IT Next Dec.'09 Issue

Dec 2009-jan 2010 / Rs. 150 Volume 01 / Issue 01

30

Taxation: Is your IT infrastructure ready for GST roll out?

34

Virtualisation: Has the fizz settled or is it another passing fad?

38

the big q

Tech for Logistics: How IT can help save every paisa you earn?

How to track IP theft and prevent it? Pg.53

ARE

YOU the next

S Ilango, Senior Manager Aditya Birla Group

Sushil Aggarwal, Leader-IT Marathon Electric India

Rakesh Mohan Project Manager Flytxt

Dhiraj Sinha, Tech Lead Dell Perot Systems

Jojo Jose GM (Systems) GTN Group

cio?

7

Steps to the

top seat page 16

15 Minute Manager Easy if you are willing to change your mindset

A 9.9 Media Publication

page 47

Editorial

It’s time for the Maybach The $825 Model T launched in 1908 by

Henry Ford was not just the first ‘affordable’ car it was also unique in the sense that for the first time the concept of assembly line was introduced in the automobile sector. This opened a floodgate for others to follow. The universal concept (one size fits all) had a homogeneous spread in all sectors, including the mainline media, which adopted it for reaching out to the masses. Soon, niche magazines and periodicals too followed the assembly line philosophy but only to be robbed

Photo graph y: DR Lohia

off their status of being specialty publications.

So, when we decided to launch a new publication, one thing was clear— there would be no assembly line. Rather we decided to take the custom built approach like the luxurious custom-made German car—Maybach.

The result is a thoughtfully crafted IT Next.

Indulging ourselves in the endeavor of giving what the readers want, we conducted a survey of the IT managers in India, a community that wields considerable influence and is far more expansive compared to the CXO fraternity.

The survey revealed that there was a yawning gap in the way existing breed of magazines, including majority of B2B IT publications, are catering to the readers. While there are several magazines and portals for CIOs, CEOs, CFOs, and others, there is none that talks directly to the senior IT managers.

Not surprising then, that the response to our survey was overwhelming, with IT managers sharing with us their views, ideas and concerns.

In fact, quite a few stories in this issue itself are based on the suggestions from the community. Further, we intend to replicate the consultative model for the online version, www.itnext.in, that has been designed to scale up in the coming days as your support pours in.

I sincerely hope that you like IT Next not only in terms of the content and design but also for its theme and philosophy. Believe me, we have toiled much over every aspect of this eclectic product. Unlike Ford’s Model T, IT Next is more like a custom-built Maybach that has been designed to suit your needs and requirements.

So, do let me know your thoughts and join us in the journey as we facilitate and celebrate your transition as a technocrat.

“IT Next is more like a custom-built Maybach that has been designed to suit your needs and requirements” S h u b h e n d u Pa r t h

Blogs To Watch! http://www.timferriss.com http://andrewmcafee.org/blog Your views and opinion matter to us. Send your feedback on stories and the magazine at shubhendu.parth@9dot9.in

d e c 2 0 0 9 – j a n 2 0 1 0 | it next

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Content For the l atest techn ology uPDATES Go to itnext.in

dec ’09-jan ’10 V o l u m e 0 1 | I s s u e 0 1

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

09

Survey

Steps

to the top

Seat

Page

16

Based on an extensive survey of IT managers, IT Next presents a handy guide for technology managers who have their hearts set on becoming a CIO

insights

boss talk

interview

Communication as a Service (CaaS) is set to change the way an enterprise communicates and collaborates today

26 No mishaps for this mail e-Mail security needs to guarantee perimeter safety, confidentiality and non-repudiation

28 Top 5 mobile applications Technologies that can help enterprises go mobile

30 Ready steady GST The forthcoming GST regime will compell IT managers to execute a complete realignment of the IT infrastructure. Are you prepared?

34 Has the fizz settled?

Is it time to assess the benefits of server virtualisation?

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05 Innovate to add value | Birlasoft CEO Arup Gupta on importance of innovation and how it can help IT managers succeed professionally

44 “There was no recession in india” | SAP’s Asia-Pacific

Senior V-P, Simon Dale, discusses the global slowdown and the company’s changing strategy

c ov er des ign: Jayan K Narayanan c ov er Photography: DR lo hi a, mexy xavi er & santos h bh askar

23 Clicking it big

itnext.in

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

EDITORIAL

Page

38

Group Editor: R Giridhar Editor: Shubhendu Parth Consulting Editor: Pravin Prashant Associate Editor: Shashwat DC Sr Correspondent: Jatinder Singh

long way to go | How ICT intervention in the logistics sector can make a huge difference

DESIGN

opinion

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 Designers: Prasanth TR & Anil T

52 Manage IT | 5 simple steps

12 Tech Talk: On cloud nine! | by Dr Manoj Saxena, CEO, Net-

Edge Computing Solutions

to greening your enterprises

off the shelf 60 HP shrinks your world | A

14 Money wise: The Penny

route to Pounds, by Ratnakar Nemani, CIO & Head—IT Projects Wing, VST

sneak preview of enterprise products, solutions and services

sales & marketing VP Sales & Marketing: Naveen Chand Singh (09971794688) Brand Manager: Siddhant Raizada (09990388390) National Manager-Events & Special Projects: Mahantesh Godi (09880436623) National Manager Online: Nitin Walia (09811772466) Assistant Brand Manager: Arpita Ganguli Co-ordinator Ad Sales, MIS, Scheduling: Deepak Sharma GM South: Vinodh Kaliappan(09740714817) GM North: Pranav Saran(09312685289) GM West: Sachin N Mhashilkar(09920348755)

15-Minute manager 47 Predicting IT right | Strategic IT forecasting is a challenging task, but can make a difference to your business

the big Q 53 Who stole my washing machine? | How to track IP

48 Office Yoga | Asanas for a busy manager

theft and prevent it

50 Get back to the classroom! | Choosing the right skills

58 Pining to be a TV star | Yes,

to upgrade is key to beating the recession blues

cube chat

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

professional achievers too can nurture off-beat aspirations and Rajesh Aggarwal, IT Manager, D P Jindal Group is one of them

Office Address Nine Dot Nine Mediaworx Pvt Ltd K-40, Connaught Place, Outer Circle, New Delhi–110 001, India

RegulArs Editorial _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 01

Printed and published by Vikas Gupta for Nine Dot Nine Mediaworx Pvt Ltd K-40, Connaught Place, Outer Circle, New Delhi–110 001, India

Industry Update _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 06 Tech indulge _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 62 Open debate _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 63

Editor: Vikas Gupta K-40, Connaught Place, Outer Circle, New Delhi–110 001, India

My log _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 64

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54

advertiser index IBM Reverse Gatefold Canon IFC Samsung 10-11 TataComm 13, 27, 43 Sybase IBC EMC BC

Please recycle this magazine and remove inserts before recycling

Printed at: Nutech Photolithographers B-240, Okhla Phase–I, New Delhi–110 020, India

© A ll rights reserved: Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from Nine Dot Nine mediaworx Pv t Ltd is prohibited.

