CIO November 15, 2014

MOBILE BANKING PLAYBOOK

ING Vysya's gamification-based mobile app. 11 BYOD’S SECURITY PROMISE

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A BYOD strategy that supports security. 18 DOUBLE ROLE

Playing the twin roles of a CIO and a CEO. 13 THE LEGACY TURMOIL

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

The war between the old and the new. 66

Doing Social Right Nine Lessons Worth Adopting ARUNA RAO, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Group Companies, and DEEPAK SHARMA, Kotak Mahindra Bank, joined forces to create a Facebook app that drives greater brand advocacy.

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Social media is more than just amassing likes.

Companies are using advanced social techniques to drive business agendas. 26

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New technologies and leadership skills that will change your outlook. 34

VOLUME 10, NO. 1

November 15, 2014

Start

From the Editor in Chief 2 Trending 3 Numbers You Need 6 Quick Fix 7 Career Path 8 News Scan 9 World View 10

02

26

Social media is more than just amassing likes. Companies are using advanced social techniques to rehabilitate corporate reputations.

C OV E R S TO RY

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

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Doing Social Right

ING Vysya Bank links gamification and banking 11 Blue LEDs bag a physics Nobel 12 How Quatrro’s CIO balances two roles 13 Bharatmatrimony uses IT for match-making 16 How to reduce IT clutter to ensure simplicity 17

BY K I M S . N AS H

Nine tales of new technologies and leadership skills that will change your IT perspective. 34 C OV E R S TO RY P LU S

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

Uflex creates a secure BYOD solution 18 Five tips on digital signage 19 How solar cells are breaking new ground 20 Facebook can be your next classified 20 Pre-record your next job interview 21 Heartbeat can eliminate the need for ID proof 24 Master the marketing word play 25

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Connect P E E R A DV I C E

COVER DESIGN BY UNNIKRISHNAN A.V

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Three CIOs share their views on legacy systems 66 The do’s and don’ts for a successful IT shop 68 Analytics is getting ingrained into operations 69 Why Tata Sky’s CCOO loves to partner with IT 70 Aruna Rao, CTO, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Group Companies, and Deepak Sharma, EVP—Digital Initiatives, Kotak Mahindra Bank, worked together to create a Facebook app to drive greater brand advocacy.

Finish

How a mouse can be used to authenticate someone 72

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PUBLISHER, PRESIDENT & CEO

FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

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

Relevant Change start

They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.

—Andy Warhol

2

Nine years and 155 issues ago we began a journey that was to be about your

experiences. Indeed, my very first editorial began with three short phrases: “Real people; real problems; real solutions”.

We set out to be a peer-learning platform, emphasizing that the best lessons that CIOs needed to learn from lay in the struggles and victories of fellow IT leaders—from convincing risk-averse managements to fund emerging technologies to dealing with economic realities to becoming better leaders and even taking on other management roles.

There was a hidden agenda as well for the team at IDG—to make the CIO a hero. That’s why we changed the way that technology content was written, designed and presented.

So much has changed since 2005. The Cloud, Big Data, Social, Mobile, Gamification, Software-Defined, Smart Devices, Advanced Threats—and that’s just the technology spectrum. Add to them the groaning economy, lines of business funding IT, managements demanding hard RoI, and we seem to be in a different era.

To stay true to your needs we decided to ground-up relook what we were presenting you with—bolder, snazzier and crisper—a relevant analog construct in a post-modern, increasingly digital world.

What you will find across the pages of CIO is a visually brighter experience with a lot more color, contemporary design, shorter articles, which we believe will make for a more compelling read.

From Start to Grow to Run to Connect and Finish, the sections have been organized with your business and career in mind, and the information in them structured in nuggets to be more easily assimilated.

What isn’t changing a bit is the high-quality of writing, editing and design that you associate with CIO. That stays the same. As does our focus on you and your experiences.

Do let us know what you think of the redesigned CIO. Salud.

Louis D’Mello

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

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start TRENDING

‘Cut!’ on Wearables in Theaters

Someone has collapsed on the ground from cardiac arrest and there’s no defibrillator around. What to do? Summon an ambulance drone.

A graduate student at Delft University of Technology in Netherlands has created a prototype drone that can autonomously navigate to a location in minutes and deliver a defibrillator, a device that can help reestablish normal heart rhythm.

Product engineering student, Alec Momont of the university’s Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, created the drone, which has three rotors and an on-board defibrillator.

The drone would basically be like a mobile version of an automated external defibrillator (AED), which are lightweight, portable, batteryoperated devices often found in shopping malls, transport stations, and convention centers.

The prototype also has a webcam so that people on the scene of a cardiac arrest can communicate with emergency personnel and follow instructions about how to care for the patient.

The 4 kg drone has a carbon-fiber frame and 3D-printed micro-structures. It can navigate via GPS and finds its way to a location using a caller’s mobile phone signal. It can fly about 100 kilometers per hour and is able to carry another 4 kg worth of payload.

The main merit of the prototype is that by flying over roads, it could get life-saving equipment to a patient before emergency services arrive when every minute counts, according to the university.

A YouTube video shows a dramatization of how the drone would be used, with a woman picking it up at the entrance to a building where her father has collapsed. Momont believes the machines could be helping people within five years and is working with partners including Ghent University Hospital and the Amsterdam Ambulance Service.

–By Tim Hornyak

—By Zach Miners

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I M A G E S O U R C E : W W W. T U D E L F T. N L

Ambulance Drones to the Rescue

The dictum, “please turn off all cell phones” at your local movie theater may soon be expanded to include Google Glass, smart watches, GoPros, life-logging cameras, and a cast of thousands of other wearables.

The Motion Picture Association of America and the National Association of Theatre Owners, which represents 32,000 screens across the US, have issued a zero tolerance policy on wearable devices capable of recording video, due to concerns over piracy.

Both groups already had a policy that all phones must be silenced and put away at show time. But all other recording devices, which would include wearables, must also be turned off and put away, the groups said in an update to their policy.

MPAA and NATO said they understand that some consumers have taken a liking to wearable “intelligent” devices.

That policy has a legal rationale. Under the US law movie patrons can be imprisoned for up to three years for recording a movie in a theater, even if it’s their first offense. But enforcing the expanded policy could be a mess.

The rules cover the entire range of wearable tech with recording devices, whatever form they may take, said MPAA spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield, in an email.

Crazy as it may sound, there are people who may have legitimate reasons for wearing Google Glass while sitting in a movie theater. A man in Ohio, who said he was wearing Glass with prescription lenses, was interrogated by authorities earlier this year after theater employees thought he was trying to record the film.

Plenty of other businesses, including bars and restaurants, have already banned Glass. Some did it because of concerns over surreptitious video recording and others due to what they deem to be its unsociable nature.

GIVE US YOUR

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To Participate: Log on to cio.in/calendar-2015 Last date for entries: 30th November, 2014

Gen Y Prefers to Work On-the-Go start

Millennials in India say they can be productive—outside of the office. And many employers seem to be listening. BY I S H A N B H AT TAC H A RYA

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Technology has created an environment that has

made it possible for millennials to work from almost any location of their choice; the most common being their homes. This concept of working from anywhere is also being rapidly accepted by employers because the next generation believes it leads to an increase in productivity.

A study carried out by VMware revealed that nine out of 10 millennials surveyed in India say they can be productive outside the office. The study also pointed out that 91 percent of millennials work outside office.

But do Indian employers support their wish to work from anywhere? The study showed that 90 percent of people in India are getting their company’s full support to work outside the office.

As much as 93 percent of working adults in India work on-the-go and 91 percent believe that it is important to work outside office, the study showed.

Thanks to advances in technology, especially mobility, telecommuting has become a reality. Owing to the penetration of mobility, the location from where

an adult is comfortable working also varies. The study revealed that 61 percent of Indian adults feel their home or a home office is the perfect place to work, while 18 percent feel a café is good enough, and 12 percent prefer working while commuting.

The survey also revealed that employees expect their companies to support mobile working styles. As much as 51 percent of Indian companies have a comprehensive and acceptable flexible working policy, 56 percent have equipment and hardware that allow employees to work from anywhere, and 53 percent have tools that enable employees to access applications they need on their personal devices.

Ishan Bhattacharya is trainee journalist. Send feedback to editor@cio.in

Millennials’ Workplace

New-age workers entering the workforce believe that they can work from anywhere—not necessarily in an office.

61 percent: Home or home office

18 percent: Café

WORK 12 percent: While Commuting

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Corrigendum In the September 15, 2014 issue, the caption on the photo on page 36 should have read: Vijay Sethi, VP-IS & CIO, says board level participation can alter the business perspective of a CIO. And on page 66, Joydeep Dutta’s company should have read Central Depository Services (India).

quiFIX ck Track Your Glasses

Tzukuri claims to have created “unloseable” sunglasses, using tracking beacons embedded in the frame.

– Jared Newman

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

WORTH READING B O O K Business Adventures: entures: 12 Classic Tales from Wall Street

By John Brooks A longtime contributor to the New Yorker, John Brooks, brings to life in vivid fashion 12 classic and timeless tales of corporate and financial life in America. Stories about Wall Street are infused with adventure and reveal the volatile nature of the world of finance. Amazon.in Rs 967

How do I foster a culture that supports innovation?

ALWAYS recognize that IT’s culture is your responsibility, and innovation is an outcome of the culture. Your division’s culture forges either a team with positive social chemistry and a supportive environment or, in the case of many large corporations, a group of downbeat workers whose chances for bonding have been bled away. Once you’ve established a supportive environment, you should mix people with different points of view and thinking styles to stimulate everyone’s creativity. Also be sure to nurture people with deep institutional experience. Friendly interactions can connect many different threads of knowledge in new ways, which Steve Jobs once said is the key to creativity. Research has also shown that laughter and humor are great aids to creativity and therefore innovation. Encourage people to have fun.

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SOMETIMES work outside the office to find a quiet setting in which to think. The office’s frenetic pace can cut into thinking time and stifle innovation. Albert Einstein found time to think by taking long walks alone to refine his theories. If you study big breakthroughs, you often find that inventors had quiet and alone time so they could think.

NEVER build a culture of blame. Innovation is often about trying and failing. If failure leads to blame, you’ll create an innovation shortcircuit. It’s been well documented that antisocial behaviors trigger a person’s threat sensor, putting the body on high alert and physically cutting off higher-order cognitive processes.

Frank Wander is founder and CEO of the IT Excellence Institute and a former Fortune 250 CIO. His business helps companies build high-performing IT organizations.

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P H OTO S B Y T H I N K S TO C K

T

zukuri has created glasses that use Apple’s iBeacon technology to pair with a nearby iPhone, letting the two devices communicate over Bluetooth LE. As users move farther away from the glasses, they receive a series of three iPhone notifications in 15-foot increments. Users can open the Tzukuri app to see the glasses’ last known location and can use a proximity tracker to find the glasses when they’re within 25 feet. The beacon itself is located along the temple of the frame and measures less than 5 mm thick along one edge.

It stays charged through solar cells—about two hours in the sun should be enough to reach full capacity—and is fully waterproof.

In the middle of 2015, Tzukuri plans to launch an API to allow more uses for the beacon, such as alerting friends when you’re nearby.

careerPATH

Ace the Executive Interview start

Coaches urge you to do your homework, practice in a mock interview, ask sharp questions—and close strong. BY R I C H H E I N

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Interviewing for executive positions can feel like running a gauntlet. You have to interview with different people, convey the story of your value, and there’s no hiding behind your monitor. You are exposed. While there will always be things out of your control, preparation is the key.

Here are some tips to help you nail your next interview.

Ask your interviewer: What is the one key priority that you want me to accomplish coming in here?

—DONALD BURNS, EXECUTIVE CAREER COACH

Arm Yourself with Information.

“One of IT recruiters’ biggest complaints is candidates showing up to the interview having done no research. They have no clue what the company does, who their competitors are and how they are organized,” says executive career coach Donald Burns.

You should be able to discuss industry trends and major events and unique challenges that the company has faced. “You need to really understand the company, where it’s going, where it’s been and who’s working there. When you’re in the interview and you’ve done your homework, you sound smart. You already know what they are doing and you can focus on how you best fit in. Once you have all this data at your fingertips, you can begin to ana-

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lyze and start to see how you fit into the company and how you can be the most impactful,” says Dan Schawbel author of Promote Yourself: The New Rules For Career Success.

Know Which of Your Achievements Matter. “The characteristics

that a company seeks in a CIO will be conveyed in the job spec. If those have been made available, lining up one’s past experiences to those specs and addressing the points one-byone will be important,” says Peter High, author of World Class IT. Cheryl Lynch Simpson, career coach and founder of Executive Resume Rescue, recommends knowing five to eight success stories from your career that are applicable to the job you’re applying for. She also advises clients to create a list of three

to four key points that they want to make, “those things they most want their interviewer to know about them, then concentrate on slipping these into the interview whenever appropriate,” says Simpson.

Get Feedback Before the Interview. “Have a coach or a colleague

do a mock interview. What you’ll find is that people hesitate and have to think because they don’t have an answer ready. That kind of role playing can make a huge difference in the interview,” says Burns. If possible you should also find out about the people you’re interviewing with. The more you know about the person sitting across from you, the more comfortable you will feel having a conversation with them.

Ask the Right Questions. “Ask open-ended questions that explore the company mission, corporate values, the executive’s leadership strengths, and the department’s performance targets for the position the candidate is being interviewed for,” says Simpson.

Burns suggests asking, “What is the one key priority that you want me to accomplish coming in here?”

Close Strong. “Offer a brief, twominute, achievement-rich summary of your candidacy. Restate your interest in the job and ask when you may contact the hiring executive to learn their decision or next steps. Make an appointment for this call and don’t let anything prevent you from making the call on time,” says Simpson.

Send feedback to editor@cio.in

news scan Amazon, Apple, and Google are Growing Threats: Banks

A survey by core banking software provider Temenos showed that 23 percent of banking CIOs see their most significant competition coming from outside the traditional financial sector.

A number of tech companies have shown a desire to offer some form of financial service around payments.

This includes the launch of Google Wallet in the US in 2011, while Apple has launched the ApplePay service, and Facebook has indicated it may offer a payments service in Europe.

—Computerworld UK

Unlimited OneDrive Storage in Office 365: MS

Microsoft is making Office 365 a considerably sweeter deal with unlimited OneDrive storage for all users. The free upgrade will roll out to all subscribers “over the coming months,” Microsoft says. This is the second storage boost that Microsoft has given to Office 365 subscribers this year, having upgraded users to 1 TB of storage in June.

—PC World (US)

BBC Uses Whatsapp for Ebola Information Service in Africa

The BBC World Service has launched an app-based “lifeline” Ebola information service for people in West Africa. The service is designed for those using the instant messenger app Whatsapp. The new service is in both English and French and will comprise public health information on Ebola from the BBC, using audio, text message posts, and images.

It will also include breaking news alerts related to Ebola. Whatsapp is said to be the most popular chat app in Africa. Ebola is now the BBC World Service’s biggest health focus since its reporting on HIV/Aids in the 1980s and 1990s, with a variety of TV and radio programs broadcasted to the Ebola-affected region.

—Computerworld UK

Staples Confirms Data Breach Investigation

Investigative journalist Brian Krebs reported that multiple banking sources were seeing a pattern of credit and debit card frauds. The common thread between each case were purchases made at Staples stores in the Northeastern US. Sources said the fraudulent transactions were traced to cards that made purchases at Staples stores in Pennsylvania, New York City, and New Jersey. In a statement, Mark Cautela, senior public relations manager for Staples, said that the company is investigating a potential issue involving credit and debit card data. Given the pattern in recent months, it’s possible that Staples has fallen victim to Backoff, a malware family that targets POS systems, or a similar variant.

—CSO (US)

Twitter Shares Fall as User Growth Stalls

Twitter still has work to do to gain more users, and grow its ad sales in the process, judging from Wall Street’s reaction to its latest financial results.

Sluggish user growth is probably to blame. Twitter had 284 million users who visited the site at least once a month during the third quarter which ended on September 30, the company said. That’s up 23 percent from the same period last year, according to Twitter, and in line with some analyst estimates projecting average monthly users in the 280 million range.

—IDG News Service

Trend Micro and INTERPOL Collaborate to Fight Cybercrime

Trend Micro has signed a three-year agreement with INTERPOL to help support the international police organization and its 190 member countries with additional knowledge, resources, and tactics to decrease cybercrime on a global scale, the security software and solutions provider announced.

Over the next three years, Trend Micro said it would share its threat information analysis with INTERPOL officers through its Trend Micro Threat Intelligence Service. The goal of this initiative is to investigate, deter, and ultimately prevent cybercrimes. This effort will also help bridge the gap in information-sharing between the public and private sectors.

—MIS Asia

Google Pushes for Chromebooks in the Office

Google is introducing new capabilities aimed at making Chromebooks more appealing to business users. Google announced that it’s packaging together some new and existing features designed for businesses into an annual $50 (about Rs 3,000) subscription.

Chromebooks now support single sign-on based on SAML. That means IT admins can allow users to sign in to their Chromebooks using their existing work credentials.

Google is also adding a multiple sign-in capability so that users can have personal and work accounts on the same machine.

Google also said that businesses will be able to provide Chromebooks to access the more secure 802.1X EAP-TLS Wi-Fi networks.

—CITEworld

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world Fresh Ideas from Around the Globe

vıew

start

A Google Glass App for Hard-of-hearing Users

F R A M I N G H A M Georgia Tech scientists have created an app that creates captions on Google Glass for users who are hard of hearing. They developed speech-totext software for Google’s wearable technology. Using Glass and an Androidbased smartphone, the app converts speech to text and displays it on the Glass heads-up display. “This system allows wearers to focus on the speaker’s lips and facial gestures,” said Jim Foley, a professor at Georgia Tech. “If hard-of-hearing people understand the speech, the conversation can continue without waiting for the caption. However, if I miss a word, I can glance at the transcription.”

The app, called Captioning on Glass, is free and is available at MyGlass. www. computerworld.com

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Mobiles Combat Fake Drugs in West Africa

FREETOWN Cholera, malaria, and the rapidly expanding threat

of Ebola have hit African countries with a related health-care problem: The scourge of fake drugs. However, West Africans have the option to use mobile apps to identify counterfeit medications.

The initiative allows participating pharmaceutical companies to add special labeling to their products dispensed at the retail level. These labels have special hidden areas which are scratched off to reveal a unique 12-digit numeric code. The numeric code is then texted to a unique short code, which is toll free and gives a response within 10 seconds, telling the consumer whether the medicine being checked is original or fake. IDG News Service

The Zuli Smartplug

S A N F R A N C I S C O Zuli uses bluetooth to build a super-cheap mesh network for home control. Most smart-home systems rely on a central hub to manage light switches, wall plugs, door/window sensors, and other devices. Zuli has a different idea: Its smart plugs use Bluetooth LE (low energy) to form a mesh network. The network uses your smartphone to determine your location, so it can turn a light on when you enter a darkened room, and turn it off when you leave. www.techhive.com

New Tech Hopes to Prevent Accidents

LONDON Volvo Trucks has developed a technology that eliminates truck drivers’ blind spots, in a bid to reduce accidents involving pedestrians. Volvo Trucks’ research found that limited visibility is one of the main causes of heavy truck accidents with road users in Europe. Volvo’s technology will give truck drivers a 360 degree view with cameras installed on the vehicle. These cameras share information with sensors and radars which can autonomously activate the braking or steering system if the driver does not respond to an alert that a pedestrian or cyclist is close by. To beat that, competitor Honda revealed its plans for a “collision free society”. It presented two connected Acura Sedan cars that “talk” to each other, which allows one car to drive with no-one behind the wheel, directed by the other. www.computerworlduk.com

–Compiled by IDG News Service from CIO magazine affiliates worldwide

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grow innovation and business value

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Mobile Banking Playbook

With a mobile banking app, packed with gamification techniques, ING Vysya is redefining mobile banking. BY R A D H I K A N A L L AYA M

When you hear of a bank using gamification techniques to create a mobile banking app, you know

that it’s a rare story. That’s because you know that gamification and banks are the most unlikely couple and you know that that’s what makes it interesting. And that’s the story of ING Vysya Bank.

The bank’s mobile app, designed using gamification techniques, has already swept many of its customers off their feet. A delighted customer’s review on Google Play called it “the best ever mobile banking app”, while a leading newspaper wrote: “It seems like mobile banking is finally here”.

The unique experience, says Aniruddha Paul, CIO of the bank, was made possible with a bit of calculated risk. “We wanted the app to be completely different from the run-of-the-mill banking apps available today. The UXD, we thought, would be the key differentiator. Hence, we went after a company that develops games, but has never ever designed a banking app.”

Instead of replicating the navigation methods of Internet banking, ING’s mobile app is designed contextually by placing relevant options on the screen.

••••••••••••• 37% of Indian CIOs admitted that their internal IT staff is not proficient to handle mobility projects. CIO Mid Year Review 2014 •••••••••••••

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crunch

CIOs With A Difference

grow

For many CIOs, being seen as a competitive differentiator by

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For example, the creative design of the baltheir business is hard to achieve. Here are some things that ance meter in the form of a speedometer set them apart. allows the users to receive alerts when there is no minimum balance in the account. A What gives differentiators an edge over others quick glance on the ‘green zone’ and ‘red Vendor lock-ins are their largest concern 80% zone’ of the speedometer gives you an idea Plan to use hybrid cloud 65% whether you are getting ‘richer’ or ‘poorer’.

