IT Next Magazine October 2010 by Manan Mushtaq

LEADERSHIP

SPECIAL

IT NEXT

OCTOBER 2010 / RS. 75 VOLUME 01 / ISSUE 10

INTERVIEW: Sunil Joshi charts out the evolution of IT

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Grou N GUPT Harnep CTO, K RA a ssing Innovheja Group ation

INSIGHT: Rich Internet applications set to change the biz model

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Direcevelopm le D o Pe p HR &

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Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top tech mavens unveil the ingredients for succcess.

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A 9.9 Media Publication

VP - IS & CIO, Hero Honda Green IT

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VOLUME 01 | ISSUE 10

LE Ve nd CT SH or O, SA M M N an er G ag u C O em ab I en s t

CIO?

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What it Takes to be

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WHAT IT TAKES TO BE CIO

CTO Gove , RelianceC MOHA rnanc N I e & ITnsurance policie s

Disastor Recovery on the Cloud Pg 05

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V HI Op P & VA Mo s, He SH bil Rel ad A ity ian - I NK ce T , I A Co nf R m ras m tr un uc ica tu tio re & ns S ec ur ity

INSIGHT: Low-cost ERP makes a big splash in the enterprise space

EDITORIAL

Making the Switch The rapid growth of the Indian economy has spurred many organisations to deploy

new and additional technology solutions, and to extend their use to frontline staff. While these

investments have helped improve efficiency, deliver new services and enhance organisational reach, the use of these solutions has also increased the dependence on knowledge-based skills. This is one reason why many organisations are finding that they need not just management talent but also leadership skills, for sustained success. “The task is to lead people. And the goal is to make productive the specific strengths and knowledge of every individual,” advises eminent management expert, Peter Drucker. Though leadership and management need to go hand-in-hand, they are not the same thing. Traditionally, managers have focused on planning, organising, increasing efficiency and minimizing risk. They often work within tight resource constraints, and by virtue of the position of authority vested in them by the organisation, have subordinates who need to be instructed and supervised to get things done. On the other hand, leaders do not have subordinates—they have followers. If as a manager, you want to be perceived as a leader, then you will have to give up formal control. That is because following is always a voluntary activity. Telling people what to do will not inspire them to follow you. Subordinates must want to stop what they are doing currently, and follow you. They should be convinced about venturing into situations that they would normally not consider. Staff will have to be motivated to change current behaviour patterns, take initiative and face new challenges. This means that to become a leader, you may need to change yourself. You will need to be comfortable with taking risks, and recognizing opportunities in adversity. You may need to break convention and established norms to get things done. Becoming a leader does not mean that you neglect tasks. On the contrary, it implies that you should become even more achievementfocused—and look for new and innovative solutions to old problems. Leadership is not just about charisma and talk, and promising people transformational benefits. It is about enthusing others to work towards your vision and the organisational goals—and helping them overcome hurdles along the way. You will need to be good with people, be ready to give credit to others—and take blame on yourself for failures. Are you ready make the change—and start leading?

“ To become a leader you may need to change yourself ” R GIRIDHAR

Blogs To Watch! Art and Science of Leadership www.nwlink.com/~donclark/ leader/leader.html Harvard Business School on Leadership hbswk.hbs.edu/topics/ leadership.html The Practice of Leadership www. thepracticeofleadership.net Your views and opinion matter to us. Send your feedback on stories and the magazine at r.giridhar@9dot9.in or SMS us at 567678 (type ITNEXT<space>your feedback)

O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 | ITNEXT

Edu Tech December 2009

CONTENT FOR THE L ATEST TECHNOLOGY UPDATES GO TO ITNEXT.IN

OCTOBER 2010 V O L U M E 0 1 | I S S U E 1 0

Page

INSIGHTS

Facebook: http://www.facebook. com/home.php#/group. php?gid=195675030582 Twitter: http://t witter.com/itnext LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/ groups?gid=2261770&trk=myg_ ugrp_ovr

Top CIOs and technology heads from across India share their views in exclusive interactions on leadership and what it takes to be a CIO. Read on to know more.

BOSS TALK

INTERVIEW

44 Richer Platforms, Richer Targets RIA tools combine the power of native applications with the deployment virtues of the Web

48 Setting the Pace

ERRATUM In September issue, the designation of Manoj Garga, MD, Symbiosis Management Services supporting Retail in India, was misquoted as CFO, Shape 2012 Project Office, Metro Cash & Carry International. The error is regretted.

ITNEXT | O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0

04 Defining the role of a CIO| Ravindra Jain, CIO, Aircel

52 Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time to dub the CIOs as Chief Intelligence Oficer| Sunil Joshi, Head-BU, Tata Com

C OV ER DES IGN : ANOO P P C

The Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 beta shows that the new functionality enhances Hyper-V virtualization, but VMware still sets the pace in enterprise VM infrastructure

ITNEXT.IN

MANAGEMENT Managing Director: Dr Pramath Raj Sinha Printer & Publisher: Vikas Gupta

EDITORIAL Group Editor: R Giridhar Associate Editor: Shashwat DC Sr Correspondent: Jatinder Singh

Page LEADERS & ROLEMODELS

CIO gurus bare their souls and reveal the people they consider as rolemodels

OPINION

DESIGN Sr Creative Director: Jayan K Narayanan Art Director: Binesh Sreedharan Associate Art Director: Anil VK Manager Design: Chander Shekhar Sr Visualisers: Anoop PC, Santosh Kushwaha Sr Graphic Designer: Suresh Kumar Sr Designers: Prasanth TR, Anil T, Joffy Jose & Anoop Verma Designer: Sristi Maurya Chief Photographer: Subhojit Paul Photographer: Jiten Gandhi

CUBE CHAT

05 Tech Talk: Disaster

62 Baby Steps to Success |

Recovery on the Cloud| by Pratap Gharge, EVP & CIO, Bajaj Electrical

“Break down your goals and approach them consistently” says Ravish Bhavesh Jhala, Systems Manager, Trident Hotel (India)

15-MINUTE MANAGER 55 Social in the Enterprise|

Services suitable for enterprise productivity

INDULGE 61 The hottest and coolest devices this season | Take a

SALES & MARKETING

58 Tips for the perfect suit| Handy tips on how to get suited up?

VP Sales & Marketing: Naveen Chand Singh (09971794688) Brand Manager: Siddhant Raizada (09990388390) National Manager-Events & Special Projects: Mahantesh Godi (09880436623) National Manager -Print , Online & Events: Sachin Mhashilkar (09920348755) South: B.N.Raghavendra (09845381683)) North: Deepak Sharma(09811791110) West: Sachin Mhashilkar(09920348755) Assistant Brand Manager: Swati Sharma Ad co-ordination/Scheduling: Kishan Singh

60 Training Calendar | A list

PRODUCTION & LOGISTICS

56 Healthy Living | Beware of the Sleep Apnea

look at Samsung’s new mobile, which is making waves while the Macbook Pro gives it all it’s got

57 Manage IT | What’s next for

laptops ?

of career booster courses

Sr. GM Operations: Shivshankar M Hiremath Production Executive: Vilas Mhatre Logistics: MP Singh, Mohamed Ansari, Shashi Shekhar Singh

REGULARS Editorial _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 01 Industry Update _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 06

OFFICE ADDRESS

My Log_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 64

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ADVERTISER INDEX

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Schneider

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Checkpoint

Wipro

APC

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Consumermate LG Canon

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PLEASE RECYCLE THIS MAGAZINE AND REMOVE INSERTS BEFORE RECYCLING

Published, Printed and Owned by Nine Dot Nine Mediaworx Private Ltd. Published and printed on their behalf by Vikas Gupta. Published at A-262 Defence Colony, New Delhi-110024, India. Printed at Silver Point Press Pvt Ltd, D-107, TTC Industrial Area, Shirvane, Nerul, Navi Mumbai 400706. Editor: Vikas Gupta © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM NINE DOT NINE MEDIAWORX PV T LTD IS PROHIBITED.

O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 | ITNEXT

BOSS TALK | RAVINDER JAIN

I T S T R AT E G Y

Defining a CIO

successful CIO has the commitment to improve, a mindset to adapt to market and organisational changes, and the passion to build an agile technology environment. However, great technologists do not necessarily make great CIOs. Technology affects virtually every part of the company operations today. It is imperative for a CIO to brush-up on new technologies that are in play and can fuel the growth of the organisation. More importantly, it is essential for the CIOs to remain abreast of current business dynamics of his organisation, and continuously evolve IT strategies around it. Over the years, through my professional tenure, I have witnessed how my role has metamorphosed. Today, CIOs have to be as much a business process manager as a technology manager. Potential CIOs are at the helm of business processes that are touching customers either internally or externally. In fact, very few people in the organisation would have a 360 degree view of every business process and interaction. CIOs have to have an understanding of where technology can improve a business process, streamline operations and consolidate functionality and resources across business units. As individuals, IT Heads should be obsessed with the “Customer Experience” and should become business catalysts who bring delight to all their customers. Potential CIOs can help the organisation improve its business results by changing each customer interaction. As part of this focus, they should be examining each product delivery strategy, interaction design, and customer experience element. They must be quick to spot emerging best practices and technologies, and put them to use. In fact, I’ve always thought it’s a sign of real intelligence when anyone with power and

ITNEXT | O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0

“Technologists need to understand that there are no individual heroes and it is the team effort that makes them winners”

I liked this book because it talks about attitude and I am personally a firm believer of “CAN DO ATTITUDE”

expertise admits he doesn’t have all the answers. The CIO’s goal is simple: Accelerate the path to delighting internal and external customers, through innovations in technology. Historically, technologists have a bad reputation of working in silos. They need to understand the fact that there are no individual heroes and it is always a team effort that makes them winners. CIOs understand where technology can create efficiency, where it has the ability to generate incremental revenues. In my view, one of most valuable assets is his ability to effectively target critical business problems, apply the appropriate technology or solution to these problems, and transform them into areas of achievement. For IT managers to be successful CIOs, it is essential that they be goal-oriented, and have great teams. They have to surround themselves with the right professionals, and provide them with the tools to be successful and get the job done. Go ahead and climb the ladder to be the next successful CIO.

WRITER: JOHN C MAXWELL PRICE: RS 958

The author is CIO, Aircel

SUGGESTION BOX

OPINION

TECH TALK PRATAP GHARGE EVP & CIO, Bajaj Electricals

Disaster Recovery on the Cloud

etting up a disaster recovery (DR) site, is both a business and a technological challenge. The biggest problem crops up during the planning stage—while trying to strike a balance between expectations coming in from recovery-point objectives (RPO) and recovery-time objectives (RTO); from an organisational point of view. Investment is another factor that plays a critical role in DR site decisions. A DR site’s “criticality”, as perceived by an organisation for its IT infrastructure, is varied for different industry segments. Thus, justification of a DR investment becomes an issue. DR is like an insurance cover against a calamity. It’s often difficult to convince businesses to spend on a “perceived” calamity. Also, the DR coverage is normally restricted to IT infrastructure alone. Most organisations don’t consider DR for other components—HR or business continuity planning. Capacity invested in DR IT infrastructure stays idle, till disaster strikes. Thus, the capacity planning for DR becomes a challenge, too. Example; if an organisation decides to keep 50% capacity for IT infrastructure at the DR site, and in case of actual disaster, it gets difficult to scale it up according to business requirements. Hence, careful planning (keeping in mind these myriad dimensions) is an essential component of DR planning. Once planned properly, involving business decision-makers, then

“Private cloud building will require more investment... but, security requirements will be better met in private cloud set up” implementation becomes easy, as there are options available in the market. Complete involvement of management, to define the set of expectation, vis-a-vis investment in DR, is an essential part to avoid mismatch of expectations—after disaster strikes.

Nowadays, there are enough options available from cloud vendors, either in public or private clouds, for DR planning with complete outsourced managed services for its maintenance, support, drills, and switch over. In case of a disaster, a call needs to be made regarding using the services— based on infrastructure requirements, criticality of applications (being hosted out of a DR site) and the security risk appetite of an organisation (as per compliance requirement). Nowadays, DR on the cloud is becoming a big thing, a great option. But, bear in mind that for different industries, compliance requirements for security risks may vary. Based on these parameters, decide the use of private or public cloud services. Normally, private cloud building requires more investment than public cloud. But, security requirements are better met in the private cloud set up. There are limited OS platforms available so far in public cloud. Hence if your application requires specific OS, or specific vendor infrastructure, then public cloud services might not suffice. In my opinion, if cloud vendors are able to consolidate requirements from customers (having a primary data centre based out of three to four cities and requiring common IT infrastructure DR), then combining all requirements and applying law of probability—all cities won’t be disasterstruck, simultaneously—investment can be appropriately sized, to gain scale of economies due to sharing. Cost considerations for such a DR site won’t be too high, either. Thus, DR over the cloud does make much sense, and I believe it will take off in a big way in the days to come. In the end, remember that whatever might be the considerations, DR is not a privilege, but a necessity. The day the disaster strikes the investment will pay for itself. The author is an industry veteran and has been associated with Bajaj Electricals for over a decade.

O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 | ITNEXT

UPDATE I N D U S T R Y

Oracle appoints Mark Hurd as President PEOPLE | In a recent development, Oracle has appointed Mark V. Hurd as Co-President. Hurd is named as one of company’s Board of Directors and will report to Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. The former HP CEO joined Oracle after he was forced to resign by the HP board following a claim of sexual harassment against Hurd by a former contractor to HP, Jodie Fisher. A subsequent investigation found that Hurd had sanctioned a string of ghost payments, towards Fisher, for activities that that had no legitimate business purpose.

SS BUSINE IES IT R IO R P

“The former HP CEO was forced to resign by the HP board following a claim of sexual harassment ”

The top most business based priority for IT Managers in financial year 2010-11

(NUMBERS IN %)

10 0

SOURCE: IT NEXT RESEARCH

ITNEXT | O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0

Inorganic growth

Process Innovation

Business Process re-engineering

Building new competencies

Aligning IT with Business Objectives

IT NEXT poll reflects that most of the IT Managers are still not priortising innovation

TRENDS DEALS PRODUCTS SERVICES PEOPLE

During the time, Ellison openly came out in Hurd’s support, while criticizing HP’s board for mishandling of the entire issue. In exchange for releasing HP from future litigation, Hurd reportedly received $12.2 million in severance, plus vested options and restricted stock for an estimated total of $34 million. “Mark did a brilliant job at HP and I expect he’ll do even better at Oracle,” said Ellison. “There is no executive in the IT world with more relevant experience than Mark. Oracle’s future is engineering complete and integrated hardware and software systems for the enterprise. Mark pioneered the integration of hardware with software when Teradata was a part of NCR,” he added. “Mark is an outstanding executive and a proven winner,” said Oracle President Safra Catz. “I look forward to working with him for years to come. As Oracle continues to grow, we need people experienced in operating a $100 billion business,” he added. “I believe Oracle’s strategy of combining software with hardware will enable Oracle to beat IBM in both enterprise servers and storage,” said Mark Hurd. “Exadata is just the beginning. We have some exciting new systems we are going to announce later this month at Oracle OpenWorld. I’m excited to be a part of the most innovative technology team in the IT industry,” he added.

POWERPACKED MULTIMEDIA

ECO FRIENDLY DEVICES

SOCIALISE WITH A CLICK

Hewlett-Packard India has introduced the new HP G Series notebook PCs for people who want a productivity tool to accomplish their daily tasks in a hassle-free multimedia experience.

Glacial Tech has launched the new LED series of industrial and commercial applications. All the products carry two year warranty.

Fujifilm’s new FinePix Z700EXR, touch screen digital camera offers consumers the latest digital imaging technology combined with a YouTube and Facebook web upload tool wrapped in a sleek, sophisticated package.

