CIO April 15, 2015 by Sreekanth Sastry

RAISING THEIR SIGHTS

Century Plyboards ropes in digital inspection. 15 IT WITH AN EDGE

www.cio.in

How Ola integrates transport and tech. 22 FIELD DAY!

Mobile solution eases farmer's field day. 34 PREPARE FOR DIGITAL AFTERLIFE

B U S I N E SS T EC H N O LO G Y L E A D E R S H I P

Now your social accounts can be inherited 39

The New MATH

April 15, 2015

`100.00

Today’s data-driven business runs on the almighty algorithm. But if you’re not careful, those geeky formulas can stir up legal and ethical trouble. 28

PLUS

Make in India Isn’t Good Enough What we need to ensure is that our import policies don’t hurt local companies, says S.M. Lodha, Chairman, Indsur Group. 19

VOLUME 10, NO. 6

April 15, 2015

Start

From the Editor in Chief 2 Trending 5 Numbers You Need 6 Quick Fix 8 Career Path 10 World View 14

The New Math

Grow I N N OVAT I O N & B U S I N E S S VA LU E

Century Plyboards’ veneer lounge goes digital 15 Where the world dumps its e-waste 16 What’s next? Future planning isn’t that cool 18 Why Indsur Group isn’t dependent on Make in India 19 push 19 Integrating transportation and tech at Ola 22

Today’s data-driven business runs on the almighty algorithm. But if you’re not careful, those geeky formulas can stir up legal and ethical trouble. COVER STORY

BY K I M S . N AS H

Run L E A D E R S H I P & O P E R AT I O N A L E XC E L L E N C E

Mobile solution makes a farmer’s day 34 Finally! A 3D-printed jet engine 36 Robotic gloves eases stroke victims’ lives 36 Get this checklist right for networking online 37 A label that makes or breaks a CIO 38

Connect P E E R A DV I C E

COVER DESIGN BY UNNIKRISHNAN AV IMAGE THINKSTOCK

Who will inherit your social accounts? 39 Apologize to fix things better 41 Control isn’t a metric to judge performance 42 What can IT Unions achieve? 43

Finish

Japan’s inspiration to mass produce drones 44

www.cio.in

APRIL 15, 2015

PUBLISHER, PRESIDENT & CEO

FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CONSULTING EDITORS EXECUTIVE EDITOR DEPUTY EDITOR FEATURES EDITOR CONSULTING ASSISTANT EDITOR ASSISTANT EDITORS PRINCIPAL CORRESPONDENTS VIDEO EDITORS LEAD DESIGNERS SENIOR DESIGNERS TRAINEE JOURNALISTS

start

No Small Change 4

The five predictions that I’d made in my February editorial on chang-

ing IT department dynamics have led to a series of conversations with CIOs, most of whom agreed that direct reports are going to be less about technology skills and more about the soft power aspects of management. Imagine my delight when the World Economic Forum’s recent report ‘New Vision For Education—Unlocking The Potential of Technology’ said the following: “To thrive in a rapidly evolving, technology-mediated world,” the report begins, “students must not only possess strong skills in areas such as language arts, mathematics and science, but they must also be adept at skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, persistence, collaboration and curiosity.” Outside of what the report terms foundational literacies like math, science and culture, the report points to competencies and traits that are now critical. Competencies like problem solving, creativity, communication and collaboration and qualities like curiosity, initiative, grit, adaptability and social awareness. Given that core technology skills can be hired with greater ease than before, aren’t these that competencies and traits that you really need in the IT department to make yours a digital enterprise? As technology delivery and sourcing increasingly is the responsibility of third-party IT providers—cloud or outsourcing—it’s clear that your department has to prove it’s worth in areas that are beyond the pale of IT. For instance, in handling relationships with lines of business as well as technology providers or in improving processes that allow better ‘speccing’ or improving the rigor of delivery estimates or even applying frameworks that reduce variability in output. These are where I see the gaps today. I see departments that are still too much about the technology and not enough about the business. And, its worrying that when the baton of technology passes to providers beyond an organization’s perimeter, questions are bound to be asked about the value that the IT department provides. If that value lies in just the monitoring of delivery and sourcing, then that will likely be transient at best. Change your department’s goalposts now or you might have to deal with someone changing them for you.

Louis D’Mello

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Sudhir Kamath Sudhir Argula Siddharth Singh Jaideep M. Sakshee Bagri Nadira Hyder Arjun Punchappady, Benjamin Jeevanraj, Cleanne Serrao, Margaret DCosta MARKETING ASSOCIATE Varsh Shetty LEAD DESIGNER Jithesh C.C. MANAGEMENT TRAINEES Aditya Sawant, Bhavya Mishra, Brijesh Saxena, Chitiz Gupta, Deepali Patel, Deepinder Singh, Eshant Oguri, Mayur Shah, R. Venkat Raman OPERATIONS

VICE PRESIDENT HR & OPERATIONS FINANCIAL CONTROLLER CIO SR. MANAGER OPERATIONS SR. MANAGER ACCOUNTS SR. MANAGER PRODUCTION MANAGER OPERATIONS EA TO THE CEO MANAGER CREDIT CONTROL ASSISTANT MGR. ACCOUNTS

Rupesh Sreedharan Sivaramakrishnan T.P. Pavan Mehra Ajay Adhikari, Pooja Chhabra Sasi Kumar V. T.K. Karunakaran Dinesh P. Tharuna Paul Prachi Gupta Poornima

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without prior written permission from the publisher. Address requests for customized reprints to IDG Media Private Limited, Geetha Building, 49, 3rd Cross, Mission Road, Bangalore - 560 027, India. IDG Media Private Limited is an IDG (International Data Group) company.

Vijay Ramachandran, Editor-in-Chief vijay_r@cio.in Printed and Published by Louis D’Mello on behalf of IDG Media Private Limited, Geetha Building, 49, 3rd Cross, Mission Road, Bangalore - 560 027. Editor: Louis D’Mello Printed at Manipal Press Ltd., Press Corner, Tile Factory Road, Manipal, Udupi, Karnataka - 576 104.

APRIL 15, 2015

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www.cio.in

4/14/2015 11:41:49 AM

start

n Kumar

TRENDING

Self-driving Cars Could Save $190B A Year

without prints to ,

Nurse Robot Gets a Softer Touch If the thought of a giant robot bear picking you up doesn’t sound too scary,

consider spending your old age in Japan. State-backed research center Riken is developing a bear-like intelligent lifting machine that can help move elderly and bedridden patients into wheelchairs and beds. Equipped with giant padded arms, Robear is the latest in a line of prototype nurse robots designed to take on some of the backbreaking work of caregivers who must lift patients an average of 40 times per day in Japan, which has a rapidly greying population. In contrast to the earlier prototypes Riba and Riba II, Robear is capable of gentler movements because it has capacitance-type tactile sensors that feed data to its actuators, which in turn can quickly sense any resistance to exerted force from patients’ bodies. The tactile sensors are based on auto parts maker Sumitomo Riko’s Smart Rubber, a flexible rubber sensor that can measure pressure and deformation. The robot also has six-axis torque sensors, cameras, a microphone and 27 degrees of freedom, or axes of motion. At 140 kilograms, the 1.5-meter-tall Robear is 90kg lighter than Riba II, unveiled in 2011. Engineers gave it a smaller base with retractable legs that can be deployed for stability during lifting operations. The legs can be stowed to move the robot around. A YouTube video by Riken shows Robear slowly embracing and lifting men as they hug its head, which resembles that of a cartoon polar bear. The droid still requires human control, however--either by manually guiding its arm or via a linked Android tablet--and its lifting capacity is still only 80kg. It can operate for about four hours on a charge of its lithium-ion batteries. Though Robear comes from a line of nurse-bot prototypes going back to Ri-Man in 2006, Riken is not aiming to commercialize the machine; it hopes the technologies could go into a practical nursing-care robot. –By Tim Hornyak

Each year, roadway crashes account for $212 billion in damages, including deaths, non-fatal but disabling injuries, hospitalizations and property damage. If advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) achieve anticipated adoption rates, up to 90 percent of vehicle collisions could be avoided, saving up to $190 billion each year in the U.S. alone, according to a new study. For example, 2.5 million Americans each year go to a hospital emergency department for crash injuries at an average cost of $3,300--and nearly 200,000 of those people are hospitalized. Hospitalizations for crash-related injuries over a person’s lifetime cost, on average, $57,000. The study from McKinsey & Company said ADAS, or autonomous vehicles, could also improve traffic flow and free up time spent in the car for other activities.What other activities? Why, surfing the Internet, of course. On average, 1.2 billion people spend 50 minutes driving in the car per day. Commuters around the world waste time in traffic jams, with the average commuter in large urban areas in the U.S. spending 52 hours per year stuck in traffic. “This could potentially generate global digital media revenues of [$5.6 billion] for every additional minute people spend on the mobile Internet while in the car,” the report said. In total, that adds up to about $140 billion per year in new revenue, even if only half of the 50 minutes is spent online. Parking space would also see an increase with self-driving cars, as up to 15 percent of the parking width could be saved in ADAS dedicated parking, the study said. People would simply exit a car, and it would go park itself without needing the additional space for driver and passengers to get out. — By Lucas Mearian

ted,

I M A G E S O U R C E : T H I N K S TO C K . C O M

Road,

www.cio.in

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APRIL 15, 2015

4/14/2015 11:41:50 AM

Indian E-com Jumps Off Shelves start

Indian e-commerce industry evolves but still faces stiff competition from global sites. BY M A D H AV M O H A N

Internet penetration has reached far and wide in

India. And, one of the major benefactors of this boom is the online shopping industry, which is growing exponentially and is estimated to be worth $60-70 billion (about Rs 360,000 crore) by 2020. According to a survey carried out by Dyn, an Internet performance company, more than 50 percent of the consumers surveyed preferred the online shopping experience to that of a physical one. The survey also indicates that 2015 will witness an 89 percent increase in online shopping pattern as compared to 2014. Besides, mobile devices and apps have contributed to the success of the e-commerce industry. The survey revealed that in 2015, a huge increase in mobile shopping is expected to come from China and India, where 85-90 percent of consumers said that they will consider making more purchases from their tablets and smartphones. Around 64 percent of Indians are willing to make more purchases using their smart phones this year as compared to last year and 37 percent expect the same quality with speed of performance when shopping

on their mobile as compared to Internet. Social media isn’t left behind in the e-commerce race either. As much as 50 percent of those surveyed are likely to buy a product directly through social media via a “Buy Now” button in 2015. It can now, be said that an Indian online shopper has evolved and now, has expectations at par with global consumers. The survey indicated that 47 percent of the users who shopped online with retailers in other countries said it had met their expectations and a whopping 83 percent would still prefer to buy from global sites as it was simpler and faster. Another concern of the Indian e-commerce market is security issues that restrict customers and organizations engaging with e-commerce. About 36 percent of the shoppers are concerned about the security issues during online shopping and 23 percent of the users are worried about making app-based purchases on mobile phones.

Send feedback to madhav_mohan@idgindia.com

Online Shopping Spree Few insights into the Indian customers’ online shopping behaviors and preferences:

64 percent

use smartphones to make purchases.

50 percent

likely to buy a product through social media.

36 percent

concerned about security issues.

APRIL 15, 2015

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4/14/2015 11:41:51 AM

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quiFIX ck Fashion Grab

start

Described as Tinder for fashion, the Grabble app allows users “to swipe through the very best of online fashion.

he Grabble fashion app allows users to browse, save and purchase fashion items in one place. Described as Tinder for fashion, Grabble allows users “to swipe through the very best of online fashion”, according to the company’s founders. Every item that is swiped right is saved to the “Grabs on the go” collection. The sale alert function means that users are notified immediately when their Grabs go down in price to ensure a bargain is not missed. The app is powered by the Grabble desktop site where the Grabble community Grabs thousands of fashion products from hundreds of sites every week to create an endless feed of fashion. The additional feature of the Grab button, placed on the bookmark bar, enables Grabbers to save all their favourite online fashion items from any other site onto Grabble as well.

—By Antony Savvas For more articles, see: www.cio.in/article

WORTH READING Future Smart: Managing Game-Changing Trends That Will Transform Your World BOOK

By James Canton Dr. James Canton, a renowned global futurist and visionary business advisor, illuminates the pivotal forces and global power shifts that everyone must understand today to thrive in a rapidly changing landscape. Amazon.in Rs 875

APRIL 15, 2015

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9 Networking Tips If You’re An Introvert FOCUS ON ADVICE. Most professional networking is done in pursuit of a new job, and that can make networking awkward. Make sure you’re taking the time to broaden the conversation beyond ‘What job can you give me?’ says Seidel. “The fact that you want a job is the elephant in the room, but asking about it can also be a conversation killer. No one wants to spend time with someone if they think the only thing you want is something they can’t provide. Instead, maybe you can talk about a project that you worked on that allowed you to develop a specific skill or allowed you to travel or to learn a new language,” he says. USE TECHNOLOGY. LinkedIn is a great tool for introverts who struggle with networking in person. While it’s not a substitute for in-person networking, it is a great way to figure out who you need to connect to and why. “Do your homework. Online research can go a long way toward easing the anxiety of networking. You’ll show up well-prepared with talking points, questions and with a better sense of the person you’re meeting with. This is a great way to discover if there’s a shared interest or common technology. Then, you have common ground and something to talk about, which can help break the ice and put you at ease,” says Borre. GIVE YOURSELF TIME TO RECHARGE. Multiple, back-to-back meetings or networking events can be torture for introverts, who tend to need a fair amount of alone time to recharge. If you can, try to leave some time between meetings to rejuvenate—you can do this in your car, in the restroom, by taking a short walk outside or even on public transportation.