Interestingly, the app lets customers check Believe hybrid cloud offers better security 54% their balance without even logging in. But Are aware of their company’s obligations where the cloud is concerned 53% users won’t have to worry about their critiAre planning to develop a private enterprise app store 48% cal information being exposed. “To ensure security, the devices on which the app gets S O U R C E : C I O M I D - Y E A R R E V I E W 2 0 14 downloaded are finger-printed. The app can’t be downloaded to more than two devices. In the event of losing the device, the customer can call up the bank and immediately wipe off the app. Besides, the customer can actually choose whether he wants the balance meter to be displayed or not,” says Paul.

Users can even scan a cheque and save the image in “The digital the app for future reference. A world provides distinctive approach makes the app interactive, intuitive, visu- a level playing Three Japanese who succeeded in inventing efficient blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs), ally delightful—and secure. field to where many companies had failed, have won In a nutshell, the app facilitates compete with the Nobel Prize in Physics. true end-to-end banking, includThe Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences bigger banks.” ing closure of a fixed deposit. gave away the award to Isamu Akasaki of This holistic experience —Aniruddha Paul, CIO, Meijo University and Nagoya University, Hirowouldn’t have been possible ING Vysya Bank shi Amano, also of Nagoya University, and without a rock solid back-end Shuji Nakamura of the University of CaliforIT infrastructure and that was the first thing Paul ensured. nia, Santa Barbara (UCSB).

“The world of digital provides a level playing field to a midThe three were recognized for their work sized bank like us and enables us to compete with much bigger in the 1990s which enabled the creation of white light using LEDs. While red and green banks that have thousands of branches. While the mobile app diodes had previously been developed, was a major front-end initiative, we simultaneously took up researchers were unable to develop a blue key projects like legacy modernization and private cloud at the LED for 30 years. Combining blue with red and back-end,” says Paul. green diodes yields white light.

Though ING Vysya is the 24th largest bank in India, it is “With the advent of LED lamps we now among the top 10 when it comes to overall money being prohave more long-lasting and more efficient cessed through mobile banking. This is within six months alternatives to older light sources,” the acadof launching the new mobile app. Now that the bank is fully emy said in a release. “Incandescent light digital-ready, Paul and his team have embarked on a whole lot bulbs lit the 20th century; the 21st century of digital initiatives like a Facebook app that lets you transact will be lit by LED lamps.” The work later led to the development of lasers using the blue LED, and an app that works on smart watches.

Blue LEDs Win Physics Nobel

as well as Blu-ray discs.

—Tim Hornyak

•••••••••••• 21% of Indian CIOs say that staffers learn about cloud computing on their own and identify the need for training. CIO Mid Year Review 2014 •••••••••••••

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[Q+A]

Double Role

Sunil Gujral, EVP and CTO, Quatrro Global Services, and CEO of FutureSoft Solutions, is astutely handling the twin roles. He shares why it’s crucial for CIOs to understand what technology can do for business. BY S H U B H R A R I S H I

My role, both as a CEO and CIO, is about what’s new, and not about what exists.

IT should be able to identify new and disruptive technologies that enable businesses to enter new markets, allowing them to create new products, and attract new customers.

How do you think CIOs are responding to this change?

CIOs are slowly becoming more domain-aware and are learning fast.

It’s because businesses are not entirely dependent on IT departments for their needs. Businesses today have the option to bypass IT and buy technology from a third-party. CIOs are up against third-party solution vendors— who have the capability to deliver on timeliness and cost—to offer a unique

solution. CIOs are realizing this and adapting to the change.

Do you think CIOs face challenges when it comes to understanding business?

A lot of CIOs’ understanding of business depends on their educational and professional background. In my case, the challenge was that I didn’t understand finance. But I taught myself that.

It’s crucial for them to understand the value of technology, as to what it can do for business. It’s advantageous to have a business background. If not, CIOs need to actively engage to learn the business.

business and CIO roles at Quattro?

I’m purely a CIO for six group companies at Quattro Global Services. Delegation of responsibilities has helped a lot and my team has adopted new technologies to enable faster provisioning.

My business role involves supporting the growth of our businesses.

For instance, in our finance and accounting business, we do retail accounting for 3,500 restaurants and 3,000 automotive part stores, convenience stores, and hair salons in North America. We are dealing with SMBs who demand new technology solutions and expect us to deliver in shorter timelines. The business ask is to provision technology that can add more revenue to the business, and in turn, gain more customers.

How do you handle this shift when it comes to handling your own business?

My role, both as a CEO and CIO, is about what’s new, and not about what exists.

In my own business, as the CEO at FutureSoft Solutions, I drive a culture of innovation where managers are expected to present significant ideas for business every year and they are incentivized based on its success. It’s because if a leader who understands technology can define product ideas for business, he can bind the two, find gaps in the market space, and address them easily.

Shubhra Rishi is principal correspondent.

Send feedback to shubhra_rishi@

How do you manage both your

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P H OTO B Y S U M E E T S AW H N E Y

How has the business ask from IT changed in the last few years?

In the last decade, the business ask has gone through an irrevocable change. Business expects IT to come up with ideas, realize its needs, and help it stay ahead of competition. IT is no longer a support function. There is a newness in business coming from IT and as a result, it’s creating a differentiator for CEOs to take their businesses to the next level.

3-5 DECEMBER, 2014

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VIEW from the TOP Murugavel Janakiraman, CEO, BharatMatrimony.com

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The CEO of BharatMatrimony, arguably the biggest matchmaker in the country, counts on the right mix of technology and trust for success. BY R A D H I K A N A L L AYA M Murugavel Janakiraman is one of those ‘accidental entrepreneurs’, who didn’t grow up with an ambition to start his own business. From his humble beginning in Chennai as an MCA graduate, Janakiraman later moved to the US as a software consultant. He saw his Indian colleagues struggling to find the right life partner and thus the idea of an online matrimonial site took shape in his mind. Today, BharatMatrimony.com has to its credit three million marriages in the last 14 years. Excerpts from an interview: What was the best thing about becoming a leader?

When I look back, I feel the best thing about becoming a leader was realizing my self-worth. It has been 14 years since I started BharatMatrimony and we have come a long way. Today, we have about 4,000 associates and have been able to bring a huge number of people into the BharatMatrimony family. The good part is that a lot of them moved into leadership roles.

We diversified into multiple businesses too. Above all, I was able to help millions find their partners. These are factors that give me immense satisfaction.

I think it’s the proliferation of mobile devices and mobile Internet. Close to 40 percent of our users already access our website through mobile phones. In the next couple of years, the number of people who access BharatMatrimony through mobile phones will surpass those accessing it through PCs. This is both a challenge and an opportunity. The new set of users who are coming to our website through mobile phones have experienced the Internet only through such devices. Their behavior may be completely different. And this may pose a new set of challenges. But challenges also open new doors to opportunity. I think the mobile revolution will help us grow significantly. It will also help us increase our reach in rural areas.

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I would say yes, because I come from a technology background. So technology has been one of the basic pillars on which the company was built. Technology, we believe, has the power to radically change things for Internet companies like ours and, hence, has always been a priority.

Whether it’s analytical tools or the mobile revolution, we have been an early adopter and have used technology to benefit our users and grow the business. Technology has been one of my key interest areas. I work closely with the product team and review products before they go live.

BharatMatrimony is also leveraging social media in a big way to improve the credibility of our profiles.

What’s the biggest change awaiting the industry?

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Are you an early adopter of technology?

How do you leverage technology to win customer trust?

Apart from manually validating every profile that goes on the site, we use IT to enhance the trust our customers have in us. We do mobile verification of all profiles through SMS and missed calls. We can claim with confidence that we are the only online matrimony site on which each and every profile is mobile-verified.

We are also leveraging social media to improve the credibility of our profiles.

For instance, a user can choose to reveal her Facebook ID, so that a person viewing that profile can figure out if they have mutual friends. We have also integrated user profiles with LinkedIn, which helps view a person’s career progression.

Send feedback to editor@cio.in

P H OTO B Y R . C H A N D R O O

grow

Engaging IT

BUSINESS STRATEGIST

Spring Cleaning With an IT Spin

Here’s how to reduce the clutter in your IT operation and ensure that simplicity becomes part of your corporate culture. BY M A D E L I N E W E I SS A N D J U N E D R E W RY

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uccessful CIOs seek to hide complexity by ages were reduced dramatically in three districts. Wade creating easy-to-use systems and interfaces. used the acronym SPRING, as in spring cleaning, to help There’s a lot to hide. Acquisitions and mergers others remember the following lessons from his research bring additional systems and processes. New on getting simple and staying simple. technologies must mesh with existing ones.

Standardize. Ensure that processes and systems are Business partnerships must be embraced. New products standardized to the greatest extent possible. and services must be supported.

Prioritize. Decide what to keep, what Not all complexity is bad, though. For Beyond a certain to standardize and what to drop. Use example, companies are moving away from metrics—such as profitability per SKU, point, more relatively simple, contractual relationships IT system, customer, employee or locacomplexity with external business partners and toward tion—to uncover sources of complexity. reduces profits, more complex relationships that are full Rationalize. Choose a few processes even when of collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and and systems to become the global staninnovation, said Arun Rai, a professor at dard, allow some exceptions, and elimirevenues Georgia State University, at a recent meetnate or outsource most others. Don’t pay increase, says ing of the Society for Information Manageattention to excuses like, “This system (or researcher ment’s Advanced Practices Council. product, service, process or customer) is Michael Wade.

But beyond a certain point, more comstrategically important,” and, “It’s a cost plexity reduces profits, even when revenues of doing business; we need to have it,” and increase, says Michael Wade, a professor at IMD business ignore unspoken messages such as, “I may lose my job if school in Switzerland. you get rid of this.”

Sometimes the CIO is the source of the complexity. Wade Institutionalize. Ensure that simplicity becomes illustrated with an example: Jim Barrington, CIO at Novartis, embedded in the corporate culture. took on a problem that seemed unsolvable. In many African Navigate. Develop simple rules to guide action. For countries, huge supply-chain problems made it impossible example, the Miramax studio has four simple criteria for to get malaria medicines to patients in time. The overall supmaking a film: It is based on a human condition; the main ply of medicine was sufficient, but local facilities often ran character is appealing but flawed; there’s a strong story line out. Wade asked council members to brainstorm solutions. with a beginning, middle and end; and there’s a firm cap on The room was full of high-achieving CIOs, so the results production costs. Everything else is flexible. were novel, clever—and complex. Solutions involved local Govern. Ensure that there’s a structure in place to mainstores, schools, and delivery trucks. tain simplicity over time. The CEO of one global company Wade then described Barrington’s actual—and exquirequired anyone creating a new SKU to delete an old one. sitely simple—solution: Provide each local public-health Very simple and very effective. facility with a smartphone loaded with a basic app. In As a CIO, you are in a great position to adopt that forresponse to a text message every Thursday, a worker enters mula and take a leadership role in simplification. the stock level of the antimalarial drug. On Monday, the system sends information about stock levels to the district Madeline Weiss is director of the Advanced Practices Council manager, who can then order or redistribute medicine (APC). June Drewry is former CIO of Chubb and an adviser to the among sites accordingly. Within six months, drug shortAPC. Send feedback to editor@cio.in.

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leadership and operational excellence

BYOD’s Security Promise

How Uflex’s BYOD solution helped the company secure sales quotation data and enabled it to stay ahead of competition. BY I S H A N B H AT TAC H A RYA

A multi-billion dollar company, with a workforce of over 5,000, Uflex is undoubtedly the

king of the flexible packaging industry in India.

Its envious global reach and product portfolio makes it a force to reckon with.

But its daunting security challenges were like a dagger hanging over the company’s competitive edge. Uflex was facing problems pertaining to IT security. There was always a possibility that employees could scan photographs of confidential documents. They could carry it and even share them on social media platforms to transfer the same to the company’s competitors.

“In our world, a price as low as 10 cents per kg can result in gaining an order of 1,000 tons.

Hence, leakage of sales quotations can amount to huge risk. I get to know about the leakages only when others suddenly start poaching on our orders,” says Ravi Ramakrishnan, global IT

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Ravi Ramakrishnan, Global IT Head and CIO, Uflex, says it is important to have a robust BYOD solution in place but it is equally important to have a strong security environment.

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head and CIO of Uflex. But that was not the only problem.Another security hole was the local IT administrator who provided Wi-Fi access and other such facilities to the employees. “Gradually, things went out of control. There were chances that even an IT personnel could get involved by giving access to critical applications on a friendly basis, which could turn out to be a security nightmare,” says Ramakrishnan.

Ramakrishnan knew that it was time for the company to take some action and devise a solution to plug the security loopholes.

One option sounded promising: BYOD. It would kill two birds with one stone. It would make employees happy and at the same time provide the company with the power to control devices and enhance security.

To fix this and gain more control over devices in the enterprise, Ramakrishnan decided to deploy BYOD. Three major reasons for the company to implement the BYOD solution were security concerns, influx of smartphones, and reaching out to employees through MDM alerts. The solution provided Uflex with a lot more control.

“I might block Skype to ensure employees use our own smartphone platform as they can be traced. In case of high security areas, we can also block cameras based on the Wi-Fi credentials. For instance, we have blocked photography and transfer of files through unauthorized platforms like Skype and Viber. If an employee is terminated or something goes wrong, we can also do a remote wipe,” he says.

Another advantage was that with the solution, anyone can use the LAN to interact with employees in other countries. This minimized international call costs and established a secure VoIP network.

The deployment of the BYOD solution proved advantageous. It ensured control over data breaches, standardization of bandwidth prices, and transparency of employee locations.

“Owing to the solution the security loop hole was plugged. The fact that employees know that they are being watched has helped us achieve standardization of Wi-Fi usage. Because of the solution, today though every employee has Wi-Fi connection, the Wi-Fi cost hasn’t spiraled up. Otherwise, our bandwidth prices would be three times more expensive. It would have escalated by 250 percent,” Ramakrishnan says.

Uflex has shown the way for other organizations grappling with BYOD and its security challenges.

Ishan Bhattacharya is a trainee journalist. Send feedback

Things You Need to Know DIGITAL SIGNAGE

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IT’S MORE THAN ADVERTISING. Digital signage generally displays content for a targeted audience at venues such as colleges and corporate campuses, medical facilities, retailers, transportation centers, and work spaces.

Organizations from all types of industries use digital signage to deliver messages to consumers and employees alike. They use it to advertise products, improve brand awareness, increase worker efficiency and provide information and instructions.

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IT WILL REQUIRE SYSTEM INTEGRATION. Although digital signs were once standalone systems, they’re now increasingly integrated with back-end systems. This allows organizations to display real-time content that adjusts to changing situations and organizational goals, says Dave Haynes, co-founder of The Preset Group, a consultancy.

For example, fast-food restaurants integrate their digital signage with point-of-sale and inventory-management systems so the signs only promote items that are in stock. Shipping companies tie their digital signage into logistics applications so they can display workflow performance data so workers can keep shipments on schedule.

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NEXT UP: MOBILE CONNECTIONS. Near-field communications and other mobile technologies can enable direct connections between digital signage and individual smartphones to deliver personalized messages.

Haynes says CIOs must help decide how to best enable those connections, such as by having users download apps that allow them to opt into an interactive connection. “There is a building relationship between the small screen and the big screen and that has to happen if the larger screens are going to retain their relevance,” Haynes says.

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NETWORKS WILL BE PUT TO THE TEST. An increasing percentage of digital signage content will be in ultra-high-definition (UHD), which could swamp an organization’s network bandwidth, particularly if the content is pulled from the cloud instead of being stored and played locally, says IHS analyst Sanju Khatri. Digital signage using UHD displays first appeared at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas in 2013, and IHS predicts huge growth in UHD displays in the next few years.

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THE CIO SHOULD HANDLE GOVERNANCE. Marketing, HR, and other departments are typically responsible for how a company uses digital signage. But Lyle Bunn, an industry analyst, says CIOs need to develop governance policies to manage and support the system’s hardware, software and bandwidth requirements, and to ensure that digital signage can be integrated into back-end systems.

— Mary K. Pratt

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POPULAR SCIENCE

The New Black in the Solar World

Perovskite. In some corners of the materials science world, these new types of solar voltaic cells, with their tongue-twisting names, are all the rage. BY C A L E B G A R L I N G

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group of Italian researchers published a

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paper in Nature showing they could fire a laser at perovskites and answer some critical questions about their properties with regards to excitability, behavior, and the role of defects in the material. It’s important to get a sense of the idea behind perovskites and why publications like IEEE are saying they’re “the new black in the solar world.”

New sources of power are at a premium, but few seem more logical than the sun. Researchers have examined putting a photovoltaic cell right into the screen of the phone, but due to weak power production, the idea of a solar-powered mobile device is still a long way off. PV cells are becoming more efficient, albeit slowly. So researchers continue to look at new ways of harvesting solar energy.

Perovskite refers to an arrangement of different atoms and their relation to one another in a three-dimensional structure.

Different molecules can make up different perovskites but in the end they form a fairly organized-looking set up molecular cubes and support beams—which generate a voltage in sunlight. The first perovskite material was first tested as an

Facebook: Tracked and Targeted There are times when you might stroll past a local coffee shop or book store numerous times before you notice it’s there or go inside. Facebook thinks an ad might give that extra nudge.

The company has begun rolling out a new feature for local advertising that lets businesses target users based on whether they’ve gone near the physical store that’s being advertised. The ad could pop up in your Facebook feed around the same time you walk by, or some time later.

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energy source in 2009. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory shows the best demonstration converting sunlight to power at a 17.9 percent efficiency, well ahead of any other type of emerging photovoltaic cell technology, but still needs catch up with silicon-based models.

Still, that’s not bad for five years. One of the bits that’s got the community so excited, and caused Science to call perovskites a top breakthrough of 2013, is that they capture wavelengths in the visible spectrum not previously captured

by PV cells. Researchers are also starting to show they can produce a type of perovskite at a scale that would be cheaper than silicon-based cells, which as the MIT Tech Review reports, typically require high temperatures to make. Silicon cells are relatively efficient but their production cost is a huge drag on their economics.

Another big concern so far has been that perovskites require lead, so people worry about local toxic effects. Humidity has been shown to break down types of perovskites and release methyl ammonium.

Send feedback to editor@cio.in

The localized targeting could help smaller businesses on Facebook reach a larger number of would-be customers, giving Facebook a new revenue stream in the process.

Also, getting a lot of users to see an ad is more important than the engagement it receives through clicks, comments or “likes,” Facebook said in describing the new ad format, which it calls “local awareness ads.” Facebook has designed the ads “to help businesses reach the most people possible in an area.”

Location already factors into the ads people see on Facebook, as the company uses information such as a user’s hometown in their profiles.

But adding mobile location data to the mix could help Facebook

advance on a goal many tech companies are trying to reach now: The delivery of contextually relevant information and ads.

Facebook’s local awareness ads could work well for local businesses, if Facebook users are receptive to them. The targeting works through the location services feature on a phone. Businesses give Facebook their physical address and a geographic radius around which they want to advertise. Facebook then finds users who are nearby or who recently came within that radius.

Businesses can further refine their targeting to reach, for example, only people of a certain age or gender.

—Zach Miners

HIRING MANAGER

Online Video Speeds Up Interviews Pre-recorded interview questions—and the resulting answers—can give hiring managers a head start on selecting job candidates. BY K R I S T E N L A M O R E AU X

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f you’re tired of being buried in inappropriate In addition to the time savings of 24/7 video recruitment, resumes from HR, there’s a new wave to catch: PreSinclair says the tool helps hiring managers maintain the recorded video interviewing. We know that companies company culture. “We’re a very culturally driven company, have been incorporating Skype, Oovoo, and FaceTime and it’s harder to gauge cultural fit by paper,” he says. into their interview processes for years, but each of Sinclair also thinks those candidates who agree to the those tools requires one thing: You, the hiring manager. The video pre-screen will have better odds of being interviewed. new wave removes you from the equation, at least initially.

“Unless a candidate has an awesome resume, the hiring manDave Sinclair is the corporate recruiting manager for ager will have a better chance of developing a connection with Henkels and McCoy, a large, privately held engineering, a video candidate. It’s just human nature.” network-development and construction firm with more than 80 offices in North America. Sinclair is piloting a tool Easier Scheduling called InterviewStream that offers online, pre-recorded video The video technology can “greatly improve the hiring process, interview questions. Candidates can launch their interview which historically has been very frustrating to hiring managprocess the moment they apply for a job. ers,” says Rick Fabrizio, CIO of AmeriGas, “It shortens “This is a breakthrough for the company,” the nation’s largest provider of propane.

Sinclair says. “We recruit people from “Scheduling multiple candidates to meet the hiring cycle around the world and others who are road with multiple managers has always been since it weeds warriors. Coordination of interviews can challenging. Now the process becomes out candidates take months, but with a tool like this, we very flexible for us.” that look good on can kick off the interview process 24/7, Fabrizio likes how HR can simply forpaper but are a regardless of geography.” ward a pre-screen video link to interviewIndividual hiring managers can select ers. “It’s really a win-win for all parties bust in person.” questions from extensive video libraries of involved: It lowers costs for HR, it saves Rick Fabrizio, CIO, AmeriGas pre-recorded questions (asked by actors) time for the candidates, and reduces travel or they can record their own pre-screening time. But what really excites me is that it questions. Upon applying for a job, candidates are asked, enhances the selection process.”

“Would you like to complete a pre-screen interview now?”

Fabrizio is a fan of the pre-recorded interview questions.