IBM acquires OpenPages TECH TRENDS | IBM has made a definitive agreement to acquire OpenPages, a privately-held company based in Waltham, MA. OpenPages provides software that helps companies identify and manage risk and compliance activities more easily across the enterprise through a single management system. The acquisition will allow IBM to integrate OpenPages within IBM’s Business Analytics software and will help the company support compliance and risk management processes. OpenPages software allows businesses to develop a compliance and risk management strategy across a variety of domains including operational risk, financial controls management, IT risk, com-

OpenPages and pliance and internal audits. According to estimates, over IBM have also 200 clients across a variety partnered on other projects of industries currently use OpenPages software. IBM and OpenPages have also partnered to deliver the core

AROUND THE WORLD

data system for the Operational Riskdata eXchange Association (ORX), a consortium of over 55 major banks in 18 countries, based in Switzerland formed with the objective of sharing quality operational risk data on a secure and anonymized basis for the purposes of risk management. OpenPages client and partner investments in existing IBM and OpenPages technologies will be preserved, allowing customers to take advantage of the broader set of capabilities without the need to replace existing systems. Over four years, IBM has invested more than $11 billion, dedicated 6,000 consultants and opened seven analytics Centers of Excellence around the world. Following this acquisition, IBM intends to integrate OpenPages within IBM’s Business Analytics software portfolio.

QUICK BYTE

Global enterprise software revenue to surpass $232 billion Worldwide enterprise software revenue is set to surpass $232 billion, a 4.5% increase from 2009’s $222.4 billion, according to the latest forecast from Gartner. The market is projected to continue growing in 2011, with revenue forecast to reach $246.6 billion. Through 2014, the market is expected to reach $297 billion at a five-year Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 6%.

BHARTI AIRTEL CEO MANOJ KOHLI, WHILE ANNOUNCING THE COMPANY’S PARTNERSHIP WITH IBM. THE LATTER WILL MANAGE ITS IT REQUIREMENTS ACROSS 16 COUNTRIES IN AFRICA IN A $1.5-BILLION CONTRACT

“By outsourcing the non core operations, Bharti will replicate the same magic it created in India”

O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 | ITNEXT

UPDATE

CompTIA to enhance its India operations TECH TRENDS | The trade associa-

INTERVIEW DR. PRESCOTT WINTER CTO, Public Sector, ArcSight

CompTIA aims to promote IT business solutions for SMEs

for Small and Mediumsized Businesses (SMBS) and in the fields of healthcare, green IT, cyber-security and managed IT services. The trade association offers a range of IT certification programmes enabling professionals to enhance their skill-sets.

Reducing Cyber Crime by increasing awareness themselves vulnerable to cyber crime because there might be a false sense of dents polled during a recent Deloitte websecurity, or perhaps even complacency,” cast about cyber crime prevention were “highly confident” that private enterprises he added. “Many organisations are failing have sufficient controls in place to minito recognize the prevalence of cyber mize the occurrence of cyber crime. crimes in their IT environments and In fact, almost 40% of respondents consequently could be misallocating are “Not confident” about the controls limited resources to lesser threats.” implemented by private enterprises. When asked what their experience “Cyber crime is far more common was with respect to cyber and creates a larger threat than crime, the majority of respondents may recognize,” participants (68.4%) said John Kula, Director in the responded that they have Forensic & Dispute Services OF BUSINESS received phishing e-mail Practice of Deloitte Financial ENTERPRISE ARE messages and 12.1% of Advisory Services LLP. NOT CONFIDENT ABOUT EXISTING respondents reported that “Based on the results of CONTROLS their organisations have been this poll, it appears that many Source: Deloitte targeted by cyber criminals. organisations are leaving

PHOTO GRAPHY: PHOTOS .CO M

TECH TIDINGS | Less than 6% of respon-

ITNEXT | O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0

IT NEXT: What are the various impacts of cyber crime on enterprises? How can one address the same? It is important to make sure that we know what the attack is all about. It is important to understand the technical and the operational response. This is because almost all the enterprises use the similar kind of technological and online systems. For enterprise users, it is critical to build a correlation and identify the IP addresses. This needs to be followed up relentlessly till we come to a logical conclusion. Is being proactive important for addressing cyber crimes in enterprises? We cannot be proactive all the while and hence will be reactive based on the incident and event. Back in United States, we follow the SANS Institute best practices. It a very well documented and is a must for all the information security stakeholders. These is no excuse of not doing it and how to do it right. What are the latest trends in internal and external forms of cyber crime in the US and across the globe? They are going up. Statistics say that in 2006 Pentagon alone faced about 6 million attacks per year. In 2008, it has increased to 350 million per year. Whereas, now in 2010, we are logging about 6 million attacks per day. By Dominic K

PHOTO GRAPHY: JAYAN K NARAYANAN

tion is also considering opening a new training center in New Delhi next month. CompTIA, the US based non-profit trade association for the IT industry, will expand its services in India and enhance its association with enterprises through services, like business intelligence, IT certifications, research studies, and advocating use of smart technology to Indian IT companies and IT professionals. The organisation is a leading provider of vendorneutral IT certifications for the global IT workforce. CompTIA also aims to play an instrumental role in promoting IT business solutions

UPDATE

Global MVNO connections to reach 85.6 m Bulk of this growth will come from Western Europe, the US, and mature mobile markets in Asia-Pacific

TECH TRENDS | Global MVNO (Mobile

Virtual Network Operator) connections are forecast to increase from 52.6 million in 2009 to 85.6 million in 2015, representing a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 8.5%, predicts a new Ovum report that is titled “Global MVNO Outlook 2010-2015”. According to the research, the bulk of this growth will come from Western Europe, the US, and mature mobile markets in Asia-Pacific. These regions will continue to dominate global MVNO activity over the next five years. “MVNO revenue in Asia-Pacific is expected to gather pace thanks to continued strong subscriber gains in leading MVNO markets, such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan and

NEWS @ BLOG

Malaysia,” says Nicole McCormick, senior analyst, Ovum. “In Australia, MVNOs have found success tapping the prepaid market, marketing services to specific market segments,” he added. The report adds that MVNO revenue is tipped to jump from 2013 because MVNOs are due to debut in new markets for the first time beginning next year. “The next markets to introduce MVNOs are expected to be India, Pakistan, and Vietnam in 2011,” added McCormick. “Likewise, 2G operators that won patchy 3G spectrum can also pen similar wholesale agreements to plug their 3G gaps,” he commented further.

INNOVATION

Google launches ‘Instant’ service Google search is now faster than before, as the company has launched a live-updating service that will save surfers 2-5 seconds of online search time. The product, named “Instant”, will begin to roll out search results around the world soon. As Internet users begin a word, Google’s homepage will move instantly to a page of results that is updated as each letter is typed. Google, which currently answers one billion search queries per day, described the move as a “fundamental change” that will save the world’s internet users a combined 11 hours per second, or 111 years per day. The update has been trailed recently with ‘Google Doodles’ on the company’s homepage. The service, currently available only to users who are logged in to Google, should take the average query time down from approximately 24 seconds to around 20 seconds. Users on particularly slow connections will automatically be pushed to the original Google search, but will have the option to select “Instant”.

ANDROID MAY LEAD TO LOSS IN BRAND RECOGNITION ANSSI VANJOKI, Outgoing head of nokia smartphone division, comments on the long term problems associated

“Mobile phone makers that switch to Google’s Android software are like Finnish boys who pee in their pants for warmth in the winter.” (Essentially meaning that temporary relief is followed by an even worse predicament)

ITNEXT | O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0

PHOTO GRAPHY: PHOTO S.C OM

with adopting Android

Edu Tech December 2009

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COVER STORY

Al ign ing

C U Ro TO BH Or ad , Ap AS ga m pe I nis ap ja SH at for y G S ion ro AH up A al IT

BY SHASHWAT D C & JATINDER SINGH

SINCE TIME UNKNOWN we have been told that leaders are not made, they are born. The implication of this adage is that fairly simple leadership is not for everyone, which is not much surprising,

as there can only be a few decision makers in country or a company. But then the big question arises, who is a leader and how does one recognise him or her. And even if

the incumbent has the raw talent, how can it be nurtured into a leadership quotient. After all, a raw cut diamond is not much different from a block of charcoal, from where it is found. These and many such queries were buzzing in our heads as we planned out the next issue. The first port of

call were the CIOs who made the transition. After carefully selecting an eclectic set, they were asked to share their opinions on different issues, both business and operational. The CIOs were quizzed on various topics, ranging from vendor management to green IT. These CIO gurus, as we call dub them, opened their hearts and minds were free, frank and candid on the issues. These One-on-One (Hence, Leadership 101) interactions can be the starting point for any IT manager who wishes to make a transition to the top. In the end, the adage on leadership was not all that true after all. Leaders are indeed made, and they can do so, through, hard work, knowledge and sheer grit. The road to becoming a CIO might be steep but is certainly not impossible, that is an underlying message that all the CIO gurus reiterate. Read on. O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 | ITNEXT

Managing information within the enterprise to ease overall collaboration

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DATA & INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

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INFORMATION MANAGEMENT ENCOMPASSES ALL THE SYSTEMS USED IN THE CREATION AND MANAGEMENT OF CORPORATE INFORMATION

Information Management within an enterprise is a critical and complex undertaking. Here are a few best ways to deal with the same.

How important is the role of an effective information and data management policy for an enterprise? What should such a policy contain? Information Management is much more than just a technology. It is about the business processes and practices that underpin the creation, storage and usage of information. Improving information management practices is a key focus for many organizations. This is driven by factors like a need to improve the efficiency of business processes, the demands of compliance regulations and the desire to deliver better services. In many cases, ‘information management’ has meant deploying new technology solutions, such as content

ITNEXT | O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0

or document management systems, data warehousing or portal applications. It is also about the information itself, including the structure of information (‘information architecture’), metadata, content, quality, and more. Information and data management therefore encompasses people, process, technology, content ‘Information and Data Management’ encompasses all the systems and processes within an organization for the creation and use of corporate information. This information should be utilised as per the organization’s data management Policy.

COVER STORY

VISHNU GUPTA CIO, CALCUTTA MEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE

In The Future, I... "In the strategic position in fortune 500 companies "

FAVOURITE GIZMO

How should an IT manager make sure that the quality of data is good in order to meet data interpretation standards? Since People, Process, Technology and Content contribute to data management policy, an IT Manager would have to look into the various components of data life cycle to ensure a robust organizational data. This may include Capturing of data, processing of data, Storage of data, Retrieval/ presentation of data etc. Since many or same people contribute to the data set, redundancy of data should be avoided. If we capture data from the same user for multiple set of data we have to make sure that the relevant data which is

RIM's Blackberry is an enterprise device that eases collaboration

subjective in nature is captured without duplication. After the relevant data is captured it is assigned to the event specific processes which would filter out the precise data required to be stored. Storage has to be accurate for easy retrieval and presentation. Once the data is readily available for retrieval then proper intelligence should be applied to present the data for forecast or MIS.

How should access to the data be controlled? Having a robust access control applied to information and data management technologies is crucial for any organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s data management and monitoring policy. Proper mapping between classification of

access control and different categories of data will make the data and information robust. Access control mechanism can be classified into four parts: Critical Access: Only the top management should have access to critical data. Since this data may depict numbers from business strategy applied to operations. Unauthorized access here may create a negative impact. Limited Access: Since this data pertain to legal information or give information about the performance of process and people, only authorized users should have access to such information.

How can the policies and protocols be applied uniformly across the organisation even if it is globally spread out? The protocols should be aligned with role based access mechanism and clubbed with technologies like web content management, learning content management or enterprise search. Since these technologies cater to users spread across geographies, using internet or dedicated internal network, one has to guard against unauthorized access.

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INNOVATION Ensuring that the latent creativity of the employees is tapped within the organisation

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INNOVATION IS FACILITATED IN A CULTURE WHERE ONE HAS THE FREEDOM TO EXPLORE, SUGGEST, ENGAGE AND DEBATE Tapping into collective resourcefulness of employees is a great strategy but it has its own challenges.

What is your view about innovation in present day business scenario? Business is getting tougher in an interdependent economy where hypercompetitive forces are at work. Even to sustain business as usual, there is a need to stay alert and explore new opportunities. Most organizations recognize that the time gap between competitors and themselves embracing an innovative idea or technology is reducing. Thus, every part of the enterprise has to work cohesively to keep the focus on new markets, new customers, new products and new ideas. Innovation is facilitated by a culture where everyone has the freedom to explore, suggest, engage and debate. It cannot be mandated, nor driven by process. If the enterprise stifles new thought by punishing failure of new ideas, then it will also stifle innovation. IT organisations play a pivotal role in the process, and can help market innovation with help of technology driven solutions like BPM and analytics. For us, adoption of technology has always been a conscious decision to stay ahead of the curve. So far we have been able to sustain it. Business demands change every day. What does it take to make innovation happen continuously?

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ARUN GUPTA GROUP CTO, K RAHEJA GROUP & SHOPPERS STOP

In the future, I... "Retire by 2020 "

COVER STORY Practical innovation is driven by an empowered and passionate workforce that recognizes that even if their efforts did not deliver, they don’t have to fear for their future. Practical innovation happens when customers care about the problems of the company and suggest alternative solutions or improvement areas rather than taking their business to competition. Practical innovation is a reality when the CXOs sponsor potential breakthroughs and listen to the pulse of the customer and employees. Last year with the downturn, business was under pressure and this challenged every enterprise and function to innovate to survive. Most organizations were able to reduce their fixed costs by challenging every assumption and some used tech-

nology innovatively to optimize processes and create efficiency.

Can you outline the major priorities that an IT manager should consider while tapping benefits from innovation? We follow a simple decision tree which asks three questions: Does it impact our customers ? Does it impact our associates ? Does it give us a new capability that we did not have earlier ? Any idea or innovation should answer at least one in affirmative to seek time and resources. This however does not imply that the project or idea should be buried forever. As the environment changes, it should be reviewed if required. For instance, e-commerce died and stayed that

The book by Richard Bach is a beautiful allegory to life and how one can achieve in spite of all odds

FAVOURITE BOOK

way from 2000 to 2005 when travel and hospitality became the killer category in India. However even today, very few conventional brick and mortar retailers have a multi-channel presence. Shoppers Stop took the decision to create the capability in mid2007 and we were off to a start within 12 months. Now, we are poised to move to the next level.

Many experts feel that maintaining customer involvement may act as a roadblock in innovation. Do you agree? The benefits of crowd sourcing have been proven by many companies that have created an extended ecosystem with the help of their customers and partners. Companies that did not ask their customers or listen to the feedback of customers, or even delayed responding to customer insights found that their products or services had reduced traction in the market. Very few enterprises launch products into the market that have been created without the involvement of customers. For instance, one can argue that the iPod was created without the customer. But then iPod is an improvement of an existing MP3 player and not a new product as such. “Doing more with less” is a concept that has been ingrained into IT heads while driving innovation. Is it really important? Doing more with less is a mantra that cuts across the enterprise and applies to every product or service. It is challenging to think differently, as we did last year when budgets were reduced, but we were successful. Someone once said “Necessity is the mother of invention”, I guess that this maxim was put to use very effectively by every company.

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GREEN IT Refers to usage of environmentally sustainable computing or IT

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A GREEN PROJECT IS NOT AN IT PROJECT – IT IS A BUSINESS PROJECT For an enterprise, Green IT not only makes environment sense but also great business sense

What should an IT manager look into before going in for green solution within the enterprise? The fundamental thing that an IT manager needs to know is what Green means and why it is required. Green IT took off in India in a big way in 2008. However, in 2009 —perhaps due to economic conditions — focus changed from environment to growth and (perhaps) survival in many cases. As things stand today, Green is back on the agenda. Many companies are doing a great job, and have taken excellent steps in Green IT. There are companies that do it to save costs, others do it from a social responsibility perspective. Most of them do it considering both these aspects. So, an IT manager needs to be clear of the objective – is it about CSR or

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economics or both – Another aspect that a manager has to consider before embarking on journey are the short term and long term goals and benefits in taking measures related to Green IT. When an IT manager looks at the scope of Green IT, he or she should look at it holistically. By that I mean that you look at overall environmental impact for the organization before taking measures. As I see, the environmental impact for any organization can be broadly classified into three categories:

A. IMPACT OF IT This includes consumption of energy in the data center or for PCs / Laptops, printing and networking equipment; electronic waste and asset disposal, etc.

