Organizations by Majid Iqbal. This training has helped me develop some provocative POVs at the firm.
Ramayya Krishnan, the chief architect of the program, has well said in this video - how IT/IS interact with policies, how they interact with the business processes, etc is very important to leverage IT's capabilities. Business technology and IT Management are forte for CMU MISM students. Andy Wasser summarizes well in this video by saying "... the students who want to see a business opportunity and intelligently know how to apply technology !" CMU MISM is a business technology program.
Currently, only progressive consulting firms have realised this aspect. Sooner or later, the rest of the IT world will realize that and source their talent from this program.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
network nyc
Network NYC is at 3 West Club this year - will look forward to meeting other CMU folks there. Thereafter, the event's organized to go to Connolly's for an after party. I plan to swing folks to Tonic (nearby) after that. However, let us see what will be the mood be like. We may end up going some other hipper place - Tonic's kindda lame for me.
However, I must have energy left. Too many assignments.
I have an early morning-long meeting till noon in midtown with an investment bank and a hospitality major. Later, I have to continue to work on the point-of-views that I've been working on. It's provocative and will be out soon on the firm's site. In the evening, there is a media sector special event on Branded Entertainment at the HBO office at Times Square. The prime part is that I have to present it later to the organization at the Quarterly event. Though I am an FSI major, I am a TMT minor. I guess that explains my choice for NYC - lol !
My cousin's coming - so, he will be my responsibility from tomorrow evening till Sunday morning. It will be great to meet him after almost 2.5 years.
I look forward to the coming days!
However, I must have energy left. Too many assignments.
I have an early morning-long meeting till noon in midtown with an investment bank and a hospitality major. Later, I have to continue to work on the point-of-views that I've been working on. It's provocative and will be out soon on the firm's site. In the evening, there is a media sector special event on Branded Entertainment at the HBO office at Times Square. The prime part is that I have to present it later to the organization at the Quarterly event. Though I am an FSI major, I am a TMT minor. I guess that explains my choice for NYC - lol !
My cousin's coming - so, he will be my responsibility from tomorrow evening till Sunday morning. It will be great to meet him after almost 2.5 years.
I look forward to the coming days!
Monday, October 15, 2007
kalam @ cmu?
Check out this piece of news - Dr. Kalam getting an honorary Ph.D. from CMU !
He left the president's tenure this July.
I wish I could've been there to meet him ! This brings me back to the initial argument of whether I should go back to CMU or continue working at my workplace ? If I were smart I would go back eventually. The odds are stacked in my favor for my correct utilization. Here, the odds are not exactly stacked in my favor to make the best use of my knowledge - however, it aint a low probability - hence, still hanging around.
He left the president's tenure this July.
I wish I could've been there to meet him ! This brings me back to the initial argument of whether I should go back to CMU or continue working at my workplace ? If I were smart I would go back eventually. The odds are stacked in my favor for my correct utilization. Here, the odds are not exactly stacked in my favor to make the best use of my knowledge - however, it aint a low probability - hence, still hanging around.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
for all aspiring consultants
http://www.gettingdrunkinfirstclass.com/
This is a fairly hardcore site written by a consultant while exhibiting his feelings about the profession. I have no comments about the same.
This is a fairly hardcore site written by a consultant while exhibiting his feelings about the profession. I have no comments about the same.
Sunday, October 07, 2007
communication in a geographically dispersed team !
A recent article at NYTimes indicates how email/calls can lead to more conflict and miscommunication at work. The article outlines possible solution for the same towards the end. I didn't know about the Asperger's syndrome until I read this email. You can read the article here.
I can relate this back to a course by Ed Barr at CMU on Professional Writing. Specifically, he had devoted one whole lecture (8% of course time) on email communications along with an interesting assignment.
I can relate this back to a course by Ed Barr at CMU on Professional Writing. Specifically, he had devoted one whole lecture (8% of course time) on email communications along with an interesting assignment.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Future of IT consulting
This article from HBS on "Future of IT Consulting" was something worth going through:
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/3402.html
On a side note, I am trying to catch up with my reading, as I get settled with my new job and the new place where I've relocated myself.
One of the interesting notes which I already experience in the market-place is:
Many CIOs say they will do less outsourcing in the future. This is driven by several factors, including a decrease in the number of new, "gorilla" ERP and CRM initiatives and the increasing need for rapid and flexible modifications to existing systems. What they do outsource will be the "body shop" activity when they need more capacity, but they plan to keep the deeper expertise in their companies.
The companies having intensive IT functions want to keep outsourcing to
Where will the IT consulting arms of the Big Four in audit go from here?
a. The headcount-increment predictions are flattening out, as seen from their projections for the next year.
b. Most of the functions performed by the consulting arms of the Big Four are geared towards the above mentioned "body-shop" activities. For instance, if you look at the IT consulting arm of a leading Big Four firm, it has huge chunk of ppl (more than 50%) devoted in their Systems Dev arm and barely, a few in their IT Strategic Management arm.
What do I suggest for my regular readers?
One must work towards developing one's own skill-sets. Do not go behind the names of the companies. Within those companies as well, you are evaluated based on the work you've done in the past and the work you are doing now. Thus, one must remain highly selective in the work one does. You will automatically be picked up by one of these firms, if you are working in a niche area as an expert. I say this because they want ppl as they are operating (20%) far above their healthy attrition levels (which are 12-13%).