The video questions can replace a general phone screen “It shortens the hiring cycle since it weeds out the candidates or focus on ensuring candidates have depth in a particular that look good on paper but are a bust in person.” skill set. “We’re using video screening for high-demand roles Yes, there are security and network bandwidth issues to and critical roles,” Sinclair says. “We find it works best for consider with these online interviewing systems. But here’s technical recruiting, engineering, project management and some food for thought: On contacting over a dozen compacollege recruiting.” nies using or considering these types of interviewing tools, it Instead of the usual process—reviewing applicant was found that all were very excited about the speed-to-hire resumes, setting up a phone screen and typing up notes— improvements and ease of use. But in many cases, the CIOs Sinclair can view a few minutes of video and forward the of those companies were completely unaware that HR had link with comments to hiring managers. The system notifies already gone out and secured the service.

Sinclair when the hiring manager views the link, so he knows to follow up for feedback and next steps.

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EVENT REPORT SYMANTEC

From Prevention to Remediation: Architecting a Better Response Complex cyber security threats have become part of today’s threat landscape. Clearly, there is a need to question how appropriate ‘standard’ security practices are. In a recent roundtable, CIOs talked about the different strategies they are using to better their defenses.

By Sejuti Das

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nsuring a secure business environment is a complex task at the best of times. Today, isn’t the best of times—in fact, it’s never been harder for enterprises and their security chiefs to safeguard their organizations.

To gain a deeper understanding of how IT decision-makers are looking at security risks, and how they are dealing with today’s security landscape, Symantec, in association with CIO magazine, recently conducted a roundtable in Mumbai.

Top of the agenda was the rise of targeted data theft and the increase in an enterprise’s threat surface, thanks to the emergence of new technologies. Clearly, there is a need to question how suitable ‘standard’ security practices are; specially practices that focus only on prevention without looking holistically at threat vectors, patterns analysis—and remediation.

“Personally, I believe that prevention is better than cure. But that only works if we know the dynamism of the system,” said Durgaprasad Dubey, senior VP and head-IS group, Reliance Industries. “Today, the way IT is integrated so completely with business processes, we can’t afford to only put in a firewall.

Prevention is definitely not the only way. To fight against these new cyber threats we have to be more concerned about remediation.”

Everyone agreed that today’s emerging technologies—social, mobility, analytics, and cloud computing, the SMAC stack—are complicating an already complex IT set up. Although all these new technologies are great levers of productivity, they also tend to increase the attack surface of organizations, leaving their borders porous.

Highlighting this, Ranjan Revandkar, information security officer, Kotak Bank, said, “The entire scenario has changed now, banks are now frequently targeted by complex cyber-attacks. These attacks usually are against third-party service providers, money transmitters, etc. This is why we have hired business security officers and adopted advanced threat protection to ensure that information should be transferred properly to thirdparty providers. Awareness programs and training systems have also been

Cyber Readiness Challenge is an immersive, interactive capture the flag competition that models scenarios after the current threat landscape using realistic IT infrastructure.”

TARUN KAURA

Director, Technology Sales, India & SAARC, Symantec

created for employees to make them more alert about these threats, and better our ability to fight them.”

Suneel Aradhye, group CIO, RPG Enterprises, believes that knowing an organization in-depth is important to fight against its threats. “One should know their organization thoroughly before implementing solutions, as all solutions cannot be implemented across. Getting to know the sensitive areas of an organization, such as information confidentiality, is necessary to firewall the enterprise.”

Today’s cyber threats can originate from numerous places, can target many levels of an enterprise, and can sometimes lie in wait for months and years before they launch. That requires a level of security preparation beyond what enterprises have been currently used to.

“Awareness, tests, and simulation are necessary but it’s important to develop a security culture in the organization,” said Shashi Kumar Ravulapaty, senior VP and CTO, Reliance Commercial Finance. “We have developed an internal ethical hacking team that simulates situations for us to be prepared for such threats. Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) is another way to achieve complete vulnerability analysis of these threats.”

Symantec has been making massive strides in bolstering information security for enterprises. “Cyber threats are becoming more targeted and sophisticated, with advanced persistent threats using multiple phases to break into a network.

What organizations need is security across all control points working together, with incident response capabilities and solutions that are specifically designed to improve an organizations’ capabilities from just protect to protect, detect and respond,” said Tarun Kaura, director-Technology Sales, India & SAARC, Symantec.

“The Cyber Readiness Challenge is an immersive, interactive, capture-the-flag, competition that models scenarios after the current threat landscape using realistic IT infrastructure. Designed for many levels

Roundtable Attendees • Aditya Sarangapani, Liberty Videocon General Insurance • Bala V. Meshram, The Shipping Corporation of India • Chaitanya Wagh, JM Financial Services • Durgaprasad Dubey, RIL • Gopal Rangaraj, Reliance Life Sciences • Joydeep Dutta, Central Depository Services (India) • Milind Khamkar, Sanofi-Aventis India • N.K. Verma, Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers • R.N. Mohanty, Pidilite Industries • Rajan Revandkar, Kotak Bank • Sameer Ratolikar, Axis Bank • Shankar Gawade, Axis Capital • Shashi Kumar Ravulapaty, Reliance Commercial Finance • Shirish Dandekar, Tata Teleservices • Suneel Aradhye, RPG Enterprises • Umesh Kalyankar, Diebold

of technical skill, it puts participants in the hacker’s shoes, helping them understand their targets, and thought-processes, so that they can ultimately protect their organizations,” Kaura added.

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

TECH : : RADAR Your Heartbeat, Your Security Toronto-based Bionym is working on a wearable device that uses a person’s heartbeat to authenticate their identity. BY S H A R O N G AU D I N

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“Our goal is to say if identity could be easy, what types of expemorning and then opening your smartphone and riences could we enable?” asked D’Souza. “Make identity easy laptop without passwords, getting into your car to make trust easy. Right now, it’s hard to establish trust and without a key and even boarding a plane without identity. You won’t have to prove who you are anymore.” your ID or a boarding pass.

He noted that the company has been in talks with MasterThat’s the future imagined by Andrew D’Souza, president Card and its partner banks, a few airlines, hotel chains, auto of Bionym, a Toronto-based company working on what he makers and even government agencies. says will be the world’s first wearable authentication device.

The device works by checking for the electrical signals “This is pretty unique,” D’Souza said in an interview. from your heart the second you put it on. The electrical sig“Every time your muscles expand and contract there are nals based in the heart—different from your heart rate—are electrical pulses produced and this allows us to identify a unique for each person, like a fingerprint. “It can tell that it’s person based on the electrical signals based in the heart.... you wearing the device and then it goes into an authenticaWe’re trying to solve the identity problem.” tion state,” D’Souza explained. “It becomes Bionym, a startup that just closed a $14 “This is the future secure. It confirms it’s on your wrist and it’s million (about Rs 84 crore) Series A round of authentication. you wearing the device so it authenticates of funding, is on track to release the Nymi, your security.”

Fingerprint, which has been in a small beta test. AccordIf the clasp on the wristband opens retinal and vein ing to D’Souza, the company has already or if the wristband is cut, the authenticaidentifications are tion ends, adding a layer of security to the presold about 10,000 of them. here, but require If done right, the Nymi could be part of device. As for privacy, D’Souza said the the answer to dealing with the problem of clunky machines user decides what apps and devices the passwords. Too many people still don’t use Nymi can connect with. If you don’t want to make them strong passwords, use the same password airline or your car to know you’re there, work. Wristbands the for every application or service or simply they won’t. “This is the future of authenare much more don’t use passwords at all. tication, taking body signals or markers convenient.”

A wearable authentication device, that only one person has,” said Patrick which communicates with devices and Moorhead, an analyst with Moor Insights Patrick Moorhead, Analyst, Moor apps via Bluetooth, could get around that & Strategy. “Fingerprint, retinal and vein Insights & Strategy issue, said Jeff Kagan, an independent anaidentifications are here, but require clunky lyst. “Passwords, which we still use today, machines to make them work. Wristbands are yesterday’s answer to security,” said Kagan. “We need are much more convenient.” new technology going forward. This sounds like an interestThe convenience of being able to move about your day ing company trying to solve a growing problem that we’re without remembering passwords or carrying keys, a credit all experiencing.” card or ID might interest a lot of people. “Consumers would The Nymi, though, could go beyond getting you into your flock to a device on their wrists that would securely let them smartphone or your Facebook account. According to D’Souza, in doors, breeze through airport security and get into your it also could be used instead of keys. With smart locks, it could PCs,” said Moorhead. work on the front door of your house or the door of your car. It Though he noted concerns about what happens if somecould replace your ID and grant access to company’s offices or one hacks into the device, he still thinks it could limit human serve as your ID and boarding pass at the airport. mistakes and provide more security than a password — espeThe wearable also could work with a smart home, alerting cially poorly done passwords. Kagan expects many authendevices like a thermostat, music player or coffee maker that tication devices to hit the market in the next several years. you’ve arrived and they need to change the temperature, play your favorite band or make a cup of joe.

Send feeback on this feature to editor@cio.in

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Master the CMO Word Play

CIOs will need to learn the marketing buzzwords—as well as tech words to avoid—in order to communicate better with marketers. BY TO M K A N E S H I G E

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isten to an executive speak for 10 seconds, and you’ll know instantly whether that person is a CIO or CMO. Their use of words and the way they talk about their jobs are polar opposite to each other.

Marketers love simple buzzwords because they effectively communicate emotion and appeal to a greater audience; techies cling to indecipherable acronyms that show off their intellect and exclude people not in the tech community.

These days, marketers are in charge, and CIOs must appeal to them in order to remain relevant.

This means CIOs will need to learn the marketing buzzwords—as well as tech words to avoid—in order to communicate better.

If You Could Talk to Marketers Leave it to marketers to come up with creative ways to describe their job. For instance, you don’t manage “episodic marketing events” or even the “customer lifecycle,” you manage the “journey.”

“There’s the ever-present marketing “funnel” turning a potential customer’s initial awareness into customer loyalty. Along the way, marketers need to pull lots of “levers” and closely watch “KPIs” (or key performance indicators) to keep them heading in the right direction and always toward the holy grail of “conversion.”

While marketing data and realtime analytics can improve “targeting,” CIOs and CMOs should be careful not to “drown” in all the data.

Also, they don’t want to get “creepy” or “stalker-ish” with customer data.

If data analysis falls under the CIO’s purview, CIOs must make sure they’re delivering “predictive” results to marketers rather than grabbing data from different sources to make sense of why something has already happened.

“Whenever I say ‘RFP,’ an angel loses its wings,” says Rebekhah King, director of customer engagement at Cox Media Group and a career-long marketer recently turned techie.

“They think nothing will get done for seven months.”

Are You a CCP?

Other words CIOs would be smart to avoid when talking to marketers are “digital product,” “platform,” “omnichannel” and “agile.” When

If you’re doing the latter, you’re simply the “chief of cut-and-paste,” says Jennifer Zeszut, founder and CEO

What Not to Say to Marketers

Too bad for CIOs that the word play doesn’t work in their favor. CMOs don’t give a hoot about tech jargon, except for the ones that make their life miserable. of Beckon, a marketing analytics software company, drawing laughter from the crowd of marketers at GrowthBeat.

That’s not to say the CIO shouldn’t be doing something about data silos. In fact, CIOs should be “stitching” customer data found in front-end and back-end systems for a “360 degree view” of the customer.

The capability to stitch data together just might be the most important activity a CIO can do for marketers.

Too bad for CIOs that the word play doesn’t work in their favor.

CMOs don’t give a hoot about tech jargon, except for the ones that make their life miserable. Marketers, for instance, shutter whenever a CIO mentions “RFP,” or request for proposal. That’s because they fear an RFP process will lead to a delay in their tech project.

these words are spoken, CIOs and CMOs hear different things. For instance, a CIO equates “agile” with a software development methodology that has ambiguous definitions of timelines, whereas a CMO thinks “agile” means the ability to “pivot” and move “dynamically” in a market in flux.

By using marketer’s words and avoiding tech jargon, CIOs send a clear message to CMOs that they understand their pain points, they’re part of the marketing team, and they can help marketing seize the digital opportunity—that is, get to “conversion.”

Tom Kaneshige is a senior writer for CIO.com. Send feedback to editor@ cio.in

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Doing Social Right 9

Social media is more than just amassing likes. Companies are using advanced social techniques to rehabilitate corporate reputations.

BY KIM S. NASH

e a r y Sp

In a battle against Southwest Airlines, this year, for control of two gates at Dallas Love Field airport, Virgin America launched a social media blitz using Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, plus an Internet petition to local government officials. The conflict started when the Department of Justice told American Airlines it had to give up its positions at Love Field before it could acquire US Airways. Southwest already controlled 16 of the airport’s 20 gates, and Virgin wanted in.

The airline pleaded its case to the DoJ, which would weigh in as it sorted out the competitive landscape. But the final decision was up to Dallas city leaders and it was tough to fight Southwest, a hometown player. So Virgin took its case to the public.

Virgin’s “Free Love Field” campaign asked customers on Facebook and Twitter to make supportive posts and to sign and share an online petition. Virgin emailed its top

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P H OTO G R A P H S B Y

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Deepak Sharma, EVP—Digital Initiatives, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Aruna Rao, CTO, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Group Companies, worked together to create a Facebook app to drive greater brand advocacy.

COVER STORY :: Social Media

Banking Goes Social

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frequent flyers directly to do the same. The airline also publicized its pledge to donate $20 (about Rs 1,200) to a local school group Kotak Mahindra Bank creates a Facebook app for every ticket it booked out of Love Field that allows users to send money to friends on a designated day. And Virgin enlisted its while on Facebook—and you don’t even founder, Richard Branson, to put out a YouTube video of the celebrity executive writing need to know their account numbers. a cheeky love letter to the airport. “No one should have a monopoly on your love,” he to make a small payment they do You’ve heard it before and you’ll said. “My virile young planes yearn for your not need to logout of Facebook and hear it again: Social media is runways.” In one week, more than 20,000 then log into net banking or mobile changing the way enterprises, people signed a petition on Change.org urgbanking to make payment.” large and small, are doing business. ing Dallas to let Virgin fly at Love Field.

Here’s what’s better: Users of The question is: How? In May, the city gave Virgin what it wanted.

KayPay don’t even have to know Apart from using social media The $1.4 billion (about Rs 8,400 crore) airline which bank their friends have to manage reputations, as a now runs 26 flights in and out of Love Field, an account with—or their bank test bed for innovative ideas, or with another six to be added next year. account number. All they need to generally get people to give “Social technology allows people to pubto do is to choose from their list your company the virtual thumbs lish their thoughts in a way the audience can’t of friends. Pretty simple. “The up, some enterprises are now avoid,” says Luanne Calvert, CMO at Virgin underlying advantage of KayPay is using social platforms to drive America. “There’s no other way we could its ease of use,” says Rao. greater brand advocacy—while have been more effective.”

The friend receiving money is simultaneously lowering the cost If you think social media means simply notified of a transfer and has 48 of doing business. amassing “likes” and followers and offering hours to sign up to KayPay (and Talk about hitting two birds ad hoc customer service, you’ve already lost. register their bank account with with one stone.

Companies are using advanced social techthe service). If after 48 hours, the That’s exactly what Kotak niques to rehabilitate corporate reputations, money is unclaimed, it is credited Mahindra Bank is doing with a uncover ideas for breakthrough products, back to the originator’s account.

Facebook app it created, called and figure out what competitors are up to.

That sign up is where the KayPay. The app allows users to And as Virgin America knows, aggressive, social hype hits hard rubber for transfer money from any bank targeted use of social media can influence the bank. With every sign up, the account to any other on Facebook. high-stakes political and business decisions bank gets one more potential “KayPay is bank agnostic. in your favor. client—another person who Anybody can make a payment At particularly adept companies-, the realizes just how easy it is to bank from any bank to any bank, 24x7. whole C-suite sees the value of social media. with Kotak Mahindra Bank.

You don’t have to be a Kotak Patrick Doyle, CEO of Domino’s Pizza, “Products like KayPay have a customer to make and receive doesn’t go a day without thinking about very high viral and social factor,” payments,” says Aruna Rao, CTO, social media, which he says is inseparable says Deepak Sharma, Executive Kotak Mahindra Bank and Group from his business strategy. Being smart on Vice President—Digital Initiatives, Companies. “People already spend social networks “doesn’t start from, ‘Let’s Kotak Mahindra Bank. “Today, time on Facebook, so if they need have a new advertising campaign and put a social media extension on it,’” he says. “A critical part of our strategy is understanding Seeing the Future [online] conversation.”

Most companies don’t reap the full benefits from social Using social media for competitive intelligence can yield big media because they’re stuck in old thinking, don’t know how strategic payback, says Estelle Metayer, an adjunct professor to properly use digital, or are pushing out one-way messages at McGill University and founder and president of Competia, like they do on TV or in print, says Mark Fidelman, CEO a strategic consulting firm. One intelligence tactic: Track the of Raynforest, a sports marketing network, and author of LinkedIn connections of the top salespeople at the competiSocialized! How the Most Successful Businesses Harness tion to figure out what new markets—geographic and conthe Power of Social. “There’s a difference between having a ceptual—they are entering. presence on social media and using social media well,” FidelWhile many companies focus on engaging with their man says. own customers, some have realized they can learn a lot from Skillful companies take chances and perhaps make misstudying their competitor’s customers. Identify them with takes. But for those that use social media as more than a targeted searches to see what they are saying and doing in popularity contest—such as Domino’s, Ford, Wells Fargo online social circles, Metayer advises. Note where they are and Virgin America—the rewards can be dramatic. traveling, what they are buying, eating and reading, she says,

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people trust their peers more than brand promotions and fads. Platforms like Facebook help create better brand advocacy. Therefore, such products bring greater connect and ease of use.”

With over 240 million Internet users in India, and 106 million active social media users—and growing—the potential upside is enormous.

KayPay also has another benefit: It gets more of the bank’s customers to use its digital platform, which in turn lowers the cost of servicing clients.

But what about that nagging security question? “We use the IMPS system (immediate payment system) created by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). NPCI is the umbrella institution for all retail payment systems in India. We come into IMPS through KayPay. During payments we follow all the NPCI security requirements including second-factor authentication, using OTP (one-time password). Security levels are the same in KayPay as you would get in net banking,” says Rao. “While there is a technology in the form of IMPS available, something like KayPay was never leveraged to make money transfers happen in real time,” chimes in Sharma. “We have achieved three things: One, we’ve made transactions real time; second, we’ve made transactions possible from any bank to any bank, and third, we made the need for users to know bank account details dispensable—a hurdle when it comes to Internet banking.”

For additional security, the bank

KayPay is bank agnostic. Anybody can make a payment from any bank to any bank, 24x7.

Aruna Rao, CTO, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Group Companies

Products like KayPay have a very high viral and social factor.

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Deepak Sharma, EVP—Digital Initiatives, Kotak Mahindra Bank

has put a ceiling of Rs 2,500 per transaction, and a transaction cap of Rs 25,000 a month.

An important learning from its social media efforts has been the need to break away from traditional marketing thought processes. “Many times, we get into classifications like age, gender, and urban versus rural,” says Sharma. “But the biggest thing that has happened today with social media is that we have gone beyond these distinctions. When we launched Jifi, a product that receives banking

because that information can offer insights into how to grab market share.

Analyzing the social behavior of both your own customers and those you’d like to steal from is even more telling when that information is combined with internal data from supply chain, marketing and point-of-sale systems, says Dave Hanley, a principal at Deloitte Consulting and lead at Deloitte Digital.

“Social as a silo is over,” Hanley says.

The idea is to watch natural conversations as they trend this way or that and correlate the observations to movements in sales. Then a company can try to influence outcomes, Hanley says. Building a database of customers’ Twitter and Facebook names can lead to targeting individuals with spe-

updates through Twitter, we thought our customers would primarily be between the ages of 18 and 30. So we were surprised to learn that 75 percent of our customers were over 25-years old,” says Sharma.

Here’s another takeaway: The success of online products depends largely on IT-business collaboration.

“Such native digital products are difficult to be conceived and executed by a single team or siloed department,” says Rao.

– Ishan Bhattacharya

cial, unpublished prices and traceable coupons. Such experiments may result in sales or simply further chatter about the company or brand, he says.

Hanley says companies may need to hire specialists to interpret social conversations: Data scientists to crunch numbers and digital anthropologists to analyze the behaviors before and after those online conversations. This goes beyond simple positive-negative-neutral sentiment analysis, he says, to more nuanced evaluations.

At Ford Motor Co., for example, studying social media behavior helped the company decide to build a hands-free lift gate that has proven to be a selling point with consumers, says Michael Cavaretta, data science leader at the $147 billion (about Rs 882,000 crore) automaker.

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Sensors under the tailgate detect the driver’s leg motion and communicate with his programmed key fob to unlock the hatch. The driver doesn’t have to put down packages to open the back of the car or truck by hand.

But Ford didn’t immediately proceed with the idea. The company’s advanced product-marketing group was getting mixed signals from the data it normally studies while planning new car features and wasn’t sure whether the feature would be worth the effort. Did customers want it enough? The group called on Cavaretta’s team of data scientists to answer this specific question.

Rather than trying to survey social media channels in general—which would have yielded too much data to assess quickly— the team swept Ford enthusiast forums and blogs to look for discussions about the topic. Highpowered servers can collect data fast, vacuuming social networks for keywords in minutes. But the ability to automatically interpret it for business decision-makers isn’t as advanced, Cavaretta says. “One challenge is developing algorithms to find the right data and do the right things to it.”

Ford found that people, four to one, favored the hands-free method. But more than statistics, the team discovered context.

