Great Expectations

S P I N E

CTO FORUM

Technology for Growth and Governance

August | 21 | 2010 | Rs.50 Volume 06 | Issue 01

STRIKING IT HOT | CIO’S LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN | THE INNER EAR

Great

Expectations Is the IT organisation an expense or a business enabler? CEO’s view on the role of a CIO.| PAGE 22

A QUESTION OF ANSWERS

What’s in a Promise?

PAGE 10

RESETTING FOR

Volume 06 | Issue 01

NEXT HORIZONS

Refuelling with Innovation PAGE 32

A 9.9 Media Publication

GROWTH

11th Annual CTO Forum Conference PAGE 44

EDITORIAL RAHUL NEEL MANI | rahul.mani@9dot9.in

Benchmark 2010.

Expanding your innovation horizon.

I

had almost begun to write this column on the takehome points from our justconcluded CTO Forum annual conference, when I stopped short. The conference, held in the beautiful city of Dublin and in its 11th edition this year, had met with overwhelming success and thus would have been the most obvious choice for me to write about. But we have planned numerous features on the event in this and subse-

EDITOR’S PICK 46

quent issues. So, I thought of sparing this column for something else – very relevant and worth pondering over.

A recently released IDC's report titled “Asia/Pacific Dynamic IT Benchmark 2010” says that the role of the CIO is evolving into a position more tightly aligned with the business drivers of the enterprise.

The report also mentions that in future the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the CIOs

11th Annual CTO Forum Conference

With an overarching theme of “Resetting for Growth”, the 11th edition of the conference was attended by 110 top IT leaders from India.

will feature priorities such as cash flow management, revenue generation and, most importantly, innovation.

These observations won’t ring any alarm bells in our ears.

We have been discussing these trends for at least a couple of years if not more. Yet, it’s important to allow some time to take in this report for what it reaffirms is significant – that this change is not only inevitable but is now in the visible range.

The new generation of businessfocused CIOs is expected to drive revenue growth and not just enable business at the backend and keep the lights on in the data centres. In this context, both the CEO and the Corporate Boards today expect much more from the CIO expecting him to be the agent of change and a leader in innovation. (Read the

cover story Great Expectations in this issue).

Having gone through the harrowing experience of economic downturn and grappling with zero-budget for innovation for almost two years now, you, as business leaders in companies of varying sizes and types should start focusing on top-line growth and innovation along with tightly aligning IT with business.

I firmly believe that CIOs gunning for exponential growth can only seize the opportunity if they set their sights on sustainable, growthfocused innovation.

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VOLUME 06 | ISSUE 01

AUGUST 10 THECTOFORUM.COM

COV E R D E S I G N BY A N I L VK | PH OTO BY PH OTO S .CO M

CONTE NTS

22 COVER STORY

22 | Great Expectations

COLUMNS

Do CEOs see the IT organisation as an expense or a business enabler? An interaction with CEOs, across verticals, on their view of the role of CIOs in an organisation.

04 | I BELIEVE: WHAT’S YOUR AGILITY QUOTIENT? Alpna Doshi CEO, Reliance Tech Services & CIO RCOM on business agility as an essential survival skill

64 | VIEW POINT: SET THE BASICS RIGHT Six common mistakes that can lead to data loss and downtimes.

BY ANUJ MEDIRATTA

Please Recycle This Magazine And Remove Inserts Before Recycling

2

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FEATURES

32 | NEXT HORIZONS: REFUELLING WITH INNOVATION Innovation can not only improve company performance, it could help CIOs advance their career. BY PAM BAKER

VOLUME 06 | ISSUE 01 | 21 AUGUST 2010

www.thectoforum.com Managing Director: Dr Pramath Raj Sinha Printer & Publisher: Kanak Ghosh Publishing Director: Anuradha Das Mathur EDITORIAL Editor-in-chief: Rahul Neel Mani Executive Editor: Geetaj Channana Resident Editor (West & South): Ashwani Mishra Associate Editor: Dominic K Assistant Editor: Aditya Kelekar Principal Correspondent: Vinita Gupta Correspondent: Sana Khan DESIGN Sr. Creative Director: Jayan K Narayanan Art Director: Binesh Sreedharan Associate Art Director: Anil VK Manager Design: Chander Shekhar Sr. Visualisers: PC Anoop, Santosh Kushwaha Sr. Designers: Prasanth TR, Anil T Suresh Kumar & Anoop Verma Designer: Sristi Maurya Chief Photographer: Subhojit Paul Photographer: Jiten Gandhi

44 EVENT REPORT

44 | CTO FORUM ANNUAL CONFERENCE. With an overarching

theme of “Resetting for Growth”, the 11th edition of the conference was attended by 110 top IT leaders from India.

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61

REGULARS

01 | EDITORIAL 08 | ENTERPRISE ROUND-UP advertisers’ index

14 | BEST OF BREED: ON THE FAST TRACK The aces are many for 10 Gigabit Ethernet

61 | HIDE TIME: SARABJIT ANAND, HEAD - IT, INDIA, SOUTHASIA & GSSC, STANDARD CHARTERED BANK

IBM IFC & AFTER 08 HP AFTER 04 MICROSOFT 09 ALCATEL 13 TYCO 16-17 ADC KRONE 20-21 TULIP 27 RICOH 29 DIGILINK IBC CANON BC

ADVISORY PANEL Ajay Kumar Dhir, CIO, JSL Limited Anil Garg, CIO, Dabur David Briskman, CIO, Ranbaxy Mani Mulki, VP-IS, Godrej Industries Manish Gupta, Director, Enterprise Solutions AMEA, PepsiCo India Foods & Beverages, PepsiCo Raghu Raman, CEO, National Intelligence Grid, Govt. of India S R Mallela, Former CTO, AFL Santrupt Misra, Director, Aditya Birla Group Sushil Prakash, Country Head, Emerging Technology-Business Innovation Group, Tata TeleServices Vijay Sethi, VP-IS, Hero Honda Vishal Salvi, CSO, HDFC Bank Deepak B Phatak, Subharao M Nilekani Chair Professor and Head, KReSIT, IIT - Bombay Vijay Mehra, Former Global CIO, Essar Group SALES & MARKETING VP Sales & Marketing: Naveen Chand Singh National Manager-Events and Special Projects: Mahantesh Godi (09880436623) Product Manager: Rachit Kinger Asst. Brand Manager: Arpita Ganguli GM South: Vinodh K (09740714817) Senior Manager Sales (South): Ashish Kumar Singh GM North: Lalit Arun (09582262959) GM West: Sachin Mhashilkar (09920348755) Kolkata: Jayanta Bhattacharya (09331829284) PRODUCTION & LOGISTICS Sr. GM. Operations: Shivshankar M Hiremath Production Executive: Vilas Mhatre Logistics: MP Singh, Mohd. Ansari, Shashi Shekhar Singh OFFICE ADDRESS Published, Printed and Owned by Nine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt Ltd. Published and printed on their behalf by Kanak Ghosh.

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Editor: Anuradha Das Mathur This issue of CTO FORUM includes 8 pages of CSO Forum free with the magazine

This index is provided as an additional service.The publisher does not assume any liabilities for errors or omissions.

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THE AUTHOR has almost two decades of experiences in IT, Offshoring, Communications, Media and Entertainment, Operator, SI, and supplier businesses.

PHOTO BY JITEN GANDHI

I BELIEVE

BY ALPNA DOSHI CEO, Reliance Tech Services & CIO RCOM

What’s your Agility Quotient? Be agile or die.

IN TODAY'S intense economic scenario where cutthroat competition is rife, business agility has become an essential survival skill. This is specifically true for businesses such as telecommunications which posted a dismal 2.5 percent growth in 2009-10 due to intense tariff war unleashed by the new entrants.

Businesses face unique challenges today. For a moment, if we con-

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CURRENT CHALLENGE CONVERGE THE EXISTING PORTFOLIO OF SERVICES, NETWORKS AND CONTENT (VOICE, VIDEO AND DATA) TO DELIVER AN INTEGRATED USER EXPERIENCE

centrate on telecom industry, the service providers are grappling with issues ranging from industry consolidation to decreasing margins to lower Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) to leveraging New Generation Network (NGN) to ever-changing customer needs. For CIOs of companies such as these, the biggest challenge is to converge the existing portfolio of services, networks and content (voice, video and data) to deliver an integrated user experience.

If we go by popular estimates, by 2015, the world would be far more connected than today. The customers will have access to whatever information they want, whenever they want, on the devices of their choice. I believe that to enable such a change, we, as CIOs, have to look at institutionalising enterprise-wide changes that can affect cost reductions, boost business performance and enable faster time-to-market.

It is predicted that by 2012 approximately 20 percent businesses won’t own any IT assets and that India-centric companies will represent 20 percent of the leading cloud aggregators.

In light of these facts, we, as CIOs, need to think of moving away from monolithic systems to federated and scalable architecture. The only way by which we can have sustainable growth now and in the future is by keeping our organisation agile.

Besides, we need to change our focus, transforming from the current business-centric view of value to customer-centric view of the value chain.

Along with that we must evaluate new markets, customer segments and product areas for profitable growth. As also look at leveraging analytics for pro-active relationship management and up-selling/crossselling to increase customer value.

Finally we must build innovative, integrated and scalable service delivery platforms for future growth.

LETTERS CTOForum LinkedIn Group Join close to 500 CIOs on the CTO Forum LinkedIn group for latest news and hot enterprise technology discussions.

Share your thoughts, participate in discussions and win prizes for the most valuable contribution. You can join The CTOForum group at: www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2580450

One of the hot discussions on the group is: Do non technology professionals make better CIO/ CTOs?

Commenting on the 11th Annual CTO Forum – we got feedback from CIOs across the country. Here are the views of some of the attendees: I sincerely congratulate the entire CTO Forum team for organising this wonderful large programme in Dublin. I would also like to thank you the promoters for inviting over 100 CIOs to take part in this event.

S. R. SHAH, Group Head-IT, Alembic Group, Baroda It was indeed a great event and we should not think much of the smaller issues especially when the larger goal is achieved.

Nothing is perfect in this world but what makes us happy is that CTO Forum team had put in the best efforts to make this event a success.

NANDKISHOR DHOMNE, CIO, Manipal Health Systems, Bangalore

“This was my first CTO Forum event. I was overwhelmed with the quality of the event. All in all, it was a very engaging and wellmanaged conference. I congratulate the team on the success of the event.”

Do you think CIOs need non-IT business experience? How does it help shape their careers? Does it have a big impact?

Technology per se may be academically challenging to a CIO, but it should be adaptive enough to solve a business problem. The information push by the vendor is a part of the whole process in achieving information liquidity and much required agility in the value chain.

—Subrato Das VP-GSM-IT, Reliance Communications.

Yes and No! CIOs or CTOs with business knowledge are not born. Thus, the question does not hold water. What makes sense would be to ponder whether the education and role play for each technology employee should be groomed around a business function thus creating true Chief "Information" Officers.

—Titus Sequeira Experienced Technical and Business Program Management Professional, Toronto, Canada.

Dr. Bill Curtis, Director, Consortium for IT Software Quality (CISQ) and the co-author of Capability Maturity Model (CMM), in an email interview with Geetaj Channana, talks about the need for standards in software development.

To read the full story go to:

http://www. thectoforum.com/ content/qualitysoftware

OPINION

CLOUD IS PROJECTED LIKE THAT RAY OF LIGHT that CIOs have been

PRATIMA BHAGWAT General Manager IT, Loop Mobile, Mumbai

looking for.

“But, like many technologies that promise freedom from regular pain points of technology, it's filled with holes. A lot of refinement and ironing out is needed before we go in for adoption.”

To read the full story, go to:

WRITE TO US: The CTOForum values your feedback. We want to know what you think about the magazine and how to make it a better read for you. Our endeavour continues to be work in progress and your comments will go a long way in making it the preferred publication of the CIO Community.

Send your comments, compliments, complaints or questions about the magazine to editor@thectoforum.com

CTOF Connect

ASMITA JUNNARKAR Chief Information Officer, Voltas Limited

http://www.thectoforum.com/content/ tread-carefully

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INTERVIEW INISDE

Enterprise

Intel to buy securitysoftware maker McAfee for $7.68 billion. Pg 8B

ROUND-UP

Worldwide security software revenue to surpass USD16.5 b in 2010. Dramatically

PHOTO BY PHOTOS.COM

different market conditions to spur growth.

THE REVENUE from global security software is tipped to grow almost 11.3 percent, up from 2009 revenue of USD 14.8 billion, according to Gartner. Although the economic downturn slowed security revenue to 7 percent growth in 2009, organisations have indicated an intention to give priority to security budgets.

"Most segments of the security software market will continue to grow over the next few years, although a significant degree of variation is expected between the more-established and less-mature technologies," said Ruggero Contu, principal research analyst at Gartner. "Overall, security will remain one

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of the fastest-growing areas within the enterprise software market."