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boss talk | Arup Gupta

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Innovate to add value

Photo graph y: D R lohia

T

oday, IT managers, I think, have become very inward-focused in terms of adhering to process, cost and scope. These are all good things from the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) perspective, but are they really meeting the expectations of the customer?

Though we may follow all CMM processes faithfully, the customer is really looking for valueadd beyond their specifications. Real successful IT managers are able to add value, enabling customers to become more competitive in their business spheres.

IT managers, in addition to knowing the software delivery process, need to be aware of technologies and domains so that they can deliver the best possible solution to a particular problem. This is what we call an innovative solution. That is the transformation that I would like to see in the mindset of all IT managers.

IT managers abroad would possibly be less stringent about processes, giving more attention to adding value in terms of domain, new technology and architecture. So how does one change the mindset of an Indian IT manager?

One needs to start thinking out of the box and bringing together various stakeholders in the problem like domain expertise, technology expertise and possibly the architecture group for a brainstorming session. That is exactly what the people abroad do.

If the problem is too complex, outside consultants and talent can be involved, rather than opting for the solution that exists in house and somehow make it fit the particular problem.

I am not laying undue emphasis on routine things like operational efficiency and delivery.

The need of the hour is to find the best solution for a particular problem, rather than treat it just as a routine affair.

IT managers are often in a dilemma about

“The need of the hour is to find the best solution for a particular problem, rather than treat it just as a routine affair”

Suggestion BOX

The book talks about how to add value and make clients more competitive. It also has tips on how to build the winning team.

Writer: Jim Collins Publisher: Har per Business Price: INR 626.00

choosing the more fruitful career path— managerial or purely technological. Some Indian companies offer a clear growth path in pure technology and pure domain, but still most professionals opt for the faster managerial route. Most Indian companies try to hire project managers or senior practice managers with some knowledge of the latest domain technologies, but as I said earlier, some of the deficiencies in managers in regard to technology and domain can be compensated by bringing all stakeholders together. I have seen some of the best-of-thebreed IT companies in India do so.

Yes, a pure technocrat too can become a CEO. I myself hold a master’s degree in computer science and have grown through the ranks. However, more boards and promoters are inclined to hire CEOs who can showcase diversity in terms of technology and domain and, now, also an MBA degree. This ensures that with overall grooming, the individual can solve the complex sets of problems being faced by companies today.

The author is CEO of Birlasoft. He has more than 30 years experience in the IT industry and has previously worked with Polaris and TCS

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update

The cloud gets more pervasive

MS and IBM enhanced their cloud commitments, by launching services based on the model

Tech trends | There was much reason to cheer for the cloud comput-

ing front as bigger players made cloud announcements. While, it is still early days for the cloud industry, which Gartner Research estimates will ring up sales of about $3.4 billion this year, the momentum has started building up with two biggest software giants, Microsoft and IBM, listing out their plans.

Microsoft, which seemed to have missed the cloudy bus, announced that it will roll out the long-awaited Azure system on January 1, 2010. Azure is Microsoft’s foray into the cloud computing

om telec

spend

Global end user spending on telecom is all set for an upward growth in 2010, after 12 months of negative growth (numbers in US$ Billions) 2000

1950

1800

2007

1850

Source: Gartner, September 2009

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1854

-4

.0

%

3.2

%

1940

1879 2010

1900

1958

%

2009

6 5.

2008

Spending on WAN optimisation and SSL virtual private network is less likely to be influenced

trends deals products services people

system and it promises to provide an online platform for software developers to create their own programs, and space for customers to store data.

The service had been in testing phase for aboutt a year and will go fully live at the beginning of next year, according to Microsoft’s chief software architect Ray Ozzie.

Big Blue (IBM) also raised the stakes by launching a new cloud computing service, similar to that from Amazon and Salesforce.com. Dubbed as the ‘Smart Analytics Cloud’, it is IBM’s biggest cloud computing service yet and will be at first adopted internally by the company.

Meanwhile, on the domestic front companies like Reliance and Airtel have already launched cloud service. Also, Zenith Infotech has entered the space through its private cloud computing platform PROUD, which it is positioning as a single centralised computing system that can replace the need for customers to buy computing and network hardware as separate and difficult-to-manage components.

More recently, NIIT and Hitachi have announced their cloud offering for the enterprise space. To begin with, Hitachi Information Systems would leverage NIIT Technologies’ data centre in Bangkok and create its first hub outside Japan. This will be networked to their existing infrastructure. The services, according to the road map, should be available from the first quarter of the next fiscal.

Photo graph y: photo s.c om

Update I n d u s t r y

Your primary defence layer

Express your creativity

Cool your data

Norton’s NIS 2010 claims to enhance user experience with new features like Quorum and safe web protection. The product is Windows 7 compatible and available at Rs 1,450 for a single PC license.

Genius has introduced new range of Graphic Tablets—the EasyPen i405 and the MousePen i608. It features two buttons and 1024 level pressure sensitivity for control over drawing or writing.

Extreme Networks has introduced a 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch, that promises 30% power savings, for the next generation data center, cloud computing and hosted environments.

LinkedIn opens up Tech Tidings | Popular net-

working and professional site LinkedIn seems to be opening up to the developer community. It has launched a platform for the developer community. With this move, third party developers will be able use LinkedIn’s profile content in their business applications and Websites. The move follows the company’s decision to join hands with technology companies—IBM, Microsoft, Research In Motion (Blackberry), and Twitter—for integrations with their respective products and solutions. While these partnerships created additional channels for LinkedIn’s platform, the latest move would make LinkedIn ubiquitous across different

Announces platform for third party developers

networks.

Developers can now register at developer.linkedin.com to receive a unique key that allows access to discussion boards, sample code, provisioning code and more. In the past, requests to use LinkedIn

Around The World

update

APIs were evaluated on a caseby-case basis, where priority was given to “integrations that provide the most value to the greatest number of LinkedIn users,” according to its former policy. The LinkedIn Platform now allows that access to everyone.

