Global Gyan

So long and thanks for everything

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 08:41:00 -0700

It's not often that you cry when someone you've never met passes away. Steve Jobs had that impact on me (and millions others worldwide). From the day I first used an Apple computer at IIMA to design a brochure to now where my life is surrounded by all things Apple, no other technology company or person has had the influence on my life the way Apple and Steve Jobs have.

As a manager, I have learnt so much from Steve Jobs, almost like Ekalavya did from a guru who didn't know the student existed. Three things stand out.

Business strategy is as much about what you don't do as it is about all the stuff you do, even if it means going against conventional wisdom. Think of the missing floppy drives on Macs or the lack of USB ports on the iPad or the lean SKU structure of all iThings - Apple made tough choices even if popular "demand" suggested otherwise.

Second, passion and persistence pay off. Steve Jobs' story is that of rising above adversities; he won against the odds, in business and in life. If you love what you are doing and believe in your capability to achieve your goal, nobody can hold you back.

Third, Steve Jobs built an institution at Apple. Yes, he was the visionary and creative leader but undoubtedly a large part of Apple's success is due to the extremely talented people that he was able to motivate and the entrepreneurial agility that he created at a large organization. A leader without great followers / team is at best a maverick.

And one more thing. Steve Jobs realised the power of presentation, the visual impact and drama that brought chips, glass and software alive. I shamelessly ape Steve's style (if you haven't already noticed) and hope I can make even a fraction of the impact he made to technology, business and life.

Sent from my iPad

Update: This tribute to Steve Jobs was published in The Hindu Business Line on October 7, 2011.

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iPhone 4S: The most amazing iPhone ever, yet...

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 00:49:00 -0700

Last night, I almost faced an Internet blackout at home, minutes before the iPhone announcement was to commence. The broadband connection which was down for a day had not yet been restored and both my cellular data connections were wavering, refusing to open most sites. Having announced earlier in the day that I was expecting something dramatic at the keynote and that my resolution to skip an iPhone generation was wavering, I wondered if I'd miss the excitement of the live coverage of Apple's event.

addepalli:
16mos after IP4 and with a new CEO in the spotlight, today's iPhone announcement's got be dramatic, I expect. My resolve is weakening….
10/4/11 11:12 AM

However, persistence paid off… I was able to get the Twitter feed on my iPhone 4 (running on a weak 3G signal) and also accessed the Engadget live-blog on my iMac connected to the Tata CDMA EVDO network (through my Blackberry). I was all set as Tim Cook took the stage for his first product launch at Apple.

90 minutes later, I was a bit disappointed. Obviously, expectations were quite high, particularly because the iPhone 4 was an amazing upgrade to the 3GS. There were several rumors predicting a minor update only (4S), but I was hoping for a surprise. This was, after all, Tim's first public appearance as CEO. Unfortunately, he didn't say much - his colleagues did most of the talking. And, more than half the time was spent repeating stuff (iOS5 and iCloud) that had been announced earlier.

The new iPhone 4S (the most amazing iPhone ever) made no changes to the exterior of the iPhone 4… well, not that there was any real reason to. Maybe they could have adopted the iPad 2 form factor, but not really required. The 4S had three major "internal" changes:

1. Faster proceessor, with the A5 dual-core. Apple showed off how it creates amazing gaming performance. Well, my iPad 2 does that too, and I don't spend too much time on my iPhone with games (except the occasional Angry Birds while I am waiting for a meeting). Anyway, this processor was a pre-requisite for the next two changes, I guess.

2. Superior camera. With my limited knowledge of cameras, it appears that the 4S camera is a massive improvement (over the IP4 and other smartphone cameras) for still and video photography. Having just invested massively in my first DSLR (and assorted lenses & accessories), I am kind of content with the mobility of the IP4 camera and the quality of the DSLR. The camera in the 4S is not sufficient to induce purchase.

3. Voice Assistant. The real WOW moment of the keynote was the demo of Siri, the voice-activated personal assistant that is built into the 4S. Voice recognition stuff has been around for many years, but what Apple showcased yesterday was amongst the best ever implementation of natural language conversations with a machine. It appeared so good that it was kind of scary… Rohan Joshi (@mojorojo) tweeted something very apt:

mojorojo:
When Skynet kills us all na, we'll all stop being so amazed by this Siri shit. "NO SIRI! STOP! STOP NO! AARRRGGGHHH"
10/4/11 11:57 PM

Siri is the only compelling reason to upgrade from the iPhone 4 to 4S.

If you are with the 3GS or any other "smartphone", I'd say go buy the 4S. Also, if your carrier is subsidizing 70% of the cost of the phone, then again, you could upgrade. But if you have to spend another US $650 for the 4S (having spent a similar amount a year ago), I would advise restraint. Wait till 2012; your iPhone 4 with iOS 5 and iCloud will continue to amaze you for some more time. Hopefully Apple will get back to its summer schedule of launching iPhones and you will have a new iPhone 6 (the most amazing iPhone ever) in less than a year.

Update: See this video of Siri in action (from the Apple site) - amazing stuff! Also, this Dan Curtis post about the difference between "good enough" (Android voice actions) and "better" (Siri)

Update 2: Sorry Tim. http://t.co/1pmW5MwN

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Why I am Reluctant to Support Anna Hazare Today.

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 11:54:00 -0700

(Adapted from a Facebook note that I posted on August 19, 2011)

With millions of Indians supporting Anna Hazare (as per media or FB, at least), is it so difficult for IAC to find one MP who will introduce their version of the Lokpal bill in Parliament and then get a majority of the MPs to vote in favour?

If they can, they should pursue that path. If they cannot, they should continue to protest / debate till they can convince enough MPs. Threatening the Government with deadlines & fasts unto death is excessive and arbitrary. This Government may be discredited, but the institutions of Parliament & Executive needn't be. Also, if the Government / politicians are as bad as we imagine they are, do we think that getting them to agree to the JLP bill will end corruption? If they have delayed the Lokpal for so many years, they can delay effective implementation for a long time to come.

There is no denying that most Indians are fed up of corruption; they are also fed up with lethargy in decision making and reforms. India, in the 21st century, has failed to keep pace with our aspirations and expectations. The middle class that has tasted the benefits of superior economic growth and competitive choice has no patience for poor infrastructure or galloping inflation. This angst requires solutions; it requires leadership. Unfortunately, not one amongst the political class has stood up to be counted. The opposition, in particular, failed miserably to capitalize on a wonderful opportunity to grab the initiative.

What you have is a motley crowd of activists, NGOs, godmen and others that have captured popular imagination. Ok, so they'll probably win this round. What happens next? We are back to the same old choices. You know what I'd love to see: Anna Hazare and his team should convert IAC into a political party, demand mid-term elections and seek to come to power, if not now, perhaps by 2014. Then, I might vote for IAC - if I agree with their politics and economics.

A democracy requires politicians; whether they are good ones or bad ones is our choice.

(Disclosure: I disagree that Jan Lokpal Bill is the solution to the corruption problem that we are facing. I strongly believe that reducing government and related controls is the 'cure' to big ticket corruption that has characterized the last decade. For the daily corruption that all of us face, I think that this suggestion from Kaushik Basu is seriously worth evaluating.)

PS. I had an interesting discussion with my friend Mohan Kannegal in the comments of my FB note; offered without any further comment.

See the full gallery on Posterous

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The Escalation Problem

Tue, 03 May 2011 04:58:19 -0700

A couple of months ago, Shachin Bharadwaj, founder of TastyKhana in Pune, sent me this Twitter message...

This was in response to...

Just days later, I faced an almost similar situation. I was trying to buy some products urgently for my home and reached out to the relevant sales guys in Pune. For almost a week there was no response, in spite of several calls and messages. Finally, I called a friend who is a senior manager in that company. Although he was not responsible for this line of products, I called him on a Sunday morning, having run out of ideas. Within an hour, the sales guy called me asking for the details.

