Real:
Connecting with lost friends and digging out contacts - great value! I love Linked In!
Wasting time on useless updates and counter-updates - take control!
Collaboration and very targeted communities - huge value add here, but I wouldn't really call it social networking! A must for every organization!
Huge volume of digital information - but can we make sense of it?
Hype:
Business value - very few will really make money from it! Too many players commoditizing the offerings, and ad values go down with increased availability
Social intelligence - most of the information may end up being incorrect if it is unregulated, even Wikipedia is now enforcing curbs
Value of information - Fake identities, how do you know it's not a fake Twitter?
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Innovation Workshop - See you in Mumbai!
(Abridged from a NASSCOM invite)
NASSCOM is organizing a series of workshops/seminars with globally renowned consultants, PRTM Consulting, on the topic of Innovation. The seminars will be led by an expert from PRTM on the topic of Innovation, Rob Shelton. Rob, a former Incubator specialist, is a well known speaker on the topic of innovation, and has authored a book on Innovation – “Making Innovation Work”.
As part of the workshops, NASSCOM is looking to feature the Innovation Award winners as successful cases of Innovation in our industry. The winners will require to make a brief presentation on their innovation and this will be followed by a discussion with Rob Shelton, where key aspects of the Innovation, challenges faced etc will be brought out. This will serve as an opportunity for the winners to receive further recognition from their peers in the Industry as well as motivate the others in the industry on the path of innovation.
As a NASSCOM innovation award winner, Persistent Systems has been invited to participate in the session to be held in Mumbai on Thursday, 17th September ‘09.
I will be participating, and I look forward to it! :)
NASSCOM is organizing a series of workshops/seminars with globally renowned consultants, PRTM Consulting, on the topic of Innovation. The seminars will be led by an expert from PRTM on the topic of Innovation, Rob Shelton. Rob, a former Incubator specialist, is a well known speaker on the topic of innovation, and has authored a book on Innovation – “Making Innovation Work”.
As part of the workshops, NASSCOM is looking to feature the Innovation Award winners as successful cases of Innovation in our industry. The winners will require to make a brief presentation on their innovation and this will be followed by a discussion with Rob Shelton, where key aspects of the Innovation, challenges faced etc will be brought out. This will serve as an opportunity for the winners to receive further recognition from their peers in the Industry as well as motivate the others in the industry on the path of innovation.
As a NASSCOM innovation award winner, Persistent Systems has been invited to participate in the session to be held in Mumbai on Thursday, 17th September ‘09.
I will be participating, and I look forward to it! :)
Creating Solutions vs Products
Something I came up with when working on how to transform the company from one that builds products to one that sells solutions. Based on an interesting book "The Innovator's Dilemma" by Christensen.
Products typically bundle a set of functionalities, are expected to work seamlessly in multiple installations with minimal customizations, and can typically be installed and configured by the customer himself. Products are packaged in a way that they can be marketed and sold by a sales team, and typically come with support and future roadmap by the company that built them.
Solutions have all the characteristics of a product. In addition, solutions are dynamic and very customer focused, and are managed through a continuous improvement cycle. A solutions manager needs to define and productize the offering and then deliver it through an ever changing combination of hardware, software and services.
Why Solutions?
1.Solutions provide much higher ROI through non-linear and recurring revenues compared to traditional T&M and FP models
2.Solutions help in building value-added partnerships with your customers, preventing commoditization
3.Solutions also create long term relationships with customer, allowing repeat business
4.Solutions, being so customer-focused and dynamic, differentiate you from competition and prevent a direct price comparison with you
There can be two kinds of solutions, based on whether we are focusing on the product aspects or the service aspects.
