CIO Magazine March 15, 2015 Issue

STRIKING SECURITY GOLD

IT helps Manappuram Finance shield its gold. 15

www.cio.in

CIO WITH AN EDGE

What it takes to be a competitive differentiator. 21 MOBILE BEFRIENDS COLLABORATION

Mobile tech is the new frenemy. 29

DIGITAL ENTERPRISE LAND GRAB

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

Is the use-by date for CIOs already here? 35

Honing Your Vendor Smarts

Savvy CIOs are learning new skills to forge tighter bonds with vendors. Here's how

March 15, 2015

`100.00

you can too. 30

PLUS

Raising Human Capital

Talent strikes a target no one else can hit. And UST Global strives to build a talent pool to secure the future of IT. 20

VOLUME 10, NO. 5

March 15, 2015

Start

From the Editor in Chief 2 Trending 3 Numbers You Need 4 Quick Fix 6 Career Path 8 News Scan 10 World View 14

02

Honing Your Vendor Smarts

30

The changing vendor landscape means IT must forge tighter partnerships with them. Here are the skills you should have.

COVER STORY

BY C I N DY WA X E R

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

20

Manappuram’s golden key to security 15 A solar farm to power Apple 16 Why sophisticated attacks are commonplace 18 Talent guards the IT gateway 20 What makes this CIO a competitive differentiator 21

Statement of ownership and other particulars about the magazine Real CIO World, as required to be published under Section 19-D Subsection (b) of the Press and Registration of Books Act read with Rule 8 of the Registration of Newspapers (Central) Rules) 1956.

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

Gamification brings business and IT closer 24 Five tips on IT team-building 25 How a defunct robot dog’s brain comes handy 26 Now, pay petrol bills from your phone 26 Six easy steps to retain talent 28 Mobile tech is an enterprise’s frenemy 29

24

Connect P E E R A DV I C E

35

Has your use-by date arrived? 35 Time for CIOs to experiment 37 How to make conflicts constructive 38 Job hunting is going mobile 39

PLACE OF PUBLICATION: Bangalore 560027, Karnataka PERIODICITY OF PUBLICATION: PRINTER Name: Nationality: Address: Bangalore 560027, Karnataka PUBLISHER Name: Nationality: Address: Bangalore 560027, Karnataka EDITOR Name: Nationality: Address: Bangalore 560027, Karnataka

‘Geetha Building,’ 49, 3rd Cross, Mission Road, Monthly Louis D’Mello Indian ‘Geetha Building,’ 49, 3rd Cross, Mission Road,

Louis D’Mello Indian ‘Geetha Building,’ 49, 3rd Cross, Mission Road,

Louis D’Mello Indian ‘Geetha Building,’ 49, 3rd Cross, Mission Road,

Names and addresses of individuals who own the magazine, and partners or shareholders holding more than one per cent of the total capital: International Data Group, 5, Speen Street, Framingham MA 01701, USA I, Louis D’Mello, hereby declare that the particulars given above are true to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Finish COVER IMAGE THINKSTOCK

Form IV

Robots on self-help mode 40

40

15 March 2015 Louis D’Mello Signature of publisher

www.cio.in

|

MARCH 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

Nail the Lie 2

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?

Louis D’Mello

Vijay Ramachandran Sudhir Narasimhan, T. M. Arun Kumar Yogesh Gupta Sunil Shah Shardha Subramanian Balaji Narasimhan Radhika Nallayam, Shantheri Mallaya Aritra Sarkhel, Shubhra Rishi Kshitish B.S., Vasu N. Arjun Suresh Nair, Vikas Kapoor Unnikrishnan A.V., Laaljith C.K. Ishan Bhattacharya, Madhav Mohan, Mayukh Mukherjee, Sejuti Das Vaishnavi J. Desai

SALES & MARKETING PRESIDENT SALES & MARKETING VICE PRESIDENT SALES GM MARKETING GENERAL MANAGER SALES MANAGER KEY ACCOUNTS MANAGER SALES SUPPORT SR. MARKETING ASSOCIATES

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

ADVERTISER INDEX Accenture Services Pvt. Ltd Bharthi Airtel Ltd BMC Software India Pvt. Ltd Cisco Systmes (India) Pvt. Ltd Gartner India Research & Advisory Services Pvt Ltd HP India Sales Pvt. Ltd Raritan International India Pvt. Ltd Salesforce.com India Pvt. Ltd SAS Institute (India) Pvt Ltd Vodafone India Ltd

7 IFC 12 & 13 BC 5 & Flap on cover IBC & 11 9 17 19 insert

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.

MARCH 15, 2015

|

www.cio.in

without rints to

TRENDING

Drones Can’t Stalk You Anymore

Androids Welcome You at Smart Hotel For centuries, hospitality in Japan has meant kimono-clad innkeepers attentive to the last detail. Now, androids from the company that licenses Hello Kitty will staff a new hotel.

A theme park near Nagasaki in southern Japan will open a smart hotel featuring female androids that greet guests, and robots that carry luggage and serve coffee.

Henn-na Hotel, meaning “Strange Hotel” in English, will feature three uniformed reception androids, four service and porter robots, an industrial robot arm serving as a cloak room attendant, and several cleaning robots.

The receptionists will be sourced from Kokoro, a group company of Hello Kitty licensing company Sanrio that is known for its lifelike Actroid androids. The hotel will also have machines from Aldebaran Robotics, which makes the Nao humanoid robot as well as mobile carrier SoftBank’s Pepper humanoid robot, and Yaskawa Electric’s industrial robots.

Huis Ten Bosch did not release further details on the robots, but a spokeswoman said about 10 human staff will help with hotel operations.

“We’d like to draw visitors to this setting surrounded by nature by establishing a smart hotel, which could be something we could spread through Japan and the world,” the spokeswoman for Huis Ten Bosch said.

Japan has been experimenting with androids for years, mostly for communication tasks, amid hopes that automation will help make up for a shrinking workforce. They were deployed as information desk attendants as far back as 10 years ago at the 2005 Aichi Expo near Nagoya, and more recently have appeared at the Ceatec technology show outside Tokyo as well as the Miraikan museum in the Japanese capital, where they held their own press conference.

–By Tim Hornyak

A California aviation enthusiast launched a database that promises to allow people to set up “drone no-fly zones” around their properties.

The database is responding to the worry some people have of drones flying above their gardens or alongside windows and invading areas that have typically enjoyed a high degree of privacy.

But at launch only three drone makers have agreed to honor the requests, which have no legal basis.

Noflyzone.org is operated by Ben Marcus, a private pilot and drone operator based in Santa Monica, who said that he sees it as a “fundamental piece of architecture to preserve and protect individual privacy.”

Anyone can enter an address into the database to have a no-fly zone created. Users are asked to enter an e-mail address and verify the request.

Marcus said a second address request from the same e-mail address requires proof of residence.

The address will be converted to both a single latitude and longitude point and a more accurate series of points that better maps out the edges of a property and supplied to drone makers for inclusion in a no-fly database that is consulted each time a drone attempts to take-off.

The extent of the no-fly zone is up to each drone maker, but Marcus is recommending it extends 500 feet (152 meters) around each property—something that would ground drone flights from neighboring houses as well.

Marcus said the 500-foot range was chosen because it would protect houses and gardens from drone photography even if the aircraft was flown several hundred feet in the air.

—By Martyn Williams

ed,

oad,

www.cio.in

|

MARCH 15, 2015

3

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

,

start

All Roads Lead to IT—Blocked! start

It’s going to be a bumpy ride for CIOs this year as they are grappling with some of the IT industry’s biggest challenges. BY VA I S H N AV I J . D E S A I

4

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’ heads.

According to the State of the CIO 2015 Survey, 49 percent of Indian CIOs, across verticals, are grappling with inadequate in-house skillsets in areas like cloud computing, virtualization, mobility, BI and analytics, and security. Forty-three percent worry about delayed decisions from business. And funding of new IT projects is another cause of concern for 39 percent of CIOs. These are the top three challenges of Indian CIOs. But when you drill this down sector-wise, you’ll find that different verticals are facing different challenges.

For example, the biggest challenge for CIOs in the BFSI sector is governance, risk and compliance (GRC). A majority—59 percent—of BFSI CIOs say GRC is a major challenge. However, for CIOs in the automotive sector, offering hard, tangible RoI for every new IT project is the biggest challenge.

On the other hand, 48 percent of CIOs in the manufacturing sector say delayed decisions from business is their biggest challenge. Apart from this, funding new IT projects and a lack of in-house skillsets trouble 44 percent and 43 percent of manufacturing CIOs respectively.

CIOs in the IT/ITeS vertical aren’t spared either.

Mobility and cloud computing are the trends earmarked

by CIOs for 2015, but a lack of skillsets in these areas upset 54 percent of them. Additionally, finding funding for new IT projects is a daunting challenge for 46 percent of IT/ITeS CIOs. Do you still believe that the IT department’s job is a cake walk? Well, think again.

Vaishnavi J. Desai is a trainee journalist. Send feedback to vaishnavi_desai@idgindia.com.

The Hurdles Race

A CIO has hurdles to overcome. Here are their top three challenges.

Inadequate in-house skillsets

49% Delayed decisions from business 43%

39%

|

www.cio.in

Indian CIOs from different verticals face different challenges.

48 percent

Of manufacturing CIOs say delayed decisions from business is their top challenge.

59 percent

Of BFSI CIOs say governance, risk, and compliance is their biggest challenge.

Funding new IT projects

MARCH 15, 2015

Vertical Limit

EARLY-BIRD DISCOUNT Save 6,500 by 13 March using discount code EBDCAD1

Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Data Center Summit 2015 11 – 12 May | Mumbai, India | gartnerevent.com/in/dccio

Leading I&O: Delivering New Levels of Innovation and Productivity TOPICS BEING ADDRESSED • Aligning costs related to business value • Developing cloud and mobile strategies • Data center modernization and consolidation • I&O security, risk, and continuity • Improving the quality of IT services

© 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Gartner is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. or its affiliates. For more information, email info@gartner.com or visit gartner.com.

quiFIX ck Interstellar Fix

start

NASA engineers are planning to send a software fix to a rover that has been working on Mars for nearly 11 years longer than expected.

6

T

he Mars rover, Opportunity, has been suffering from a glitch that’s causing what NASA scientists describe as memory and data loss—or a robotic “amnesia”—since December 2014. Now, they’re nearly ready to send aloft a software update they hope will rectify the problem. The danger lies in replacing critical software in a machine that the technicians have no way to actually lay their hands on.

Flash memory is important on Opportunity because it’s able to retain data even when the rover’s power is shut off during its overnight power-conserving “sleep” time, NASA noted.