People talking about the lift gate had also talked about why they wanted it, what kind of cars they had, and other wished-for features. “You could build that data into a story,” he says, which is important when trying to get approval for projects.

Lurking on social media lets Ford capture knowledge without influencing the conversation the way a focus group would, he says. He credits former CEO Alan Mulally for instilling an approach to decision making at Ford that relies in equal measure on data and qualitative stories to explain

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‘It’s Not About Doing Social, it’s About Being Social’ Vineet Gupta, MD, 22feet Tribal Worldwide, shares why organizations need to take social media more seriously and how they can leverage it to take their businesses ahead.

How exactly do you help companies channel their ideas while going social?

There is a lot of trial and error, and that’s the beauty of the medium.

It’s OK to try something new. If that doesn’t work, you know it real-time and can course-correct. If something is working, we get feedback and try and invest more on that. We do stuff that may or may not go viral.

We work with companies depending on their business objectives. Most importantly, we try to walk the talk.

And what are some of the things companies should stop doing?

Stop looking at it as an advertising medium, that’s a very myopic approach. This is digital, it’s always alive, its 24*7, its many-to-many.

Over the years, a lot has changed.

Clients have made sincere efforts to understand and change according to this medium. There will always be those few brands where everything starts and ends with a TVC, but they are soon falling under the minority bracket.

What are some best practices that companies should imbibe while using social media?

It’s not about doing social, it’s about being social. Brands need to learn to behave the way they are.

Authenticity is the most critical.

Take Starbucks, for example. With the #Mystarbucksidea campaign, the way the company is communicating is brilliant. And it is actually implementing the feedback it is getting—that’s being authentic.

Traditional advertising is about communicating, social is about having a conversation.

How often does budget become the starting point of a discussion?

Quite a few times. People want to follow up digital with their TVCs. But again, it’s changing. More brands are understanding that social media is not a cheaper advertising medium.

If you want good stuff, you got to invest in it.

Obviously, the amount of money spent on digital isn’t going to become directly proportional to the amount of time consumers spend on the medium overnight.

–Bhavika Bhuwalka

Dangerous Datacenter Mistakes You Shouldn’t Make Overcrowded or obsolete datacenters come in the way of growing organizations. But if you want to build a robust and efficient datacenter, avoid these pitfalls.

T

oday, many businesses are operating outside of safe capacity thresholds with little or no room to expand. But the big question is how to avoid making major mistakes when entering the buildand-expand world? The key lies in the methodology used to design and build datacenter facilities. Here are the top eight mistakes organizations make while designing and building new datacenters.

1. Failure to Take Total Cost of Ownership Into Account

Focusing solely on capital cost is an easy trap; the money required to build or expand can be staggering. Capital cost modeling is critical, but if you have not included the costs to operate and maintain your business-critical facilities infrastructure, you have severely shortchanged the overall process of effective business planning.

2. Poor Cost-to-build Estimation

Another scope for mistake is the estimate itself. Financial requests made to boards of directors for capital to expand or build a datacenter are often too low and result in failure. Costto-build issues can be easily avoided, but are destined to fail if proper precautions aren’t taken.

3. Improper Design Criteria

There are two missteps that can put your organization in the overspend death spiral. First, everyone wants a tier 3 design, but not everyone needs

it. Second, most visions of kilowatt per square foot or rack are not supported by actual business requirements.

4. Selecting a Site Before a Design Criteria is in Place

Organizations often start searching for the perfect space to build before having their design criteria and performance characteristics in place. Without this vital information, it doesn’t make sense to spend time visiting or reviewing multiple sites.

5. Plan Space Before Setting a Design Criteria The amount of space to house the datacenter facility infrastructure components can be significant. In the most robust of systems, the ratio of raised floor to support gear could be as high as 1:1. Organizations base their space requirements on IT equipment alone, but mechanical and electrical equipment require a significant amount of space.

nearly all situations for new builds and expansions, there is a capital cost related to gaining lower PUE.

8. Overcomplicated Designs

As stated earlier, simple is better.

Regardless of the target tier rating you have chosen, there are dozens of ways to design an effective system.

Too often, redundancy goals drive too much complexity. Add in the multiple approaches to building a modular system and things get complicated fast.

Schneider Electric Recommends Start with a Total Cost of Ownership approach Determine your design criteria and performance characteristics Design with simplicity and flexibility If PUE and LEED are part of your criteria, educate yourself on the common misunderstandings and expenses associated with each

6. Designing Into a Dead-end

The datacenter industry has done a good job of promoting the importance of modular designs. However, using the modular approach doesn’t guarantee success.

This feature is brought to you by

7. Misunderstanding PUE

Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) is an effective tool to drive and measure efficiency. However, broad energy efficiency claims may lead to significant misunderstanding. In

For more information and stories, visit: http://www.greenenterpriseit.com/ Contact Us: Email: indiainfo@apcc.com Phone: 1800 4254 272

IDG SERVICES

COVER STORY :: Social Media

the numbers. “A computer can help, but it’s people who make those decisions,” he says. “It was a huge cultural change.”

Moving the Needle

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Virgin America used social media to change what might have been a painful loss in the growing Dallas airline market into a key victory, just a couple of months before it filed for an initial public stock offering.

Domino’s Pizza has used social media to change its very reputation. It used to be that companies could control what customers knew or thought about a brand, says Doyle, CEO of the $1.8 billion (about Rs 10,800 crore) company. But now people trust friends and family more than they trust big business, he says. And where are friends and family? Online.

“What people are saying about our brands on social media is more important than what we say about our brand,” he says.

For example, when someone named Bryce in Minnesota posted a picture of the messy pizza that was delivered to him on a Domino’s website, ShowUsYourPizza.com, Doyle himself starred in a national TV commercial apologizing and promising the company would do better—and he showed the bad pie.

“We may have been the first company in the history of advertising to spend millions of dollars showing our product in an unfavorable light,” he says. It takes guts and it takes time. Domino’s began its social media rehab campaign in 2010, launching a reformulated pizza recipe at the same time.

Bryce in Minnesota suffered his upsetting pizza incident in 2010. For the past several years, the company has deployed social engagement to help change its reputation as a slapdash

If you think social media means simply amassing “likes” and followers and offering ad hoc customer service, you’ve already lost. pizza maker with a bad-tasting product. “We’ve spent tens of millions of dollars to tell customers we are listening to them, and they didn’t think our pizza was very good,” Doyle says.

“We’re listening, reacting to customers, and doing something about it.”

As social media gets more powerful, however, some very large companies recognize the dangers. Bad news, misinformation, rumors and comments move faster than some public relations teams. Target, the $73 billion (about Rs 438,000

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crore) retailer, explains its worries in the “Risk Factors” section of its annual report. That is where the Securities and Exchange Commission requires a company to specify threats it considers significantly harmful.

“While reputations may take decades to build, any negative incidents can quickly erode trust and confidence, particularly if they result in adverse mainstream and social media publicity, governmental investigations or litigation,” the company wrote in its annual report in March. After a 2013 security breach compromised 70 million customer records, Target experienced all four of those potentially devastating consequences and admits it doesn’t know what the long-term effects may be.

Pfizer, a $52 billion (about Rs 312,000 crore) pharmaceutical company that makes drugs for erectile dysfunction, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and other conditions, names social and mobile technologies as well as “blogger outreach” as risks, specifically when legal cases arise and these outlets compound damage to its reputation.

Part of the problem is that few issues online ever really die.

Conversation may decrease, but even outdated or disproven accusations get rediscovered and recirculated. McDonald’s continues to take hits about “pink slime” processed meat trimmings in its burgers, though the chain stopped using them in 2011. McDonald’s calls out social and mobile communications as a risk when activists “promote adverse perceptions” of fast food, the McDonald’s brand, its managers and suppliers.

“If you have a controversial product, it’s hard to take a step forward [on social media],” says Fidelman, “and it does seem threatening.”

Nonetheless, you have to be there.

Pushing the Right Levers The $84 billion (about Rs 504,000 crore) Wells Fargo, which last year was the most profitable bank in the US, used to let business units and divisions conduct their own social media activity separately. As a result, a number of different strategies and initiatives ran on a hodgepodge of tools, says Rene Brown, director of social media. The bank then decided to create an enterprisewide social media strategy, to present a more coherent and controlled voice online. Last year, Wells Fargo opened a social media command center in San Francisco, with a secondary center in Charlotte, N.C. Two more Wells Fargo employees in the Philippines monitor the action after the West Coast shuts down for the night. In the San Francisco office, marketing and customer service staff sit in front of eight monitors, assigned to follow different channels. Legal, compliance and special “social care bankers” are on call in case any complicated customer situations or crises arise.

Every morning, the team walks through its planned posts to assess them against events in world news and the financial services industry, as well as news specific to Wells Fargo, Brown says, to avoid “the wrong voice if there’s a tragedy somewhere.”

From the command center, the bank executes proactive strategies, such as Twitter and Facebook posts during the

Use Your Influencers

FIFA World Cup this summer. Wells Fargo sponsors the Mexican National Team, in part to reach Hispanic customers and potenDon’t just collect social media followers Put those tial customers. The bank responded in real fans to work for you. time during popular matches, posting pictures of players and cheering for teams. The receptive, says Estelle Metayer, Followers of your corporate Facebook work garnered 8 million responses, such as founder and president of Competia, a page, Twitter account and other retweets, in the course of three major games, strategic consultancy. social media outlets can be more Brown says.

Virgin America did something like than just loyal customers. They can Just as important as real-time marketthat when changing its e-commerce be product testers, idea generators, ing is having the right timing and tone site this year, monitoring social and members of a ready-made focus when responding to controversy. In March, media feedback about new features group. Also: Marketing and IT can Wells Fargo faced a surprise online assault and adjusting along the way. In May, work together to collect the social regarding a branch in New Mexico. An the airline rolled out a beta version media handles of customers, then log American flag had been thumbtacked to of the site, revealing it to different on, tune in and observe what they a wall there for several months. When a audiences in phases. First, its own do online to create a more complete property manager mentioned to the bank employees and some Google staffers picture of who you’re selling to, says manager that the flag could be displayed got a peek, to assess the perforDave Hanley, principal at Deloitte more appropriately, it was removed. A mance of new features. Then 30 or Consulting. few days later, the flag was hung on a pole 40 frequent flyers who act as inforAsk for social media data durnear the entrance. In the interim, a local TV mal advisers were let in on it. Finally, ing customer support calls or hold station aired a story in which a customer the media and social-media influenccontests that require customers to alleged that other customers had pressured ers were notified. submit it, Hanley suggests. Then the bank to take down the flag, implying “It was fascinating to watch the integrate social media data with custhat Wells Fargo had bowed to anti-Amerreaction on Twitter as the comtomer information in CRM and callican sentiment. munity noticed it and it started to center systems.

Conservative websites and blogs soon go viral,” says Dean Cookson, Virgin By observing conversations joined the fray, some saying Wells Fargo America’s CIO. online, companies can determine had banned the US flag and others callAfter early testers said they’d like what issues, events and people move ing for customers to drop their accounts. to be able to see fare options when customers to act in some way—by Many simply copied and pasted errant stotheir dates are flexible, Cookson’s replying, for example, or buying a ries from other sites, generating comments team added that feature to the site product, Hanley says. Identifying cusfrom followers outraged at the bank. before the formal launch in June. By tomers by “persona,” he says, yields “A symbol like the American flag takes off collaborating with the marketing “a more three-dimensional view than in a news cycle,” Brown says. “It was such group, Cookson says, the IT team transaction data alone.” an inaccurate story that it made it tough for sees how their work affects the Another tactic for getting more us not to sound defensive.” But the bank had company fortunes. “We want intervalue from social media followers is to address the controversy. In a Facebook esting problems to solve, not just to let them know about new product post, Wells Fargo said, in part, “We have tasks to do.” or service ideas early, so that when standards of how to display the flag with the the new offering comes out, they appropriate respect. In this case, we made are already familiar with it and more –K. S. N a simple change to adhere more closely to those standards.”

Even events outside the bank’s control provided information to customers while simultaneously put its social media team on alert. After the Target data reassuring them. Corporate communications, IT, the digital breach, for example, Wells Fargo customers on social media channels groups and other departments work together to were concerned about passwords and whether their debit craft plans like that, Brown says. “In our industry, we can’t cards were linked to their Target accounts. Wells Fargo do anything without a lot of eyes reviewing,” she says. decided not to issue statements because the worries weren’t widespread. Always, the team has to consider when to respond to social media activity and when not to, Brown Bonus Video: Watch Oriflame’s says. “We have to be both transparent and accurate and not social media specialist, Mehak oversharing or undersharing.”

Khanna, explain how social media A flurry of social media posts on a specific topic—say, 100 drives customer engagement. posts in 60 minutes—will trigger a statement from the bank.

For example, a denial-of-service attack against Wells Fargo’s website last year warranted a response from the bank. Posts Send feedback to editor@cio.in

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A Leader For Real

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Simply being a manager of people doesn’t make you a leader. So what does? Here are nine tips to be an authentic and successful leader.

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If you follow the news you can find a litany of examples of poor leadership. People are distrustful or cynical of today’s leadership and many times with good reason. That’s why being an authentic leader is so important. Getting all your people onboard and moving in the same direction is paramount to success in the fast-paced environment of IT. So what does it mean to be an authentic leader?

Most of us have had a boss or worked with someone who tried hard to portray himself or herself as something they weren’t. Not only was it off-putting to their co-workers and subordinates, but it was likely exhausting for them. You can’t lead people by trying to be something you aren’t.

Being an authentic leader helps to create an environment where people are not only confident in your ability to get the job done, but also in your motives for doing so. So what can you do to be a more authentic leader with your teams? Here are nine keys.

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COVER STORY PLUS :: Leadership

Know Thyself The best way to start your journey is know who you are at your core. “You need to understand yourself and your motives,” says Tim Eiler, manager of the Project Management Office for Park Nicollet HealthPartners.

In a study done by Bill George and other scholars, researchers reported that there wasn’t a common set of traits associated with authentic leadership. What they found was that most often a successful authentic leader’s style of management was a result of their life story or upbringing.

“The journey to authentic leadership begins with understanding the story of your life. Your life story provides the context for your experiences, and through it, you can find the inspiration to make an impact in the world” “You’re the best at being you, not a watered-down version of another leader. Don’t try to be anyone else,” says Pamela Rucker, chair of the CIO Executive Council’s Executive Women in IT.

Lead with Integrity Trust is a large part of leadership. People not only need to know you are competent at what you do, they also need to understand your motives. “Values-based leadership is necessary for driving sustainable change as this ensures that the results achieved are underpinned with a strong moral and ethical foundation, thus they can also stand up to any scrutiny or resistance to change,” says Greg Stewart, vice president and CIO of Enerflex.

“It’s all about trust,” says Eiler, “Even though we each work for money, job satisfaction or whatever else gives us value in return for the work we do, it’s relatively easy to vote with our feet. If I don’t trust my leaders, I’m much more likely to do just that.”

Trust is gained in a number of ways, according to Rucker. “Regardless of what process you use, you want to lead in such a way that people know that you are honest, fair, and you are concerned about others.”

I L LU S T R AT I O N S : T H I N K S TO C K P H OTO S . I N

Lead with Vision In order to do this you have to lift your head out of the daily trenches of the workplace and get a good understanding of what’s going on inside your niche of the IT industry. An authentic leader genuinely cares about what’s happening in the industry, his or her company, and the employees within it. A great leader can mold all of those into a successful and achievable vision.

“The more I trust that my leaders have a vision and I can trust them to behave in consistent ways, based on clear values, to achieve that vision, particularly if that consistency involves watching out for the interests of everyone on the team, I’m more likely to be increasingly engaged in the effort,” says Eiler.

build one yourself. You need to know your business, your competition, your customers, and what’s going on in your industry in order to do that.

Be a Better Listener Listening is one skill that many leaders lack. An authentic leader needs to be able to hear and incorporate feedback, both good and bad.

Oftentimes ideas come from unexpected places and if your employees feel like they can approach you with an idea and not be scorned, ridiculed or dismissed you might be surprised at what you find. “Listen—not just hear people moving their lips, but listen to them and try to incorporate their ideas to make your vision and plans stronger,” says Eiler.

Be Transparent It today’s IT and management, in general, things tend to be siloed. We need to break that mold in order to be as productive and innovative as we possibly can. In order to be an authentic IT leader you need everyone you work with to understand your vision, your values, your goals, and your plan. This means putting it all out there, such as what you do well and what you don’t do so well.

“Some of the best leaders I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with relished the opportunity to build a group of peers who were talented and valued, with each one knowing that they were an integral link in the chain of success. The same leaders shared information freely inside our circle of trust. That built an environment where we not only worked with each other, but for each other, because everyone knew the score and worked toward a common goal,” says Rucker.

An authentic leader cares about what’s happening in their industry, company, and the employees within it. A great leader can mold all of those into a successful and achievable vision.

Have a Clear Strategy “It’s one thing to have vision, and another thing entirely to turn that vision into strategy,” says Rucker. Experts agree that you can’t wait for someone to hand you a great strategy; you need to

Be Consistent “You don’t want to be Dr. Jekyll when things go one way and Mr. Hyde when they go another. If you made a mistake, admit it quickly and express what you’ve learned from it,” says Rucker.

Consistency helps team members to better understand what to expect in any given situation. If your team members know the

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COVER STORY PLUS :: Leadership

How to Help Millennials Prepare to Be Successful Leaders

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As millennials continue to grow as the largest generation in the workforce, they will move into leadership roles in ways that are much different than generations before them–that is, without the prerequisites of certain job titles or number of years of experience.

This disruption to the traditional career track will force companies to change their approach to leadership development in order to prepare millennials for more influential positions.

According to a survey of 527 millennial professionals (ages 18-35) conducted

by Virtuali, a leadership training company, 71 percent of millennials already consider themselves to be leaders, even though less than half hold formal leadership positions. This is happening because millennials are stepping up into “situational leadership roles,” says Sean Graber, CEO of Virtuali. In other words, they are taking the lead on project teams, volunteer their expertise, and influence people.

Interestingly, 64 percent of respondents say they do not feel prepared for leadership, mostly because they lack the ability to manage and develop other employees. So how can companies instill confidence in the normally overconfident millennial generation?

“Millennials view their careers as a group of experiences,” says Graber.

“What companies need to do is provide experiences where millennials can get the learning they need.”

Millennials have a strong opinion about how they will learn and develop leadership skills. Career coaching, mentorship, and rotational assignments were the most desired types of leadership training, according to the survey. Lower on the list were e-learning, university courses, and instructor-led classes, again supporting the idea that millennials want to learn through experiences, rather than traditional training.

However strong an opinion they have on their preferred training methods, millennials still aren’t getting enough overall leadership training to make a noticeable impact on their careers. Only 38 percent of respondents received between one and 10 hours of training in the last year. For those who completed training, less than half cited it as excellent quality.

Graber says companies should first send out leadership and personality assessments to better understand millennials’ traits and then offer up external coaches and internal mentors to advise them, along with offering a variety of classes and training.

However, one of the most common perceptions around millennials, job hopping, may come true if they don’t receive training and support that aligns with a clear career path and leadership track. “When they don’t understand what the advancement path looks like, they will leave,” Graber says.

your daily life. “The world changes a lot, particularly in technology, so you need to keep up with the changes in order to stay capable,” says Eiler.

Rucker advises that you find a way to get ongoing feedback from others so you can constantly see how well you’re doing.

Then use that so you can improve on your success and your level of delivery to your partners, peers, and customers.

“Don’t allow yourself to be measured in “Yes” or “No” categories, but rate yourself on a continuum. Ask people to provide examples of what you’ve done that makes them rate you that way. If you know you’re particularly narcissistic (and unfortunately many leaders are), imagine that you are being considered for an award and you will be rated by your peers, or you’ll have to have others speak on your behalf to demonstrate how well you’ve done. It’s harder to lie to yourself about how well you’re doing when you’re forced to consider what others have to say,” says Rucker.

Draw on Your Experiences

In Bill George’s book, Discovering Your Authentic Leadership, researchers found that authentic leaders are able to draw heavily on their life experiences: Analyzing 3,000 pages of transcripts, our team was startled to see that these people did not identify any universal characteristics, traits, skills, or styles that led to their success. Rather, their leadership emerged from their life stories. Consciously and subconsciously, they were constantly testing themselves through real-world experiences and reframing their life stories to understand who they were at their core. In doing so, they discovered the purpose of their leadership and –Lauren Brousell learned that being authentic made them more effective.

“You have a wealth of knowledge and experiences that you can apply to leading your people. Learn goals and what it takes to get there, they’ll make better choices on to draw on those experiences and turn them in to stories you their own. can share with your colleagues and directs to not only bring “The consistent leader, through a consistency based on valcredibility to way you say, but to bring a sense of connection ues, gives the team member a better grasp on what they can to your relationship,” says Rucker. expect when making a decision. The more they know about what to expect, the more likely that they’ll have less fear to make choices on their own. It reduces bottlenecks, if nothing else,” says Eiler.

Measure Your Progress Growing professionally is something you must incorporate into

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Productive Pursuits CIOs as well as other IT leaders and productivity experts share their top tips for improving workflow and getting the most out of your IT teams.

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How can CIOs and IT executives help their teams be more productive (besides providing them with free food)? Here are the top eight tips—from CIOs, IT executives, productivity and leadership experts and project managers—for getting the most out of your IT team.

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1. Set Goals and Be Agile “Be agile in your goal setting,” says Zubin Irani, cofounder and CEO, cPrime, a project management consulting company. “Have the team set goals for the quarter—and break the work into smaller chunks that they can then self-assign and manage.”