However, there is some doubt on whether the move is too little and a tad late, as other networking giants like Facebook and MySpace have successfully engaged the developer community in the last couple of years. There is much speculation on the pending interface redesign, but there is no official word on the same.

Nevertheless, by opening up its API the company has insured that developers can add to LinkedIn’s value by building whole new set of standalone products.

quick byte

Unified communication: to touch $4.2 Bn by 2014 While the world rued the economic slowdown, there was a silver lining for the Unified Communications (UC) industry. Enterprises took to UC solutions to cut down on costs. According an ABI Research report, the segment is set to jump from $302 million in 2008 to $4.2 billion by 2014. The growth confirms the perception of UC as a productive and cost-cutting technology rather than a fancy collaborative tool, particularly for MNCs with offices across multiple geographies.

GOOGLE CO-FOUNDER SERGEY BRIN on Chrome OS VS MS Windows...

“CALL US DUMB BUSINESSMEN, BUT WE REALLY FOCUS ON USER NEEDS RATHER THAN ON STRATEGIES RELATED TO OTHER BUSINESSES”

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update

Salesforce unveils office networking tool Interview Paul Kaeley Director—Global Storage (Data Management) Consulting Practice, Dell

The new tool will be included in all paid editions of Salesforce CRM and Force.com

itself with Twitter and Facebook that users are already comfortable with.

While employees at Salesforce have already started using the chatterbox, the company is looking at makeing it available to the corporate in early 2010.

The new chatter edition will be sold for $50 per user per month and will include salesforce chatter, salesforce content and Force.com, the company informed.

Enterprise software market to grow 10% in 2009 discounted it has been mitigated by tech trends | The enterprise software the large untapped market that is market in India continues to post a adopting IT on a continuous scale, the healthy growth and is expected to regisreport states. ter an overall 10.1% growth this year.

The main driving force The recent Gartner behind the enterprise software report predicts that the market still continues to ERP, market would continue to driven by SAP and Oracle. improve and touch 11.8% India, China, Vietnam are growth in 2010. India is enterprise S/W the biggest drivers for the the fourth-largest market GLOBAL enterprise market in the $20 in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) growth in 2009 billion APAC market, which region, and while the impact Source: Gartner will grow by 10.2% in 2009. of the slowdown cannot be

.3

%

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IT NEXT: What is your outlook of the IT consulting business in India?

Paul: There is a great opportunity within the India market in the IT consulting space. Our consulting approach is designed to help customers of all sizes to rapidly identify ways to drive more efficiency within their datacenters. Using our Measurable Rapid Insight (MRI) approach we can quickly identify what customers are spending on storage and then show a path to how they can reduce cost and complexity.

How are you addressing the needs of IT managers?

Our whole strategy is focused on quickly addressing key pain points of IT managers. Our storage services directly map to key issues faced by our customers today—from data growth to data protection and optimising storage.

How is Dell applying its consulting services for improved storage efficiency?

The need to address enterprise data management issues continues to be high on the agenda of CIOs and IT Managers.

Most companies are spending a large percentage of their budget on storage and Dell’s consulting services capabilities can help quickly identify how organisations can maximise their spend and ensure that storage is matched to business needs.

By Jatinder Singh

Photo graph y: Jayan K Narayanan

Web 2.0 | Understanding the significance of social networking and the opportunity it can bring for corporates, Salesforce. com, has introduced an in-house social networking model called Salesforce Chatter.

The service is intended to provide a platform where all employees can collaborate and connect with their co-workers using the intranet.

The service, an in-house social networking and collaboration tool aims at improving interaction within the organisation. It enables employees to create their profile, update their status, likings and inform peers about “what they are doing,” right away.

The move comes on the expected line of the changing working environmemt, with enterprises swiftly evaluating how cloud and social networking can help them reach business goals in a much smoother way.

The service also integrates

update

Fujitsu, NetApp join hands for storage soln The two companies will jointly develop integrated data management and storage products and solutions

TECH Alliance | In what can be termed as a

major realignment in the data management space, Fujitsu, a player in software management joined hands with storage system vendor NetApp to provide tightly integrated and automated storage and data management solutions.

According to announcement made by the two companies, they will jointly develop integrated products and services in the areas of virtualisation, storage and data management, and storage services and solutions.

The two companies will also work towards integrating NetApp’s storage management software into Fujitsu’s resource management framework, that dynamically orchestrates servers, networks, storage and software to run applications on demand.

The framework also enables easier administration of data centre environments, allows

News @

Photo graph y: photo s.c om

blog

single console management of the entire infrastructure, and increases productivity and operational efficiency through ease of use. With the combination of products and solutions from both companies, customers can reduce their capex and leverage IT infrastructure.

The two companies further plan to implement a global joint go-to-market strategy for all complementary products. The tie-up also envisages full integration of NetApp V-series products with Fujitsu’s Eternus storage systems.

SOCIAL NETWORKING

NSE starts to Tweet The Twitter club got a major boost as the National Stock Exchange (NSE) begun sending out live quotes of its benchmark index Nifty on the micro-blogging website. The Indian bourse currently sends out an update of the Nifty index as well as the highs and lows every 10 minutes during the trading hours. With this move, NSE has become the first Indian bourse to join the Twitter club, beating its rival Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Internationally, major bourses like NASDAQ from US and FTSE from the UK have already established their presence on Twitter. Meanwhile, NSE plans to provide more information over Twitter in the coming days. The NSE Tweets have been well received by the users. Within a week of its launch, the NSE has already registered about 1,600 followers.

The exchange aims to add some more indices and tools on the social networking site in the coming days, besides enabling investors to reach NSE through mobile phones.

what is cooking AT microsoft?

Perhaps the whole, “end-of-the-world” thing in 2012 really has something to do with Microsoft, which is likely to release Windows 8 in the year | Nicholas Kolakowski <uxevangelist@gmail.com> in Microsoft Kitchen

The blog posted two slides suggesting that the next Windows Server and Windows 8 would be released in 2012. Earlier in October, the LinkedIn page for Robert Morgan, a senior member of Microsoft’s Research & Development team, stated his current projects included 128 bit architecture compatibility with the Windows 8 kernel and Windows 9 project plan. d e c 2 0 0 9 – j a n 2 0 1 0 | it next

9

SMS itnext samsung

Opinion

tech talk Dr. Manoj Saxena CEO, NetEdge Computing Solutions

Key attraction

On cloud nine!