However, it’s not able to store data over night. That means every day, any information gathered is stored temporarily in the machine’s RAM and sent to Earth so it’s not lost when Opportunity powers down.

—Sharon Gaudin

For more articles, see: www.cio.in/article

WORTH READING B O O K The Mobility Revolution: Zero Emissions, Zero Accidents, Zero Ownership

By Lukas Neckermann This book coins the term ‘Mobility Revolution’ and is about the ‘three zeroes’ that are defining the future for the automobile industry. The impact will go beyond the automotive industry and its suppliers. Amazon.in Rs 1,174

MARCH 15, 2015

|

www.cio.in

How to avoid feeling burned out ALWAYS understand that burnout is created by stress—a constant flow of stress, in some cases. If this is happening to you, it can be devastating to your job performance but, more importantly, it can destroy your physical health at the same time.

Your first action should be to evaluate the facts of the situation: Is this problem a long-term challenge or merely a short-term inconvenience?

Talk to someone about it. Holding the stress inside creates more stress. Sharing your situation with someone you trust—a peer, spouse or spiritual advisor even—will help you discover that something can be done to change the landscape.

Third step, if you are in a rut, start digging yourself out. Read something positive, get rest and don’t take yourself so seriously.

SOMETIMES you need to take another look at your personal goals. If the burnout is prolonged, you may find now is the perfect time to move in a different direction. Before you do, though, take the time to thoroughly understand why you are burned out and make sure the same will not happen at your next opportunity.

NEVER over-react. When you are in burnout mode, everything is exaggerated. So, it’s probably not the right time to just “take this job and shove it.” In times of stress and/or ambiguity, never make long-term, life-changing decisions. However, this is also not the time to just sit there and hope things improve.

David Cottrell has more than 25 years of business experience including senior management positions with FedEx and Xerox.

careerPATH

CIOs, Time to Get on Board start

There’s a real demand for CIOs to serve on boards. Would you be prepared if a company asked you to serve on its board? BY A DA M H A RT U N G

8

Boards of directors today are asking lots of questions: Can costly IT infrastructure be replaced by cloud-based systems? Can cheap apps replace expensive software? Which is better for business—Android or iOS? Cybersecurity: What’s our risk? And what’s our solution?Information technology is now a board priority. Discussions of IT were once relegated to uncomfortable sessions where directors nodded off, chafed

Companies are seeking tech expertise on the board, not just hoping to absorb knowledge from presentations.

—ADAM HARTUNG, MANAGING PARTNER, SPARK PARTNERS

at random acronym attacks and struggled to tie the technology budget to anything good for the company. But no longer. Now boards have very serious worries. They don’t want their company to be the next Target or JPMorgan Chase, and they’re wondering how in the world such big problems could emerge from IT. Nobody wants to be out-of-date using BlackBerries while competitors use iPhones, or using cash registers while competitors check out shoppers on tablets or smartphones.

Increasingly, companies are seeking tech expertise on the board, not just hoping to absorb knowledge from management presentations.

Asking the CIO questions is a waste of time if the questions aren’t

MARCH 15, 2015

|

www.cio.in

very good. If nobody on the board knows how to formulate the right questions, directors won’t get the answers they need.

Sought-After CIOs So there’s a real demand for CIOs to serve on boards, and many companies are seeking IT leaders who are qualified candidates. Would you be prepared if a company asked you to serve on its board?

The key is to understand that there’s a big difference between being a good CIO and being a valuable board director. A good CIO’s job is to do things right: Budgeting, implementing, advising the CEO, executing. But a board director’s role is very different: It’s figuring out whether the company’s executives,

including the CIO, are doing the right things. Are they asking themselves the right questions? Are they investigating all the right options?

Do they have the right processes in place to make good decisions? Are they fulfilling compliance requirements and innovating for future growth? Do they have contingency plans, and are those plans adequate?

Are they meeting customer technology requirements? Are they vigorously managing tech vendors?

Is the money spent on IT making the company more competitive? Is IT creating advantage? Is management anticipating game-changing technology, experimenting with it and preparing to use it? Is the CIO keeping an eye out for disruptive technology and competition from the fringes? Are IT’s processes capable of sensing market changes?

In addition, a CIO who becomes a board director must help fellow directors understand critical IT issues, and help them get comfortable asking their own questions. You aren’t a consultant, but you are their coach regarding technology, and part of the team. You are expected to contribute on all aspects of corporate governance and help all board members feel as though they know the critical IT questions, understand management’s answers and grasp the business implications.

Send feedback to editor@cio.in

HIGHER PERFORMANCE WITH

ADVERTORIAL RARITAN CANON

TIGHTER BUDGETS Raritan, with its new offering of datacenter infrastructure management solutions, helps companies improve their datacenter performance even with tighter IT budgets.

B

usinesses, today, are rapidly trying to expand. They are also looking to increase their customer base and constantly trying to provide value-added services to the client. This drive is possible because of the new technologies coming into the market and strong back-end systems.

“The new technologies, that enable companies to offer new services to clients, are all working because of tons of servers supporting it at the back-end,” said Sanjay Motwani, director-Asia, Raritan. Today, high capacity servers make it possible for companies to operate everything on a real-time basis.

Though datacenter is a critical component and is at the heart of a successful business, it comes with its fair share of challenges and headaches for the IT team.

Companies want datacenters to process data as it comes in.

Therefore, the IT team is often hard pressed to scale datacenter operations, especially with IT funding being the first to take a hit when budgets are slashed. Motwani says that IT departments are now expected to do more with less every year.

Additionally, it has been observed that with the change of personnel looking after the datacenter, processes change, leading to ad-hoc decision making–which leads to drop in the productivity of the datacenter.

“Raritan with its DCIM solutions makes datacenter management largely process-dependent. This

reduces errors and also the effect on the performance of the datacenter when there is a change in the personnel operating it,” Motwani says. This is important as the management of the datacenter is largely people dependent and human errors account to most number of errors in a datacenter.

Also, Raritan through its DCIM solutions, defines various datacenter processes ensuring continuous and steady productivity, Motwani adds.

While IT departments worry about budget cuts, it is also a fact that almost every datacenter has spare capacity which the administrator is not aware of. Sometimes, this can be as high as 50 percent.

The challenge for the datacenter manager is figuring where is this stranded capacity. Raritan’s DCIM solutions help identify this stranded capacity. Once these tools are deployed it takes about three–six months to get a comprehensive understanding of the datacenter.

Raritan Recommends: l Deploy tools that measure

the performance and utilization at device level. l Identify high-value problems

in your datacenter. l Form a dedicated team for execution and implementation of DCIM.

Additionally, DCIM solutions can provide detailed information regarding crucial aspects of a datacenter such as free racks and power capacity. DCIM also helps in asset management, change management, capacity management and planning, and advanced energy monitoring.

“DCIM adds to the efficiency of the datacenter through reduced energy consumption and also through data as to how the datacenter in itself is operating.

Raritan with its DCIM solutions makes datacenter management largely process dependent. This reduces errors and the effect on datacenter performance when there is a change in the personnel operating it.”

—Sanjay Motwani, Director-Asia, Raritan

It helps make the organization more profitable while making the datacenter greener,” said Suresh Kumar, partner, Grant Thornton.

The major challenge of a DCIM implementation is that it needs behavioral changes within the organization as there is a new set of protocols that come into play. Besides, with increasing strain on the IT budget, a CIO has to explain return on investment to the top management.

Motwani says that Raritan’s DCIM solution can help a CIO identify existing surplus within the datacenter and thus, show business the inherent benefits of a DCIM implementation. n

This feature is brought to you by IDG Services in association with Raritan

news scan

start 10

Biometrics and the Future of Security

With the use of passwords coming under increased scrutiny, Microsoft is taking steps to move beyond them in Windows 10. Its biggest move: Joining the FIDO (Fast Identity Online) Alliance and adding support for biometrics technology in the upcoming upgrade of the OS, which has been slated to ship this year.

With Windows 10, Windows devices and Microsoft-owned and partner SaaS services supported by Azure Active Directory authentication can be accessed via an enterprise-grade two-factor authentication solution— without a password.

—InfoWorld (US)

Google Launches YouTube for Kids

Google launched a version of YouTube for kids that will feature appropriate content and controls, in line with its strategy to redesign some of its products for use by this segment. The app will give parents control over how much time child can spend on it, according to sources.

—IDG News Service

MARCH 15, 2015

|

www.cio.in

Xiaomi Leads China’s Smartphone Market

Apple’s iPhone 6 has been a hit in China, but according to one account, rival Xiaomi still reigns as the country’s largest smartphone vendor. In last year’s fourth quarter, Android handset maker Xiaomi had a 13.7 percent share, while second place Apple only had a 12.3 percent share, research firm IDC said. Chinese consumers are still flocking toward lower cost handsets. That is the reason local smartphone player Xiaomi, a maker of inexpensive Android phones, managed to hold on to the top spot.

—IDG News Service

HP Warns of Deep Security Issues with IoT

All of internet-connected security systems contain significant vulnerabilities, according to a new HP study. The HP Fortify study found that all of the studied devices used in home security have serious security flaws as a result of being online, including password security, encryption and authentication issues. The study reveals how ill-equipped the market is from a security standpoint for the magnitude of growth expected around IoT. The HP study questions whether connected security devices actually make our homes safer or put them at more risk by providing easier electronic access via insecure IoT products.

—ARN

Lenovo Releases Tool to Purge Superfish ‘Crapware’

Lenovo released a promised tool to delete the Superfish Visual Discovery adware from its consumer PCs. The tool automates the manual process after the Superfish “crapware” exploded on its face. The same tool also deletes the self-signed certificate that experts said was a huge security threat to anyone with a Superfish-equipped Lenovo system.

Lenovo confirmed that it is working with two of its partners, antivirus vendor McAfee and Windows-maker Microsoft, to automatically scrub or isolate Superfish and remove the certificate, for those customers who do not hear about its cleaning tool. Security experts have called on Lenovo, and the PC industry in general, to halt the practice of pre-loading third-party software on their machines.

—Computerworld (US)

Mozilla’s Firefox Chief Steps Down

Mozilla’s vice president in charge of Firefox, Johnathan Nightingale, said he plans to step down at the end of March—and he says there’s nothing wrong with that. Nightingale added that he had no particular plans after departing. He was simply burnt out, and needed a break. “[I]t took a lot out of me,” Nightingale wrote in 2014. “I need to take a break. And as the dust settled on 2014 I realized, for the first time in a while, that I could take one.”

Nightingale said his post shouldn’t be seen as a “Sign of Doom,” that Mozilla and Firefox were failing.