2. Communicate Goals “Provide your team with background information and the strategic vision behind [each] project, activity, task, etcetera,” says Hussein Yahfoufi, VP, Technology and Corporate Services, OneRoof

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Energy, a solar finance provider. “Not only does providing more background and information motivate employees more, [it makes them] feel more engaged.”

“Everyone on the team should know what the target is that they are shooting for and what success looks like at the end of their journey,” adds Tony McClain, executive partner and client advisor, Geneca, a custom software developer.

“They must be crystal clear on the part they play in [the project] and how they will help the team get to the finish line,” McClain says. “It is critically important that every member of the team knows and understands what they are a part of and why they exist as it relates to your organization.”

3. Provide Tools to Promote Collaboration

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“This is basically the cardinal rule for any IT manager,” says Wes Wright, CIO, Seattle Children’s Hospital. “Even the best team is only as effective as its resources and systems that they use day to day,” he says. “If you want to get the most out of your IT team, invest in the proper tools. Deploy incredibly secure, yet user-intuitive solutions that will cut down on manual hours and improve accuracy in identifying network problems.”

“Implement a structure that gives shared visibility and metrics to development and IT teams, so the health of an application [or project] is easily viewed by both teams once operational, and issues can be resolved more rapidly,” says Andi Gutmans, CEO, Zend, which helps companies develop and deliver mobile and Web apps rapidly.

“Having technology resources that allow communication across branch offices/locations when working on a cross-office project is a must,” adds Aaron Weiss, director of Marketing, HP LaserJet and Enterprise Solutions. “IT managers and CIOs [should be able to easily] share project status reports or information updates ... via cloud document management systems that allow teams to easily provide updates to the status document.”

Furthermore, “CIOs can improve the organization’s efficiency by implementing a platform-agnostic solution to let users sync important work files and access them from any device, anywhere, anytime,” notes Ross Piper, vice president of Enterprise Strategy at Dropbox.

4. Streamline Workflow “Teams want to deliver big things and sometimes we just need to eliminate the barriers,” says Charles Galda, CIO, IT Technology Centers and Services, GE Capital. “We have a program called TAP (Technology Accelerating Productivity) that gives simple tips on how to use technology better, from finding the best time for a global meeting across time zones, to getting travel logistics to Outlook seamlessly,” he says.

“We have another initiative to continually review manager approvals, notifications, etcetera, so we know when they no longer add value and can be eliminated. Eliminating unnecessary steps keeps employee momentum moving forward, making us faster and more agile in responding to customers,” Furthermore, ask yourself—and have your department heads ask themselves, “Is every form, report, status update, e-mail, memo and meeting really necessary?” says Steven A.

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Lowe, founder/CEO, Innovator LLC, which provides custom software development, IT consulting and IT staffing.

“If a task to be done does not obviously and directly contribute to the goal at hand, see if it can be simplified or omitted,” Lowe says. And “ask the team for suggestions on ways to streamline the processes and what still-necessary tasks could be done by others.”

5. Hold Regular Team Meetings “This is an opportunity to share the departmental vision with the team and get everyone on the same page,” notes Mazin Abou-Seido, director of Information Technology at Halogen Software. “We’ve found that by sharing the big picture [at monthly and quarterly meetings] it gives the entire team a better understanding of what we’re trying to accomplish and encourages everyone to work together to achieve common goals.”

Just be careful about falling into the excessive meeting trap.

Schedule regular team or department meetings for either once a week or once a month, and make sure that the day and time are reserved on everyone’s calendar.

6. Reduce Reporting and Don’t Micromanage “You hired smart, talented people because they could get the job done. Now let them do it,” says Jonathan Bruskin, principal consultant and program management lead, Excella Consulting. “Micromanagement and oversight can kill creativity and morale,” he notes. “CIOs, execs and PMs [can] increase their teams’ productivity by communicating goals and clearing administrative obstacles.”

Also, “reduce the amount of reporting they need to do, so that they can focus on getting work done,” advises Christian Buckley, director of Product Evangelism at Metalogix, which provides content infrastructure software. “If more than 10 percent of their day is spent reporting on the work they are doing, something is fundamentally wrong,” he says. “Constantly review and refine reporting to keep your metrics optimized.”

7. Provide Real-time Feedback “Immediately and publicly recognize team members for accomplishments,” says Halley Bock, CEO and president of Fierce, which provides leadership development and training. “Conversely, address issues or areas that need improvement privately, and immediately. Real-time performance feedback empowers individuals to take ownership of their work, builds trust and lets them know where they stand at all times.”

8. Turn Off Distractions “Block out working times department-wide where instant messenger is turned off and meetings are avoided,” says Nathan Gilmore, cofounder, TeamGantt, a provider of Web-based Gantt chart software. “Having hours at a time of uninterrupted work can cause team productivity to soar.”

Jennifer Lonoff Schiff is a contributor to CIO.com and runs a marketing communications firm. Send feedback to editor@cio.in

COVER STORY :: Banner

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IoT Versus Security The Internet of things is a fascinating technology.

But as much as it is exciting, it is also a huge security threat. Here are five ways the Internet of things will affect enterprise security.

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Most enterprise security organizations are unlikely to have a spamming refrigerator on top of their list of things to worry about. But news earlier this year that an Internet-connected fridge was co-opted into a botnet that sent spam to tens of thousands of Internet users is sure to have piqued the interest of at least a few.

If nothing, the incident showed how even a benign consumer appliance could pose a danger to enterprises if connected to the Internet without proper security protections.

Over the next few years, analysts expect tens of billions of devices to be connected to the Internet in similar fashion. The so-called Internet of Things (IoT) phenomenon promises, or threatens, depending on your point of view, to transform our understanding of the Internet and a networked world. A lot of what will transpire will be on consumer-oriented products.

But as with everything in technology, what happens in the consumer world will inevitably affect the enterprise.

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Here in no particular order are five ways the Internet of Things will affect enterprise security:

IoT Will Create Billions of New End Points

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Analyst firms have differing takes on the number of devices or “things” that will connect to the Internet by 2020. Estimates range from Gartner’s 26 billion devices to IDC’s somewhat dystopian projection of 212 billion installed devices. Regardless of which is right, the one thing that is certain is that a lot of IP-enabled devices will one day find a home inside enterprises. Examples include smart heating and lighting systems, intelligent meters, equipment monitoring and maintenance sensors, industrial robots, asset tracking systems, smart retail shelves, plant control systems and personal devices such as smart watches, digital glasses and fitness monitoring products.

Many of the products will be single-purpose devices that originate in the consumer market. Others will have Internet connectivity added, almost as an afterthought, via cheap sensors. A vast majority will have little to no protection against common online attacks. The operating system, firmware, and patch support that IT organizations have long been accustomed to, will not always be available with these devices.

The IoT inherently creates billions of insecure new endpoints, said Eric Chiu, president of cloud security vendor Hytrust. These IP-addressable devices will create new vectors of attack designed to either compromise the device or gain access to the enterprise network. IoT devices will typically not be protected with whatever anti-spam, anti-virus, and anti-malware infrastructures are available, nor will they be routinely monitored by IT teams or receive patches to address new security issues as they arise, Chiu said.

Security Division at the US Department of Homeland Security.

Regardless of whatever network segmentation techniques and air gaps that an enterprise might employ, there will be points where the IoT will intersect with the enterprise network. Those touch points will be highly vulnerable to attack.

The IoT will pervasively connect to everything, including enterprise networks, Yoran said. “Today we have the enterprise network and the cloud. We know we have enterprise users coming in via BYOD directly to cloud-based resources without ever traversing the enterprise network,” he said.

The IoT will exacerbate the issue to a point where it’s going to be incredibly messy trying to control the various internal and external devices that gain access to enterprise data stored on premise or in the cloud.

“The IoT and the enterprise network will intersect. If you can hack into a web-enabled device which also happens to have connectivity to the corporate network or infrastructure, you can create a bridge to pass traffic back and forth,” from the enterprise, Yoran said. “There are ways we can try and mitigate the risk,” he said. But in the end, everything will be interconnected. “You don’t have to look far into the annals of computer history to know that it is going to happen. We as a society are running headlong into it.”

IoT Will be a World of Heterogeneous, Embedded Devices Most “things” in an IoT world will be appliances or devices with applications embedded in the operating system and wrapped tightly around the hardware, said John Pescatore, director of research at the SANS Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

In that sense, the IoT universe will be very different from the layered software model to which IT and IT security groups are so accustomed.

For one thing, the devices themselves will be highly heterogeneous and IT will have a hard time getting everyone to use the same technology, Pescatore said.

Many of the communications protocols in an IoT world will be different as well. Instead of TCP/IP, 802.11, and HTML5, IT organizations will have to deal with newer protocols like Zigbee, WebHooks, and IoT6. And instead of the typical two to three year IT lifecycles, IT will need to get accustomed to lifecycles ranging from just a few months to more than 20 years in the case of some devices, he said.

In a survey conducted by SANS, IT managers said their biggest concerns with Internet-connected devices were related to smart buildings, industrial control systems, medical devices, and consumer devices. “The use of embedded computing in those devices, versus layered operating systems and applications in PCs and servers that IT is accustomed to managing and securing, will cause major breakage in existing IT management and IT security visibility,” Pescatore said.

The IoT will create holes to a point where it’s going to be incredibly messy to control the various internal and external devices.

The idea that enterprises can somehow control whom to let in is going to go out the window, Chiu said. “Companies will have to just assume the bad guy is already there,” and respond accordingly. This does not mean abandoning perimeter defenses. Rather it means adopting a strategy that starts with presuming the attackers are already in the network, he said.

IoT Will Intersect with the Enterprise Network

IoT Allows Physical and Physiological Damage

Just as there are no truly standalone industrial control networks and air traffic control networks anymore, there won’t be a truly standalone enterprise network in an IoT world, says Amit Yoran, general manager at RSA and former director of the National Cyber

While online threats mainly affect data, in an IoT world there will be physical and physiological risks as well, said Michael Sutton, vice president of security research at Zscaler. Hackers have already shown how IP-enabled insulin pumps, glucose monitors and pace-

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IoT Big Push for Security Analyst firm Gartner expects the Internet of Things (IoT) to drive a convergence of IT, physical, and industrial control security practices over the next several years.

Much of the convergence will result from the sheer heterogeneity and number of devices that will become Internet-enabled by 2020. Current estimates range from Gartner’s 26 billion devices to IDC’s mind-boggling projection of 212 billion installed devices.

While most of the devices are unlikely to pose security threats, many will intersect with enterprise networks in the form of smart heating and lighting systems, equipment monitoring and maintenance sensors, industrial robots, asset tracking systems, plant control systems and personal devices such as fitness bands and smartwatches.

Managing those devices securely will require a combination of security skills, said Earl Perkins, Gartner analyst and the author of a new report that looks at the security implications of the IoT for CISOs.

“We are at the early stages of a major inflection point in security,” Perkins said.

Most of the devices will be functionspecific and use a variety of nonstandard communication protocols.

The devices will also feature embedded operating systems and software that provide little way for IT to add a security layer on top. Some devices will just be sensors for storing and forwarding data.

Often, new devices will need to interact with older systems and software.

While IT organizations have been able to add some measure of protection to smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices in the workplace, they will find it hard to do the same with many of the devices that will comprise IoT in a few years.

Instead of layering protection at the device level, organizations may need to think about centralizing and aggregating security controls via gateway devices.

“There will be many different kinds of service providers who will contribute to security” in the enterprise, Perkins

makers can be compromised to cause physiological damage to the wearer of such devices. Attacks like those enabled by Stuxnet show how physical equipment can be damaged via cyberattacks.

With the IoT, such attacks will also be possible against such products as cars, smart heating, ventilation and AC systems, Webenabled photocopiers, printers and scanners and virtually every other device with an IP address. The only reason that attackers haven’t gone after such devices already in a major way is because there is so much other low-hanging fruit to attack, Sutton said.

In many cases, the bad guys won’t even need software or hardware flaws to compromise a device. One of the biggest dangers companies will face in a world where everything has an IP address is configuration errors, Sutton said. Many of the devices that companies allow on their networks, will be put online with default settings that allow almost anyone with Web access to take control.

IoT Will Create a New Supply Chain In a majority of cases, enterprises will have to either rely on device manufacturers for patching, firmware, and operating system support or find a way to support the technologies on their own. Many of the devices that connect to the enterprise network in the nottoo-distant future will be from companies that traditional IT security organizations are not familiar with. “Like BYOD, traditional enterprises will need to adapt to developing policy and systems

predicted. In addition to traditional security vendors, others like embedded application and operating system vendors and equipment manufactures will have a role to play, too.

The challenge for IT is less about technology and more about getting ahead of the security curve. What CISOs and other IT managers need to focus on are policy and process— specifically, developing secure deployment practices and polices and putting in place architectural foundations for accommodating new IP-enabled devices.

The issues confronting IT are no different from the challenges they faced when migrating from mainframes to client/server or to mobile, the Web and the cloud.

“Just like every new generation of technology, we’ve got to be sanguine about how to approach it.”

–Jaikumar Vijayan

that integrate with and potentially manage many more devices,” said Jason Hart, CEO of Identiv, a vendor of device authentication and identity management technologies.

“In addition to employees bringing new enabled devices into the physical and virtual work places, traditional non-connected devices, from a coffee machine to new ergonomic chairs, will place new workloads on IT support and information security,” Hart said.

The vendors that will succeed in an IoT environment are those that can help enterprises manage the complex interdependencies there will be between new IP-enabled devices and the enterprise network, said Chris Yapp, a fellow of the British Computer Society and an independent security consultant.

Companies that have experience managing complex technology integrations will be the ones most likely to succeed in an IoT environment, he said. More often than not, traditional IT and security vendors are well behind the curve in understanding how the IoT trend will affect corporate IT, he said. “The challenge for existing suppliers is that they tend to have a narrower focus and will take time to build the partnerships and in-house skills or acquisitions to compete,” with the systems integrators, Yapp predicted.

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Hybrid Hygiene

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Companies are opting to mix the speed and flexibility of a public cloud with the security and control of a private cloud. Here’s how to do it well.

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Enterprises are increasingly interested in the cloud, but IT managers are discovering that one size does not always fit all.

Well, at least they’re finding that one cloud doesn’t fit every company.

Sure, some companies can go with the straight-up economy and convenience of a public cloud, while others need the added security and customization of a private cloud.

However, there are the enterprises that are required by their business users to go to the public cloud with non-sensitive data but need a more secure system for their critical systems and information, or because their regulatory environment requires a private cloud.

For them, there’s the hybrid cloud.

“Many users want to mix the clear flexibility, agility, speed and cost benefits of public

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COVER STORY PLUS :: Cloud Computing

cloud services with the control, security and performance benefits of private networks or the private cloud,” said John Dinsdale, an analyst with the Synergy Research Group.

“Hybrid cloud services are a good answer for many of them.”

While the public cloud is showing a 50 percent growth rate, the growth rates of both hybrid and private clouds come in at a strong 40 percent to 45 percent, according to Dinsdale.

Hybrids are a solid choice for companies looking to fully dive into the cloud or expand their presence in it.

“I believe that hybrid clouds will become the most prevalent cloud usage model for enterprises,” said Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group.

“Users will utilize public clouds for short-term needs, but rely on their internal private clouds for the bulk of their computing,” Olds said. “This model gives datacenters the ability to add extra capacity very quickly to handle seasonal usage spikes or other events, without having to purchase new systems.”

Enterprises break up their cloud workloads differently based on their specific needs, including uptime, quality of service and security concerns.

Exactly how they allocate their cloud into public-vs.private is part of what makes a hybrid more complicated than simply using one or the other. Anyone setting up a hybrid cloud needs to carefully separate mission-critical or strategic systems and information from the rest, set up security and availability policies and consider compliance issues.

“There are complications in running a hybrid cloud versus just a private or public cloud, which makes the planning process so vital,” said Patrick Moorhead, an analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy. “Hybrid clouds are very important for the enterprise, primarily because it gives them a choice—so they need to choose well.”

So if enterprises are looking to use a hybrid of public and private cloud set-ups, what’s the best way to do it? How can a company try to get the best financial deal and still get the security and scalability it needs?

According to industry analysts, there are some basics that every IT manager should consider. Here are a few of them.

Assess your needs. This may sound simple but it isn’t. What do you need out of a cloud? Companies should consider, for example, if they could save money, and person-power, by having a service provider manage the servers and software needed to operate anything from e-mail to HR software or marketing and ordering applications.

Another thing to consider is how much moving applications and data storage to the cloud could free up what is most likely an overworked IT department. Some analysts contend that by offloading some of IT’s heavy lifting to the cloud—including fixing crashed systems, helping users who bring their own devices to work and dealing with an expanding security perimeter—enterprises can let someone else worry about at least part of the regular maintenance routine.

That, in turn, means IT workers will have more time to be innovative in terms of how they help the business succeed.

Do you want to build your own or do you want to lease private-cloud space on a third-party service from Microsoft, Amazon or other providers? Companies can host and manage their own private cloud or they can hire a provider, such as IBM or Rackspace, which will create and manage a singletenant cloud environment for them.

Another question here: Do you have specialists who can handle this or should you get outside assistance from cloud consultants and other specialists? Generally speaking, the smaller a company, the more outside help it probably needs when moving to the cloud.

“These are just some of the qualifying questions you have to ask and answer before you even get started,” said Jeff Kagan, an independent analyst. “I would say the best place to start is with a private cloud hosted by a cloud service provider with non-sensitive information. Then as you get more comfortable, you can expand.”

He noted that from there, companies can expand into the public cloud or they can build their own in-house private cloud.

Categorize your apps and data. The end result of having a hybrid system is it separates the company’s information and applications into categories based on where they need to sit in the cloud. So a critical step is to take an honest look at what you’re considering to move into the cloud and figure out how sensitive it is or how strategic it is to the core business.

What needs to stay where it is? What kind of mix of public and private cloud do you need?

Companies, especially medium and small-sized companies, can often find tighter security practices in a cloud service than they could manage on their own.

“Anytime you open up your private system to the public, security is at a higher risk,” said Kagan. “But just because there’s more security risk is not a reason companies will stay away from the public cloud. They just have to be much more careful.”

Companies, especially medium and small-sized companies, can often find tighter security practices in a hosted cloud service than they could manage on their own. They just need to be vigilant in making sure they’re asking for as much security, or more, than what they already have or what they think

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COVER STORY PLUS :: Cloud Computing

Indian CIOs Pivot to the Hybrid Cloud

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Ask about pricing. Ask about the features they are getting and which ones they wish they were getting. Ask about any security and reliability issues. What is working for them and what isn’t?

Better performance, more control, higher reliability, “You want to learn from other’s and reduced costs are few of the reasons why CIOs experiences as much as possible rather than from your own mistakes,” said are adopting hybrid cloud over private cloud, the Enderle.

CIO Mid-year Review 2014 survey showed.

Kagan added that while the cloud sounds simple, it’s actually deploying workloads. In many case, it The popularity of hybrid clouds complicated and land-mined with also ensures security and scalability. among Indian CIOs is gradually gaincritical issues like security and In addition, the survey also revealed ing ground. This popularity however, reliability, which could make or break that more than 33 percent of Indian comes at the cost of private cloud losa business.

CIOs feel public cloud service providers ing some of its worth.

“If you know other companies are less risky than traditional outAccording to the CIO Mid-year that use a cloud provider and can get sources and third-party suppliers.

Review 2014, 48 percent of Indian CIOs recommendations, that’s always a good The four main reasons for CIOs to are using or at least planning to use place to start,” he said. adopt hybrid cloud are better perforhybrid cloud, compared to 35 percent Choose vendors carefully. To find mance (48 percent), more control (41 in 2013. This jump is almost directly the right vendor—one that has a lot of percent), higher reliability (41 percent), proportional to the decrease in the experience and successes under its belt and reduced cost (41 percent). number of CIOs who were planning to with businesses similar to your own— Security still takes the center stage use and were using private cloud. companies need to ask a lot of questions. in the discussions surrounding the In 2013, 51 percent of Indian CIOs Ask for their statistics. How many cloud. The CIO Mid-year Review 2014 were using and planning to use pricompanies have they worked with? showed that 31.1 percent of Indian CIOs vate cloud. This year that number fell How many large enterprises, versus are hoping to get better security from to 37 percent. medium and small companies, have they the hybrid cloud and 40 percent of the The shift to hybrid cloud however, worked with? Ask to speak to some of CIOs pin their hopes on hybrid to drive is not that surprising given its advantheir customers who run similar-sized lower downtime. tages. Hybrid cloud can give CIOs the businesses, or ones in your vertical area. freedom of choice when it comes to –Ishan Bhattacharya Ask for their stats on reliability (uptime, availability) and security. “There are a large variety of cloud companies, large and small, that focus on different areas,” said Kagan. they will need going forward. “Those are the big questions “Decide what you will eventually need, then make sure the when considering a hybrid solution,” said Olds. Let’s say you company you choose can handle it all.” Also consider using have an online store that runs fine on your existing systems more than one provider because it lets you compare in a realmost of the year, but needs more capacity in December, for world situation. Then as time passes, “you can migrate more the holidays. to the one that you like the best,” Kagan said.

“A hybrid cloud sounds like the perfect solution,” but Move in increments. Companies shouldn’t feel compelled there are numerous approaches you could take, Olds said. to jump in with both feet. Move slowly. Learn from your These include putting instances of your store on a public own experience. cloud along with keeping the instances you have on your “I would always recommend starting with a smaller and internal systems. Alternatively, you could just keep your private cloud to get your feet wet,” said Kagan. “Learn what catalog on the public cloud and keep all ordering and you need to know in this new area before you expand. That account applications on systems in your own datacenter, he will take some time, but it’s much better to step into the explained. shallow end and then jump into the deep end.”

Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group, He also recommended that companies lean on their service noted that companies should depend on policies for what providers to help guide them through the process—not only in applications or data should be in a private or public cloud. If setting up the cloud but in training their own people to use it. these policies don’t yet exist, Enderle said, companies should develop them before launching into the cloud.

Talk to other customers. Nearly every analyst recommended that IT administrators meet with other companies that are of similar size and have similar needs and find out what they have already learned from their own cloud experiences.

Send feedback on this feature to editor@cio.in

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Companies today are encouraging CIOs to maximize the value of all things cloud. CIOs must now redefine themselves, and view themselves as IT leaders of an information business. The EMC Forum 2014 set the context for the current Indian technology market where everything is becoming software-defined—from compute virtualization, storage, networks to security. The event that was held at JW Marriott in New Delhi was attended by over 350 CIOs and featured latest offerings of EMC. It also provided the CIOs with technology sessions to help them rise to the third platform. The forum also explored technology evolution and revolution in India all the way from virtualization to SDDC. Here are the highlights of the event.

GOLD PARTNERS

SERVICE PROVIDER PARTNER

HYBRID CLOUD PARTNER

>>Pg 46

PANEL DISCUSSIONS

>>Pg 48

TRANSFORMERS AWARDS >>Pg 51

REDEFINING BUSINESS

ELITE PARTNERS

KEYNOTE SESSIONS

KNOWLEDGE PARTNER

SNAPSHOTS

>>Pg 52

PRESENTATIONS

>>Pg 49

ASSOCIATE PARTNERS

DAVID WEBSTER, President-APAC and Japan, and SVP, EMC

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

How Four Mega Trends are Redefining IT and Business David Webster, President-APAC and Japan, and SVP, EMC, threw light on how emerging technologies like cloud, mobility, big data, and social media are opening new doors of opportunity and changing the dynamics of business.

In his keynote session at the EMC Forum 2014, David Webster, presidentAPAC and Japan, and SVP, EMC, said

SPECIAL EVENT COVERAGE

that emerging technologies are dictating business realities.

“There’s no doubt that four mega trends, namely, cloud, mobility, big data, and social networking, are immeasurably redefining IT and businesses,” he said.

And that, Webster said, points to the critical role that CIOs play in business today, stressing that the challenge of an IT leader is to redefine IT by taking advantages of these mega trends and helping their businesses redefine their second platforms to take advantage of the third platform.

According to Webster, the third platform promises to reduce risk and help businesses innovate and gain new revenue streams as well as new customers. Webster said that there are a few key areas that IT leaders need to focus on in order to redefine their businesses. “First, build a foundation of your new IT agenda based around se-

curity which contemplates mobility, social media, big data, and cloud,” he said.

Webster stressed on the immediate need to shift from a hardware silo-centric datacenter model to a software-defined datacenter where the management and control of the infrastructure is towards automation and software.

According to Webster, companies must bring all the data they want from everywhere in their business, gather it in one place, combine it with external sources, and analyze it in real time, so that they are able to obtain customer insights, make business decisions and provide services to their customers and partners in a different manner. “Think of analytics and data as core to your business strategy.

EMC, with its focus on the third platform is helping customers address this new IT agenda,” said Webster.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Hybrid Cloud is the Silver Lining Rajesh Janey, President-India and SAARC, EMC, said that hybrid cloud is providing organizations with scalability and agility to meet business demands.

The need to innovate is more now than ever because customers are changing the way they interact with an organization.

Rajesh Janey, president-India and SAARC at EMC, spoke about how CIOs can redefine IT within their enterprises and transform them into software-defined organizations.

“Almost all organizations are allowing their employees to access applications, like email, over their personal mobile devices,” he said. “With consumerization of IT, employees have changed the way they work and deliver results.”

Consequently, businesses have also changed the way they engage their clients.

Janey then delved into the results of EMC Transformers survey that measured the pulse of the Indian IT industry. The survey found

that 95 percent of Indian IT leaders feel that their CXOs think that IT can be a strategic lever to drive greater business growth. The survey also reinforced the trend that customer experience is driving the focus on new technologies in India. According to the survey, 91 percent of CIOs in India believe that the SMAC stack will bring key competitive advantage to their customers and business.

However, the cloud is yet to gain CIO confidence in terms of hosting critical apps. That’s why 76 percent of CIOs believe that hybrid clouds provide agility and improved reliability, and one-third of these respondents have already built a hybrid cloud, he said. Also, 85 percent of CIOs believe that IT will act as an in-house provider for services by leveraging the hybrid cloud.

Janey said that 76 percent of CIOs also admitted that keeping the staff trained and skilled around new technologies is a big challenge. He said that this skill gap can be reduced by giving staff the right tools to manage a larger infrastructure with fewer resources. And one way to do that is automation, he said.

Sharad Sanghi, CEO of Netmagic also shared the platform with Janey and demonstrated how EMC and Netmagic have redefined and simplified cloud computing by promising to deliver the cloud within 48 hours and a single purchase order. “The first disruption in the technology is in the consumption model. Customers can now switch between two or more different cloud providers within no time,” said Sanghi.

RAJESH JANEY, President-India and SAARC, EMC IDG SERVICES

PANEL DISCUSSIONS

Technology Breaks Barriers A CXO panel discussed how IT helps organizations grow and breaks societal barriers.

With each passing year, the IT industry witnesses new innovations and technological trends that change the way IT services are delivered to the business. And currently,

it's the SMAC revolution that's causing this transformation. On the sidelines of the EMC Forum 2014, this was discussed by a panel of CXOs, which was moderated

Panelists (From L-R): Vasanthi Hariprakash (moderator); Yuvraj Srivastava, MakeMyTrip; Rita Soni, NASSCOM Foundation; Amitabh Misra, Snapdeal.com; Deepak Jolly, Coca Cola India

by Vasanthi Hariprakash, independent journalist and radio anchor, Amitabh Misra, SVP and head-IT, Snapdeal.com, said that technology, and primarily cloud computing has allowed to create a multibillion dollar business in a very short time with a young workforce. “The addition of technology to the milieu of people and processes is key to scaling up businesses,” he said. Yuvraj Srivastava, SVP and HR, MakeMyTrip, said that technology is a great enabler for people who are restless. "It's important to provide a work atmosphere which doesn't put the workforce in a hierarchy," he added.

Technology is really the answer to providing a convergence platform for bringing people, processes, and business together. Rita Soni, CEO, NASSCOM Foundation said that even from a social perspective, technology can narrow the socio-economic divide.

Creating a Software-defined World The software-defined datacenter approach promises business agility and future-proofs enterprises.

Every time CIOs talk about adopting emerging technologies such as the SMAC stack, it is always coupled with issues such as legacy integration. A high-powered panel of solution part-

ners discussed how IT can help redefine businesses by ironing out legacy issues and apply a more software-defined approach in order to create a more efficient IT organization.

Panelists (From L-R): Vijay Ramachandran, Editor-in-Chief, IDG Media (moderator), Rajesh Janey, President-India and SAARC, EMC, Rajesh Rege, Director and Country Head, Datacenter and Cloud Sales, Cisco Systems, India and SAARC, and Arun Parameswaran, President, VMWare.

SPECIAL EVENT COVERAGE

Rajesh Janey, president-India and SAARC, EMC, said that there's no innovation without disruption and a software-defined datacenter will give IT organizations an opportunity to improve customer revenues, improve bottom line, and create maximum business impact.

Rajesh Rege, director and country head, datacenter and cloud sales, Cisco Systems, India and SAARC, also batted for new technologies. “The pace of change is so rapid in technology that IT leaders must factor budgets, utility, and cost of disruption of new technologies. Organizations must have the conversation about how IT is going to transform business,” he said.

Arun Parameswaran, president, VMWare, said that the promise of SDDC is to deliver maximum business agility and, therefore, organizations must take the third platform seriously.

SARV SARAVANAN, SVP and GM, EMC Centers of Excellence-APJ

TECH UPDATE

At the Core of Excellence Sarv Saravanan, SVP and GM, EMC Centers of Excellence-APJ, said that the company’s center of excellence facility in Bangalore opens new doors of opportunity for today’s businesses.

On the sidelines of the EMC Forum 2014, Sarv Saravanan, SVP and GM, EMC Centers of Excellence-APJ, spoke about the company’s center of excellence in Bangalore and how it is equipped to meet the demands of today’s business environment.

“It is one of the largest CoE outside North America, and is responsible for

delivering engineering services, product, and integrated innovation for every product group within EMC. This one-of-akind world class R&D lab, which is about 15,000 sq. feet, houses approximately 2,400 servers, 250 switches, 180 storage arrays, and 60 devices. It was created to stimulate R&D efforts and services in the field of information infrastructure by leveraging extremely trained employees,” he said.

According to Saravanan, this center delivers product engineering, services, and integrated innovation for every product group including security, management, virtualization, and enterprise content management. “We have also scaled our global services offerings to offer product support and consultation worldwide,” he added.

He went on to say that the CoE works on developing a strong connection with

the ecosystem and increase recall for EMC around key themes like big data, cloud and trust. It is an exclusive global asset delivering the development of cutting edge technologies in the information infrastructure domain and offering product services, consulting and support to global customers, Saravanan added.

Often called a ‘microcosm of EMC,’ Saravanan said, the CoE is a host to all product groups, services and support within EMC. He also added that the center will continue to develop advanced capabilities and invest in employees who are important to EMC’s business success. “We will endure our efforts at being a preferred employer by offering our teams a chance to do challenging work under the guidance of experienced mentors and providing unparalleled learning opportunities in which they can thrive and grow,” he said.

IDG SERVICES

Honoring the Transformers of IT EMC Transformers award recognizes IT leaders who blaze new trails and drive innovation in their organizations through the smart and judicious use of IT.

AIRCEL

KOTAK LIFE

NEW INDIA ASSURANCE

AMITY UNIVERSITY

KOTAK MAHINDRA

NUZIVEEDU SEEDS

ARICENT

KPIT TECHNOLOGIES

PERFETTI VAN MELLE INDIA

AXIS BANK

LOGIX INFOSECURITY

PRIME FOCUS TECHNOLOGIES

C-DOT

MSN LABS

CGI INFORMATION SYSTEM

NETMAGIC (FIRST HYBRID CLOUD PARTNER)

COGNIZANT CENTRAL DEPOSITORY SERVICES DHARAMPAL SATYAPAL DISH TV

PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK RELIANCE CAPITAL RELIANCE SECURITIES ROLTA SAPIENT CONSULTING SHRIRAM VALUE SERVICES

EDELWEISS FINANCIAL SERVICES SYNDICATE BANK EXL SERVICES HOLDING GENPACT HCL TECHNOLOGIES HDFC BANK HPCL MITTAL ENERGY

TATA COMMUNICATIONS TATA COMMUNICATIONS –AS AN SP (EXCELLENCE IN MANAGED HOSTING SERVICES LED BUSINESS) TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES

ICICI PRUDENTIAL MF

TIMES GROUP

INNODATA INDIA

WNS

INTERGLOBE AVIATION

XL HEALTH CORP

SPECIAL EVENT COVERAGE

EMC TRANSFORMERS AWARD WINNERS

Gala Awards Ceremony: Transforming IT In a volatile economic environment,it is even more critical for today's organizations to stay ahead of competition. To be able to do that, business are turning to their IT leaders for guidance. And CIOs are beating their expectations. And that's why, in challenging times, it

is important to applaud the men and women who have managed, through innovation, to redefine their enterprises, and positively impact their organizations.

The EMC Forum did exactly that.

It awarded IT leaders who blaze new trails and drive innovation in their

organizations through the smart and judicious use of IT. The EMC Transformers Awards thus seek to identify IT leaders who do not wait for change, rather they make it happen by actively pursuing the change.

EMC felicitated 42 IT leaders across industries with the award.

David Webster, EMC and Arun Parameswaran, VMware India, awarded Indian CIOs who used IT to drive innovation.

Award winning playback singer, Benny Dayal enthralled the audience during the EMC Transformers Awards 2014 Gala celebration night.

Rajesh Janey, EMC, and Puneet Gupta, Cisco, also gave away the awards to these deserving Indian IT leaders.

Dmitri Chen, EMC, and Sarv Saravanan, EMC Centers of Excellence recognized CIOs who have made a difference to their organizations.

IDG SERVICES

SNAPSHOTS

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SNAPSHOTS: EMC FORUM 2014 Chetan Bhagat, the bestselling author of books like The Three Mistakes of My Life, Five Point Someone, and more recently, Half-Girlfriend, is one of the most sought-after speakers today.

Bhagat enthralled the audience with his session titled Changing the Game.

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The EMC Forum brought together CIOs and solution partners in a series of five roundtables. The topics discussed ranged from security, datacenter, cloud computing, converged infrastructure, and emerging technologies.

EMC demonstrated something that has never been seen before: How to build a fully-functional hybrid cloud from scratch in just 48 hours! EMC's Cloud Navigator gives a step-by-step guide to do that . Here's a link to view the nine steps: http://bit.ly/1wLNlAA.

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Four concurrent conclaves were conducted on the sidelines of the EMC Forum 2014 which focused on some critical aspects of today's businesses like telecom and security among other things.

The event was a platform for EMC to showcase its products. It set up a Virtual Product Evaluation, vLab, a virtual space for self-service, hands-on experience with EMC products.

SPECIAL EVENT COVERAGE

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Workplace Wearables Wearable devices are finding a fit in enterprise applications. Here’s a list of the most interesting ones—and what’s driving them.

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Between Google Glass and the Apple iWatch, interest in wearables has never been higher.

Analysts are predicting that wearable computers will generate more than $10 billion (about Rs 60,000 crore) in revenue in 2020, and IMS Research sees wearable sales reaching 170 million devices in 2016.

Deloitte Consulting predicts that 10 million devices will be sold this year alone, representing a $3 billion (about Rs 18,000 crore) market largely driven by consumers. However, Bill Briggs, CTO at Deloitte Consulting, says that over the long term, the market for wearables in the enterprise could surpass the consumer market.

“In the workplace, utility trumps fashion, and a single use-case that demonstrates measurable impact and true business value can justify investment. Wearables allow technology to augment workers in places where it wasn’t previously feasible—where hands-free, heads-up awareness is absolutely essential—whether it’s for safety, logistics or etiquette.”

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Forrester analyst J.P. Gownder adds that by 2020, wearables will be commonplace with many employees at various enterprises. By then, devices will be tailored to verticals, roles within companies, and even unique to specific organizations.

“For some businesses, wearable tools will become central to how employees do their jobs,” he says.

And, in Gartner’s Innovation Insight report on smart glasses and workplace efficiency, Research Director Angela McIntyre concluded that by 2017, smart glasses could save the field service industry $1 billion (about Rs 6,000 crore) per year through improved efficiency.

She defines enterprise devices as head-mounted displays (HMD), which have projection technology integrated into the eyeglasses; and heads-up displays (HUD) that superimpose an augmented reality (AR) image on the user’s view of the real world, as opposed to blocking the user’s vision. Currently, enterprise-grade heads-up displays are more expensive, have cumbersome form factors, and fewer apps than consumer smart glasses. However, many developers are already changing these awkward, unattractive designs in response to user demands for more style and comfort.

Medical Apps Lead the Way

5 Business Uses for Wearable Technology Training: Augmented-reality headsets—improved versions of Google Glass or even GoPro cameras—could be very useful ways for workers to share exactly what they’re seeing (in realtime or on demand) with colleagues and customers. The technique could be useful in healthcare, but also in industrial applications for troubleshooting mechanical problems, dealing with construction issues, and so on.

Business Travel: Headsets and other wearables could help business travelers discreetly access information on unfamiliar locales without having to pull out their smartphones on every street corner. For the headsets, of course, that discretion would depend on the devices becoming common enough that simply wearning one in any context didn’t attract unwanted attention.

Sports and Entertainment: Yeah, it would be cool to check the scores without having to alert everyone that you’re not paying attention to the meeting you’re in, but that’s not what this is about.

Instead, the wearables would be on the athletes and entertainers, capturing their movements, metrics, and experiences for sharing with their fans. Similar approaches are already in use with car-mounted cameras in auto racing and other sports.

Jeremy Schroetter, assistant vice president of medical technology at GlobalLogic Consulting, contends that wearable medical technology is expanding daily.

The consumer market is saturated with devices that measure general activity and fitness but recently he has seen more interest in creating health services, which will soon be the standard and support the greatest number of devices. Much of the differentiation; however, is seen in form factor and integration with other platforms.

“The opportunities now are with devices that collect different types of information or use algorithms to utilize data in new and beneficial ways. Devices that are easier to use or transparent to the wearer, such as contact lenses with glucose monitors or wearable patches that collect a variety of parameters will be the differentiators that drive more compliance and use. The technology is finally beginning to catch up with the promise,” says Schroetter.

For example, Google is testing a smart contact lens for

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Police and Military: This is already happening with wearable cameras increasingly showing up on lawenforcement personnel. Here’s a prediction: Virtually every officer walking the beat will be wearing a camera by 2020, and they’ll probably have head and/or wrist-mounted screens for accessing information on the go as well. The hands-free element is critical here too. You really can’t go fumbling for your smartphone while chasing down a suspect, can you?

Sales: We wouldn’t have thought much of this application, but apparently Salesforce.com is committed to Salesforce Wear, putting together apps for everything from Google Glass and Galaxy Gear to Occulus Rift and fitness trackers. The company says it will support “contextually aware sales apps” and better customer service by offering access to live data as needed. The company is partnering with Accenture to help develop new applications.

The real benefit comes from a way to give users discreet access to CRM files on people they meet, so salespeople can “remember” birthdays, preferred cocktails, and order status for all their customers and prospects.

–Fredric Paul

diabetics that measures glucose levels in the user’s tears. The contacts use a tiny, wireless chip with a miniaturized glucose sensor sandwiched between two layers of the soft contact lens material.

ZOLL Medical Corp. has a wearable defibrillator called LifeVest for patients at risk of sudden cardiac arrest. This vest detects arrhythmias and delivers treatment shocks to patients, which provides protection during the patient’s changing condition.

Oxford University researchers have developed a pair of smart glasses, fitted with a specially-adapted 3D camera, for individuals who suffer extreme limited vision such as retinitis pigmentosa and other near-blind conditions.

Epson’s smart glasses let nurses see through human skin.

A Seattle-based company called Artefact has created a tiny, computerized patch called Dialog that helps people with epilepsy manage their condition.

COVER STORY PLUS :: Wearables

Official Wearables Of course, wearables aren’t limited to the medical field. Motorola Solutions has a hands-free wearable device for use in harsh environments and remote locations, where access to complex data is necessary, but sometimes impossible for other computers such as laptops or handheld devices.

XOEye Technologies has an impressive suite of products for industrial enterprises. And for the military, Raytheon Company has a multifunction helmet for both soldiers and pilots.

Google Glass, Lumus, Vuzix, and Epson plus several others are developing voice-command, wearable computers with various sensors, built-in cameras, monitors, Internet/telemedicine access, and other custom features for surgeons, military, law enforcement, and dozens of other professional occupations.

Mobility and Immediacy Matter “Mobility is now a fundamental enterprise priority,” says Forrester’s Gownder. “Over three-quarters of business leaders identify mobile strategy as a moderate, high, or critical priority for their organizations. Wearable devices represent the next phase of this mobile revolution. This technology isn’t just a consumer phenomenon; these devices have the potential to change the way organizations and workers conduct business.”

For example, Forrester analyst Julie Ask believes that wearables will become an extension of users’ mobile phones because it’s often inconvenient to carry cell phones in one’s hand or on a hip belt. “I pick it up so often, just to glance at it to see who called, read a message, or even answer a call, which I can do with my Bluetooth headset. Think Pebble, Samsung Gear—it’s an extension of my phone for glanceable information and quick, easy, simple tasks.”

Ask explains that this convenience applies to business, as well; for example, short messages and reminders such as ‘the network is down,’ ‘your meeting starts in 10 minutes in conference room 22,’ or ‘your laptop is fixed and ready for pickup.’ For the long term, virtual reality heads-up displays will be the norm. “Think of notifications in ‘mobile moments’ where immediacy matters,” she adds.

Product Technologies

HD video-streaming and high-fidelity audio collaboration. Second, the XMod is the proprietary modular chip set that supercharges this or any other wearable computing device. And the third (most powerful element) is Vision; a cloud-based software that takes all of the raw data captured by this device and turns it into actionable intelligence for employers.”

Security and Privacy Implications “The security and privacy implications may be obvious, but they are still profound,” says Briggs. “Especially in the early days of wearables and connected devices, individuals need to understand and appreciate the potential benefits behind any solution, and the safeguards that are established and implemented to protect and secure not only personal information, but also whatever users have decided they’re not willing to express or share. Transparency needs to be the rule, along with a proactive stance around understanding the legal, regulatory, and labor issues surrounding some scenarios.”

Susan Etlinger, industry analyst at Altimeter Group, cautions that if Google Glass is an example of a new technology device that both identifies and records the activities in its proximity, users should be aware that wearing this device has made others a target and branded the user as a pariah. That is, people avoid Google Glass users for fear of being recorded.

“There is a different tolerance between government surveillance and recording the environment for business purposes,” says Etlinger. “Businesses need to carefully examine the context and implications of the data they choose to collect, the

Google is testing contact lens for diabetics that measures glucose levels in tears. The contacts use a tiny, wireless chip with a miniaturized glucose sensor.