Sharon Florentine is a staff writer for CIO.com. Send feedback on this feature to editor@cio.in

www.cio.in

4/14/2015 11:41:52 AM

careerPATH

How to Retain Millennials start

Job hopping isn’t as prevalent among millennials as before. Here’s what’s keeping them at employers longer. BY L AU R E N B R O U S E L L

Millennials—once regarded as the job-hopping generation—may be shifting their attitudes on tenure in the workplace. With about half in established careers today, more are looking to settle down within their company. “If you believe in what you’re selling or doing, I think that’s got a lot to do with it, regardless of age,” said Krista Smith, a millennial and communications coordinator at Texas A&M University.

Going out to a startup is not worth the risk. I‘m ok with a stable company and working my way up the corporate ladder. —JACOB LILLARD, APPLICATION DEVELOPER, ATMOS ENERGY

More Millennials Seek Stability. While the laid-back office environment and fast-paced work culture at startups appeal to some millennials, others have gravitated toward stable and established employers. Jacob Lillard, an application developer at Atmos Energy said that the state of the economy when he graduated college in 2011 motivated him to find a job at an established company rather than a startup. “Everyone wants to be a rockstar. But going out to a startup is not worth the risk personally. Startups fail,” he said. “I‘m ok with staying at a stable company and working my way up the corporate ladder. I view job security as pretty important.” Lillard, who has been at Atmos since 2011—longer than the national

APRIL 15, 2015

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average of his counterparts—said that working on projects where he can see the impact of his contributions have kept him there. “What made me want to work at [Atmos] is that I could jump in on a project. It was risky, but they told me I was going to be able to start writing [code]. Their attitude was, ‘We’re going to expect that you’re good until you prove that you’re not,’” he said. Working on exciting projects has kept Texas A&M’s Smith fulfilled in her role, too. She says she’s not only proud of her job because she’s an alum, but because she contributes to big projects at the university. Millennials Value Growth, Leadership Opportunities. Millennials crave growth opportunities and

stretch assignments to help them learn and gain recognition across their organization, which ultimately keep them at employers longer. Leadership opportunities are important to millennials, too, according to a recent survey from leadership training firm Virtusa. It found that 96 percent ultimately want to be leaders in their careers. Evan Chan, a millennial and manager of the Web and mobile application development group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, started at the company as an intern and was given an opportunity to contribute to projects right off the bat. Being involved in those assignments, “made me valued to them,” he said. “JPL had no choice but to hire me. Keeping people challenged, that’s what keeps us.” Millennials Crave Mentoring. Beyond their roles in the workplace, millennials find value in networking and participating in events and trainings outside their day-to-day work in order to broaden their horizons. Ronald Vaughn, a millennial and IT director at Jacobs Engineering, has been at the company in various roles since 2006. He attends monthly meetings with crossdepartmental employees to network. He says these are “folks I never would have spoken to and I have a relationship with them now.”

Send feedback to editor@cio.in

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4/14/2015 11:41:52 AM

world Fresh Ideas from Around the Globe

vıew

Dutch Homes Use Cloud Servers for Heating

A Dutch utility is inviting five families to use radiator-sized servers to heat their living rooms for free. In a trial organized by local utility Eneco, Nerdalize will install its server radiators in five homes, using them to deliver cloud computing services to its clients. The households using the heater could save €400 (about Rs 26,400) on their annual heating bill, said Eneco spokesman Marcel van Dun. Nerdalize pays for the electricity, but doesn’t have to deal with the space and cooling costs of conventional cloud and co-location data centers, allowing it to sell its services for 30 to 55 percent less than more conventional cloud-providers, it said. The field test will take at least until the end of the year, after which Eneco will decide whether to make the system available to more households. IDG News Service

start

NETHERLANDS

3D Printing Shrinks Design Time at Volvo Trucks FRANCE Volvo Trucks has cut design and manufacturing of

tools to build its trucks from 36 days to just two, using 3D printing. The tools, usually produced in metal, have been printed in thermoplastic using the Stratasys Fortus 3D Production System in its engine production facility in Lyon, France. The move has also slashed material costs. Manufacturing director Pierre Jenny said that where small quantities or customized tools are required, 3D printing costs are as little as 1 per cm3, compared to 100 per cm3using metal. Within three months of buying the 3D printing system, Volvo Trucks had printed more than 30 different production tools for its production line operators. IDG News Service

Free Wi-Fi Spreads in Africa

KENYA Kenya has become the second country in East Africa after Rwanda to offer free Wi-Fi to the public, thanks to an initiative by Liquid Telecom and the Kenyan government. The free Wi-Fi connection will give users open access to the Internet with the exception of unlawful activities. In Kenya, Rwanda and South Africa, Liquid Telecom has put in place outdoor nodes designed to withstand harsh climatic conditions to offer uninterrupted connectivity and stable bandwidth. IDG News Service

Yahoo Exits China, Closes R&D Center

CHINA Yahoo is closing its only remaining office in China and laying off between 200 and 300 employees there, news reports said on Wednesday. The moves are part of CEO Marissa Mayer’s efforts to rein in costs at the aging Internet company. Yahoo’s office in Beijing, the company’s only physical presence in mainland China, has housed an R&D center employing engineers. Since October, the company has cut between 700 and 900 employees in locations including Bangalore, India, and Canada. The layoffs in China represent about 2 percent of Yahoo’s total workforce of 12,500 as of the end of last year. Mayer said in February that Yahoo would spin off its 15 percent stake in Alibaba, one of China’s largest Internet companies, into a separate company. IDG News Service

–Compiled from the IDG News Service

APRIL 15, 2015

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4/14/2015 11:41:53 AM

CUSTOM FEATURE RICOH

CASE STUDY

Ricoh Eases Sri Chaitanya

Group’s Printing Troubles With its speedy and cost-effective solution, and dedicated service, Ricoh provided the answer to Sri Chaitanya Group’s printing problems. By Mayukh Mukherjee

ducational institutions survive on papers. There are notes, handouts, syllabi, test sheets, examination papers to name a few. When it comes to printing their need is insatiable. The story was no different at Sri Chaitanya Group. One of the most widely sought after educational institutions, Sri Chaitanya Group runs schools and colleges across the country. And to support all these institutions, the group has approximately

Moreover, validating the volumes claimed by the vendors with the actual volume used by the branches was a tedious and time consuming process. Chaitanya schools required high speed network print devices with A3 print along with copy, and both sides printing capabilities. Sri Chaitanya Group was also keen on implementing an OMR solution. And that’s why Sri Chaitanya Group turned to Ricoh. Ricoh with its managed print

We are hoping to cut our printing costs by at least half after implementing Ricoh’s solutions. We can now monitor the number of prints each branch takes on a daily basis.” – Kalyan P, CTO, Chaitanya Group

300 print and multi-function devices from different vendors. This huge number posed several challenges. The group found it difficult to get the service support for these devices in the semi urban and remote areas. There was no monitoring system to track the counter levels. The group was dependent upon the claims made by the vendors on the amount and volume of consumables used at their various offices.

solutions and devices provided an effective solution. Ricoh leveraged its direct service network in all the metros and a strong dealer service network in remote areas to ensure robust support at all times. The equipment was classified into: Multifuntion devices to carry out Scanning, Copying and Office Print Jobs. Digital duplicators for bulk jobs like test sheets, notes, handouts-with

speeds of over 135 ppm and print costs at a fraction of a printout. The use of low cost low grammage paper in duplicators further drove down costs. Ricoh ensured a single point of contact for the group. This resource was helpful in meeting needs from sales and service to solution designing. Ricoh also proposed a centralized solution to the group. This solution would capture all the details from each of the branches of the group. This helped Chaitanya schools to have a centralized reporting on the print volumes at all the branches, right at the counter and toner levels. It would also provide the institution provide service alerts for proactive maintenance, etc. across all its branches. For the OMR solution, Ricoh arranged for a proof of concept to show that Ricoh’s machines and solutions were up to the task of OMR, PDF, TIFF and JPEG scanning. “We are hoping to cut our printing costs by at least half after implementing Ricoh’s solutions,” says Kalyan P, CTO, Sri Chaitanya Group. “We can now monitor the number of prints each branch takes on a daily basis.” Thanks to Ricoh, Chaitanya schools now have complete control over the devices for their print counters consumable usage and maintenance record.

This case study is brought to you by IDG Services in association with Ricoh

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RAISING THEIR SIGHTS

Century Plyboards ropes in digital inspection. 15 IT WITH AN EDGE

www.cio.in

How Ola integrates transport and tech. 22 FIELD DAY!

Mobile solution eases farmer's field day. 34 PREPARE FOR DIGITAL AFTERLIFE

B U S I N E SS T EC H N O LO G Y L E A D E R S H I P

Now your social accounts can be inherited 39

The New MATH Today’s data-driven business runs on the almighty algorithm. But if you’re not careful, those geeky formulas can stir up legal and

RAISING THEIR SIGHTS

PLUS

PUBLISHER, PRESIDENT & CEO Louis D’Mello

Nail the Lie 28

COVER STORY Today’s data-driven business runs on the almighty algorithm. But if you’re not careful, those geeky formulas can stir

up legal and ethical trouble. BY K I M S . N AS H

Run L E A D E R S H I P & O P E R AT I O N A L E XC E L L E N C E

Connect P E E R A DV I C E

Make in India Isn’t Good Enough What we need to ensure is that our import policies don’t hurt local companies, says S.M. Lodha, Chairman, Indsur Group. 19

The New Math

I N N OVAT I O N & B U S I N E S S VA LU E

Who will inherit your social accounts? 39 Apologize to fix things better 41 Control isn’t a metric to judge performance 42 What can IT Unions achieve? 43

Finish

PLUS

FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Grow Century Plyboards’ veneer lounge goes digital 15 Where the world dumps its e-waste 16 What’s next? Future planning isn’t that cool 18 Why Indsur Group isn’t dependent on Make in India push 19 Integrating transportation and tech at Ola 22

COVER DESIGN BY UNNIKRISHNAN AV IMAGE THINKSTOCK

B U S I N E SS T EC H N O LO G Y L E A D E R S H I P April 15, 2015

`100.00

Today’s data-driven business runs on the almighty algorithm. But if you’re not careful, those geeky formulas can stir up legal and ethical trouble. 28

April 15, 2015

Start

From the Editor in Chief 2 Trending 5 Numbers You Need 6 Quick Fix 8 Career Path 10 World View 14

The New MATH

start

www.cio.in

VOLUME 10, NO. 6

FIELD DAY!

PREPARE FOR DIGITAL AFTERLIFE

Now your social accounts can be inherited 39

For the past decade, we’ve closely researched the Indian enterprise infos-

ecurity landscape and it’s fascinating facts—an average of 2,800 attacks daily in 2014; 22 percent of breaches caused by organized crime groups; attacks on financial organizations doubling across the last year. You’d think that the increase in the number of breaches and their financial impact would increasingly make security a boardroom topic. And, that organizations would have moved or be moving from a perimeter-obsessed security focus to one that is about managing cyber-risk holistically. Nothing could be further from the truth. If security were viewed strategically, then why have the numbers of CSOs in India shrunk year on year over the past decade, even as the number of CISOs has concurrently risen? If awareness is on the increase and managements are more concerned then why has security spending actually declined by 17 percent across 2013 and 2014? The latter clearly points to the struggles that organizations go through to determine optimal levels of security spend and the RoI of the outlay. Which brings me to the former issue. The reason that security is seldom sold to management as a business enabler is about how much protection business really believes it requires. If the considered belief is that Black Swan events are like acts of God, uncertain and unpredictable, which organization will pony up the funds? Explain that to the Gujarat and Haryana electricity boards which came across the weaponized Stuxnet worm, as did an offshore rig of ONGC. Most organizations tend to look at security either tactically or reactively. So, only so much is put in place to tackle hygiene till a breach occurs, when all hell breaks lose till systems and processes are put in place to avoid a recurrence. That’s what the rising CISO numbers reflect. A tactical outlook. An outlook that doesn’t look to mitigate enterprise risk; just to paper over it. Given how much your organizations have to lose, from a financial and reputational perspective, isn’t it time to change the internal conversation? Otherwise harnessing the technologies that promise digital differentiation can lead to digital doom. What do you feel?