I receive several "escalations" from customers and friends, even though I am not in a "line" role... I am sure those who are in business sales / marketing or customer service leadership roles are inundated with escalations. Why does this happen? Why is it that large organizations - usually - are often unable to handle sales or customer service issues at the operating level? Surely they realize that "escalations" are not good for them, not only from a reputation perspective but also from a cost point of view.

Corporates would argue that such escalations are few, relative to the overall number of transactions that they manage, and therefore, statistically insignificant. If you have a 100 million subscribers with 10 "transactions" each, even a 99.9% quality level would still leave a million "failed" transactions. The best businesses would have (or aspire to) lower failure rates, however, it is impossible even for them to achieve 100% out of their operations.

Earlier, they could have gotten away with it. An individual (customer) had limited ability to influence others or have her voice heard. An aggrieved customer could write to the company's senior management or to a publication and hope that something would come out of it. Perhaps some would go to a consumer court. Things have changed today. One aggrieved customer (even if accounting for the fourth decimal of all transactions) can ruin a company's carefully crafted (usually at huge expense) image.

The only way to get it always right is if every member of the organization focuses on solving customer issues or preventing the creation of any issues. How often does that happen? I can think of three main reasons why issues do not get addressed at the operating / first level and lead to dissatisfaction, frustration and inevitably, escalation.

1. Lack (or Mismatch) of Incentives

What are the most popular metrics for customer service organizations? Call centre staff are usually measured on number of calls, hold time, etc. A telecom service engineer is measured on network uptime, capacity utilization, etc. Very rarely are they tasked to enable happy customers. Customer satisfaction indices become part of larger corporate imperatives and company performance scores. I have not seen too many companies that directly measure (and consequently, incentivize) customer satisfaction - satisfaction that is tracked at an individual transaction level and not at the aggregate in an annual or quarterly survey.

Similarly, a sales person is tasked to maximize new sales or revenues; most companies have complex commission structures that encourage sales of certain products (or to certain segments) over others. A sales person inevitably follows the money. If you are not a "priority" customer segment or seeking a low-value product, the sales guy has no interest in you, period. In my case where the sales folks showed no interest in my order, I suspect that there is no (or very little) incentive for sales to a "group" employee, so why would a sales guy waste time on my order when there are other deals to pursue in the market?

2. Lack of Empowerment

What are you willing to do to solve a customer issue? Ask any senior manager and you will always hear the answer, "Anything, customer is king." Unfortunately, that message rarely reaches the line staff -- not from a communication perspective, mind you, but in terms of policies and delegations. Does the organization recognize and celebrate moments when difficult customer issues were resolved speedily? Were employees who went out of their way to solve the problem rewarded immediately? Or was the first reaction of the management to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the event?

Empowerment is also in terms of information. Customers are, mostly, not irrational. They understand that things/systems/machines do fail. What they'd like to know is why, and more importantly, how/when will the issue be resolved. I have never seen a customer service executive that has been empowered with such information. In the absence of facts, the CSE responds with vague promises and a generic assurance of resolving the issue within 24 hours or 48.

A few years ago, my broadband connection was down and every time I called, I was told the issue would be resolved "soon". A week later, the connection was still down and my blood pressure was up. After a few rounds of escalation, I learnt that some equipment had been damaged due to a short-circuit and that the new equipment was waiting for the electricity department's go ahead for reconnection. This permission was awaited and could take a few more days; the telco could do nothing about it. Fine, but if only I had been informed earlier, I might have made other temporary arrangements for Internet connectivity without staring at the modem daily or shouting at the customer service staff.

3. Lack of Learning from Mistakes

Each escalation is a moment of learning. Why did it not get addressed at the level it should have been? What was lacking? Senior executives that receive escalations focus on the immediate solution (as they must) but often fail to deep dive into the real problem. Whether it is a change in incentives or a process, or a reprimand in case of negligence, something must change after each deviation from the norm of operations.

It is also important that even after an escalation, the issue be addressed by the operating teams. That sends a message to the operating staff as well as to the customer: the escalation was an exception, the point of contact for the issues does not change. Escalation should not become a habit.

Of the three, I believe that wrong measurement/incentives is the most serious. Organization structures by business units, functions, regions, etc. and their corresponding incentive systems worsen the situation. Most employees in any organization do not think they are responsible for customers or customer "service". In a telecom company, network, operations and finance staff would constitute over two-thirds of the organization; how many of them are measured directly on customer related parameters? I am sure similar situations exist in financial services, travel, retail, etc. Are there examples of companies where customer-related metrics drive business performance and incentives?

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The Leadership Dilemma

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 01:29:02 -0800

Continuing from my previous post about Prof. Ram Charan's seminar on Putting People Before Numbers, I wanted to share and discuss a hypothesis that most organizations fail to distinguish between Managers and Leaders.

Prof. Ram Charan had shared a concept of segmenting managers into categories like P&L Managers, Functional Managers, Experts, etc. That is a wonderful way of thinking about people, capabilities and careers. I had also shared about the popular perception that the P&L Manager role is the one that everyone aspires to (or is expected to aspire to). What this has led to is the confusion between a Manager's job and that of a Leader. It is popularly understood that a leader, whether that of a Business Unit or an Organization, is the ultimate P&L Manager. Therefore, by default, the best P&L Manager is expected to become the CEO or the best Function Manager is asked to lead a function or a division.

This is the biggest mistake that many organizations make.

A leader need not be the best manager that an organization has. Leadership has been defined by many gurus, so I will only provide three things that I believe characterize leaders:

1. Vision: A leader has a clear picture of the future, aspirational state of the organization, and the confidence that we will get there.

2. Inspiring: Either through crystal-clear communication or pure induction, the leader inspires her team to believe in the vision and strategy.

3. Collaborating: The leader attracts the best people into his team and enables superior performance, jointly and individually, towards the shared vision.

The third quality includes, by extension, the ability to spot talented people and future leaders.

How often have we not seen that the crack sales person, crafty financial expert or creative marketing lead possesses none of these qualities. However, the accepted career progression for a wonderful manager is to become a "leader". It is likely that a good leader was a good manager, but it is not at all necessary that every successful manager would be an effective leader. But who can argue against established career paths? Both are hurt in this process: many a great manager starts underperforming when thrust with a leadership role; many potential leaders languish in roles where their capabilities are under-utllized.

Most leaders know about the importance of talent management, yet they fail to do much about it. A reason I mentioned in the earlier post was that talent management has been mystified. Perhaps there is another reason. Maybe many of those who are in leadership roles are not leaders themselves and therefore, do not possess that innate quality of identifying and nurturing talent. Have we become victim to traditional norms of career progressions and promotions?

This is a controversial topic, and as I mentioned in the seminar, usually a "career limiting" one for those who raise it. All I have for my hypothesis is anecdotal evidence. This requires more research and discussion. I welcome your thoughts and feedback.

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Putting People Before Numbers: Prof Ram Charan

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 22:27:29 -0800

This week, I attended a seminar by Prof. Ram Charan (management guru, advisor and author of several best-selling management books) for senior leaders. The program was provocatively (I thought) titled, Why Smart Leaders Put People Before Numbers.

Later, I realised that this was also the sub-title of Ram Charan's new book, Talent Masters (co-authored with Bill Conaty, former Sr. VP at General Electric). The central premise of the book (and consequently, of the program) is that "word-class companies achieve their stellar performance... by finding and nurturing leadership talent." With increasing globalisation and competition and reducing opportunities to create product differentiation, the bet is that companies that can attract and develop talent better than others would create sustainable competitive advantage.

Most leaders and senior managers know it; yet they fail to do much about it because talent management has been (in the words of a participant) "mystified into a dark-art" with lots of jargon and mumbo-jumbo thrown at it. What is needed is to demystify it: recognise that a systematic approach can be put in place to manage talent and that with practice, leaders can get better at it.

