Wednesday, February 20, 2008
contingency firms v/s retainer firms
While going through the emails I received last week, I could see some recruiter emails - some from contingency firms and some from retainer firms. This got me curious on digging on the net for finding the differences in how they operate. Click here to read a good differentiation.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
par excellence
Google doesn't stop to impress me with their products. The newest one which impressed me was the ability to give a certain name to a tab in iGoogle and get related widgets automatically.
Here's how it works. If you are signed in the iGoogle webpage, click on Add a Tab. Give it a title, say notes. You will see a tab with multiple notes gadgets. I thought may be this was too obvious. So, I went ahead and added a tab called India. Huge number of widgets came up on that tab ! Same with stocks, technology management, etc !
This is amazing new step to keep Google users stuck to its page !!!
Here's how it works. If you are signed in the iGoogle webpage, click on Add a Tab. Give it a title, say notes. You will see a tab with multiple notes gadgets. I thought may be this was too obvious. So, I went ahead and added a tab called India. Huge number of widgets came up on that tab ! Same with stocks, technology management, etc !
This is amazing new step to keep Google users stuck to its page !!!
Friday, February 01, 2008
microhoooooo
Microsoft bid for Yahoo at $31 a share in a bid to gain some market share in the rapidly evolving online ad industry.
An earlier post on this blog here, expressed the possibility of consolidation with Microsoft buying Yahoo. Microsoft senior leadership was astute and kept this possibility on bay for a while. They made their move with an unsolicited bid when the Yahoo stock was beaten down due to lacklustre performance by Yang and the Gang. Larry Ellison moves in similar ways.
The media expressed that there may be anti-trust problems. Now, you gotta be kidding me! Together Microsoft and Yahoo will cover only a quarter of the total space that Google commands. I learnt at least this much in my Business Law class from Prof Hersch. I am not sure why the popular media made these comments. This just indicates how the media runs hurriedly to create sensational headlines rather than providing any thought to it. None other than CNBC said this and other channels followed suit ! This sad display of journalism reminds me of Prof Chris Telmer, who used to rip apart the pink press (financial press) for spreading false notions in the minds of the naive readers. Astute and educated investors read most of the pink media with a grain of salt due to such incidents.
Of course, Yahoo and Microsoft have huge share of email accounts. However, I am not yet sure if they have good enough products to target ads in that fashion. If they build it together, they will save money on building that. May be both already have products in the pipeline...who knows.
Going ahead, we will witness some interesting times in the search space.
1. MSN Money must leverage Yahoo Finance for their content but not the UI. The international market and eye balls (remember - Jewels at the bottom of the pyramid!) that MSN Money will get with the inclusion of Yahoo Finance content on MSN Money will surpass that of Google Finance easily.
Google Finance does not have any grip in the foreign markets - for instance, the Indian market. Whereas Yahoo Finance has a good set of data (though there is room for improvement for the international markets. Besides they roll no the RIC codes and hence, have a standardized convention for naming the stocks.
2. We will have a very colorful time watching the titans clash for the online ads market. MSFT has been ramping up its Live Search staff with good talent from around the globe. They have some way to go in order to make themselves equivalent to that of GOOG. However, they are on the right path.
3. Will MSFT be able to retain the top talent from YHOO? or will they be bought away by GOOG or facebook? Time will tell. Most of the sources I talk in Yahoo with tell me that they will not like to work for MSFT given that when they chose their careers - they had a choice and they actively chose YHOO over MSFT.
Another take on it is that this was a la The Art of War move by MSFT in which MSFT doesn't engage YHOO into a battle but just surrounds it. YHOO has nowhere to go. Mr. Yang and Gang could not maintain a high valuation for the ailing online giant. GOOG cannot make a bid as they dont want another regulator hassle from the DOJ for another anti-trust trial (this time it will be fatal).
In conclusion, 31 bucks a share is not a bad price to pay considering the additional steady revenues it will bring in. Microsoft senior leadership was astute and kept this possibility on bay for a while. Let us see how YHOO responds to this bid.