Also, it makes logical sense to load up one's skills at one's own consent than what the firm's want. Most of the body-shops want only one skill - working hard on whatever you are put onto. Thus, specialization is only a matter of chance and not a pre-meditated, strategic play. As Ayn Rand puts it: "Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think."
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/3402.html
On a side note, I am trying to catch up with my reading, as I get settled with my new job and the new place where I've relocated myself.
One of the interesting notes which I already experience in the market-place is:
Many CIOs say they will do less outsourcing in the future. This is driven by several factors, including a decrease in the number of new, "gorilla" ERP and CRM initiatives and the increasing need for rapid and flexible modifications to existing systems. What they do outsource will be the "body shop" activity when they need more capacity, but they plan to keep the deeper expertise in their companies.
The companies having intensive IT functions want to keep outsourcing to
Where will the IT consulting arms of the Big Four in audit go from here?
a. The headcount-increment predictions are flattening out, as seen from their projections for the next year.
b. Most of the functions performed by the consulting arms of the Big Four are geared towards the above mentioned "body-shop" activities. For instance, if you look at the IT consulting arm of a leading Big Four firm, it has huge chunk of ppl (more than 50%) devoted in their Systems Dev arm and barely, a few in their IT Strategic Management arm.
What do I suggest for my regular readers?
One must work towards developing one's own skill-sets. Do not go behind the names of the companies. Within those companies as well, you are evaluated based on the work you've done in the past and the work you are doing now. Thus, one must remain highly selective in the work one does. You will automatically be picked up by one of these firms, if you are working in a niche area as an expert. I say this because they want ppl as they are operating (20%) far above their healthy attrition levels (which are 12-13%).
Also, it makes logical sense to load up one's skills at one's own consent than what the firm's want. Most of the body-shops want only one skill - working hard on whatever you are put onto. Thus, specialization is only a matter of chance and not a pre-meditated, strategic play. As Ayn Rand puts it: "Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think."
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
globalization forces
Headlines today in WSJ: Some in Silicon ValleyBegin to Sour on India
Labor wage-arbitrage is about to vanish for Indian firms in high-end skilled work. Companies such as Infy, WIT, SAY are facing a double whammy due to this:
a. On one hand, they have the rising labor rates
b. On the other hand, they have strong INR eating up their bottomline.
What's next?
Companies look to other offshore locations: Phillipines, Vietnam, Czech (I bet my money on it), Brazil, etc. Globalization forces are getting work from one low cost nation to another one.
Virtual work is also carried out and pretty well - check out this list/ranking of the coding market here.
What must one do?
Figure out what skills are sold at a higher rate and are untradeable. Create revenue streams in the same at places of the highest offered rates.
Along with this, always be in a nation of predictable (and preferably low) inflation.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Google's 411
Google has decided to crush 411 (in a way).
Check out this new *free* service from Google named "Google voice local search".
Dial 1800-Goog-411 from any phone.
Differentiator in this service is: it's free !
Lat/long tracking and monetization of the same is on its way now :) This was a hot topic in last year's convention of "Future of technology" where Eric Schmidt alluded to a possibility of this happening.
Long-live the Google trio !
Check out this new *free* service from Google named "Google voice local search".
Dial 1800-Goog-411 from any phone.
Differentiator in this service is: it's free !
Lat/long tracking and monetization of the same is on its way now :) This was a hot topic in last year's convention of "Future of technology" where Eric Schmidt alluded to a possibility of this happening.
Long-live the Google trio !
whats next?
Anxious readers of the blog ask me: "What will happen to this blog?"
I am in a dilemma.
On one hand I propose the following: This will become my technology blog - as in, random thoughts on technology would be put here by me. CMU inspired me to remain in an inter-disciplinary zone and relevant inputs will be posted here.
On second thoughts, I feel that I should start another one in order to acquire a focus to my discussions. This is also because the current blog is to log experience of a CMU student.
Well, I will make a quick decision on this front. Until then, this will remain my dump for many other things.
I am in a dilemma.
On one hand I propose the following: This will become my technology blog - as in, random thoughts on technology would be put here by me. CMU inspired me to remain in an inter-disciplinary zone and relevant inputs will be posted here.
On second thoughts, I feel that I should start another one in order to acquire a focus to my discussions. This is also because the current blog is to log experience of a CMU student.
Well, I will make a quick decision on this front. Until then, this will remain my dump for many other things.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
SaaS implementation
A new genre of service providers is emerging - SaaS service providers.
Here's a link about the same - Bluewolf, with experience in SaaS implementation have taken over as the pioneers. Salesforce.com has a consulting team - however, Bluewolf does implementations in many places as their services are cheaper. They can execute it and stay competitive due to economies of scale and scope. Now, joining Google for Google Enterprise Apps will help them quite a bit. Definitely, Bluewolf is at quite a bit of risk if they dont broker the contracts correctly with the end client or the service providers.
Will eSCM apply here? - both in case of CL and SP? Should it apply here?
As per me, the answer is yes - if you have a different point of you then you and I must talk ! :)
Here's a link about the same - Bluewolf, with experience in SaaS implementation have taken over as the pioneers. Salesforce.com has a consulting team - however, Bluewolf does implementations in many places as their services are cheaper. They can execute it and stay competitive due to economies of scale and scope. Now, joining Google for Google Enterprise Apps will help them quite a bit. Definitely, Bluewolf is at quite a bit of risk if they dont broker the contracts correctly with the end client or the service providers.
Will eSCM apply here? - both in case of CL and SP? Should it apply here?
As per me, the answer is yes - if you have a different point of you then you and I must talk ! :)
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