COVER STORY

FAVOURITE PLACE

Sydney is renowned for its high quality of life, with Sydney Opera House renowned as a landmark

VIJAY SETHI VP - IS & CIO, HERO HONDA

In the future, I... Playing a significant role in Indian Industry and also starting or contributing in a major way to an NGO to help poor and needy

B. IMPACT OF BUSINESS OPERATIONS This includes the environmental effects of material and energy consumption; emissions or waste from manufacturing; paper consumption for administrative purposes; lighting, heating and cooling for buildings; workforce commuting and mobility; vehicle fleets; waste disposal etc Product development is a big area here. Similarly, innovation to make processes ‘greener’ falls in this category

C. IMPACT OF "IN USE" PHASE OF PRODUCTS This is after the product has been sold to customer and is in use. This is a direct result of category B in terms of usage of product – where companies can train users as to how to use product properly.

Can green be a mechanism of growth for an IT manager? Absolutely. Today green touches hearts of

most business leaders.If a manager can touch the right cords – he or she can surely use it as a mechanism for personal growth. The fundamental thing is to clear on the objectives of going Green and relating it back to organizational goals, organizational value systems and culture. The solutions that are proposed or implemented have to align to organizational goals and organizational value systems. The Green solutions can actually impact masses, and IT managers plays a key role as a change agent.A successful intervention can help the business take note of the skills of manager who was leading the show – and help him grow.

How should the IT manager ensure that the employees are also equally engaged in the process? An IT manager acts as a catalyst, as a coordinator, as a project manager, as a project lead – but cannot work in isolation – support and participation from the team members and other employees is crucial for success. Since green solutions can actually impact masses in an organization, the IT manager plays a key role as a change agent – For that IT manager has to communicate the objectives, the intent, the end result, the plan etc very meticulously to stake holders at various levels and address their concerns and take them along. The IT manager needs to communicate and engage all the stake holders. All the concerns need to be addressed (and not put under carpet).

O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 | ITNEXT

WORDS THAT I LIVE BY

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|| ||| ||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||| | "I WOULD SAY MY MOTHER – HER DETERMINATION & COMMITMENT ARE UNPARALLELED. " DHIREN SAVLA

Director IT, Crisil, HR & People Developement

"COMES FROM BUDDHA’S TEACHING AND GITA WHICH SAYS THAT ‘THIS TOO SHALL PASS.’ THIS INSPIRES US TO MAINTAIN EQUANIMITY IN GOOD TIMES AND BAD TIMES." NILESH SANGOI CTO, Meru Cabs

Quotations by wise and famous men act like lighthouse in the choppy seas of life. Here are a set of quotations chosen by our CIO gurus, the mantras they live by and readily advise you to do as well..

"EVERY LEADER HAS INSPIRED ME WITH SOME QUALITY THAT STOOD OUT; MAHATMA GANDHI IN HIS PERSEVERANCE, MOTHER TERESA IN HER CARING, JRD TATA WITH HIS VISION …"

"TO ACHIEVE HIGHEST LEVEL OF SUCCESS BY MAKING OTHERS SUCCESSFUL. " SUBHASISH SAHA

CTO Apeejay Surrendra Group

ARUN GUPTA Group CTO, K Raheja Group

"MY DAD!! WHO ROSE FROM A CLERICAL LEVEL IN THE TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT TO A CONFERRED IAS OFFICER.. ALL BY HIS HARD WORK AND NEVER GIVE UP ATTITUDE. " SHIVA SHANKAR

A GREAT LEADER'S COURAGE TO FULFILL HIS VISION COMES FROM PASSION, NOT POSITION. – JOHN MAXWELL FAVORITE LEADER (HISTORICAL OR OTHERWISE) – BHAGAT SINGH SHAILESH JOSHI

CIO, Godrej Properties

VP & Head - IT , Infrastructure & Security Ops Reliance Communications "MY LIFE’S INSPIRATION COMES FROM LIFESTYLE, TEACHINGS AND WORKS OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA." VISHNU GUPTA Group CIO, CMRI

MAHATMA GANDHI’S QUOTE : BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE. VIJAY SETHI

Vice President IS and CIO - Hero Honda Motors

"MY GREATEST INSPIRATION HAS COME FROM MY FATHER AND FROM MY SPIRITUAL MENTOR. THEIR BLESSINGS AND GUIDANCE HAVE MADE ME WITHSTAND THE RIGORS OF LIFE AND ENJOY EVERY MOMENT AS IT COMES. " AJAY DHIR

CIO, JSL

PHOTO GRAPHY: JAYAN K NARAYANAN

"BEING A WELL KNOWN PUBLIC SERVICE PERSON LIKE POLITICIAN. " C MOHAN CTO, Reliance Insurance

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Edu Tech December 2009

Managing the employees to increase productivity and reduce attrition

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HR & PEOPLE MANAGEMENT

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HR FUNCTION IS NOT JUST A FACILITATOR. EVERY CIO IS A BUSINESS LEADER, AND EVEN HR LEADER Human capital management is a critical cog that needs to be managed. A CIO or an IT manager, though not directly related to HR practices, can play a crucial role in enabling best practices within the entperise.

How important is it to adopt the best HR practices at different stages in an organisation’s life cycle? Human capital is the most important asset for any organisation. While assets and technology can be bought, people cannot. It’s very important to have best HR practices, which are practiced by every single person in the organisation and not just left to the HR function. It’s very important for the leader to set examples for the team and encourage people to imbibe best practices while dealing with the team and with peers. Also, it’s human to think about oneself…and every individual would like to know, what it means to him. As a leader, if you have a regular dialogue, and give a clear picture of every initiative and its impact on the individual's short or long term goals – it could be a great help. When the organisation is at the startup or setup stage – that’s the most critical stage to attract and engage people. It's the time when everything does not go right and there are several constraints. If we start showing the big picture, allow people to take larger responsibilities, and acknowledge contributions and celebrate success – we have a recipe for winning and getting a loyal team.

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How difficult is to motivate people? What are the critical traits a leader should focus on while continously motivating team members? In a corporate world, the IT function tends to be a bit overworked with several projects and BAU pressures. Also, changing priorities from business, working at odd hours to meet deadlines and followed by almost ‘thankless’ treatment – leads to team de-motivation. Some pointers to improve the situation: Start highlighting achievements and don’t feel shy of celebrating success!! Encourage people to have right work-life balance. Work smart, not just hard! Create a social bond among team members; make the work place where they would like to come everyday Spend time with individuals, understand each one as a person and deal with each one differently. Develop trust in the team – so that they can

COVER STORY

DHIREN SAVLA Director IT, CRISIL - Standard & Poor’s Company

In the future, I... May offer CIO as a service! (CaaS – What say!) Would also like to work for NGO…its time to give something back!

looked, but these goals should be embedded in the long term goals.

FAVOURITE FILMS

walk across to discuss problem with you first! And in bad times, stand-by them NEVER be against your team in public; if somebody has gone wrong – deal firmly, but in private! Discuss career, desires and aspiration with people and contribute whichever way you can. Encourage people to become bigger and better!

What’s the difference when a CIO takes primary responsibility instead of delegating responsibility to HR professionals? With several years in the industry, I have continuously observed that all successful CIOs are excellent HR leaders too. Delegating all responsibility to HR professionals is actually, shrugging off responsibilities. It’s your people,

Determination and belief in what you do

your team – you know their strengths, weaknesses, aspirations, needs and plans better! If you don’t take primary responsibility, the team would also be in ‘working for’ mode.

Very often, while managing people, a leader pays a great attention towards short term goals rather than the long term goals, does it make sense? This is a very myopic approach. And this differentiates a manager from a leader. Here, you are very project oriented and delivery driven with milestones in mind. Once achieved, you move away. This is one common reason for significant attrition after the successful completion of a project, as ‘what next’ is not answered well and not in time. I agree that short term goals should not be over-

What is the significance of a regular team building exercise? Can you recommend some tips for developing better team management skills? Team building exercise is an ongoing process. This could be on the job, off the job. Job rotation, knowledge sharing sessions, moving winner trophy, etc could create positive competitiveness. Also, breaking walls and making team sit together also takes away the age old ‘We’ and ‘They’ war. Having team lunches, birthday celebrations, picnics, family outings also bring people closer. Team building exercises can also be done by professional practitioners; this also develops dependability, trust and bonding. I would encourage having this exercise across many functions, which could be of great help. One way is to ask every individual to identify one buddy outside IT who can help him in overcoming his weaknesses (communications skills, phobia of facing people etc!).

O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 | ITNEXT

Managing the IT infrastructure within the organisation

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||||||||||| ||||| ORGANISATIONAL IT

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SCALABILITY SHOULD BE VIEWED FROM BOTH BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY POINT OF VIEW In the process of managing infrastructure and people, the CIO and the IT manager has to make many crucial decisions ranging from security to outsourcing, mapping the enterprise spread, and others.

In the current fast paced business environment, change is the key characteristic. How should an IT manager balance the need for scalability and innovation? Scalability and innovations are both important. Innovation is the key metric for measuring the effectiveness of both IT as a function, as well as for the manager leading the function. I think, IT innovation in an organisation starts with identifying unexplored business opportunities where technology can bring competitive edge. Hence, it is very important for any IT manager to have strong sense of business understanding and reality. He should be completely abreast with the key goals and challenges of the organisation as a whole, and drive innovation. The IT manager must have a unique blend of strategist and pragmatist aptitude. Unless you ensure smooth business operation, you cannot budget and spend time on innovation. To my mind, scalability should be looked at from both business and technology point of view. Here again, sense of business reality with strong external orientation towards environmental changes will help the IT manager aspiring to become the CIO to ensure scalability or sustainability of the IT solutions. As a technologist, he is anyway expected to ensure technological scalability.

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SUBHASHISH SAHA CTO, APPEJAY GROUP

In the future, I... In a entrepreneurial role managing business through technology innovation

COVER STORY Outsourcing is a buzzword that aids and assist organisations to focus on the core competencies. Is it a viable model? Which are the key factors that an IT manager must keep in his mind while determining what to outsource? In todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world, outsourcing has its own list of clear advantages. It can start from a contract with strong SLA, cost savings, gaining access to professional expertise and knowledge, scalability, creating time and opportunity for innovation, focussing on core competencies, etc. However, an IT manager must be very clear about the goal and objective of outsourcing. Once you have a clear understanding of the business case, a IT manager must then find out the area of operations which can be outsourced.

Can you cite the golden rules to be followed to create a full-bodied security plan? Though there are established security framework standards available, a IT manager must keep in mind the context of the business and the vulnerability assessment of the organisation to decide on the depth and the width of the framework. Some golden rules: 1. Keep it simple. If it is not simple to understand, it is not going to be easy to implement. 2. Ensure support and involvement from the top management. 3. Implement a robust policy based on business fundamentals. 4. Organise regular review to keep the frame work, policies and procedures updated. 5. Increase participation at the user level through user friendly

training and handholding. 6. Encourage a culture of reporting non-compliance and not hiding.

Apple iPad, is a tablet PC that lets one do scores of things, all merely through touch.

FAVOURITE GIZMO

Is it important to involve consultants during the transition phase? How would one make a process that sends a strong message of transparency? IT strategy is primarily derived from the business strategy. A balanced scorecard for the overall organisation drives creation of a IT scorecard. So, the basic set of rules for the game should be defined by the IT manager or the CIO of the organisation in consultation with business and function heads. Involvement of external consultants depends on the organisational maturity and the existing IT capability. For new venture projects or startups, they can play an important role in the earliest stage of formalising the IT strategy that can be carried to the implementation phase. For a mature organisation, involvement of external consultants plays a pivotal role towards handling change management. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s take a business scenario of a conglomerate with multiple companies supported by their independent legacy IT systems. Now, you want their financial operations to migrate to a single ERP platform. Here, you have challenges from both the business process and the IT perspective. Involving external consultants will help managing this change. In an another example, if your organisation has embarked on a new venture business and does not have any prior expertise and experience, an external agency can really bring value addition. Consultants can help in providing industry perspective and multiple options in the design phase itself .

O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 | ITNEXT

Mapping the IT infrastructure to match the business needs of the company

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ALIGNING IT WITH BUSINESS

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IT ALIGNMENT COMES WITH REPETITIVE EXPERIENCE; IT DOES NOT HAPPEN BY CHANCE OR BY

Sculpting IT to meet the business requirements of an organisation is an important task. The CIO and the IT manager need to undertake a detailed study before crafting an IT strategy.

How can IT be aligned to the business organisation? IT can be aligned with the business organisation by understanding the mission, vision and strategic objectives of the organisation. Once this is clear, the IT vision and roadmap has to be defined and drawn up, and all IT initiatives aligned accordingly. It has been observed that companies have grown faster and lowered costs more dramatically by first focusing on making their IT departments effective. Those that favored alignment before effectiveness,

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on the other hand, faced tougher growth prospects and higher spending rates. What are your thoughts on this? IT alignment in an organisation is necessary, but to do so, needs a lot of experience, in depth control, involvement, maturity and support from the peer group as well as the management. Most organisations focus on running IT as a service function. This depends a lot on the organisation climate, the pervasive influence of the CIO, PMM and CMM levels of the organisation and the credibility of the IT function itself in the organisation. Once the maturity of IT usage has occurred with demonstrated instances of operational credibility,

COVER STORY

FAVOURITE DESTINATION

Salzburg in Austria, renowned for its alpine locales. It was eatured in film The Sound of Music.

in operational assignments, not by choice, but many times because of business compulsions or operational constraints. Once the maturity level has reached within an organisation, it becomes easier. Sometimes, the CIO is not able to do so much more because of internal constraints, lack of exertion, or, lack of acceptance. It is easier done with the help of a consultant.

AJAY DHIR CIO, JSL

In the future, I... As a mentor to young professionals and companies

the CIO should start focusing on IT – business alignment and create a roadmap for the function as well as the team, in consonance with the strategic and business goals. This, though more stressful and expensive, will definitely yield a better outcome in the medium to long term.

While aligning IT strategy with business could be the ultimate goal for many IT managers, experts also fear the negative consequences of over alignment. Do you agree? What are the key practices and recommendations would you propose for IT managers to reach this goal effectively? IT alignment come with repetitive experience; it does not happen by chance or by reading text books. One has to have his feet on the ground and an in depth knowledge of the business of the organisation as well as the IT landscape, which will be required. Despite recognizing the potential benefits of better aligning IT with a business strategy, few have succeeded at making this link. Why is it so? Most organisations and CIOs have remained busy

How does an IT manager evaluate if IT is strategic at the organisation? Which are the key phases of IT alignment? One of the key signs is the inclusion or exclusion of IT in core meetings of the organisation. If IT is excluded from most or all meetings, it is a sure shot sign of IT being considered as a back office, support function rather than a front line or strategic function. More often than not, this is the situation in most organisations, regardless of size. Sometimes though, the mid size organisations are more receptive and involve the IT function. In large organisations, it takes more effort to deliver and get noticed. But nevertheless, as they say, ‘it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness’, and start somewhere by taking initiatives which are aligned to business or operational objectives. Look at ‘low hanging fruits’ and quick wins, and create visibility for IT and the role of the IT leadership .