—PC World (US)

Microsoft Adopts International Standard for Cloud Privacy

Microsoft has adopted a new standard for cloud privacy that commits the company to protect the privacy of customers’ data, not to use it for advertisement purposes, and to inform the customer of legal requests for personal data. The company said it was adopting the ISO/IEC 27018, published last year by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), which outlines a common set of security categories and controls that can be implemented by a public cloud computing service provider acting as a processor of personally identifiable information. Microsoft and other cloud companies have come under a cloud after revelations in 2013 by former US National Security Agency contractor, Edward Snowden, about large-scale surveillance by the agency.

—IDG News Service

EXECUTIVE VIEWPOINT

ROBERT “BOB” Beauchamp, after joining the company in 1988 as a sales executive, rose rapidly through BMC ranks. During his tenure, he has led key business initiatives, including research and development, strategic marketing, and corporate development. Named CEO in 2001, Beauchamp led BMC’s highly successful transformation from a mainframe tools vendor to the company that delivers the industry’s most strategic enterprise management and automation solutions, enabling customers to automate IT and prove their business value.

Beauchamp has served on the boards of numerous non-profit, industry and civic organizations during his career, including Baylor University and National Oilwell Varco.

Officat iorerro odi aliatio BMC Software: Creating moluptaquis dus.

Strategic Differentiators BMC Software through it’s immersive and brand new Customer Experience Center showcases the vision of Business Service Management and Living IT! BMC Software’s new Customer Experience Center (CEC) in Pune is setting new standards. What are the strategic differentiators that the company will acquire by establishing this CEC? BMC Software India’s Pune R&D Center hosts the entire ecosystem of the organization, including R&D, customer support, global delivery, finance, human

resources, and procurement. The premise of setting up the CEC in Pune, India, is to attract visitors across the globe, and demonstrate to them the product capabilities first-hand, in real time, and in a world-class environment.

Effectively, the CEC stands to complete the trilogy of customer, partner, and solution provider. As an organization it sets a paradigm in the industry

with its new vision of ‘bringing IT to life.’ The CEC brings visitors face-toface with this vision by allowing them to experience the amalgamation of technology and manpower through the Network Operation Center (NOC) located in the CEC. One of the interesting elements of the NOC is that it seeks to raise the bar with its state-of-the-art manning

CUSTOM INTERVIEW BMC Software

facilities that just require a single human interface.

BMC Software India is being positioned as one of the most significant growth and strategic businesses of BMC. How is BMC India contributing to helping enterprise customers acquire competitive advantage?

In a matter of about a decade and a half since inception, BMC India has been truly transforming the digital enterprise by bringing IT to life for competitive advantage. BMC India has proven to be a strategic competitive differentiator for BMC Software.

From meeting and exceeding expectations to aligning perfectly with our mission and vision, the leadership team of India has done a fabulous job of bringing the new facility and the CEC to life. The state-of-the-art center in Pune is where solutions management can be witnessed in action in its entirety. BMC India exemplifies digital transformation of the enterprise via its ‘Office of the Future.’

BMC Software assists around 94 percent of the Fortune 100 companies with innovative and path-breaking IT solutions. BMC India has leveraged its globally strategic location to further its goals of cost advantage, excellent talent acquisition, innovation, and customer centricity. The CEC is the grand culmination of the latter, offering an immersive experience to its partners, customers, and industry peers.

So, is BMC India one of the fastest growing markets for BMC Software?

BMC India is assisting in bringing to life the company’s new strategy of building great products, for delighting the end customer. With its vision to deliver innovative IT management solutions and enabling customers to leverage complex technology into extraordinary business performance, BMC India has scaled heights to become a strategic competitive differentiator for BMC. Over the years, BMC India has grown to become one of the largest sites of BMC Software, and it has

conducted over a dozen employee engagement programs.

Having said that, we do not single out or silo any of our markets. We see India to be as important or significant as our other markets in APAC and elsewhere. So, CEC is a strategic global enterprise for us; a center that delivers products and services that serve the entire world.

Given the new branding and messaging, how will BMC Software do

BMC Software India’s new Customer Experience Center is a proof of how India centers are starting to go beyond cost-arbitrage and influencing global revenues.

things differently for customers in 2015 that will distinguish the company?

BMC Software has consistently delivered software solutions that help IT transform digital enterprises for the ultimate competitive business advantage. We have worked with thousands of leading companies to create and deliver powerful IT management services.

From mainframe to cloud to mobile, we pair high-speed digital innovation with robust IT industrialization— allowing our customers to provide amazing user experiences with optimized IT performance, cost, compliance, and productivity.

We believe that technology is the heart of every business, and that IT

drives business to the digital age.

Besides others, one of the central ideas of setting up a CEC in India is to enhance the revenue influence— conversations that can contribute to the success of implementation of the software in the right way. We have the entire ecosystem to carry out the objective.

While there is a place for everyone in the marketplace, and all are picking their niche domains or positioning either in big data and analytics, application tools and services, or going on to become cloud providers, we believe that BMC is the only company focused on the core service management environment.

We are staying true to our original mission of being an abstraction layer that is helping manage and taming complexity. We are the unimaginable kind that exists today, at every level– objects, networks, and devices. In effect, we give customers the ability to manage, optimize, repair, and deliver services with a high degree of automation and reliability.

Our goals for 2015 would be to accelerate our growth by helping customers deal with two-speed IT, innovation at the edge, revenue generating applications of the digital era, while optimizing the cost model across the business.

BMC Software is uniquely positioned to help enterprises go through a transformation for the digital future. We help transform digital enterprises for the ultimate competitive business advantage.

This interview is brought to you by IDG Services in association with BMC software

world Fresh Ideas from Around the Globe

vıew

start

Arabic Cyberespionage Group Targets the Middle East

14

W A S H I N G T O N An Arabic cyberespionage group has attacked thousands of high-profile targets in Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and other countries for the past two years, cybersecurity vendor Kaspersky Lab said. The cybermercenaries, which the vendor dubbed the Desert Falcons, has stolen more than 1 million files from 3,000 victims in more than 50 countries. Targeted countries include Algeria, Lebanon, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East, and the US, Russia, France, and Sweden beyond the region, Kaspersky said. The group’s motivation seems to be political, with targets including industry, politicians and prominent activists, said Dmitry Bestuzhev, a security expert at Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team. IDG News Service

Syrian Opposition’s Battle Plans Hacked

DAMASCUS Syrian opposition leaders lost gigabytes of

secret communications and battlefield plans to hackers who baited them into downloading malware during flirtatious Skype chats, according to a report. FireEye stumbled on a server containing the documents and files while researching PDF-based malware, said Laura Galante, manager of threat intelligence at the computer security firm. The cache of documents included annotated satellite images, weapons records, Skype chats and personal information on those who have sought to topple President Bashar al-Assad in the four-year civil war. It was unclear if Assad’s regime was behind the campaign. IDG News Service

App for Safety

BANGALORE Uber Technologies has started a pilot, across Indian cities, of new safety features for its ride-hailing app. The app will now let users send driver and vehicle details to their relatives and friends, and will also have an SOS button that will enable riders to contact the local authorities in an emergency. The new Send Status feature also allows riders to share with family and friends live GPS tracking and the driver’s photo, name and vehicle license number. IDG News Service

Mobile Tech Brings African Farmers into Supply Chain

SIERRA LEONE US-based GeoPoll is partnering with Control Union, an international provider of agricultural inspection and safety services, to reach out to African farmers and bring them into global supply chain networks.

GeoPoll provides technology for data collection, using mobile platforms for surveys. Control Union will be able to use GeoPoll technology to reach small-holding farmers to gain more information about their practices. The idea is to bring increased transparency to food supply chains globally, with a focus on key products such as cocoa, coffee, cotton, fruits and vegetables, palm oil, rice, and tobacco. IDG News Service

–Compiled by IDG News Service from CIO magazine affiliates worldwide

MARCH 15, 2015

|

www.cio.in

grow innovation and business value

15

Striking Security Gold How Manappuram Finance leveraged an alert management system to protect its gold and catch criminals within an hour. By Madhav Mohan “We have had cases where security guards have been killed at night,” says Mohan Vizhakat, CTO

and EVP, Manappuram Finance. For a company like Manappuram Finance, its security guards are the lifeline as they are the sole barrier between gold ornaments of customers and criminals. But depending on a security guard to protect tons of gold is inviting trouble.

That’s something that Vizhakat realized. And that’s why he decided to use IT as a shield to protect the assets of the company’s customers. He figured that if someone breaks open a branch and gets into a vault, it will take him at least an hour to maneuver his way to the gold. “There is a one-hour window to react. With a reactive system in place, miscreants will know better than to enter any of the Manappuram branches,” says Vizhakat.

Vizhakat and the IT team introduced a two-fold security system—with surveillance cameras and an Automatic Intrusion Alert Management System (AIAMS)—to strengthen the company’s security backbone. “After establishing a comprehensive video surveillance system with high resolution

•••••••••••••  51% of Indian CIOs say security policies hinder collaboration in their enterprise. SOTC 2015 •••••••••••••

www.cio.in

|

MARCH 15, 2015

crunch

Private Cloud Breaks Barriers

grow

Indian CIOs have had their own share of trouble in adopting

16

IP cameras, all our 3,200 branches got under the private cloud. Here are five hurdles they overcame. a continuous remote surveillance system,” says Vizhakat.

To capture the movements of miscreants Updating our current infrastructure 37% clearly, three IP-based cameras were installed Integrating existing IT products 31% in all the branches. “Every night when our broadband communication connections are Acquiring employee skill sets 29% free, the bandwidth is utilized for uploading the Making the business case for private cloud 28% video clips to our central server,” Vizhakat says.

Acquiring cloud software and hardware 24% Additionally, highly sensitive intrusion alert sensors like contact sensors, IR-based proximS 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 ity sensors, and vibration sensors were installed at various points of entry within the branches.

IP receivers collate alerts by using the existing MPLS links and transfer them to the central alert management system located in Thrissur.

An alert also gets automatically generated at the central hub in case of power link/router failure, also treated as an intrusion attempt for mitigated response.

Electronic relay systems dis- “We’ve tried Apple is investing in a vast solar plant in patch alerts to regional security to ensure that Northern California that will generate as patrols and quick-reaction teams. much electricity as the company uses to the nearest The alerts get collated in AIAMS power all its operations in the state. and get dispatched as SMSes, quick-reaction Apple will invest in the plant through a e-mails, and automated telephone team reaches partnership with First Solar, CEO Tim Cook calls. For instance, if an intrusion said. It will cover 1,300 acres—equal to happens in one of the branches in 30 minutes.” about 1,000 football fields—in Monterey County, about an hour south of Apple’s Siliat Mumbai, the information will —Mohan Vizhakat, CTO, con Valley headquarters. automatically flow to the quick- Mannapuram Finance The plant will generate enough energy reaction team, closest to the parthat it could power Apple’s entire operaticular branch. The nearest security agency mitigates the threat. tions in California, including its datacenter, The threat alert also goes to the central management system and retail stores and offices. That’s also enough the local security agencies near the site. energy to power 15,000 California homes, “The whole process is tuned such that the nearest quick-reacCook said. tion team reaches the site within 30 minutes of alert generation,” The investment allows Apple to lock in says Vizhakat. And that has gone a long way in securing the a low, fixed rate for renewable energy, and organization’s gold assets. probably also obtain renewable energy certificates to offset its carbon footprint.