Service-centric
1.Here, the solution is based on our expertise in delivering projects in a specific technology area like analytics, data or application migration or security, and supported by multiple, integrated products and components through which this service is delivered efficiently
2.Typically need heavy involvement of professional services and onsite resources, which is a factor to bear in mind when pricing and delivering the offering
3.Solves a business-level problem, and is often customized for specific verticals. Hence, this service is typically sold to business stakeholders and not to IT
4.Could be product/platform specific or product/platform-agnostic
5.Tagline: “Here’s what we can DO for you”
Product-centric
1.The solution is based on a reusable component, framework, or product that can be customized/integrated through services
2.By virtue of being a product, it will typically be platform-specific, but the solution can be offered in multiple platforms
3.Sometimes, the solution might be specific for a partner, but involve multiple license sales to different customers of the partner
4.Like a product, the solution is expected to work in multiple installations, can be sold by sales team, will be supported by the company, and can typically be installed and configured by customer
5.Will involve some, but not much, deployment of professional services or onsite resources
6.Tagline: “Here’s what we can BUILD for you”
For more, wait for my whitepaper on the topic :)
View more presentations from Siddhesh Bhobe.
Products typically bundle a set of functionalities, are expected to work seamlessly in multiple installations with minimal customizations, and can typically be installed and configured by the customer himself. Products are packaged in a way that they can be marketed and sold by a sales team, and typically come with support and future roadmap by the company that built them.
Solutions have all the characteristics of a product. In addition, solutions are dynamic and very customer focused, and are managed through a continuous improvement cycle. A solutions manager needs to define and productize the offering and then deliver it through an ever changing combination of hardware, software and services.
Why Solutions?
1.Solutions provide much higher ROI through non-linear and recurring revenues compared to traditional T&M and FP models
2.Solutions help in building value-added partnerships with your customers, preventing commoditization
3.Solutions also create long term relationships with customer, allowing repeat business
4.Solutions, being so customer-focused and dynamic, differentiate you from competition and prevent a direct price comparison with you
There can be two kinds of solutions, based on whether we are focusing on the product aspects or the service aspects.
Service-centric
1.Here, the solution is based on our expertise in delivering projects in a specific technology area like analytics, data or application migration or security, and supported by multiple, integrated products and components through which this service is delivered efficiently
2.Typically need heavy involvement of professional services and onsite resources, which is a factor to bear in mind when pricing and delivering the offering
3.Solves a business-level problem, and is often customized for specific verticals. Hence, this service is typically sold to business stakeholders and not to IT
4.Could be product/platform specific or product/platform-agnostic
5.Tagline: “Here’s what we can DO for you”
Product-centric
1.The solution is based on a reusable component, framework, or product that can be customized/integrated through services
2.By virtue of being a product, it will typically be platform-specific, but the solution can be offered in multiple platforms
3.Sometimes, the solution might be specific for a partner, but involve multiple license sales to different customers of the partner
4.Like a product, the solution is expected to work in multiple installations, can be sold by sales team, will be supported by the company, and can typically be installed and configured by customer
5.Will involve some, but not much, deployment of professional services or onsite resources
6.Tagline: “Here’s what we can BUILD for you”
For more, wait for my whitepaper on the topic :)
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
CIOL Interview
Below is the coverage of my interview with Pratima Harigunani of CIOL (Cybermedia).
April 9 2009: How Bridgestone changed tyres with mobility - CIOL
It was not an easy terrain. Picture this. About 25 million tyres per year, large fleets of trucks moving on difficult load and travel conditions, non tech-literate users and thousands of dealers scattered all over the geography, and with tyre coming to the pitstop - a mammoth task of data collection for each operation recorded per tyre.
Before the idea and execution of a PDA application came on the dashboard, the pre-solution scenario was all about primeval methods of repairing tyres by dealers and users who couldn't boast much about being tech savvy.
Add to that, a toolkit that was all about pen, paper, working and measuring tyres with thick gloves, a memory burden of remembering long digits of tyre depth from the point the end-dealer measured it to the point they go back and enter the data on a system sitting lengths away.
While they climb up and down, remove gloves and then again down the cabin, the simple task of repairing and reading data from a tyre turns more than gargantuan.