“For example, products such as Epson’s Moverio BT-200 feature a true binocular display that projects transparent overlays of digital content onto the realworld in the center of the device’s field of view,” says Anna Jen, director of new products at Epson America. “In addition, these glasses contain sensors such as a gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetic compass for head-motion tracking and hands-free navigation, as well as a front-facing camera for video/image capture and for identifying real-world markers for augmented reality applications.”

XOEye Technologies has developed a wearable technology suite tailored for the industrial enterprise comprised of three distinct layers,” says CEO Aaron Salow. “First, a smart, safetycertified, eyewear device; ruggedized and equipped with a custom operating system, it captures workplace data through live

impact on the employee, and the impact on the community surrounding that person. This is especially salient for situations involving minors.”

“Organizations across every industry and geography are in the early stages of tapping the potential of wearables,” says Briggs. “Even more so than in the world of smart phones and tablets, use cases for wearables have to be anchored around specific end-user journeys. It’s about re-imagining how work gets done and how customers are engaged.

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Bond Over Buying The best vendors are partners that become part of your strategy. Here’s a list of eight things you should want from your vendors.

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Do you have favorite vendors, ones you would gladly work with again and again? What is it that sets them apart?

Chances are it isn’t price. Yes, the best vendors provide their goods and services at reasonable prices, but the vendor relationships that stand out in my mind weren’t with the lowest bidders. There’s much more to it than that. We thought a good deal about what makes for the best vendor relationships, and we’ve concluded that the best vendors are partners that become part of our strategy and are proud to be associated with our organization. Organizations can work enthusiastically with such strategic partners to devise innovative ways to achieve one another’s objectives. The two partners share a linked destiny. On the other side of the coin are vendors that don’t meet expectations. Their costs exceed estimates, or their incompetence causes the project to fail. How can we ensure that we avoid such vendor relationships? Understanding what we want from our vendors from

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COVER STORY PLUS :: IT Management

the outset increases the odds of obtaining outcomes that meet our expectations. We came up with a list of eight things we should want from our vendors:

1. Knowledge Our vendors should be experts in all facets of the hardware, software, and professional services they provide. They should have knowledge of best practices within the industry, and they should be able to leverage those best practices to provide us with breakthrough strategies. They should also be able to offer proactive guidance on how to leverage technology within our industry vertical.

2. Quality You get what you pay for, of course, but you also get no more than you demand. This is especially true when it comes to the quality of the goods and services we receive from our vendors.

We must demand that vendors consistently provide evidence that they are providing goods and services of the quality that they promised to deliver. That will reduce the defects in the products delivered, and services will more often be completely right the first time, without delay. In turn, this helps ensure that our projects will be completed on time and within budget. We can manage our vendors’ quality through key performance indicators (KPI) and service-level agreements (SLA).

3. Collaboration You cannot achieve innovative/breakthrough transformation if you don’t have a collaborative relationship where both parties trust one another. Without trust, we could not have leveraged our collective expertise to collaborate on solutions that are cheaper, better, or faster. When the leadership of both parties collaborates on issue resolution and a root-cause analysis of problems, creative, synergistic, and out-of-the-box solutions are devised.

4. Continuous Improvement A great vendor demonstrates continuous improvement in the products and services it delivers. Hardware vendors, for example, must provide state-of-the-art technological improvements from Research and Development. All suppliers must continually provide a competitive edge. Continuous improvement can be achieved through service levels. But you must ensure that the service-level improvement is providing sufficient return on investment and not increasing fees.

6. Communication No relationship can be successful without good communication.

Vendors need to be proactive, communicating issues and identifying potential degradation of service levels before the situation is critical. But they also need to communicate road maps, strategic direction, issue resolution, contractual obligations, and anything that enhances the relationship.

When our vendors proactively communicate, it demonstrates reliability and fosters trust.

7. Consistency If your vendor isn’t consistent, you can’t anticipate its actions.

We want our vendors to behave in a consistent manner that is in compliance with contractual obligations. Inconsistent behaviors produce uncertainty and distrust.

8. Cost Improvement Improving cost and preventing cost overruns are constant challenges when managing IT projects. We want our vendors to maintain fiduciary responsibility. All too often, IT vendors provide a cost estimate on a time and materials basis. This cost estimate more often than not exceeds a good-faith estimate. In the best possible vendor relationships, the vendor not only helps its client contain costs, but also finds ways to reduce costs over the period of the relationship.

Knowing what we want from our vendors from the outset of the relationship is the cornerstone of successful vendor management and relations. When you initiate a relationship with a vendor, keep these eight key points in the forefront of your discussions by establishing these expectations in

Knowing what we want from vendors from the outset is the cornerstone of successful vendor management and good relations.

5. Risk Sharing The toughest part of any vendor negotiation is determining who is going to accept what amount of risk for what price. Buyers want the vendor to take on maximum risk for as little money as possible. Vendors want to assume as little risk for as many dollars as possible. What you need is for your vendors to have some skin in the game, so that they will share in the success or failure of whatever project, service, or hardware they are providing. This can be achieved by putting fees at risk in the SLA, so that a vendor that does not achieve a certain score on a KPI or SLA must reduce its fees by a certain percentage.

your first meeting or second meeting. Establishing these expectations in the beginning of the relationship will exponentially increase the likelihood of a linked destiny relationship that will deliver high-quality results. These results will positively impact your organization’s bottom line.

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How to Kill a Project

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Project management experts discuss sure-fire ways to delay or derail a project and—more importantly—how you can avoid these common project management pitfalls.

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Paul Simon famously sang that there must be 50 ways to leave your lover. Similar could be said (if not sung) regarding projects: There must be 50 ways to screw up your IT projects. Indeed, ask IT executives and project management experts, and they will rattle off dozens of reasons why projects go astray. For the sake of brevity, however, we are starting with the top 13 ways to derail a project—and how to avoid these project management pitfalls.

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Having a Poor or No Statement of Work “I’ve seen many projects encounter troubles due to the lack of a well-defined project scope,” says Bryan Fangman, senior project manager at Borland, a Micro Focus Company.

“Despite the best planning efforts, change is inevitable, so having a clear statement of work up front is essential in getting agreement with the customer on what will actually be accomplished,” Fangman says. “A poorly constructed statement of work (or absence of one) will lead to ambiguities that are hard to resolve and you will never truly know when the project is finished,” he adds.

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COVER STORY PLUS :: Project Management

Not Setting Expectations Up Front

Not Using a Project Management Software

One of the key ways to screw up a project is to not create a roadmap and define project requirements and expectations for all stakeholders at the beginning of the project.

That’s why “before we start any projects, I make sure that everyone on both the customer team and project team have a clear, documented understanding of two primary things: What we are going to do, and how we know when we are done,” says Tim Garcia, CEO, Apptricity, which provides service-oriented architecture (SOA) for asset management enterprise resource planning (ERP). “Without documented agreement on the answers to these two questions, the project is in danger from the start.”

“Excel spreadsheets relegate project managers to manual intervention and worst of all, ‘walk the floor’ status updating,” says Brian Ahearn, CEO, Evolphin Software, the developer of digital asset management software.

“Project managers need a solution that automatically updates project status each time a task is completed, alerts you when a task is past its due date and will provide a complete and up to date project status report,” he says. “The best tools free the project manager from the tyranny of manual reporting and allow them more time to drive critical tasks.”

Not Securing Management Buy-In

“Loosely defined and unclear project scope, halfway surprises and frequent change requests can lead to increased timelines, increased cost, escalations, a demotivated team and, most importantly, an unsatisfied customer,” says Sandeep Anand, vice president of Project Governance at Nagarro, a high-end software development firm.

To combat scope creep, “ensure project objectives are understood, deliverables are defined and the project is monitored daily,” Anand says. That said, change requests are a fact of life in projects.

So it is a good idea to “budget for scope creep and have a defined process for accommodating change requests.”

“Executing a project without securing sponsor support is not only counter-productive but also a recipe for disaster,” says Brad Clark, COO at Daptiv, a provider of on-demand Project Portfolio Management (PPM) solutions. “It’s imperative to be on the same page with the sponsor for a project to move in the desired direction and get organizational buy-in.”

Using the Same Methodology for All Size Projects “Most project management methodologies have a standard set of key tasks and deliverables for enterprise IT projects,” says Robert Longley, a consultant at Intuaction, a coaching and consulting company. “Most methodologies are designed around projects of a certain size.” Longley says. “If you have a project that and you try to use the standard approach, you may find that it costs more to do the deliverables than it does to do the actual project.”

Overloading Team Members “Your team members are not machines,” says Dan Schoenbaum, the CEO of Teambox, a cloud-based collaboration and project management company. “Pay attention to how much work each individual member is assigned,” he says. “If one member is overloaded, the end product will suffer. Utilize the strengths of your team and spread out the workload as much as possible. This will avoid overwhelming your team.”

Not Wanting to Share Information “Waterfall approaches to project delivery—where results are not presented to users and stakeholders until late in the project—introduce risk and often lead to disappointing results,” says Garcia.

That’s because “users often don’t know what they want until they can actually see, touch and work with it,” Garcia says. That’s why he recommends using an agile, iterative approach. “Iterative projects delivers results in short, quick phases, with the most critical and complex components delivered first.”

Not having a clearly defined decision-making process.

“While user involvement and feedback are critical, successful projects also need a clear and defined decision-making process,” says Garcia. “Project teams should embrace change, but change decisions need authoritative approval, agreement and documentation. Understanding the process and chain of command keeps everyone reading from the same playbook.”

Allowing Scope Creep

Not Being a Team Player “Every project has a team that is expected to work together to successfully complete the work,” says Hilary Atkinson, director of Project Management at Force 3, a business solutions provider.

“The project manager is the hub of the team, the process and the

Change requests are a fact of life in projects.

Budget for scope creep and have a defined process for accepting change requests. solution. Yet many young or new project managers make decisions without consulting with the team and without gaining approval,” Atkinson says. “Without that communication and approvals, the project is headed for disaster. The project manager cannot manage a project schedule, budget or scope without the team.”

A related danger is that “the project becomes ‘our project’ rather than a ‘company project,’” warns Gordon Veniard, a veteran management consultant and the owner of thevenworks. com. And “instead of focusing on achieving the goal or getting it

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4 Tips to Ace Project Management

Project management experts share their tips on completing your IT projects on time and on budget.

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1. Ensure that you have full project details before starting. “Creating a completely detailed project scope approved by all stakeholders is a necessity,” states Adam Balkwill, technical director, Garfield Group, an integrated marketing agency. “The scope should include interim milestones, with deliverable dates and a budget worksheet that represents all time involved. If the initial project write-up has enough detail, the better you and your client will interact through its production,” Balkwill says. “Change requests will happen on every project, but this allows you to manage the client when something is out of scope.”

2. Have the right project management team in place. In order for a project to be successful, you need to have the right project team in place, people whose skills and experience can benefit the project. It also helps to “limit the number of people involved,” says Josh Meah, COO, JackMyRep.com, a reputation management company.

“Amazon.com uses the ‘pizza’ team methodology based on the idea that a team shouldn’t be larger than 6 to 10 people,” he explains. “A manager can only handle so many direct reports without losing grasp on the vision for the project,” he says.

3. Set expectations up front. “Set relatively (based on risk) frequent milestones and check in often to ensure projects stay on track,” advises Pat McGuinness, chief technology risk officer, GE Capital. “If you only set longer-term or high-level milestones, you won’t realize a project is in trouble until it’s too late. My team at GE Capital schedules multiple project benchmarks and iterative reviews to make sure the money being invested in an IT project is being used efficiently and that project goals are being addressed.”

4. Be clear about deadlines. “When multiple people are collaborating on the same task, assignments, deadlines and other important details often get lost in translation,” explains Fred Mouawad, founder and CEO, Taskworld, a task management platform. To avoid confusion, “determine which team members are responsible for which pieces of work [up front], and enforce accountability. “It’s important that each member of your team understands what is expected from them,” adds Brandon Seymour, owner, Beymour Consulting, an SEO and inbound marketing firm.

“This includes the full scope of the project and a precise timeline of when tasks need to be completed.”

right, [team members or whole teams] then spend time looking for others to blame, defending their own position or refusing to co-operate with other teams,” he says.

“It’s like a non-performing sports team where the defense blames the offense; the offense then blames the defense; and the coach berates the referee. They’ve temporarily forgotten about winning,” Veniard says.

Poor Communication “One of the primary responsibilities of the project manager is to communicate,” says Atkinson. “Communication keeps everyone on the team up to date, next steps and any issues.”

However, “too many times projects managers feel they are too busy managing day-to-day tasks to take the time to commu-

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nicate,” Atkinson says. “This is a critical mistake and often the demise of a project.

If the PM does not send out the meeting minutes, status reports and follow-up emails, he is increasing the risk for delays, risk for conflict and project failure.”

Too many Status Meetings “Nothing sucks the life out of a team more than a status meeting,” says Liz Pearce, the CEO of LiquidPlanner, an online project management provider. “Sure, there’s some important information in there, but all too often the same information could have easily been shared through a collaborative system,” she says.

Her advice: “Reserve team meetings for decision-making. For instance, Agile teams have daily ‘stand-ups’ which are useful in quickly identifying and removing obstacles,” she says. At Liquid Planner, they’ve developed a happy medium: Twice weekly triage meetings, “where we review new work that’s come in, assign owners and refocus the team on high priority tasks. It’s a way to processing our collective ‘inbox’ and stay on track with deliverables.”

Not Caring About Quality

“Due to different factors, such as schedule or budget pressure, it might be tempting to reduce the effort on quality assurance (QA),” says Sergio Loewenberg, senior manager, Business Consulting, Neoris, a global business and IT consulting company. However, a “lack of proper QA will result in a weak end product,” he says.

“If the quality standards drop, the project will experience negative consequences —J.L.S such as re-work, liability and reduced margins,” Loewenberg says. So the project management team needs to understand “that the cost of preventing errors is lower than the cost of fixing them.”

Not Learning from Past Mistakes “In every completed project plan there is a wealth of intelligence that rarely gets mined,” notes Pearce. “How comprehensive were our initial specifications? How accurate was our team at estimating their tasks? A key benefit of using a project management tool is the ability to access the data that can provide answers to these questions,” she says. “If a team is committed to self-improvement, they’ll reap significant rewards by spending a few hours conducting post-project analysis.”

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Rise of the CAO

As organizations seek to not simply corral data, but apply it strategically across the business, analytics experts are making their way into the C-suite.

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The C-suite may need a bigger boardroom. As organizations expand their executive teams with new C-level titles that underscore their digital transformations in-progress, the role of chief analytics officer is gaining traction.

Driven by organizations’ desire to turn big data into a strategic asset, the CAO is finding a home in data-rich industries such as financial services and healthcare. Although still not as prevalent as two other newish C-suite roles—the chief digital officer and chief data officer—the CAO may represent an inflection point in an organization’s digital journey, signalling a move from managing data to applying it more strategically across the business.

The CAO role “is certainly not in the mainstream yet, but momentum is building,” says John Reed, senior executive director at staffing firm Robert Half Technology (RHT). “The pioneers see the power in data and the power in harnessing that data for competitive advantage.”

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Not every organization hiring a CAO is a digital pioneer, but many have matured to the point where they need to take a more strategic approach to analytics. Often, these businesses have deployed pockets of analysts and data scientists across the organization—in marketing, IT, operations or finance—but they aren’t yet harnessing the collective wisdom or economies of scale. These companies are the prime candidates for a CAO. “When you start thinking about how to organize your analytics better, you’d better be thinking about hiring a chief analytics officer,” says Bill Franks, CAO at data-services firm Teradata.

“You can’t take analytics where you want to without someone who’s accountable for those strategic decisions.”

There’s plenty of upside in adopting a more strategic approach to big data. “We’ve seen many firms mature into a need for leadership,” says Jack Phillips, CEO of the International Institute for Analytics, a research and advisory firm. “They reach a point where senior leadership says that this is so important to us from a competitive standpoint that it’s time to dedicate investment and create a standalone, centralized [analytics] function.”

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From Insights to Action Edmunds.com, the consumer auto website, reached just such a point last year, with a half-dozen analytics teams reporting into different parts of the organization. In January 2014, the company promoted its head of software architecture, Paddy Hannon, to CAO. “We had all of these analytics groups that were spread out,” says Hannon. “There was a lot of duplicative work going on, and there was no cohesive strategy for how we were going to move forward. The best solution was to merge the groups into one unit.”

Having the CAO sit outside of IT certainly has the potential to cause friction with the CIO. But CIOs should view them as allies.

Hannon says he’s already seeing results from integrating Edmunds’ analytics teams into the centralized Analytics and Insights group, which serves in a consulting role for internal customers. “It’s becoming more of a partnership rather than a job shop,” he explains. “We’re moving from using data for insights to using data for action.”

For example, an analysis of vehicle sales and dealership data, combined with advanced forecasting techniques, persuaded Edmunds’ management team to make changes to its

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dealer recruitment program. Combining and analyzing a mix of clickstream and transaction data wouldn’t have been likely in the previous decentralized structure, Hannon says.

Adding a Strategic Layer Many organizations are investing enough money in big data projects to justify the creation of a CAO role. IDC predicts that the market for big data technology and services will grow at a 27 percent clip annually through 2017—about six times faster than the overall IT market. With the building blocks in place, many organizations are looking to scale their analytical approach to drive more value across the business.

Catamaran, a provider of pharmacy benefits management services, has made a significant investment in analytics capabilities. Senior leaders knew there was a lot of intrinsic value in the clinical and patient data the company was collecting, but they weren’t sure how best to utilize it to improve its services and create a better consumer experience. In May 2013, Catamaran hired Andrea Marks as its first CAO. Marks, previously a chief informatics executive at Blue Health Intelligence, has an extensive background in analytics in the healthcare industry.

“When I joined, we had a lot of analytically sound rules engines that we embedded into our clinical products and services,” says Marks. “We had some good reporting tools. It was really about taking it to the next level—how do we build on this to drive improved outcomes and cost efficiencies across the system.”

Marks touches on two key elements of a CAO’s mandate: Improving operations and identifying future growth opportunities. The former provides an opportunity for some quick wins that can justify additional investment in analytics; the latter is a longer-term play that most CAOs believe holds the highest potential for driving real value across the business.

“You always want to be operationally efficient, and [analytics] can provide tangible benefits there,” elaborates RHT’s Reed. “But [using analytics] to create more for the bottom line is where you’ll see the focus going forward.”

Using Analytics to Drive Revenue At Dovetail Health, hiring a CAO signalled the company’s desire to think more strategically about the data it was collecting through its medication management solutions. “The data they are collecting in patients’ homes is very unique and extremely credible,” says David Veroff, Dovetail’s most recent CAO (at press time, Veroff had accepted an offer to become SVP of analytics at Silverlink Communications). “This was a rich asset they hadn’t leveraged as much as they’d like to.”

Veroff’s initial focus was on applying analytics to help Dovetail improve patient outcomes based on the combinations of medications they take. His team made early headway in optimizing its patient enrollment processes, using predictive analytics to identify patients who are more likely to enroll and maintain their medication regimens.

But Veroff sees even more potential in using analytics to identify new business lines and other revenue opportunities.

“What if they find a tremendous new insight about how certain types of patients have likelihoods of significant barriers in the way they manage their health?” he says. “That’s important not

only for [Dovetail’s] operations, but also for its business strategy, because those insights become sellable assets, which can lead to more service lines.”

Revenue growth is also one of the goals for Chris Mazzei, global CAO at EY, which has committed $500 million (about Rs 3,100 crore) to building out its analytics expertise through its Global Analytics Center of Excellence. “We are interested in building our core consulting business, but we are more interested in transforming into an organization that leverages analytics in everything we do,” Mazzei says. “My role is to look across all of the analytics skills and initiatives going on throughout the organization and identify what we should be doing across business units on an enterprise basis. Analytics are core to our growth strategy.”

Catamaran’s analytics team has already seen tangible gains from scouring cross-functional data sets to become more predictive and proactive. A recent project examined trends involving compound medications—prescriptions that are mixed at a pharmacy. Because the FDA doesn’t regulate compound medications, there are wide variations in use—a trend that Catamaran analysts projected would drive sharp increases in costs for its clients in the near term. Senior leaders quickly introduced a robust clinical program to ensure the safe and effective use of these compound drugs as well as monitoring them. Clients quickly signed up for the program.

CAOs and CIOs: Allies, Not Adversaries

Building a Great Data Science Team Select a mix of skills for your data analytics business goals.

Enterprises that want to launch big data initiatives—or even more ambitiously, seek to create an “analytics culture” —invariably should answer a handful of critical questions before spending money and allocating resources: What’s the business case for analytics? Which big data tools should we use? Should we hire a data analytics vendor to handle everything? If we build an in-house team, where do we get the analytics talent?

The last question is rooted in the reported (and sometimes disputed) shortage of data scientists needed to meet growing demand as enterprise and consumer data continue to increase exponentially. But if an enterprise is fully committed to data analytics, it will find or develop the talent.

“The first step is to define a clear business goal, or at least one the company is working toward,” says Kevin Lyons, senior vice president of analytics for eXelate, a digital marketing data management platform vendor. “If you can’t identify it, there’s no way you’ll be able to achieve it.”

Data scientists for companies such as Google and Facebook, for example, must produce analytics for computers that “learn” about consumers and can predict behavior. These types of data scientists typically have strong mathematical and computational skills.