Another benefit of the project was that it has brought down the Apple will receive energy from 130 megasecurity cost. Earlier, the company spent over Rs 70 crore annually, watts of the solar project under a 25-year across its 3,200 branches, to maintain a certain level of security. But purchase agreement, in the largest agreethe new system brought the cost down to Rs 15 crore. ment of its kind to a commercial end user, The project, started last November, has already covered over First Solar said.

1,000 branches. According to Vizhakat, within the next few months, it will be implemented all over the country. Way to go!

Solar Farm Powers Apple

Send feedback to Madhav_mohan@idgindia.com

—James Niccolai

•••••••••••• 86% of Indian CIOs want to spend most of their time this year interacting with IT vendors. SOTC 2015•••••••••••••

MARCH 15, 2015

|

www.cio.in

IT SECURITY

The ‘Sophisticated Attack’ Myth grow

Every significant data compromise is said to be sophisticated. Well, sophisticated attacks are now average attacks. Deal with it. BY I R A W I N K L E R

18

S

ometimes I wonder whether any company it also acknowledged that the attack resulted from failing to will ever fall victim to an unsophisticated cyberinstall multi-factor authentication on the targeted system. attack. Because after every attack that comes to That frankness contrasts sharply with Sony’s failure to comlight, we hear that same excuse: It was a sophisment on the revelation that some malware introduced into its ticated attack. systems had administrator credentials embedded. But Sony’s Target, Sony, Home Depot, US government agencies and silence didn’t change the fact that the malware could not have countless other organizations have all made been effective if Sony had required multisimilar claims about sophisticated attacks. factor authentication and required periodiIf you aren’t When this same characterization shows cally changing critical passwords. being attacked, up time and again, you begin to suspect that Look, any attack against medium to you should be some blame-shifting is going on. These claims large size companies involves more than of sophisticated attacks appear to be intended embarrassed—you a script kiddie with a “drive by” hack is must not have to demonstrate that typical and accepted secugoing to involve detailed planning and rity practices were doomed to fail. reconnaissance. What organizations have anything that The truth, however, is that these attacks to recognize is that such attacks are comanyone wants. seem sophisticated only when you compare mon and ongoing. If you have any value in them to the unsophisticated security proyour systems you should expect to be targrams that fail to defend against them. Because when you geted by dedicated and professional criminals whose attacks, dissect the attacks, you notice some rather unsophisticated while not sophisticated, aren’t trivial either. hallmarks. Many times, the attackers got in through a spear But it is aggravating to me as a security professional to hear phishing message, or they exploited known vulnerabilities. any attack attributed to sophisticated attackers, as if that itself Quite often, industry-standard technologies such as whitelistis a mitigating factor. It always sounds like an attempt to foring applications on critical systems weren’t employed, or the give the victim for having insufficient protection, detection and critical systems lacked multi-factor authentication, or insufreaction capabilities in place, both technical and nontechnical. ficient IDS/IPS tools were deployed. The list goes on.

I am not saying that organizations can be immune to And despite the fact that study after study demonstrates incidents. Even with the best programs, “preventable incithat poor awareness is the primary attack vector for “sophisdents” can still result in varying degrees of damage. That is ticated attackers,” companies still treat security awareness as to be expected. But I do have a problem with an attack being a minor part of their security programs. Once the attackers characterized as unpreventable when it is really a matter of a get a foothold in a system, they are able to penetrate generally systematic failure to implement good security practices. insufficient systems and network security, exploiting known And I have a problem with organizations claiming they vulnerabilities, installing malware that is usually detectable were the victim of a sophisticated attack when that attack with the proper tools and worse. None of this qualifies as should have been expected and when similar attacks are ongosophisticated, but the attackers go undetected for an extended ing against every major organization. It’s time that the media period of time, as they exfiltrate gigabytes, if not terabytes, of call people on their claims of “sophisticated attacks” and calls valuable data. them what they are, “common attacks.”

In the recent spate of breaches, the one “victim” I have to give credit to is JPMorgan Chase. Well, yes, of course it said Ira Winkler is president of Secure Mentem and author of the book that a sophisticated attacker was involved in the attack, but Spies Among Us. Send feedback to editor@cio.in

MARCH 15, 2015

|

www.cio.in

VIEW from the TOP Sajan Pillai, CEO, UST Global

Raising Human Capital grow

Talent strikes a target no one else can hit. And UST Global strives to build a talent pool to secure the future of IT.

BY S H U B H R A R I S H I

20

Exactly after a year of starting the company in 1999, Stephen Ross, founder of UST Global, launched their Indian operations. Today, it offers services in consulting, tech build, application development and maintenance, business intelligence, and BPO services across USA, India, Mexico, UK, Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore. Its CEO, Sajan Pillai is dedicated towards accelerating human capital development across countries with training programs such as Step Up America, STEM among others. He envisions a future where a dedicated pool of talented people will uncover new, measurable, and sustainable ways of building an inclusive, diverse, and rewarding workplace.

In 2008, Dan Gupta, Chairman of UST Global, said that your vision is to become the best IT and BPO services company in the world. Have you realized this vision now?

have been trying to fill the skills gap in India by making heavy investment in human capital.

Where does IT help you in your growth plans in India? Is setting up a Global Telecom Center of Excellence in Gurgaon a step in that direction?

We set up a Global Telecom Center of Excellence, in Gurgaon, to staff 1,000 people dedicated to offering back-end support services to telecom carriers.

This ties in with our mission to make mushrooming telecom services one of our core businesses globally, alongside healthcare and retail. We believe there’s plenty of We have been room to run in supporting the massive network trying to fill infrastructure of telecom the skills gap companies which is the in India by backbone for new inmaking heavy demand mobile services.

Our vision is to become the best IT and BPO services company in the world, we are living it day in and day out.

In order to accomplish this goal, we strive to understand investment in What is your vision of the needs of our customers. We are highly responsive to human capital. India and some of the the latest trends in information technology and apply innovation to add superior value to them. To quote an expansion plans in the example of how we do this, we unlocked the potential country? of a self-organized team of inspired individuals to learn We are bullish on India and the complex tax domain and deliver an end to end tax product for 22 expect high-octane growth in the telecom states in the US for one of our valued customer. Therefore, to sum it sector to drive our expansion in the counup, for us, becoming the best IT and BPO services company in the try. India’s telecom sector will witness world is a journey not a destination. hyper-growth over the next five years, from a services perspective, as millions of customers start using smart phones. To Your contribution to the STEM program started way back facilitate this, we also plan to invest $100 in the 90s. Did you anticipate a talent crunch problem million (Rs 610 crore) in India and hire that we face today, especially in India?

30,000 people, mostly telecom profesWe have been aware of the talent crunch in India and tried to fill sionals, over the next three years, to build the skills gap. According to the Talent Shortage Survey by global capacity to service India’s telecom sector. employment agency, Manpower Group, skills shortages prevented 45 percent of employers in the Asia-Pacific region filling vacancies. In India, this number soared to 61 percent of employers. We Send feedback to editor@cio.in

MARCH 15, 2015

|

www.cio.in

[Q+A]

IT With an Edge

According to the State of the CIO 2015 survey, only 17 percent of Indian CIOs believe that business perceives IT departments as competitive differentiators. Pertisth Mankotia, Head-IT, Sheela Foam, is one of them. Here’s why. BY S H A R D H A S U B R A M A N I A N Why do you think your organization perceives IT as a competitive differentiator?

IT is a tool that can bring a lot of simplicity and create a service differentiator for businesses. It has provided numerous opportunities for exploring a wide range of solutions by applying different thoughts to different processes. One good example is how IT has helped the company detect Sleepwell products being sold by un-authorized dealers.

IT is a tool that can bring simplicity and create a service differentiator for businesses.

We have used RFID technology to fix this. Each mattress has an RFID tag inside it. This helps the company track product movement from the factory to the distributor and then to the dealer. The tag enables the company to keep an eye on the entire supply chain.

That’s interesting. Could you give us some more examples?

Of course. We have used technology to transform and simplify business processes and, at the same time, deliver bottom-line measurable benefits and bring profitable business growth. We have digitized the entire enterprise in order to bring

speed and innovation to the business. Today, all processes—from manufacturing to distribution—are governed by IT in the Sheela Group.

We have deployed a replenishment system based on the Theory of Constraints: A management paradigm that views any manageable system as being limited in achieving more of its goals by a very small number of constraints. The system dynamically auto adjusts the stock level based on sales, seasonality and orders in hand. This system has been implemented at Sheela Foam as well as distributors’ locations. At both points, orders are placed based on stock levels. This has brought

down the inventory levels and has enabled the channel to stock more variety of products in the same space and within the same cost.

You have also introduced an e-wallet. What does it do?

With the help of technology, we’ve created an e-wallet for more than 5,000 dealers. In this e-wallet, the stock value of our dealers is maintained during the exchange offer period—an offer run by the company to benefit customers. The stock value is calculated on the basis of materials purchased by our dealers during the exchange period.

Every time a dealer sells a mattress, the value in his e-wallet decreases.

Dealers can increase the amount in their e-wallets by purchasing more products from a distributor.

How did you get rid of the cost center tag that’s generally associated with IT?

One has to be agile, adaptable and ready to accept challenges. The thinking process has to be businessoriented rather than technologycentric. Understanding business problems and applying the most appropriate solutions to solve them is crucial.

Once you bring in innovation, solve complex business problems in a simplified manner and bring in competitive advantage, IT can never be tagged as a cost center.

Send feedback to editor@cio.in

www.cio.in

|

MARCH 15, 2015

21

MANAGED BENEFITS

Survey

As we enter a new financial year, we take a look at some of the top business priorities of Indian organizations over the next 12 months, how the IT budgets are likely to change and who influences it, which departments are likely to get more IT attention, and which technologies will have a greater impact on the enterprises. Read on.

What are your organization’s top business priorities in the coming year?

69%

Operational efficiency and productivity gains

45%

Company-wide cost savings

41%

Customer engagement initiative

40%

Market expansion Acquire new customers and/or increase customer share of wallet

28%

Which business processes/departments are likely to get more IT attention in the next 12 months?