Yes, that is where cloud computing is set to take enterprises--both big and small

C

loud computing, as a service offering, has been gaining momentum in India in the last couple of years. While big players such as Sun Microsystems, Google, IBM, Amazon and Microsoft are in the lead, many small private companies are burgeoning to grab market share.

The evolution of cloud computing will create not only a dynamic IT environment, but will also bolster userempowerment through the concept of IT as a Service. A wide range of cloud computing platforms and applications are emerging in the market, offering businesses an entirely new way to deploy technology.

Before delving deeper into the criteria for adoption of the cloud computing model by enterprises, it is important to understand its architectural framework. While the majority of contemporary Internet applications use three-tier model as generic architecture, the use of virtualisation in clouds has created a new set of abstraction at higher levels— applications, platforms and infrastructure. These layers not only encapsulate on-demand resources but also define a new application development model.

Within each layer of abstraction, there are myriad business opportunities for defining services that can be offered on a pay-per-use basis.

Software as a Service or SaaS occupies the highest layer and features a complete application offered as a service on-demand. Single instance

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Cost efficiency

“Cloud computing brings in a new level of efficiency and economy to delivering IT resources on demand” of the software runs on a provider’s infrastructure and serves multiple clients. The middle layer, Platform as a Service or PaaS, offerings can provide for every phase of software development and testing, or they can be specialised around a particular area such as content management. Infrastructure as a Service or IaaS lies at the lowest rung.

This layer can deliver basic storage and computing capabilities as standardised services over the network.

As organisations cope with a dynamically changing business environment, IT managers can look to cloud computing as a way to maintain a flexible and scalable IT infrastructure that enables business agility. The IT managers are showing keen interest in investing time and understanding how the cloud will impact access control, network security and other core network components.

IT managers of many organisations are also eyeing the cloud computing services model to save money.

The principal findings of a research conducted recently among IT managers of SMEs to study the acceptance of cloud computing by businesses has revealed that IT managers are aggressively deploying cloud computing initiatives to accomplish business objectives.

As budgets for cloud computing increase, IT managers are examining critical technologies for building the infrastructure behind the cloud.

So how does an individual, a business or an IT manager take advantage of the cloud computing trend? Cloud computing is not just about proliferation

Photo graph y: aJAY cHAWL A

The architecture

Cloud computing has a tremendous enterprise pull because it conceals the complexity of the infrastructure from end-users. They do not know, or need to know, what is there in the cloud.

This has become possible due to one of the key architectural attributes and underlying technologies of the cloud computing model—virtualisation.

This refers to the abstraction of physical IT resources from the people and applications using them.

Virtualisation allows servers, storage devices and other hardware to be treated as a pool of resources rather than discrete systems so that these resources can be allocated on-demand.

Cloud computing brings a new level of efficiency and economy to delivering IT resources on demand, and, in the process, it opens up new business models and market opportunities.

opinion

Companies have realised that by clinging to the cloud they can access profitable business applications and can drastically boost their infrastructure resources, all at a negligible cost. of IT stacks on a restricted handful of infrastructure providers. It is also about an emerging ecosystem of complementary services that provide computing resources such as applications on demand, distributed databases and virtual private datacenters for the entire range of IT consumers. These services span the range of customer requirements from individual developers and small startups to large enterprises. Not only the larger firms but also small and medium enterprises can leverage cloud computing to save costs.

Boon for SMEs Cloud computing provides an alternative to investing in oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own infrastructure and software. Therefore, the ability to cloud-source an application instead of buying self- hosted applications has seen a significant rise amongst SMEs. Cloud computing presents a powerful opportunity to SMEs to enable them leapfrog to using latest technologies and services from the cloud which also helps them save costs, as it is a payper-license model. It helps them to avoid buying the entire hardware or the software library.

Companies have realised that by clinging to the cloud they can access

profitable business applications and can drastically boost their infrastructure resources, all at a negligible cost. This is forcing IT managers and CEOs of companies to deploy the cloud computing model in their organisations.

Keeping in view the array of advantages that cloud computing has to offer, the number and quality of public and commercially available cloud-based service offerings has been growing fast. Using the cloud is often the best option for startups, research projects, Web 2.0 developers, or niche players who want a simple and low-cost way to load and go.

A recent finding by global financial services firm Merrill Lynch suggests that cloud computing will expand into a global market of $95 billion over the next four years. Gartner has also named cloud computing, green IT and social-computing platforms among technologies that are poised to achieve broad enterprise adoption in the next two to five years.

This cloud is not one to be blown away in a hurry.

Besides heading NetEdge, the author is also a registered Computer Consultant with ADB

d e c 2 0 0 9 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; j a n 2 0 1 0 | it next

money wise Ratnakar Nemani CIO & Head—IT Projects Wing, VST

The Penny route to Pounds

I

n times like these, when the world economy is struggling to recover from a long economic downturn and top line growth is either marginal or just not possible, cost reduction becomes a favoured means for a company to stay afloat. It is in these times that every function within the company needs to be an active participant in matters financial, and the CIO needs to also look at things from the perspective of a ‘Cheap Innovation Officer’.

One might wonder how the IT function, which seldom accounts for more than single digit of the overall expenditure, really help reduce costs.

But in these times, a penny saved is indeed a penny earned. In fact, the IT function can play the catalyst in enterprise-wide productivity measures.

Let me share with you how I have done this at VST, one of the leading companies in the tobacco space.

Be clear on ROI, TCO One of the primary functions of the IT team is to work out the planned investment for upcoming projects and keep Total Cost of Operation (TCO) within reasonable limits. To accomplish this, you need to align your IT needs with the company plan, as lack of business can spell failure for projects.

Initiatives causing time inefficiency and impacting strategic business should be identified and scrapped, even if they are already part of the projects portfolio.

The first thing that I did after taking over as IT function head at VST was to identify the kind of investments that were being made in IT and the precise

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be to avoid use of multiple packages with similar functionality. Besides, as an IT manager you can also explore options like e-learning to cut travel and accommodation costs for the HR department. Web conferences also benefit geographically distributed functional departments.

Pennies can also be saved by delaying investment in new IT infrastructure, like new PCs, by a year or more. The IT manager can think of alternatives instead of going in for basic technology upgrades. A simple example can be virtualisation of desktops or adoption of thin clients. This will not only offer benefits in capital expenses (Capex)but also reduce the operational expensees (Opex) by ensuring less power consumption and lower manpower requirement. Not to talk about enhanced security levels and the satisfaction of creating a greener IT environment.