Gartner analysts said security software markets will weather the current economic downturn better than in 2001 and 2002, because the market conditions are dramatically different in terms of maturity, penetration, confidence in IT, and geographic and vertical mix.

During the next six to 12 months, products delivered as SaaS and appliances will continue overtaking traditional software licensing as the preferred purchasing methods,� says Matthew Cheung, senior research analyst at Gartner.

31% DATA BRIEFING

PREDICTED GROWTH OF INDIAN DOMESTIC PROCESS MANAGEMENT SERVICES MARKET. SOURCE : GARTNER

E NTE RPRI SE ROUND -UP

THEY LARRY SAID IT ELLISION Oracle CEO, Larry Ellison in an open letter to the New York Times stated that Hewlett-Packard’s board was wrong to force the resignation of CEO Mark Hurd, over a relationship with a HP contractor, Jodie Fisher. He compared the move to the firing of Steve Jobs by Apple in the 1980s, a decision that nearly destroyed Apple. He said:

Red Hat, Wipro form Strategic Partnership in India. Will offer open source solutions to enterprises.

RED HAT, provider of open source solutions, and Wipro, the Indian IT solutions and services provider, have announced that Wipro has become the first Red Hat Premier Partner in India. The two companies have strengthened their strategic partnership through joint marketing and integration opportunities designed to bring open source solutions to enterprises across the subcontinent.

Both organisations plan to collaborate in building integrated solutions on Red Hat technologies through joint investments in Wipro’s Centre of Excellence in Bangalore. The objective is to build frameworks and platforms which can be readily replicated and customised by architects and developers to create solutions for industry verticals including telecommunications, BFSI, government and defence.

“Wipro has been a Red Hat partner for more than five years and they have developed substantial skill sets across open source technologies,” said Nandu Pradhan, president and managing director, Red Hat India. “With this announcement, Wipro and Red Hat have formed a strategic partnership that will enable Wipro to deliver open source solutions in India.”

With this collaboration, Wipro will be able to offer cost-efficient, reliable, secure and scalable solutions built around open source platforms, to its customers.

PHOTO BY PHOTOS.COM

QUICK BYTE ON INTERNET & CONNECTED DEVICES

"The HP Board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple Board fired Steve Jobs many years ago. That decision nearly destroyed Apple and would have if Steve hadn't come back and saved them... their decision has already cost HP shareholders over $10b.. and my guess (is) it's going to cost them a lot more.”

—Larry Ellison, CEO, Oracle

A recent IMS research claims that the number of devices connected to the internet will increase from the current 5 billion to 22 billion in 2020. Multiple growth waves in many new connected device types to take place.

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PHOTO BY PHOTOS.COM

E NTE RPRI SE ROUND -UP

Riverbed Extends WAN Optimisation Leadership. Gears up cloud, mobility and virtualisation launches.

RIVERBED Technology has announced the release of Virtual Steelhead, a virtual version of its Riverbed Steelhead wide area network (WAN) optimisation appliance. Virtual Steelhead enables customers to deploy Riverbed WAN optimisation solutions in a wider range of environments that may have specialised requirements, such as ruggedized environments or environments with space limitations, as well as data centres that have been heavily virtualised.

The Riverbed Steelhead product family offers organisations of all sizes acceleration of applications and data regardless of location. With the introduction of the Virtual Steelhead, built for the VMware vSphere Platform, organisations will have the flexibility to provide anywhere access for employees from a comprehensive set of solutions that meets the needs of customers in any environment.

“Our server infrastructure is 80% virtu-

Workforce commitment in the enterprise

GLOBAL TRACKER

The global financial crisis has made more than 43

percent of employees feel “totally committed”

to their employer versus 26 percent who felt “somewhat committed”.

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26%

43% SOURCE: ANNUAL KELLY GLOBAL WORKFORCE INDEX POLL

alised today. The option to extend virtualisation to a WAN optimisation solution based on Riverbed’s best-of-breed Steelhead appliance will enable our continued effort to reduce our IT hardware footprint. Virtual Steelhead is built on a proven WAN optimisation solution. Virtualization is an innovative way to handle consolidation, cost-control measures, and even green initiatives,” said Searl Tate, director of engineering at Paul Hastings, a global law firm.

“As organisations continue to migrate toward consolidated and virtualised data centres, enterprises are turning to WAN optimisation to maximize IT performance and keep end users connected to their data and applications. With the launch of Virtual Steelhead, Riverbed is providing customers with a new option that extends the reach and flexibility of its WAN optimisation to new environments that often have specialised physical requirements,” said Zeus Kerravala, distinguished research fellow, Yankee Group. “The Virtual Steelhead enables organisations to overcome performance challenges in a variety of environments, including military zones, emergency scenarios with first responders and transient worksites.”

“The Virtual Steelhead appliance will allow us to deploy WAN optimization to remote locations with satellite links as the only means of data communication,” said Jon Rudol, senior systems engineer of FHI, a global health and development organisation. “We see great optimisation benefits with the Steelhead appliances today, and believe the Virtual Steelhead will only further our gains, by allowing us to reduce our hardware footprint, especially since most of our field offices are severely spaceconstrained and subjected to harsh environmental conditions.”

"Our customers will benefit from Riverbed’s Virtual Steelhead built to run on the VMware vSphere platform to provide optimum performance in virtualised environments," said Parag Patel, vice president, Global Strategic Alliances at VMware. "The new solution is designed to enable customers to extend the effectiveness of virtualised data centres and an assortment of unique environments without compromising performance or productivity regardless of location.”

A QUESTION OF ANSWERS

JIM WHITEHURST

Happy Promises: CIO must not accept whatever the cloud providers are saying as facts.

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STEVE HANNA

A QUESTION OF ANSWERS

STEVE HANNA | TNC WORK GROUP

What’s in a

Promise?

Steve Hanna, co-chair of the Trusted Network Connect Work Group in the Trusted Computing Group and cochair of the Network Endpoint Assessment Working Group in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), speaks with Ashwani Mishra on key security concerns in cloud models. Excerpts:

Cloud service providers are devoting huge resources to secure their environment. But it appears that security remains one of the major concerns for companies considering a transition towards a cloud computing environment. What, according to you, are the risks that still exist for enterprises?

There are two primary classes of risk that arise from a cloud computing environment with respect to security.

One is that when an enterprise outsources a large part of its operations to another party, there is an increase in dependency on the provider. Enter-

prise CIOs need to retain enough visibility on how their data is managed in the cloud environment and have confidence on the practices followed by the cloud service providers.

Cloud providers are addressing the security issues by getting certifications and undergoing security risk audits.

However, risks exist and these need to be managed by the CIO. The second risk is of improper separation between various cloud customers. This risk is the result of having a shared or multi-tenant infrastructure in the cloud. So we have data of multiple customers residing on a single physical server. Some of these custom-

ers could be competitors or hackers trying to break in the cloud.

CIOs have to depend on the ability of the cloud providers to set a high bar for securing their data and to provide adequate separation between the customers. Separation is of high importance in a cloud environment because of the sharing of infrastructure like servers, network and storage with other customers.

We have had a lot of cloud service providers speaking with CIOs and addressing conferences, events and finding every other opportunity to make

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A QUESTION OF ANSWERS

STEVE HANNA

them (CIOs) believe that their data will be secure. But should CIOs believe their claims?

Well, exactly. It is one thing to talk about and another to execute it with perfection. CIOs cannot accept the happy promises of the cloud providers as being factual. They need to use the best practices of the industry and ensure that the necessary protection is in place.

I would advise CIOs who are considering moving to a cloud environment to refer to the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) guidance in all of the different areas related to cloud security, specifically with respect to separation, as this is an area where different providers have varied approaches.

Taking the separation topic further, can you tell us the challenges in the various cloud computing models and the associated security concerns that CIOs must look at while planning a shift?

The various cloud model approaches are related to different layers and the types of services offered. There are three kinds of cloud service providers. The first offer Software-as-aService (SaaS), the second provide Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and the third offer Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). We can think of these services as various layers on which the cloud providers offers their services.

SaaS providers provide services till the application layer and it is their responsibility to provide security features wherever it is needed. The separation, in most of the cases, is provided at the application layer in the architecture. The risk in providing separation at the application layer is that it will only take a simple programming or configuration error to open the doors for other customers or hackers to access data.

An example to support this was the situation that Google had with their Google Docs service where they accidentally gave access to customers’ documents.

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“CIOs have to depend on the ability of the cloud providers to set a high bar for data security”

In PaaS, the customer provides the applications that run on top of the platform supplied by the cloud provider. In this scenario, the cloud provider’s platform is responsible for providing the separation. The good thing about this service is that instead of having an application layer, we have a lower level that is more fundamental in form to ensure separation between various customer data.

In IaaS, the cloud providers provide the lowest level of service but this also ensures the maximum level of secure separation between customer data. The virtual machines used by different customers are separated by a hypervisor or a virtual machine monitor. This hypervisor is designed exclusively to provide separation.

How do enterprises look at the litigation aspects in the cloud environment?

There are several aspects and I must admit that I am not a legal expert on either international or Indian law.

However, looking at it from an abstract perspective, the cloud model

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THINGS I BELIEVE IN Separation is of high importance in a cloud environment because of the sharing of infrastructure CIOs cannot accept the happy promises of the cloud providers as being factual It is important that the liability (in a cloud services contract) be commensurate with the responsibility and authority of both the parties

is similar to an outsourcing model.

When a contract is drafted between the customer and the cloud provider, one needs to be careful that appropriate provisions are included in the contract for liability.

It is important that this liability be commensurate with the responsibility and authority of both the parties. So a SaaS provider should take equivalent responsibility from a legal perspective.

They should not wash their hands off it and put the onus on the customer in case of any breach. For an IaaS provider, the level of their liability and responsibility should be lower.

The other issue with this legal process is the jurisdiction. If the services are provided from a different location or country then you are in the hands of international law and this complicates matters immensely.

So enterprises normally would prefer having the services hosted in a jurisdiction that they are comfortable with, either in their own country or in locations where they have a strong presence.

— Ashwani.Mishra@9dot9.in

BEST OF

SAP Roadmap: Unanswered Questions for CIOs Pg 18

ILLUSTRATION BY PHOTOS.COM

BREED

FEATURE INSIDE

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DATA BRIEFING

BILLION BITS OF DATA PER SECOND IS THE SPEED OF 10 GIGABIT ETHERNET SOURCE: IDC

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On the Fast Track

High speed, long distance coverage, backward compatibility, and a boon for virtualisation...the aces are many for 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and it’s the data centre which is seeing the action. BY SUMA EP

V

irtualisation, unified communications, and data that’s doubling every year.

You wonder where all this is headed.

It all leads to increased network traffic, of course. Shoring up the network core with Gigabit Ethernet has definitely helped. But your servers now have multiple Gigabit Ethernet adapters

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driving up the need for more ports. And often your network administrators end up buying more servers to get more ports, and better performance. What does that bring in? More cables, more adapters, more power needs. Sounds like a vicious cycle.

Enter 10 Gigabit Ethernet. This lets you push 10 billion bits of data per second—that is well over the

1 billion bits per second that Gigabit Ethernet delivers. 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GbE) has emerged as the standard to interconnect LANs, WANs, and metropolitan area networks (MANs). What works hugely in 10 GbE’s favour is that it works with your existing Ethernet equipment. You and your team already know the ropes of using it.

10GbE uses industry standards such as intelligent Ethernet-based network services such as MPLS, Layer 3 switching, Quality of Service (QoS), caching, server load balancing, mainstream security and policybased networking.

10 GbE also uses full-duplex transmission, so you can think of covering a long distance for your data. It can support distances of 300 m on multimode fiber. However on single mode fiber, it can cover up to 40 kms.

That unleashes a lot of flexibility for you to rethink the connectivity of your offices within the city, or even moving your data centre to a more cost effective location just outside the city, without having to lose performance.

What’s on 10G? Not everyone needs to be on 10 GbE, nor does everyone have to move to this stan-

Enterprises today run computeintensive applications in the data centre that also require low latency and high bandwidth pushing the case for 10 GbE.

dard. You really have to work the network traffic you are looking at, before you take the 10GbE plunge. For instance, NIT-Trichy moved to a 10 Gbps backbone in 2007 because they knew video conferencing sessions with foreign universities would grow in the years to come, and they chose to be future ready for it. And sure enough the early adopters of 10 GbE have been universities, research institutes and companies with large data centres.

The Cable Story THE OPTIONS available to you are optical fiber and copper. In optical fiber, you can go with multimode or single-mode fiber. A multimode fiber has many light propagation paths, while a single-mode fiber allows just one. Multimode fiber is used extensively in the campus LAN environment where distances between buildings are 2 km or less.

For 10 GbE, the IEEE 802.3ae specification includes a serial interface called 10GBASE-S (the “S” stands for short wavelength) that is designed

for 850 nm transmission on multimode fiber. This fiber can achieve 300 m of distance with a 10GBASE-S interface. Single mode fiber is used for longer distances.