51%

Customer service/support

45%

Compliance

41%

Accounting & finance

38%

Risk management Asset management / maintenance

36%

Supply chain/logistics

34%

Marketing

34%

Which top technology trends will influence the competitiveness of your organization in the next 12 months?

84%

76% 59%

59%

Social Media (customer facing)

Consumerization of IT

Rising Infosecurity Threats

Cloud computing

Collaboration

BI / Analytics / Big Data

Mobility

28%

DOES NON-IT (I.E., LOB) SPEND ON ICT OR HAVE AN INFLUENCE ON ICT SPENDING? No, they are not allowed to do so

13%

Yes

56% 31%

34%

of the respondents feel that the overall economic conditions in India will be better in the next 12 months, while only

75%

34% 31%

86%

Yes although they are not allowed to do so

feel that the conditions in their industry vertical will be better.

70% of the respondents feel that their IT budget will increase in the next 12 months and expect the growth to be in Opex.

This Survey is brought to you by IDG Services in association with HP Enterprise Services

run

leadership and operational excellence

Games People Play

Ashok Leyland’s IT-head found an innovative approach in the guise of gamification to bring business closer to IT and it was no child’s play. BY S H U B H R A R I S H I It isn’t easy being an automobile manufacturer such as Ashok Leyland. Being the maker of the country’s first CNG bus and the developer of the first hybrid electric vehicle – innovation is the fuel that their business runs on. The teams at Ashok Leyland do not deviate from their core company ethos.

In keeping with the tradition, Venkatesh Natarajan, VP-IT at Ashok Leyland was looking for that little wave of innovation that would help him build better products for business. After a recent meeting with one lines of business head, it stuck him that IT needs to find a more intuitive method to collect requirements from the business.

“In any organization, business users are like field troops, and IT provides air support. Therefore, we are always in a quest to find a way to arm these users with IT tools such that they can do their work better,” explains Natarajan.

24

Venkatesh Natarajan, Vice President-IT at Ashok Leyland, says the purpose of using gamification was to market IT solutions better to business.

MARCH 15, 2015

|

www.cio.in

However, collecting requirements from business to build these tools isn’t easy. It results in situation where ‘what IT builds is not what business wants.’

To bridge this disconnect, the company decided to ‘gamify’ the entire process.

Research firm Gartner defines gamification as the use of game mechanics and experience design to digitally engage and motivate people to achieve their goal.

In Ashok’s Leyland’s case – “the goal was to market IT solutions better to business,” says Natarajan.

In a two-day workshop organized by a four-member IT team at Ashok Leyland’s regional office in Kolkata, a total of 25 field executives from various sub functions under sales and marketing, services, were handpicked to actively engage in a gamification concept known as Speed Boat.

Each player was given a paper boat that represented the final IT solution and its anchors were represented by four main categories namely information, process, empowerment, and technology–used to classify the different issues raised by them. For instance, if IT were to build an app for the company’s field force, they must list down the issues they face and the kind of functionalities in the app that could improve their productivity or efficiency. The IT team grouped them into six different teams and got a mixed bag of issues.

On the second day, the teams were regrouped again and they were asked to refine their list of issues (without redundancies) per category. A total of 150 issues (including duplicates between groups) were collected by the IT team whose job was to choose and prioritize from the list based on IT’s availability of resources.

To make this fun and interesting, each of the teams had to bid from a final list of requirements. Each commodity was valued at 300 rupees and an amount of 4500 rupees worth of fake currency were given to each team. “We restricted the total number of requirements they could bid for to 15,” said Natarajan. At the end of two days, IT cultivated a polished list of 75 business requirements.

“With the help of gamification, we brought in a cost culture within the organization and sensitized business users about the different costs involved in building an IT solution,” said Natarajan.

Going forward, Natarajan will continue using the gamification concept on a selective basis. “Gamification has made the requirements-gathering process interactive, collaborating, and engaging for the user and it has helped us get on the same page with business,” said Natarajan.

Things You Need to Know TEAM BUILDING

1

MAKE ROOM FOR NEGATIVITY. “So often we want to have these very calm, serene workplaces where people do what they need to do, and stay in their heads, and forget about emotions. We tend to make negativity not acceptable,” IT veteran Jackie Barretta says. At the same time, companies tout the value of employee engagement. “You have to let people be more emotional in the workplace.” Emotions can make the difference between a group that works with enthusiasm and one that just goes through the motions. A workplace in which emotions are welcome doesn’t mean it’s unsafe.

There have to be guidelines, and people need to remain professional. “But make room for negativity,” Barretta says. “It’s really important.”

2

DELIVER NOVELTY. Instead of pigeonholing people, Barretta advocates using novelty to energize people. Companies can move people into different roles, for instance, or bring a non-expert into a group to add a fresh perspective. “We’re so good at putting people in positions, and expecting them to do the same thing year after year, and then thinking they’re just going to get better and better at it,” she says. “Their creative juices dry up. They need to do something different.”

3 4

PLAY AROUND. No one can force a team to think innovatively, but you can help encourage creative thought, Barretta says. Adding an element of fun to the workday can help employees release tension and get reinvigorated.

STRESS MASTERY VS. PERFORMANCE. If a company is all about performance metrics, then employees will focus on achieving those metrics via the same old routines. Employees who are encouraged to become masters of their domain are much more open to new and creative ways of doing things, she says. “Get them to think about being the very best at what they do. That causes them to broaden their perspective.”

5

BUILD EMOTIONAL BONDS BETWEEN PEOPLE. One exercise Barretta has done with clients involves each person on a team submitting five or six personal photos that show the person doing something meaningful, such as a hobby, or traveling, or family time. The photos are put together and shown to the entire team. “That has an amazing impact on people, because you see a different aspect of them. You feel a closeness,” Barretta says.

Send feedback to Shubhra_rishi@idgindia.com.

-Ann Bednarz

www.cio.in

|

MARCH 15, 2015

25

POPULAR SCIENCE

Robot Dog’s Brain Comes Handy Tokyo-based startup is using algorithms that helped Sony’s robot dog Aibo’s speech recognition to monitor power usage. BY T I M H O R N YA K

W

run

hat happens to robots when they

26

die? If you’re Sony’s defunct robot dog Aibo, your technology can return to life in smart homes.

Sony put its sophisticated robot to sleep in 2006 as part of a cost-cutting drive, but a startup spun off by the manufacturer is now using its artificial intelligence to monitor electricity use.

Tokyo-based Informetis is set to begin trials of a sensor, based on algorithms that helped Aibo understand speech, to continuously monitor the current and voltage going into a home or business. The technology can generate an itemized list of how power is being used.

Users could benefit by seeing a detailed account of electricity use by appliance, which could help them save money by consuming less power. They can also use the app to monitor power use when they’re away from home, including identifying potential fire hazards such as irons left on.

“Electricity waves are surprisingly very similar to sound,” said Josh Honda, a new hire at Informetis for global marketing. “How Aibo was distinguishing the commands

Pay for Petrol Via Phone Shell has now partnered with PayPal with plans to be the first fuel retailer in the UK to offer a mobile payment solution at pumps nationwide.

Faster mobile payments at Shell are scheduled to be available later this year through apps on Android and iOS smartphones. The service will allow customers to pay for their fuel using just their mobile without leaving their car. The partners said the system allows parents to pay without having to leave young children in the car, and serves all customers in a hurry. The

MARCH 15, 2015

|

www.cio.in

it was getting from its owner—that part of the analysis is the foundation of what we’re doing in trying to separate or disaggregate the electricity into different components.”

During a recent demonstration, a prototype sensor the size of a pack of cigarettes was attached to a power distribution board on the wall at Informetis. Data gathered by the sensor was sent to a Wi-Fi router, crunched in the cloud and then sent to a TV screen. When the data is uploaded to the cloud, an original codec is used for compression. Then, machinelearning algorithms based on those used for Aibo’s speech recognition analyze the waveforms in the data and look for telltale signatures for appliances such as refrigerators using more power at regular intervals.

In the future, the data could also be used for security, assisted living or even healthcare and marketing, Tadano said, adding that simply seeing a regular, itemized view of power use can lead to electricity savings of roughly 10 percent if consumers change their habits.

Send feedback to editor@cio.in.

“vast majority” of Shell’s 1,000 service stations are planning to offer the technology.

Consumers will be able to use the service through either the Shell Motorist app or the PayPal app.

After driving into the forecourt the customer selects the corresponding pump on the app. The app then authenticates the transaction and the customer can then fill up and go.

When refuelling is complete a receipt is automatically sent through to the phone, allowing the customer to drive away knowing the transaction was a success.

Following a successful trial in 2013, Shell will be piloting the service for invited Shell Drivers’ Club customers in April, with plans to roll it out nation-

wide later in 2015. “We’re committed to providing a fast, safe and secure service. We’ve listened to our customers and know they will benefit from this innovation. They will now have the flexibility and convenience of paying without having to leave their car. Those who want to go in store and pay or purchase other items will still be able to, with the benefit of reduced queues,” Michael Hominick, retail marketing manager for retail at Shell UK, said.

“We’ve created a simple and secure way to use your mobile phone to pay at the pump nationwide,” Rob Harper, director for mobile commerce at PayPal UK, said.

—Antony Savvas

EVENT REPORT AMAZON WEB SERVICES

Today’s Business Ask:

Performance, Scale, and Resiliency As business ask changes with changing trends in technology, CIOs have to devise solutions to improve response times, better performance, and remain agile.

By Vaishnavi J. Desai

B

usinesses believe that now is the best time to grow and that’s why they want to see growth in a short span of time. This is bound to have its consequences.

With the changing technology landscape and organizations adopting emerging technologies, CIOs have to juggle multiple hats.

They have to strike a perfect balance between scaling up, gaining productivity, managing projects within budgets, and doing all of this in record time. “It is necessary to have a basic architecture in place with a combination of hardware, software, and support. This should be done considering the nature of the business and its needs,” said Prashun Dutta, CIO, Tata Power Company, at a recent roundtable held by HP in association with CIO Magazine.

For a B2C model, flexibility and speed have a direct effect on the business. Sayed Peerzade, VP-Technology, Reliance Big Entertainment, believes that it’s, therefore, important to have a basic architecture in place, work closely with business, and do things faster.

With digitization, data is now, increasing to the scale of petabytes. A cricket match, for instance, is viewed by 300, 000 concurrent users on various devices.

To address these kind of situations and systems, storage infrastructure of this scale has to be built too.

“The transformation is phenomenal and is happening across multiple sectors. In India, in the last quarter, 30 percent of drives shipped were SSD drives. I am sure, in another two quarters, the number will rise to 50 percent,” said Barun Lala, director– Storage, HP India Sales.