One interesting idea (amongst many) that I picked up was that of segmenting managers. Prof. Ram Charan suggested that managers (or roles) should be categorised into different segments, e.g. P&L managers, Functional managers, Experts, Innovation managers, Country managers, etc. The methodology of segmentation ought to be customised to the context, however, such segments (not too few, not too many) should be identified. Every manager cannot perform each of these roles; each also requires different development and reward mechanisms. Future people requirements of a business would vary by segment, and therefore planning the pipeline of talent has to be done at a segment level. For instance, if your future strategy is driven by expansion into new markets, you may need a pipeline of country managers whereas a product innovation driven strategy would require availability of appropriate experts and subsequently, P&L managers.

This sounds intuitively correct to me and I do believe that each manager can perform one or two types of roles without a major overhaul of skills (usually difficult at middle to senior levels). However, business culture has glorified the role of the P&L manager, thus everyone aspires to become one. In fact, if somebody does not aspire to be CEO (or Business Head) in future, he/she is perceived to be not good enough, even for the current job. Therefore, a person who may be a great functional manager or an expert is almost forced into the path of a P&L manager, irrespective of the fit. Not only do we need to plan careers for each segment of people differently, we also need to change popular perceptions about what a successful career (path) is.

I have written in the past that the enterprise of the future is going be unlike what we know from past experiences. Leaders that can make the shift now have the opportunity to create (or remain as) world-class companies. Or be left behind.

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Apple iPad 2 Event: Quick Summary

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:45:00 -0800

The long awaited Apple Keynote happened last night; most of you would have caught the news from various blogs and news reports. So without getting into too much detail. here is my perspective on what was announced yesterday:

1. The Announcement

As expected, the new iPad 2 was announced. It will be available March 11 in the US (orders start only that day) and March 25 in 26 other countries (of course, no India). The price points remain the same, starting at $499 and it comes in 6 configurations (16/32/64G; Wifi and 3G... note that there are now two 3G versions: GSM and CDMA). Whether the CDMA version can be activated on the Indian CDMA networks is a question mark.

2. Hardware

* Two cameras, similar to the iPhone 4... front-facing & rear. Supports FaceTime (and other video chat apps like Skype)

* Redesigned body... now quite similar to the iPod Touch. Much thinner than the earlier iPad; thinner than the iPhone 4 too. Therefore, lighter.

* 2 colour options. Black and White. White will be available from Day1.

* Faster processor... dual core A5 chip. iPad was fast, iPad 2 should be a scorcher.

* HDMI Out through an adaptor, and mirroring of iPad on the TV/screen. It is not fully clear how this feature & accessory will work with iPad but it appears from this TUAW article that the accessory will work with older iDevices but only for 720p quality slideshows and movies, and will not do full mirroring.

3. Software

iOS 4.3 will be available from March 11. Please note that most features of iOS 4.3 (except camera related) should work with the iPad.

* Airplay -- will let you play out video/photos from any app or website/Safari to your Apple TV or Airport Express (or any of the new systems that are Airplay compliant)

* iTunes Home Sharing -- now access iTunes on your computer from your iPad and watch/listen to content residing on your computer

* Small but important -- you can now choose (in the Settings) what you want to use the Mute button for... Mute/Unmute or Screen Orientation Lock (like earlier)...

New Apps: iMovie (to create and edit movies) and GarageBand (to create and edit music/instruments) on the iPad for 5bucks each (iMovie will not work on the iPad).

4. Accessories

* The new Smart Cover is a piece of brilliant product design. You have to watch the demo video on this page. I loved it.

* Digital AV Adaptor for HDMI (described above)

What was missing?

* There were some expectations of improved display (Retina Display)... but this was unlikely till Apple could double the screen resolution (to keep the Apps backward compatible). This should happen with iPad 3.

* There were many rumours of USB or SD Card support... I think this was wishful thinking.

* Wild rumours of Flash support

Verdict

The iPad 2 is not an incremental feature upgrade. It is indeed a complete overhaul of the iPad design and specs. Makes the iPad highly competitive (features/price equation) with all the other tablets out there... In my opinion, Xoom is overpriced and Playbook is too small to be of use.

If you don't have an iPad -- you should get one on March 11. iPad 2 is the 'best' tablet out there for 2011 (even taking into account all the others that are promised for this year). Unless of course, you are highly committed to Android or Blackberry. Even then.

If you already have an iPad -- it is a tough decision, particularly if you've got one in the last 6-9 months... I would suggest you wait for iPad 3 (which is probably a year away, despite the rumours of a Fall release)... with iOS 4.3, you will have many of the features that the iPad 2 will get you (except the cameras).

But there are five situations in which you could consider upgrading to iPad 2:

1. You use the iPad to make presentations, sharing with teams, etc. The Video Mirroring feature is unique to iPad 2... and it is a compelling feature.

2. You use a lot of video chat *and* you don't have an iPhone 4.

3. You want to treat yourself to special gift this new financial year.

4. Your spouse/kids use the iPad more than you, so you may as well give the old one to them.

5. You are like me. :-)

Ah, and by the way, Steve Jobs did the keynote yesterday. It was a wonderful surprise. He appeared reasonably healthy, and here's wishing him better health and many more magical surprises for years to come.

Note: Updated to make a correction that GarageBand will work on iPad, but iMovie won't.

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The Jugaad problem

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 05:12:00 -0800

Innovation in India has always been about overcoming constraints. And it has led to several success stories and accolades. Some have called this 'jugaad' - a word that is apt for the situation but has slightly negative connotations. Jugaad, generally, gives an impression of side-stepping the problem or finding additional resources - in a clever manner - to achieve one's goals. The problem with jugaad is that, often, it does not address the underlying issue (or constraint) that led to the problem in the first place. So, there's no guarantee that the problem will not recur. Or create new problems in its wake. But, in the short term, there's action and it appears all's well.

Two incidents prompted me to lament on Twitter today that India's becoming a jugaad nation, in a negative sense. The first one is my pet peeve of traffic in Mumbai.

Twice in three days, I experienced the same situation. We were driving on one of the 'highways' that connect various parts of Mumbai. For some unknown reason, we saw traffic jammed up ahead. Vehicles were turning around; some crossed over to the opposite side and were trying to move forward. Most others drove straight back towards the previous intersection - to find an alternative route. I told my driver to stay put and figure out what was happening but we were in a sea of vehicles wanting to go in the opposite direction. So, we joined them and after a lot of maneuvering and honking and scrapping, found a service road. This road was also jammed by now. Thirty minutes later we joined the highway, perhaps a hundred metres ahead of the original jam. The traffic appeared to be flowing smoothly. Whatever had caused the initial problem had sorted itself out. It was just impatience on the part of some drivers and the consequent jugaad of finding some short-cuts that created new traffic jams elsewhere. In a strange coincidence, almost the same incident played out twice this week.

The second 'incident' was really a few discussions that I've had recently, online and offline about the lack of capacity creation in India. Demand growth is dramatic; competitive intensity is increasing. The focus is on serving the demand but this is (often) not accompanied by investments in developing talent, creating systems and empowering people. Every time we hear a horror story of poor customer service - usually from the biggest brands, in telecom, banking, media or retail, we wonder what's causing this? And can this growth be sustained without investing for the long term (at the cost of short term profits / returns)?

Maybe I am low on confidence about the India story (not the opportunity, mind you) after all that's happening around. If I am unduly worried, let me know and boost my confidence. :-) If not, still, we must keep the faith as SamK reminded me and work at this problem resolutely.

You cannot treat a fracture with lots of Band-Aids, but you cannot become a doctor overnight either.

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At home tech primer

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 01:07:00 -0800

(This article first appeared in the Mint on 25 November, 2010 in the Business of Life section.)