In copper, you can go with shielded twisted pair cables or large diameter unshielded twisted pair cables. 10 GbE is now usually run on Category 6a copper cables. These cables were developed because of the need to reliably run 10 GbE up over distances up to 100 m, operate at frequencies up to 500 MHz (twice that of Cat 6).

These cables also work well at reducing alien crosstalk at high frequencies.

Category 7 comes with even stricter specifications for crosstalk and system noise than Cat 6 and 6a. These cables have shielding for individual wire pairs and for the whole cable.

This standard allows 10 GbE over 100 m of copper cabling.

The cable operates at transmission frequencies of up to 600 MHz. Category 7a operates at frequencies up to 1000 MHz.

As high-performance computing has gained ground over the years with several enterprises across industries leveraging the research prowess of HPC clusters. The cluster interconnect has been GE, but applications that require low latency are looking at 10GbE. In the Data Centre: Enterprises today run compute-intensive applications that also require low latency and high bandwidth pushing the case for 10 GbE. And with rapid uptake of virtualisation in the data centre, enterprise applications can draw on pools of shared computing, storage and networking resources. To improve performance, where several Gigabit Ethernet adapters have been used, it makes sense to replace them with a single 10 GbE adapter, which over time saves becomes cost effective. This brings down cabling, power needs, and cooling requirements.

In the storage setup: 10 GbE clears the path for consolidation of your storage setup as it supports Fibre Channel over Ethernet as well as iSCSI. So your existing investments do not have to go into thin air. You get to run a single Ethernet based multipurpose network infrastructure.

On the LAN: 10 GbE can be the interconnect for clusters of servers. As mentioned in the data centre usage, you can replace the Gigabit Ethernet bits with 10 GbE segments. You can also consider 10 GbE links between switches where you need rapid data movement.

On the MAN: Gigabit Ethernet uses wavelength optics on dark fiber to cover

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BEST OF BREED

B U S I N E S S A N A LY T I C S

large distances through the use of pluggable transceivers (gigabit interface converters). 10 GbE exploits this further to help service providers create huge networks for customers. A whitepaper from Cisco, Strategic Directions: Introduction 10 Gigabit Ethernet, talks of 10 GbE in the MAN over DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Muliplexing). It says, “For enterprises, access to 10 Gigabit Ethernet services over DWDM will enable serverless buildings, remote backup, and disaster recovery. For service providers, 10 Gigabit Ethernet in the MAN will enable the provisioning of dark wavelength gigabit services at very competitive costs.”

On the WAN: 10 GbE interfaces with WAN PHY enables the construction of WANs that connect LANs that are located in various geographies, over existing SONET (Synchronous Optical Network).

Where’s it Going?

The uptake is on, but primarily it’s in the data centre. In the second quarter of 2010, IDC says that 1 million GbE ports were

Your 10 GbE Strategy 1.WHAT’S THE CAPACITY? Do you really need it? Or do you think 10 Gbps is overkill? Think again, look what at what applications you are running, and how is your data growing. Are you users still complaining of bandwidth issues despite new bandwidth management policies? Are you adding more users? How is the traffic likely to pan out in the coming years? Gear up for that traffic.

2.Not an overhaul, but the parts with the best RoI: You do not have to go for an entire network overhaul. Identify the areas that can give you a rapid RoI. This could be by consolidating servers, or integrating the networking and storage setups.

3.Work out the phases: Then figure out which parts can be 10 GbE-enabled and implement it in phases.

shipped. This is the first time this has happened. IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Networks Tracker shows a strong 87.9 percent year-over-year increase in 10 GbE switch revenue in second quarter of 2010.

The 10 Gb adoption was driven by datacenter, cloud, and campus build outs, according to the Tracker.

California based research company, Dell’Oro Group, forecasts the Ethernet Switch market to return to growth in 2010 and continue to grow annually through 2014. “We believe the performance of the datacenter will drive growth in the Ethernet Switch market over the next five years,” said Alan Weckel, Director of Dell’Oro Group.

“While we are still very early in the migration towards 10 GE for server connectivity, we believe that we will see 10 Gigabit Ethernet as a catalyst for growth in the Ethernet Switch market,” stated Weckel. The report also shows the Fixed 10 Gigabit Ethernet revenues are projected to grow the most during the forecast period.

SAP Roadmap: Unanswered Questions for CIOs

The announcement by SAP and Sybase of a new technology roadmap emphasised mobility and business analytics. But the plans were short on detail, and leave key questions unanswered for CIOs, analysts say.

BY JOHN PALLATTO

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hree months after announcing its buyout of Sybase, a 26-year-old producer of relational database software and mobile data management products, SAP brought together customers, industry analysts and media in Boston on Aug. 19 to discuss how the two companies will work together.

While SAP and Sybase executives talked expansively about what the future will bring, analysts said that the Aug. 19 briefing was long

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on promises and short on explicit statements about how the two companies will integrate their product lines.

SAP is promising that its $5.8 billion acquisition of Sybase will start to return tangible benefits for customers within the next nine months, when the two companies deliver a mobile business applications platform based on open standards that will run on many different mobile devices and operating systems.

What SAP presented was “some directional announcements but

SAP

not any clear road maps. It’s more about vision and strategy In terms of Sybase technologies, and how SAP will integrate them,” said Paul Hamerman vice president and principal analyst with Forrester Research. “What they’re saying is they have to work to do put this together.”

At the same time, it’s clear that “SAP sees a big future in mobile applications, in terms of the user experiences that they offer, as well as the freedom that they offer [ for users to] move throughout the country [while] accelerating business processes,” Hamerman said.

Mobile Breakthroughs Mobile business applications and mobile data analysis technologies are worthy of research and investment, Hamerman said, because “there will be some potentially break-through improvements in terms of using the capabilities of the device as well as the ability to be in touch with business processes any time or anywhere.”

As a result, Hamerman believes that “CIOs and business people will start to consider the potential of mobile applications going forward. But I also think that the market has to mature in terms of being able to deliver standardised, off-the-shelf types of applications.” It isn’t clear yet what SAP and other vendors will eventually deliver, says Hamerman.

For Albert Pang, president of the software industry research firm, Apps Run the World, the question is whether SAP and Sybase can move quickly enough to keep up with the rapid global move to

BEST OF BREED

market. The move to mobile applications “is a mass migration that is going on right now. The SAP strategy is going to be more effective if it directs all of its energy toward these strategic verticals” as soon as possible, he said.

While SAP will benefit from its Sybase acquisition simply by gaining the revenue stream from the Sybase relational database and mobile data access technology, it’s uncertain whether the product roadmap the two companies presented on Aug. 19 will deliver the strategic market advantage they are looking for, said Pang. “I don’t think that we are going to have a good idea about whether the marriage of these two companies will bring tangible benefits to a large number of SAP customers” until 2011 or perhaps even later.

Mobile is the New Desktop

With the mobile market changing at a rapid pace, Pang questions whether enterprise customers will be willing to wait long enough for SAP and Sybase to get their full mobile application portfolio to the

This article has been published with prior permission from CIO Insight.

PHOTO BY PHOTOS.COM

Rapid Pace of Change

SAP executives confirmed during the Aug. 19 briefing an earlier promise to continue operating Sybase and an independent subsidiary. John Chen will continue as Sybase CEO and assume an important position on the SAP management team, according to the companies. Furthermore SAP confirmed that it will focus its joint product development in three areas: Enterprise mobility Business analytics Enterprise information management The overall goal of this product development will be to make SAP “the only company in the world to deliver the full suite of enterprise software and next-generation business intelligence on any device at any time” anywhere in the world, said SAP Co-CEO Bill McDermott.

Before the acquisition, SAP partnered with Sybase to bring the SAP Customer Relationship Management suite to mobile devices.

A major driver of SAP's decision to acquire Sybase was to meld the two companies’ technologies to bring the broader SAP Business Suite to a mobile environment, McDermott noted. Now, SAP is also promising to bring its Business ByDesign Enterprise Resource Planning suite for small and midsized companies to its mobile platform.

It was clear that Sybase was already “a leader in Japan and especially China, which as we all know is now the second largest economy in the world and a place where we need to grow our business,” McDermott said.

Mobile technology has enabled business uses in China and Japan “to skip the desktop all together. In fact the mobile is the new desktop,” he added.

mobile applications. In the near term, SAP’s mobile application strategy will be felt most “among some of the verticals SAP is trying to address, [such as] banking, retail and telcos,” Pang said.

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Great

Expectations

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CEOs need to define and steer their enterprise while CIOs need to steer IT’s contribution to business success.

PHOTO BY PHOTOS.COM

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aving both the CEO and CIO in tune, with a shared vision and expectations, creates a powerful platform to leverage IT to the advantage of the enterprise. Most IT organisations have remained highly technical, their leaders conversant in the language of technology but not in business strategy. The CIOs of organisations such as these will find it tough to meet the expectations of their CEOs. It has become critically important that the CIO be at the executive table, acting as a business influencer who can advise the CEO and be trusted to help the organisation come to the right conclusions in achieving business goals.

CEOs expect their CIOs to add value by building informed relationships with key executives and making sure that IT requirements become an integral part of business strategy.

When it comes to making it to the next level, it’s the leadership skill that counts the most. First and foremost, this calls for setting a good example — so CIOs who deliver on their commitments on time and on budget have a headstart over others who aren’t so well disciplined.

Next, these “good leaders” CIO link business to IT whereas other CIOs link IT to business — and this difference in approach matters a lot. Interestingly, in most cases, CEOs are only too willing to have a CIO whose strategic thinking is shaped by long term gains. This, however, cannot be at the cost of any slackening in efforts to boost operational efficiency and cut costs. Strong CIOs know this.

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Back on the Growth Track Shoppers Stop restructured its business model to make it recessionproof and looked at technology to increase efficiency and improve customer experience. By Ashwani Mishra

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fter years of posting strong topline growth, retailers in India, just as in other parts of the world, hit the skids in late 2008. Along with many other retailers, Shoppers Stop, the K Raheja Group’s retail chain, too, faced the brunt of the recession, reporting a Rs 65-crore loss in 2008-09.

The company decided that it was time to put their house in order. The management got together to restructure the business portfolio and take cost cutting measures to combat the slump in business.

The retail player exited two formats last year. One was Argos, which was their catalogue business and the second was the Food & Beverages business.

In terms of cost cutting, the company reduced rentals by getting lot of new properties on a revenue sharing basis, by reducing power consumption, and by switching from a high-cost power supplier to a lowcost one, taking a relook at the existing advertising

The CIO is in a good position to answer and explain how a solution can help the business and what would be the returns.

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budgets, etc. The results were there for everyone to see. The company bounced back in the game recording a profit of Rs 50 crore in 2009-10.

“I can confidently say that this new model can now face any recession,” says Govind Shrikhande, Customer Care Associate and Managing Director, Shoppers Stop.

In all this process of cost reduction and turnaround, IT’s role was clearly defined to focus on increasing efficiency and identifying areas of business to replenish goods faster, get more partners connected and also identify technologies for future growth and expansion. Shoppers Stop currently operates in 13 cities with around 33 stores. In the next four years it plans to enter another 10 cities and will have around 60 stores.

“IT is the backbone of our business and we look at it to control movement of stocks and provide customer service in an efficient manner,” says Shrikhande.

To manage the supply chain efficiently, the company implemented GS1 Barcodes last year. GS1 Bar-

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CEO’s Expectations from the CIO

GOVIND SHRIKHANDE

Customer Care Associate and Managing Director, Shoppers Stop

codes are the most well known and universally recognisable part of the GS1 system of standards. Shoppers Stop has implemented the GS1 code and also pushed its suppliers to do the same. Almost 30 percent of its partner base and around 50 percent of merchandisers that the company conducts business with have complied. This has eliminated any manual intervention and improved data quality.

Shrikhande believes that this initiative will become more important once the Goods and Service Tax (GST) is introduced as the code will mitigate challenges of cross border movement of goods. This will ensure smooth flow of goods as well as information.

“This was one area where we wanted our IT team to take the lead and respond to the challenges of the supply chain by increasing their efficiency and maximising profitability,” he says.

The company witnessed volume growth of 16 percent this quarter with the average selling price and convergence up by five percent each. Sales figures have grown this quarter, and have shown a 21 percent

AT SHOPPERS STOP, our CIO is an integral part of the periodic review meetings and is in sync with where the business is heading, what the business plans are and what is expected from IT. So we consider the CIO as part of the business rather than keeping him out.

A CIO must understand the business. He may not provide the business with customer insights but can definitely provide tools to get those insights.