O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 | ITNEXT

LEADERS THAT INSPIRE ME

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Everyone has a rolemodel or a leader that he or she looks up to, and somehow wishes that they were one. These are the leaders that our CIO gurus look up to and learn from...

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|||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||| | LORD KRISHNA- He had the best of all the worlds

MAHATMA GANDHI PETE SAMPRAS

ARUN GUPTA

CTO Apeejay Surrendra Group

SUBHASISH SAHA

Group CTO, K Raheja Group

DR. APJ ABDUL KALAM MR. BM MUNJAL- His humility and down to earth nature despite his iconic status is what impresses me the most Vice President IS and CIO- Hero Honda

SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE- who knew what he can deliver and wanted from life and his people and commanded it in the precise manner to be a major contributor in Indian Freedom Movement.

Motors Limited

VISHNU GUPTA

VIJAY SETHI

Group CIO, CMRI

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER NANDAN NILEKANI C MOHAN CTO, Reliance Insurance

SARDAR PATEL HANNIBAL NAGENDRA VIJAYeditor of ‘Safari’. Living

MR. BACHHAN- Phoenix rising from ashes again & again

encyclopedia. I have been reading him for past 25 years and continue to be amazed every day how one person can amass so much knowledge over so many diverse subjects in one life.

DHIREN SAVLA

NILESH SANGOI

Director IT, Crisil

SACHIN TENDULKARNever ending desire to excel

CTO, Meru Cabs

BHAGAT SINGH SHAILESH JOSHI CIO, Godrej Properties

MAHATMA GANDHI ABRAHAM LINCOLN DR APJ ABDUL KALAM NR NARAYAMURTHY SHIVA SHANKAR

MAHATMA GANDHIdifficult to believe if man like this ever existed on the earth.

VP & Head - IT, Infrastructure and Security Ops, Reliance Communications

FIELD MARSHAL SAM MANECKSHAW MY FATHER AJAY DHIR CIO,. JSL

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Edu Tech December 2009

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MOBILITY Enterprise mobile applications and mobile devices

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USING A SMART PHONE WHICH HAS ACCESS TO YOUR WORKLOAD HELPS REDUCE THE PILE UP

It is said that if you are not mobile, you are not agile. Mobility not only helps spread business reach but also aligning various functions on a central network. How do you see the mobility being leveraged for higher efficiencies by business users? The enterprise workforce of today is increasingly mobile, and the trends indicate this will increase over time. From a data centre support engineer to the administrative staff of an enterprise, they can demand their set of applications and functionalities in a remote functionality. The home office option is catching a lot of attention, just not with the senior management, but the middle management as well. Many organisations who use IP telephony get it to the next level of having your office extension ring on your laptop or mobile devices, truly bringing you into a 100% mobile office. In addition, the use of other mobility hardware such as smartphones and PDAs are also increasing. Just this morning, I read in the newspaper that iPhone is getting an app in its app store through which you will be able to access your office applications on your handheld. This is nothing but a VPN concentrator which is going to sit on your smart phone now. Using a Blackberry or a smartphone which has access to your potential workload helps you to reduce your work pile up. From an administrative access request to the typical change or release request today, nothing requires your

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physical presence to click the approve button. More often, it helps the uncanned employees to take decisions on more. Considering the geographic spread of our country and the mobility market penetration, the challenges are coming from using various types of mobile devices. With the advent of 3G, the challenges to IT are going to hit the roof. “Bandwidth”, which used to be a scarce commodity in India, is being blasted apart with the new telecom regulations, and hence, the end users expectation to operate with a “office desk experience” from remote will rise. So, to conclude, I would say that mobility is the future for an enterprise and its going to be a key KRA for CIO to get it going with the right strategy .

Why do CIOs need to have an efficient mobile strategy? By developing and implementing a mobility strategy, enterprise IT provides the business with a platform that enables departments and employees to do their jobs more easily. This can

COVER STORY

SHIVA SHANKAR VP & Head - IT, Infrastructure & Security Ops, Reliance Communications

In the future, I... Heading a large renowned enterprise or an unique startup as its Chief Executive

be accomplished while simultaneously maintaining the security and integrity of enterprise information, as well as the security and manageability of the corporate network.

How important is to understand the business case before deploying a mobility solution? The key to deploying a mobility solution is to define the requirements completely, Understand whether the solution which is going to be deployed will give an edge to the customers, whether it is going to be cost effective, how’s the project going to get delivered, how secure is the solution proposed, how good is the product proposed and the backend support from the OEM

FAVOURITE DESTINATION

Maldives, the small island nation in the Indian Ocean is an ideal beach locale

vendor or telco partner, whether the proposed solution is going to fit in to the security policies, ITIL service management policies and fits the recommendation of a CISO, existing application access compatibility with the proposed solution and at the end, how user friendly the solution is. Once you have tick marks against each one of these criterias, the IT manager can decide on a go, no-go decision.

What are the top mobility related blunders that you have come across? Some of the major blunders that typically IT ends up doing while deciding on a mobility solution: 1. Today’s enterprise IT security process hovers around laptops and desktops as the end

user devices, but fail to cover the smart phone/blackberry/ PDA security. Even when implementing IT access through these new devices, the IT Policy or its strategy fails to cover them in its kitty. 2. The organisation follows a single vendor approach to secure all their end user devices including smartphones, which could result in a huge damage to the IT Security 3. Absence of a “lock-up” mechanism to the authorized set devices is exploited by the users by moving in to more trendy devices which are not security cleared. 4. Even when the ability to lock up the devices do exist in some cases, end users do the factory reset to get it to its original settings. 5. There are no clear security guidelines for these new set of end user access devices in the industry.

O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT

Dealing with the vendors and partners on procurement and distribution

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NEGOTIATION & CONTRACTING

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IT MANAGERS SHOULD NOT SHY AWAY FROM TOUGH NEGOTIATIONS AND TRY AND DEAL WITH IT Dealing with vendors and service providers is critical role played by the IT manager. Cost reduction should not be always be the sole driving motive.

What are the top five mistakes an IT manager usually does during negotiation and contracting? How can he make sure to keep a level playing field? 1. Being unprepared or underprepared: An IT manager should not approach a negotiation without having his facts and information in place. While pruning costs is always an area of negotiation, neither is it the right way to open the negotiation with it nor should it be at the cost of critical product features. An IT manager, on a negotiation table, should essentially be aware of the prices and features of various competitive products to be more efficient during negotiations. 2. No clear action plan: I have seen people negotiate for hours and never reach a conclusion. Be clear on what you expect out of the discussion and ensure that everyone is aligned to it. Never play games with your negotiation opponent and never speak in circles. 3. Losing trust: Trust can lead to a relationship which can add much more value to the organisation than saving a few rupees. Always keep in mind that the vendor can be a long term partner to address further issues and maintenance. 4. Not listening enough: Â Many managers don't pay attention when the product or service is explained, and go straight to the negotiation. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t jump the gun. Understand what you are negotiating for. Always hear out what the

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SHAILESH JOSHI CIO, GODREJ PROPERTIES

In the future, I... Starting my own entrepreneurial venture.

COVER STORY

FAVOURITE GIZMO FAVOURITE GIZMO

Apple Macbook Pro is a high-end laptop from Steve Job's stable

opposite side wants to say. Ask clarifying questions. Focus on understanding and make sure you heard it right. 5. Losing your cool: Never get personal while negotiating and let ego decide the further course of action. Every deal is a business proposition, and it is healthy if each party approaches it as something that creates value for all.

It is viewed that vendors are typically much more experienced and skilled in negotiations than most of the technology executives they deal with. Do you agree? How imperative is for an IT manager to learn the negotiation tactics to create a favourable negotiation plan? Can you share some tips? Yes, vendors are usually good in negotiation because it is an integral part of their profile, where as IT managers are typically focused on their core domain and are comparatively weak in negotiating skills. IT managers should not shy away from tough negotiations and try and deal with them. It is also a good practice to write down the figure you want to achieve and run the negotiations a few times in your mind. It is also important to learn patience which comes handy in negotiations.

How important is to get your legal and financial people involved while discussing a contract? After the preliminary discussions are over, it is very important to involve the legal team in discussing a contract, as it contains several terms and points which the IT manager might not be able to comprehend correctly. Small issues with the contract can lead to complete rejection of the deal by the legal team which may ruin all the efforts put in by the IT manager to close the negotiation.

O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT

Dealing with the vendor to ensure timely completion of projects

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VENDOR MANAGEMENT

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VENDOR RELATIONSHIP IS LIKE A MARRIAGE, AND A MISMATCH CAN RESULT IN AN UGLY DIVORCE CIOs and IT managers most often share an uneasy relationship with technology vendors. Usually, it is tempered with mistrust and aggravated by miscommunication.

How important is to have a proper communication channel and information flows with suppliers? For the success of any project within an enterprise, it is very important that all parties need to work together as a team. So, from an IT manager's perspective, it is important to see vendors as an important ingredient for your own, your department's and your companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s success. It is a relationship of equals. Once this is achieved, you realise the importance of a long lasting and mutually beneficial relationship rather than a transactional relationship. This is facilitated through a

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direct communication link between the two, without which any project will be in jeopardy.

How should a vendor be selected? It is important to invest adequate time in selecting the right vendor. This relationship is like a marriage, and mismatch can result in an ugly divorce. Apart from considering standard points like tech evaluation, staff skills, reference checks with vendorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s past customers and industry peers, competitive pricing, etc, it is also important that we select the right sized vendor organisation. If the vendor is too big to bother about losing your business,

COVER STORY

FAVOURITE BOOKS

Nandan Nilekani's talks about the shaping of new India and the implications

the IT managers to be equally sharp with technology to filter facts from fiction. One also needs to ensure that the organisational interests are adequately protected with requisite legal and commercial clauses by involving legal, procurement, or finance teams. An ability to exit the contract for nonperformance or re-negotiate the contract is important. However, things can go really sour at this stage if the discussions between the legal departments of two companies get prolonged over imaginary and trivial risks. Such discussions may better be handled across the table rather than over emails or phone.

NILESH SANGOI CTO, Meru Cabs

Quote I Like... The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. - Dwight D. Eisenhower

it could spell trouble if things go wrong. Similarly, a very small vendor may not have a wherewithal to deliver. Building adequate relationship at senior levels in the vendor organisation will also help you reach out for help if necessary at any stage.

What should an IT manager emphasise while negotiating pricing with vendors? While it is extremely important to negotiate hard and get the best bargain for your company, if it is not a win-win relationship for both parties, it could be a costlier deal in the long run for your company. Also, beware of vendors offering lossmaking deals to get a foothold in your company. IT managers need to develop a techno-commercial bent of mind, and hone their negotiation skills and commercial acumen. The IT industry thrives on hype and many of the vendor case studies and so called research articles could be part of such hype. This demands

What is the best way to cut the cord with a vendor? In spite of our best of efforts, there will be times when one needs to cut the cord with the vendor. Never act in haste or in a moment of fury. Consult management and business stakeholders, and build consensus. Review whether an exit option is available in the contract and the associated formalities. Review the state of business continuity in the event of separation. Carry out a detailed impact analysis and check the status of documentation, knowledge transfer, source code availability in case of software and migration plan to ensure seamless handover. Also, such decisions should not be communicated to the vendor out of the blue. There should be constant communication and feedback in written form detailing the gaps in delivery and future course of action. Once the cord is snipped, as far as possible, avoid bad blood and public posturing, which can mutually harm both organisations.

O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT

FILMS THAT I LOVE

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It is said that a person's favorite film can say a lot about him. It has been speculated that active people like action dramas, or calm ones like period dramas. Here are the films that our CIO gurus like.

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||| | CANNOT REMEMBER ANY FILM THAT I CAN CALL MY FAVORITE; I WATCH MOVIES OCCASIONALLY AND ENJOY ALL OF THEM ARUN GUPTA Group CTO, K Raheja Group

APOCALYPSE NOW

3 IDIOTS

C MOHAN CTO, Reliance Insurance

AJAY DHIR CIO,. JSL

ROJA BY MANI RATNAM

DIRECTED BY FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA, DEPICTS THE HORRORS OF VIETNAM WAR FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE. IT CHARTS THE COURSE OF HOW SOLDIERS BECOME DEHUMANISED AND DEBASED FROM THE EXTREMITIES OF VIOLENCE THAT SURROUNDS THEM.

SHIVA SHANKAR VP & Head - IT, Infrastructure and Security Ops, Reliance Communications

ANBE SHIVAM

VISHNU GUPTA Group CIO, CMRI

I DO NOT WATCH FILMS VIJAY SETHI Vice President IS and CIO- Hero Honda Motors Limited

SADMA- A STORY OF UNTOLD LOVE

DHIREN SAVLA Director IT, Crisil

SHOLAY SUBHASISH SAHA CTO Apeejay Surrendra Group

SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, 12 ANGRY MEN SHAILESH JOSHI CIO, Godrej Properties

THE HIGHEST-GROSSING INDIAN FILM IS A STORY ABOUT A MISFIT, WHO EVEN THOUGH DOES NOT APPROVE OF CURRENT ACADEMICAL STANDARDS, SCORES OVER THEM. STARRING AAMIR KHAN AS THE MAIN PROTAGONIST, THE FILM TALKS ABOUT HOW INNOVATION AND A THIRST OF KNOWLEDGE IS ABOVE ALL ELSE AND CAN LEAD TO

PHOTO GRAPHY: JAYAN K NARAYANAN

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Edu Tech December 2009

Managing project deadlines effectively to ensure all parameters are met

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT

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THERE IS NO SINGLE PILL FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT NIRVANA Delays and cancellation are the biggest banes when it comes to project delivery. From implementing an ERP solution to putting up a mail-server, companies grapple on how to effectively manage projects.

For years, IT departments have struggled to deliver projects on time and within budget. What are the key reasons for this predicament? There are scores of reasons as to why and how project delivery falters. Most often, the blame is placed on individuals, but quite many times, it is the process that falters. Project management is not an art but a science. Processes and man-management are the key to project delivery. If you don't have them right, you could be in a spot of bother. Also, the fact that a competitive business environment and sustained efforts by regulators to bring customer centric policies forces change in requirements provided to IT, when coupled with a regular churn in the talent pool, it poses a great challenge in delivering projects on time and at the agreed cost. Do you think that a separate project management office plays a critical role while executing an important project? In a growing organisation, a number of projects are triggered at a same time. The integrated nature of IT architec-

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ture causes the "chain reaction" effect on other applications or projects due to the impact of delivery on one project. To harmonise and synchronise project delivery, it is imperative to create a project governing body which will oversee controlled project delivery from time, quality and the budgeting point of view. The body will not only ensure project delivery but also help in recording the impact of a project and reporting it to top management. It is important to remember that the membership to this body should be from diverse backgrounds and different functions.

In the current scenerio, where IT shops are being overrun by project demand, what should an IT manager focus upon for efficient project management? IT managers, who are today saddled with multiple projects and many stakeholders, need to

COVER STORY

C. MOHAN CTO, Reliance Insurance

In the future, I... A CEO of Multi Billion Dollar Company

the last moment and it becomes difficult for him to ensure smooth working of the project.

have both technological and interpersonal skillsets . There are many things at stake, and he is expected to behave like a leader, this includes managing a team, working with vendors, flaging off concerns, finding solutions, etc. The delivery of the project on time is solely dependent on the IT manager, and he needs to shoulder the responsibility.