PUBLISHER, PRESIDENT & CEO

SALES & MARKETING PRESIDENT SALES & MARKETING Sudhir Kamath VICE PRESIDENT SALES Sudhir Argula GM MARKETING Siddharth Singh GENERAL MANAGER SALES Jaideep M. MANAGER KEY ACCOUNTS Sakshee Bagri MANAGER SALES SUPPORT Nadira Hyder SR. MARKETING ASSOCIATES Arjun Punchappady, Benjamin Jeevanraj, Cleanne Serrao, Margaret DCosta MARKETING ASSOCIATE Varsh Shetty LEAD DESIGNER Jithesh C.C. MANAGEMENT TRAINEES Aditya Sawant, Bhavya Mishra, Brijesh Saxena, Chitiz Gupta, Deepali Patel, Deepinder Singh, Eshant Oguri, Mayur Shah, R. Venkat Raman OPERATIONS

VICE PRESIDENT HR & OPERATIONS Rupesh Sreedharan FINANCIAL CONTROLLER Sivaramakrishnan T.P. CIO Pavan Mehra SR. MANAGER OPERATIONS Ajay Adhikari, Pooja Chhabra SR. MANAGER ACCOUNTS Sasi Kumar V. SR. MANAGER PRODUCTION T.K. Karunakaran MANAGER OPERATIONS Dinesh P. EA TO THE CEO Tharuna Paul MANAGER CREDIT CONTROL Prachi Gupta ASSISTANT MGR. ACCOUNTS Poornima

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Vijay Ramachandran CONSULTING EDITORS Sudhir Narasimhan, T. M. Arun Kumar EXECUTIVE EDITOR Yogesh Gupta DEPUTY EDITOR Sunil Shah FEATURES EDITOR Shardha Subramanian CONSULTING ASSISTANT EDITOR Balaji Narasimhan ASSISTANT EDITORS Radhika Nallayam, Shantheri Mallaya PRINCIPAL CORRESPONDENTS Aritra Sarkhel, Shubhra Rishi VIDEO EDITORS Kshitish B.S., Vasu N. Arjun LEAD DESIGNERS Suresh Nair, Vikas Kapoor SENIOR DESIGNERS Unnikrishnan A.V., Laaljith C.K. TRAINEE JOURNALISTS Ishan Bhattacharya, Madhav Mohan, Mayukh Mukherjee, Sejuti Das Vaishnavi J. Desai

Internet penetration has reached far and wide in India. And, one of the major benefactors of this boom is the online shopping industry, which is growing exponentially and is estimated to be worth $60-70 billion (about Rs 360,000 crore) by 2020. According to a survey carried out by Dyn, an Internet performance company, more than 50 percent of the consumers surveyed preferred the online shopping experience to that of a physical one. The survey also indicates that 2015 will witness an 89 percent increase in online shopping pattern as compared to 2014. Besides, mobile devices and apps have contributed to the success of the e-commerce industry. The survey revealed that in 2015, a huge increase in mobile shopping is expected to come from China and India, where 85-90 percent of consumers said that they will consider making more purchases from their tablets and smartphones. Around 64 percent of Indians are willing to make more purchases using their smart phones this year as compared to last year and 37 percent expect the same quality with speed of performance when shopping

ASSISTANT MGR. ACCOUNTS Poornima

Send feedback to madhav_mohan@idgindia.com

IFC

Online Shopping Spree

5 & Flap on cover IBC & 11 9

Few insights into the Indian customers’ online shopping behaviors and preferences:

17 19 insert

64 percent

use smartphones to make purchases.

50 percent

likely to buy a product through social media.

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TRENDING

Self-driving Cars Could Save $190B A Year

SALES & MARKETING PRESIDENT SALES & MARKETING Sudhir Kamath

on their mobile as compared to Internet. Social media VICE PRESIDENT SALES Sudhir Argula GM MARKETING Siddharth Singh isn’t left behind in the e-commerce race either. As GENERAL MANAGER SALES Jaideep M. much as 50 percent of those surveyed are to buy MANAGER KEYlikely ACCOUNTS Sakshee Bagri MANAGER SALES SUPPORT Nadira Hyder a product directly through socialSR.media via a “Buy Now” MARKETING ASSOCIATES Arjun Punchappady, Benjamin Jeevanraj, Cleanne Serrao, button in 2015. Margaret DCosta It can now, be said that an IndianMARKETING online shopper ASSOCIATE has Varsh Shetty LEADwith DESIGNER Jithesh C.C. evolved and now, has expectations at par global MANAGEMENT TRAINEES Aditya Sawant, Bhavya Mishra, consumers. The survey indicated that 47 percentBrijesh of Saxena, Chitiz Gupta, Deepali Patel, Deepinder the users who shopped online with retailers in other Singh, Eshant Oguri, Mayur countries said it had met their expectations and a R. Venkat Raman Shah, whopping 83 percent would still prefer to OPERATIONS buy from global sites as it was simpler and faster. VICE PRESIDENT HR & OPERATIONS Rupesh Another concern of the Indian e-commerce market is Sreedharan FINANCIAL CONTROLLER Sivaramakrishnan T.P. security issues that restrict customers and organizations CIO Pavan Mehra SR. MANAGER OPERATIONS Ajay Adhikari, Pooja Chhabra engaging with e-commerce. About 36 percent of the SR. MANAGER ACCOUNTS Sasi Kumar V. shoppers are concerned about theSR.security issues during MANAGER PRODUCTION T.K. Karunakaran MANAGER OPERATIONS Dinesh P. online shopping and 23 percent of the users are worried EA TO THE CEO Tharuna Paul MANAGER CONTROL Prachi Gupta about making app-based purchases onCREDIT mobile phones.

12 & 13

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Indian E-com Jumps Off Shelves Indian e-commerce industry evolves but still faces stiff competition from global sites. BY M A D H AV M O H A N

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Louis D’Mello

EDITORIAL

start

IT WITH AN EDGE

Mobile solution eases farmer's field day. 34

Nurse Robot Gets a Softer Touch If the thought of a giant robot bear picking you up doesn’t sound too scary, consider spending your old age in Japan. State-backed research center Riken is developing a bear-like intelligent lifting machine that can help move elderly and bedridden patients into wheelchairs and beds. Equipped with giant padded arms, Robear is the latest in a line of prototype nurse robots designed to take on some of the backbreaking work of caregivers who must lift patients an average of 40 times per day in Japan, which has a rapidly greying population. In contrast to the earlier prototypes Riba and Riba II, Robear is capable of gentler movements because it has capacitance-type tactile sensors that feed data to its actuators, which in turn can quickly sense any resistance to exerted force from patients’ bodies. The tactile sensors are based on auto parts maker Sumitomo Riko’s Smart Rubber, a flexible rubber sensor that can measure pressure and deformation. The robot also has six-axis torque sensors, cameras, a microphone and 27 degrees of freedom, or axes of motion. At 140 kilograms, the 1.5-meter-tall Robear is 90kg lighter than Riba II, unveiled in 2011. Engineers gave it a smaller base with retractable legs that can be deployed for stability during lifting operations. The legs can be stowed to move the robot around. A YouTube video by Riken shows Robear slowly embracing and lifting men as they hug its head, which resembles that of a cartoon polar bear. The droid still requires human control, however--either by manually guiding its arm or via a linked Android tablet--and its lifting capacity is still only 80kg. It can operate for about four hours on a charge of its lithium-ion batteries. Though Robear comes from a line of nurse-bot prototypes going back to Ri-Man in 2006, Riken is not aiming to commercialize the machine; it hopes the technologies could go into a practical nursing-care robot. –By Tim Hornyak

Printed and Published by Louis D’Mello on behalf of IDG Media Private Limited, Geetha Building, 49, 3rd Cross, Mission Road, Bangalore - 560 027. Editor: Louis D’Mello Printed at Manipal Press Ltd., Press Corner, Tile Factory Road, Manipal, Udupi, Karnataka - 576 104.

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I M A G E S O U R C E : T H I N K S TO C K . C O M

Century Plyboards ropes in digital inspection. 15 How Ola integrates transport and tech. 22

APRIL 15, 2015

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Raising Their Sights Century Plyboards opens a digital veneer lounge at Joka, Kolkata, to reduce the physical cost of inspection. And it does. By Madhav Mohan Sitting in your office, sipping coffee and checking all the products digitally before buying has

now become a reality. This is undeniably cool! A view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are amplified digitally by a camera. The technology looks impressive. But what motivated Century Plyboards to cash in on this idea? One of the most established sellers of decorative veneers, Century Plyboards didn’t have a rosy picture. The distributors had to come all the way to Kolkata to inspect the product, assess the timber, and then place the order. “The company had to bear the cost of transportation and accommodation of the distributors, if more than 500 sheets were ordered,” says Sabyasachi Ch. Thakur, GM, SAP and IT, Century Plyboards. “It was becoming really expensive for us to look after them.” Considering all the problems at hand, Century Plyboards decided to automate the inspection process and increase the monthly sales of timber. A digital veneer lounge was set up. “The inspection process was automated where a salesperson, with the help of a high resolution

••••••••••••• 51% of Indian CIOs say consolidating disparate systems is their organization’s top pain point with regard to the datacenter. SOTC 2015 •••••••••••••

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crunch

Getting Out of the Cloud

grow

As the public cloud becomes more popular, we’ve begun to see a

camera, demonstrated the veneer samples reverse trend: CIOs backing out of it. It’s a small number, but keep online to the distributors in any location in watching this space. India,” says Thakur. So, how do the dealers inspect and choose Partially Moving Back 15% a veneer of their choice from any location? “At the factory in Kolkata, three cameras–one Completely Moving Back 2% operational and two on standby—run on a software, connected to Dell Optiplex CPU,” Not Moving Back at All 41% explains Thakur. The camera captures and stores the details, and is connected to N.A 42% the firewall. S O U R C E : S TAT E O F T H E I N D I A N C I O 2 0 1 5 Consider this: A dealer in Mumbai wishes to see the grains in samples, the colour and depth of the product. With the help of a user name and password, the salesperson logs in, and shows the dealer samples of the product from all possible angles by operating the camera. The salesperson can zoom and focus on the samples, thus helping the dealer to have a full visibility of the product. At the same time, “Inspection As measures by countries in East and Southern there is a person at the factory costs have Africa to prevent the dumping of e-waste take showcasing the demo. effect, West Africa has become a destination srhunk by 30 The IT team collaborates for old computers, mobile devices and compowith the business team and percent. We nents. European Commission and U.N. studies works in unison to install will lower it 80 show that West Africa is becoming a dumping the hardware, testing it, and site for e-waste from various parts of the world. percent more.” training the user. The problem is compounded by the fact that most countries in Africa do not have e-waste One of the major benefits —Sabyasachi Ch. Thakur, GM, recycling facilities. The lack of facilities results from the implementation of the SAP and IT, Century Plyboards in careless disposal of electronic products. project is that there has been a Ghana, Benin, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Libereduction in the inspection cost. “The total inspection cost has ria are said to be among the hardest-hit counbeen reduced by 30 percent. Our objective is to reduce it to a tries in West Africa. In 2012, Ghana planned to further 80 percent in the next two years.” The order to cash ban imports of used ACs, television sets and cycle (OTC)—time from enquiry to order—has been drastically used fridges, but the plans were shelved. reduced by five days. Much of the recycling of e-waste that takes With the implementation of the project, Century Plyboards place in Africa occurs on an informal basis, has reaped handsome dividends. “In December 2013, the often in unmonitored dumpsites or landfills. The problem is that most African countries do monthly sales inched towards 1000 sheets amounting to Rs not yet have ICT policies to support the estab50 lakh and today, it has touched 5000, costing Rs 2.5 crore. lishment of e-waste plants. Due to reduction in inspection, the overall sales has escalated,” So far in Africa, only a few countries, includsays Thakur. ing Zambia and Uganda, have managed to The overall cost of the project was Rs 60 lakh and was impose a ban of imports on counterfeit eleccompleted in August 2013. This is indeed a feather in the cap tronic products and products, whose lifecycle for Century Plyboards. generally is short.

The World’s e-Waste Dump

Send feedback to Madhav_mohan@idgindia.com

—Michael Malakata

•••••••••••• 81% of Indian CIOs say the increasing number of business-critical applications is leading to an increase in DC complexity. SOTC 2015•••••••••••••

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CUSTOM EVENTFEATURE REPORT AMAZON WEB IBM SERVICES

Flash Technology Can

Revolutionize the Business

Sanjay Lulla, Country Manager-Storage Systems, India/South Asia, IBM, says flash storage can solve a lot of business’ problems, including the need for greater speed, increased reliability, and lower TCO. By Madhav Mohan

s companies wrestle with a deluge of data streams from social, or mobile, or legacy technologies, the constraints placed on the business by traditional storage have become a bottleneck. Flash storage can help enterprises get around these challenges. There are several challenges that traditional storage pose. According to a recent study, 70 percent of the throughput chokes in a datacenter boil down to storage. All core banking environments, for example, struggle with batch loads. The problem is that storage hasn’t always got the attention it deserves. “Over the years, we’ve realized that compute, memory, and networks have become really fast. Storage has been treated as a step child because it has largely been an electromechanical entity. Storage has been struggling for many years now,” says Sanjay Lulla, country manager-Storage Systems, India/South Asia, IBM. “Today, customers want to run transactions faster and make infrastructure more adaptable to the needs of the business,” says Lulla. Flash technology, he says, can help with this. With the use of this technology, batch loads in banking environments, for instance, have come down from 12 hours to two.

Another area where flash storage can help is around back-up. With backups, over time, internal data bases become heavy. If an IT team wanted to restore a tape, which was backed up five years ago, for example, because of a compliance requirement, backup software would have to do a good amount of searching before it located the information. But flash simplifies that. “If you run a data base on flash, you could accelerate backup and restore environments in a jiffy,” says Lulla. With so much of today’s analytics dependent on compute and storage requirements, says Lulla, “we are seeing a trend towards flash systems because they truly help CIOs solve the problem of application query latency and IO performance. The advantage of a flash system is that with rising business demands and growing IO requirements, performance scales easily. Flash systems are absolutely linear because you can take it from 10,000 to 500,000 IOs in 200 microseconds,” says Lulla. “If your requirement is 4,000 IOs or 10,000 IOs with a latency in the range of four to five milliseconds, hybrid arrays will work for you,” adds Lulla. In comparison, traditional storage systems are like dinosaurs, they are big, heavy and slow.