An earlier post on this blog here, expressed the possibility of consolidation with Microsoft buying Yahoo. Microsoft senior leadership was astute and kept this possibility on bay for a while. They made their move with an unsolicited bid when the Yahoo stock was beaten down due to lacklustre performance by Yang and the Gang. Larry Ellison moves in similar ways.
The media expressed that there may be anti-trust problems. Now, you gotta be kidding me! Together Microsoft and Yahoo will cover only a quarter of the total space that Google commands. I learnt at least this much in my Business Law class from Prof Hersch. I am not sure why the popular media made these comments. This just indicates how the media runs hurriedly to create sensational headlines rather than providing any thought to it. None other than CNBC said this and other channels followed suit ! This sad display of journalism reminds me of Prof Chris Telmer, who used to rip apart the pink press (financial press) for spreading false notions in the minds of the naive readers. Astute and educated investors read most of the pink media with a grain of salt due to such incidents.
Of course, Yahoo and Microsoft have huge share of email accounts. However, I am not yet sure if they have good enough products to target ads in that fashion. If they build it together, they will save money on building that. May be both already have products in the pipeline...who knows.
Going ahead, we will witness some interesting times in the search space.
1. MSN Money must leverage Yahoo Finance for their content but not the UI. The international market and eye balls (remember - Jewels at the bottom of the pyramid!) that MSN Money will get with the inclusion of Yahoo Finance content on MSN Money will surpass that of Google Finance easily.
Google Finance does not have any grip in the foreign markets - for instance, the Indian market. Whereas Yahoo Finance has a good set of data (though there is room for improvement for the international markets. Besides they roll no the RIC codes and hence, have a standardized convention for naming the stocks.
2. We will have a very colorful time watching the titans clash for the online ads market. MSFT has been ramping up its Live Search staff with good talent from around the globe. They have some way to go in order to make themselves equivalent to that of GOOG. However, they are on the right path.
3. Will MSFT be able to retain the top talent from YHOO? or will they be bought away by GOOG or facebook? Time will tell. Most of the sources I talk in Yahoo with tell me that they will not like to work for MSFT given that when they chose their careers - they had a choice and they actively chose YHOO over MSFT.
Another take on it is that this was a la The Art of War move by MSFT in which MSFT doesn't engage YHOO into a battle but just surrounds it. YHOO has nowhere to go. Mr. Yang and Gang could not maintain a high valuation for the ailing online giant. GOOG cannot make a bid as they dont want another regulator hassle from the DOJ for another anti-trust trial (this time it will be fatal).
In conclusion, 31 bucks a share is not a bad price to pay considering the additional steady revenues it will bring in. Microsoft senior leadership was astute and kept this possibility on bay for a while. Let us see how YHOO responds to this bid.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
infy and the art of PR!
At 5.30 am, while working out at the gym, I saw few frequent Infosys ads on CNBC and I thought that it does merit a blog here.
Infy has relentlessly worked towards branding efforts - more than any other Indian service provider. The vision that the top management has is way ahead of its peers. No wonder their media hits are way higher than its peers in the Indian service provider business.
What drove them towards this obsession with branding?
Vision:
NRN's vision as conveyed to me by their Healthcare and Lifesciences chief during a campus presentation at CMU indicated that Infy wants to leverage its deep expertise that it develops at the grassroot levels in order to deliver business solutions. Also, I could practically experience this at one of our client engagements, where the management consultants who were brought in could not provide the most optimal solution due to lack of grassroot level knowledge. Most of them suffered lack of depth.
If one has good contextual knowledge for a client then one can provide a better solution -- there's no doubt about that. This is more relevant to complex transformations than simple best practices implementations for simple transformations.
Pressure to upsell:
In the GDM or Global Delivery Model, the revenues were primarily in USD and the costs were primarily in INR. With weakness in USD against INR, there is a huge pressure on their margins. This is forcing them to upsell.
Timing is right:
The timing of ads is right - with slowdown, US businesses will require more and more of outsourcing. The businesses cannot hold on to costly US-based resources if they want to stay competitive.