Does hiring a project consultant serves a purpose? What should you look for from a consultant? There are both pros and cons in hiring an external consultant. Primarily, the biggest lacunae could be a lack of understanding on the part of the consultant about the team dynamics and

FAVOURITE DESTINATION

Chennai, is the capital of Tamil Nadu. Also known as the land of Rajnikanth

operating environment of the enterprise. It would be a tad unfair to expect the consultant to know everything about the way a company functions in a short period of time. But, having said that, having a consultant on board could also work in the favor of the project, since the consultant could provide an unbiased view point about the same. CIOs must take note of domain knowledge, attitude, ability to grasp environmental dynamics and interpersonal skills of the consultant before hiring him. Also, as stated earlier, it will be in the interest of the project if the consultant is engaged early, at the planning stage. Usually, the consultant is 'paratrooped' at

Can you identify the best project management techniques that should be adopted by an IT department? There is no single pill for project management nirvana. The best practices vary not only from domain to domain, but even within the same domain, from company to company. For instance, an outsourcing company that is all the time working on projects (usually for external clients) has a high efficiency of project delivery internally as well. But, if you take the case of a manufacturing company, it is not all that efficient when it comes to project delivery. An organisation must adopt the project management standards defined by the industry, which defines guidelines for project definition, control, monitoring and reporting. Such practices not only bring cohesive delivery, but also help in achieving better ROI with very low cancellation and delays.

O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT

INSIGHT | LOW COST ERP

A LA CARTE!

For how long would you pay through your nose for something that smells fishy sometimes? Man! Is there a choice?

PHOTO GRAPHY: PHOTOS .CO M

BY S I YA SA H A N I

ITNEXT | O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0

LOW COST ERP | INSIGHT The basic difference between men and women steams out when you see them shopping. Men don’t fuss. Men don’t haggle. Men can’t be beckoned by hypnotizing mannequins. Men don’t spend one minute extra when they reach their shop. Exact colour planned. Exact colour picked. Exact shop visited. Today, however a forty-something, baffled-looking man was desecrating the very quintessential pride of manhood. It had been almost ‘thirty-minutes’ sauntering in a shopping mall and ‘he’ was unable to get to hear the swish swipe of his credit card yet. Meanwhile he had seen feet from his fraternity strut about the Men’s section to the exact shelf and pick a Giorgio Armani in flat 50 seconds, or a Gucci tie in just quick 20 seconds. Not that he could afford the LVMH league or was allergic to the Italian couture. Only this time he did the mistake of giving his shopping reflexes a second thought. And that’s when he got stuck. Somehow, today, the pantheon of Hugos or Moets did not make sense. Tired of Italian cuts that just didn’t fit the Indian male dimensions, he was finally exasperated enough to look for other options. Options that didn’t smack of the ‘foreign’ feel, or suits that didn’t make him miss his tailor. No, he was not averse to spending a fortune on a Louis Vuitton, provided he knew it was worth what he was looking for. Something he could give to his neighborhood drycleaner without wondering about the aftermath. Something easy and cheap to maintain. Something that would accommodate his weird taste in cufflinks, or would go with other non-Seventh-avenue genre of trousers. And yet something that wouldn’t disappoint his skin when it comes to the suave feel of fabric or the revered inchtapes of quality. The big question remained. Could he find that suit? This won’t be exactly digressing if we imagine the same question in IT shopping expeditions. Not really an unfamiliar question to men from the IT fraternity right?

Can they find the suite? Is it being whimsical and unrealistic even to wish for an ERP solution that meets some Indian enterprise’s budget, needs, customization tabs, freedom for a buffet IT approach, plugs for niche gaps and yet something that does not reek of expensive, suffocating maintenance headaches?

The question begins here Indians are savvy and famous for their unrelenting quest around VFM (Value For Money). And clearly, there’s nothing wrong with that. Why should it be? Survey after survey shouts out how upgrading, updating, and replacing legacy applications as a top priority for most enterprises and how they struggle with lack of architectural agility, implementation odds, app performance snags, snowballing TCO figures, ERPinduced pain or business disruptions, complicated environments etc. It has been ages since enterprises could smile to something that was even a whisker close enough to their wish-list of ‘ERP with no expiry date’, zero-license fees, no maintenance burdens, rapid implementation. The good news is that at least some companies have started noticing that wish-list. A sharp and seasoned research wizard R “Ray” Wang would tell you that in a more compelling manner. He is Partner - Enterprise Strategy at Altimeter Group, LLC and what he tells reminds you of a very interesting study they did on the upstarts of the ERP market. Something that goes to show a slew of small-ormid-tier companies who have really come-of-age and made a firm foot in the international ERP market. Names like Infor, Agresso, Lawson Software, Epicor, some 20 of them made it to this list. No doubt, Ray wields all that smart insight into the world of ERP Big Boys Vs the Challengers. Ask him if there’s room for the small or special fish in the big-fish ruled ocean and he tells you that specially the advent of Cloud Computing, SaaS etc, is

Nearly

of companies in the process of implementing ERP software have not yet started their organizational change, training, or communication plans.

of companies feel that poor integration between functional areas in the old system are responsible for ERP failure

SOURCE: ERP BENCHMARK STUDY, 2010

41% of companies surveyed fail to realize at least half of the business benefits they expected from their ERP systems SOURCE: ERP BENCHMARK STUDY, 2010

O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 | ITNEXT

INSIGHT | LOW COST ERP

ITNEXT | O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0

CHALLENGER Challenger

Niche area/Strengths

MAIA

Business Intelligence

Enterprise DB

Open Source Database/Postgres

TAKE Solutions

Life Sciences/SCM

Ramco

India's own ERP, Aviation, MRO

Krawler Networks

CRM, BPM, BI

Emptoris

Contract Mgt, SCM

CHALLENGERS RECOGNISED IN INTERNATIONAL BOXING RINGS Challenger

Strengths

1. Lawson Software Mfrg, Healthcare 2. Infor

No-hassle, no-fee upgrades

3. Epicor S/w

Mid-market champion, Usability

3. Agresso*

UI**

*ERP...with NO Expiration Date **Claims to have replaced or won against SAP in 61 international competitive bids

then makes sense to not let one vendor control your enterprise, because eventually if you buy all their suites, that’s what it turns into.” He would add.

An Armani is an Armani. Period! It’s easy to doodle a wish-list. The question that eventually haunts is whether the challenger breed really match up to the scale, sustainability, seamless integration that an enterprise needs? Can the small-tier, mid-tier, niche generation stand up to the giants and their legacy? Ray explains that for these challengers to be successful they really have to ensure end-to-end functionality for the area they pick, flexibility of platforms, last-mile solutions, protocol ownerships etc. “Like Lawson S/w has done a wonderful job catering to government/ public sector or like Amdocs that has an end-to-end functionality for Telco or

what Blackboard is doing with all major functions in Education vertical. “ Interestingly enough, there is a report where Gartner recommended that technology and service providers target high-growth industry segments through 2014, as well as undertaking further analysis of large, slow-growth segments for unusual growth opportunities at the sub industry segment level. The question is what pieces do people want to run, and what really matters to customers. The truth is that no one has yet reached the flexibility bar as adequately as a customer wants. Rohit feels the same. Probably Cloud would present itself as the ‘nirvana’ answer to this question. He opines that efforts are meanwhile on to ensure compatibility and Cloud can bring in the flexibility and ease that is so missing. In any case, customers should remember not to be side-cornered or locked in by any vendor, when it comes to making technology choices.

PHOTO GRAPHY: PHOTOS .CO M

allowing companies to emerge as strong competitors. The real show of strength would be in the SaaS part of the equation, he says. Salesforce, Workday HCM are examples. More so, with the gaps that yawn when it comes to the boxes big players sell. Large players want to be everywhere and do everything you may ask. There he agrees and adds issues like differentiated IP, localization, microprotocols, country-specific localization etc. A sheet metal manufacturing plant in China or India can’t use the same boxes meant for others you see. Indian palate as one would interpret rightly here. It may not be surprising at all to find Rohit Kumar Rai, Sales Director - India, South East Asia & Australia, EnterpriseDB Corporation espousing that thought too since they are the guys known for Open-source data bases aka Postgres. But the argument couldn’t get cogent. More so as data bases and ERP challengers fit quite well. ERPs are all about data, at the core of it, from organization or structuring to application or leveraging for business decisions. That way, it is a very interesting time for open-source databases, Rohit argues. “Data is at the heart of any ERP or BI pack. While a lot goes into building an ERP and making it a success, data is the second highest component among other elements like implementation, application servers, operating systems etc.” As facilitators who have a good influence vantage point on Postgres, he opines that when enterprises are looking for alternative ERP solutions, they can think out of the box. “Recession has clearly indicated that one-stack approach doesn’t work. It may have made the customer look smart at another point in time, but it made him look constrained this time. Maintenance costs, migration issues, lack of choices to switch-over, you name it and they all appeared in the recessionary days where vendors knew that customer has no choice but to stay and pay. It

LOW COST ERP | INSIGHT

IT SPENDING BY INDUSTRY VERTICAL MARKET, WORLDWIDE (MILLIONS OF DOLL ARS)

Worldwide enterprise IT spending across all industry markets will grow 2.9 percent in 2010 and surpass $2.4 trillion, according to Gartner, Inc INDUSTRY

TOTAL IT

GROWTH (%)

SPENDING 2010

SPENDING 2009

2009-2010

Banking and Securities

390,488

379,855

2.8

Communications Media

392,506

378,750

3.6

Education

64,148

62,607

2.5

Healthcare

88,996

86,215

3.2

Insurance

159,926

156,573

2.1

Retail

146,239

142,420

2.7

Transportation

105,703

103,689

1.9

Utilities

125,583

119,927

4.7

Wholesale Trade

83,315

81,196

2.6

and Services

Source: Gartner (August 2010)

Now let’s bring an interesting company here. The name is Agresso, and it has etched a place in the way its business action and surveys like IDC study in 2009, highlight how ERP biggies can fail and paralyse businesses. When asked if there’s enough room for challengers in a market ruled by Biggies and is it all about filling missing gaps, we get some insight and thoughtstimulation from what Ton Dobbe, VP Product Management & Marketing, UNIT4 has to say. ‘Big’ ERP from vendors like SAP and Oracle, typically not only mean high costs in the pre-implementation phase, but more importantly, even higher cost to maintain in the post implementation phase, both from a cost (internal and external hours) as well as from a business disruption perspective. Dynamic organisations are starting to realise that this doesn’t have to be the case. There are flexible alternatives out there. Businesses have had enough of

being held to ransom by the traditional ERP vendors and external consultants and are starting to realise that there are alternatives.” And no, Dobbe stresses, this has nothing to do with do with delivering the missing pieces for the customers in respect to localisation, customisation or verticalisation. “What this is delivering is a radically different approach to how businesses living in change can do business i.e. be in charge of their own innovation.”

What should ‘he’ do? ‘He’, the customer is as always, caught in a paradox. What happens to the customer amidst this tsunami of changes? What is he supposed to interpret, strategize or watch out for? It could as well be a new sales blitzkrieg or a fad. Ray dives in here and supports the idea of opening one’s horizons. It is a good time, he advises, to consider other companies.

For instance- a two-tiered model where Workday and BusinessByDesign can be invested in together. If someone wants a niche solution, no need to wait for a large ERP vendor anymore. Now when it comes to caveat for customers, there are plenty. For instance, Rohit mentioned this that if you are looking at a smaller player, it’s very important to look for frameworks, and compliance with standards. Forget small companies, even the big ones at times falter in implementation issues. At that point you don’t want to be stuck in a position where you can neither work, nor extract data to move on to something else. Factors like cost of extraction of data and lock-ins are very important here. He obviously added that Postgres would be a safe option here, being standard compliant and flexible. But he maintained that buying a small ERP vendor is certainly a good idea but only if you have gone through the check-list properly. The exciting bit here is that buffet approach can work for IT too. As Rohit would answer that it applies to technology spectrum - As long as you know what your appetite is, and as long as you uniquely select the dish that fits your taste and needs. Another factor to remember here is balance. Make sure none of the dishes that you put on your plate conflicts with other food items. IT or food, you never want an upset stomach, do you?

‘Desi’ Challengers – Anyone? It’s time top pop that question. What Altimeter’s survey picked were international names. Do we have a challenger breed back home? There are companies like MAIA Intelligence for BI (as young as 2006), TAKE Solutions for Life Sciences, Krawler Networks, Emptoris for contract management and supply chains; so many are gaining speed. Now even Google has its eyes on attacking the enterprise market. Vertical or domain specific solutions are the gravy trains today. Any IT spend survey would show you their appetite.

O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 | ITNEXT

INSIGHT | LOW COST ERP

WHAT DO BOSSES WORRY ABOUT?

The selection and implementation of ERP solutions can become a complex decesion for many organizations.

* Expensive, very very heavy on wallets, specially with upgrades * Vague product roadmaps * Costly-cum Stifling Licenses a.k.a Handcuffs * Localisation holes, or in other words, yawning gaps * Vertical-specific functionality weaknesses * Long and unwieldy paybacks * Implementation snags * Application-performance potholes * ERP Paralysis: Disruptions can cost critical business hours and bucks * Constant Changes and Upgrades * Monolithic and non-agile

And talking about their USP, that marketing clincher, Sanjay Mehta, the CEO of MAIA Intelligence Pvt. Ltd will tell its sweet spots for its 1KEY Agile. Mehta argues that while affordability doesn’t sound glamorous, it has major implications for a BI reporting roll out. If that is expensive, out of budget can’t reach thousands of users inside the enterprise and beyond. As per his claim, traditional BI software have always focused and assisted the strategic layer alone. They have left the tactical and operational levels to depend on basic static reports. These tools are expensive & used by only top tier management level, expert users - analysts and the rest of the 85 per cent of business user pyramid is deprived of a BI for MIS, Analysis and monitoring performances. Move to another company, let’s say TAKE, and we hear that the current challenge the customers face in the SCM is fickle customer demand due to heightened competition. Added to this is the complexity of outsourcing, low cost country sourcing and regulatory challenges. Accommodating to changing environments will always need specialized systems that extend to the consumption centers and supply source.

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Now from what TAKE boasts of, while the ERPs would meet the general financial and statutory needs, specialized systems like TAKE would be needed to respond for market challenges in an agile manner. One size fits all model is a far cry. Customers will have to depend on multiple but closely integrated systems, as they will tell you. It’s surely not a ramp-walk in a land ruled by the biggies. It’s tough. And they admit their fair share of challenges. In the words of S Sridharan, MD of TAKE Solutions, customers are looking for complete solutions. “Only niche companies with deep domain expertise and experience can solve these problems. Challenges, are there be it acquiring domain expertise or attracting domain specialists. Most of the organizations have existing systems like ERP in place. These systems are built to cater to a wider market and not necessarily to address the specific nuances of each industry vertical. The challenges faced by the Life Sciences Company could be different from a CPG or Hi-tech industry, TAKE stresses. When you apply a particular ERP system in different industry vertical you have unique challenges. These challenges make customers to opt for

manual intervention traditionally. That gives TAKE some white spaces to solve.” And as he confidently emphasized they have traditionally co existed with the major core systems.