The real world use cases of flash show that it can speed up the business significantly. Anti-money laundering applications, for example, which could take three days to execute an end-ofmonth exercise, can now be completed in few hours with flash, says Lulla. Flash systems are also cost effective; the technology has a lower TCO than traditional storage. Economies of scale have driven the technology to a point where prices have become more reasonable. He points out that SSD is not equivalent to flash storage. SSD adds capacity— not performance. By using flash, IT departments can scale storage up while ensuring performance and efficiencies. “Most large retail organizations in India run ERP infrastructure on IBM Flash. “We are unique as we have memory-based architecture. We have seen 90 percent of our flash uptake from BFSI, across all kinds of workloads,” says Lulla. But how dependable is flash storage? “Our chips are actually loaded with an extra 30 percent capacity. We also ensure that writes are spread across cells. Whatever comes on a flash system will be protected because we have implemented enhanced checksums, over provisioning and wear leveling.” To conclude, if you need a cost effective, fast, and reliable storage strategy, flash technology could be what you’re looking for.

IT SECURITY

Future Fetish grow

Long-term planning involves much more than compiling a list of cool new things. BY T H O R N TO N A . M AY

sked to think about the future, most This means that, when you think about where personal transof us turn our minds toward technology. portation is headed, it isn’t enough to imagine the inevitable This isn’t wrong. Technology—and inforarrival of autonomous vehicles. You have to wrap your mind mation technology in particular—will be a around what the massive adoption of self-driving automobiles big part of the future. But technology isn’t would really mean. If future reality includes millions of selfthe whole story about the future. The things that will popudriving cars, how will that change us? Will fewer of us own late the future are fetish objects devoid of real cars? Will homes cease to have garages? Will meaning unless we consider the people whose The best first step the massive auto after-market disappear? behaviors, opportunities and beliefs will be to looking into the Will the “abandoner” cohort—the opposite affected by that coming technology. Without of early adopters—be especially large, with future is to do a that human element, there is no future worth hundreds of millions of people refusing to brutally honest thinking about. After all, what sets humans let their cars do the driving for them? assessment of apart from every other creature on the planet is our ability to envision laboring, living, loving, Where to Begin the situation as learning and leisuring in a different temporal Before painting a picture of things to come, it stands today. space—the future. some futurists believe, the best first step is to Planning ahead is a defining characteristic complete a brutally honest assessment of the of the human condition. My former boss, futurist Alvin Toffler, situation as it stands today. For a corporation, this involves mapin his introduction to the Encyclopedia of the Future, hypothping the industry and the markets currently served. What do esized that “every human carries inside her or his skull a set your customers think about you, your products and services, of assumptions about what does not yet exist.” Eco-futurists and your competitors? What do you think about those things? David Rejeski and Robert L. Olson argue that “What’s next?” What do your customers know about you, your products and is “the great implicit assumption of human conversation.” This services, and your competitors? And finally, what do your cusmay be part of our hard wiring. tomers think about the future—where are they headed? Those sorts of questions can also be helpful for executives trying to revitalize an internal function, be it IT, marketing, The Path Forward product development or the project management office. In a Long-term planning involves much more than compiling a list recent “futures” session, we asked a group of project managers of cool new things. What is needed is not a catalog of things we how much senior executives knew about project management. will buy in the future but a description of who we will be and The rather scary assessment was that senior executives “knew” how we will live. This is why what tends to emerge from the only 5 percent to 15 percent of what they needed to know. That allegedly future-focused Consumer Electronics Show is not enormous gap between what is actually known and what ought a cogent articulation of next-ness but a tragically trivial list of to be known should tell the project managers quite a bit about gadgets. The real future, the one that will actually happen, will what’s going on right now and what needs to happen in the be more impacted by what we believe and how we behave (the future—and technology has nothing to do with it. two are linked) than by the devices we purchase. Futuring requires crafting a narrative that depicts the intersection of technology with humans. It is not enough just to imagine a car; one must also envision the traffic jam—the FuturistThornton A. May is the author of The New Know: Innovaimplications of a technology being adopted at scale. tion Powered by Analytics. Send feedback to editor@cio.in

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THE

LEADERSHIP EVENT

E XECUTIVE P ROGRAM FOR I NNOVATION & C HANGE

EXPERIENCE

CIO Magazine is proud to announce the globally recognized leadership platform for senior-most technology decision makers - The CIO Leadership Event. This unique program is designed to engage 60 of the most influential IT leaders from across Indian enterprises to come together, discuss, deliberate, and lead the way on how IT can impact business. Set in the picturesque beach town of Alibaug, the focus of the event is to enhance your personal and business network by providing perfect environment to relax, unwind and contemplate away from the hustle and bustle of the regular office. Be it the live bonfire and barbeque by the poolside, or the sports bar dinner with a celebrity bartender, network in a relaxed atmosphere that fosters sharing, bonding and collaboration like never before.

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Toward Secure and

Speedy Productivity Jeff McNaught, VP and Chief Strategy Officer at Dell Cloud Client-Computing, speaks at Dell Inner Circle, CIO Conference, Mumbai, on how to deal with the exponential growth of data and building a secure foundation to create business value out of it. By Madhav Mohan

usinesses today, are looking forward to connect with customers on the go and what better way than mobility to handle it. But mobility invariably appears as one of the many challenges facing businesses with the proliferation of smart devices, like phones and tablets in the enterprise. But the good news is that a spectrum of solutions is available to address mobility challenges. Dell, recently, did a major study with an analyst firm to understand what is driving the mobility market and spoke to lines of business leaders across industries. “We

found out that less than 50 percent of respondents have a strategy around mobility,” said Jeff McNaught, vice president and chief strategy officer at Dell Cloud Client-Computing. Dell believe there are two things that are mobile today i.e. people and data. The amount of data is growing exponentially and the number of people who want to use it too is increasing. And in this scenario, it only makes sense for organizations to provide an effective mobile solution to its employees. “We want to give employees effective ways to be mobile.

That way they are highly productive and satisfied,” said Jeff. According to Jeff, to be truly secure, manageable and reliable, PCs should include file-based encryption technologies, which are superior to old disk-based encryption and gives Dell the ability to selectively protect organizations sensitive data at rest and enforce policies which follow the data as it travels through hard drive to any other location like drop box, USB keys or cloud-based applications. This kind of technology combined with robust VPN technology gives organizations

SPECIAL EVENT COVERAGE DELL

When higher levels of security are required, organizations should consider VDI with thin or zero clients in place and avoid extra functionality because it represents risk.” Jeff McNaught,

VP and Chief Strategy Officer, Dell Cloud Client-Computing

the critical ability to protect data at rest and in motion. But sometimes, in verticals like healthcare, it is not advisable to have sensitive data on the device. Today, desktop virtualization is hailed for its security and for some companies it is used as the core method to deliver user desktops. Dell has worked with customers and securityfocused organizations to create new solutions to deliver better desktop virtualization capabilities, including support for applications that didn’t work in the past. “Today, we are able to virtualize graphical processing units which mean organizations can now deliver even applications that are highly engineering in nature.” The organizations which have implemented desktop virtualization understand the employees and the benefits they reap. “Organizations must be clear as to why they are putting it in place because at times, employees won’t understand the deployment of this technology.” Some organizations that were early adopters of desktop virtualization found implementing it confusing, unpredictable, and a source of aggravation. How-

ever, today, Dell has made building a VDI capability far simpler than in the past. In USA, 8 of the top 10 banks use this technology because they realize that it is the best way to completely protect end points from external and internal threats. For instance, one major USA bank’s systems are hit 10,000 times a day by external threats—from foreign countries, hackers, and criminals. Many banks have converted their lobbies, customer windows as well as back office operations to thin client technology as they can turn off the easy threats like USB and shield themselves from employee accidents and well-funded criminals. When enterprises reach the decision to create a VDI, there comes a question thin or zero clients? While both have similarities each boasts of capabilities which make them unique. “A properly architect-

New technologies like vWorkspace from Dell, makes desktop virtualization affordable, easy to deploy and manage for your organization and optimizes the user-experience.” Jeff McNaught,

VP and Chief Strategy Officer, Dell Cloud Client-Computing

ed zero client is virus immune from hackers and criminals.” At the same time, he said, “You won’t see a web browser on a zero client device because it is nearly impossible to protect it in all the ways you need to.” And there won’t be a software API on a properly architected zero client. Jeff added that when higher levels of security are required organizations should consider VDI with thin or zero clients in place. Avoid extra functionality because it represents risk. “Thin and zero clients can act as an additional firewall of sorts, as they protect a company from inside threats,” he said. IDC reported Dell is the world leader in thin and zero client shipments in 2014. Virtual Mobile Infrastructure could be the next best thing in the desktop virtualization world. It promises to let you run VMs with mobile Android applications in the datacenter. “Virtual mobile infrastructure is an emerging way to simplify developing and delivering mobilefocused apps to a wide variety of smart devices, while keeping them all secure” Jeff said.

This event report is brought to you by IDG Services in association with Dell

VIEW from the TOP S.M. Lodha, Chairman, Indsur Group

What we need to ensure is that our import policies don’t hurt local companies, says S.M. Lodha, Chairman, Indsur Group. BY S U N I L S H A H

There’s been a slowdown in the growth of the Indian market for steel-related products. Can the Make in India campaign help? Not as much as fixing policies that allow the import of steel-products from China, which hurts local manufacturers, says S.M. Lodha, chairman, Indsur Group. The Mumbai-based Indsur Group has interests in steel castings, forgings, auto components, thermal engineering, pipes, steel and steel related products and has some Fortune 500 companies as clients. Its own strategy seems to indicate it isn’t depending solely on the Make in India push. The Make in India push is meant to help all industries, yet some feel that it’s a little skewed towards those in electronics manufacturing.

The growth of the Indian market for steel-related products is slowing down. What do you see in 2015?

I see a good future for the steel industry despite slower growth of 2 percent in the last few years. India is fourth largest producer of steel globally at 85MiT. China, on the other hand, produces over 800MiT. Comparatively, our production isn’t even 10 percent of what China produces. If we take a per capita steel consumption of 150 kg--against the global average 300kg per person--our steel production should be 200MiT. But we are nowhere near. Our infrastructure spending

GROW_vol10_issue_05.indd 20

Market wisdom says that China can be a source of growth. What’s your view?

I have a different point of view about “China being a source of growth”. They will always remain our competitors, and in times to come, may become fierce competitors. We have policy flaws and that is also deterring our growth. We import small things like needles, umbrellas, bulbs, tubes, fittings, and a large number of such products. Don’t you think it is harming our local industries? The trade gap between India and China is almost $45 billion. This does not auger well for India. Sooner rather than later, we will need to take corrective measures. Presently, we have no major plans for China. There are admittedly some professional and culture gaps, which need to be bridged. At present, what we could have done in China, we are doing here in India.

We import even needles, umbrellas, bulbs, and tubes. Don’t you think that’s harming local industries?

There is lot of talk, focus, and initiatives around Make in India. Make in India is a basically an emphasis to manufacture goods in India. But is this good enough? How about making it competitive? I strongly believe that, in real terms, we cannot derive any long-term benefit unless the manufacturing environment is conducive and supportive. We have to have a level playing field. We import even needles, umbrellas, bulbs, tubes, fittings, and large number of such products. Don’t you think it is harming local industries? We, at Indsur, make goods in India; we also export, we can do much more. You set up facilities and you cannot sell, then what happens? If we do not address this issue it will remain as a slogan like garibi hatao.

APRIL 15, 2015

has been very, very minimal. That needs to get corrected. Unless we do that we will only be talking of slower growth. As far as our industry is concerned, we are balanced because of our presence in different geographies. As we move forward, and see better spending on infrastructure with a five-year plan, demand for all downstream industries will get a boost. But as it stands, I don’t see a major jump in growth rate in 2015. We’ve already had 10 months of this government. We have a lot to do.

grow

Make in India Isn’t Good Enough

Send feedback to editor@cio.in

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[Q+A]

IT With an Edge

Ankit Bhati, Co-founder and Chief Technical Officer, Ola Cabs, talks about the role of technology in integrating city transportation for both users and drivers. BY M A D H AV M O H A N

What security measures has Ola taken given the recent incident of criminal behavior from drivers? First, we’ve launched an SOS feature in the app. With this, the customers can reach out to their loved ones and the authorities by a single tap on the app. Second, all our cars have a secondary GPS, which cannot be disabled by the driver. We will continue to improve our polices and technologies to ensure that customers have a comfortable and safe ride.

Our competitive advantage comes from our technology, operations, market and products. After Japan’s Soft Bank Corporation pumped in $210 million, how do plan to develop your offerings?

As we scale and grow, it becomes crucial for us that Ola becomes a self-serving platform to ensure that customers get information in a very fast and comfortable manner. In the future, our focus would be on being technologically intensive and operationally sound. Moreover, we want to use the resources of the mobile platform in an efficient way. What are the key differentiators between Ola Cabs and other taxi aggregators?

Our competitive advantage comes from our technology, operations, market and product. We work on the transportation problems of the Indian people. Incorporated autos and local transportation on the Ola platform is one example. For us technology is the solution and India is the market. With the increase in the number of people downloading the Ola app, how are you scaling IT infrastructure?

There are many technical and nontechnical aspects and we try to scale all of them. We ensure that we use leading technologies and remove all bottlenecks in the system, which

may impact the continuity of our operations or technology. We use the latest NoSql databases like MongoDB and Redis to make sure we have a fluid document-oriented persistent system, which can scale horizontally and is fault-tolerant, when it comes to high traffic. However, scaling is not only with technology or systems, but also with our overall response to customers. What are the core challenges you faced from building the application from scratch?