Benchmark yourself

“The CIO needs to look at things from a Cheap Innovation Officer perspective” return on investment (ROI) that they fetched. Such evaluation always helps a firm plug any leakage in the process.

For instance, on detailed examination we found out that Total Outsourcing of Services (TOS) well suited to VST needs since it offered twin benefits— contemporary technology and better technical expertise. In fact, VST was among the pioneers in the country to go in for long-term outsourcing in April 2004.

This pulled down our costs significantly.

Re-examine current systems One of the important things that an IT manager can do in these trying times is to re-valuate the existing infrastructure and try to pinch a penny here, a penny there. A simple first step would

Finally, all this exercise will be in vain, if you do not really benchmark yourself. What is the percentage of IT spend vis-à-vis net turnover? Ensure that you check this ratio every year, benchmarking with the best companies. I would advise IT managers to look at ways and means to turn the IT function into a profit centre from a conventional cost centre. For instance, in case you have excess manpower, think of utilising their skills for outside projects instead of rendering them redundant. This will not only generate revenue but also enhance employees’ trust in the company. Externally too, the firm can gain prestige and credibility.

The list can be endless. But earning better profits through cost reduction should remain the eternal mantra for IT professionals within the organisation as they can lead the charge towards raising productivity levels even as costs are cut. After all, pennies make pounds!

The author is a cost accountant by qualification and an IT professional by choice. He is, currently, focussed on turning VST’s IT division into a profit centre

Photo graph y: Suresh Vangapal ly

Opinion

Photo graph y: Jayan K Narayanan

cover story | 09 xxxxxxxxxxx Survey

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09 xxxxxxxxxxxxx Survey | cover story

Steps

to the top

Seat

Photo graph y: Jayan K Narayanan

Based on an extensive survey of IT managers, IT Next presents a handy guide for technology managers who have their hearts set on becoming a CIO

By Shashwat DC / imaging anil T

Peep into an anthill and you will realise what seamless order and perfection mean.

Our tiny insect cousins have engineered a complex organisational structure which, though hierarchal, is highly efficient. At the very apex, sits the queen, the head of all the domicile ants, and does little than preen and procreate. Below the empress, there are scores and scores of worker ants which toil endlessly to ensure that her majesty remains unperturbed and at ease.

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cover story | 09 Survey Were we to project this organisational structure on to a standard enterprise, more so on to the IT function of a typical enterprise, it will be fairly evident that the CIO is the queen of the IT-hill, waited upon by the rest of the managers and professionals. The IT head often has little to do with IT these days; he frets and fumes over things like RoI, people management, business issues, et al.

For the sake of illustration, take the

case of Mr O who is the CIO of a large pharmaceutical company and whose lifestyle is the envy of many. More often than not, he is touring the country, or the globe, for work and conferences. He is courted by vendors, analysts, journalists and others who are all ears for every word that escapes his mouth. Even the CEO of the company pays attention whenever Mr O comes up with a new proposal or strategy. Mr O operates out of a spacious

“For an IT manager to succeed, it is essential that he looks at bridging business versus IT gap”

—Dhiraj Sinha Leader (Tech) Dell Perot Systems

—Jojo Jose GM (Systems) GTN Group

7

steps 18

it next | d e c 2 0 0 9 – j a n 2 0 1 0

Be business savvy

1

You are already a tech whiz kid, but so are the other IT managers eyeing the CIO’s slot. Better bone up on the company’s business; understand its nuances.

Get familiar with business concepts like RoI, EBITDA and PATto gain an edge over the competition.

While one cannot be sure if the worker ant within the anthill aspires to be the queen, but IT managers certainly desire to become CIOs. This was evident when we conducted a survey to ascertain what it takes to be a CIO. Our survey drew responses from nearly 250 IT managers around the country—representing a wide array of verticals, cities and profiles. To say that the response was overwhelming will be an understatement. Nearly 200 IT managers had completed the survey within two days, with more responses trickling in over the next few days. The dozen odd questions in the survey were designed to capture the ‘essentials’ of what it takes to be a CIO. Once, the verdict was received from the IT managers’ end, the same questions were posed to CIOs and external consultants, and they were asked to share their views.

Based on the findings from the two surveys, we present the 7-step guide to becoming a CIO. Though much of this may seem fairly obvious and commonsensical, do remember that it is

‘De-technicalise’

2

Non-IT issues need to be befriended. Get out of the techie mould and you will discover a new world.

Learn more about HR, marketing, sales, production and issues that interest othe people.

Photog raphy: ( Righ t) santos h bhaskar

IT Next survey

“IT managers need to take up bigger challenges and get out of their comfort zone to succeed”

The

cabin, and moves in hallowed circles receiving awards and recognition with amazing regularity.

So when does Mr O work? Well honestly, he does not; he merely gets the work done. Over the years, he has outsourced much of the infrastructure management to external vendors. Now all he has is a small and well-knit team of managers and IT professionals that handle the day-to-day functioning of the IT infrastructure and the data centre.

The anthill is not much different from the IT-hill, is it?

Be the gauntlet guy

3

Be the first to stake a claim to challenging assignments. Even if the project fails, you will end up learning.

And, of course, the powers that be will learn about you if the project succeeds. You will be that much closer to the coveted cabin.

cover story

1

st

step

Be business savvy

Over the past few years, the role of the CIO has undergone a 180° change. While, the CIO continues to remain the king (or the queen) of all things technical, his role has expanded to encompass all functions in an organisation. Thus, a CIO is no more chained to the data centre or the IT department but is expected to take on a bigger and more strategic role within the organisation. This is also because with rapid digitisation, IT and technology are not just backend, but front-end tools.

What this implies is that while a CIO at a retail organisation may be concerned about implementing the best inventory and warehousing system in his organisation, he also needs to look at the Web and mobile as additional fronts to reach the customer. Here, IT can provide the organisation with a completely new revenue stream that did not exist before. The CIO, in this case, needs to be the change agent who ushers in such a transformation—in a proactive and not reactive maner.

The IT manager too needs to inculcate this kind of businessconscious approach. The first step is to familiarise oneself with all business concepts like RoI, EBITDA and PAT. It is not enough to know just what your company does, you also need to keep

become innovative

4

Focus on the needs and ways of doing business. Think out of the box. Add value. Delight the customer and the boss. The CIO’s seat will not seem so distant.