For the tyre major Bridgestone selling tire-as-a-service wherein it charges their customers as per the usage and per KM billing along with wear and tear of a tyre, the problem was not just about technology but about tweaking and shaping it right for the end user in thick gloves.
It was a challenge now for Persistent that has been Bridgestone Europe's software engineering partner for the last five years. What followed was a keen insightful peek into the end-user scenario and then developing and driving their mobile strategy.
This strategy entailed the use of Internet-based hand-held devices and server-side integration. What Persistent and Bridgestone did with this helped develop and implement innovative pay-per-use pricing strategies rather than up-front fees. The application gathers real-time information concerning tyre health and distance traveled in a centralized manner, effectively and efficiently.
Now the dealers had a bluetooth/RF enabled device with a large numeric pad and sound indications that was capable of working in online/offline modes and with connectivity to ERP/CRM also measuring on-the-air compression
The post-solution scenario looks a lot different. Lot of time savings (8X time saving in service resources), less data entry errors, better service relationship, customer stickiness, VAS and mapping services around the model apart from more than 800 per cent improvement in productivity for Bridgestone's service engineers and dealers.
For Bridgestone Europe, it meant an identity much more than a manufacturer of tyres that spelled now a provider of services.
"Persistent has been instrumental in driving our mobile strategy for Europe," says Marcel Gottlieb, manager CBS and IT, Bridgestone Europe.
"While the results of their work has produced tangible benefits around increased revenues and higher customer service, more importantly, Persistent has directly contributed to innovation in our business model."
The challenge was the leap from a view-from-office to a view-from-dealer as Siddhesh Bhobe, associate vice president and project lead at Persistent Systems shares. For him, the project was personally a great experience.
"I wrote codes before but never knew the effect they have eventually on the user. Owning an end-to-end solution is so impactful," he adds.
"This case really shows the difference when the focus is completely on user and technology works as an enabler. The project helped in gaining the satisfaction in making practical difference to dealers who were living unwieldy work scenarios before."
Bhobe says this technology is a great concept and can be applied in enterprises with field force who are scattered and need quick, critical data update systems.
Next on the board could soon be RFID and Tyre Identification technology with more automated and more real-time deliveries for Bridgestone.
Persistent Systems, a outsourced product development (OPD) services company, won the NASSCOM Innovation award for 2008, in the 'Market Facing - Business Process and Business Model' category for this innovative mobile strategy, developed for Bridgestone, Europe - world's largest tyre manufacturer.
The innovation has helped Bridgestone in transforming from selling products to selling services, from transnational equations with customers to relationships, and from B2B to B2C.
April 9 2009: How Bridgestone changed tyres with mobility - CIOL
It was not an easy terrain. Picture this. About 25 million tyres per year, large fleets of trucks moving on difficult load and travel conditions, non tech-literate users and thousands of dealers scattered all over the geography, and with tyre coming to the pitstop - a mammoth task of data collection for each operation recorded per tyre.
Before the idea and execution of a PDA application came on the dashboard, the pre-solution scenario was all about primeval methods of repairing tyres by dealers and users who couldn't boast much about being tech savvy.
Add to that, a toolkit that was all about pen, paper, working and measuring tyres with thick gloves, a memory burden of remembering long digits of tyre depth from the point the end-dealer measured it to the point they go back and enter the data on a system sitting lengths away.
While they climb up and down, remove gloves and then again down the cabin, the simple task of repairing and reading data from a tyre turns more than gargantuan.
For the tyre major Bridgestone selling tire-as-a-service wherein it charges their customers as per the usage and per KM billing along with wear and tear of a tyre, the problem was not just about technology but about tweaking and shaping it right for the end user in thick gloves.
It was a challenge now for Persistent that has been Bridgestone Europe's software engineering partner for the last five years. What followed was a keen insightful peek into the end-user scenario and then developing and driving their mobile strategy.