Should the Huge Bosses worry? To be fair, why to paint everyone with the same brush? Haven’t the big bosses started re-assessing and re-aligning themselves? Large players have to deal with so many customers, so many environments and legacy stuff, that it becomes tough for them, as Ray would point out. At the same time, fat companies can’t make big/quick changes. From where we stand today, five years from here, the young breed can take-over the erstwhile ones. It could be a quixotic dream. But it still means a lot for an IT team tired of AMCs, lock-ins, expensive/wasteful upgrades and other headaches. After all, it’s not everyday that ‘he’ is still looking around for the right ‘suit’. And as history would note in the annals with a fluorescent ink, a man spent 45 minutes window-shopping today. He is still searching. Find similar stories online on the website www.itnext.in/Insight

Edu Tech December 2009

INSIGHT | INTERNET APPLICATIONS

RICH INTERNET APPLICATIONS:

RICHER PLATFORMS, RICHER TARGETS

ITNEXT | O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0

RIA tools combine the power of native applications with the deployment virtues of the Web, providing opportunities for both developers and malware writers. BY L A R RY S E LT ZER

INTERNET APPLICATIONS | INSIGHT The next frontier of corporate development may well be Rich Internet Applications, which do not necessarily run in the browser and are free of the user-interface limitations of that environment. Corporate development went headfirst into conventional internet application development before the enormous security implications of that platform were clear. As a result, many organizations found—and still find— themselves on a bumpy ride as browser, tool and server vendors set about working through their security kinks. What about RIAs? Is the security picture any better for these platforms, or will these richer environments deliver similarly rich opportunities for malware writers? As with native and Web-based applications, secure development and deployment of RIAs depend in large part on sound management and patching policies, along with careful attention to the built-in security features of these platforms. There are quite a few RIA platforms, but only three of any fame: Adobe’s AIR, Microsoft’s Silverlight and Oracle’s JavaFX. You could make the case that Adobe Flash and Oracle’s Java are more general RIA platforms, but these three are the products marketed for stand-alone RIA development. AIR is based on the Flash platform and open-source Webkit browser, Silverlight on the .NET framework and JavaFX on Java. AIR and JavaFX are just a few years old. (However, you could claim that Java has provided RIAs since 1994.) The main innovation in JavaFX is a simpler scripting language. Out-ofbrowser apps are new to Silverlight 4.

I LLUSTRATIO N: ANI L T

A Question Of Security All three RIAs bring many, if not all, of the security issues of their base platforms. The first thing you need to be concerned about is the security record of the platform. After examining the products and documentation, it’s clear that Adobe has put the most work into security, as well as the documentation of secure practices for administrators and developers. This may be counterintuitive, as their reputation for security has

not been good lately, and their products are the most common target for attack. Nevertheless, Adobe has adopted several measures in the last year or two to improve the security of its products (most prominently Reader), and these efforts have made a difference. If you are careful and conscientious about your AIR/Flash and application deployments, you can feel secure about them. Flash’s record for security vulnerabilities in the last few years is not a

installation rate, it’s an up-and-comer in the exploit world. JavaFX actually has not had a single reported vulnerability, but that doesn’t mean much, since JavaFX apps can call into Java and avail themselves of Java problems. Silverlight’s record in this regard may be the best of the three. There have been only three reported vulnerabilities in Silverlight, two of them just recently. The total number of reported .NET framework vulnerabilities over the

LEFT: Like other RIAs, AIR apps can run in a sandbox or with system access privileges. You choose. BOTTOM: Built-in management features for Java are rather spartan, but the APIs are rich.

happy one. Scores of vulnerabilities have been found and, generally, fixed. Exploit code for Flash vulnerabilities is not hard to find, and its popularity is not hard to explain: Flash can be found on a very high percentage of desktop computers— probably higher than that of Windows. Though it doesn’t get as much attention, Webkit also has a record of platform vulnerabilities in recent years, and some of these may be exploitable through your application. Java’s vulnerability record is also less than stellar: Because of a high desktop

years that could affect Silverlight is hard to count, but it is probably no more than 12—and that includes the three Silverlight vulnerabilities. In all three cases, the RIA platform has few reported vulnerabilities, with none in JavaFX’s case. But vulnerabilities in the base platforms Flash, .NET and Java can be exploited through vulnerabilities in your own apps. Even if we can be optimistic about the platform vulnerability records going forward, the real issue in the future may be cross-site scripting, cross-site request

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INSIGHT | INTERNET APPLICATIONS

WEB RESOURCES FOR SECURING RICH INTERNET APPLICATIONS Adobe Flash Player Administration Guide: http://www.adobe.com/ devnet/flashplayer/articles/flash_ player_admin_guide.html Adobe Air Security Overview & Administrator Guide: http:// help.adobe.com/en_US/air/security/WS485a42d56cd196415cc29732124ef23decb-8000.html JavaFX Secure Application Tutorial: http://download.oracle.com/ javafx/1.3/tutorials/Create-SecureJavaFX-App/index.html Oracle Java Silent Installation Guide: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/silent-136552. html

Visual Studio 2010 is where you do all your Silverlight work, including security settings for apps.

Microsoft Silverlight Group Policy Management: http://www.microsoft.com/GetSilverlight/resources/ documentation/grouppolicysettings. aspx Silverlight Deployment Guide: http://download.microsoft.com/ download/7/8/d/78da8ec9-880142e5-89e5-3809386f1316/Silverlight %2520Deployment%2520Guide.doc

forgery and the other flaws that are extremely common among conventional Web apps. None of the platforms or development tools provides any special help to avoid these errors.

Windows administrators can constrain the rights of RIA platforms, such as Silverlight, through Group Policy controls.

Proliferation Of Unpatched Versions: A Shared Problem All three of these platforms also share the problem of a proliferation of old, unpatched versions, despite the fact that the surest way to keep your security tight is to keep your clients updated. Microsoft and Adobe help users with this more than Oracle does. Adobe provides procedures and tools for auto-

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mating and managing updates through standard group policy mechanisms. Silverlight, in addition to having its own update mechanism, can be updated through WSUS (Windows Server Update Services). Java has an auto-update mechanism and can be installed silently, but Oracle

provides no MSI version, making management more difficult. If you have a full-blown patch management system, then all products should be easier to manage. There are other management issues besides updates, but you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get a lot of options with them. With Silverlight, you can use group policies

INTERNET APPLICATIONS | INSIGHT to control whether clients can play DRM (digital-rights-management) content; set the Silverlight auto-update mechanism to full auto, prompt or no updates; decide whether to allow Silverlight access to the Webcam and microphone; enable or disable the use of UDP (user datagram protocol) multicast; and, most importantly, enable or disable the installation of trusted applications. Trusted applications can access local system resources such as the file system. More details can be found in the Silverlight Deployment Guide (Word Document). The Adobe Flash Player Administration Guide for Flash Player 10.1 is a gold mine of information on controlling installation (including SMS configuration), file formats and network protocols used by the product. By putting an mms.cfg file on client systems, you can centrally manage security and other configuration options, including a whitelist of

domains and IP addresses with which Flash/AIR may communicate, and not with any others. AIR-specific security information is also plentiful, starting with AIR Security Overview and AIR Administrator’s Guide. Somewhat surprisingly, all AIR apps have to be code-signed, although a self-signed certificate may be used. This gives administrators the ability to block un-trustworthy code. AIR apps run in sandboxes similar to Flash sandboxes. Java can be managed with some third-party products, but out-of-the-box management is meager. There is a rich JMX (Java Management eXtensions) API if you want to build your own. All three platforms default to running programs in a limited sandbox mode, but they also allow programs to elevate permissions in order to access the file system and other resources. Flash applications can be configured to trust a variety of scopes of content, from specific files or directories all

the way up to complete trust. This is a loaded gun, of course, but sometimes you need to trust applications. Trusted apps in Silverlight can also access the local file system and interoperate through COM with native code libraries. This allows you to leverage existing back-end software while using Silverlight as a front-end experience. Trusted JavaFX apps, like all Java apps, have to be digitally signed. If you don’t sign the app, the user will be bombarded with security questions; if it is signed, they simply have to say once that they trust the program’s publisher. It’s clear that all three platforms have strengths, but from a security standpoint, the picture is blurry. Silverlight definitely looks strongest based on real-world experience, but that may just demonstrate a lack of interest due to a lack of market share. Larry Seltzer is a veteran writer of both technology articles and software. ©eWeek

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INSIGHT | VIRTUALIZATION

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 beta

SETTING THE PACE W REVIE

eWEEK Labs’ review of the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 beta shows that the new functionality enhances Hyper-V virtualization, but VMware still sets the pace in enterprise VM infrastructure. BY C A M E R O N ST U R D E VA N T

In the upper right, you see the VMs I used to look at SP1. These VMs were running on a physical system with a professional-class graphics card that was used to support the new RemoteFX display features.

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The beta release of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack (SP) 1 introduces new ways to manage virtual machine memory, graphics and peripheral devices that add new dimensions to the usefulness of Hyper-V. While these advances step up Microsoft’s challenge in the virtual server and desktop arena, the preview offered in the beta release reveals that the first service pack release for the most current Microsoft server operating system is still trying to catch up with already established benchmarks for enterprise class virtualization. These features, including Dynamic Memory, RemoteFX and improvements to USB redirection, will require an IT manager’s attention, as plans are made for server and remote desktop implementations over the next several

INSIGHT | VIRTUALIZATION DisplayPort-capable monitors (in my case, using a DisplayPort to DVI adapter) and lots of fast RAM to support my tests, none of which are yet a common fixture in the eWEEK Labs equipment locker. Enterprises that are accustomed to buying server hardware with only minimal graphics capabilities will need to become much more savvy about the ins and outs of specifying high-end graphics cards for data center servers that are destined to host sophisticated virtual desktop implementations. This is on top of the growing RAM requirements of dense virtual environments.

Managing Memories

Here you see that I’ve just added the RemoteFX 3D video adapter to one of my test VMs.

years. IT managers who are considering data center virtualisation projects should put the Windows Server 2008 R2 service pack beta on their immediate evaluation shortlist. The beta is stable enough for use in test environments. My tests at eWEEK Labs showed that the fundamental implementation changes warrant enterprise users allotting significant test and strategic planning resources for an in-depth look at the SP1 beta. It became available in July and is offered as a no-charge download from Microsoft. I tested the SP1 beta on what can best be described as a professional design system because a sufficiently powerful graphics card is not part of our standard server testbed. In this case, I used a white-box system outfitted with an AMD Phenom II 1055T processor with 12GB of RAM and an ATI FirePro V8800 graphics card. This system—and all the virtual server instances that I created in my test environment—was running Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 beta version 178. It’s clear that with SP1, Microsoft is signaling that the server hardware of tomorrow will need to be equipped differently from what it is today if certain workloads—including those that vary significantly in memory usage or desktop graphics support—are destined for the data center. I needed to rustle up

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Some USB devices (Webcam, fingerprint reader and telephone headset) have been picked up by the RemoteFX USB support.

The SP1 beta includes Microsoft’s answer to VMware’s memory management system. In Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, this feature is called Dynamic Memory. I used the Dynamic Memory feature to balance the memory automatically between my VMs based on preset limits. As with most management systems, Dynamic Memory uses policy, set in a period of calm, to determine how scarce resources (in this case, RAM) will be divvied up in times of tumult and contention. When I created my VMs, I specified several RAM memory parameters, including Startup, Maximum, Buffer and Priority. These parameters specify the minimum amount of RAM needed to start a system, the maximum I would ever want it to consume, a buffer measured as a percentage and the priority of this workload in the overall scheme of business operations. In my tests, the VMs performed as expected. When I beefed up operations on a high priority VM, the other VMs were starved in order to keep my priority system running at top performance. When RAM requirements on my priority system fell, this resource was reallocated among the other VMs on the test system. During the beta cycle I’ll be looking into claims made by both Microsoft and VMware as to the best way to implement memory management systems—a feature that VMware has had for some time.

Remote But Not Forgotten RemoteFX consists of a set of features that in RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol, formerly Terminal Services) I used in my tests of the beta to look at rich graphics applications and USB redirection. The results were impressive. RemoteFX dramatically improves graphic-

VIRTUALIZATION | INSIGHT intensive applications in a VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) environment. As you can see in my video at tinyurl.com/2conuwb, a virtual desktop that is hosted on a user client in a LAN performs with no noticeable difference than it does when running directly on the client hardware. Achieving this effect requires dramatic changes in the server hardware. Because the graphics processing for the virtual desktop takes place on the server—not on the client hardware—IT managers will need to beef up servers with professional-class graphics hardware. Combined with the increasing amount of RAM needed to support dense server deployments, system managers should be chucking their time-worn capacity planning formulas. The good news is that Intel and AMD have taken steps to control processor thermals. The new question raised in my tests of the SP1 beta asks how well add-in card makers are doing on this front. With lots of RAM, CPU cores, hopped-up graphics cards and the power supplies needed to juice up these systems, the thermal and power gains achieved by server consolidation must be considered the cushion that will be used to implement workloads that RemoteFX capabilities make possible. Besides the hardware requirements, there is also a fair amount of server and virtual machine setup needed to support the visually impressive results offered by RemoteFX. First off, all the participating systems that include client devices need to run SP1, regardless of whether it is on Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7. Only Windows 7 Enterprise and Ultimate SKUs are licensed to take advantage of the RemoteFX capabilities. I needed to create Windows 7 virtual machine pools capable of supporting the Aero interface. And, these systems needed to have the RemoteFX display driver added on the Hyper-V management server. Once the virtual machine was equipped with the RemoteFX display driver, it couldn’t be seen by the UI when accessed by the Hyper-V virtual machine console - a known issue in the beta. Thus, I had to do a number of configuration changes (such as setting the IP address of the VM) before activating the RemoteFX display capability. Once all the configuration changes were made in my test environment, the visual payoff was impressive. Video played flawlessly, and the sound quality was good. Playing the test video side-by-side with a laptop running the video in

Here you see that the physical Webcam on my test laptop is available for use inside the virtual machine.

a standalone Windows 7 environment, it was impossible for me to distinguish between the two systems.

Here And There

Find similar stories online on the website www.itnext.in/ Insight

I used RemoteFX USB redirection to use the Webcam on my test laptop inside a Windows 7 virtual machine. For IT managers who are evaluating VDI technologies, this is an important change and should be explored as an important advance in the Windows Hyper-V environment. As with RemoteFX graphics, the client system and the virtual machine host should be running SP1. First, I had to make a change to Group Policy in my test domain to enable RDP redirection of supported USB devices. On the laptop, I forced the Group Policy update and then restarted the laptop with all my USB devices (a Plantronics DSP 400 telephone headset, built-in Webcam and fingerprint reader) connected. During the Remote Desktop Connection process, I was presented with a configuration screen that allowed me to specify which USB devices should be available for use in the remote session. The devices worked as expected in my virtual desktop. In the final implementation of this feature, I would like to see a more straightforward method of connecting USB devices at startup: for example, a reconfigured Remote Desktop Connection screen implementation that shows all discovered USB devices up front, rather than forcing the user to navigate several tabs. Technical Director Cameron Sturdevant can be reached at csturdevant@eweek.com. ©eWeek

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Edu Tech December 2009

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SUNIL JOSHI | INTERVIEW

â&#x20AC;&#x153;IT IS TIME TO DUB THE CIOS AS CHIEF INTELLIGENCE OFFICERâ&#x20AC;? In a free-wheeling interaction Sunil Joshi, President, Enterprise Business Unit, Tata Communications, talks to Shashwat DC about the changing role of the CIO, the tumultuous relation shared between the vendor and IT manager and other things that have impacted the business of IT.

IT decisions within the company these days are more driven from the business need and not merely technological concerns. How big has been the impact of the same? IT has evolved much over the past two decades, from being a room in the corner and with some servers that largely generated reports, to becoming a necessity and now finally becoming an enabler of technology. If you look at the changing dynamics of the marketplace, IT is playing a crucial role within the enterprise as the facilitator of innovation and engineering newer business models. IT has really moved from the back-office, to being right at the very forefront of the organisation.

Technology now underpins almost all elements of business and is omnipresent all across.

Since, the advent of technology in the enterprise space, CIOs and IT managers have acted as custodians of technology and confining themselves to operational aspects. How big has been the change on that front and what are the implications? CIOs are actually actively handling business challenges these days. Much like the role of IT within the organisation, the role of CIOs too has undergone a sea change. In the past, the CIO used to report to the CFO, but now most of them directly report to the CEO. This is fairly

indicative of the weightage that is given to the CIO. From the job perspective, since IT now underlays every function, the CIO is now involved in all aspects, right from customer acquisition to vendor management. In fact, in some technology centric companies, he or she is a part of all decision-making process, even if it does not directly pertain to IT. So, coming back to the question, the implication, so as to say, has been huge.