I do not think that CIOs should start thinking like CEOs too. If there is a guy in any function who can wear multiple hats, I will appreciate. But I will not encourage an IT specialist to start thinking like a CEO just like the CEO cannot think like the CIO

as he does not possess the skill set. This, does not mean that a CIO cannot graduate into a CEO. In any service model, I think a CIO can make things simpler. The CIO is in a position to answer and explain how a solution can help business and what would be the returns. I understand that every new IT solution may not have a guaranteed RoI. We just need to look at solutions in the right context and till date we have been able to do so.

The other important factor that the CIO must understand is that when there is a change in technology, it should have minimum effect on users.

This will reduce any resistance that may arise in its acceptance.

jump over last year’s figures. In contrast, the company had recorded a negative growth of minus six percent in the same quarter last year over the quarter of the year before last.

Shopper Stop has also started work on customer insights and analytics. Tools have been deployed to keep a track of customer buying patterns and tastes in order to increase their spending, provide more range of categories and increase their involvement with the brand.

“This will help us to access customers in the right way and increase profitability without trying to sell hard,” says Shrikhande.

Internet and mobile retailing tools are some other areas that Shrikhande wants his IT team to look at and help the company take the leap in the future.

“Customers buying on the Internet will increase in the next three to four years and we want our IT to be ready to provide the feel and touch of the real world,” he says. The company has already started offering online shopping for customers since last year.

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INTERVIEW

Partnering for Success

A new generation of CEOs — not necessarily young but innovative —have embraced CIOs as strategic business peers.

Charles Cadell, CEO, Lowe Lintas India is certainly one of them. In an interview with Ashwani Mishra, Cadell shares his thoughts on the role and expectations from his CIO. Excerpts:

PHOTOGRAPH BY JITEN GANDHI

Q: What are your views when it comes to use of IT within enterprises and more specifically for your business?

A: Any company which is in the service field will agree that the pace and the nature of change in business today are enormous. I have witnessed companies being ripped apart because they have failed to take IT into the heart of the organisation.

Take the example of a manufacturing company producing goods without having a consumer or marketing function in place.

What does it mean? It suggests that such a company is producing goods without understanding the consumer needs. The same is the case with IT; it has to have a place at the core of the business.

For me, IT is a fundamental requisite in media or any other industry. Unless I use the technology that my competitors are using, there is no hope for survival.

In the last couple of years, we have made significant investments in IT both in the hardware (laptops, servers) and software (collaboration software) areas and these investments have yielded good results over time.

Q: What kind of relation should a CEO and a CIO share? Also, when it comes to IT investments, do you see it as a cost centre or an enabler to business?

A: There should be a collaborative relationship between a CEO and CIO. Before I hired Pravin (Pravin Savant is the CTO of Lowe Lintas India), we had a good discussion in which both of us raised some key points

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“When I have to make an investment in IT, I do not look at it as a capex cost.”

CHARLES CADELL CEO, Lowe Lintas India

to ponder. He told me categorically that he wanted to be involved in strategic decision making within the company management group. This was something that I believed in and always wanted.

IT is critical within each company and especially the business that we are in. We are an extremely well diversified group and we have strong business units in place to deal with new marketing realities.

When I have to make an investment in IT, I do not look at it as a capex cost. This is because I am sure these investments will pay back in terms of productivity gains or in terms of offering products and services to our clients.

So we (CEO and CIO) are happy working together. When my CTO recommends IT solutions that are strategic to our business, he perfectly understands my expectations from such solutions. From there on, it is completely his show.

Q: Could you share a real life scenario where you have taken keen interest in the progress and deployment of an IT solution?

A: Recently we wanted to develop an efficient portal environment that would enable us to share information and collaborate easily within and across business units. We wanted an intranet that all employees could handle easily and one they could use to update themselves, and that would accommodate live news feeds and other dynamic content. This required some creative work as well.

We chose to go with Office SharePoint Server 2007 and I did take a lot of interest in the project during the deployment phase. Post the deployment we were able to put effective, usable technology into the hands of our business users. We also have the CEO’s section on the portal and I make it a point to write and reach out to users on important developments within the company.

Q: What expectations should a CEO have from a CIO given the market conditions?

A: Well I can’t speak in general, but I will tell you mine. I expect my account operations to be thorough and there should be prioritisation of strategic business initiatives. There should be a quick return on investment on IT. The CIO should provide a strategic plan using the existing workforce and enunciate the different options available to the company and only then get the management buy-in. As a CEO, I am always available to knock out any barriers or obstacles that come in the way.

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M D MALLYA

Chairman and Managing Director, Bank of Baroda

PHOTOGRAPH BY JITEN GANDHI

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Raised Expectations Bank of Baroda is using technology to better service its customers. By Ashwani Mishra

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or Bank of Baroda, the motto for the financial year 2010-11 reads as “leveraging technology for augmenting business growth and profitability.” In the last fiscal year, the bank achieved 100 percent Core Banking Solutions (CBS) for all its domestic branches.

The CBS has also been implemented in its 46 overseas branches. It launched several new IT products and services such as Online Trading Project, ATM Switch application, Phone Banking, 3D Secure Implementation under the Internet Payment Gateway Project, and Payment Messaging Solution during the same year.

“Technology has a critical role to play and it is essential that we provide our customers with the best services and, more importantly, that these services should be convenient and easy to use,” says M D Mallya, Chairman and Managing Director, Bank of Baroda.

The net profit of the bank increased 25 percent to Rs 859 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2010, from Rs 685 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Catching up In the nineties when private sector banks made an entry in the Indian market, public sector banks began losing their grip on Indian customers and their market share began to rapidly erode. The primary reason for this fall in market share was that customers found these new banks more technology savvy. Also, during this time, public banks focused mainly on existing customers and lost on to the younger generation of users.

“Initially, we were slow in the adoption of technology, but things are different now.

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In fact, we have run a bit too fast in the last couple of years to cover the lost ground,” says Mallya.

He adds that technology is a must to deliver projects speedily. There is a strong need to understand customer preferences, relationship management and customer development and accordingly tailor-make products that fit customer requirements.

Bank of Baroda attaches a lot of importance to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and believes the solution plays an important role to derive benefits of available cross link opportunities. With a bouquet of products available under one roof, there is always an opportunity to cross sell to customers. Here, CRM plays a vital role to maximise and optimise the bank’s capabilities and help in selling more than one product to a customer.

IT also plays an important role in managing the profitability and quality of the business. Managing credits, ensuring reliability and managing asset liability and risk are some aspects that directly affect profitability.

At the same time, pooling data from hundreds of branches, and ensuring that this data is consolidated and can be used for the purpose of analysis, interpretation and taking informed decisions can now be accomplished with technology.

“Going forward, banking will become more complex. We are required to implement Basel II and then move to Basel III. There are various other techniques that are introduced to ensure that the bank is able to understand, measure, monitor and mitigate risks like credit risk, liquidity risk, operational risk, etc. Each of these risks is important to manage so as to maintain the sovereignty of the system. This can only be done if technology can provide relevant information,” says Mallya.

Mallya always encourages his internal customers to be demanding in terms of their expectations from technology. At board level meetings, there is always a discussion on the importance of IT and the role it can play in driving business.

The bank has appointed Dr Deepak Phatak, who heads the SM Nilekani Chair at IIT Bombay, as a Non-Executive Director on the board for looking into various IT initiatives. The bank also has a steering committee that includes the MD, Executive

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Directors, Dr Phatak and some external consultants that drive all technology projects at the bank.

“We meet at least once a month where we discuss the progress of implementation of technology. We look at technologies that are cost-effective and relevant to meet our business needs,” says Mallya.

A new avatar

Initially, we were slow in the adoption of technology, but things are different now. In fact, we have run a bit too fast in the last couple of years to cover the lost ground.

The bank has embarked upon a massive business process re-engineering and organisation restructuring initiative and launched Project Navnirmaan in the month of June, 2009. The project aims to harness the power of technology and align the bank’s processes with technology to simplify processes across the enterprise.

It has also introduced the Baroda Next Branch Model to be rolled out in all the metro and urban branches and is intending to provide superior customer experience through improved layout and ambience, besides simplified and redesigned processes aided by self-service, front-end automation, and shifting of many transaction handling processes to different back offices to ensure efficient turnaround time. As of date, there are around ten such branches which are primarily aimed at targeting the younger generation customers.

The bank also witnessed an increase in the adoption of alternate delivery channels like Internet, ATMs, etc. wherein customers can carry out their banking activities without visiting a branch office. This has led to a decrease in the load at the branch offices and increased availability of resources to look at additional business opportunities.

“We cannot quantify in numbers how we have been benefitted by technology. To a large extent, a lot of innovation and development that has happened in recent times is due to effective use of technology. So it is technology that is driving business. Whenever we have looked at technology, it has provided us ample opportunities to think afresh and innovate,” says Mallya.

—Ashwani.mishra@9dot9.in

C E O E X P E C TAT I O N S

INTERVIEW

“We don’t sell technology within Maruti”

Car sales of Maruti Suzuki India in the rural areas of the country accounted for only three percent of the total sales. That’s when the IT team developed tools to engineer a turnaround. S Y Siddiqui, Managing Executive Officer-Administration (HR, Finance and IT), Maruti Suzuki India answers questions at the 11th Annual CTO Forum Conference.

Q: How is the IT function placed at the Maruti board level? Do you view technology as a support function?

A: In December 2007 when Jagdish Khattar, the last Indian CEO of Maruti, retired we decided to restructure our management format and chalked out a strategy that looked into business functions that were required to be on the board level. The new structure today is a part of our managing director's agenda to develop managers in Maruti Suzuki to manage growth of the company and take top management positions.

We realised that the central functions of HR, finance and IT were different from line functions. In our understanding of the current business context, everything should be business functions and not support functions. I see technology as a business function and hence there has to be a place for it at the board level.

Q: So the CIO reports into you but is present for all the board meetings and shares his views?

A: Yes. I look at my CIO to bring in a balanced perspective for two critical factors, namely, operational role of IT within Maruti and developing a strategic perspective to business.

Here, speed and effectiveness of IT solutions would come within the operational factors.

“CIO is part of the board now, he clearly understands the business challenges.”

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We, and that includes our head of production, R&D head, the CFO and CIO, have developed a vision for the company for the next five years.

Since the CIO is part of the board now, he clearly understands the business challenges.

He is aware of the strategies and should be able to provide solutions for both short as well as long term. It is the job of the CIO to take up the role of business innovation and new project implementations.

Q: How do you evaluate IT projects? As investments or as a cost centre?

A: I think there is no point looking at IT today as a cost centre as they have earned their credibility over time. I have categorically told my CIO that we are not selling technology to anyone at Maruti anymore.

When we look at projects or proposals coming from IT the first thing that we look at is whether the need to buy or implement IT is a business need.

For example look at our rural initiative: We realised that only three percent of our cars were being sold in the rural areas. We wanted to, in the very least, double the numbers. To achieve this feat our IT team got together and provided necessary information and tools for our sales force. Today, around 18 percent of our sales come from the rural areas and this clearly highlights the potential of IT. Q: What would be your advice to CIOs in general across verticals?

A: CIOs should work for the business and use their strength of technical knowledge to fill in the gaps in business processes such as HR, finance, marketing, operations, R&D etc.

It is time for them to practice out-of-the-box thinking and believe that innovation is a way of life. A CIO should thinking strategically.

Spotting the changing market trends and developing a winning strategy that differentiates the company from competition is essential to developing a competitive edge for the business.

S Y SIDDIQUI

Managing Executive Officer-Administration (HR, Finance and IT), Maruti Suzuki India

—Ashwani.mishra@9dot9.in

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FEATURES INSIDE

Striking it Hot: Use situational intelligence to stay on top Pg 34 The Inner Ear: The next level of effective communication Pg 35

ILLUSTRATION BY SANTOSH KUSHWAHA

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Refuelling with Innovation

Innovation can not only improve company performance, it could help CIOs advance their career.

BY PAM BAKER

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he familiar refrain "reinvent yourself" has never been more sound for those in search of career advancement than today. Fortunately for the CIO, reinvention is a relatively easy thing to do given the innovations IT wields every day. It's a matter of looking at those technologies differently and seeing them as much as a means to promote professional achievement as they are to improve the company's efficiencies and profitability.

"It has never been easier for CIOs to be viewed as thought leaders in their respective industries and move from positions of relative obscurity to highly desirable," said Nicholas Kinports, Digital Innovation manager at Maddock Douglas, an innovation initiatives firm with a client list that includes 20 percent of the top 100 global brands.

There are as many ways to use technologies to build your visibility, credibility and promotability as there are technologies.

But here are five ways to get you started while you think of other creative means to highlight your work and build your personal brand:

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NEXT HORIZONS

Get social: Social media allows you to come out of the data centre and face your public. It is the surest way of building your professional brand and name recognition.

It is the first step to being publicly recognised for a job well done. "As CIOs move to implement innovative social technologies they should be aware of opportunities to self-invest through social networks, blogs and micro blogs, speaking opportunities and communities," advises Kinports.