When we started operations in 2011, the mobile eco-system was just growing. At that time, we didn’t have people with the knowledge base to develop the application. Moreover, they didn’t know how to work in the eco-system. The biggest challenge was to get people with the requisite skillsets and experience to help Ola out in shaping transportation in India. How is IT improving the business performance of Ola Cabs?

The engineering team works closely with internal operations and stake holders. They consistently monitor how customers are using technology and how information gets fed back into the system. This requires a lot of product management, analysis and data science. Ola is focusing on these at a higher scale to make sure that all the lessons are learnt by operations team and customers. Send feedback to editor@cio.in

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THE TRIUMPH OF INNOVATION Not too long ago, innovation used to be the realm of interesting case studies—today, however, it's become an integral part of the business' DNA. That change is in response to everincreasing business complexities, the need to move faster than the competition, and the desire to keep pace with customers. The NetApp Innovation Day, an annual event that's now in its fourth year, is a celebration of the companies—and their CIOs—that leverage technology to make IT dramatically more proactive, productive and essential to creating business value. PRINCIPAL PARTNERS

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ANIL VELLURI,

OPENING ADDRESS

President, NetApp India

Celebrating India's Innovative Spirit The fourth annual NetApp Innovation Day celebrated India’s most innovative CIOs in multiple categories. “We welcome you and the innovation you bring,” said Anil Valluri, President, NetApp India, as he opened the fourth annual edition of NetApp Innovation Day. The NetApp Innovation Day is a showcase of innovation. This year it brought together some of the brightest minds to share their perspectives on innovation, including Chess Grand Master Viswanathan Anand. It also celebrated some of India’s most innovative CIOs with awards in these categories: cloud computing, big data, data storage, social, mobility, and green IT. It also had a trendsetter award. “We realize that the success you achieve stems from all the work you do, not just storage. That’s why, at the NetApp Innovation Day, we recognize IT leaders that have done exceptional work in multiple areas,” said Valluri. Also opening the ceremony was Rick Scurfield, SVP and Head, APAC and Japan, NetApp. He talked about the challenges different countries in the APAC region

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

RICK SCURFIELD, SVP and Head, APAC and Japan, NetApp are facing and how NetApp could help. In Australia and Japan, he said, the adoption of cloud technology is a big discussion; in China, it’s about infrastructure that could help with its booming urbanization; in Korea, 4G and deploying 5G to boost the effectiveness of companies and governance is top of mind. In India, there are a number of topics including banking the unbanked, and creating better mobile connectivity, he said. “From the perspective of a data management company, we want to know how we can help, because data is at the core everything that’s happening. How you effectively manage data has been and is very critical. That’s what NetApp does.”

Six Large Trends That Will Impact IT JAY KIDD, SVP, and CTO, NetApp

SPECIAL EVENT COVERAGE

“I love change,” said Jay Kidd, SVP and CTO, NetApp, as he started his session on the six key trends impacting the IT industry. The first trend is the intersection of big data analytics and the Internet of Things, and how that could unlock a lot of potential. He then spoke about why the future of allflash arrays is not all flash. The future, he said, would be a combination of flash, discs, and a range of storage media. He also spoke about the evolution of flash, the advent of storage class memories, and where disc drives are heading. The third trend, he said, is the acceptance of a multivendor hybrid cloud. This will be driven by enterprises that want to avoid lock-in, get the best price, and want choice. The fourth trend is that software-defined storage will bridge public and private clouds. Docker replacing hypervisors as the container of choice for scale-out applications, he said was the fifth trend that will impact the industry. The last, he said, was that hyperconverged infrastructure would be the new compute server.

PANEL DISCUSSION

Balancing New Tech with the Old Business demands new technologies to be implemented. The panel discusses how to balance them with the old tech and ease the transition. Is a use-by date for legacy technologies nearing? If yes, then how do you get in new technologies and balance them with the old ones? That's the question a panel at the NetApp Innovation Day tried to answer. That is a question that IT leaders at ICICI Bank, among many others, are taking seriously. “We have a legacy to support and new technologies to adapt. The challenge is to build next-gen infra without disrupting the business,” said Murali Mahalingam, GMInfrastructure and Technology Management Group, ICICI Bank. It's a challenge that's getting more pronounced as more LoBs demand new and scalable technologies to keep pace with market demands. Alok Kumar, VP and global head-Internal IT and Shared Services, TCS, has some ideas.“Identify the less critical applications, consolidate and move them to old technologies,” said Kumar. It's also important for CIOs and the business to remember that as they adopt new technologies, its crucial to focus on business value. “CIOs should think of themselves as business leaders who can implement projects, portray their value to LoBs, and then discuss it with the board based on business outcomes,” said Nalinikanth Gollagunta, MD and country head, Commercial Sales, Cisco. To help enterprises, NetApp's put a tremendous amount of work into clustered data ONTAP. “Once you move to clusters you can move to next level of tech without disruption,” says Roger Anderson, SVP and global head-Systems Engineering, NetApp.

Strategy Lessons From Vishy At the NetApp Innovation Day, Chess Grand Master Viswanathan Anand, shared extremely interesting insights around strategy basing himself on the approaches he used to win World Chess Championships. He also shared anecdotes from his life. Opening his session, the unassuming Anand, shared this story. “Many years back, when we were newly married, my wife once told me she had put my (game) preparation in the safe. The password, she said, was easy to remember: It was 2706. To which I said, aren’t chess ratings rounded off to the nearest 5? Shouldn’t it be either 2705 or 2710? She looked a bit shocked, while it dawned on me that 2706 was our anniversary.” He also shared lessons from his 2008 World Championship match with Vladimir Kramnik. One of the more important learnings he said was that sometimes, as you adapt to your competition, you must be willing to get out of your comfort zone and try something new. Before the Championship, he said, he was torn between sticking to his regular opening style or trying something new. It was a difficult choice. He said he chose to take a new path and he committed himself to it. He also shared his plan with his trainers, another important lesson, he said, because keeping your team informed of your plan allows them to sync with it. “In hindsight,” said Anand, “it was my most successful match ever.”

IDG SERVICES

NETAPP INNOVATION AWARDS

The Class of Innovative Thinkers 2015 The NetApp Innovation Awards recognize companiesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and their IT leadersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;that aggressively and innovatively leverage technology to make IT dramatically more proactive, productive, and essential to creating business value. Award recipients are honoured for achieving positive and impactful business results, for demonstrating creativity and thought leadership, and for embodying the NetApp can-do and team spirit.

2015 Winner 1. NetApp Innovation Award for Cloud Computing

Air Works Engineering

2. NetApp Innovation Award for Big Data

L&T Infotech

3. NetApp Innovation Award for Mobility

Central Depository Services

4. NetApp Innovation Award for Green IT

Mphasis

5. NetApp Innovation Award for Data Storage

Intellect Design Arena (A Polaris Group Company)

6. NetApp Innovation Award for Social Impact

SEWA Rural

NetApp Trendsetter Award Winners

7. Cognizant 8. eClerx Services 9. Esds Software Solution 10. HCL 11. Infosys 12. PI Industries 13. Sapient Consulting 14. Ultratech Cements 5

SPECIAL EVENT COVERAGE

The New MATH Today’s data-driven business runs on the almighty algorithm. But if you’re not careful, those geeky formulas can stir up legal and ethical trouble. KIM S. NASH

e’re used to algorithms recommending books, movies, music and websites. Algorithms also trade stocks and predict crime, identify diabetics and monitor sleep apnea, find dates (and babysitters), calculate routes and assess your driving, and even build other algorithms. These math equations, which can reach thousands of pages of code and routinely crunch hundreds of variables, may someday run our lives. Companies increasingly use them to run the digital business and gain competitive advantage. Unleashing an algorithm can lead to new customers and revenue, but it can also bring encounters with ethical and legal trouble. Already, consumer advocates and regulators are training their sights on the

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dark side of the algorithm revolution, such as creepy over-personalization and the potential for illegal price discrimination. As CEOs look to chief digital officers and data scientists to conquer the next frontier, CIOs have sometimes been on the sidelines, whether by choice or default. But as business leaders, CIOs may now have to elbow into meetings where Ph.D.s, corporate lawyers and other colleagues are talking about the data-driven future. CIOs need to join those conversations to help steer company strategy, certainly, but also to contribute to decisions about what data to pour into an algorithm and what to keep out, and how to monitor what the algorithm does. That includes devising a defensible policy for handling the information produced, says Frank Pasquale,

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COVER STORY :: Analytics

a professor of law at the University of Maryland. “Algorithmic accountability” will become part of the IT leader’s job, he says. That realization can hurt. Athena Capital Research, a high-frequency stock trader, used a proprietary algorithm called Gravy to slip in big buy and sell orders milliseconds before the NASDAQ exchange closed for the day in order to push stock prices higher or lower, to Athena’s advantage. The Securities and Exchange Commission viewed that as illegal manipulation and last year called out Athena’s CTO for helping other managers plot the most effective use of Gravy during at least six months in 2009. Athena settled the case for $1 million. No one says CIOs must delve into Ph.D.-level math. But a working knowledge of basic concepts behind algorithms can help avoid bad results and bad press. “Algorithms allow us to get rid of biases we thought were there in human decision-making,” says Michael Luca, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School. “But pitfalls are equally important to think about.”

Math Magic Algorithms can be used to make operations more efficient, answer “what if” questions and make new products and services possible. At United Parcel Service, the 1,000-page Orion algorithm does all of that. In 2003, UPS started building Orion (for OnRoad Integrated Optimization and Navigation) to optimize delivery routes. You might have six errands to do on a given day. A UPS driver has about 120. The company wanted to save time and fuel by having drivers follow the most efficient routes possible while still making deliveries on time, says Jack Levis, director of process management. Levis oversees Orion and the team of 700 engineers, mathematicians and others who support it.

Cutting just one mile per driver per day saves $50 million per year, Levis says, and Orion has so far saved seven to eight miles per driver per day. UPS is on track to save $300 million to $400 million per year in gas and other costs by 2017. The most important thing any manager can do when embarking on an algorithm project is to “work backwards,” Levis says. That is, define carefully what business decisions the company struggles with, then identify what knowledge would help—what information you’d need to teach you the knowledge you lack. Then identify the raw data that—when combined and teased apart and interpreted—would provide that information. UPS spent nine years working on Orion before putting it into production, adding and subtracting data, testing, then adding and subtracting again. For example, at first Orion used publicly available maps. But they weren’t detailed enough. So UPS drew its own, showing features such as a customer’s half-mile driveway or a back alley that shaves time getting to a receiving dock—data points that Orion needs in order to plan how to get a package delivered by 10:30 a.m. But an algorithm created by data scientists in a laboratory can’t anticipate every factor or account for every nuance. Suppose a business customer typically receives

Analytics Unearths What Women Want

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t Matrimony.com, J.K. Iyer, chief strategy and analytics officer, Matrimony.com, used analytics to unearth interesting observations. One of these challenged long-held beliefs like women preferring non-smokers, social smokers, and then smokers—in that order. The idea was that if a women didnt like a man smoking, social smokers were a more attractive bunch than non-smokers. That wasn’t true. Women actually preferred nonsmokers, followed by smokers, and then social smokers, in that order!

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Examples of Algorithms in Action Companies use algorithms in all sorts of systems to make money or optimize operations, and sometimes both at once. Here’s a sampling. Putting the Squeeze On Coca-Cola’s Minute Maid division optimizes drink blends—especially orange juice—by understanding consumer preferences about factors such as mouth feel and pulp content. But operations variables are also figured in, including freight and labor costs. Coca-Cola wants to create not only juices that people will like, but also ones that work with the realities of its supply chain and production processes.

Who’s Watching What? Netflix knows that several people might share one household account, so it wants to be able to correctly guess who is using its video service and make appropriate recommendations without having to ask customers to identify themselves or answer questions during every visit. Toward that end, the company has developed an algorithm that analyzes patterns of customer behavior and alters movie suggestions based on certain variables. One is time of day. In the afternoon, the viewer is more likely to be a child. Late at night, an adult. In the future, the system might make gender and age assumptions based on how hard the customer hits buttons on the device he’s using. Shopping Around Retailers have turned to algorithms to help solve the omnichannel puzzle. American Eagle Outfitters uses an algorithm to figure out how best to fulfill online orders with products shipped from physical stores. One goal: Focus on slow-moving products at low-volume stores that are within two days’ shipping distance of online customers. Monetizing Small Talk MeetMe, an app vendor that matches members for mobile chats, has an “icebreaker algorithm” that uses quantitative data points, such as location, plus qualitative information, like self-declared interests in certain games, to suggest partners. This year, MeetMe plans to improve the relevance of its matches so people will spend more time chatting. Longer encounters mean more exposure to ads and more revenue for MeetMe. Fasten Your Seatbelts Auto insurers have long calculated premiums based on the number of miles someone drives, the customer’s age, gender, marital status, vehicle type, driving record and home address. Now Allstate is fine-tuning that process with an algorithm that weights each risk factor differently. For example, the relative risk related to a 16-year-old driver could be triple that of someone age 30 to 50. But Allstate doesn’t simply assume that all the miles a teenager drives are equally risky. Over the course of a year, for example, the miles driven at the start of a policy are probably riskier than the ones driven at the end because, of course, practice helps. So Allstate determines risk levels for both kinds of miles. However, there’s a point at which learning slows down and each mile after that carries diminishing returns. The algorithm tries to find the point in the year at which that likely happens. — K.S.N.