So you finally decided to create a home office? A home office is not the same as occasionally working from home after work hours or during holidays. You can get by without much ado for the latter; the former requires more planning, technology and facilities. Whether it’s high-speed Internet or admin support on-call, there are many things that we take for granted in an office—a home office will require you to organize all these for yourself. Yes, you do not have your boss watching over your shoulder but neither will you get endless coffee on demand. If you want to be really productive, you need to get your set-up right. Over time, most enterprises will create plug and play “home office” packages to instantly enable their remote workers. Till then, you may need to invest some time and money to create an environment that makes you feel at office in the home.

BASICS FIRST

Find yourself a room or a corner of a room that you can convert into an office. Get yourself a comfortable chair and a work desk. A few filing cabinets and a waste-paper bin would also be nice. Make sure that you have enough electric points nearby, else get a couple of extension strips. A coffee maker, perhaps…

TIP: Check with your employer if they have a policy to support the creation of a home office. Some companies such as BT and P&G provide their remote workers with furniture or other amenities to replicate an office environment at home.

TELEPHONY

You obviously already have a mobile phone; you should probably get a landline. Mobile phones are not always reliable or convenient when you have to get on to a 2-hour conference call. A landline will also be useful for Internet connectivity (see below). Don’t forget to activate international subscriber dialling (ISD) on your phone—you will need it to dial international toll-free numbers (000-800 numbers) that most conference bridges use.

TIP:If your company uses IP telephony from Cisco, Avaya, etc., ask for a soft-phone application on your computer; this will enable you to replicate your office phone and call your office extensions (using voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP).

BROADBAND

Trust me, get two Broadband connections. Ideally, one of them would be a DSL connection on your landline or a fixed wireless connection (for example, WiMax), with an assured speed of about 1 Mbps and unlimited data usage. In addition, you should get a wireless Internet connection (data-card) that can act as a backup as well as provide you with mobility. Wait for the 3G networks to go live to get more options and possibly better price plans. In any case, Broadband access could cost Rs2,000-3,000 per month—the biggest expense for working from home. However, you cannot work from home if you do not have reliable Internet connectivity.

TIP: Create a local wireless network using a Wi-Fi router; this will provide you some flexibility to move your workplace around and also connect multiple devices to the same Broadband connection.

COMPUTING

You would most likely be using your company-provided laptop as your primary computing device. An external LCD monitor (20 inch or more) would be a useful addition to ease pressure on your eyes; it can also work as a projection screen if you ever have to have a team meeting at home. Similarly, an external mouse and keyboard (preferably wireless/Bluetooth) would make your desk experience more flexible.

You will find that a printer is useful; you may need to print the occasional e-ticket or your monthly expense vouchers or something of that sort. An all-in-one deskjet device (less than Rs5,000) or even a laserjet printer (around Rs10,000) from Hewlett-Packard (HP) or Samsung that prints, copies and scans would meet most typical requirements; most of them can be connected to your Wi-Fi router and operated wirelessly.

TIP: For most document scans, it will work if you just click a picture with a phone-camera and email the photo. If you have an iPhone, there are free apps such as Genius Scan that give you several edit features. You should also keep digital (scan) versions of your photo, passport, ID card, signature, etc., handy—these are very often required at short notice for visas or other official purposes.

SECURITY AND BACKUP

Access to your corporate network, information and resources would mostly be through a virtual private network (VPN) for which you may need an additional password or a token. Make sure that your computer is configured for full remote access and you have IT helpdesk details handy.

You ought to also have your email configured on a mobile device (BlackBerry or any other smartphone) in case your laptop fails to connect for some reason. Many companies create periodic backups of all computers on their network; if not, or in addition, you may want to create a local backup using an external hard drive—do check your company’s IT and data policies before you copy data on to a personal disc.

TIP: Unless your office is nearby or you have an official IT support resource handy, consider investing in a personal desktop or a netbook. This will let you remain connected to your work, even if your office laptop is non-functional for some reason. It would be good to identify an IT troubleshooter in your neighbourhood—usually an IT hardware reseller, a computer engineering student or a geek.

SUPER SAVERS

Without these nifty tips, working from home may just become an expensive proposition

• Consider asking your employer to fund purchase of furniture or allow you to use spare stuff from the office. You should also seek reimbursement for your telecom and Internet expenses; remember, you are saving your employer a lot of cost by working from home.

• If you need to make a lot of calls to the US or Europe, sign up for a VoIP service such as Skype, Vonage or Line2, which will give you a local US number on your computer or smartphone to make and receive unlimited calls for a small fee.

• Microsoft and other software providers have special enterprise deals that enable employees to use expensive Office software in their home computers for almost free. Check with your IT department for such offers.

• Don’t let anybody in your neighbourhood know that you have a printer at home. Printers attract urgent printing jobs such as children’s school projects and ‘puja’ manuals that you will be unable to refuse. Remember, printer cartridges, over the lifetime of a printer, can cost three-four times the cost of the printer itself.

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Home Alone

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 00:51:00 -0800

(This article first appeared in the Mint on 23rd November, 2010 in the Business of Life section)

"Some day, I will become senior enough to work when I want, where I want.” Or perhaps, “I will retire from the 10-8 routine and work flexible hours.” Telecommuting or working from home is every manager’s dream; achieving work-life balance the ultimate goal. In a survey (Flexible Work Models) conducted in October in Europe, the US, Asia and India by strategy consulting firm, Bain & Co., nearly 86% of next-generation employees said they expect flexibility from their employer. Changes in work practices and technology have made this a reality now. However, working from home is not as easy or attractive as it is made out to be. Through his week-long tweets, we take a peek into the life of a senior executive, who works from home and grapples with multiple “tiny issues”. From what to wear when working from home to can “balance” really be achieved, work-from-home raises several questions. Perhaps there are some lessons to be learnt.

Monday

8.00 AM Wow, the apt complex gym has really changed a lot since I last visited it. via Twitter for BlackBerry

9.20 AM L’s gone to school and the missus to work. Aha, feels great when it takes you 10seconds to reach office. #FTW

10.00 AM Done with overnight email. Disconnecting myself for the next 2 hours. #tata

12.00 PM Finished the Board presentation draft! No tension for the rest of the day.

5.00 PM Gartner publishes latest APAC IT market forecasts; no surprises. http://bit.ly/Grtnr #yam #in

5.15 PM (Yammer) @marketingguru Do you really think so? Aren’t our latest numbers more or less in line with the Gartner sizing estimates? Anyone from Singapore have a point of view?

Plan your day’s schedule, just as you would if you were working from office. Take opportunities to shut yourself from the world for a thinking session or an urgent task.

Tuesday

4.22 PM #NoteToSelfWear a shirt even if it is very hot, particularly when you join a web-conference.

9.00 PM Rather embarrassing to be told by Sridhar that he could see me in my vest during Webex meeting. #fail

9.01 PM Don’t know how the webcam turned itself on!! Should stick a post-it on the cam when not in use.

Try to replicate elements of work environment; that includes dressing to work. You never know when you’ll need to jump on to a video chat.

Wednesday

9.30 AM At work! Busy day ahead.

1.00 PM Lunch time!! Nothing like ghar ka khana. But I miss the mango milk-shake in the canteen. Trade-offs.

1.45 PM Staying awake post-lunch is always a challenge. Particularly when your bed is a few feet away. Attention!

9.30 PM What a #uberfail evening. How to fire somebody for writing a poor report when ”Pappu Can’t Dance” is blaring in the other room?!

9.31 PM Can’t really blame L; I should have gone to the local office for the team review call. Or get my room sound-proofed.

9.35 PM (Yammer TeamGroup) Guys, sorry for the background sound during today’s meeting. Hope you could hear me clearly.

Create an office space for yourself that is audibly separated from your regular living area. If you cannot spare a room, consider going to the office or using a nearby business centre for important calls or meetings.