This strategy entailed the use of Internet-based hand-held devices and server-side integration. What Persistent and Bridgestone did with this helped develop and implement innovative pay-per-use pricing strategies rather than up-front fees. The application gathers real-time information concerning tyre health and distance traveled in a centralized manner, effectively and efficiently.
Now the dealers had a bluetooth/RF enabled device with a large numeric pad and sound indications that was capable of working in online/offline modes and with connectivity to ERP/CRM also measuring on-the-air compression
The post-solution scenario looks a lot different. Lot of time savings (8X time saving in service resources), less data entry errors, better service relationship, customer stickiness, VAS and mapping services around the model apart from more than 800 per cent improvement in productivity for Bridgestone's service engineers and dealers.
For Bridgestone Europe, it meant an identity much more than a manufacturer of tyres that spelled now a provider of services.
"Persistent has been instrumental in driving our mobile strategy for Europe," says Marcel Gottlieb, manager CBS and IT, Bridgestone Europe.
"While the results of their work has produced tangible benefits around increased revenues and higher customer service, more importantly, Persistent has directly contributed to innovation in our business model."
The challenge was the leap from a view-from-office to a view-from-dealer as Siddhesh Bhobe, associate vice president and project lead at Persistent Systems shares. For him, the project was personally a great experience.
"I wrote codes before but never knew the effect they have eventually on the user. Owning an end-to-end solution is so impactful," he adds.
"This case really shows the difference when the focus is completely on user and technology works as an enabler. The project helped in gaining the satisfaction in making practical difference to dealers who were living unwieldy work scenarios before."
Bhobe says this technology is a great concept and can be applied in enterprises with field force who are scattered and need quick, critical data update systems.
Next on the board could soon be RFID and Tyre Identification technology with more automated and more real-time deliveries for Bridgestone.
Persistent Systems, a outsourced product development (OPD) services company, won the NASSCOM Innovation award for 2008, in the 'Market Facing - Business Process and Business Model' category for this innovative mobile strategy, developed for Bridgestone, Europe - world's largest tyre manufacturer.
The innovation has helped Bridgestone in transforming from selling products to selling services, from transnational equations with customers to relationships, and from B2B to B2C.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Another Article on the NASSCOM Emerge Blog
Check our latest Bridgestone article on the NASSCOM Emerge Blog at http://blog.nasscom.in/emerge/2009/03/24/getting-rolling-with-the-big-idea/
I am taking the liberty of reproducing the article here, for quick reference :)
Pune-based Persistent Systems has won a NASSCOM award for innovation, stemming from a project they delivered for their client – tyre major Bridgestone. The Emerge newsletter team visits with Persistent to find out why this engagement is now being held up as a shinning example of innovation the world over.
It was a moment of truth for 34 year old Siddhesh Bhobe, an Associate Vice President at Pune-based Persistent Systems, as he watched the burly Belgian Bridgestone dealer casually use the metal tool in his hand to enter data into the PDA device running the software program that Persistent was piloting. Siddhesh was then in Brussels, testing out the new PDA-based software application that his company had built for client Bridgestone to support the latter’s innovative “tyre as a service” business model that the tyre giant was trying to roll out across Europe.
“We realized that these dealers were never going to use a stylus on the PDA and would just instead reach for what ever was at hand – most likely a tool. We knew then that the device had to be pretty rugged.” It’s a lesson that Siddhesh and his team applied right through the project and which guided everything from software user interfaces to the bright colours on the device. “It’s the sort of thing that would never fit on a corporate desk. But out there in the snow, rain, sleet and dark days, something like this has to stand out.”
Standing out there, speaking to his customer’s customer taught Siddhesh and team a lot more than just dry functional requirements would have. These site visits also reflect the kind of partnership that Persistent brought to the table to help its customer roll out a business model that is being held up as a shinning example of innovation by legendary management gurus such as CK Prahalad and MS Krishnan. “It all started when Bridgestone came to us and said, “Look, we have this business model, where we want to start charging our customers not the acquisition cost of a tyre, but a usage fee based on distance travelled and stress on tyre. How do we make it happen?” Persistent knew that they would have to create a mobile application that automated the model, but how? So, they put together a team that went out and mapped exactly where and how the application would be used.