APRIL 15, 2015

one package per day. If Orion knows the package isn’t tied to a certain delivery time, the algorithm might suggest dropping it off in the morning one day but in the afternoon the next, depending on the day’s tasks. That might be the most efficient approach for UPS, but customers wouldn’t know what to expect if delivery times changed frequently. People don’t like that amount of uncertainty, and it might have cost UPS business. Companies often take deliveries in the morning, go about their business during the day and then call UPS back to request a late-afternoon pickup of an outgoing package. If UPS pushed deliveries to the end of the day for efficiency’s sake, it might not get that later call, Levis says. “We started realizing the rules we told the algorithm weren’t as good as they should have been,” he says. “We’ve learned you need to balance optimality with consistency.” The Orion team is outside IT, but Levis says the IT group built the production version of Orion and CIO Dave Barnes understands what Orion can and can’t do, which is critical when he helps UPS devise business strategy. UPS’s My Choice service, which notifies customers of pending deliveries and lets them change delivery times or locations, wouldn’t be workable without Orion, Levis says. Not only does My Choice reduce multiple delivery attempts, it also brings in new revenue: 7 million customers have signed up for the service and pay $5 per change or $40 per year for unlimited changes. Next, UPS wants to bring it to other countries. To grow new business from algorithmic insights, companies must look for correlations that competitors haven’t spotted. Take H&R Block, for example. In December, executives at the provider of tax filing software and services talked in detail with financial analysts about the company’s new algorithm, which tailors marketing email messages and in-software pop-up boxes to individual customers. The company rolled it out this tax season, after starting algorithmic tests to quantify and categorize the behavior of 8,700 tax filers in an effort to predict what customers will do. CMO Kathy Collins discussed how, for example, H&R Block may know that, based on past behavior, you’re typically a February filer who prefers to interact with the company via mobile device. If you haven’t filed by Feb. 10, the algorithm will suggest that someone nudge you with an email reminder and a discount on help preparing your return.

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COVER STORY :: Analytics

Other customers may receive an email offer the week they receive their W-2 forms. Over time, H&R Block expects to improve its algorithm by analyzing not only the content of customer tax returns but also the very clicks a taxpayer makes while using its software, said Jason Houseworth, president of global digital and product management. “In our case,” he said, “the personal data is as rich as it gets,” The personalization made possible through the algorithm, Houseworth said, “will make each user feel that the software was not only designed for them, but is always a step ahead.” Some customers may like that, but others won’t, says Pasquale, who wrote The Black Box Society: The Secret Algorithms That Control Money and Information. “There’s so much pressure to know more. That’s the arms race I fear.” The idea of knowing more about people is a driving force at eHarmony. The dating service matches members by their self-identified characteristics, such as hobbies and sexual orientation. But eHarmony also extrapolates what it calls unstated “deep psychological traits,” such as curiosity, by putting answers to questionnaires through various formulas. A neural network also produces a “satisfaction estimator” to rate potential pairings, and the system learns over time, as members report back about their satisfaction with matches eHarmony suggests. The company doesn’t have a CIO; COO Armen Avedissian handles that role. Decisions about whether to change the algorithm are made by a team that includes Avedissian, CTO Thod Nguyen, vice president of matching Steve Carter and corporate lawyers. “It’s not just hardware and software but the tactics and strategy of data manipulation,” Avedissian says. The company looks at 29 dimensions of compatibility, such as “emotional energy” and “curiosity,” each of which

incorporates several variables collected through detailed questionnaires. More than 125TB of data is involved. The algorithm learns by assessing what a member does with each match that eHarmony suggests (contact right away? ignore?) as well as what feedback the members provide in questionnaires and open-ended responses. That data gets poured back into the equation and the cycle starts again, more informed, Avedissian says. The more relevant the matches, the higher the rate at which members will communicate with each other. The more they engage, the more likely they are to buy annual subscriptions. All the algorithms at eHarmony are intended to convert registrants into subscribers. The dating service tests ideas by running slightly different algorithms for different customers, then measuring the rate at which registered members convert to annual subscribers. Risk and compliance teams run their own algorithms to see how the company’s other algorithms are using sensitive data. One recent discovery: Whether someone smokes and drinks turns out to be more important in dating in Europe compared to the United States. Once eHarmony more heavily weighted the smoking and drinking variables in its matching algorithm in the U.K., “business just took off,” Avedissian says. Meaning, suggested matches were more on-target, therefore satisfaction increased—and so did conversion rates. However, not all outcomes are expected.

Unintended Consequences

Uber is upending the taxi business with an app to connect passengers with rides and a proprietary algorithm that, in part, governs “surge pricing,” which raises fares at times of heavy demand. Taxi associations from New York to Paris and back have protested Uber for cutting into their business, and government regulators have challenged the company on questions of fair pricing and safety. Even so, the darling of disruption has raked in an estimated $4.9 billion in investor funding. In December, the cold, hard t Eveready, CIO Arup Choudhury math collided with high emois employing visual analytics to tion: Uber’s algorithm autounearth insights that were not matically jacked up rates in possible to see using regular, tabular format Sydney, Australia, as people analytics. One of these insights included a tried to get away from a downlist of customers (distributors) that weren’t town café where an armed man buying at least three of Eveready’s seven held 17 people hostage. Three product categories. Eveready makes more people, including the gunman, than batteries, it has interests in tea, lights, died. Uber later apologized for and power banks, among others. These raising fares, which reportedly insights have earned the company over Rs were up to quadruple normal 15 crore in seven months. During the same rates, and made refunds. “It’s period, visual analytics also lowered the costs unfortunate that the percepof holding finished inventory by Rs 10 crore. tion is that Uber did something against the interests of the pub-

Eveready Powers Sales with Visual Analytics

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Ramco Cements Increases Sales With Visual Analytics

Or a whole group of people could get overlooked. “There’s concern about who are the winners and losers and can the company stand by it later, when exposed,” Pasquale says. ata can be represented and In another scenario, a comvisualized in many forms. A few pany could open itself up to disyears ago, the most common crimination claims if it keeps too form of data visualization was mainly much data and insights about tabular reports where one had to travel its employees, he says. Someone through rows and columns of data to might be able to prove the comdig out significant information. With pany knew about, say, a health the developments in technology, the condition before letting him go. business analytics scenario has vastly Or if a car insurance company changed. discovers there’s a higher chance a Today, cement manufacturer customer will get into a crash after Ramco Cements is using Google Map driving a certain number of miles, based visual analytics to capture and it may find itself in a “duty to warn” analyze its salesforce performance, situation, Pasquale says. That’s generate focused discussions during when a party is legally obligated review meetings, enable land resources to warn others of a potential hazmanagement, logistics management, ard that they otherwise couldn’t business development analysis and perform competition analysis among other things. know about. It usually applies to The massive analytics project was led by A V Dharmakrishnan, CEO of Ramco manufacturers in product liability Cements, who was the main architect of the project. “It was implemented through cases, or to mental health profesa cross-functional team with IT and functional executives which integrated the sionals in situations involving company’s BI system with the enterprise version of Google Maps, while sourcing dangerous patients. And as the structured and live data from the company’s ERP,” says N. Varadarajan, AVP-IT, Ramco use of revelation-producing algoCements. rithms spreads, Pasquale says, With more than 60 KPIs built into the new system, the managers are now able to people in other sectors could be visualize the color-coded geographically significant data at different levels of detail on subject to a similar standard—at Google Map. least ethically, if not legally. The benefits have been innumerable. The sales and customer retention have gone “At what point will things be a up by 10-12 percent, and the productivity during review meetings by 50 percent, liability for you by knowing too but most of all “It’s the business decision-making that has enhanced tremendously. much about your customers?” The managers can get better insights now since the outliers / deviations are spotted he asks. instantly and corrective action can be taken in time. Sometimes companies don’t set out to uncover uncomfortable truths. They just happen upon them.Insurance company executives, for example, lic,” a local Uber manager said in a blog post. “We certainly should think carefully about results that could emerge did not intend to.” from algorithms that help with policy decisions, says Croll, Problems are most likely to arise when algorithms make the consultant and author. That’s true even when a formula things happen automatically, without human intervention or looks at metadata — descriptions of customer data, not oversight. Control is critical, says Alistair Croll, a consultant and the data itself. For example, an algorithm could find that author of Lean Analytics: Use Data to Build a Better Startup families of customers who had changed their first names Faster. “If algorithms are how you run your business and you were more likely to file claims for suicide, he speculates. haven’t figured out how to regulate your algorithms,” he says, Further analysis could conclude that it is likely those cus“then by definition you’re losing control of your business.” tomers were transgender people who couldn’t cope with Uber is working on a global policy to cap prices in times of their changes. disaster or emergency, a spokeswoman says. An algorithm that identified that pattern would have Other unintended consequences involve the liability of uncovered a financially valuable piece of information. But knowing too much. if it then suggested that an insurer turn down or charge For example, say a hospital uses patient data to identify higher premiums to applicants who had changed their first people who may be headed toward an illness, then calls them to names, the company might appear to be guilty of discrimischedule preventive care. If the math is imperfect, the hospital nation if it did so, Croll says. might overlook someone who later contracts an illness or dies.

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COVER STORY :: Analytics

The CIO’s Best Role

watching the use of algorithms by banks, retailers and other companies that may inadvertently discriminate against poor people. An algorithm to advise a bank about home loans, for example, might unfairly predict that an applicant will default because certain characteristics about that person place him in a group of consumers where defaults are high. Or online shoppers might be shown different prices based on criteria such as the devices they use to access an e-commerce site, as has happened with Home Depot, Orbitz and Travelocity. While companies may think of it as personalization, customers may see it as an unfair practice, Luca says. The Consumer Federation of America recently expressed concern that, in the auto insurance industry, pricing optimization algorithms could violate state insurance regulations that require premiums to be based solely on risk factors, not profit considerations. Consumers, regulators and judges might start asking exactly what’s in your algorithm, and that’s why algorithms need to be defensible. In a paper published last year in the Boston College Law Review, researchers Kate Crawford and Jason Schultz proposed a system of due process that would give consumers affected by data analytics the legal right to review and contest what algorithms decide. The Obama administration recently called on civil rights and consumer protection agencies to expand their technical expertise so that they’ll be able to identify “digital redlining” and go after it. In January, President Obama asked Congress to pass the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights, which would give people more control over what companies can do with their personal data. The president proposed the same idea in 2012, but it hasn’t moved forward. Meanwhile, unrest among some consumers grows. “Customers don’t like to think they are locked in some type of strategic game with stores,” Pasquale says. CIOs should be wary when an algorithm suddenly produces outliers igitizing the core supply chain of or patterns that deviate from an organization can bring a lot of the norm, he warns. Results clarity on performance through that seem to disadvantage one structured data availability. That’s why group of people, he says, are Reliance Life Sciences is placing its bets also cause for concern. Even on analytics to rewire the company’s if regulators don’t swoop in to supply chain and automate processes that audit the algorithms, custominclude core manufacturing digitization, ers may start to feel uneasy. quality process automation and logistics As Harvard’s Luca puts it, automation. The company’s analytics “Almost every type of algorithm journey started three years ago, and Gopal someone puts in place will have Rangaraj, its SVP-IT, says, in the next few an ethical dimension to it. CIOs years, it will become a success mantra for need to have those uncomfortthem. able conversations.” “We propose to deploy advanced tool

The best way a CIO can support data science is to choose technologies and processes that keep data clean, current and available, says Chris Pouliot, vice president of data science at Lyft, a competitor of Uber. Before joining Lyft in 2013, Pouliot was director of algorithms and analytics at Netflix for five years and a statistician at Google. CIOs should also create systems to monitor changes in how data is handled or defined that could throw off the algorithm, he says. Another key: CIOs should understand how best to use algorithms, even if they can’t build algorithms of their own. For example, if a payment service needs to figure out whether pending transactions could be fraudulent, it might hard-code an algorithm into its payment software. Or the algorithm could be run offline, with the results of the calculations applied after the transaction, potentially preventing future transactions. The CIO has to understand enough about what the service is and how the algorithm works to make such decisions, Pouliot says. CIOs should, of course, provide the technology infrastructure to run corporate algorithms, and the data they require, says Mark Katz, CIO of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, which licenses, tracks and distributes royalties to songwriters, composers and music publishers. Katz meets regularly with ASCAP’s legal department to make sure the results of the algorithms comply with the organization’s charter and pertinent regulations. “We’re all information brokers at the end of the day,” he says. CIOs can expect increasing scrutiny of analytics programs. The Federal Trade Commission, in particular, is

Analyzing the Supply Chain

sets such in-memory analytics through which we can slice and dice existing data sets on a near real-time basis for better insights and understanding of business performance, in order to arrive at key business decisions based on data insights,” says Rangaraj.

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run

leadership and operational excellence

Field Day!

New Holland Fiat India is arming farmers with an iPadâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;with an app on itâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;to provide real-time actionable information to improve the productivity of their farm equipment. BY S H U B H R A R I S H I On a blazingly hot summer day, a farmer surveys his field in a remote district in Gujarat, waiting for it to turn into a snowfield. A snowfield in summer? Well why not, especially if the farmer was planting cotton, which will look like a carpet of snow, when flower buds appear. Some of that magic will take place thanks to a mobile solution from New Holland Fiat India, a subsidiary of CNH Industrial. New Holland Fiat India manufactures and provides advanced farm mechanization crop solutions such as cotton pickers, which automates the process of removing cotton lint and seed from the plant from multiple rows at a time. The tractor maker is already a leader in the sugarcane harvester market segment with over 400 sugarcane harvesters in operation across India, giving the company an over 85 percent marketshare in this niche. Each of these is priced above a crore.