Thursday

7.00 AM Day trip to Delhi. Waiting for the flight to take off. How I love these early morning flights /sarcasmvia Twitter for BlackBerry

9.20 AM Delhi is hot! Make that very hot. #YetIWearATie via Twitter for BlackBerry

5.00 PM Headed back to the airport. Delhi’s roads seem to be improving but the traffic’s still the same mess. via Twitter for BlackBerry

11.00 PM Just landed; flight late. 21-hour day for a 2 hour meeting — what a waste! I am done with traveling. via Twitter for BlackBerry

Videoconferencing and telepresence are now real substitutes to business travel. Consider creating home infrastructure to support video, or identify a shared facility that you can use.

Friday

11.30 AM Sporadic start today; some home repairs underway. Anyway, not much work this AM.

5.00 PM Headed to TP room for monthly leadership meeting. Looking fwd to meeting colleagues from all over the world. Virtually, of course. via Twitter for BlackBerry

9.30 PM Exhausted. TelePresence much more engaging than audio calls. TP at home would be great. Hmm..maybe not. via Twitter for BlackBerry

Working from home offers you the flexibility to take time off for any urgent chores, as long as you are disciplined enough to get your deliverables out on time.

Saturday

10.00 AM Saturday is just another day but with fewer e-mails.

1.00 PM STOP. WORKING. NOW.

10.00 PM Ok, so I sneaked in. But I do need to get the Key Imperatives sorted out; it was due on Friday.

A home office can easily become a 24X7 office and defeat its very purpose, if you are not consciously managing your time. A home office does not automatically mean more time with the family.

Sunday

11.00 AM Nothing much happening on e-mail, Yammer and Twitter. Is this a long weekend, guys? #yam

11.10 AM (Yammer) D marketingguru Aha! I knew you’d be around :-) Any update on that Gartner report analysis?

11.12 AM (Yammer) D marketingguruThat sounds plausible. Hey, got to go: some birthday party and I am getting those dirty stares! I’ll be in office next week – let’s catch up.

2.15 PM Seriously, where’s everybody this weekend? #yam via Twitter for BlackBerry

It’s not wise to work from home 100% of the time; a 60-40 mix between remote and on-site is advisable. Use enterprise social media tools to stay in touch with what’s happening in the office even when you’re home.

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iPad Case - Made in India!

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 21:48:31 -0700

The global success of the iPad could create new business opportunities for Indian small businesses. Here's a great example:

This iPad case has been custom designed and made in India... to be more specific, Dharavi, Mumbai.

This case has till now been produced on request for about two dozen iPad owners...

The cover, made in good quality leather, is available in multiple colours from the vendor.

I am trying to see if I can help this manufacturer reach out to the demand that must exist for the iPad case in India and elsewhere.

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About Value Systems and Economic Power

Tue, 14 Sep 2010 04:20:00 -0700

Extract from Thomas Friedman's Op-Ed in New York Times: We're No. 1(1)!

Who will tell the people? China and India have been catching up to America not only via cheap labor and currencies. They are catching us because they now have free markets like we do, education like we do, access to capital and technology like we do, but, most importantly, values like our Greatest Generation had. That is, a willingness to postpone gratification, invest for the future, work harder than the next guy and hold their kids to the highest expectations.

In a flat world where everyone has access to everything, values matter more than ever. Right now the Hindus and Confucians have more Protestant ethics than we do, and as long as that is the case we’ll be No. 11!

via nytimes.com

I liked this article that seeks to distinguish the USA of the early 20th century and now, and how India and China, demonstrating the same great values that the earlier USA had, are emerging as major threats to US economic dominance. Thomas Friedman has always been brutally honest with his opinions. Some may disagree with his conclusions (or the approach with which he arrives at them), but there is no denying that Mr. Friedman has admirably managed to simplify and put in context complex macro-economic shifts that we are all part of.

The India that he briefly describes in the above op-ed is the India that I have generally known; the India in which most of us grew up in; the India that thankfully still exists in many small towns and villages.

A common scene in most towns of India - amidst the chaos, institutes of English and Computer education stand out.

My fear is that India is changing fast. Instant wealth / success and gratification are now more sought after than the rigour of education and hard-work. What was earlier perhaps limited to the glitz capital, Mumbai is now spreading wide across the country, thanks to televised shows and new media.

Will a Times of India op-ed in 2050 lament the loss of Indian values? Maybe these are the cycles of life, the ups and downs in the fortunes of various nations. Or can a nation's leaders and thinkers steer a different course? Governance in India, in the current times, does not give such confidence. We have many strategists; we are missing the leaders.

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Ganesha - Over the Years at my home

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 07:22:00 -0700

Since my childhood I have loved Ganesha and would enjoy helping my father and mother perform the puja at home. For several years, during my hostel life, I kept in touch from a distance. For the last 11 years, I have performed Ganesh Puja at home... frankly, it is the only "religious" activity that I carry out with any degree of consistency.

We are looking forward to welcoming Ganesha back home tomorrow. Meanwhile, here are pictures over the last 7 years of Ganesha at home (2003 was when I got my first digital "camera" - in a Palm handheld, so I have pictures of Ganesh since then).

Ganapati Bappa Morya!!!

Update: Today's photo (2010) also added at the end.

Sep 1, 2011 Update: 2011 Photo added.

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

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Let Neutrality not lead to Mediocrity

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 09:41:36 -0700

Recently, Thomas K Thomas of Hindu Business Line wrote an article regarding the Net Neutrality issue that is being debated in several countries and was introduced into the Broadband debate in India by Google. While TKT was kind enough to quote my views, there's only so much one can express in a quote. Therefore, this post to elaborate on the quote:

But Indian telecom operators are not in favour of any such regulation. Srinivasa Addepalli, Senior Vice-President, Corporate Strategy, Tata Communication, says that more than it being a question of principles it is a commercial issue. “It is fair that consumers should have unrestricted access to the Internet. It is also a fact that telecom operators are investing billions of dollars in creating infrastructure. The Internet is at the core of private enterprise today; network operators, like the content/service providers, should be allowed to develop their commercial models without additional regulatory constraints,” Addeppali says.

There was a twist in the Net Neutrality debate in the US with Google and Verizon announcing a joint proposal and with AT&T jumping into the fray with its support of said proposal (or at least one key element of the proposal). Proponents of an open Internet accused Google of a sell-out and Google responded with an analysis of myths and facts related to the proposal. (By the way, I liked this reasonably objective teardown of the Google-Verizon proposal).

Whatever the outcome of the current round of debate on Net Neutrality proposals, I guess there are some key issues that one needs to consider here.

Is the Internet a public good or a private enterprise?

What might have started out in defence and academic circles, is now the primary platform for knowledge, collaboration, commerce, entertainment, and more. On one hand you have the largest encyclopedia in the world that is user-managed and runs on donations, and on the other you also have the most valuable brand in the world, both of which owe their existence to the Internet. The late Dewang Mehta of Nasscom once famously included Internet bandwidth as a fundamental right of all (Indian) citizens and rightly so. But it is not just information or governance that the Internet provides us now and nor is the Internet "free". Content providers and commercial enterprises are free however, to charge their customers (or not) for access to their services as they deem fit. There is no regulation that determines how much a song download should cost or what the pricing of a hosting plan should be. You can sign up for a free, 'lite' version or upgrade to a pricey, 'premium' version. It's a competitive market out there, and a reasonably free market.

Is Internet Access a monopoly or a scarce resource?

In the early days of telecom (30 yrs back in developed markets, 5-15 yrs back in several emerging markets), customers had no choice, whether it was voice services or data connectivity. Regulators were introduced in most of these markets to break incumbent monopolies and encourage competition. Even until a few years ago, customers had very few choices for broadband connectivity, one or two service providers at most in any market. But that has changed. Wireless broadband access has emerged as a reasonable alternative to wireline, particularly in developing markets that have had very poor wireline in any case. Most markets have at least three such providers; extreme cases like India have 6-7 (and growing) wireless operators. Of course, these broadband networks (both wireline and wireless) have failed to keep pace with the exponential growth in Internet traffic demand but that does not reflect scarcity or monopoly behaviour.