With its tyre-as-a-service business model, where customers are charged by usage as well as tyre wear and tear, Bridgestone required its dealers and service engineers to undertake inspections of tyres on vehicles at various outdoor locations, often in difficult working conditions. Data needed to be obtained regularly from thousands of vehicles across numerous fleets. With millions of data points to be captured, often in terrible working conditions, paper capture just wasn’t working out. Teams on the field had to make sure that they were only capturing data from vehicles covered by the service contract, which was often not the case. Missing and incorrect data was already costing the company in high operational cost and revenue outages.
Persistent quickly realized that, in order for the service model to succeed, Bridgestone needed an effective data capture mechanism that would reduce data errors during inspections. Such a system would also have to feed the data collected in real time into a centralized application that would make program management much more simpler for its client.
The team then went back to the drawing board to create, in a matter of 4 weeks, a pilot application running on a handheld device that service engineers could use right from the inspection site. “It’s critical to go to the end-users quickly and use the first release as a beta for feedback,” says Siddhesh. Indeed, based on such end user feedback, innovations such as a virtual numeric keypad were incorporated, as were sound cues optimized to the end user profile.
The handheld device application was also engineered in such a way that network connectivity was not required during actual data capture – this freed the engineer from the need to have continuous, uninterrupted network connectivity. End-user optimization was also done by localizing the application for all major European Languages. Today the application has being deployed at approximately 2,000 dealers across more than 15 European countries – all integrated seamlessly with Bridgestone’s centralized ERP and CRM applications in Brussels. The deployment has improved productivity by 800% at Bridgestone as manual data capture errors have dropped. Service engineers are now also able to access customer data on the field, enabling them to respond quickly and efficiently on the spot, thereby improving decision making and time-to-revenue.
So, what was Persistent’s value-add? “I think it was in our 360° solution approach and the fact that we took end-to-end solution responsibility,” says Siddhesh. Persistent has also been seeing more of such projects. “Ten years ago, we were only working with (client) IT development teams to write software. In the last one decade this has changed, and we are interacting more with frontline people in customer teams as well as their customers. Now we actually get a chance to see real people using our applications in real-life situations. It also makes the project that more interesting and fulfilling,” he says.
Fundamentally Persistent’s work has changed the vendor-client relationship to one where the software development vendor is an extension of Bridgestone’s engineering’s team. “It has proved that innovation is possible through a partner sitting tens of thousands of miles away. And this project has also changed our concepts of sales and selling - from selling tyres as products to selling them as a service” says Siddhesh.
Any spin-offs from the Bridgestone project? Apart from all the high profile branding and book mentions, it has encouraged the company to pitch more aggressively for such end-to-end, full service, customer facing projects. At a lesser level, it has also deepened the company’s expertise in mobile and field force automation solutions.
What was the catalyst that enabled Persistent innovate so effectively for its customer? Siddhesh says that the culture at Persistent has been one that encourages ideation. “People are encouraged to think and not just to write code. They are given time during the work schedule to pursue an idea and take it forward. That’s the spirit we applied to the Bridgestone project – in fact a big part of the way the application finally turned, stemmed from ideas that we gave them, and not from the requirements that originally came.”
In Persistent’s case their innovation stemmed from not altering or modifying their business model but by empowering their customer to change his. Taking ownership of that change was clearly the big catalyst here that put Persistent – and its customer –on a roll - quite literally!
Contributed by Anita Mani, Prayag Consulting, for the NASSCOM EMERGE newsletter.
I am taking the liberty of reproducing the article here, for quick reference :)
Pune-based Persistent Systems has won a NASSCOM award for innovation, stemming from a project they delivered for their client – tyre major Bridgestone. The Emerge newsletter team visits with Persistent to find out why this engagement is now being held up as a shinning example of innovation the world over.