2

Survey

want CEOs to mentor potential CIOs

‘De-technicalise’

Read a Dilbert comic strip and you will realise what the IT guys think about the world and, in return, what the world thinks about them.

Even today, despite the ubiquity of computing lingo, it is hard for a layman to have a conversation with a technical expert. It is not surprising, considering that techies are often considered as nd

Managing people is infinitely more difficult than managing computers.

Learn to inspire peers. Let them come to you with their problems.

Empathise and resolve their problems. They will love to follow you.

Get networked

6

75% 42% 47% say Jack of All IT Manager is most suited to become a CIO

step

Be a people person

5

09

track of its financial standing, market share, market scenario, competitors and their strategies. Considering that IT plays a very critical role, the CIO is expected to don a business hat at all junctures. And the IT manager, who desires to take on the CIO role, needs to be at home wearing the business hat as well. So, start practicing it right away.

“The CIO is an interface between business and technology. He is expected to have knowledge of both the worlds.

It is very obvious that he can map the technology to business processes and requirements easily because of his understanding of both,” says Ketan Shah, Associate Director, Angel Broking.

According to him, if a manager is aiming to become a CIO, then he has to bring about a major change in his thought process. “An IT manager looks at the business from the technology perspective, while a CIO takes a business view of technologies. This change is possible only when an IT manager starts understanding the business. Once an IT manager develops a better understanding of the business he can start mapping technology to business, since technology is any way his forte,” Shah adds.

S ourc e: IT Nex t S urvey 2009

the small things that go to make a CIO. And it is these traits and specialities that need to be imbibed and displayed to earn the CIO cap. While the steps may seem fairly easy they demand a complete change of mindset.

Increase your circle. Join online sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Orkut and special community groups.

Share experiences and knowledge. The network will sustain you as you work towards your goal.

feel 13+ years of experience is necessary to become a CIO

Turn into a be-all person

7

The CIO needs to be a jack-of-all trades. He has to manage different tasks, different people and different situations, all the time. So, if your eyes are set on the plum CIO assignment, get ready for all this and more.

d e c 2 0 0 9 – j a n 2 0 1 0 | it next

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cover story | 09 Survey

“An IT manager should be able to interact with different team members easily and ask right questions” —Rajesh Agarwal IT Manager DP Jindal Group

essential to make the shift. So, next time you step out for a break ensure that you do so with a non-techie. While, it may be a bit tough to discuss IPL when there is the more interesting SSL or VBL, you will soon get the hang of it.

“The mantra for success is to be a very good team player, understand team emotions and be a listener. This makes you very effective in collaborating with peers. And most importantly, translate technical jargon into business language,” observes Sanjeev Kumar, CIO, Polygenta Technologies.

3

rd

step

Be the gauntlet guy

Some years back, there was a relatively small BPO firm that acquired a major transnational operator in a big M&A deal.

Suddenly, the player that operated out of a few offices in India had a footprint

“Proper resource planning and monitoring capabilities are key qualities required to become a CIO” —Rakesh Mohan Project Manager Flytxt

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it next | d e c 2 0 0 9 – j a n 2 0 1 0

that stretched across continents. The huge addition of manpower, infrastructure, and business was truly mind-boggling. The management of the company decided to form a core transition team for the amalgamation to be effectively executed. The proactive CIO of the company indicated his eagerness to lead the team. Needless to say, he was assigned the task. Within a year, when the two companies were successfully integrated, kudos (and bigger management roles) came his way.

The moral of the story is simple. If you do not have the stomach to take on challenges, you cannot be trusted to be a leader. If you want to impress the management that you are the apt person for the CIO post, you need to proactively take on more. In fact, if some challenging project, like a new implementation or productivity measures, is likely to be undertaken, then do not forget to propose your name. The setbacks in the project will teach you a lot, and the success of the project will teach the organisation to take you seriously.

Picking up the gauntlet always pays, even when it may not seem apparent.

4

th

step

Become innovative

One CEO shared an interesting insight. A few years back when his company was looking to fill the CIO position, he was caught in a quandary. There were two senior managers with the requisite experience. Both had spent years in the company and were almost similarly placed in terms of education and personal profile. But the CEO did not want to elevate somebody just because of the person’s experience or seniority; he desired someone with an innovative streak. He noticed that the company’s HR head had played a rather proactive role in the ERP rollout and other similar initiatives. It was no surprise, the CEO opted to bet on the HR guy’s innovation rather than the senior IT manager’s experience.

This incident does not imply that experience plays second fiddle when it comes to bagging the CIO cap. In

Photo graphy: ( left) Dr lo hi a

geeks who will be more at home talking SSL than IPL. Meanwhile, the CIO, who now plays a much broader executive role, is expected to work in close tandem with other non-IT functions of the company, whether accounts or HR. He might not lead those functions but plays a crucial role in deciding whether they are a success or a failure. He needs to be at home talking about impact of the slowdown, and discussing ways to curtailing attrition.

Hence, the IT manager, wishing to make the transition to the classy glass cabin, needs to ‘de-technicalise’ himself. He needs to come to grips with other functions in the company and be able to discuss them without resorting to technical jargon. In fact, CIOs emphatically highlight this in the IT Next survey, making it the second most important trait or behaviour that is

cover story fact, a vast majority of respondents, in our survey, felt that around 15 years of experience was required to make the transition. But innovation can be a big distinguishing factor. So, as an IT manager, look for ways to bring innovation in the business processes of the company.

Innovation can relate to anything: can you automate the temporary staff muster, or can you devise a tool to compare IT equipment buys. Even Green IT could be a major drive. To be innovative, you need to be attentive to the needs and ways of doing business.

Make a point to peruse case studies, interact with peers and imbibe the habit of being innovative.

“In my opinion, the transformation from being an IT manager to a CIO starts

09

with all the business functions like HR or marketing or sales to understand the underlying organisation processes and improve his own business understanding,” Dhumal adds.

5

th

step

Survey

Be a people person

The trouble in interacting with people is that they seldom behave in a rational manner. Unlike computers and data centres that can be easily managed, human management is infinitely more complex. And this is the key requirement from any leadership role, including that of a CIO. A CIO needs to get his work done from a team of trusted professionals.

He needs to inspire confidence amongst

to graduate from being an it manager to a CIO, one needs to start looking at the business value of technology and matching it to the overall goal of the organisation team mates. You need to be looked upon as a mentor, a leader who is trusted and respected by the team.