Parna Ghosh, SGM and ICT Head, India, Far East and Japan, CNH Industrial Group, ensures farm equipment owners get the most value from their investments.

APRIL 15, 2015

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“Considering the specialized nature of these heavyweight machines, we want to empower large farmers, business owners, or contractors as much a possible,” says Parna Ghosh, SGM and ICT head, India, Far East and Japan, CNH Industrial Group. For instance, in order to facilitate rapid agricultural growth, New Holland Fiat India has set up new agritraining centers to equip farmers, operators, and technicians, with the know-how and the training needed to use these agricultural machines. “Our main aim is to provide value-added services which will help us address the pain-points of our customers,” says Ghosh. In order to take a step further and ensure even higher customer experience, the company decided to give free iPads to their customers on the purchase of a crop solution—and empower them with data. “Each iPad is customized with an app which provides customers with actionable information to optimize machine performance, ensure lower fuel consumption and idle time, and lower the machine’s total operating costs. It provides fleet owners the ability to gain in-depth knowledge about their machines–delivered conveniently to their iPad.” The app idea was conceptualized in 2013 and the company worked with a partner to help build the iPadbased app. In September 2014, the company rolled out a pilot for 25 New Holland India’s customers. “The iPad app will allow customers to review actionable parameters of the machines such as fuel, engine heating condition, among other things. The app also helps the farmer calculate the ROI that he has received since the purchase of the equipment,” says Ghosh. It doesn’t matter if the farmer is on the road or at the farm, the app provides real-time information about the equipment. It gives them the ability to locate machinery, review and create geo-fences, check utilization and working status durations, and will soon allow them to review and analyze fuel consumption, and monitor machine health through the report of key parameters set within the application. The application, meant only for iPads, also allows customers to request for service and chat online. The field force and dealers get an alert and they send a trained executive to visit and service the machines. “Although we sell these equipment through dealers, the knowledge base remains with the CNH’s IT and customer service teams,” says Ghosh. The company has already sold more than 180 machine equipment in the segment, and this unique proposition is only a measure to woo more customers into the CNH fold.

Things You Need to Know LINKEDIN TIPS FOR YOUR NEW JOB

GET TO KNOW THE COMPANY BETTER. The chances are you did your homework and were armed with company stats when you interviewed. Before your first day, follow the company on LinkedIn and brush up on what’s new. “Visit their company page and look at who else has been newly hired. That way, you’ll have talking points when you meet them in person and you won’t feel as nervous,” says Nicole Williams, LinkedIn connection director and author.

CONNECT WITH PEOPLE ON YOUR NEW TEAM. Just because you haven’t been formally introduced to them doesn’t mean you can’t introduce yourself first, Williams says. Find out who you’ll be working with and send them an invitation to connect. Williams recommends finding out if you have any common threads—such as an alma mater or past coworkers—to make conversations when you start a little easier. Plus, looking them up on LinkedIn will help you recognize them in person when you meet.

LIST ACCOMPLISHMENTS FROM YOUR PREVIOUS POSITION. “There’s nothing wrong with making sure your profile is full of experiences and skills from your old job, and do it now while it’s still top of mind,” Williams recommends. Jot down a list of your accomplishments and skills, and ask for LinkedIn recommendations from former colleagues.

ADD A NEW PHOTOGRAPH AND ALERT OTHERS. A new start deserves a new photo, Williams says. “This is an opportunity to rebrand yourself as a professional, especially if you’re moving from a lower position to something higher.” Also be sure to alert your network with a status update that you’re leaving your old position and starting a new job with your new company. Be sure to list how they can contact you.

RELY ON LINKEDIN GROUPS AND ANSWERS. There are tens of thousands of LinkedIn groups for professionals, and LinkedIn Answers is where you can pose a question to your network and other industry professionals. “In your first weeks you’ll likely have questions about projects you’re working on,” Williams says. “Go to LinkedIn Groups or Answers and without giving too much away, ask other professionals about strategies. You’ll be surprised how quickly you’ll get high-quality answers.”

-Kristin Burnham

Send feedback to shubhra_rishi@idgindia.com.

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APRIL 15, 2015

POPULAR SCIENCE

Finally a 3D-printed Jet Engine Australian researchers have created what they’re calling the world’s first 3D-printed jet engine. BY LU C A S M E A R I A N

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university, along with its spinoff company, have used 3D printing to make two metal jet engines that, while only proof-of-concept designs, have all the working parts of a functioning gas turbine engine. The two engines, created by Monash University and its spinoff Amaero Engineering, are garnering a lot of attention from leading aeronautics companies, including Airbus, Boeing, and defense contractor Raytheon, which are lining up at the Monash Centre for Additive Manufacturing in Melbourne to develop new components with 3D printing. One of the proof-of-concept jet engines was on display at the International Air Show in Avalon, Victoria. The second is being displayed at the French aerospace company Microturbo, which originally challenged the university two years ago to build the engines. The proof of concepts are replicas of an auxiliary power unit used in aircraft such as the Falcon 20 French business jet, which was provided by Microturbo. “The project is a spectacular proof of concept that’s leading

Robots Lend a Hand Robotic gloves that aim to help stroke victims suffering from paralysis have been developed by the University of Hertfordshire. The gloves are fitted with leaf springs and sensors that detect muscle motion in the hand and forearm while patients play games on a simple interface as part of their daily therapy exercise. While the patient plays the games, which progress in difficulty at later stages during rehabilitation, a healthcare professional is able to monitor their progress through their

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to significant contracts with aerospace companies,” Ben Batagol, of Amaero Engineering, stated in a press release. The 3D-printed jet engines demonstrate that engineers can produce jet engine test parts in days instead of the months it would typically take through machine lathing and pouredmold parts processes. The jet engines were printed using an additive manufacturing (3D printing) technique known as selective laser sintering or melting, where a high-powered laser on a robotic head melts metal powder layer by wafer-thin layer. The engines were printed using the X-Line 1000R 3D printer from Concept Laser, a machine that Amaero calls the largest selective laser-melting (SLM) machine available. The machine is capable of sintering together metal layers anywhere from 30 to 200 microns thick. It can build parts with dimensions as large as 25-in. x 16-in. x 20-in. in size. The Concept Laser X-Line 1000R printer is capable of producing parts in aluminum, titanium or a nickel based alloy using a 1 kilowatt laser to melt the powdered materials. Send feedback to editor@idgindia.com.

own device, remotely from the patient’s home. This means that therapists can tailor treatments and arrange follow-ups form their office. The two prototype robotic gloves, which were in development for three years, are now past the proof of concept stage, have been trialed on patients and is ready to enter into production, the team said. Dr Farshid Amirabdollahian, a rehabilitation robot expert at the university, and coordinator of the 4,643,983 project said: “Our goal was to make motivating therapies available to people to practice at home using this system, hoping that they have a vested interest to practice and will do so.

“We tried this system with 30 patients and found that patients indeed practiced at home, on average around 100 minutes each week, and some showed clinical improvements in their hand and arm function.” The team is looking for funding to turn this prototype into a product that can be found on UK shelves to assist the large number of stroke patients who have been discharged from hospital care, but still need therapy to regain full movement to their hands. Gaming technology like Microsoft’s Kinect has been considered for facial palsy therapy, using the facial recognition feature to monitor movements during exercise routines with healthcare professionals. —Margi Murphy

HIRING MANAGER

4 Steps to Networking Online Executives looking to network online can find opportunities and landmines there in equal number. BY K R I S T E N L A M O R E AU X

xecutives exploring options outside their current company are often in need of job search etiquette tips. Especially since the immediacy and transparency of today’s technology can easily create an uncomfortable situation. So how can you avoid being “that guy” while still incorporating social networking tools into your job hunt? A good first rule of thumb: If you find yourself hesitating before clicking send, stop and review what you’re doing. Laying the right groundwork with your network can also help protect your reputation.

intentions when we use that phrase, but it’s too passive to be effective. It’s human nature to want to help someone in need, and people remember the times they’re able to provide real assistance. So make that easy for them. Imagine you contact a former CEO and tell her you’re being downsized. Here are two ways she could view that conversation after you hang up, depending on how you direct it: 1) “I got a call from Bob today. He’s losing his job. [sigh] So many folks are being cut; the economy just sucks right now.” Or, 2) “I got a call from Bob today. He’s losing his job. He asked me for the names of three companies I respect so he could research them. I named X, Y and Z. I’m really glad I was able to help him.” Organize your Contacts by Trust Level Which conversation seems more memorable? The yetSay you’ve decided it’s time to look for a new job and want to another-boat-anchor depressing one begin to contact people in your network. What you share or the one that was action-oriented and You should be building concentric circles positive? Develop a list of short tasks based on trust levels and initiate contact online can with your core trusted resources first. demonstrate your that will advance your search in tactical practical ways. By keeping the tasks But you may want to modify the tone of effort to position and small and not too time-consuming, you’re your conversation from, “Get me the heck yourself as a being respectful of people’s calendars out of here!” to “I’m seeking more chalthought leader. and increasing your chance for a positive lenge than my current company offers,” outcome. depending on your relationship with your contact.

Never Talk Trash Bashing your current employer to professional contacts is never acceptable. Too many networking conversations begin with, “Of course this must be kept confidential, but so-and-so said...” Dishing dirt is infinitely appealing, but the world we work in is a small one. It’s far too easy for your name to be sullied when you toss around negative opinions.

Be Direct in your Requests for Help Job seekers commonly make the mistake of being too hesitant to ask for help right off the bat. Don’t simply ask networking contacts to keep you on their radar screen. Most of us have about 5,000 people on our radar screens that we’ve completely forgotten about. We all have good

Be Present Online

Capitalize on tools such as LinkedIn and use your status updates wisely. Share an article once a month. Twice a month, swap out a book on your Amazon reading list. Regularly look for industry events or webinars and indicate you’re interested in attending, or join a professional group. It’s up to you to keep your name out there by conducting yourself professionally online. Folks really read their LinkedIn network’s updates. What you share can demonstrate your effort to improve yourself and position yourself as a thought leader.

Kristen Lamoreaux is president and CEO of Lamoreaux Search, which finds IT professionals for hiring managers. Send feedback to editor@cio.in.

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APRIL 15, 2015

Two Ends of a Spectrum

According to the State of the CIO 2015 survey, CIOs considered competitive differentiators by business are more satisfied than those considered cost centers. But that’s just one of the many differences. B Y S H A R D H A S U B R A M A N I A N

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hates them more than CIOs and the IT department. And they’ve got plenty: Back-office boys, the department of NO, cost center and what not. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that it’s the cost center tag that irks them the most. And with the rise of the alluring ‘competitive differentiator IT department’, the cost center label sounds drearier. In CIO Magazine’s annual State of the CIO 2015 survey, IT leaders were asked: In your opinion, what do business stakeholders perceive IT as: Cost center, valued service provider, trusted partner or competitive differentiator? A handful of CIOs believed they were perceived as competitive differentiators—truly part of the business, engaged in developing, not just enabling, business strategy. And about the same number of respondents believed they were perceived as cost centers: Enterprise IT value unappreciated, misunderstood or unfulfilled. If you dig deeper, you’d know that there’s a yawning gap between the two. A majority of CIOs—65 percent— who say business perceives them as competitive differentiators are satisfied or very satisfied at their current job, compared to 53 percent of cost center CIOs. Interestingly, 41 percent of CIOs considered cost centers are satisfied at their jobs but are looking to move. That’s a

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huge number when you compare it with 26 percent of competitive differentiators who are satisfied but looking to move. Compensation could be one of the many reasons for competitive differentiator CIOs to be satisfied with their jobs. Forty percent of them expect their compensation to increase by 11-15 percent in 2015. But CIOs considered cost centers aren’t that optimistic. Forty-six percent of cost center CIOs

in systems that help them engage with customers or business partners. B u t u n l i ke c o m p e t i t ive differentiator CIOs, cost center CIOs—and their businesses—are still internally focused. Sixty-five percent of cost center CIOs say their business has increased focus on operational impact: Increasing the efficiency of operations, using resources more optimally. And that’s probably why a majority of cost center CIOs spent

A majority of CIOs—65 percent—considered competitive differentiators are satisfied and very satisfied at their current job, compared to 53 percent of cost center CIOs. expect their compensation to increase by 6-10 percent. How business perceives IT also depends on a company’s focus areas. In the past year, 68 percent of competitive differentiators say their businesses focused on creating strategic impact: Create competitive advantage, penetrate new markets, increase market share, and improve collaboration between stakeholders. That could be a reason why, in 2015, a majority of competitive differentiator CIOs expect to spend time on strategic business planning. Competitive differentiator CIOs have also understood the importance of their companies’ end customers. Which is why, 52 percent of CIOs considered competitive differentiators, say their most important IT management initiative over the next 12 months is investing

their time budgeting and managing costs in 2014 and expect to do so in 2015 as well. Another example of what makes competitive differentiators stand out is their focus on implementing new technologies. They say their top most challenge is inadequate in-house skillsets in areas like cloud, mobility, analytics, and security. On the other hand, cost center CIOs say delayed decisions from business is their biggest challenge. That could be an indicator that, in their organizations, IT and business are still struggling to align. True, tags are annoying. But it’s also true that it isn’t hard to shake them off. Ask competitive differentiators how they did it. Shardha Subramanian is features editor. Send feedback to editor@cio.in

connect Up, close, and personal with all things IT

Prepare for Digital Afterlife

Facebook will let users set up a “legacy contact” who can manage a person’s social account when they die. By Sharon Gaudin