Regulators, I believe, should aim to make themselves redundant. That can only happen by encouraging competition, not just in terms of numbers of players, but also ensuring that each of the players has the requisite resources to be an effective competitor. Regulations should define the minimum acceptable performance levels, for customers and competitors; beyond that, effective competition should take care of creating sufficient customer choice.

Broadband Networks: No longer commodity utilities

For long, telecom networks have been called the pipes, equating them with other utilities like water pipelines and electric wires. Broadband networks, as critical to human existence now as the aforementioned utilities, have features that set them apart from the other pipes. For one, as mentioned earlier, they are no longer primarily provided by local or national government bodies and are not monopolies. In addition, the "content" that flows through them is also varied, competitive and unregulated (unlike water or electricity), The highway example is an interesting one, with several similar characteristics to the broadband network. As one of the industry experts in TKT's article says:

It's like any toll road in the country where every type of vehicle gets to use the expressway but the toll charges vary depending on the type of vehicle.

Everyone can use the roads to travel as they please, however, there are several rules that govern how traffic flows on the roads. There are certain roads (highways or expressways) that place limitations on who (or what type of vehicles) enter the road and charge them in a differential manner. Traffic on these roads is regulated in different ways; certain types of vehicles get priority to use fast lanes and some have to stick to the slower ones. On some roads, the authorities may mandate some capacity to be reserved for public transport by creating special bus or taxi lanes, even if it slows down the rest of the traffic. Finally, in specific circumstances, private roads can be built and the owners determine what they are used for and how. What do we gather from this:

A) Rules of what is allowed and what the charges are should be clear to the users (and to the regulators)

B) Differential treatment to users is permitted. In the light of (A), users can choose what they prefer. (By the way, roads are a near monopoly or maybe duopolies; telecom networks, we have established earlier, are more competitive than roads)

C) Certain capacity of the 'public' infrastructure can be reserved or set aside for critical usage or public interest.

D) Customers can, in certain circumstances, negotiate and build private infrastructure and use it the way they want.

As a Broadband customer, I would be willing to pay a premium for a network that understood my priority applications and provided a superior performance for such core services, even at the expense of other stuff. For instance, I would surely like to access my enterprise applications (Intranet, Mail, etc.) much faster / better than say, a YouTube video. A doctor providing remote medical assistance would surely want her tele-medicine application to not be choked mid-way through the procedure. On the other hand, a movie junkie (perhaps the doctor, on vacation) would want nothing more than super-fast download of the latest iTunes movie (in HD). Should we let this be left to fate (or best effort, in Internet / telecom parlance)? I say, No. Internet service providers need to make their networks more capable, to discriminate intelligently and individually across different types of content / applications. In a world where our lives are going to revolve around the cloud, networks have to become more than dumb pipes. Intelligent networks will create more value to the customers as well as the content providers.

Maybe most customers do not want such intelligence. Maybe most content providers do not care about it. But for the few that want the choice, let regulation not take it away and relegate them, in the name of neutrality, to an "average" experience.

I welcome your comments and feedback, particularly because the "Net Neutrality" debate is still not defined well enough in developing markets.

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India Spectrum Auctions 101

Tue, 18 May 2010 07:09:00 -0700

All you wanted to know about the India 3G & BWA Spectrum Auction process.

What is being auctioned

3G: Three slots of 5MHz spectrum in most circles; 4 slots in a few. That means, in addition to BSNL or MTNL, you will have at least 3 private operators offering 3G services in each circle.

BWA: This is Broadband Wireless Access spectrum... this is spectrum in a different frequency band where a few technologies like WiMax and LTE are available/being developed to offer very high speed data connectivity. 2 slots of 20MHz each are being auctioned. Again, BSNL and MTNL have already been allocated one slot of this spectrum.

Circles and Eligibility Points

India is divided into 22 telecom circles:.

2 Metros

Mumbai and Delhi (NCR)

5 Category A Circles

Rest of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat

9 Category B Circles

Kolkata, Punjab, Kerala, UP (East), UP (West), Haryana, Rajasthan, MP and Rest of West Bengal

6 Category C Circles

HP, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, North East and J&K

In order to bid in the auction, bidders needed to obtain Eligibility Points. Each Metro and Cat A circle needs 32 points, Cat B 12 points and Cat C 4 points totaling 350 EPs. The EPs were obtained by paying earnest money in proportion to the number of EPs sought; most bidders obtained 350 EPs. The points are fungible across circles, i.e. if you had only 100 points, you could use them to bid for any combination of circles within that limit. Eligibility Points determine how many & which circles a bidder can bid on, at any time.

Bidding

Bidding for all 22 circles happens simultaneously in each "clock round" of bidding. The first round starts at the Reserve Price (Cat A: 320 cr; Cat B: 120 cr; Cat C: 30 cr for 3G..... half of this for BWA). About 4 to 6 rounds of bidding happen daily (based on the last 30 days of bidding.)

In each round, a bidder has to only say Yes or No for each circle at the current round price.

The price for the next round is determined based on the level of demand (i.e. # of Yes bids) for each circle in the previous round. Excess Demand is calculated as Demand (# of Yes Bids) - Supply (# of Spectrum Slots). If ED is 0 or 1, the price increase is 1%; if ED = 2, 5% and ED>=3, it is 10%. If ED<0, i.e. demand is less than supply, then price does not increase. (Price increments are also capped at Rs 40 cr (20 cr for BWA) in each round.)

The interesting thing is that even if there is no excess demand for a circle in a round, the auction for that circle does not end... it goes on till all the circles have reached a point of no excess demand. So you could have a situation that demand = supply in a circle, but its price increases in the next round because some other circles still have excess demand. This is probably the only "flaw" in the auction design -- of course, it benefits the Seller (the Government in this case).

Activity Ratio

A bidder can bid for only those circles that are within the Eligibility Points that it has at that time. Thus, the EPs associated with all the "Yes" bids of a bidder determine how many bids it can place in the subsequent round. In the initial rounds, however, this is relaxed and a bidder can retain its EPs, if it bids at or above the specified Activity Level. So, the auction starts at 80% level, i.e. a bid equivalent to 280 points (80% of 350) retains the bidders 350 points in the next round. The Activity Ratio is increased by the Auctioneer to 90% at a later stage and then to 100%. At 100%, bidders have to bid (i.e. choose Yes) in order to retain the associated EPs. Unless they are a Provisional Winner in that circle.

What! More complexity!

During each round, the Auctioneer declares (based on pre-set rules) a number of Provisional Winners (equal to the number of slots). Being a Provisional Winner does not automatically guarantee the circle to a bidder; the primary benefit is that a Provisional Winner is deemed to have bid for the next round and can therefore retain Eligibility Points even when it chooses "No" for that circle. The Provisional Winner concept can be used by the bidders to "reduce" the demand level and consequently, the price increment in that round.

The End

The auction comes to an end when two conditions are met:

1. Activity Ratio is 100%

2. Excess Demand is 0 or less in all circles simultaneously

The Government has said that winners in the 3G auction will be allocated spectrum in September 2010. Based on that schedule, we can expect that services should be available in a few major markets in early 2011. The BWA spectrum is likely to be allocated immediately to the two winners; depending on their technology choices, wireless broadband services could be available towards the end of 2010.

(Note: I have tried to keep this quite simple and have not gone into all the details/complexities of the auction design. For those interested in the painful details, I am happy to answer your questions.)

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My iPad Review (re-posting for the iPad)

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 00:53:00 -0700

Almost magical!