With the latest advances like cloud, etc., outsourcing is no more a scary proposition. Yet, many CIOs and IT managers are unsure of letting go the control or rather the security of having

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INTERVIEW | SUNIL JOSHI the data reside within the enterprise. What could be the best approach? To be honest, security is a very genuine concern and it is not surprising to see that most of the CIO or IT managers spend a major chunk of their time on issues that are related to security. Outsourcing, today, has come of age. Gone are the days when it used to be a dangerous proposition, when as an enterprise you were unsure and had little control on what measures were being taken by the vendor. Today, through strict SLAs and contracts, a CIO exerts equal, if not higher, control on how information is being handled at the 3rd party premise. The benefits that an enterprise has through outsourcing, in terms of efficiencies gained, cost reduction, business impact, etc. far outweigh the percieved notions of security. And then, outsourcing need not be a bigbang process, it could be a fairly piece-meal, depending upon the comfort level of the CIO and the business requirement. For instance, something as mundane as email management can be easily outsourced to a cloudvendor in the start and then based on its success, other aspects could also be ported. Is the core vs non-core (for outsourcing) still a valid argument? It is very much a valid case. In fact, according to me, it is the most fundamental decision that an enterprise needs to make beforehand. In today’s business environment, it is given that technology needs be used for internal consumption as well as for managing the business. Hence, there are a quite a number of functions within the company that are not directly related to its core competency. So, a tyre manufacturer need not really

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bother about CRM application or how the data is stored in the server. All these functions are largely non-core; so why should a company invest precious capital on installing them within the premise, when it can all be had on a pay-per use kind of model. Thus, the first thing that any company needs to do is list out what is important, namely core and what isn’t, and then, they can fashion a stratagem based on the same.

There is an inherent mistrust between the CIOs and IT managers community and the technology vendors. How valid is this accusation and what steps need be taken to mitigate this mistrust? Just like all fingers aren’t the same, the case is quite the same with the vendors as well. Sometimes, the experiences are good and at certain times, they aren’t. My suggestion is that CIOs and IT managers need to choose vendors just like they would choose friends. Thus, keep the doors open for a selected trusted partner, based on the past

“IT NOW UNDERLAYS EVERY FUNCTION, THE CIO IS NOW INVOLVED IN ALL ASPECTS, RIGHT FROM CUSTOMER ACQUISITION TO VENDOR MANAGEMENT” experiences. Working closely as a partner can work to mutual benefit of both the enterprise tech team and vendors. And I see lot of that happening all the time.

Find other interviews online on the website www.itnext. in/resources/ interviews

Looking into the future, how will the CIOs and the IT manager’s role change in the hyper-connected world? Needless to say, as technology becomes more integrated into the business DNA, the role of the CIOs and IT managers will get more business ingrained. With hyper-connectivity, the CIOs and IT managers will be right at the forefront enabling productivity gains and higher collaboration within the enterprise. The CIO of the future will not only be a chief information officer but also a chief intelligence officer.

15MINUTE MANAGER

TRAINING EDUCATION WORKPLACE COMPENSATION WORKFORCE TRENDS SKILLS DEVELOPMENT PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

SLEEP APNEA GUIDE PAGE 56

IT Strat Social in the Enterprise THIS PAGE Manage IT What’s next for Laptops PAGE 57 Dressing Up Tips for the Perfect Suit PAGE 58 Training Calendar Career booster courses PAGE 60

I LLUSTRATIO N: ANI L T

BY WAY N E R U S H

If you ask someone to name some of the hottest services on the web today, a few candidates are certain to come up. The microblogging service Twitter was hot among techies last year, and now—thanks to celebrities such as Oprah and Ashton Kutcher—it is wellknown among the general public. And already generally popular is Facebook, the social network that has changed the way people connect with friends and colleagues. While they are starting to seem old in comparison, the classic Web 2.0 technologies also command a lot of mind share. Businesses themselves have been hesitant to adopt them in-house. Public services such as Twitter and Facebook, while potentially valuable for controlled company information and marketing, are too insecure and uncontrollable for internal company use. However, that doesn’t mean businesses don’t see the attractiveness of these technologies and the potential they have. A service like Twitter can easily cut down on company e-mail, improve work and project tracking, and keep employees connected. And a corporate-focused social network can boost collaboration and project management, as well as improve

IT STRAT

SOCIAL IN THE ENTERPRISE Services suitable for use in the enterprise, potentially boosting collaboration and productivity O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 | ITNEXT

15-MINUTE MANAGER

Few companies would want to use Twitter for in-house business, as it is a public network. The solution is to implement an access-controlled Twitter-like service for business use. This is pretty much the idea behind Socialcast. To get started with Socialcast I simply went to www.socialcast.com and started up a company account. With the signup, Socialcast provides a unique company URL in the form of companyname.socialcast.com. When I first logged into Socialcast, it seemed similar to Twitter, though with a nicer look and some key differences. Users can enter standard Twitterlike messages about their status and messages can be entered from the main Socialcast screen or sent through e-mail to the service. Socialcast also has tools to categorize and tag messages. Special tags can also be used within messages to help with filtering and searching. With any tag you want to use, simply put # in front of a word. So, it would be possible to classify all sales discussions. Messages can have any file type attached to them, and can also be put into company-configurable categories. Users create profiles with all of their relevant companies and contact information, and other users can easily

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BEWARE OF THE SLEEP APNEA SLEEP APNEA Every year, almost 4% of men and 2% of women, over 35 years of age are identified as obstructive sleep apnea sufferers

women

4% men

Sleep Apnea can lead to life threatening consequences, including heart congestion, strokes, and increased risk of a car accident.

Do you snore like a steam engine and keep others awake? Do you feel listless even after hours of sleep? Do you frequently doze off? If yes, then you could be suffering from sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder characterised by abnormal pauses in breathing or instances of abnormally low breathing, during sleep. In a given night, the number of “apneic events” may be as high as 20 to 30 per hour. These breathing pauses are almost always accompanied by snoring. People with sleep apnea often feel very sleepy during the day and their concentration suffers. The consequences of sleep apnea range from depression, irritability, sexual dysfunction, learning and memory difficulties, and falling asleep while at work, on the phone, or driving. It has been estimated that up to 50% of sleep apnea patients have high blood pressure. Sleep apnea is diagnosed with an overnight sleep test called a polysomnogram, or a “sleep study”. There are two basic ways in which sleep apnea can be helped by the individual, namely lifestyle changes and bed time basics Lose weight Quit smoking Avoid alcohol, sleeping pills, and sedatives Avoid caffeine and heavy meals Maintain regular sleep hours Sleep on your side Prop your head up Open your nasal passages If all these don’t help, the only way out is to get medical help. But at no cost should you avoid or underestimate sleep apnea.

PHOTO GRAPHY: PHOTOS .CO M

Socialcast

HEALTHY LIVING

PHOTO GRAPHY: JAYAN K NARAYANAN

knowledge and expertise awareness. While companies may not want to use Facebook and Twitter for internal employee use, I looked at three SAAS (Software as a Service) products that leverage technologies similar to Twitter, Facebook and classic Web 2.0 products and attempt to revise them for business use: Socialcast, Socialtext and Huddle. All three have different focuses and take different approaches toward improving business productivity. Some businesses will find one or more of these products attractive immediately; others will most likely choose to stick with classic collaboration. Eventually, companies will use the features found in these products, as it is inevitable that they will become standard features in collaboration and management tools in the future.

15-MINUTE MANAGER view this data by using the People tab and search within Socialcast. Socialcast also provides an analytics screen that tracks usage of the system and offers a quick visual glance at the type of discussions occurring.

Socialtext Socialtext has been around for several years and has been regularly adding other new web technologies. This has led to the latest incarnation of the Socialtext service, which is pretty much a smorgasbord of new web technologies. Along with its classic wiki capabilities, Socialtext (www.socialtext.com) includes a Twitter-like messaging feature, blogs, social networking capabilities and an optional RIA (Rich Internet Application)-based desktop interface. If your business is looking for something more like Facebook for business, Socialtext is worth looking at. The main browser interface of Socialtext is the dashboard. This is a classic customizable widget interface that lets users get a quick view and can quickly jump into any task or project. The main organisational units in Socialtext are Workspaces. Businesses

can create Workspaces for tasks and other collaborative group efforts. For the most part, the core part of a Workspace is a classic Socialtext wiki. The microblogging, Twitter-like aspect of Socialtext is called Signals. The question asked in this case is “What are you working on?”— which really pushes the business focus. It worked very much like Twitter and was effective for sending out status messages or carrying out communications. The service also provides a free application called the Socialtext Desktop, which is built using Adobe’s AIR RIA technology. Interestingly, the look and feel of this interface is in many ways different from the main browser interface, with most of the emphasis on the microblogging signals and social networking aspects as opposed to the dashboard and Workspaces. Socialtext is priced at $15 per user per month with volume pricing available. It is offered in both a hosted SAAS model and as an internally deployed appliance system.

Huddle Huddle, which is available at huddle.

MANAGE IT

WHAT’S NEXT FOR LAPTOPS? The biggest changes coming in laptop computers are in the choice of processors, the type of storage and the means of user input. Also, as wireless infrastructure grows, these mobile computers are gaining wireless capabilities to match. BY WAY N E R U S H

net, is the most classic business collaboration application of the three evaluated. Much of the focus of Huddle is around project, file and task management. Within Huddle, tasks could be assigned and tracked, meetings could be scheduled (and even carried out using the free Huddle teleconferencing service), and threaded discussions could take place for each project. A whiteboard feature provides basic but effective wiki capabilities. The social networking aspects of Huddle are very basic, providing only standard information about other employees in the system. However, this may not be such a big deal, as Huddle can be used from directly within other social networking systems. One aspect of Huddle is its ability to be plugged into networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Pricing for Huddle is based on number of workspaces, size of file storage permitted and other premium features. Chief Technology Analyst Jim Rapoza can be reached at jrapoza@eweek.com.

o matter how you look at it, laptop computers are getting faster, lighter, more convenient and more capable. In one sense, the laptop computer has been a remarkably stable platform. The first laptop I ever used, the Data General One, was in 1984, and it was the prototype for all that followed. Yes, it ran MS-DOS on the command line, and it weighed 9 pounds, but with its LCD screen, flat keyboard and clamshell case, this form factor has remained essentially the same for 26 years. But of course, during that time, laptop computers have become more portable, more powerful and more diverse. Now, the definition of what constitutes a laptop computer is changing.

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15-MINUTE MANAGER DRESSING UP

TIPS FOR THE PERFECT SUIT It is said that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. That’s quite the case with business suits. Here are a few handy tips on how to get ‘suited’ up:

Check the fabric: There are almost all fabrics which are exploited to make suits. But the most durable and apt fabric is a high quality wool. It also makes a perfect fit. It is advisable to buy only the suits that are made up of at the least 45% of wool. Wool, along with Polyester, gives great crease recovery to a suit. It also helps in easier tdry cleaning.

Don’t forget the fit: Fit is the most important factor when you choose to wear this attire. You just cannot get away with a clumsy ensemble. A branded showroom can offer great fitting ones. But another option which is popularly chosen is to assemble or pull together pieces from different sets. This will give you freedom to choose a jacket and a trouser of various sizes so that they can fit your body perfectly.

Do the style: A two buttoned men’s suit is a timeless piece of art. It is a classic look and that which is believed strongly to be in vogue forever. Also, two side vents are practically comfortable. But three- or four-button jackets are also available. Only thin men should wear formal double-breasted jackets, which add bulk to the figure. These should be kept buttoned at all times, as the jacket hangs awkwardly otherwise.

Pants and ties: The trouser or the pants style depends a lot on your health. For instance, pleats make pants dressy and provide room for movement, while flat-front pants are slimming. Cuffed legs are formal, add weight to the suit and can make the leg seem shorter; uncuffed pants elongate the leg and are more informal. Meanwhile, pay more attention to the tie than anything else. Make sure that the tie chosen matches your suit and also that it reaches till your belt line. The tie should not be too long or too short. It should be correct enough to add an impressive look. The ties should be knotted properly and it should be known that proper knotted ties must have dimple.

PHOTO GRAPHY: PHOTO S.C OM

Matching the shoes: The other important factor considered in mens’ suit is shoes. Men should wear shoes cleanly, proper condition, shine look, repaired and it should be suitable for the occasion. People are suggested to prefer lace up shoes, so that men have enhancing look of formal, sophistication, royal and trendy.

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No matter how you look at it, laptop computers are getting faster, lighter, more convenient and more capable. To some, the introduction of Apple’s iPad, as well as new tablets apparently under development at HP and Dell, may mean the end of the laptop. Experts, however, disagree. “The iPad is not really a computer, it’s an appliance,” explained analyst Craig Mathias of Farpoint Group. He and others point out that the iPad is essentially a content-consumption device, and while it’s possible to create content with an iPad, it’s not really designed for that. Analyst Jack Gold of J. Gold Associates explains. “A tablet is a window on the Internet,” Gold said. “It’s a physical instantiation of a browser,” he added. However, the tablet-as-browser may also be its strength. It reduces the process of using a browser to its most basic form – an on-screen image and little else. As it’s delivered, the iPad isn’t useful for creating documents or presentations; it does provide a convenient means of displaying them and providing a platform for presentations. One informal survey conducted by Citrix Systems, for example, reported that 83% of companies surveyed plans to provide access to personal iPads in some way. The distinction between netboook and laptop computers may have already disappeared. Some analysts, including Mathias, already lump them together. Tablets, likewise, may be morphing into notebook computers more than supplanting them. The touch screen and multitouch technology that’s already being used on the iPad and on a variety of smartphones is pretty much a sure thing for laptop computers. Touch screens have been around for years, and so have tablets that can switch between being laptop computers and using touch-sensitive screens. The biggest difference that’s on the horizon will be the adoption of some of the technologies that have seen success in the tablet and mobile world. For example, Apple’s iPad uses the same

15-MINUTE MANAGER operating environment as its iPod Touch. HP’s rumored Hurricane tablet may use Palm’s WebOS. Another area that’s already making the transition from mobile devices to notebook computers is solid state storage. While rotating hard disks will clearly be around for a while because of their low price and high capacity, their days in the world of mobile computers, including laptops, are numbered. Solid state disks are immune from the moderate shocks of daily mobility, and also use less power, which in turn allows for greater battery life. Some netbook computers and a few notebook computers already offer solid state storage as an option, but rapid growth in that area is held back by the cost of providing large capacity solid state storage. In the shorter term, however, it’s starting to look like a few of the trends that are already showing up in consumer laptop computers have started to make their way into the enterprise as well. In addition, notebook computers will diversify even more than they already have, with desktop and workstation replacement devices becoming more common. According to Carol Hess-Nickels, HP’s director of Worldwide Business Notebook Marketing, new business notebooks will feature a variety of colors, but in addition will be thinner and lighter. Taking a page from the netbook approach, she said that optical

Communications, both within the enterprise and externally, is growing in importance for laptop computers, and while wide area wireless support is already part of some laptops, it’s a feature that will be growing. The wireless capabilities will include GPS functionality that will enable GIS software and will also help in recovering lost or stolen devices. Hess-Nickels said that battery life is improving to as much as 24 hours between charges with new

ILLUSTRATI ON: SURESH KUMAR

THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN NETBOOK AND LAPTOP COMPUTERS MAY HAVE ALREADY DISAPPEARED. SOME ANALYSTS GROUP THEM drives for laptop computers will become optional to save weight. Hess-Nickels also pointed out that enterprise notebooks will need to feature a long lifecycle (the reason for the emphasis on durability) and security features such as built-in encryption and biometric sensors.