Lessons learnt:
Competing on price is not the silver bullet -
This reminds me of our lecture in International business by ex-chief economist of Gulf Oil (bought by Chevron in 1984). Sustainable business requires that one must compete on the quality and not on price. This came up during the Matsushita US market-entry strategy for a specific product.
Perception issues -
No matter what high-end services are delivered by Infy, they suffered from perception issue of being "cheap" or "inexpensive". Upselling the services is difficult once this happens. I remember doing a high end work that is delivered by some of the snobbish consulting firms and charged at 5-6 times.
Manage the forex actively-
Sound International finance principles need to be deployed if you want to be a true "global player." Infy lacked in this aspect. I remember the conversations I used to have with one of our Group Manager - Infy doesn't know how to handle forex and he used to have a popular perception that - ah, they are such a large firm, they must be having experts in place. Hell no! They didn't have experts until 07 in place. This was especially true with USD tanking more than 20% against INR in less than a year. Global players such as Merck have much more complex strategies in place for forex management. If Infy wants to become a true global player, they will have to increase the sophistication to mitigate this risk!
Infy has relentlessly worked towards branding efforts - more than any other Indian service provider. The vision that the top management has is way ahead of its peers. No wonder their media hits are way higher than its peers in the Indian service provider business.
What drove them towards this obsession with branding?
Vision:
NRN's vision as conveyed to me by their Healthcare and Lifesciences chief during a campus presentation at CMU indicated that Infy wants to leverage its deep expertise that it develops at the grassroot levels in order to deliver business solutions. Also, I could practically experience this at one of our client engagements, where the management consultants who were brought in could not provide the most optimal solution due to lack of grassroot level knowledge. Most of them suffered lack of depth.
If one has good contextual knowledge for a client then one can provide a better solution -- there's no doubt about that. This is more relevant to complex transformations than simple best practices implementations for simple transformations.
Pressure to upsell:
In the GDM or Global Delivery Model, the revenues were primarily in USD and the costs were primarily in INR. With weakness in USD against INR, there is a huge pressure on their margins. This is forcing them to upsell.
Timing is right:
The timing of ads is right - with slowdown, US businesses will require more and more of outsourcing. The businesses cannot hold on to costly US-based resources if they want to stay competitive.
Lessons learnt:
Competing on price is not the silver bullet -
This reminds me of our lecture in International business by ex-chief economist of Gulf Oil (bought by Chevron in 1984). Sustainable business requires that one must compete on the quality and not on price. This came up during the Matsushita US market-entry strategy for a specific product.
Perception issues -
No matter what high-end services are delivered by Infy, they suffered from perception issue of being "cheap" or "inexpensive". Upselling the services is difficult once this happens. I remember doing a high end work that is delivered by some of the snobbish consulting firms and charged at 5-6 times.
Manage the forex actively-
Sound International finance principles need to be deployed if you want to be a true "global player." Infy lacked in this aspect. I remember the conversations I used to have with one of our Group Manager - Infy doesn't know how to handle forex and he used to have a popular perception that - ah, they are such a large firm, they must be having experts in place. Hell no! They didn't have experts until 07 in place. This was especially true with USD tanking more than 20% against INR in less than a year. Global players such as Merck have much more complex strategies in place for forex management. If Infy wants to become a true global player, they will have to increase the sophistication to mitigate this risk!
Monday, January 28, 2008
business planning
The art of the start - check out this small demo by Palo Alto software guys -
http://www.paloalto.com/ps/bp/demo/sba/index.html#
I would blog about this topic in much more details later.
http://www.paloalto.com/ps/bp/demo/sba/index.html#
I would blog about this topic in much more details later.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
consultants and recommendations
Dilbert had a neatly outlined strip on recommendations. A software is recommended against and still gets installed causing it to be a DoA! You can check the strip here.
After checking out the strip, a few questions that linger reader's mind are :
Consulting is an art and not a science. As Dr. Young taught us the psychology of audience decision making in his course on Consulting and Conflict Resolution, I recall a few of the prime points are as follows:
Happy Consulting !