April 22, 2010

The iPad

First impressions

When I saw this iPad, my first reaction was, it's smaller than I thought. I wanted to get started right away, but for a nerve-wracking nine hours, it lay in the box waiting for my day's meetings to get over. When it finally came to life, I could not take my eyes off it. Stephen Fry's Time article refers to this "experience" factor that all Apple products incorporate. No review or unboxing video or image gallery can prepare you for the experience of operating an iPad. Really, I should just end this review here and you should head to the nearest Apple store to try the iPad experience. You will decide in a few minutes whether you want it for yourself or not. No logic or rationalising will prepare you for that decision.

I knew you would get to this page... we are too much of the analytical types, no? So let me try and summarise the key experience issues that you should try for yourself.

Books: you won't get this on a Kindle!

Over the last week or so, I have read three books (free classics) on iBooks. I have not used a Kindle, so I cannot compare the two but the integration of images and colours with text in the iPad offers a better reading experience than other e-readers like Kindle. Friends have asked me if it's a strain on the eye (e-ink and so on)... given that I spend 8-10 hours a day in front of a computer, I can't say this made much difference to me.

The books experience goes beyond iBooks. Try out the new, animated Alice in Wonderland app or the Disney Toy Story Book app that integrates reading, voice-over, music, painting and bright images (both available in the App Store; free/lite versions available) - you will realise that reading (and therefore, writing) will truly get transformed.

Productivity

Will the iPad replace your laptop or computer? No! But it will surely reduce the time you spend with your computer. For the last 24 hours, I have not started the Mail application on my desktop. I have read over a 100 mails, replied to over a dozen, reviewed a Powerpoint presentation and an Excel worksheet and edited a press release during this time.

Compared to the Blackberry or iPhone, the iPad offers the convenience of a large screen as well as keyboard, particularly when not "on the move". The advantage over the desktop/laptop was that I did not have to connect to the corporate VPN to access my office Exchange mail (when away from my desk). It's a niche thing, but for those that remote work and hate having to login to the VPN frequently, the iPad mail is a great substitute.

The virtual keyboard takes a while to get used to but offers an almost full typing experience in landscape and better than smartphone speeds in portrait. For extended typing (2-3 pages or more), it is a bit inconvenient though; I am yet to figure out the most comfortable way to position the iPad and optimise typing speed. I see myself getting one of those compact, Bluetooth keyboards for extended typing.

This document has been entirely created using the iPad without any external keyboard; I used Pages ($9.99 in the App Store).

What I would like to see more/ different

A front facing camera to support web-conferencing would be a good addition. Or a web-cam accessory.
I am sure the 3G version offers a better connectivity experience on the move but a $130 premium for a 3G chip is unjustified. The ability to use the iPhone's cellular connectivity, for example, would be great - we don't need to have multiple wireless data plans!
Many of the iPad apps are still quite buggy, but it should be a matter of time for them to get sorted. The iWork apps are good, but need enhancements to make them ready for corporate usage.
The lack of Flash on the iPad has forced me to re-post this review, from the earlier PDF/Scribd version. I believe this will be a minor irritant for a year or so; most sites that matter have already developed alternative versions or are moving towards html5.

But, what's the point of this device, anyway?

Do you 'need' an iPad? Maybe yes, maybe no. Do you 'want' an iPad? Very likely, yes. If you use (or have considered using) an iPhone or a Kindle (or their equivalents), the iPad should be on your evaluation list for this year's bonus/ promotion / birthday gift / any other excuse. If not, do find a friend that has an iPad and is willing to let you experiment with it. I bet that by next year you will be buying an iPad or one of the six similar devices that will be launched by then.

Do let me know which way you swing!

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My iPad Review

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 11:46:00 -0700

When the iPad was announced earlier this year, I had written about the iPad being a device that will appeal to new segments of the "computer" market: the GAAKS. Now that the iPad is here, and with me for almost two weeks (though I could not use it much during the first week due to work and travel), I am sharing my first impressions of the iPad. Whether it will meet the expectations of Apple, its fanboys and the gaaks, is still unclear, although sales of half a million in the first fortnight appear impressive.

Here it goes:

iPad_Review_-_Srini.pdf Download this file

I have not gone into the tech details nor waxed eloquent about the entertainment / gaming features of the iPad... Do you have specific questions about the iPad - use the comments below to ask them, and I will try and share whatever I can.

Update: The review document is not readable in the iPad because scribd uses Flash! :-( I will soon post a separate version that will be iPhone/iPad friendly.

Update2: A non-Flash version of the review is now here.

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"Paid News" -- There must be a solution!

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 22:39:26 -0700

There has been a lot of news about the concept of "Paid News" recently; it is best summed up in this latest Paid News for Dummies by Sevanti Ninan in the Hindu. What surprises me, however, is that very little has been said, by the media, about solutions to this 'necessary evil'. There have been references to self regulation and perhaps, an independent regulator. Other than creating post-retiral benefits to a few more bureaucrats, I don't see how just creating yet another regulator will help. And I don't think "learning to live with it" is a solution either.

Based on my telecom industry experience, I propose two "commercial" solutions:

1. Allow International Media / News Companies to Enter India

The Indian media space is crowded by family (or individual) run companies. Even though some of them are listed and/or have international partners, management control vests firmly with the Indian owners. Given the very high entry costs in the space, there is a tendency amongst new entrants to mimic practices that have been made popular by the incumbents... nobody has really shaken up the market. Increasing the level of competition - with the entry of global players, with their scale, content and practices - may put some pressure on the rest of the industry. The Internet has begun to create competitive pressure, enabling alternative points of view and the questioning of media "holy cows". We just need more, independent and well-funded competitors.

2. Strengthen the Govt.-owned Incumbent

Strange as it might sound, a strong Government-owned competitor is not such a bad thing. For years, in the telecom space, BSNL and MTNL determined the price-points in the market place and kept everyone else in check. Now that the market is mature, the private operators are stronger and bigger than the incumbents. To some extent, this was true even in the airline industry. It is another matter that in both cases, the incumbents were not given sufficient independence to grow to their rightful position. A well-managed, public-sector player can often keep the industry (and new entrants) in check: take banking for instance. The Government would do well to let Prasar Bharti (Doordarshan) become a more meaningful player in the media space by bringing in professional management and perhaps, listing the corporation.

A strong playing field that includes global majors and a strong public-sector incumbent is perhaps the best model for most of our industries: media, telecom, banking, insurance, airlines, etc. Regulation can then help set the rules and boundaries of engagement.

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iPad - the device for the gaaks.

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:04:17 -0800

Most of us have become experts at seeing what isn't, so we miss out simple 'what is' facts. The other problem that we face is that of wanting everything, everytime, everywhere.

Apple's latest creation, the iPad, has underwhelmed the tech media and analysts; they are unable to see why somebody would use a large smartphone or an inferior laptop. Many others are aghast at the iPad's lack of Flash support or multi-tasking. That there aren't two cameras to support photography and video-chatting has let down a few more. Of course, some can't get over the "i" jokes and worse still, the "pad" jokes.

I beg to differ. I see here (and in a few other such devices) an opportunity to expand the market for digital services. Take it beyond the tech workers and fans of gadget blogs, take it beyond the home and office use, take it beyond the developed markets. I firmly believe that iPad has the opportunity to define its market, not as a large smartphone or as a cheaper/smaller laptop but as the primary digital device for the GAAKS, as against the geeks! (More about the gaaks, later.)

Broadband penetration remains relatively low in several emerging markets, not only because of supply constraints but also because prospective customers do not see value in the service. The primary interface device is a computer that is as "complex" as it is expensive. Most kids and senior citizens (all 45+ would qualify!) that have not received "formal" IT education would not venture to use a computer without assistance. Even when they do use a computer, it is rarely for its computing or processing power but really for the purpose of communication, media consumption and sharing. Finally, the keyboard is the most counter-intuitive input/control device that puts-off even highly educated people, leave alone those that aren't.