One good example of a CIO that has used social media effectively is NASA CIO Linda Cureton. Her blog is at www.nasa.gov/ocio and her Twitter handle is @curetonl. She also has a strong presence on LinkedIn. Cureton was recently promoted from CIO at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to NASA's global CIO.

Tend your keyword garden: Opportunity not only knocks, it searches for you — literally. Your current employer and prospective employers are likely using keywords to search for leaders in your field. Make sure your blogs, social media, online community involvement, LinkedIn professional bio and other online posts include keywords that help you rise to the top of search engine results. This validates your credentials as a leader in your field and raises your visibility.

Search engine results often play heavily in the decision to offer any given individual a promotion or new job position.

Innovation doesn't always mean inventing something completely new. It can be

something as simple as applying systems and tools within an organisation that has never used them to improve how a department performs.

in other words, so it's prudent to know what that word is relative to you. Work on making sure customers' memory of you is rocksolid. As it always has, reputation matters.

"Users don't care about aggregate uptime if their specific issues aren't resolved quickly," explains McNeill. Focus on keeping customers happy and making sure they know you personally.

Deploy "unexpected" innovation:

Innovation doesn't always mean inventing something completely new. It can be something as simple as applying systems and tools within an organisation that has never used them to improve how a department performs. "Even in the Support matters: "Supleast technologically innovaport is the lens through which tive of enterprises, a Rock Star everything else in IT is judged, CIO has the potential to be especially the CIO," said the Jason Kidd of organisaNathan McNeill, co-founder tional assists," explains Alora & VP of Product Strategy, FEEL THAT Chistiakoff, Digital Business Marketing at Bomgar. "Even INNOVATION IS A strategist at The Indigo Heron if a CIO delivers 'five-nines' COST-EFFECTIVE Group. "While he can't fix anyavailability and reliability, if one else's department, he can his or her support services are ALTERNATIVE help make his peers across the poor, that's what people will TO TRADITIONAL organisation successful in all remember." new ways — and then use their Indeed, look at the entire IT DEVELOPMENT success to sell himself as an customer experience to deterSOURCE: ACCENTURE innovator and team player to mine what people inside your his current or next employer." company think of you. These are the people who will speak the loudest —for or against — your advancement at this Promote innovation: NASA's Cureton, or your next employers' (you aren't the only like most CIOs, proactively stays on top of one that changes jobs). Word gets around, innovation in IT technologies outside her

63%

company walls. But she doesn't stop there.

"Some of our most cutting edge IT efforts can be found incubating here at the Centres," she said. "Under my watch I'd like to see us do a better job of making sure those best projects and practices percolate to the top and get shared across the agency."

By promoting the innovative works of others and of the organisation, you build a reputation for yourself as a leader and team player. Further, by staying ahead of emerging technologies, before your organisation actually uses them, you become the go-toperson for guidance on future corporate decisions. This furthers your visibility and standing as a leader.

—A prolific and versatile writer, Pam Baker's published credits include numerous articles in leading publications including, but not limited to: Institutional Investor magazine, CIO.com, NetworkWorld, ComputerWorld, IT World, Linux World, Internet News, E-Commerce Times, LinuxInsider, CIO Today Magazine, NPTech News (nonprofits), MedTech Journal, I Six Sigma magazine, Computer Sweden, NY Times, and Knight-Ridder/McClatchy newspapers. She has also authored several analytical studies on technology and eight books. Baker also wrote and produced an award-winning documentary on paper-making. Baker is a member of the National Press Club (NPC), Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), and the Internet Press Guild (IPG). This feature was first published in www.cioupdate.com

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AG I L I T Y

Striking it Hot

Agile companies use situational intelligence to stay on top of the game.

BY FAISAL HOQUE

PHOTO BY PHOTOS.COM

Agility is a resource

B

usiness leaders use the term "agility" to describe their business plans and strategic initiatives, but it’s often little more than just a vision. Agility is something that requires planning and a full incorporation in business and management processes. It’s a philosophy and action. And, most of all, it requires courage and commitment. But what does agility really means to business, and how does it help achieve higher levels of efficiency and success?

Agility probably has as many definitions as means for implementation. For purposes of our discussion, we define agility as the ability to see and seize opportunities in the marketplace. The flip side of that coin is resilience, or the ability to react to unexpected changes.

Agility is proactive and has a positive connotation. Resilience is reactive and has a negative connotation.

The distinction is important. The evidence of agility and resilience is an organisation’s survival, perseverance and, ultimately, success.

It has the ability to move quickly to introduce new products, revamp business processes and create new business models. And it has the resilience to bounce back when unexpected threats take their hit.

Companies don’t survive unless they’re agile and innovative. Even multibillion-dollar powerhouses must recognise when a shift in their original knitting needs to evolve in order to adopt new technologies, products and businesses as the market changes to ensure continued growth.

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Agile companies have what athletes and soldiers call “situational awareness”. They put themselves both in a position to observe what’s happening and have the wherewithal to act upon that intelligence. Agile companies establish formal relationships outside of their walls with customers, partners, suppliers and the public.

These relationships are their antennae on the world, sensors of change, either opportunistic or threatening. Internally, they tap the minds of their employees in ways other companies do not and use technology to track what is going on in near real-time.

The public is increasingly a source for inspiration and agility. In traditional product and marketing models, companies would assemble focus groups in their target marketplace to determine if they had the right look, features and messaging to sell the product. In today’s Web-based economy, companies are leveraging Web 2.0 applications and social networking tools such as Linked In, Facebook and Twitter to solicit consumer feedback and input during the design and marketing phases.

In this world, agility, then, begins with awareness: What are competitors up to? How is the market changing? What new technologies are coming along? Most importantly, what are customers thinking?

What do they need?

Creating agility Success requires many things but included among them are innovation in services and products. It also requires the continuous improvement of business processes within and across firm boundaries. These two mandates are mirror images. Innovation of services and products cannot occur without well-defined and aligned processes, nor can business processes be improved without attention to changes in customer needs.

Agile is a new paradigm for the production and distribution of goods and services. It achieves economies of scope rather than economies of scale. To be agile, firms must serve ever-smaller niche markets and individual customers without the high cost of customisation. Being agile requires the ability to sense-and-respond, and those capabilities are shaped by designing and managing business processes and technology enablers together.

C O M M U N I C AT I O N S

There are three requirements for achieving agility: Sense-and-respond capability - To respond to changes, firms must facilitate learning from various processes. This learning must operate at different levels and within different areas of the firm and should be based on recurrent sense-and-respond cycles. Business technology can facilitate these learning processes by supporting the collection, distribution, analysis and interpretation of data associated with business processes; and generating response alternatives, decisions on appropriate courses of action, and orchestrating selected responses.

Improvement and innovation emphasis Business agility combines improvement and innovation responses. Opportunistic firms emphasise improvements, but often fail to foster innovations. They follow best practices, listen to the customer, and are good at improving current capabilities.

Innovative firms, by contrast, are focused on innovating processes through new technologies, services and strategies. They

generate “next” practices, but have a limited focus on fine-tuning current operations.

Fragile firms lack both the ability to identify and explore opportunities, as well as the ability to innovate.

When market pressures are high and the environment is turbulent, the ideal is an agile firm that combines improvement and innovation initiatives to constantly reposition itself. Agile firms are able to improve existing practices and innovates new ones.

Distributed and coordinated authority Agile firms must adopt radically different forms of governance and translate their mission and objectives into information that can easily be interpreted by constituents.

Agile firms must replace traditional command and control approaches with mechanisms that facilitate coordination within and across locales. In turn, these mechanisms must provide individuals, groups and units with the autonomy to improvise and act on local knowledge all the while orchestrating coherent behaviour across the firm. In other words, processes — the assignment of task

NEXT HORIZONS

and responsibilities — must be supplemented with personal accountability.

Regardless of where you begin the journey toward agility, a converged management of business and technology often plays a critical role in establishing the strategic position required to adjust or change based on unforeseen market circumstances.

Agile organisations have the processes and structures that indicate what is going on both internally and externally, as well as the mechanisms established to act quickly on that knowledge, as needed. Such actions incorporate agility as part of an organisation’s DNA. —About the author: Faisal Hoque is an internationally known entrepreneur and author, and the founder and CEO of BTM Corporation. His previous books include Sustained Innovation and Winning The 3-Legged Race. BTM innovates business models and enhances financial performance by converging business and technology with its products. This feature was first published on www.cioupdate.com

The Inner Ear

I

To scale the next level of effective communication, prepare to shed your beliefs.

would like to start this series on effective executive communication by first exploring the area of listening. What are the blocks and barriers that stop you from being a master listener? How can we master in-flow? How can we be truly "present" to another person’s communication?

Once the muscle of effective listening is developed I will shift the conversation to the effective out-flow of communication. This will include both verbal communication and non-verbal communication.

In addition to the data, I will also include exercises you can practice to develop your skills.

Listening for possibility The challenge we all face is we live in a conditioned conceptual reality that distorts our understanding of any other person’s communication. How we are programmed from birth influences our perception. Unfortunately, the programming is so subtle that we

BY ALAN CARROLL

are not able to create a separation between our beliefs and the entity that hold those beliefs. For example, for thousands of years humans believed the earth was flat and we knew, without a doubt, that the earth was flat. For thousands of years, we knew that the sun went around the earth and knew this without a doubt also.

Because we all think we know things, in order to get the most value from the words I write (or anyone writes) you need to shift your listening from knowing to not knowing (since, in this example, listening and reading are synonymous). When Galileo says the earth goes around the sun rather than say "no”, which is not true based on your conditioned beliefs, approach the idea from not knowing. Say to Galileo, "Wow, I have never looked at it that way before. Why do you think the earth goes around the sun?"

Now you have reached a higher level of listening. You are now listening for possibility rather than listening to assess and judge the idea by comparing it to your internal programming.

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NEXT HORIZONS

C O M M U N I C AT I O N S

Possibility listening is an essential characteristic of the Master Listener.

The broadband connection People often think about communication as just the out-flow of data. However, the enlightened master communicator knows that mastering the ability to listen is truly the key to business success. That's why, if you look at any top CEO in the country, they will all share a specific characteristic of an effective business executive: they are all master communicators and real communication starts with the ability to listen, without judgment, and recreate the other person’s communication in such a way that they have the experience of being heard.

In my 30 years of observing business and IT professionals communicate, it is obvious that these skills are weak in most people.

People are so concerned with preserving their personal world of thought that they fail to recreate the thoughts of another person, i.e., they fail to listen.

One senior IT sales manager in Asia I Since most of us are lost in a world of know of got fed up with industry and decidthoughts, "dataland" if you will, our minds ed to write a book on sales. His title? Shut are always going with the next idea or the Up and Listen. next to-do item, or what we should have The greatest gift you can give other done yesterday to be more successful human being is to listen and recreate their tomorrow. This clouds our space. Our abilcommunication; to be present in a conversaity to listen to and speak our thoughts is tion and create a non-judgmental space into directly connected to our ability to create which the other person can speak. Yet doing space, which moves us out both is a very rarely seen skill. of our dataland and into the In any conversation, most of broadband connection — the us are always thinking about current moment, the current the future or the past. Yet conversation. we operate as if, and believe To understand what I'm so, we are in present time PREFER TO TALK TO saying try this exercise while all day long. To achieve this sitting quietly at your desk: state of presence or level of GREAT LISTENERS consciousness, which I call 1 Place three objects — AND NOT GREAT the "broadband connection", maybe some pictures of SPEAKERS. is doable. The broadband conpeople — on your desk 18 to nection gives you maximum 20 inches apart.

SOURCE: TEN3 GLOBAL INTERNET POLLS bandwidth to receive the other 2 Take a deep breath, close person’s communication. So rather than your eyes and relax your body. listening to another person’s communica3 After several relaxing breaths open your tion through a 56k pipe, you are listening eyes and focus your attention on one of the through a broadband connection. objects.

To achieve this state of conscious aware4 Consciously feel your feet connected to ness, which can be used in both the in-flow the floor. and out-flow of your communication, we 5 Once you feel your feet connected to the need to wake up and get control of our body; floor and your attention to the object, talk the machine that does the communicating. for seven seconds while holding eye contact

82%

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PHOTO BY PHOTOS.COM

The greatest gift you can give another human being is to listen and recreate their communication

with the object (Make up anything, babble if you want, just make sure the door is closed!).

6 Do not move your eyes off the object for seven seconds.

7 Stop, take a few deep breaths, relax your body and empty your mind of thoughts for seven seconds.

8 Open your eyes and lock your attention on the second object.

9 Repeat steps four through eight with all three objects for six minutes.

You will begin to notice empty spaces between your thoughts. Your thoughts are no longer a continuous stream but rather like stars in the vastness of space. The spaces between your thoughts become the way to reconnect to your broadband connection and free yourself from dataland.

Only then will you discover that your space of stillness was there all the time. And really the master communicator simply speaks and listens from this space —and that is why they are such effective leaders.