Philip A. Davis, VP and GM-Storage, Asia Pacific and Japan, HewlettPackard, believes that flash storage is an answer to all the challenges of CIOs like reliability, latency, faster performance, and higher productivity. “People have problems with latency, much bigger and complicated data sets and their analysis. These areas require faster performance. This is where flash comes into the picture. Lower price, small form factor, and better performance are the

reasons the crossover to flash from drives happened quicker,” said Davis.

As the magnitude of data increases, there are possibilities of architecture, other than the cloud, going haywire.

Therefore, in the last two years, hybrid cloud usage has accelerated and private cloud has slowed down.

The absence of a single management console, increase in datacenter complexities, and lack of skillsets too are major reasons for the shift.

Davis added that flash is a better, cheaper, and faster solution, and its difficult to come across one like this as there is always a tradeoff involved.n

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

HIRING MANAGER

6 Steps to Happy Hires

run

Retaining talent is becoming a huge challenge for businesses but there are ways that can help you keep the people you value. BY K R I S T E N L A M O R E AU X

28

F

inding good talent is a major challenge for welcome, the more expensive commodities—development IT leaders, and the answer seems to be to and time—are also good retention tools. recruit and retain. But are any companies “We give employees enough latitude in the doing this really well? Reed Technology is, administration of their job so they can determine how and and it’s ranked a best place to work in IT. when to improve themselves,” Ballai says. “They can take “For any business that is healthy or growing in a self-directed learning at a pace they set and on a topic that difficult economy, there’s still this persistent resource is relevant to their role.” constraint,” says Dave Ballai, CIO and vice president of 4. Always follow through. “I’m a big believer in commercial solutions at Reed Technology, a LexisNexis execution. You can say whatever you want—and you do business unit. “Your choices are: Steal from other projects, need to get out in front of your employees and tell them outsource if time permits, or hire additional positions and what you’re going to do for them—but the reality [for them] try to get them up the curve.” is in the execution,” he says.

1. Take the long view. Reed puts a lot of effort into In other words: Employees need to trust that you’re developing employees and weighs these choices especially actually going to do what you say you’re going to do. carefully. Though it may be the easiest 5. Reward activities you like. Reed Make apostles of to fill a position with someone who can offers a broad range of recognition just do that one job, Ballai is adamant opportunities and activities that bolster your people and that such shortsightedness is foolish. attributes that are core to its culture. “We you’ll reap the “It’s more important to try and identify pay employees to go offsite and volunteer benefit of those people who have potential for movement services for a day. We have a spirit week good hires for at least one or two levels up.” where we have different activities every years to come.

2. Explore internal candidates first. day, culminating in an offsite meeting at Such hires protect the company’s culture. the end of the week.”

“Whenever you add people from the Think it’s a bunch of HR hooey? outside, it’s the equivalent of creating little asteroid hits Reed Technology’s successful employee retention is key on the moon. It doesn’t take the moon out of orbit, but to maintaining its culture. “While recruiting is important, it changes the dynamics of the surface,” says Ballai. He the larger effort is the engagement process as it [relates to] sees internal hires as a critical part of his algorithm for the lifetime of their employment.” recruiting and retaining talent because he can further 6. Learn to love HR. If you think HR stands for “hated leverage those hires for referrals. resources,” you may want to rethink your attitude. Ballai 3. Don’t skimp on engagement. “The challenge of calls HR “one of our most trusted partners” and says the finding people is one thing, the challenge of integrating them department is incredibly important to recruiting, retaining, is another,” says Ballai. “Engagement is part science, part art, and engaging talent. and a whole lot of practice.” In support of this belief, Reed Do the work. Keep it simple. Make apostles of your spends a lot of time each year, from the executive level on people and you’ll reap the benefit of those good hires for down, aligning incentive metrics with performance metrics, years to come.

Ballai says. “Everyone has key performance objectives, not just to get the job done, but to excel.”

Kristen Lamoreaux is president and CEO of Lamoreaux Search, The company also has a suite of retention tools to which finds IT professionals for hiring managers. Send feedback keep employees engaged. While cold, hard cash is always to editor@cio.in

MARCH 15, 2015

|

www.cio.in

TECH : : RADAR Mobile Befriends Collaboration

Mobile and social technologies have the potential to improve collaboration in the enterprise. But, they also represent a threat. B Y M AT T K A P KO

C

ollaboration in the enterprise comes in “Don’t just look at these collaboration tools as about chatmany forms, but no trends have shaped the ting and sharing, it goes way beyond that,” Sharma says. market more than social media and mobile Mobile devices negate the need for fixed desks and worktechnology. The ongoing convergence of station that access information, so companies can expand smartphones, always-on connectivity, and their definitions of what makes an information worker. “Now ubiquitous social media lifts collaboration to new heights. more people can access data and tap a deeper pool of knowlWhile effective corporate collaboration is a worthy edge as desk-less employees can contribute their expertise,” goal, it’s often too ambiguous. Business managers and according to TJ Keitt, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research. consultants are eager to talk about collaboration, but many of them simply check the collaboration boxes on Collaboration as an Efficiency Tactic their to-do lists and move on to the next task. CollaboraCollaboration tools can help businesses enter new markets, tion can, of course, be an effective means to accomplish a roll out new products, and retain high-value employees. task, or it can be an ongoing objective, as Goals frequently change, which makes long as it’s done the right way. Even with “Collaboration finding the right tool for the task all the a plethora of tools optimized for mobile more important. However, little progress tools should devices and designed to simplify and will be made without an enthusiastic user not just be an IT utilize the popular attributes of social base that’s committed to the challenge and initiative. You media, collaboration has to begin with opportunity. need to include all the right strategy.

“These tools should not just be an the people that are IT initiative,” Sharma says. “You need “You need to have a strategy to figure out, ‘what is our goal, what are we trying going to use this.” to include all the people that are going to achieve, what are we trying to be?’ and to use this or have some voice in how it Nisha Sharma, Managing Director, align that with the broader learning, talshould work, and what it should be used Accenture Mobility ent, and collaboration strategies where for. It’s not just about you, it’s about all these types of tools would have a big the people you’re working with.” impact,” according to Nisha Sharma, managing director After a business determines its requirements and at Accenture Mobility. understands its unique challenges for employees, it can Sharma says mobility isn’t about using a mobile begin to search for the appropriate tools and capabilities, device just for the sake of using a smartphone or tablet; according to Sharma. instead, it’s about transforming the way you work, via mobile tools.

Collaboration Represents “If an enterprise doesn’t really incorporate this into Potential Threat to CIOs their work, then sometimes those tools become more of Many social technologies are being integrated into busia burden than a useful tool,” Sharma says. “That’s why ness applications that are not controlled by IT, and this it’s important to integrate these tools into your work so poses a threat to CIOs. that it just becomes nature, rather than ‘Oh, I have to go These types of tools and collaboration apps “could here and do this additional task.’” potentially be part of a larger trend toward IT, and by extension CIOs, not controlling elements of the employee technology portfolio,” Keitt says. To mitigate the threat, Mobile Helps Realize CIOs can argue for the unification of social streams, to Collaboration’s Full Potential eliminate information silos that prevent rapid decision Collaboration is ultimately about focusing on a specific making, according to Keitt. task and fulfilling associated responsibilities in cheaper and more efficient ways. Collaboration is also a buzzword and can mean different things to different people.

Send feedback to editor@cio.in.

www.cio.in

|

MARCH 15, 2015

29

30

HONING YOUR VENDOR SMARTS

The changing vendor landscape means IT must forge tighter partnerships with them. Here are the skills you should have.

BY C I N DY WA X E R

COVER STORY :: Vendor Management

T

here’s a seismic shift occurring in IT shops. Traditional vendor relationships are giving way to a brand-new power paradigm in which IT leaders dictate terms and conditions while vendors scramble to meet them. No longer are techie-vendor encounters limited to product pitches and service-level agreements, with minimal contact between the two parties until license renewal time.

The vendor landscape changes, organizations are creating tighter partnerships with service providers and thirdparty vendors. And those changes are requiring technology professionals to learn a new set of skills.

For starters, progressive IT shops are assigning their most valuable assets—their employees—to work in business units, where they’re in charge of a growing number of complex vendor partnerships. In fact, in Computerworld’s 2015 IT Careers Survey (CIO’s sister publication), 40 percent of the

At the same time, today’s cloud-based approach to enterprise IT and the competitive marketplace are forcing vendors to step up their game and treat IT buyers as key decisionmakers, not as replaceable end users.

“Our service providers and vendors are saying, ‘How can we partner with you?’” says Arthur Linder, director of telecommunication services at Howard University Hospital. “They’re coming to us and asking, ‘How can we better serve you?’ They’re focused on what they can do to help us out even more.” In fact, Linder estimates that he spends 20 percent more time talking to vendors than he did in previous years.

A Cloud Culture Cloud computing is driving this new client-vendor relationship model. Market research reveals that IT’s embrace of the cloud is accelerating rapidly: In a recent IBM study, 64

In addition to crunching numbers, an increasing number of techies are being asked to actually tie technology investments to business outcomes. respondents said vendors have become more involved with IT projects. Many user companies are pursuing deeper partnerships with service providers and third-party vendors as a way of sharing skills and reducing overall costs.

Filling a Need

Top skills/functions provided by these service providers that were previously performed by in-house staffers: 1 2

3 4 5

Application/systems integration Programming/application development Testing Project management Training end users Source: Computerworld Survey 2014

percent of CIOs identified the cloud as a crucial technology for customer engagement, up from 30 percent in 2009.

Moreover, 67 percent of the CIOs interviewed said they are actively looking into how cloud technologies can help them better serve and collaborate with customers.

In the bygone era of on-premises systems, vendors would essentially deploy and integrate whatever new software or hardware was required and then fade into the background. Client contact revolved solely around maintenance tasks and updates. With cloud computing, however, that arm’s-length relationship is being replaced with a more hands-on approach.

“We’re moving toward the software-as-a-service or cloud services model, so engagement is a little different,” says Stewart Holbrook, application development manager for the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County.

“In the past, if you were a self-hosted environment, you managed everything. You took care of the hardware, the updates— virtually everything—and you didn’t have to involve the vendor quite as much.” However, as cloud computing issues relating to “updates, licensing and patches” arise throughout a product’s life cycle, Holbrook says, “now we’re more engaged [with our vendors]. It’s a different relationship.”

www.cio.in

|

MARCH 15, 2015

31

What Service Providers Expect from CIOs Afraid to lose a sale, many vendors shy away from telling customers exactly how they feel about the vendor-client relationship. That’s a shame, because there’s a lot to be learned from an IT service provider’s day-to-day encounters with IT leaders.