IT managers have to analyse how well (or badly) placed they are as a co-worker. Are you a source of inspiration for juniors in the team?

Do they come to you for solutions to their problems? Are you able to get work done with minimum resistance from other members of the team? Have you been able to ensure that the best members in the team are able to grow, and do not leave the organisation?

Answer these questions honestly, and then either pat yourself on the back or change your working style.

Remember, while as an IT manager you need to get your work done from servers and desktops, as a CIO you will need to work with IT managers and other professionals. So, start being a people person if you are not one already.

respondents think CIO aspirants should have financial accounting skills

think an innovative streak is necessary for IT managers to make the transition

Source : IT N ext S urvey 200 9

with change in mindset, attitude and approach. A typical IT manager is one who spends most of his time in managing IT work like incident management, support management, building IT, running IT systems and infrastructure,” says Prasad Dhumal, Senior Director IT (South Asia), DHL Express.

To graduate from IT manager to a CIO, you need to start looking at the business value of technology and matching it to the overall goal of the organisation. One also needs to be proactive in understanding technology needs of upcoming products and services, and have the ability to closely work with business to develop, innovate and implement IT solutions. Don’t be a re-active partner and execute the standard IT solutions available in market.

“The IT manager needs to broaden his horizon by getting more involved

74% 86% 53% believe that a management degree is not critical

d e c 2 0 0 9 – j a n 2 0 1 0 | it next

21

Get networked

6

Have you noticed how many seminars and events CIOs attend? Or how many memberships clubs and associations they boast of? In fact, Indian CIOs are amongst the most networked CXOs in the world. They have formed different clubs, both in real and virtual worlds, where they meet, discuss and deliberate on various things.

Think of any renowned CIO and search for him on Linkedin.com. You will find that he is well connected to his peers, and is a member of several groups.

Networking, according to CIOs, is an important way of learning about new technology and solutions.

IT managers should take some time to connect with peers and others.

Online, there are social networking sites like Facebook, Orkut, MySpace and Twitter. But, from a professional perspective, LinkedIn seems to be the th

step

“It is imperative for an IT manager to understandlong term business goals rather than short term gains” —Sushil Aggarwal Leader-IT, Marathon Electric India

best bet when it comes to networking.

Create a profile that fully captures your achievements and strengths, and start connecting with friends and seniors. In the real world, find a club of like-minded professionals and join it. In fact, very soon, IT Next will be starting a club for IT managers, where knowledgesharing in the community will be promoted. Watch out for more details, or drop us a line. We will give you a buzz when the club comes to your city.

“It is fairly important to network, as it helps in getting inputs. Sharing experiences is an integral path to growth. The network will sustain you even when you reach your goal,” advises Rajiv Gerela, VP, Deutsche Bank.

7

th

step

Turn into a be-all person

Our survey highlighted an interesting fact that a CIO is not master of just one skill

“One needs to think of quick wins to accelerate self growth and start building a long term IT strategy” —S Ilango Senior Manager Aditya Birla Group

or talent, but is more of a jack-of-all.

Remember, as a CIO you are expected to do things that go beyond the traditional technology role, right from business alignment of technology to dealing with vendors. So, if your eyes are set on the plum CIO assignment, then prepare yourself for all this and more.

As Arun Gupta, Group CIO at K Raheja Group, says, “You need to put some questions to yourself. Can you make presentations confidently in a management group meeting? Do people within your team and your users trust you? Can you negotiate well with a vendor or a user? Are you able to resolve conflict? Are you able to hold your head high and have a disagreement with your boss without getting beaten? If the answer to any one of these is in the negative, then start working on them before you can think of being a CIO.” Another important factor that can ease the transition is a guru or the mentor. But, finding one can be a real tough task. Like Alok Kumar, IT Consultant at Sears Holding, puts it, “It is extremely important for every emerging leader to have a mentor who will guide and shape their career. Anyone with the dream to become a leader, will find it very difficult to translate it into reality without a mentor.”

Interestingly in our survey, a majority of respondents, both IT managers and CIOs, stated that a CEO is the best mentor for an IT manager looking to make it to the top seat. After all, it is the CEO who takes the call on whom to appoint CIO. It should be fairly clear by now that though the life of the CIO may seem akin to that of the queen in the anthill, it is anything but the same. To be a CIO, you need to be multi-talented, multiskilled and multi-faceted. The job requirements are challenging. So, if you have the stomach for it and your heart is set on becoming one, it is time you got going. Good luck.

How did you like this story?

Send your feedback at editor@itnext.in

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Photo graphy: (Le ft) d r lohia (Right) mex y xavie r

cover story | 09 survey

application | insight

Clicking

it big

By integrating traditional network with modern day communication systems, CaaS is set to change the way an enterprise communicates and collaborates today

By Jat i n d e r S i n g h / i m ag i n g sa n to s h k u s h wa h a

d e c 2 0 0 9 – j a n 2 0 1 0 | it next

23

insight | application

—Johnson Varkey, Business Development Manager, Cisco India and SAARC

“With software services becoming convenient and affordable, online Collaboration Aplications are bound to become hot in future” —Vikas Arora, Group Director, Enterprise Services Division, Microsoft India

24

it next | d e c 2 0 0 9 – j a n 2 0 1 0

Why CaaS? As an IT manger, have you ever been concerned about the rising overhead for a system whose capacity may often increase or fall short of expectations? Do you often get scared that your system might become obsolete, forcing you to spend heavily on an upgrade? And moreover, does managing communication infrastructure give you more panic than comfort? Well, if that is the case, then CaaS could just be the right solution for you.

Says Zoeb Adenwala, CIO, Essel Propack, “Every organisation wants to focus on its core competencies. Maintaining and running such boxes is obviously not the focus area. We are using complete mailing as a pay-per-service model. CaaS can definitely provide the luxury of exploring new growth areas rather than laying too much stress on non-core areas.”

In today’s value-driven market, no one can underestimate the importance of seamless interaction between employees, stakeholders and vendors as delay in decision-making can cause hefty losses. To ensure seamless connectivity, trends like social networking, cloud computing, usage of intelligent devices and collaborative approach are in vogue. And with CaaS, all these come in a single basket.

Adds Vikas Arora, Group Director, Enterprise Services Division, Microsoft India, “Communication is one of the key resource application in organisations across verticals. With software services becoming an increasingly convenient and affordable means of business, collaboration applications such as email, web conferencing, document sharing, online collaboration are bound to become hot candidates in future.”