processors and better battery technology. Tablets will come to the enterprise but will supplement rather than supplant laptop computers. They will be very important to health care, insurance and education, and to some extent will provide capabilities similar to the iPad while retaining the capability to be a

secure, functioning enterprise device. Hess-Nickels said that HP is trying to satisfy the business needs to be as environmentally sensitive as possible, an effort that’s becoming common in enterprise notebook computers. This includes building machines that are recyclable, are free of environmental contaminants such as mercury and are manufactured in an environmentally sound manner. In addition to convenience, the iPad has changed the view of what users expect of a tablet computer. Until now, the tablet PC ran Windows, used a stylus, was heavier and had a limited battery life. The slick interface, the light weight and the longer battery life of the iPad have raised those expectations for other tablets that might come to market in the future. Of course, a move into the enterprise implies that the iPad or any other tablet meets the needs of the enterprise in all the areas in which it has impact. For example, if it’s being used in health care, it must meet HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) requirements. Whether it meets all of the necessary compliance requirements is up to the IT office and the compliance

O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 | ITNEXT

15-MINUTE MANAGER

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auditors. But as is the case of so much else in IT, a great deal will depend on what use is planned for it. In the case of tablets such as the iPad, the planned use means a great deal. “You’re not going to create a PowerPoint or write a 40-page document on a tablet,” analyst Gold said, noting that the target use has to be determined in every enterprise for this or any other tablet computer. For example, using an iPad as your window on the Internet to run Webbased applications might be a perfect use, but it could also be a challenge given Apple’s continued refusal to support Adobe’s Flash. Other tablets that may appear in the near future could have similar limitations in meeting enterprise requirements. Right now, the exact nature of HP’s WebOS tablet (assuming it’s real) or perhaps an Android-based tablet, remains to be seen. Perhaps they’ll be more enterprise-ready, and perhaps they’ll be pure consumer devices with no real enterprise applications. But whatever form they take, Gold doubts they’ll be a true mainstream solution to general computing needs. “Why does this make my life easier, faster or better?” he asked. “Tablets were never a general solution for making my life better. One of the fundamental issues is that it’s got to be better than what I’ve got, or why buy it?” he added. The same is true to some extent with netbook computers. Their physical size makes them less than totally suitable for many of the tasks for which people use laptop computers. But to some extent, the difference between netbooks and laptops is getting very fuzzy. Notebook makers are delivering devices called netbooks that have 12-inch screens and physically resemble highly portable laptop computers. The overlap is significant, and even one prior differentiator, the use of Intel’s Atom processor, is going away, as some notebook or laptop computers adopt this low-power approach to computing. Contributing analyst Wayne Rash is a veteran technology writer and reviewer.

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CUBE CHAT | RAVISH BHAVESH JHALA

BABY STEPS TO

SUCCESS “Break down your goals and approach them consistently to achieve long term success,” believes Ravish Bhavesh Jhala, Systems Manager, Trident Hotels, India BY JATIN D E R S I N G H

Y MY SUCESS

MANTRA Take every challenge as an opportunity to grow

ITNEXT | O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0

ou do not need a certificate or a degree to grow professionally. What instead, is required are ingredients such as self-belief, passion and eternal hunger, to turn dreams into reality. This is how Ravish Bhavesh Jhala, Systems Manager of Trident, Mumbai, defines his attitude. An undergraduate student of Management, Jhala has never focussed on acquiring any educational certificates or degrees to progress his career. According to him, one should not follow things blindly, and every action should serve a purpose in life. “For me, degrees like MBAs are just an embellishment. Most of the students do not even apply a single lesson of management in their entire life,” he laughingly points out.

An amateur martial artist, Jhala is an emotional person. He draws his inspiration from the likes of Narayan Murthy, Bill Gates and Osho. He is also an avid reader and loves to read books on spirituality and leadership. His articles on leadership and motivation have appeared in various magazines and dailies. He has recently launched Hospitech (The Hotel Technology Leaders Forum) which he wants to build and slowly take to the next level. Jhala has always stressed upon developing a clear, strategic roadmap and designing goals in a step-wise way so that he can work on them in an efficient manner. “You just cannot do a thousand things at one go. Therefore, taking baby steps and then prioritizing your ambitions is the only way towards a happy and successful life. I had set my

WAAA CUBE CHAT

FACT FILE NAME RAVISH BHAVESH J H A L A CURRENT DESIGN AT I O N SYSTEMS MANAG E R , TRIDENT, BANDR A KURL A, MUMBAI CURRENT ROLE LOOKING AFTER 4 3 6 ROOMS AND PUBL I C AREAS GUEST IN T E R N E T FACILIT Y WHICH I S PA RT OF GUEST SERVI C E A N D BUSINESS REVEN U E . ACHIEVEMENTS AWARDED AS BEST I T PERSON, INDIA O F 2 0 0 9 BY HOTELIER IN D I A

PHOTO GRAPHY: JI TE N GANDHI

“DEGREES LIKE MBAS ARE JUST AN EMBELLISHMENT. MOST OF THE STUDENTS DO NOT EVEN APPLY A SINGLE LESSON OF MANAGEMENT IN THEIR ENTIRE LIFE” goals straight right from the time I started,” he asserts. One should always learn to break down goals and approach them in a consistent manner to achieve success. Nevertheless, he does admit that one’s objectives and goals may vanish in the absence of a good boss. “I was fortunate to have the blessings of my bosses under whom I flourished and grew. Getting a good boss, who could mentor you the right way, is critical, especially, in the early stages of your professionalcareer,” he says. Like every individual, Jhala’s experience has also been full of ups and downs. One of the major challenges he faced, during the beginning of his career was his inability to communicate fluently. However, due to

his sheer hard work and can-do attitude, he was able to overcome it. “My experience with Cathay Pacific airlines, when I managed a customer query website and pedagogies from my coach and bosses, helped me to overcome this initial hurdle,” he shares. While maintaining his passion towards his profession, Jhala nurses a desire to become an entrepreneur one day. Like certificates, designations also do not hold any great value for him. After all, how much does the proper definition of a designation matter in many value systems today? Like Jhala says, it is the thirst for perfection and consistency that counts; the rest follows automatically.

CREATED PL ATFO R M IN JOINT WITH I N D I A EXPRESS GROUP FO R HOTELS TECHNO LO G Y LEADERS AND PA RT N E R S FORUM “HOSPITEC H ” EMINENT SPEAK E R I N VARIOUS SEMIN A R S WORK EXPERIEN C E 2008 – PRESENT SYSTEMS MANAG E R , TRIDENT HOTELS , BANDRA KURL A C O M P L EX 2007 –2008 MANAGER ICT MARS HOTELS AN D RESTAURANTS 2006 –2007 INFORMATION SYST E M S MANAGER - PARK H YAT T GOA HYATT HOTELS A N D RESORTS 2003 –2006 ASST.MANAGER I T HYATT SHARED S E R V I C E CENTER HYATT HOTELS A N D RESORTS 2001 –2003 TECHNICAL SUPPORT EXECUTIVE AARGEE SYSTEMS, MUMBAI

O CO TCOT M O B E R 2 0 1 0 | ITNEXT

MY LOG

SANJAY GUPTA Editor, Digit Channel Connect

The Truth about Social Media SU

MAR

So, are you still pulling your hair out over the whole social media thingy? Chillax! ILLUST

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3 ESSENTIAL

READS

INSIGHT | VIRTUALIZATION

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 beta

SETTING THE PACE REVIEW

Managing Memories

Here you see that I’ve just added the RemoteFX 3D video adapter to one of my test VMs.

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Some USB devices (Webcam, ﬁngerprint reader and telephone headset) have been picked up by the RemoteFX USB support.

ITNEXT | O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0

Review of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 beta that chalks out the new functionality and features Pg 48

15MINUTE

15-MINUTE MANAGER

PAG E 5 6

IT Strat Social in the Enterprise T H I S PAG E Manage IT What’s next for Laptops PAG E 5 7 Dressing Up Tips for the Perfect Suit PAG E 5 8 Training Calendar Career booster courses PAG E 6 0

BY WAYNE RUSH

Socialcast If you ask someone to name some of the hottest services on the web today, a few candidates are certain to come up. The microblogging service Twitter was hot among techies last year, and now—thanks to celebrities such as Oprah and Ashton Kutcher—it is wellknown among the general public. And already generally popular is Facebook, the social network that has changed the way people connect with friends and colleagues. While they are starting to seem old in comparison, the classic Web 2.0 technologies also command a lot of mind share. Businesses themselves have been hesitant to adopt them in-house. Public services such as Twitter and Facebook, while potentially valuable for controlled company information and marketing, are too insecure and uncontrollable for internal company use. However, that doesn’t mean businesses don’t see the attractiveness of these technologies and the potential they have. A service like Twitter can easily cut down on company e-mail, improve work and project tracking, and keep employees connected. And a corporate-focused social network can boost collaboration and project management, as well as improve

IT STRAT

SOCIAL IN THE ENTERPRISE Services suitable for use in the enterprise, potentially boosting collaboration and productivity O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 | ITNEXT

HEALTHY LIVING

BEWARE OF THE SLEEP APNEA SLEEP APNEA Every year, almost 4% of men and 2% of women, over 35 years of age are identiﬁed as obstructive sleep apnea sufferers

women

4% men

Sleep Apnea can lead to life threatening consequences, including heart congestion, strokes, and increased risk of a car accident.

Do you snore like a steam engine and keep others awake? Do you feel listless even after hours of sleep? Do you frequently doze off? If yes, then you could be suffering from sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder characterised by abnormal pauses in breathing or instances of abnormally low breathing, during sleep. In a given night, the number of “apneic events” may be as high as 20 to 30 per hour. These breathing pauses are almost always accompanied by snoring. People with sleep apnea often feel very sleepy during the day and their concentration suffers. The consequences of sleep apnea range from depression, irritability, sexual dysfunction, learning and memory difﬁculties, and falling asleep while at work, on the phone, or driving. It has been estimated that up to 50% of sleep apnea patients have high blood pressure. Sleep apnea is diagnosed with an overnight sleep test called a polysomnogram, or a “sleep study”. There are two basic ways in which sleep apnea can be helped by the individual, namely lifestyle changes and bed time basics Lose weight Quit smoking Avoid alcohol, sleeping pills, and sedatives Avoid caffeine and heavy meals Maintain regular sleep hours Sleep on your side Prop your head up Open your nasal passages If all these don’t help, the only way out is to get medical help. But at no cost should you avoid or underestimate sleep apnea.

PH OTO GR A PHY: JAYA N K N A R AYA N A N

SLEEP APNEA GUIDE

PH OTO GR A PHY: PH OTO S.C O M

MANAGER

TRAINING EDUCATION WORKPLACE COMPENSATION WORKFORCE TRENDS SKILLS DEVELOPMENT PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

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Socialin the enterpise details the different social media tools that can be used in the enterprise Pg 55 WAAA CUBE CHAT | RAVISH BHAVESH JHALA

CUBE CHAT

FAC T F I L E NAME R AV I S H B H AV ES H J H A L A C U R R E N T D ES I G N AT I O N SYST E M S M A N AG E R , T R I D E N T, BA N D R A K U R L A , M U M BA I

BABY STEPS TO

CURRENT ROLE LO O K I N G A F T E R 4 3 6 ROOMS AND PUBLIC A R E AS G U EST I N T E R N E T FAC I L I T Y W H I C H I S PA RT O F G U EST S E R V I C E A N D B U S I N ES S R E V E N U E .

SUCCESS

AC H I E V E M E N TS AWA R D E D AS B EST I T PERSON, INDIA OF 2009 BY H OT E L I E R I N D I A

“Break down your goals and approach them consistently to achieve long term success,” believes Ravish Bhavesh Jhala, Systems Manager, Trident Hotels, India

“DEGREES LIKE MBAS ARE JUST AN EMBELLISHMENT. MOST OF THE STUDENTS DO NOT EVEN APPLY A SINGLE LESSON OF MANAGEMENT IN THEIR ENTIRE LIFE”

BY JATINDER SINGH

Y MY SUCESS

MANTRA

Take every challenge as an opportunity to grow

ITNEXT | O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0

PHOTO G RA PH Y: JI T EN GA N DH I

media sites, people’s habits are shifting really, really fast – and more and more people are connecting with each other and opening up their personas for the world to see (despite privacy concerns). There is one huge difference, though. Unlike earlier, when people used to interact mostly in segregated age groups and localities, in the virtual world, there’s a whole smorgasbord of pre-teens, teens and adult umpteens ‘behaving’ in all sorts of ways – buying virtual goodies, commenting endlessly in threaded posts or reading fortune-cookie stuff (if you must know). Personally, I feel that the new connectivity tools are bringing out the kids in adults just as they are allowing the young to quickly pick up wisdom or nonsense (there’s enough of both in cyberspace). If anything, our age-tied and time-bound behaviour is being pummelled into a bigger dollop of possibilities – giving us a glimpse of what communication and sharing will be like in the Web x.0 world. And that’s why there’s so much complexity and perplexity around: Like with most tectonic changes, social media is a progressive case of profusion, confusion and, finally, infusion. So here’s my unsolicited advice: instead of fretting over it, just sit back and enjoy the game – on the screen or off it.

I LLUST RATI O N : A N I L T

Okay, I won’t begin with how Twitter-beatFacebook-beat-Internet-beat-TV in popularity quicker and quicker – we already know that. I’ll start instead with how everyone is perplexed about this new animal in our digital barn: social media. As I write this, new social media agencies are being set up, articles are being written about this ‘phenomenon’ (including this one), and the marketing pros are figuring out whether to suck at the Vampire widget or indulge in a Mob War to reach their target groups. The point is, the buzz around social media is growing faster than you can say “Bee.” At the same time, some are wondering if it’s already the beginning of the end for a social media platform as big as Facebook (with over 500 million users). Recently, Lane Wallace wrote in The Atlantic magazine that we may be at a stage where our initial, teenager-like fancy to FB is giving way to fatigue or boredom. Still, she admits that sites like FB and Twitter are becoming increasingly popular with 30-plus folks as well. I think it’s a matter of how people behave online. We are creatures of habit, goes the saying. And habits take their own sweet time to form or change. Nevertheless, with a flood of interactive tools and games, especially on social

goals straight right from the time I started,” he asserts. One should always learn to break down goals and approach them in a consistent manner to achieve success. Nevertheless, he does admit that one’s objectives and goals may vanish in the absence of a good boss. “I was fortunate to have the blessings of my bosses under whom I flourished and grew. Getting a good boss, who could mentor you the right way, is critical, especially, in the early stages of your professionalcareer,” he says. Like every individual, Jhala’s experience has also been full of ups and downs. One of the major challenges he faced, during the beginning of his career was his inability to communicate fluently. However, due to

C R E AT E D P L AT FO R M IN JOINT WITH INDIA EX P R ES S G R O U P FO R H OT E LS T EC H N O LO G Y L E A D E R S A N D PA RT N E R S FO R U M “ H O S P I T EC H ” EMINENT SPEAKER IN VA R I O U S S E M I N A R S WO R K EX P E R I E N C E 2 0 0 8 – P R ES E N T SYST E M S M A N AG E R , T R I D E N T H OT E LS , BA N D R A K U R L A C O M P L EX 2 0 0 7 –2 0 0 8 M A N AG E R I C T M A R S H OT E LS A N D R ESTAU R A N TS 2 0 0 6 –2 0 0 7 I N FO R M AT I O N SYST E M S M A N AG E R - PA R K H YAT T G OA H YAT T H OT E LS A N D R ES O RTS 2 0 0 3 –2 0 0 6 AS ST. M A N AG E R I T H YAT T S H A R E D S E R V I C E CENTER H YAT T H OT E LS A N D R ES O RTS 2001 –2003 TECHNICAL SUPPORT EXECUTIVE AARGEE SYSTEMS, MUMBAI

O CO TCOT M O B E R 2 0 1 0 | ITNEXT

Ravbish Jhala details how achieve goals in a phased manner Pg 62