—Alan Carroll, author of The Broadband Connection: The Art of Delivering a Winning IT Presentation. Mr. Carroll is an educational psychologist specializing in the transpersonal field. This article was first published on www. cioupdate.com

HIDDENTANGENT GEETAJ CHANNANA geetaj.channana@9dot9.in

THE AUTHOR IS Executive Editor, CTO Forum

Stories from Ireland Big problems, simple solutions THE 11TH Annual CTO Forum just concluded in lovely Dublin, Ireland. A mix of discussions, power breakfasts, lectures and loads of entertainment filled the days. New relationships were formed, many new CIOs came to the limelight and a new category of Women CIO of the Year award was also introduced. You will hear a lot more about these things in this issue and next. What you may not see captured in some of these stories is what I want to share with you here.

While speaking to CIOs, I came across many stories of innovations.

Some have saved millions in travel by using new-age communication platforms, while others are experimenting with out-of-the-box CRM solutions.

Some are using social media to the fullest while others are creating home grown solutions and taking them to their worldwide offices. You would hear of all these engaging stories in the magazine.

In my column I would like to discuss a couple of aspects where I feel that technology could have done more to make our lives easier.

My first problem is with the checkin procedures at hotels. We arrived at

our hotel in Dublin just a bit earlier than the stipulated time and were horrified to find the rooms that were to be allotted to us were still not ready.

Checking in more than a hundred people at one go can be a harrowing experience for any hotel staff. Can we not make it a tiny bit simpler?

Let’s try and learn from toll gate attendants. They do not take more than a few seconds to issue you a ticket while you are passing a toll booth. The hotel has the passport details of the traveller in any case – can they not use it to ensure that the keys and other documentation is ready and the person is checked in as soon as s/he shows the passport?

They could probably use the MICR code scan available at the bottom of passports to make their job even simpler. Worth a thought, isn’t it?

But, the bigger story was of the Sikh and the immigration form. This was on my way back. As I took my seat, on my flight back from Amsterdam, I had a rough looking 50 year old Sikh next to me. Tired with all the fun we had in Dublin, I almost passed out as soon as I came to my seat. I woke up to find one of our CIO friends stand-

“Many have saved millions in travel by using new-age communication platforms.”

ing next to me, filling the immigration form of the Sikh gentleman. The flight was a bit turbulent and as the CIO had difficulty writing, he requested me to complete the form.

Now the matter began to unspool.

The old Sikh was coming from Glasgow, Scotland and was going to a non-descript village in Jallandhar district in Punjab. The reason he was not filling the form himself was because he did not know how to read/ write/ speak in English. He even signed in Punjabi.

Here comes my question, and the option of passport reading again.

Why does he need to fill this form?

Can the immigration authorities not learn from credit card companies who run enormous databases that track more things than a border authority could ever need. I suppose they can. They already have the systems in place with the unique code on the passport that they can use to identify a person. All that is needed is a centralised system.

Yes, it may sound too simplistic; I would need your thoughts on implementing such solutions. Do write to me at geetaj.channana@9dot9.in.

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T E CH F O R G OVE R NAN CE

SECURIT Y

5

POINTS

MOBILE DEVICES: People are using more such devices adding to the security risk PORTABLE STORAGE: Years worth of sensitive info can be carried in a pocket.

COMPLIANCE RULES: 40% say that they violate rules regularly

PHOTO BY PHOTOS.COM

PERSONAL EMAILS: 69% send classified information from personal emails FILE SHARING: Many companies lack file sharing rules

IN UNSAFE HANDS

Backdoor file transfers put enterprises at risk.

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BY LARRY BARRETT

SECURIT Y

Employees are reading,

emailing, texting and copying company files around the clock every day, putting customers' personal information, their jobs and their employers' reputations at risk in ways that were unimaginable just two or three years ago. And now the onus is on the CIO and his or her IT security team to put the toothpaste back in the tube at a time when most employees have multiple personal email accounts, smartphones with more computing power than some desktops in their office, and portable media devices and drives capable of downloading years' worth of sensitive financial information.

That sums up the findings of a new study proffered by Ipswitch, a provider of network and file transfer monitoring software.

According to Ipswitch, 40 percent of attendees surveyed at this year's InfoSecurity Europe conference said they routinely violated their companies' security and compliance rules by sending confidential information through their personal email accounts.

Worse, they said they did it specifically to eliminate any chance of an electronic trail being left on their companies' data networks and security tracking software.

"Employees will almost always take the path of least resistance, even if that unintentionally means violating company policies and breaking security protocols," Frank Kenney, Ipswitch's vice president of global strategy, said in the report. "Businesses need complete visibility into the files that are moving internally and externally company-wide, with a file transfer approach that makes it fast and easy for employees to securely exchange information with customers, partners and colleagues."

Unsaid in the report is the fact that enterprises are put in the precarious position of increasingly relying on employees to use smartphones, instant messaging, social networks and new media devices to do their jobs efficiently — even though they lack the

security technology and staff to properly manage and monitor all these applications and devices.

Ipswitch security researchers said that 69 percent of respondents said they send classified information including payroll, customer data and corporate financial data through their personal email account at least once a month. And 34 percent said they do it every day.

The security implications of this laissezfaire attitude hit home in a big way in March for HSBC, one of the world's largest private banks.

69 percent of respondents said they send classified information including corporate financial data through their personal email account at least once a month.

T E CH F O R G OVE R NAN CE

After downplaying what was first described as a minor security issue, the London-based bank finally had to admit that an employee stole the account information of more than 24,000 clients and then tried to sell them to competing banks in Lebanon before finally turning them over to French tax authorities.

"We deeply regret the situation and unreservedly apologise to our clients for this threat to their privacy," Alexandre Zeller, CEO of HSBC Private Bank in Switzerland, said at the time.

It doesn't help that consumers have been conditioned to expect more storage, clarity, functionality and speed from device and application developers. To this end, Microsoft recently rolled out "exFat" technology, short for Extended File Allocation Table, that enables flash memory cards, smartphones and cameras to handle orders of magnitude more memory than previous file systems.

While most companies (62 percent) have file-sharing policies and rules in place, most companies lack the resources or file-transfer monitoring tools in place to enforce them. In fact, 72 percent of respondents said their companies lack any meaningful visibility into files moving both within the company and to and from outside email accounts and websites.

"With thousands of gigabytes of information moving in and out of companies every month, executives need visibility into who's sending, receiving, and forwarding business-critical documents for security and compliance purposes," Kenny said.

"It's far too easy for information to get into the wrong hands, evident by hundreds of data breaches in the first half of this year alone, and unless companies communicate and enforce file-transfer policies, with total visibility and company-wide management, their risk of a breach will continue to rise."

—Larry Barrett is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet. com, the network for technology professionals. This feature was first published on www. cioupdate.com

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P R I VA C Y

Someone’s Watching!

Has technology killed privacy?

T

here is little doubt that advances in technology have radically changed many aspects of our lives: from healthcare to manufacturing, from supply chains to battlefields, we are experiencing an unprecedented technical revolution.

Unfortunately, technology enables the average person to leak personal information at a velocity that few understand.

Take a moment and think about how much of your life intersects with technology that can be used to track your movements, record your buying patterns, log your internet usage, identify your friends, associates, place of employment, what you had for dinner, where you ate and who you were with.

It may not even be you who is disclosing this information.

I recently spent some time with a friend who happens to work as a journalist with the Guardian. I was explaining how much information people disclose, both intentionally and unintentionally, and told him that I would be able to determine aspects about his movements in the past couple of weeks using only a web browser.

He scoffed as I fired up twitter and plugged in his name and literally within seconds found someone who tweeted the following: Just had lunch in San Jose with xyz at A.P. Stumps steakhouse I turned to my friend and showed him that within a couple of seconds I was able to determine that he was currently in the US, where he had eaten lunch, the time he had that lunch, and who he had lunch with and I hadn’t done anything more sophisticated then typing his name into a twitter search tool.

BY AMRIT WILLIAMS

sonal and private. People may argue that most information disclosure is innocuous. Some may argue that if you have nothing to hide why would it matter if aspects of your life are disclosed.

It matters when it’s personal to you.

Loss of privacy can have a detrimental impact on the health and well being of us all. Imagine the impact on healthcare if there was no doctor-patient confidentiality. If one knew that speaking to a doctor about a personal and possibly embarrassing condition could be exposed, one would become distrustful of healthcare providers and only seek assistance under the most extreme conditions.

Imagine that what you read, where you shop, what you buy, how you handle your finances, what websites you visit, what movies and television shows you watch, and much, much more could create a profile of you that could be used to make determinations about everything from insurance coverage to employment to where you can live and what schools you or your children would be accepted into.

This may seem farfetched to some but we already track much of this information. It wouldn’t be terribly difficult to parse, correlate and segment society based on this information.

The only thing that stands between an Orwellian 1984 and our reality is the hope that laws will limit the use of confidential information.

It is human nature to believe and to trust others. We want to believe that a rich Nigerian prince really does want to give us millions of dollars to help them move money to a western financial institution.

We want to believe that if we forward a chain letter we will receive 7 years of good luck. We want to believe that someone somewhere really does love us and we will open that email attachment to prove it.

We live in a world without secrets and we must act accordingly.

Realise that much of what you may think is confidential, isn’t. To borrow an old saying if more than one person knows something, it isn’t a secret.

It is also important to know that much of what we do online can be archived forever, so before you post that picture from the office Christmas party or your treatise on Marxist ideology and the demise of the State, ask yourself do I really want everyone to see this when I’m 64?

Technology offers fantastic improvements to our lives, but we must recognise that if we share something digitally, no matter how much we may believe it is kept confidential, it can be shared with all and it can be archived forever and there is very little any of us can do about it.

Why is privacy so important?

The fundamental element that enables a free society is based on the premise that personal and private information is exactly that – per-

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—Amrit Williams is Chief Technology Officer at BigFix, US. This article was first published at www.infosecisland.com

THINKINGBEYOND CHRIS CURRAN | chris.curran@diamondconsultants.com

CHRIS CURRAN is Diamond Management & Technology Consultants’ chief technology officer and managing partner of the firm’s technology practice. He writes the CIO Dashboard blog at www.ciodashboard.com

A CIO’s Own Learning and Development Plan Create a portfolio of options AN ARTICLE in the latest Fast Company describes “How TED Became the New Harvard – Only Bigger.” TED and Harvard are certainly not the same kinds of animals, but TED has introduced us to a broad set of

ideas and is delivering them in brand new ways. After watching the videos from afar, I’m planning to attend TED in 2011 and will certainly blog about it. New models for learning and networking like TED highlight

Diamond’s CIO Learning and Development Model Question

Description

Dimensions

Possible Tactics

What is happening in my industry, other relevant industries and my own business – now and in the future and how does it apply to me?

Industry Own Business Technology Industry Technology Innovations Leadership Management

Join an industry standards group Spend a few months working in or shadowing a business role or two (front office, back office) Join a vendor advisory council Sponsor a university technology innovation lab Develop an in house technology innovation workshop with vendors and business leaders Read The Economist, Wired, Technology Review and several blogs (topic for another post)

How?

How should I go about improving my business?

Communication Strategy Development Design – Business and Technology Planning – Annual, Multi-Year Measuring and Improving

Speak at an annual conference Co-sponsor some industry or academic research Write an article or series that requires you to do some research, interviews, etc.

Attend an executive education program Regularly author an internal or external blog

Who?

Who has effectively applied the “whats” and “hows” and who hasn’t? From whom can I learn more? Who do I need to keep an eye on?

Do-ers (and non Do-ers) Role Models Teachers

Attend a “big ideas” conference like TED, AllThingsD, etc.

Start/sponsor/support and attend a speakers series in your area Join a non-profit board Get involved in your university alumni program Guest lecture at a university

What?

why leaders need to think about their personal and organisational development options as more of a portfolio.

CIOs and senior IT leaders spend so much time thinking about skills, training, recruiting, organisation structure, third party resources, etc. for their organisations and staff that they often neglect their own learning and development. Luckily, the CIO and CTO of one of our health care clients recently asked us to help them sort through all of the opportunities they’ve been presented – conferences, workshops, councils and many others – which has given me an opportunity to focus on this subject more lately.

Led by my colleague Alex Krysiak, our team considered the individual CIO career development goals including things like technology trends, business management, and health care industry issues and mapped each of the conferences and workshops into these goals. Our clients used this information to build a roadmap for their own personal development for the next few years.

With this work as a catalyst, I wanted to step back a bit more to see if a framework for IT leadership development could be generalised. See what you think of this – I’d like to evolve it into something that you find useful and comprehensive.

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Managed Services’ Cost

SAVING PITCH Nick Lambert, Managing Director, Global Markets, Cable & Wireless Worldwide talks to Vinita Gupta about the growth of managed services in India and Asia Pacific

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How would a managed network service help a CIO and how secure is this service?