You post about your kids and pets. You tweet about your travels and work. You upload

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videos of your dog playing in the latest snowpocalypse. Your social sites chronicle the ups and downs, the loves and losses, the adventures and even the boredoms of your life. So what happens to all those digital tidbits when you die? Facebook recently announced that it’s allowing users to set up a “legacy contact”—a family member or friend who can manage a person’s social account when they die. Facebook also set up a way to be alerted when a user has died so that person’s account will be memorialized. After that, the heir to the account can post a message on the page to let friends know the user died or to announce a funeral or memorial service. The legacy contact also can respond to new friend requests and update cover and profile photos. “If someone chooses, they may give their legacy contact permission to download an archive of the photos, posts and profile information they shared on Facebook,” the social network said in a blog post. “Other settings will remain the same as before the account was memorialized. The legacy contact will not be

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able to log in as the person who passed away or see that person’s private messages.” Of course, users also can set up their account so it’s deleted after their death. To make plans for an heir to take over your Facebook page, users should open Settings, then choose Security and then Legacy Contact, which is at the bottom of the page. Facebook will then give the user the option to reach out to the legacy contact. “I like the feature,” said Zeus Kerravala, an analyst with ZK Research. “It lets people share their grief and memories after experiencing a loss. If you want to disappear when you die, you can do that. If you want to be immortalized, then you can do that too.” That’s the case for Facebook. But what happens with the other major social networks like Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Google+? It’s a mixed bag. A Google spokeswoman told Computerworld that the Inactive Account Manager policy for all of its sites and services, such as Gmail, Google+ and YouTube, has not changed since it was set in April 2013. That policy allows users to set up their account so that Gmail messages or data and images from other sites will be deleted after specific periods of inactivity, such as three, six, nine or 12 months. However, Google also lets its users pick a trusted contact to receive data from one or all of its services, including +1s; Blogger; Contacts and Circles; Drive; Gmail; Google+ Profiles, Pages and Streams; Picasa Web Albums; Google Voice and YouTube. “Before our systems take any action, we’ll first warn you by sending a text message to your cellphone and email to the secondary address you’ve provided,” wrote Andreas Tuerk, Google’s product manager, in a blog post. “We hope that this new feature will enable you to plan your digital afterlife—in a way that protects your privacy and security—and make life easier for your loved ones after you’re gone.” As for Twitter, the company notes on its site that it will work with anyone authorized to act on behalf of the deceased user’s estate or with a verified immediate family member of the deceased to have an account deactivated. And while Facebook may own photo-sharing site Instagram, Facebook’s new policy for heirs does not apply to Instagram. With Instagram, people can go to this site to try to memorialize the account of someone who has died. Instagram also explains that memorialized accounts can’t be changed—and posts that the deceased had shared on Instagram stay on Instagram. Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research, said he’s not sure how many people care about what happens to their social accounts once they die, but as social networks become more ingrained in people’s lives, they are likely to become an increasingly important part of our estates. “I think those who care, would like a static goodbye on their site,” he added.

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Tech: A Strategic Weapon

WATCH Everyone around is talking about digitization, mobile revolution, and so on. Analytics, IoT, cloud are making huge differences in the way businesses operates. One such company which rides on this new wave is Brillio, a next generation IT services & solutions company. CIO TV spoke to Puneet Gupta, currently the CTO at Brillio, who specializes in mobile computing, social, cloud, IOT and converged digital experiences. Watch the video to know more about his views on trends like gamification and how technology can be used as a strategic weapon by CIOs.

http://www.cio.in/cio-tv/cios-mustuse-technology-strategic-weaponpuneet-gupta-cto-brillio

Stuck in the IT Maze ANALYZE Whoever thinks that a CIO’s job is easy has no idea of the challenges that trouble the IT department. With the ever-changing technology landscape and increasing expectations from LoBs, these challenges are hanging like a sword over CIOs’ head. What’s interesting is that CIOs from different verticals face different challenges altogether. Check out our By The Numbers section to know what are these challenges all about.

http://www.cio.in/by-the-numbers/ all-roads-lead-it-blocked

IT Unions in India? READ HR academics believe that the difference between HR and IR (industrial relations) boils down to supply and demand. When there’s less supply of talent than demand, companies will use HR approaches. But when there’s more talent than industry can use, then companies turn to IR tactics. There are also reports of IT staffer gathering to create a union to protect their jobs. We spoke to Remadevi Thottathil, Global Head Business HR, ITC Infotech, about this. Read more to know her views.

http://www.cio.in/feature/unions-ofit-workers-won%E2%80%99t-solvecurrent-challenges

IT MANAGEMENT

Empathize and Apologize

What we geeks need to realize is that delivering a fix is insufficient. Make things better by apologizing. BY PAU L G L E N

ave you ever felt as if you were being work, our commitment to making systems operate as punished for someone else’s mistake? they should or our ingenuity in solving the problem. Maybe your project sponsors “rememAnd when we deploy those solutions, we feel relieved. bered” some requirements at the last Mistakes were made, but then they were fixed. Our part minute and insisted that the schedule is done. Our suffering is over. couldn’t change. So you had to stay late or work all But our users’ suffering is only beginning. weekend. The consequences to them? Nil. Maybe you That’s the part we have to grasp, and having grasped discovered a product bug and the vendor told you it, acknowledge. How you communicate with the people that everything was OK because it had a workaround. affected by your mistake when you deliver your fix will, in Great. You were stuck with all the manual work to get large measure, determine how they feel about technology, around the vendor’s bad code. You your department and you personally. suffered. The vendor? Not so much. As a geek, your tendency is to stick We get so focused How did you feel in those to the facts. “I’ve got it working now. on the facts of situations? Hold on to that feeling for You can do all that work you’ve been the issue that we a moment. waiting to do. Let me know if you have Now, let’s be honest. Sometimes forget the human any trouble.” the shoe is on the other foot. We make But that will leave users cold. mistakes, and our users and sponsors suffering that the You’ve brushed off your mistake and suffer. Maybe the accounting system mistakes cause. its consequences. goes down for a day during the yearAs a geek, empathy probably isn’t end close, and once you fix it, the folks in your strong suit. But you can access it. accounting are stuck working overtime All you have to do is think about what to meet their regulatory deadlines. Or maybe an invoicing you felt when you were in the user’s place and paid for input screen has a bug and it takes a week to fix. Once it’s someone else’s mistake. And having done that, you can working, the accounts receivable people have an entire make things a bit better in relatively simple ways: week of backlog that they have to dig through. n Apologize. “I’m really sorry that this problem (or my They probably will suffer mightily. You, only a little mistake) has inconvenienced you.” embarrassment. n Acknowledge the impact to them. “I know that this Anytime you find yourself in this sort of situation, means that you’ll have to stay late tonight to meet your you probably figure that, having fixed the problem, deadline.” you have done everything the users expect of you. But n Tell them how you feel. “I feel bad that this puts such if you take a moment and pull back the feeling you had a burden on you.” when you were affected by someone else’s mistake, And that’s it. All they need to know is that you are you’ll realize that they do expect something more. It aware of their suffering and care enough about them as isn’t much, but it can make a huge difference in our people to empathize with their situation, even if you can interpersonal relations with users and sponsors. do nothing about it. We get so focused on the facts of the issue— diagnosing it, fixing it, testing it and deploying it — that we forget the human suffering that the mistakes cause. When we deliver the fix, we are justifiably proud of our Send feedback to editor@cio.in.

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APRIL 15, 2015

LEADINGEDGE

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Loss of Control? 42

Control, keeping users in line, never should have been applied as a metric for judging IT performance. BY T H R O N TO N M AY

Every day, the many screens connecting me to the planetwide human hive mind are inundated with provocative headlines lamenting the end of IT. A host of not wholly disinterested parties armed with surveys, infographics, white papers and carefully crafted rhetoric assure me that IT has lost control. Perhaps, but control isn’t what it used to be. I say this having just completed a series of research engagements looking into the historical evolution of leadership and management control. And I’ll add this: Control, keeping users in line, never should have been applied as a metric for judging IT performance. Controlling users is not the logical end point of high-value IT. Control as a concept should be banished from the leadership lexicon. Not that that will be easy. Control has been on humankind’s mind forever. Throughout history, being in control was viewed as a good thing, and it has been portrayed and perceived as a pathway to power. Pharaohs, popes and princes obsessed over it. Then science had its turn. During the Enlightenment, the universe was frequently compared to the workings of a mechanical clock. The general consensus was that we lived in a knowable but as yet unknown machine. Because the gears of the machine were governed by physics, every aspect of the machine was predictable. From this mental model emerged the erroneous and all but universal belief that we were either in control or, via good efforts, could gain control. When information technology arose, it was natural that this worldview would be adopted by the new discipline’s practitioners. In fact, modern information technologies which James Beniger, in The Control Revolution: Technological and Economic Origins of the Information Society, traces to the 1830s and the introduction of railroads were designed and deployed with coordination in mind (coordination being

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the best way to keep all those trains from banging into one another). And throughout history, coordination has been conflated with control (though they are not necessarily the same thing). I believe the golden age of control (1865-1920) peaked with the central planning associated with World War I. The success of that herculean effort derived from the concepts of Frederick Winslow Taylor, who invented at-scale scientific management, and the practices perfected by Henry Ford, its chief deployer. Both men believed that, by using analysis, one could determine the “one best way” to accomplish any task. Work was studied, and optimized behaviors and tools were created. But science has lost its former faith in ultimate control. It now sees that idea as an illusion. And like control itself, many things impinging on IT are not what they used to be. Organizations are not what they used to be. Modern organizations are angst-ridden jumbles of paradoxes, tensions and competing requirements. Control is not an option. Work is not what it used to be. Work has morphed into a series of complex, global, virtualized, and time-boxed arrangements of itinerant workers, contractors, freelancers, and employees. Despite all that, our society still has a control fetish, even in the face of exponentially expanding complexity and bordering-on-infinite possibility. What we should be doing is laughing at the whole idea that we can control things like users from the top down. Futurist Thornton A. May is a speaker, educator and adviser and the author of The New Know: Innovation Powered by Analytics.

[CXO AGENDA]

What Can IT Unions Achieve? Nothing, says Remadevi Thottathil, Global Head Business HR, ITC Infotech. But you still need to deal with the job stability fears that drives unions. BY SUNIL SHAH Why do unions start? HR academics believe that it boils down to supply and demand. When there’s more talent than industry can use, companies begin to treat employees in such a way that unions begin to flourish. That could be happening now. Some believe that recent attempts to start a union are tied to slowing growth of hiring among IT compa-

the market. And this up-and-down cycle will continue. Does this help with retention? I think the retention of key players, people who can take things from x to y, has now become a focus—not mass retention. Is a lack of job stability driving IT unions, or is that just an natural evolution for the IT industry?

In the knowledge industry, the onus of being employable is on the employee. nies, and reports of middle level managers at IT firms being squeezed out. To put this theory to test, we spoke to Remadevi Thottathil, Global Head Business HR, ITC Infotech. Here are her views. Has the hiring slowdown among IT/ITeS companies made retention easier?

Before I start, I’d like to say that these are my personal opinions. To address the question about a slowdown in hiring, I think it’s part of a cycle. When there’s a deadline for the business to meet, you’ll see a ramp up take place in certain skillsets. And, consequently, when a project is done, you’ll see a slowdown. The flux is created by the business and

I think unions have more relevance in the manufacturing sector, or in sectors where there is greater predictability. In the IT industry, predictability—whether we’re taking about wages, skills, the number of people required, or how long that skill will be wanted—just isn’t there. A hot skill today, isn’t tomorrow. This is due to the dynamism of the industry. I don’t like creating a union is a relevant solution for an IT environment. Coming together to address common workforce issues, in a forum like NASSCOM, is better. A unionized environment will create liabilities— and not help with questions like job security or wage security.

about mid-level managers at large IT firms, who now handle teams and people—rather than code—becoming more unemployable. Is this a trend?

We’ve observed that happening; they become completely hands-off with technology. My thought process is that they need to continue maintain their “coding edge”. They need to current with new technologies. There’s less demand for nontechnical managers. We need the middle layer to maintain their coding edge. But don’t IT firms have a responsibility to educate their staffers, and keep them employable?

First, gone are the days when employees join an organization and retire from it. Second, in a knowledge industry, the requirement of being employable; the onus of that is on the employee. Organizations facilitate with training programs, and skill development initiatives—that are pertinent to the business. But employees must have a clear career plan, and they need to be the owner of that plan. They cannot rely on other people to get them training that will take them from here to there on their career plan. Believe me, the trend HR practitioners are seeing is that the new generation workforce is clear about what they want to do.

Send feedback to sunil_shah@idgindia.

We’ve also been hearing reports

com.

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leadership and operational excellence

Japan’s Drone Syndrome ago are helping open a path for Japan to bring its technological expertise to drone innovation. Deployed by Japan’s atomic and space agencies, drones have been used as experimental sensors to measure radiation levels at the contaminated site. And Fukushima Prefecture is now slated to host the country’s first mass production of hexacopter, or six-rotor, drones. A spin-off of Chiba University, Autonomous Control Systems Laboratory, plans to produce the high-end hexacopter that will initially help cleanup crews by performing radiation surveys. The 90 centimeter-diameter drone has a top speed of 10 meters per second and can carry a payload of 6 kilograms including radiation detectors and a battery. The startup plans to turn out 400 units in its first production run. —Tim Hornyak

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I M A G E B Y T H I N K S TO C K

The earthquake and tsunami that destroyed the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant four years