32

minimize the ability of competitors to take their business.”

New Skills in Demand

As the client-vendor relationship evolves, IT professionals are discovering that they need new skills. No longer playing a passive role in negotiations and budgeting, many must now develop expertise in areas such as finance, Fortunately, Karen Lewis is one business leader who’s willing to share her accounting and law. thoughts on how IT professionals can improve their interactions with vendors. A In fact, according to Lubner, “IT professenior business analyst at CGI Federal, an IT and business processes firm, Lewis sionals can be extraordinarily valuable if offers these important tips: they have further education on the business side.” After all, he says, “the business side is 1. Understand Technology’s Business Value where you truly understand how the techWhether a vendor is helping you design a new ERP module or you’ve outsourced nology is being applied for the betterment application development altogether, it’s imperative that an IT team knows exactly of the company.” what business value it wants to derive from a particular solution, and that this goal Just ask Holbrook. He actively participates is communicated clearly and succinctly to an IT services provider. in creating RFPs, determining pricing, receiving quotes, reviewing products and calculat“There are a zillion ways to create any application, or any application code, but ing the potential returns on IT investments. if you understand the business reason for it, you’re much more likely to code it In fact, the only thing he says he doesn’t do is in a way that will continue to support [an organization’s] ongoing expansion or sign vendor contracts. growth,” says Lewis.

In addition to crunching numbers, an increasing number of techies are being asked 2. Express Your Concerns to actually tie technology investments to Pretending that you understand the business value of an IT project is never a good business outcomes. “You have to understand idea, according to Lewis. “One of the things that IT needs to do is be more forthwhat the expectation of the organization is,” coming and open about what their limitations are,” she says. While she acknowlsays Holbrook. “That’s usually key. It’s about edges that “nobody wants to say they’re weak” in a particular area, she says that making an organization understand that, by it’s not enough to simply understand the technology layers of an IT undertaking. spending this money, it will make things bet“I’ve found a lot of IT people these days know Java, C++ or whatever language du ter and that you can justify it. That’s a skill you jour, but they don’t know how it all fits together, even within IT,” Lewis says. “IT develop over time.” needs to have an idea of what IT can do.”

Linder agrees, emphasizing the importance of assessing a system’s total cost of 3. Stay Abreast of Change ownership. “It’s not about implementing If there’s one thing IT leaders and vendors share in common, it’s the need to stay the technology; it’s about making sure it’s current. Vendor services, product development, IT road maps—no matter what’s cost-effective,” he says. “You have to make being delivered, or by whom, the strongest vendor relationships thrive on an sure that the product or the solution you’re exchange of up-to-date and accurate information. “It’s never what you did for purchasing doesn’t cost more to run than them yesterday,” says Lewis. “It’s what can you do for them today.” another solution. It may be cost-effective to — Cindy Waxer purchase, but you have to look at the whole situation and how much it costs to maintain over the long term.”

Having to build a business case is a huge departure from an IT professional’s previous role of “just The fact that cloud computing requires greater vendor buying the product and maintaining it,” says Linder. Tighter participation isn’t the only variable reshaping vendorvendor-techie partnerships are making acronyms such as client relations. On-premises systems are typically exorTCO and ROI as much a part of an IT leader’s vocabulary bitantly priced and can take years to implement and as ERP, CRM and API. customize—factors that discourage companies from switching to new systems.

Cloud technology, on the other hand, “makes it really Not Above the Law easy to develop applications,” says Keith Lubner, CEO Yet with great power comes great responsibility. The more deeply and a managing partner at Channel Consulting Corp.

IT professionals get involved in the negotiation process and in (C3), a management consulting firm specializing in hammering out contract details, the more important it is for them vendor relations. As a result, he says, “Vendors need to understand the legal ramifications of their actions, whether it’s to have stronger relationships with their customers to responding to a quote via email or orally agreeing to licensing

MARCH 15, 2015

|

www.cio.in

Growing Partnership

In the past 24 months, have vendors become more or less involved in your organization’s IT projects?

More involved

53 Stayed the same

40

7 Less involved Source: Computerworld Survey 2014

terms.“Now everything is in this legal space where you almost have to watch what you say and send,” warns Linder, noting the importance of knowing your legal rights and responsibilities as an IT professional.

Although it can’t be taught in a lab or university lecture hall, patience is another skill that Holbrook says is essential to vendor management. Migrating from an onpremises environment to a cloud-based infrastructure means technical glitches won’t necessarily be resolved overnight.

“Now we have to coordinate the effort with the vendor, and their services may not be available at that time,” says Holbrook.

“Sometimes it can be a slow response in support. There’s that loss of control; that’s the most challenging thing we have with this new environment.”

than you think: Your colleagues in IT. “You have to work with your peers and get into peer groups where you can listen to their stories,” advises Linder. Holbrook says C-level executives in particular have plenty to teach IT professionals. “My additional skills were picked up by working with other higher staff—the CIO, the CSO, the president of the company,” he says, noting that he has worked for three very distinct organizations over the past 16 years. “I’ve always been one of those individuals who picks things up along the way. Every office is different, and I learned early on that you need to work with the executive staff to understand the organization’s needs.”

However, even the sharpest skills may not have maximum impact without a solid strategy to govern how projects are managed. C3’s Lubner says the cornerstone of an excellent vendor relationship is a technology road map. This requires IT to adopt detailed plans of exactly what each department, from marketing to human resources, wants to achieve with technology. Those plans should include the size of each group’s budget and the timelines they’re working under.

“IT should share information with the vendor as to the direction each line of business is taking so that the vendor can help illuminate for them how the technology can help,” says Lubner. And because IT’s objectives often change over time, Lubner adds that “vendors need to look six months out and see what strategic initiatives the customer might want to engage in then.”

With use of cloud computing on the rise, and with more organizations strengthening their vendor relationships, it makes sense that IT leaders are honing their skills and refining their strategies. Developing an in-depth understanding of business concepts such as TCO, learning to build strong

An excellent source for learning about project pitfalls, vendor negotiations and customer relations may be closer than you think: Your colleagues in IT.

Say No to an MBA For all the challenges that come with today’s evolving vendor landscape, there is some good news: Techies don’t have to earn MBAs to stay relevant. Rather, many IT leaders are discovering simple and cost-effective solutions for improving their skills. Linder, for example, says technical writing courses have helped teach him to better communicate with businessline leaders, write letters and draft contracts.

Another excellent source for learning about project pitfalls, vendor negotiations and customer relations may be closer

business cases for technology investment and polishing negotiation skills are critical to successful vendor management.

Copious amounts of patience can also help. But the benefits of all this effort go far beyond a company’s bottom line or an IT department’s partnerships.

On an individual level, “the more an IT professional has an understanding of what the business side is doing, the more valuable they become to the organization,” says Lubner. And in today’s tough labor market, that’s an upside IT leaders can’t afford to ignore.

Send feedback to editor@cio.in Source: Source:Computerworld ComputerworldSurvey Survey2014 2014

www.cio.in

|

MARCH 15, 2015

33

PRESENTS

THANK YOU FOR MAKING

CIO SUMMIT 2015 A GRAND SUCCESS!

POWERED BY

TITLE PARTNER

CIO CONVERSATION PARTNERS

ASSOCIATE PARTNERS

connect Up, close, and personal with all things IT

35

Digital Enterprise Land Grab

As digitization gains ground, there is speculation that the use-by date of the CIO role may have arrived. By Kevin Noonan Since the creation of the CIO function more than two decades ago, the role has con-

I L LU S T R AT I O N B Y T H I N K S TO C K

tinued to be a topic of much commentary and debate. Early predictions of its demise turned out to be unfounded, as the CIO role has continued to be remarkably resilient.

However, as momentum for the digital enterprise continues to gather pace, there is growing speculation that the use-by date for the CIO role may have finally arrived.

The future role of the CIO is a far more complex issue, and it would be unreasonable to typecast CIOs as technocrats. Indeed, some CIOs are already leading the charge for digital reform, drawing on their well-honed skills of persuasion and negotiation, as well as their pragmatic understanding of internal processes.

Real world organizations are complex entities and a change of job titles will not by itself ensure success. A successful digital strategy will need to reach deep into the organization and must challenge some long-held ideas about reform and best practice service delivery. Any manager who takes on the role must clearly understand the magnitude of the task ahead.

Social Realignments It would be easy to underestimate the far-reaching implications of the digital

www.cio.in

|

MARCH 15, 2015

connect

TAKE

Note

36

enterprise, or to simply write it off as no more than a continuation of earlier online initiatives, based on 20th century thinking.

Charles Darwin would have been pleased at the prospect of having his 19th century theories of evolution applied to 21st century digital enterprises.

Something quite fundamental has changed, and this time it is the community itself that is driving the need for change. The digital enterprise has become necessary because the customers have become digital customers.

Today, consumers are researching, communicating and making decisions online, anywhere and at any time. The changing habits of consumers have already had a profound impact on retail, media, financial services and many other sectors. This is not about rethinking the way an enterprise delivers its products and services. It is about rethinking the enterprise.

Darwinian Logic The sheer scale of this change has created opportunities for companies to be more innovative, and to rethink the traditional boundaries between the business and the consumer. Organizations that fail to evolve will eventually fail to exist. Charles Darwin would have been pleased at the prospect of having his 19th century theories of evolution applied to 21st century digital enterprises.

Against this background, the reported land grab for corporate C-level positions would appear to miss the point. An old movie, Crocodile Dundee, once described such turf battles as “like two fleas arguing over who owns the dog”.

Digital leadership is all about the external customer, and the need to build an agile organization that can respond to changing customer requirements. Digital leadership will therefore need to be achieved through collaborative alignment across management structures, not by carving out discrete stovepipes of individual turf.

Job Titles Are Important Organizational charts and job titles are important because they send a strong message about corporate direction and priorities. However, it would be unreasonable to expect that simply changing roles at the top of the organization will by itself create a more innovative and digitally focused enterprise.

It is important to address the pragmatics of structure and how these structures can be used in driving change in a contemporary enterprise.

The traditional organizational chart is just one component of the true structure of the organization. Scratch the surface of any organization and staff will quickly report how things really get done. The true structure is a combination of management + leadership + governance + culture. If any of these four factors are in contention, culture almost always wins out.

Many years ago, when IT managers first appeared in the corporate workplace, they were tasked with being advocates of technology and change. Today, IT managers must take care not to become typecast as the enforcers of the status-quo in a workplace that is fast becoming populated by technology advocates. The title of digital leadership belongs with the manager who is best positioned to actually deliver digital leadership, not just the manager who wants the title.