Businesses are increasingly looking at managed services as a solution to create value proposition which includes both cost savings and a competitive advantage for themselves to achieve their transformational goals in terms of business and IT, as well as human capital.

For some time now, CIOs have taken on board the idea of managed network services to reduce costs and to keep IT resources focused on their organisation’s core businesses, but not at the expense of innovation, performance and flexibility.

They are realising today that outsourcing network functions to service

NICK LAMBERT

DOSSIER NAME: Nick Lambert DESIGNATION: Managing Director, Global Markets ORGANIZATION: Cable & Wireless Worldwide

providers is an efficient way to manage IT resources to support internal processes and maintain external relationships with customers, suppliers and partners, with the added reassurance of some degree of control and in-house management and tracking, while enjoying the benefits of specialised resources of a service provider.

In the area of security, it is important to note that managed services for infrastructure are quite mature, while managed services for cloud computing are more at an innovator’s stage, so CIOs must do a comprehensive due diligence before adopting these services.

“CIOs have taken on board the idea of managed network services to reduce costs and to keep IT resources focused on their organisation’s core businesses.”

Why are enterprise managed services still at a nascent stage in India?

Traditionally, Indian enterprises have been dependent on their internal teams to manage their IT infrastructure. The concept of outsourcing or the benefits of doing so were previously not so apparent to them.

However, we have now started seeing a lot of interest from our customers around Managed Services in the Asia Pacific as well as in India.

According to a recent study by Forrester Research, the total addressable managed services opportunity in India would be around $8.27 billion by 2013, growing at a CAGR of 19%.

Hence, the managed network services space is likely to see a lot of action in the coming year.

dictable and seamless service delivery that our customers want and need.

We have just announced two new Ethernet services which will run on our MSP which has now been commercially deployed in the Asia Pacific in addition to India, the Middle East and Europe. Additionally, we have also evolved our solutions portfolio.

In the enterprise space, a continuing growth and explosive demand for bandwidth will continue to drive an increased demand for next-generation IP based solutions.

You recently launched the Multi-Service Platform (MSP) offering in India as well as in the Asia Pacific. How it will help grow your business?

Our Next Generation Network (NGN) or Multi-Service Platform (MSP) is not just about having a faster, more resilient network, but also enables Cable&Wireless Worldwide to provide enhanced support as well as pre-

NO HOLDS BARRE D

In this increasingly connected world, East-to-West’ telecommunications has emerged as the primary driver of growth as enterprises expand their business across Asia and Africa. Increasingly, we see Asian multinationals going global and Western multinationals continue investing and expanding across Asia.

Cable&Wireless Worldwide can help them with their mission critical telecommunication needs as they invest outside their home markets and set up manufacturing, sales, and service organisations across the globe.

What is the future of the telecom industry in India and the Asia Pacific? What role does the company play in terms of helping businesses and players in the industry?

There are three main trends in the telecom industry in India and the Asia Pacific at large. First, we see an increased demand for next-generation IP based solutions. Second, there is a growing desire for multinational companies to have greater flexibility and agility in their infrastructure.

Last but not least, companies are looking to become more efficient and more cost effective by making better use of communications solutions.

What is Cable&Wireless Worldwide’s growth strategy?

We have significantly grown our business in the Asia Pacific in the last few years and are still going strong. The Asia Pacific has always been a significant contributor to Cable&Wireless Worldwide’s global business, and India is one of fastest growing markets for us globally.

Partnerships continue to be the mainstay of our approach towards building collaborative relationships with regional telecom carriers, and we will continue to forge good relationships with in-country carriers to meet our customers’ mission critical communications needs.

We have been investing and will continue investing with our customers’ needs in mind. Going forward, Cable&Wireless Worldwide will continue to maintain or build network resiliency to ensure that we are ready to deliver to customer needs at all times.

We will continue to drive competitive and flexible pricing as well as provide excellent service to our customers.

Moreover, we will continue to drive and deliver value-added managed service solutions and next-generation services that ride on our next-gen network – Multi-Service Platform (MSP) – to suit our customers’ needs.

—vinita.gupta@9dot9.in

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EVENT REPORT

RE SE T T I NG F OR GROW TH

11th Annual CTO Forum Conference

Resetting for Growth Stepping into its 11th year of existence, the Annual CTO Forum conference set new benchmarks. With an overarching theme of “Resetting for Growth”, the conference sessions addressed various aspects of technology, leadership and innovation to help CIOs achieve their goals in the changed economic scenario.

This year the conference was attended by 110 top IT leaders from India representing a cross section of industry. The event was held in the beautiful city of Dublin, Ireland during 15-17 August 2010.

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DAY-01

1 PRESENTED BY

2

GOLD PARTNERS

FAST. SECURE.

Business Technology Partner

BUILT FOR BUSINESS.

Exclusive partner- BFSI & Conclave

3 KNOWLEDGE PARTNERS

PARTNER COUNTRY

1

THE MIGHTY GROUP: With CTO Forum in the backdrop, the large group of CIOs and conference partners posed for this “perfect shot”.

2

4

THE TORCHBEARER: Anuradha Das Mathur, Co-founder and Director, 9.9 Media and the community leader for CTO Forum, welcoming the delegates.

PARTNERS

Business Tech Partner

Business Analytics Partner

3

THE ARCHITECT: Dr Pramath Raj Sinha, Founder and Managing Director, 9.9 Media formally opening the conference with his introductory remarks.

BSM Partner

4

THE PATRON: Sanjay Gupta, Director Sales, Avaya India, speaking at the opening keynote of 11th Annual CTO Forum conference.

Security Partner

Documentation Partner

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THE SPEED READING SAGA: Do you have too much information and not enough time? Do you find your mind wandering and daydreaming while you read? Do your eyes get tired while reading? Could you benefit from learning faster? To resolve these complex queries, author, trainer, peak performance specialist and creator of reading genius, Ed Strachar took a two and a half hour long workshop with the delegates and shared his technique on how to concentrate to be able to finish anything in less than half the time that one normally takes. Beginning with tips to read faster, Strachar went on to share his ideas on how to become a 'reading genius'.

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FOLLOW ME: Following instructions from Strachar, the conference room converts to a classroom.

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GURU AT HIS BEST: Enigmatic Ed Strachar makes a point to the class of 110 CIOs.

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CLASS WORK: CIO delegates diligently engaging in the class work given by their teacher.

SHOUT, SCREAM, SCREECH: Despite the long travel of thousands of miles, CIOs have enough energy for a big scream!

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KEEPING WITH THE TRADITION, the CTO Forum recognised the CIOs who braved the economic downturn and applied their intellectual prowess to overcome hurdles in the most innovative and cost-effective way. Amidst much fanfare, the winners of CTO of the Year Awards, Smart CIO Awards and Woman CIO of the Year awards stole the show during the glittering award ceremony.

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DEBASHIS ROY, CIO of CESC receiving the CTO of the Year Award 2010 from Sanjay Gupta, Director Sales, Avaya.

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RAJESH MUNJAL, Head of IT, Carzonrent, receiving the Smart CIO Award (services category) from Dr Pramath Raj Sinha, MD, 9.9 Media.

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DEEPAK KORPAL, VP IT (on behalf of Navin Chadha, CIO of Vodafone) receiving the CTO of the Year, 1st Runner Up Award.

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G S RAVIKUMAR, CIO of Gati Limited takes away the CTO of the Year 2nd Runner Up Award.

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BLV RAO, VP Networks and Systems, Infotech Enterprises receives the Smart CIO Award (IT/ITeS category).

“I must compliment the CTO Forum team... I am very impressed... I had a lot of learnings to carry back. ” RAJESH UPPAL Executive Officer IT and CIO Maruti Suzuki India, New Delhi

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IT’S A HAPPY MORNING: Delegates enjoying the breakfast spread at the Lenovo Breakout Session on Hardware Refresh in the Enterprise.

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ON A SERIOUS NOTE: Rajesh Dixit, Director, Key Accounts Business, Lenovo India making a point at the breakout session over breakfast.

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NO DEARTH OF BUSINESS: Delegates discussing the issues of hardware refresh over breakfast.

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CONNECTING BEYOND BOUNDARIES: CIOs having a discussion over yet another breakout session with Avaya India.

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POINT TAKEN: Arunchandra Shetty, Head - Avaya Aura, Sales & Consulting making a point to CIOs at the breakout session of Avaya.

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‘ALL WORK, no fun’ is not a great idea at long conferences.

What’s the point in taking CTO Forum to Dublin if we don’t hear local Irish music?

Performers from a local Irish band entertaining the delegates with their melodious and soothing music.

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READY FOR IT: Before the delegates arrived in the conference room, it was made sure they were properly equipped with conference material.

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MIGHT OF A PEN: Customised pens for helping delegates to take notes.

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BAGFUL OF KNOWLEDGE: Conference kits with all the necessary tools for delegates.

“Thanks for a memorable 11th Annual CTOF 2010.

It was nice to learn from the various presentations, lively panel discussions and keynote speakers. ” SUNIL SIROHI VP IT, NIIT, New Delhi

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1 THE OPENING KEYNOTE on the second day of the conference was by Jeff Sampler, Fellow in Management of Strategy and Technology, Templeton College – Said Business School, University of Oxford. Discarding the power of Power Point, Sampler decided to engage with the CIOs on discussing the “Core Incompetencies”. By the end, delegates already had a winning formula from Sampler.

CIOs learnt a lot on how to measure the impact of technology on resources, need for experimentation and understand the “Change Process” in helping their enterprise become a “Constant Reinvention” Company.

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LARGER THAN LIFE: Jeff Sampler, Fellow, Templeton College, Said Business School, University of Oxford, London making a point to the CIOs.

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I HAVE A QUESTION: Delegates enjoyed the oversimplified yet very deep-rooted conversation with Sampler.

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QUITE CONVINCING: The delegates are spellbound during the session

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LAUGHTER IN THE END: It was fun to listen to you, Sampler Sir!

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A LOT OF ONE-TO-ONE SESSIONS took place at the 11th Annual CTO Forum conference this year. Every session added value to the attendees. Whether it was technology, strategy, innovation or leadership, those sessions were full of information and sparked a lot of debate among the attending delegates. The keynote sessions of Sanjay Gupta and Roger Camrass were very engaging.

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WELCOME TO IRELAND: Jim Cuddy, Manager – Finance and Enterprise Software Deptt, Enterprise Ireland set the ball rolling on the second day by welcoming CIOs to Ireland – a land of opportunities and collaboration

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LAND OF POSSIBILITIES: Keith McCormack, Tourism Ireland informing delegates about the infrastructure and facilities Ireland offers to host business conferences that blend work with fun.

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THE WAY FORWARD: Sanjay Gupta, Director Sales, Avaya speaking to CIOs on “Directions in Enterprise Technologies – The Way Forward”.

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TRANSFORM OR PERISH: Roger Camrass, General Manager, Europe, Wipro Consulting delivers a keynote on an interesting topic of “CIO as the Transformation Agent and Collaborative Driver of Business Growth”

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THE POWER OF C: N Chandrashekar, Special Director IT, Ashok Leyland makes a point during the Panel Discussion on “Increasing the Value of Technology in the C-Suite - Challenges and Opportunities”, while Sunil Rawlani, CIO of HDFC Standard Life and Kenny MacIver, Editor I Magazine look on.

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COLLABORATION IS KEY: Rajiv Batra, CIO of MTS India explaining the challenges CIOs face in non-collaborative environments during a panel discussion on “Collaboration & Communication - How will your business change when distances are no longer a barrier?”

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CAREFUL LISTENING: Nick Hawkins, Director Enterprise, Polycom UK listening very carefully during the session.

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WHAT AGILE ENTERPRISES NEED: Sudhir Reddy, CIO of Mindtree Consulting emphasises on the importance of collaboration and communications in today’s agile enterprises.

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CIO-CEO DEBATE: Is IT a cost centre or a strategic enabler? What should be the role of a CIO in the future enterprise?

How should CIOs make a business case for IT to sell to top management?

How should a CIO prepare himself or herself to face the management when proposing IT projects? What should be the pathway for a CIO to enter the boardroom? These are some of the many questions that hound CIOs today.

In a CIO-CEO debate, S Y Siddiqui, Managing Executive Officer (HR, IT, Finance and Legal), Maruti-Suzuki India (right) Rajesh Uppal, Executive Officer (IT) and CIO, Maruti-Suzuki India (centre) and Dr Pramath Raj Sinha, Founder and MD, 9.9 Media discussed many of these questions while delegates participated in large numbers.

EVENT REPORT

“This year’s CTO Forum was excellent. Most of the sessions were informative and interactive.

I congratulate the CTO Forum team.”

TG DHANDAPANI CIO, TVS Motor Company, Chennai

“Thank you for hosting such a fine event thousands of miles away from home. We had a good time at Dublin and learnt many things throughout the sessions.”