It was a moment of truth for 34 year old Siddhesh Bhobe, an Associate Vice President at Pune-based Persistent Systems, as he watched the burly Belgian Bridgestone dealer casually use the metal tool in his hand to enter data into the PDA device running the software program that Persistent was piloting. Siddhesh was then in Brussels, testing out the new PDA-based software application that his company had built for client Bridgestone to support the latter’s innovative “tyre as a service” business model that the tyre giant was trying to roll out across Europe.
“We realized that these dealers were never going to use a stylus on the PDA and would just instead reach for what ever was at hand – most likely a tool. We knew then that the device had to be pretty rugged.” It’s a lesson that Siddhesh and his team applied right through the project and which guided everything from software user interfaces to the bright colours on the device. “It’s the sort of thing that would never fit on a corporate desk. But out there in the snow, rain, sleet and dark days, something like this has to stand out.”
Standing out there, speaking to his customer’s customer taught Siddhesh and team a lot more than just dry functional requirements would have. These site visits also reflect the kind of partnership that Persistent brought to the table to help its customer roll out a business model that is being held up as a shinning example of innovation by legendary management gurus such as CK Prahalad and MS Krishnan. “It all started when Bridgestone came to us and said, “Look, we have this business model, where we want to start charging our customers not the acquisition cost of a tyre, but a usage fee based on distance travelled and stress on tyre. How do we make it happen?” Persistent knew that they would have to create a mobile application that automated the model, but how? So, they put together a team that went out and mapped exactly where and how the application would be used.
With its tyre-as-a-service business model, where customers are charged by usage as well as tyre wear and tear, Bridgestone required its dealers and service engineers to undertake inspections of tyres on vehicles at various outdoor locations, often in difficult working conditions. Data needed to be obtained regularly from thousands of vehicles across numerous fleets. With millions of data points to be captured, often in terrible working conditions, paper capture just wasn’t working out. Teams on the field had to make sure that they were only capturing data from vehicles covered by the service contract, which was often not the case. Missing and incorrect data was already costing the company in high operational cost and revenue outages.
Persistent quickly realized that, in order for the service model to succeed, Bridgestone needed an effective data capture mechanism that would reduce data errors during inspections. Such a system would also have to feed the data collected in real time into a centralized application that would make program management much more simpler for its client.
The team then went back to the drawing board to create, in a matter of 4 weeks, a pilot application running on a handheld device that service engineers could use right from the inspection site. “It’s critical to go to the end-users quickly and use the first release as a beta for feedback,” says Siddhesh. Indeed, based on such end user feedback, innovations such as a virtual numeric keypad were incorporated, as were sound cues optimized to the end user profile.
The handheld device application was also engineered in such a way that network connectivity was not required during actual data capture – this freed the engineer from the need to have continuous, uninterrupted network connectivity. End-user optimization was also done by localizing the application for all major European Languages. Today the application has being deployed at approximately 2,000 dealers across more than 15 European countries – all integrated seamlessly with Bridgestone’s centralized ERP and CRM applications in Brussels. The deployment has improved productivity by 800% at Bridgestone as manual data capture errors have dropped. Service engineers are now also able to access customer data on the field, enabling them to respond quickly and efficiently on the spot, thereby improving decision making and time-to-revenue.
So, what was Persistent’s value-add? “I think it was in our 360° solution approach and the fact that we took end-to-end solution responsibility,” says Siddhesh. Persistent has also been seeing more of such projects. “Ten years ago, we were only working with (client) IT development teams to write software. In the last one decade this has changed, and we are interacting more with frontline people in customer teams as well as their customers. Now we actually get a chance to see real people using our applications in real-life situations. It also makes the project that more interesting and fulfilling,” he says.
Fundamentally Persistent’s work has changed the vendor-client relationship to one where the software development vendor is an extension of Bridgestone’s engineering’s team. “It has proved that innovation is possible through a partner sitting tens of thousands of miles away. And this project has also changed our concepts of sales and selling - from selling tyres as products to selling them as a service” says Siddhesh.