Having the CAO sit outside of IT certainly has the potential to cause friction with the CIO. But CIOs should view their analytics colleagues as allies, not adversaries. “From a CIO’s perspective, I would look at the CAO as someone I can benefit from,” says analyst Reed. “While I’m thinking about analytics maybe 10 percent of the time, they’re thinking about it 100 percent of the time. The work they’re doing will benefit me and give me time back to focus on managing the technology environment, which is becoming increasingly complex. I see it as a winning partnership.”

CAOs, for their part, see IT as a critical partner. Veroff, for example, says that during his time at Dovetail, he was “joined at the hip” with the company’s chief technology officer, Doug Fleming. “In order to do sophisticated analytics, I had to have data management structures that were accessible,” Veroff says.

Conversely, data scientists charged with producing analytics for humans to make product or operational decisions usually need stronger “soft” skills.

“You need at least one person who can communicate,” says Claudia Perlich, chief scientist at Dstillery, a marketing company that analyzes Web browsing data to help brands target ads.

“Somebody who can sit down with the CTO or CMO or CEO and have a good enough understanding of the business problems to help frame what role and what specific task data science should work on.”

As essential as soft skills are to data scientists who must interact with colleagues in business units and executive suites, Perlich emphasizes that they need some fundamental technical chops.

“They don’t need super coding skills, but they need to be able to access data,” she says. “They need at least a scripting language, say Perl or Python, in order to manipulate data once it’s out of wherever they found it. And they need a practical understanding of statistics. They don’t need probability theory, but they need to understand empirical distributions of data and how the mean can be super misleading when you have a long-tail distribution.”

–Chris Nerney

“And [Fleming] was building applications that are really going to leverage [Dovetail’s] analytics. So we were probably in contact four times a day, trying to stay in sync.”

One important skill for CAOs is their ability to act as a conduit between IT and the rest of the business. “One of my roles is to bridge the gap between the technology teams and business teams,” says Marks. “We’re not necessarily IT, but we understand the nuances. And we also understand the business needs.

We’re really a translator—we turn data into a common language that both business and IT can understand.”

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Chased to Insure A new set of mobile apps will allow insurance companies to track driver behavior so they can offer discounts to safe drivers.

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A new usage-based insurance (UBI) software platform will allow companies to track drivers’ behavior through smartphone sensors and geolocation services.

Agero, one of the nation’s largest suppliers of roadside safety software and services to automakers and insurance companies, said its new UBI telematics suite will transmit to insurers the information needed to offer discounts to good drivers, penalize others, and send alerts to emergency assistance service providers.

The UBI suite consists of the PolicyPal app, which tracks driving habits in real time, and Auto Crash Notification (ACN), which automatically notifies emergency services within moments of an accident.

Currently, State Farm’s In-Drive and Progressive’s Snapshot program, offer customers the opportunity to voluntarily participate in programs in which their insurer collects vehicle data and uses the information to determine driving habits, which in turn can be used to offer lower-

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COVER STORY PLUS :: Mobility

rate incentives to safer operators or penalize bad drives with higher rates. Unlike Agero’s new platform, however, In-Drive and Snapshot, use a small data collection device that plugs into a vehicle’s standard OBDII onboard diagnostics port under the dashboard and transmits data from a car’s central computer to insurance companies. Agero’s new mobile suite, which is certified for use with Sprint’s Velocity mobile-to-mobile “connected vehicle” service and Verizon Wireless customers, will greatly expand upon the universe of consumers who can vie for “discount rates” based on their driving profiles. The mobile device also travels with them in or out of the vehicle.

The Price Wars Over the past decade, the insurance industry has been embroiled in a heated price war, with companies vying to be king of the heap for discount pricing. “It’s becoming a cutthroat market. They’re competing on price,” said Jeff Blecher, senior vice president of strategy at Medford, Mass.-based Agero. “To break that mold, they need a new business model. UBI does that. Now, they can compete based on the risk profile of drivers.”

UBI offers the insurance industry new opportunities for tailored discount programs. Notably, they can switch from relying OBDII dongles plugged into the customer’s car and instead use mobile apps that travel with the driver, whether he’s traveling in his own car or another vehicle.

“We want to align our strategy with the smartphone as primary data collection point,” Blecher said.

Emergency and roadside assistance services, such as GM’s OnStar, today use vehicle sensors and telematics systems to detect accidents and mechanical problems and then alert emergency first responders or roadside assistance providers. Blecher said smartphones are a better option.

“The problem we had was that although connected vehicle services are more prevalent than ever before, still only 5 percent of vehicles today are actually connected,” he said.

Mobile devices, Blecher said, are leading-edge tools that most people own and that travel with customers wherever they go, even if they’re not driving their primary vehicles. That means that if a customer is involved in an accident while driving a rental car or riding in a cab, the insurer can still notify emergency services via the smartphone.

Agero has five contact centers in the US that operate around the clock to handle emergency notifications. Insurers using the system get information about accidents through the smartphone almost instantaneously, allowing them to begin the claims process more quickly, Blecher said.

The new UBI apps use a smartphone’s GPS, accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer to discern the difference between a dropped phone and one that has been involved in a vehicle accident. A Hadoop-based analytics engine determines how to alert an insurance company or roadside assistance service in seconds, Blecher said.

Agero claims that it serves 15 of the top 20 insurance companies and that 75 percent of the new passenger vehicles sold in the US have its telematics software in them. As a result, Agero has “more information about cars and drivers than any other company.”

“The raw data comes to one of our datacenters where we do the processing. We then have direct connections into insurance companies,” Blecher said. “They see the processed data and can make the evaluation on risky behavior to calculate risk premiums to insurers.”

If a driver is in an accident, his smartphone will let him know that it’s about to send a notification to Agero; the driver has 30 seconds to cancel the notification.

Privacy Concerns Nate Cardozo, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said technology like Agero’s UBI suite that automatically sends data to insurers and automakers should raise red flags among consumers because “they have no way of finding out” how the data is being shared. “Automakers are not required to disclose that information,” Cardozo said. “Take Ford Sync, for example. In its terms of service, it says it’s collecting location data and call data if you use Sync to dictate emails.”

In another example, in 2011 GM’s OnStar emergency notification and roadside assistance service began collecting data about the health of vehicles’ mechanical and electrical systems. The program was designed to help GM improve its own service. OnStar is also used to track stolen vehicles. However, GM shared data with third parties, according to Dominique Bonte, VP and practice director at ABI Research. OnStar was also selling personal, but anonymized, information on vehicles, including speed, location, seat belt usage, and other data.

The critical mistake that GM made with OnStar, Bonte said, is that the data collection and sharing program was based on a driver opt-out model.

Unless the data connection in an OnStar-enabled vehicle was deactivated, information about the vehicle—its speed, location and other data—continued to be collected, even if a driver hadn’t subscribed to the plan. “It was quite complicated to opt out. Of course, the common wisdom is not to do opt-out, but opt-in,” Bonte said.

“Unfortunately for GM, it was not the first mistake they made or the last. They failed to observe most essential rule in privacy and they were forced to stop using the data.”

Agero’s UBI platform encrypts the data from the device to the company’s private cloud and the data is always encrypted at rest, according to Blecher. All sensor data is stripped off of any “peronally identifiable information” before encrypting and transmitted.

“Agero’s platform uses various secure methods to relate the sensor data back to a subscriber. Longer term data is anonymized and stored in an encrypted format for regulatory compliance or to adhere with partner requirements. Agero’s apps use best practices and all available secure coding practices along with biometric and other means to secure the data on the devices,” Blecher said.

Unlike OnStar, which connected about 6 million drivers to its service, smartphones have the capability of connecting tens of millions of drivers to UBI services. In that one aspect, smartphones will be different from other proprietary, in-car technology, Bonte said. “They will be a point of vulnerability, which will become huge,” Bonte said.

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connect peer advice from India’s veteran CIOs

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SOUNDING BOARD

The Legacy Turmoil S U M I T D . C H OW D H U RY, R E L I A NC E J IO I N F O COM M

SOME IT LEADERS KNOW NO BETTER

If you consider IT a depreciating asset, like cars, then you will keep it going till the car stops or when all dealerships who can fix it are gone. But, if you consider IT as an appreciating asset, like houses, then you will keep it up-to-date, refreshed, and modern. CIOs are like drivers of those cars or doormen of those houses, and they will always want their assets to be modern. It increases their net worth, not the company’s.

Allocation of funds, in keeping the asset investment ready, is also a concern. Sometimes the company can’t invest as it goes through positive and negative business cycles. But a perfect business-IT alignment is when the CIO knows the business’ ability to invest or refresh, and compliments the strategy with his own innovation.

As a good driver will always look after the car, a good CIO too, will take pride in his ability to keep the asset investment-grade. He should understand the needs of the business, and shouldn’t complain. Another issue with legacy systems is that some CIOs know no better. They create legacy even before they actually

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Sumit D. Chowdhury, President, Reliance Jio Infocomm

Valerio Fernandes, IT and Controlling, Continental Automotive Systems

Balakrishnan Venkataraman, SVP and HeadEnterprise IT, Reliance Jio Infocomm

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

Integration of legacy systems discourages Indian firms from adopting new tech. Top CIOs share their views.

TAKE

Note

start the project. CIOs who keep themselves up-to-date with the happenings in the world and get honest feedback are the ones who will be able to keep moving away from legacy.

VA L E R IO F E R NA N DE S, CON T I N E N TA L AU TOMOT I V E SYST E M S

LEGACY IS THE BEST WAY FORWARD While I probably agree that “if it isn’t broke, why fix it” is an excuse for

complacency and even fear, I also feel that—taking the analogy of a tape player—legacy is not always bad. After all, you could still use the speakers on the system.

The legacy system has survived due to a brilliant best-fit system with the business, which sometimes goes as high as 90-95 percent, of course, with the customization that has gone into the system over a period of time.

However, the newer and shinier bit of technology that is available may lead to a lot of compromises on business alignment. These can also harm the business since these are aimed at a much broader spectrum with the aim of maximizing profit.

In today’s age, where IT has become an integral part of most businesses, these compromises on meeting requirements for a newer technology could be extremely detrimental and a huge threat for the entire business. At the risk of being perceived as a crud accumulator and a stubborn technological dinosaur, I reiterate by saying that I am a bit of old school sentimentalist, and for me the solutions fitting the business are of critical and paramount importance. Everything else comes a distant second. I believe that legacy, till it dies, is for me the best way forward.

BALAKRISHNAN VENKATARAMAN, RELIANCE JIO INFOCOMM

LET THE NEXT GUY FIX IT I guess we all have dual personalities! While we stay attached to our familiar gadgets at home, we could be different at work. The rightvalue approach in such cases could be: If you cannot clone or rebuild a system from scratch on demand, do not accept responsibility for the system’s upkeep.

For most hardware—given the rate of obsolescence and the increasing cost of maintenance with age—we have created an annual tech refresh budget estimating the useful economic life of a product. We also tried to buy products with warranty and maintenance support, and created a budget for retiring and replacing—typically 20 percent of all—assets every year with new assets.

In case of ERP systems, we de-customized to ensure support and reimplemented running systems from scratch with a zero-customization philosophy. Besides eliminating ‘legacy risks’, we also got benefits of warranty and support. De-customization also permitted us to rapidly upgrade the ERP version without any tension.

Continuity is a critical factor. While new managers would be happier to attempt a cleanup, someone on the way out would certainly find comfort in maintaining status quo at any cost. Let the next guy fix it!

Lessons from the Sahara

WATCH India is moving to being an innovation economy. It is a very exciting time to be a CIO in India. But in these circumstances it becomes critical for a CIO to get something new out. The first step to do that is to adapt to change.

Steve Donahue, a desert adventurer and a best-selling author, takes experiences from his travels in the Sahara and turns them into lessons for CIOs, as they navigate the shifting sands of today’s business and IT environment.

View his video to learn from his experience on how to be a better leader. www.cio.in/cio-tv/what-cios-canlearn-sahara-adventurer

Mobiles Boost Productivity A N A LY Z E Smartphones today have become an imperative in Indian organizations. And as millennials enter the workforce, they prefer a mobile-first workplace. That’s given productivity a completely new meaning. Smartphones are increasingly being perceived as tools that can make a user productive and efficient. A survey highlights how smartphones have redefined productivity, helped users improve communication and collaboration, and enabled work on-the-go. Check out our by the numbers section to know more. www. cio.in/by-the-numbers/smartphoneshelps-boost-productivity-research

Building it In-house READ The new government’s faith in India’s budding IT industry became apparent when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Make in India initiative. Being a startup in India has never been easy, especially if it harbors ambitions of doing business abroad. It is difficult to gather funds and convince leaders to get engaged. With Make in India, hopefully Indian startups will get an edge. The initiative is a grand opportunity for startup companies to fuel their ambitions. Read about Indian startups like NotionInk that are going global. www.cio.in/feature/make-in-india%3Athe-rise-of-indian-startups

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IT MANAGEMENT

connect

Is Your IT Shop Successful?

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Determining if an IT shop is successful goes far beyond the achievement of operational and delivery goals. BY B O B R O N A N

H

ow do you answer the question posed in the also includes a focus on identifying and executing strategic headline. If you answer “yes,” how do you initiatives that reduce infrastructure costs as well as tactical know if you are right? Perhaps your producinitiatives that address other recurring expenses. tion systems run well and your organization Successful organizations are well versed in prudent delivers on project commitments. While this is leading-edge technologies and help the business determine a good start, what if it takes an average of 70 hours per person, how to exploit these technologies to improve the customer per week to achieve these results? What if business partners experience and/or reduce costs. Many companies move slowly like the results but don’t like working with your organization? to embrace emerging technologies providing early adopters The best IT shops define a clear set of results that must be with an advantage over their competitors while also creating achieved in order for the organization to be successful and an environment that engages their workforce. then they compare their performance The IT organization should be a great against these goals. And we are talk- When responding place to work. People want a sense of ing about results that are much broader accomplishment so the workloads need to requests, than the achievement of operational and to be challenging but also attainable. delivery goals. They also include being an IT should be Employee development plans should be organization that is easy to work with, that responsive, think created and should include training and carefully manages expenses, is a technolmentoring. Opportunities need to exist creatively and ogy leader, and is a great place to work. for high achievers to advance profesAt a minimum, the IT organization have a positive, sionally. The managers of the organizamust have a tangible record of achievetion need to recognize accomplishments, “can do” attitude. ment that impacts the bottom line. Proensure all team members understand duction systems must be available and how their work fits into the bigger picperform well while the organization delivers efficient and ture, and make decisions that are understood and respected. scalable solutions to help the business achieve its objectives.

Finally, employees should also have time for their families, The IT organization should be easy to work with—as friends and hobbies. viewed by both the business and other IT groups. When Some results—such as a tangible record of achievement responding to requests, IT professionals should be and expense management—are easy to measure with metrics responsive, think creatively and have a positive, “can do” but other results are far more subjective. Conducting surveys attitude rather than listing all the reasons why something with business partners or the IT group can help. can’t be done and shying away from taking intelligent In short, it is important to have: Employees who are clear risks. People should act in a way that encourages others on what it means to be successful, managers who react quickly to want to work with them as this will increase the numto inconsistent behaviors, and a CIO who sets a good example. ber of interactions and lead to better results. Finally, the Of the three, it is the CIO who can have the largest impact. organization should be business-oriented with a focus The technology group takes their cues from the CIO. If the on solving business problems using a combination of CIO “walks the walk” by embracing the tenets of success, the technology and process improvements—a goal that can organization will notice and act accordingly. be enhanced by utilizing business architects to align the business and technology strategies.

Bob Ronan is an experienced IT executive with success in taking The organization should spend money like it is their own. both troubled and successful organizations to the next level. Send This not only applies to new expenses (travel, for example) but feedback to editor@cio.in.

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LEADINGEDGE

Spreading Analytics

In most enterprises up to now, analytics has been something separate from day-to-day operations. That’s about to change. BY T H O R N TO N M AY

Analytics is something new for most of us, and therefore scary. But as it moves from the realm of the data geeks and into the general enterprise, it’s helpful to recognize that there is nothing new in the way this situation is unfolding.

We have all seen this movie before. A new technology cluster comes into view that promises to expand the production possibility frontier (that’s economic speak for “It is going to help us do more stuff”). Organizations that want to do more stuff and want to be perceived as being ahead of the curve undertake a series of explorations to tease out a risk-adjusted path forward. Conferences, webinars and podcasts ensue. If the opportunity associated with the technology cluster is big enough and if the underlying technologies are complex enough, new roles are created.

This is where we stand today with analytics. Organizations are test-driving a variety of new roles to see which combination provides the fastest and least disruptive path to enterprise competence in creating competitive advantage.

We have data scientists, chief analytics officers, chief data officers and chief digital officers popping up all over the place.

And here is where remembering the past is helpful. What we have learned through the painful birthing process of C-level executives such as the CIO and the CISO is that their success depends on how they relate to the rest of us. Getting the full value from analytics will require changing behavior across the enterprise.

In most enterprises up to now, analytics has been something separate from day-to-day operations. Again, though, we have lived through this kind of technology expansion before.

IT itself, not so long ago, was something done by others. That changed, and we can learn from how that change was effected as the same thing happens with analytics.

The CIO at a northern Californian clothing company was once asked by his chairman why IT cost so much. The CIO responded that he’d be able to deliver twice as much IT functionality at half the cost if users were more technologically literate. The same holds true for analytics. If executives and rank-and-file employees embraced analytics as part of their professional identity, organizations would be able to create unbreakable bonds with customers and provide shareholders with above-market returns. That’s a big “if.”

And yet that is what must happen. In analytics, real value is achieved only when workers take action in real life. In most companies, the part of the analytic process in which insight induces actual action in the workplace is all but forgotten. Analysts provide the insight but then presume that executives will take appropriate action. That gap has to be closed up.

And so the big question about big data is: How can we initiate the behavioral changes that are needed? Stanford professor B.J. Fogg posits that for any behavior to occur, three components must be present: Motivation, ability, and a trigger. Most analytic initiatives only focus on creating the trigger—the insight. The worker has to be motivated and have the ability to act on that insight.

What is your organization doing to change behavior around analytics?

Futurist Thornton A. May is a speaker, educator and adviser and the author of The New Know: Innovation Powered by Analytics.

Send feedback on this column to editor@cio.in

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[CXO AGENDA]

Co-owned Success connect

Kamal Bajwa, Chief Customer Operations Officer, Tata Sky, partnered with IT to excel in her multi-faceted role as the CCOO. BY R A D H I K A N A L L AYA M

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What led to the creation of a C-suite role to head customer operations in Tata Sky?

Service is an important part of Tata Sky’s brand-promise. Providing a trouble-free experience to customers is paramount, which led to investment in a customer operations management team. My team and I are like the skin of the organization.

IT is a crucial partner and an internal stakeholder for me. It helps us with tools regarding CRM, analytics, and social media to help receive customer requests, enquiries, and complaints efficiently, quickly, and seamlessly.

Whether it is the way the workflows are devised or MIS and analytics being made available in real time, we are highly dependent on the IT

It may sound utopian, but we constantly work on our partnership with IT. On one level, we cover all aspects of customer life cycle—right from when they think of buying Tata Sky, to the actual buying, to making their subscriptions with us hassle free—at the same time, through our interactions with the customer, we strive to manifest the brand-promise. We collect, analyze, and act upon insights on what is working well and what needs to change or improve. We actively participate in “designing” customer interaction whenever Tata Sky is launching anything new.

We are not just services, but business and brand partners with sales, marketing, and field operations.

How does IT help you execute such a multi-dimensional role?

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framework. In fact, we are one of the power users of analytics, just like the marketing department.

How do you ensure harmony with the IT department?

It’s a partnership. My team and I have a clear understanding that we cannot deliver without IT. We do challenge and push each other. We create forums to present and discuss issues. It may sound utopian, but we constantly work on our partnership.

Most importantly, we celebrate our successes together.

an emerging medium in the context of a domestic market. As the market moves deeper beyond urban areas, social media seems to play the limited role of helping us receive complaints from customers who are unhappy with the usual means of reaching us.

These contribute to less than 0.5 percent of our daily transactions.

That said, we have a Twitter management team to monitor tweets from customers.

How do you see the role of a CCOO evolving?

I believe that the ‘asks’ are already futuristic. For a CCOO, there is already a shift from being a housekeeper to managing customer experience. It’s no longer about picking a call or responding to an e-mail in record time, it’s about creating and managing a mix of people, processes, and technologies to deliver a seamless experience.

CCOOs are expected to craft the experience in all its aspects and to do so in the most cost-effective manner. They are expected to coown the brand along with the CMO and be the designers of customerexperience. At the same time, they are required to partner with the CFO to contribute positively to the bottom-line by getting more bang for the same buck through efficiencies and automation.

How much do you rely on social media as a channel to acquire customer insight?

Radhika Nallayam is assistant editor.

In my opinion, social media is still

radhika_n@idgindia.com

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leadership and operational excellence

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Glenn Kaufman, a cybersecurity engineer at defense contractor Raytheon, was recently awarded a patent for a biometric pressure grip that describes how a mouse can be used to authenticate someone. “Today’s world is based on layers of security, so the more layers that you can add to your system, the better,” said Kaufman.

Smartcards can be stolen, fingerprints lifted off surfaces, passwords cracked, and photographic substitutes used to defeat facial recognition and retina scans. But a pressure sensitive mouse is a lot harder to defeat because it works from a neurological pattern versus a physical pattern, such as a facial scan. The way people hold a mouse, along with the amount of pressure they apply, is unique.

“It’s not just how much pressure you exert on the mouse itself, but it’s also the x-y coordinates of your position,” Kaufman said.

—Patrick Thibodeau

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

Security: Mouse Trap

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