SANJAY RAO VP and Group CIO, SRF Limited, New Delhi

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FROM THE VERY DEFINITION of cloud to questions regarding the economics, security, and scalability of using the cloud, doubts abound. This panel discussion on “Leveraging the Cloud in New Age Data Centres” brought different dimensions and highlighted the opportunities and challenges associated with moving to the cloud.

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COULD IS KING: The panel discussion on cloud computing in progress.

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SECURITY IS PARAMOUNT: Simon Young, GM, Server Security EMEA, Trend Micro talks about ensuring security in the cloud.

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THE COMING REVOLUTION: Richard Gough, Group IT Operations Manager, Punter Southall Group, London felt that the cloud is the next wave of the IT revolution.

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MANAGING THE CLOUD: Chris Rixon, Director Field Marketing, BMC Software makes a point.

“First of all, congratulations to the entire CTO Forum team to make this a hugely successful event.

The sessions and contents were of superlative quality. ” PARVINDER SINGH VP IT, Max New York Life Insurance

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BANKING ON CUSTOMER SERVICE: (From left) Ajay Misra, GM IT Punjab National Bank; Shridhar Rane, Associate Director IT, Barclays Wealth; Dixson Almeida, Religare Asset Management taking part in the breakfast breakaway organised by Alcatel Lucent (Enterprise Market Group).

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Leveraging contact centres: Francesco Rosato, Head of Contact Centre Strategy, UniCredit Group, Italy presenting a case study during the breakout.

“Kudos to the CTO Forum organising team for the success of such a wonderful conference!

It was full of content and excitement.”

ASMITA JUNNARKAR Chief Information Officer, Voltas Limited, Mumbai

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“Any event of this size and content has its unique challenges but the entire CTO Forum team did a splendid job in managing things without any glitch.”

J S PURI CIO, Fortis Healthcare, New Delhi

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ATTENTION TO DETAIL: (From left) Rajesh Uppal, Executive Officer IT and CIO Maruti Suzuki India and Parvinder Singh, VP IT Max New York Life Insurance carefully listening to the discussions.

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INNOVATING ALL THE WAY: Sarabjit Anand, Head IT - India, South Asia and GSSC, Standard Chartered Bank addresses delegates during the panel discussion on “Innovation to Transform Business”. Other panelists look on.

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LEADERSHIP LESSONS: Dr Pramath Raj Sinha, Founder and MD, 9.9 Media addressing the CIOs on leadership issues.

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CUSTOMER IS KING: Francesco Rosato, Head of Contact Centre Strategy, UniCredit Group, Italy making his point during the panel discussion on “Attract, Engage and Excite Customers”.

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PARTNERSHIP TO PROSPER: Captain Raghu Raman, CEO National Intelligence Grid, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India speaks in his session on “Public-Private Partnership: Towards leveraging strategic synergies”.

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BEAT THE HEAT: (From left to right) Ashit Panjwani, Executive Director, Sales, Marketing & Alliances, SAS, Dr Pramath Raj Sinha, Founder & MD, 9.9 Media and Dan Barry, COO, Alcatel Lucent, Asia Pacific deliberating during a panel discussion on “How to Emerge Stronger from the Downturn”.

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POSTCARDS

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PICTURESQUE One of the beautiful streets of Dublin where modern automobiles drive through stunning traditional buildings

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RIVER LIFFEY Irish for Life, this river flows through the centre of Dublin

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ROCK ON Outside the Hard Rock CafĂŠ in Temple Bar Area of Dublin

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THE TEMPLE BAR At the heart of Dublin is The Temple Bar area which is built around a bar with the same name.

Here you can hear live music every day of the week and shop for souvenirs.

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PUBLIC ART This is the statue of Daniel O'Connell, who was the first Roman Catholic Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1841

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GREEN CITY The city has a great combination of green with the modern amenities. This statue is at the entrance of St. Stephen's Greens

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TAKE A RIDE The Irish version of a two-horse carriage. This particular carriage is specifically used at weddings

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Authors: Chip Heath and Dan Heath

HIDE TIME | BOOK REVIEW

“Rider, Elephant and shaping the path.”

The Right Path Just showing

the path won’t do.

CHANGE – something inevitable in everybody’s life, more so in an IT leader’s life. Many a books have been written on this subject, so, what makes this book different?

This book is authored by the writer brothers Chip and Dan Heath who have written an extremely enjoyable book called Made to Stick. The first book was about presenting ideas and how to make them stick in others’ minds; this one is about planning and managing change.

The authors, who prescribe a three step approach, hold the view that our mind is divided into two parts, an analytical mind and an emotional mind – comparing them with the rider or mahout and the Elephant.

This results in conflicting thoughts that we are all besieged with at some time or the other – and so, for instance, one part of your mind says that you are on a diet while the other part wants you to eat the chocolate triple sundae.

As they say in the introductory part of the book, “Our built-in schizophrenia is a deeply weird

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thing, but we don't think much about it because we're so used to it. When we kick off a new diet, we toss the Cheetos and Oreos out of the pantry, because our rational side knows that when our emotional side gets a craving, there's no hope of self-control. The only option is to remove the temptation altogether.”

Here comes the twist in the plot: the authors advocate that you must appeal to both the parts in order to get things done and manage change better. The third important part of the process is to shape the right path.

It is different from just showing the path, it is creating an environment that enables change.

For instance, the book quotes the example of a doctor who is sent to a Vietnamese village for six months, with virtually no funds but with a mission to reduce malnutrition.

Burdened by these constraints, the doctor instead focuses on finding what the authors call, ‘bright spots’.

These were children who did not suffer from malnutrition in a predominantly malnourished popula-

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ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Geetaj Channana is Executive Editor, CTO Forum. geetaj.channana @9dot9.in

tion. The team studied these households and found that the mothers in these households were feeding their children four times a day instead of the usual two meals a day in other households, though the amount of total food fed was the same. Rather than make a public announcement, the doctor chose to hold workshops for small groups of households to demonstrate his findings. The program was so successful that it reached 2.2 million Vietnamese people in 265 villages.

In this case, the rider is the direction that the doctor gave, the elephant is the will of the mother to feed their children well and the shaping of path lies in not making an announcement but creating an environment for the change and idea to thrive.

Cases such as these illustrate key points in managing change. A very brisk and refreshing read, the book manages to make its point without sounding too preachy.

HIDE TIME | CIO PROFILE

Learner for Life SARABJIT ANAND

A CIO who has his hands full running the company's IT organisation and providing good support makes for a good CIO. Right? Wrong. The CIO’s role is no longer just about operations and managing risks, feels Sarabjit Anand, Head - Information Technology, India, SouthAsia and GSSC, Standard Chartered Bank. According to Anand, the bigger part of the CIO’s role today involves understanding business and stoking the engine of innovation. This is radically different from the CIO’s role a few years ago when the position didn’t carry as much weight in the board room.

The formula for being successful, though, hasn't changed from the age old one, or so Anand feels. “There’s no substitute for dedication and hardwork,” he says, listing perseverance as the most important attribute that has helped him get to the place he is. Back in his college days, while doing his graduation in engineering in the computer science discipline, Anand spent sleepless nights preparing for his exams. Securing a distinction was his aim and he made sure he got it. Today, as he focuses on strategic issues for the company, he expends similar amounts of energy planning the various milestones of a project and exploring all “if-then” situations.

Anand has spent the last 19 years of his career with Standard Chartered

BETTING ON POSITIVE THINKING: A firm believer in positive thinking, Anand's favourite novel is The Secret

by Rhonda Byrne. "I like this because it matches with my concepts on positive thinking and has helped me learn."

He swears by the adage, "All that we are is a result of what we have thought".

TREATING THE TASTE BUDS: Anand loves cooking and experiments with different dishes. His favourite

includes different varieties of sea food and tandooris.

Anand himself cleans and marinates the fish. The family's favourite restaurant is Min Yang, the Chinese restaurant at Taj Lands End in Mumbai. Anand relishes the Drunken Pomfret and Konjee Cottage Cheese.

A MOVIE TO REMEMBER: You guessed it right. All “Bond” movies for this adventure-seeking man!

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PHOTOS BY JITEN GHANDHI

Head - IT, India, SouthAsia & GSSC, Standard Chartered Bank

HIDE TIME | CIO PROFILE

Snap Shot group. Prior to that he worked with Citibank as a system administrator and before that with Zenith Computers where he had his first brush with understanding and servicing customer requirements.

It was around eight years ago that Anand had to prove his mettle when he was asked to head ‘IT 365’, an IT service centre entity which was spun off from Scope International, the Standard Chartered Bank’s technology solutions and services arm. Anand’s mandate was to build critical processing capabilities within a strict timeframe. Anand says he got a kick out of doing the job. His successful stint helped fetch him the CIO’s role within the organisation. “I was always ready to seize an opportunity,” Anand says.

Just as important for achieving success on a project is having a strong belief in oneself and keeping a positive attitude, says Anand. That doesn’t mean listening to others in not important. “Engaging with people is very important but in the end you have to learn to go with your gut feeling,” Anand says. In the same breath, he stresses on the need to display a positive attitude. “I have seen that if you have a combination of these traits and you plan meticulously, then 99% of the times you will succeed,” he says.

An ardent sports lover, Anand played many games in his school days. Today, playing a sport and lifting weights or doing yoga, besides helping him keep fit, serve as great stress busters. "I am rejuvenated after a good workout," he says.

Anand has used his love for cricket to help him bond better with his team.

While in Chennai working with Scope International, he participated in the division's cricket team, practicing on weekends and making new friends.

—Aditya Kelekar

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Hayo rabba, Hayo rabba Carrying the dance gene present in most sikhs, Anand revels in the foot tapping beats of Daler Mehndi’s albums. "Yes, I like to shake a leg," he grins.

The family frame Anand lives with his wife Neena , a home maker who loves cooking, and their daughters, Bavneen , an eleventh standard student, and Gunveen, who is in the eighth standard.

Bavneen uses her cooking skills to delight the family while Gunveen has a creative edge and loves to draw and paint.

Lions: up, close and personal This year the Anand family took off on a trip to Mauritius where they had a close encounter with lions that gave Sarabjit the shivers. While on the guided Lion Walk activity, the Anands got to pat the lions. At that time, the fear factor was very much there, Anand recalls.

Today, when the family get together to view the video, everyone has a good laugh! Husband, wife and daughters also did an underwater Sea Walk.

VIEWPOINT ANUJ MEDIRATTA | anuj@ace-data.com

Set the basics right Six common mistakes that can lead to data loss and downtimes

SINCE the time IT has come to existence, there has been a cause of worry to lose data anytime. With the dependence on IT increasing day by day and all businesses relying totally on applications, servers and storages, it is important to secure our business and our data and ensure we do not lose anything.

Let us understand the basics that can help avoid a disaster leading to data loss and application downtimes.

Password Policies: Authentication is the key for securing any IT operations but many enterprises end up with easy to hack password systems in their setup. The password policies should not be too simple but one should also ensure it is not too complex for the administrators to handle. If you ask for complex passwords, administrators find it difficult to remember them and end up noting them down on pieces of paper in their drawers. Similarly, it is not a good idea to keep changing passwords very frequently.

Eliminating human element of security: Today’s network admin-

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istrators have access to a dizzying array of security tools. As hacker Kevin Mitnick says, “The weakest link in any network is its people.”

It is very comforting for IT managers to know that a single employee understands their systems inside and out. But, it is not good for the organisation to rely on a single person for all network and security operations. An oft quoted example is the City of San Francisco employee who was eventually jailed for refusing to reveal key network passwords that only he knew.

In addition, employees who are too valuable in specific roles can also get passed up for career advancement and miss out on fresh opportunities.

No new tools without testing: With public beta programmes now commonplace, the temptation to rely on cutting-edge tools in production systems can be huge. Resist it.

Enterprise IT should be about finding solutions, not keeping up with the Joneses. It is also good to ensure that if there are any legacy systems, they should be upgraded to the latest to avoid easy hacking.

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4 ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Anuj is the Founder and Director Technology for Ace Data Devices Pvt. Ltd. He has been consulting, designing & implementing data storage, backup and disaster recovery solutions for enterprises in heterogeneous environments.

Logging in as root: One of the oldest rookie mistakes is still alive. Engineers who habitually log in to the administrator or "root" account for minor tasks risk wiping out valuable data or even entire systems by accident, and yet the habit persists. Create different logins for minor admin jobs instead of logging through root or administrator.

Effective backup strategies: One thing that we all must follow is to be sure that we have a good backup strategy that suits our RTO-RPO requirements. It should cover all our critical servers/desktops. We should ensure that our backup media is kept safely. Regular recovery drills should be performed, to ensure safety. These help in checking the state of media as well as testing the skills and recovery procedures.

Choose specialised vendors: Time has come now to change our approach. We can no more rely on a single vendor concept and should rather work on the concept of working with multiple vendors and choose the one with domain expertise.

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