Any spin-offs from the Bridgestone project? Apart from all the high profile branding and book mentions, it has encouraged the company to pitch more aggressively for such end-to-end, full service, customer facing projects. At a lesser level, it has also deepened the company’s expertise in mobile and field force automation solutions.
What was the catalyst that enabled Persistent innovate so effectively for its customer? Siddhesh says that the culture at Persistent has been one that encourages ideation. “People are encouraged to think and not just to write code. They are given time during the work schedule to pursue an idea and take it forward. That’s the spirit we applied to the Bridgestone project – in fact a big part of the way the application finally turned, stemmed from ideas that we gave them, and not from the requirements that originally came.”
In Persistent’s case their innovation stemmed from not altering or modifying their business model but by empowering their customer to change his. Taking ownership of that change was clearly the big catalyst here that put Persistent – and its customer –on a roll - quite literally!
Contributed by Anita Mani, Prayag Consulting, for the NASSCOM EMERGE newsletter.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Effective ALM
Gave a presentation on ALM at a Executive Roundtable at the Taj Blue Diamond today...
Here's the slidedeck
Here's the slidedeck
Thursday, February 26, 2009
The CIO - Hero or Zero?
We had a pretty interesting discussion today on the road ahead for the software industry, given the state of the economy, and the resultant pressure on cutting costs. What will it mean for the CIO and IT departments in the world's enterprises?
There's one school of thought that predicts that the CIP will get his budgets squeezed and asked to cut costs. This will result in him being unable to ask for those endless customizations and fancy menu items for his IT and software needs with multi million dollar budgets, and instead go to cloud operators and a monthly budget and take what they have to offer out of the box. The days of extensive customization will be over, and business will realign itself to standard processes, using standard functionalities. SaaS will rule.
I think it may ultimately also turn out to be the opposite. Here's why.
CIOs will get budgets squeezed. They'll need to cut costs. They'll reduce expenses on infrastructure using virtualization. They'll cut frivolous and esoteric R&D. They'll consolidate and maximize what they already have. Companies will need new business strategies and smarter ways of running their operations. In such a scenario, the focus will be on higher customizations to align their softwares with their business processes. After all that's where the differentiation for these companies will come from. The CIO can be the hero. If he can use his budgets wisely to improve competitiveness. Asking the business to standardize is probably not an option.
With Obama's dictat today to cut down outsourcing and not give out American jobs, the focus might shift from outsourcing people to "buying solutions". BPOs might be hurt hard. However, I believe there's a huge playing field for companies like Persistent to take their innovative solutions out to the world and really create an impact. The next Indian wave may be just around the corner!
There's one school of thought that predicts that the CIP will get his budgets squeezed and asked to cut costs. This will result in him being unable to ask for those endless customizations and fancy menu items for his IT and software needs with multi million dollar budgets, and instead go to cloud operators and a monthly budget and take what they have to offer out of the box. The days of extensive customization will be over, and business will realign itself to standard processes, using standard functionalities. SaaS will rule.
I think it may ultimately also turn out to be the opposite. Here's why.
CIOs will get budgets squeezed. They'll need to cut costs. They'll reduce expenses on infrastructure using virtualization. They'll cut frivolous and esoteric R&D. They'll consolidate and maximize what they already have. Companies will need new business strategies and smarter ways of running their operations. In such a scenario, the focus will be on higher customizations to align their softwares with their business processes. After all that's where the differentiation for these companies will come from. The CIO can be the hero. If he can use his budgets wisely to improve competitiveness. Asking the business to standardize is probably not an option.
With Obama's dictat today to cut down outsourcing and not give out American jobs, the focus might shift from outsourcing people to "buying solutions". BPOs might be hurt hard. However, I believe there's a huge playing field for companies like Persistent to take their innovative solutions out to the world and really create an impact. The next Indian wave may be just around the corner!
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