After checking out the strip, a few questions that linger reader's mind are :
- How to make persuasive recommendations?
- How to prevent political agendas from derailing your recommendations?
- Do recommendations become negotiations? If yes, how do we negotiate?
Consulting is an art and not a science. As Dr. Young taught us the psychology of audience decision making in his course on Consulting and Conflict Resolution, I recall a few of the prime points are as follows:
- Insist on using objective criteria. For instance, in case of software architecture negotiations, a good method to use is ATAM or Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method
- Focus on interests and not positions. Use data to back your interest - it could be industry reports from authoritative sources such as Gartner, Forrester, etc
- Like it or not, negotiation is a fact of life
- In negotiations, neither be too hard nor be too soft - use principled negotiation to get what you entitle and be good to people as well
- Separate people from the problem
- Invent options for mutual gains
- Use BATNA for folks who are more powerful
- Use negotiation jujitsu for difficult folks with dirty tricks
Happy Consulting !
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
professional services of software products
Here's a funny depiction of professional services arm of a software product company from Dilbert.
Monday, January 21, 2008
booz allen to break up !
Check out this news here.
BAH to break up and have its consultancy services separate ! BAH generates about USD 4bn a year revenue. Given this, the firm's conservative valuations will be easily in the ball park of USD 50 bn+. The partners will have a ball in case this deal goes through.
I am trying to gauge what will Carlyle gain if they get control of these assets (which in absolute terms are - NONE! - most of the assets are intangibles). The people may or may not stick out with BAH - given the turmoil that BAH consulting will undergo with new paymasters in form of Carlyle. Also, as partnership targets of sr managers and managers will get hazed out - there may be a certain degree of attrition to face.
Having said that, Carlyle can deploy the staff and the managers in private equity related work. Their existing assets can be used for it. However, what impact they can bring is a suspect as 70% of BAH's consulting division works for the government and the dynamics in that sphere are much different than commercial sector (critical success factors are more political than merit-based).
I am not sure if this will affect BAH Consulting's ability to attract good talent from b-schools !? Time will tell...
BAH to break up and have its consultancy services separate ! BAH generates about USD 4bn a year revenue. Given this, the firm's conservative valuations will be easily in the ball park of USD 50 bn+. The partners will have a ball in case this deal goes through.
I am trying to gauge what will Carlyle gain if they get control of these assets (which in absolute terms are - NONE! - most of the assets are intangibles). The people may or may not stick out with BAH - given the turmoil that BAH consulting will undergo with new paymasters in form of Carlyle. Also, as partnership targets of sr managers and managers will get hazed out - there may be a certain degree of attrition to face.
Having said that, Carlyle can deploy the staff and the managers in private equity related work. Their existing assets can be used for it. However, what impact they can bring is a suspect as 70% of BAH's consulting division works for the government and the dynamics in that sphere are much different than commercial sector (critical success factors are more political than merit-based).
I am not sure if this will affect BAH Consulting's ability to attract good talent from b-schools !? Time will tell...
Thursday, December 20, 2007
FAA stats and flight delays
Consulting teaches you one thing for sure - how to be smart about your travel. Be it filling up of bags in a smart way or be it checking out for flights in smart ways.
For a naive user, flightstats.com is good enough. However, someone wanting further information, can drill down at the FAA site here. Ground stops at your destination indicate that you are now going to have your flight out in that time period. In such cases, call the airlines you are flying with to confirm if you should reach the airport or not.
You can also sign up individual air carriers' notifications which can email and/or text you about it. However, if you are following the FAA method above, then you would find this providing information with a lag.
For a naive user, flightstats.com is good enough. However, someone wanting further information, can drill down at the FAA site here. Ground stops at your destination indicate that you are now going to have your flight out in that time period. In such cases, call the airlines you are flying with to confirm if you should reach the airport or not.
You can also sign up individual air carriers' notifications which can email and/or text you about it. However, if you are following the FAA method above, then you would find this providing information with a lag.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
IT going Green?
IT is going Green - what do you mean by that?
To put it in layman's terms - The usage of IT in an environmentally friendly way is termed as Green IT. Deloitte has a point of view published here.