MARCH 15, 2015

|

www.cio.in

Changing Tracks

READ Organizations today, in order to succeed, have to keep in mind a plethora of parameters. They need to ensure that customers get access to all benefits designed for them, and at the same time, the company must keep an eye on the bottom line. And that responsibility falls on the shoulders of a company’s COO. Satish Kotian, COO, ASPIRE Home Finance Corporation, speaks about the opportunities, challenges and learnings that he has come across in his transition from a CIO to a COO role.

http://www.cio.in/article/alwayskeep-customer-mind-satish-kotiancoo-ahfcl

The Unlicensed Menance ANALYZE Unlicensed software is wreaking havoc in organizations world over.

Worse, it’s exposing the lack of awareness in organizations when it comes to use of unlicensed software. According to BSA Global Software Survey, the commercial value of unlicensed software in India is $2,911 (about Rs 1.7 lakh). That puts the country in the third position—after US and China—in the unlicensed software market. Read more to know about the threats from unlicensed software.

http://www.cio.in/by-the-numbers/ unlicensed-software-menace-indiasurvey

The Science of Leadership WATCH Gone are the days when a techie was an introvert or a back-end guy. Today, leadership qualities of IT professionals are much appreciated by the business and gives one an edge.

Dr. Meena Surie Wilson, Senior Enterprise Associate, Center for Creative Leadership, talks about why business leadership is more crucial today and the four leadership skills she believes leaders need.

http://www.cio.in/cio-tv/dr-meenasurie-wilson-science-leadership

IT STRATEGY

The Era of Trial and Error

Experimenting with new technologies beats documentation. IT should switch from planning-and-deploying to buying-and-trying. BY S T E V E A N D R I O L E

B

ack in the day, technology was deployed went to their CIOs for suggestions and support—but only after a thorough “requirements analymany did not. sis.” We got buy-in from business sponsors Similarly, how many business units opened their own based on the size and specificity of the forsales management cloud accounts before their enterprise mal requirements documents—even if the CIOs knew anything about what they were doing? real requirements were still hiding somewhere in poorly Consumerized devices and cloud delivery have given new understood business processes. opportunities to “shadow IT.” The shadows are now larger But we proceeded anyway. We all know how those and darker than ever before: Consumerized technology kinds of projects turned out. and cloud delivery make it easier to hide.

Today, requirements are just as often discovered as they So CIOs should not be surprised by emerging were defined yesterday. Companies buy technologies and their sometime or rent technology to test how it might CIOs should not clandestine infiltration into the affect their business—before making business units. They should cooperate be surprised large investments in requirements with business units that want to play analyses. In fact, if a company takes a by emerging with emerging technologies like year or two to validate requirements, technologies and biometrics, wearables, electronic the technologies under consideration payments, unstructured data analytics their clandestine will likely be obsolete. and deep learning. Companies will While there are still projects that infiltration into not fully understand the business demand wide, deep, and painfully potential of these and other emerging business units. long requirements modeling, there are technologies until they experiment just as many that challenge the whole with them. It’s time to buy and play, requirements-first, technology-second model. This is not plan and deploy. because potential technology solutions emerge fast, and The goal is to bring IT experimentation and adoption technology is better out of the gate than it ever was. Plus, out of the shadows. CIOs need to lead this process as often cloud delivery enables fast and cheap experimentation. as possible, but when a business unit gets there first, they CIOs should organize teams to play with this “ready should not start a governance war they cannot win. CIOs technology” as fast as it can be explored. CIOs should should—with wide smiles and supporting budgets—offer rethink how they find, assess and deploy technologies. their business partners three classic IT services: Tests and Perhaps most importantly, CIOs should share the demonstrations of technology, analysis of the business experimentation process with their business partners. benefits and answers to questions about service delivery, When iPads arrived, they could be found first in cost and security. marketing departments and executive suites that Now go play with technology. It’s more fun today than bought a bunch of them to see what they could do. No it ever was, and you’ll meet friends you never knew you requirements-gathering necessary. Sales and marketing had, coming out of the shadows. teams then hired consultants to develop fast-and-cheap mobile apps. Then they went into the field to figure out what benefits those tablets could produce with Steve Andriole is a professor of Business Technology at Villanova fun, sometimes leave-behind, applications. Once they University’s School of Business. He has served as a CIO, CTO and determined that iPads were beneficial, some of them consultant to many companies. Send feedback to editor@cio.in

www.cio.in

|

MARCH 15, 2015

37

LEADINGEDGE

connect

Truth in Two Versions 38

When two parties are in conflict, they don’t have to agree in order to respect and learn from each other’s perspective. BY PAU L G L E N

Project postmortems, engaged with honesty and brutal dispassion, are among the most powerful tools for professional (and life) development.

They offer a rare opportunity to claim the gifts of insight that lie dormant in experience.

So I’d like to share some useful postmortem reflections at the end of an exhilarating and exhausting two-year project of writing a book with a co-author who is decidedly not one of us geeks.

Writing a book is a gruelling process, not unlike developing a technical system. It starts with vague and incomplete requirements, passes through stages of exciting creation and discouraging setbacks, and finishes with a nearly superhuman push in which you triage and fix bugs (inconsistencies in ideas and language) before deciding enough is enough, declare victory and ship it.

In this project, we turned our two very different perspectives to a series of issues related to technical leadership. The work provided a microcosm of technical projects that usually require geek/nongeek collaboration and a controlled laboratory in which to test the platitudes about the strengths of leveraging diverse perspectives.

My co-author proved herself a keen observer, skilled analyst, and articulate writer of good will and drive (qualities I hope she would say I share).

And yet, we struggled. And we learned these lessons: Rare insights emerge from contrasting perspectives. In our observations and, honestly, our complaints about each other, we discovered vastly different interpretations of the world and opinions about how it should be. Even small things were quite revealing. For example, we uncovered some surprising truths about IT project estimation when I resisted giving hard deadlines for chapters. We learned that what I consider prudent caution, she perceives as avoidance of responsibility.

MARCH 15, 2015

|

www.cio.in

Comfortable interaction isn’t necessarily productive. Our best insights frequently emerged from prolonged periods of confusion and conflict. They were the hard-won fruits of sustained conversations that neither of us found particularly comfortable. We struggled to listen openly to ideas we found confusing or offensive, frequently jumping to conclusions about each other’s ideas or even about each other as people. For example, we questioned each other’s ethics as we struggled to reconcile our attitudes toward, and even our definitions of, lying.

Recognition interrupts contempt. Nothing is more destructive to collaboration than contempt.

And unfortunately, early on, our differences triggered mutual annoyance that could have easily turned into contempt. But when we started recognizing patterns in each other’s perspectives, we were less dismissive and able to listen to ideas more openly. We came to understand our differences, not as evidence of ignorance or irrationality, but as expressions of unarticulated and coherent worldviews, founded on different axioms. We realized that we didn’t have to agree in order to respect and learn from each other’s perspective.

So when you find yourself struggling to work with your business partners, remember our experience and make your conflict constructive rather than destructive. The rewards of cross-cultural collaboration can indeed be great, but not if you make it too easy, avoiding the kind of productive, goodwilled ferment that provides the conditions in which genuine innovation grows.

Send feedback to editor@cio.in

[CXO AGENDA]

Job Hunting Goes Mobile

Thanks to mobile and Internet, job hunting can now be done on the go. V Suresh of Naukri.com speaks about the how the transformation came about.

What kind of digital transformation are you expecting in 2015 and what will it mean for the online job search market?

How and to what extent do you think job portals have penetrated to cities other than the metros?

We can break digital transformation into multiple pieces. The first part being availability of Internet connection and smartphones at affordable rates. The biggest game changer is the fact that Internet

We have been way ahead of others when it comes to traffic from tier II and tier III cities. We have more than 20-25 branches in non-metro cities throughout the country. In each branch we have

The biggest game changer is the fact that Internet can be accessed on mobile. today, is accessible on mobile.

According to an IMI report, somewhere around 17-18 percent of our population is Internet enabled.

When it comes to mobile penetration, India stands next to China.

According to an IMI report, around 17-18 percent of our population is Internet enabled. According to me, digital transformation is majorly going to happen through Internet.

Other transformation is going to be in the form of e-commerce, as Gen-Y, today, buys products online. This digital transformation does not only impact the job market, but also things like elections, media, entertainment industry, and so on.

about four-five people, which accounts to more than 120 people working in smaller cities. Each of these small branches help us get at least 20-50 customers on to the site, that means each one of these branches give me at least four-five jobs extra. It is basically a chicken and egg game, you need to get more jobs to get more job seekers and vice-versa.

We have branches in places like Hosur, Mysore, Coimbatore, Cochin, Trivandrum, Vadodara, Surat, Ranchi, Rajkot, Indore, Bhopal, Dehradun, Jamshedpur, Bhubaneswar, and others. The way we can get people from these cities to apply on Naukri is to get local jobs. The reason we set up these

branches is our sales guys go and meet customers in these local markets, educate them regarding the importance of Internet, and make them aware of how our database can help them and the benefits of posting jobs on our website.

What are the challenges of online job portals?

Since India is yet to reach the apex of digital transformation, there will be certain challenges.

A primary reason why people do not find the right job is that they do not know what they want. For example, a mechanical engineer wants a job in other streams. Being clear of what one wants is a major challenge as the portal cannot help otherwise.

Looking for jobs online at the end of the day is a keyword search.

If you give the wrong keywords, you will get irreverent jobs, this is what we call ‘junk in and junk out.’ Today there are 1.5 lakh jobs on the site, but will every job seeker get the right job? He may or may not, depending upon his definition of skills or competency. This also becomes a challenge for us as our job alerts sometimes do not match. So at the end of the day, it is the search engine which does the work. Understanding of the Internet by a candidate underlines the perfection of a job alert that he or she receives.

Send feedback to Ishan_bhattacharya@ idgindia.com.

www.cio.in

|

MARCH 15, 2015

39

finish

leadership and operational excellence

40

Robots Help Self learning by watching YouTube. The computer scientists from the University of Maryland have succeeded in getting humanoid robots to reproduce what they see in a set of YouTube cooking clips, including recognizing, grabbing, and using the right kitchen tools. Part of DARPA’s Mathematics of Sensing, Exploitation and Execution program, the research involves getting the machines to understand what’s happening in a scene, not just recognizing objects within it. More significantly, the machines were able to autonomously decide the most efficient combination of motions they observe to accomplish the task at hand. For lowerlevel tasks involved in the cooking experiment, the team used convolutional neural networks which are learning frameworks based on biological models, to process the visual data.

—Tim Hornyak

MARCH 15, 2015

|

www.cio.in

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

Those fearing the rise of an all-powerful artificial intelligence like Skynet, take note: Robots are now