It is obvious that the next Broadband access device has to be developed using the same principles that have made mobile phones and media players accessible to several billion people worldwide. Simple and intuitive user interface that helps in communication/sharing and digital media management. A device that two-year old kids can manage and so can 60+ old grannies. Something that the neighborhood aunty will find as appealing as students focusing on their courseware. Something that the average-J can use to be more productive at work. Move over geeks, we need to serve the grannies, aunties, average-j, kids and students. The GAAKS.

Using a few personal, albeit anecdotal, experiences, let me outline needs of the gaaks in the context of a digital device:

Grannies: Simple visual control-interface, limited need for typing. Big, bright screen; large icons. Mostly photos, videos and music. Reading books. The occasional video chat. Home use.

Aunties: Cool looks. Fit in handbag. Idiot-proof controls (Oh, did I delete something!?). Music, videos and photos. Calendar. Facebook. Mail reader and forwarder. Home + nomadic use.

Average-J at work: Portable. Simple but secure. VPN/Exchange connectivity. Mail, Calendar & Contacts. Notes. Presentations (on-screen or projector). Document editor. Corporate apps. Occasional media (IT rules permitting). Mobile use.

Kids: Rugged (4-feet drop proof). Delete-proof. Intuitive physical & visual interface. Music, videos, games. Education apps. Occasional books/comics. Anywhere the parents want a silent kid.

Students: Cool looks. Portable (fit in a ruck-sack with other assorted stuff). Social networking. Music, videos, photos & games. Camera or camera-phone interface. Search. Reading books & making/sharing notes. Everywhere use.

(I have described generic / average usage scenarios. There are bound to be exceptions in each of these categories. Have also not included stuff that can be done using pretty much any mobile phone: yakking, texting, FM radio, etc.)

Which device is more likely to serve these large user segments: a laptop-variant or an iPod Touch variant? Remember, most of these people already have access to a mobile phone, so they have basic voice and narrowband connectivity. A bigger, brighter and more capable iPod Touch or an iPhone appears to be more relevant to these users than a laptop or a netbook. The iPad may not yet address all these requirements but from a hardware perspective, it appears to have all features (except a video camera for chat: surprising but not a deal-breaker). The interface and software are almost ideal for the gaaks; a few rough edges should get resolved through software upgrades.

Us geeks will still buy the iPad because, well, we just have to have it. It will add to the bag-load of devices and accessories that we carry with us everywhere. The significance of the recent Apple announcement is that a whole new, untapped market is about to open up. What they call "blue-ocean" stuff in management consulting parlance. More power to the gaaks.

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Roof-top Capers

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 01:25:27 -0800

It was another morning. I had not slept much the previous night, having stayed awake to complete a Harry Potter book. My friend had gifted me this big, hardbound book a few days before, and I had reluctantly started reading it. And could not put it down. Unfortunately, it was the middle of the week. I was still new at work and hadn't yet learnt any bunking/goofing off tricks. So I missed the 8.19 to Churchgate (for what else happens when I miss the 8.19, check out: The Day Shahrukh Khan Saved My Life) for the first time.

There's nothing more irritating than seeing the local train leave the platform right in front of your eyes, particularly when the next train on that platform is about ten minutes later, sure to result in the disapproving eye-brow from the big boss. And my project manager had ended the previous evening with a 'let's catch up first thing tomorrow morning' threat of more work. Platform 7 was to offer me no relief, so I proceeded to the overbridge, looking for options. It's easy to generate multiple "strategic options" on a slide but Andheri station, that morning, was in no mood to support my cause.

Back of the envelope calculation revealed that a Slow train after 8.25am would not work; there was no option but to go for a Fast local. I had come to this conclusion even before I had reached the top stair of the bridge, all I had to do now was to go to the correct platform. They don't teach you in b-school not to jump to conclusions too fast, they don't teach you in life too. You have to learn it the hard way, so there I was running fast to catch the next Fast.

All the while, there was a song playing in my head, just refusing to go away. Chaiyya Chaiyaa. With Jhankaar Beats. It had been playing in the auto that brought me to the station and the words looped tunelessly in my mind. It was perhaps coincidental that I was reminded of this song, featuring a train and others, at a train station, but at that time, it was just a background score.

I shall not go into the painful details of how I got into the First Class compartment of the next Fast local: it was from Virar and painfully over-crowded, there were even some chaps sitting on top of the local train! Getting into a Virar-Churchgate local during peak hours was obviously a very stupid thing but such was my dedication to work that I took the chance. Luckily, I did not suffer much physical damage while I was pushed inside; I managed to find some space to stand and held an overhead handle tight.

Whether it was the gentle swaying of the train or my night-out with Harry Potter, I felt drowsy. Standing. My mind's iPod continued to play Chaiyya Chaiyya in a repeat mode.

I must admit that I had always been fascinated by that song. Of course, Malaika Arora was mind-blowing and Shahrukh Khan outdid himself in this foot-tapping song, but the most exciting part for me was its picturization on top of a moving train! What a fun way to experience the thrill of a train journey and the beauty of nature all-around. If you had friends with you, some steaming chai and hot pakoras. Aaah! And, yeah, if someone like Malaika was dancing too, then it would be heaven. But, nah! that only happens in movies, so I would settle for the rest.

I guess my fascination for train-top journeys began in a more sober setting. Ben Kingsley, playing Mohandas Gandhi, joins other passengers on top of a train in his discovery of India journey. What a moment in his realization of what the true India was. Even today, almost 90 years later, hundreds of people travel on train roofs, often because there is no space for them elsewhere but sometimes because it offers the best view, conversations and air conditioning. I had never travelled on a train roof in spite of my several train journeys across India. Wouldn't it be fun to try it out sometime?

My thoughts turned to other famous train roof-top scenes from my favourite movies. Young Indy making his escape from the circus train in Last Crusade and of course, the climax of Mission Impossible. Too much! Well, I could do with less adventure, I suppose. But, the chai and pakoras were a must.

The train stopped with a sudden shudder. Irritated that my pleasant reverie was disturbed, I opened my eyes and looked around. We had stopped in between stations and there was some commotion from a few compartments away. There was a buzz in ours too. Somebody must have pulled the chain, was the most popular view. Maybe the power has failed, ventured a few others. A couple of guys who were sitting close to where I was could not bear the uncertainty and got up to conduct an inquiry. A few people jumped down from the train and moved towards the source of the noise.

I seized the opportunity and sat down. If that guy returned later, well, it was his fault; he didn't have a reservation for this seat. I retrieved the Economic Times from my bag and looked at the crossword. Why did it have to be in the inner pages and not conveniently in the last one, I cribbed as if that would help me crack more clues! A few minutes passed and the train remained still. Would I lose the Fast train advantage due to this halt? I went back to looking for the anagram clues. Chaiyya Chaiyya continued to compete for attention.

Five or more minutes passed, I reconciled myself to seeing the boss' eyebrows shoot up today; others were also discussing their respective excuses at work. Suddenly there was more buzz, some guys climbed back into the train (quite a feat, that!!) and the train's horn indicated its readiness to resume the journey. Some adventure and a major waste of time, I thought.

The check-shirt guy, surely a broker, whose seat I was occupying did not seem to be in a hurry to reclaim his position. He was in an animated conversation with others standing around him. The buzz in the train refused to die. Unable to hold my curiosity any longer, I looked up and asked, to nobody in particular, 'Kya hua?' I must have spoken loudly because there was a sudden break in all conversation; the broker heard it and said, "Ek ladka gir gaya train se, abhi zinda hai lekin serious. Shaayad current laga tha, train ke oopar baitha tha." (A boy fell from the train, he's still alive but in a serious condition. Probably electrocuted, he was sitting on the roof.)

Gandhiji, SRK, Indy, Ethan... I am not joining you on the roof, thank you.

This is the fourth in a series of stories from and about train journeys. Other similar stories can be found here.

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