Why do you think has
Wait a minute....financial sense - are you insane? Carrying out those initiatives are such a huge capex - you gotta be kidding me when you say it makes financial sense. The counter-argument to this objection is that similar to any other project evaluation, these companies have generated business cases towards their Green initiatives. Believe me, the boards wont let them undertake initiatives without significant business reason. Green IT initiatives make sense as they are a good strategic import: its demanded by customers (revenues), and finally, reduce financial risk (cost).
Venture Capitalists (the money masters) must ask the entrepreneurs to show the Green piece as a section in their proposal. Not every project has to deal with greening pre-dominantly. However, most of them can have certain practices capturing that aspect.
The governments can help as well. The legislation must get more stringent in the developing countries where the adoption rate for electronic items is high. If the developing nations are not regulated with regards to electronic waste then alike oil problem they can create waste problem. India is going to generate about 470 ktonnes of e-waste. This is not a match by any standards to that generated in the US, a country about third in population of that of India. However, the as GDP increases, so does the consumption of the individuals. Besides, with entrepreneurs rolling out initiatives targeted at the (somewhat) bottom of the pyramid, the implications can be huge. The trend about thinking Green is not prevalent among the entrepreneurs in these nations.
We have talked about business and government. Let me shift the focus now towards the individual. Yes. You ! -
What are some of the ways I can be Green with my IT usage?
(If you are reading this then I am safely assuming that you come in direct or indirect contact with a computer.)
More thoughts on this later...
until then...have a socially responsible day !
To put it in layman's terms - The usage of IT in an environmentally friendly way is termed as Green IT. Deloitte has a point of view published here.
Why do you think has
- GE kicked off a Green agenda? Their sales are estimated to be $ 20b via sales of environment friendly products.
- Citi, largest financial services provider, committed to invest $50b in carbon reduction projects over the next 10 years? For doing the right thing
- Wal-Mart, Fortune #1 retailer, announce Sustainability 360? better PR
Wait a minute....financial sense - are you insane? Carrying out those initiatives are such a huge capex - you gotta be kidding me when you say it makes financial sense. The counter-argument to this objection is that similar to any other project evaluation, these companies have generated business cases towards their Green initiatives. Believe me, the boards wont let them undertake initiatives without significant business reason. Green IT initiatives make sense as they are a good strategic import: its demanded by customers (revenues), and finally, reduce financial risk (cost).
Venture Capitalists (the money masters) must ask the entrepreneurs to show the Green piece as a section in their proposal. Not every project has to deal with greening pre-dominantly. However, most of them can have certain practices capturing that aspect.
The governments can help as well. The legislation must get more stringent in the developing countries where the adoption rate for electronic items is high. If the developing nations are not regulated with regards to electronic waste then alike oil problem they can create waste problem. India is going to generate about 470 ktonnes of e-waste. This is not a match by any standards to that generated in the US, a country about third in population of that of India. However, the as GDP increases, so does the consumption of the individuals. Besides, with entrepreneurs rolling out initiatives targeted at the (somewhat) bottom of the pyramid, the implications can be huge. The trend about thinking Green is not prevalent among the entrepreneurs in these nations.
We have talked about business and government. Let me shift the focus now towards the individual. Yes. You ! -
What are some of the ways I can be Green with my IT usage?
(If you are reading this then I am safely assuming that you come in direct or indirect contact with a computer.)
- Check the power ratings for your battery, computer, processor, etc.
- Put them to stand by modes whenever possible.
- Screens occupy most of the energy in a computer usage (esp CRT screens). Shut those down whenever not at desk (this includes lunch time as well).
- For laptop users such as myself, remove chargers as soon as battery is upto 100% or even above 96%. Over-charging heats up the lap (can be fatal) and reduces the battery life.
- check out these other tips for holidays by Google blog - http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/save-some-energy-over-holidays.html
More thoughts on this later...
until then...have a socially responsible day !
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
sample papers for itil v2 to v3 bridge exam
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.
Take advantage of it while you can.
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.
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