Show me the power Imagine yourself scanning news on your laptop on a power-packed Monday morning when, all of a sudden, a message from your CEO pops out asking you to join him for an urgent meeting on some pressing issue.

And, you get connected with your boss just by clicking the ‘connect now’ option on your company’s internal blog on web without making any complex arrangements. That is the advantage of CaaS. Johnson Varkey, Business Development Manager, Cisco India and SAARC, says, “CaaS and its benefits can be applicable to organisation of any size. In fact, CaaS can

Advantage CAAS n Users can communicate effectively without having to switch between networks, services, systems or applications n Improves inter organisation and intra organisation collaboration n Helps integrate traditional network and communication systems of an organisation n Huge savings on real estate rental cost—between $3,000 to $10,000 per employee per year

Photo graphy: Jayan K Narayanan

“It brings all benefits that are being leveraged by larger ENTERPRISES today, within the reach of smaller COMPANIES”

Innovation is no longer just thinking out of box. Now, it is more to do with producing vernal themes, within the box. It is with that understanding, companies across the globe, are focusing on innovation in a more doable fashion, without unduly compromising their core business interests.

Communication as a Service (CaaS) is one such concept that enables businesses to focus on their core capabilities. With CaaS, the communication capacities of an organisation are placed on the web and the applications can be used by the agent and members as per need.

While many enterprises are setting out to realise the business gains of CaaS, others are perplexed by conflicting stands. For some, it is just another Unified Communications (UC) model that uses SaaS platform, while others mix it up with Computing as a Service.

To start off, CaaS is hosted on demand model where the communication needs of an enterprise are managed by a third party.

CaaS allows your business to undertake incremental technology improvements without placing undue stress on managing a premises-based solution.

The CaaS vendor is responsible for all kinds of hardware and software maintenance with major emphasis on quality of service. It enables the organisation to outsource various communication channels—VoIP, IM, video conferencing and much more.

Considering that resource and infrastructure are always a big constraints, experts feel there is ample scope of growth for CaaS as well as its broader counterpart, UC, in India. What’s more, they argue that messaging applications would continue to grow on the cloud as it eliminates the need to run applications locally, and hence helps organisations save software maintenance, management, deployment and support cost.

application | insight bring all benefits that are being leveraged by larger organisations today, within the reach of smaller organisations.”

Let us take up healthcare. Considering the size of our country, it is virtually impossible for doctors to reach far-flung areas. But thanks to CaaS, it is possible to bring patients virtually into the specialist’s consulting room along with details of his condition and case history for immediate consultative diagnosis and discussion with a local doctor. Innumerable lives can be saved.

“CaaS integrates traditional network and communication systems, enabling users to communicate effectively without having to switch between networks, services, systems or applications,” says Ganesh Swaminathan, Director, Office of Innovation at CSC India.

Picking up steam?

The CaaS market is in a nascent stage in India, and there are very few service providers who are offering solutions bundled

companies can actually save between $3,000 and 10,000 per employee per year in real estate rental costs

Photo graphy: Jayan K Narayanan

SOURCE:Tele work Coalition study

along with bandwidth to enterprise end customers. Only recently, telecom service provider Bharti has tied up with Cisco to form a strategic business alliance to facilitate managed data services, hosted UC and connected branch service for Indian enterprises.

According to industry experts, many more players are expected to join the bandwagon soon. “UC as a service model concept is still in the early days of its development. It is expected to gain traction by the beginning of 2011. However, with right value proposition and customised offering the Indian market has the potential to grow significantly,” says K B Saneesh, Senior Research Analyst, Gartner.

According to George Varghese, President and Head, Enterprise Business, Reliance Communications, “Hosted IT offerings are a cost-effective model for provisioning processes,

applications and services while making IT management easier and more responsive to business needs. We believe businesses have matured in their IT strategies and are now ready to explore hosted infrastructure as an option not only for short-term scalability needs but also for longer-term requirements.”

The key issues for growth of CaaS in the Indian market are regulatory challenges, pricing and functionality bundles. Experts feel that the decision to go in for CaaS would finally evolve around TCO and ROI. For instance, Telework Coalition, in a 2006 study, found that companies can actually save between $3,000 and 10,000 per employee per year in real estate rental costs.

CaaS can transform the way employees work today. For instance, a manager can reach out to employees through personal text and video blogs, and every employee can post his comment on the executive’s blog. This can be done on the internal blog site. This frees time for genuine interaction, audience participation, Q&A and feedback when the manager meets the teams face-to-face.

However, to meet these changing needs, collaborative effort is required from vendors, enterprises and service providers.

“Corporations need to have predictable phone bills for budgeting purposes. The US model of pay- per-call is very enticing for service providers as they can bill surprisingly large amounts, but bad for enterprise planning,” says Thomas Boltze, CTO, China Cascade Interactive.

But to leverage the benefits associated with CaaS, IT managers would need to upgrade their skills. “Over the years, there has been a big shift in the role of an IT manager… Infrastructure is not in his control. The key challenge lies in identifying which CaaS service to go for?

Can he map what is required?” asks Saurabh Sanghoee, Head, Consulting and Solutions Integration, Orange Business Services, India.

Creating a substantial platform and making appropriate strategy form the core area an IT manager should look into. Nevertheless, the core competency of any service lies in the value, convenience, efficiency and proper utilisation of resources, and here CaaS has a definite role to play.

ITNEXT<space><your feedback> and sent it to

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*Special rates apply

“CaaS can definitely provide the luxury of exploring new growth areas rather than laying too much stress on non-core areas” —Zoeb Adenwala, CIO, Essel Propack

“CaaS integrates traditional network and communication systems, enabling users to communicate without switching between networks” —Ganesh Swaminathan, Director, Office of Innovation, CSC India

d e c 2 0 0 9 – j a n 2 0 1 0 | it next

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insight | Security

No mishaps

for this

mail T

he most efficient and effective business communication tool today, is electronic mail. According to the Radicati group, there are over 400 million corporate mailboxes worldwide, and more than 45 billion e-mail messages are transmitted each day. And while businesses are becoming increasingly dependent on e-mails today, it has also turned out to be a vault of technical disasters.

Viruses, trojans, spyware and spam sneak into corporate inboxes everyday and can seriously undermine the performance of corporate IT system. Another cause of concern for the IT manager is the unwarranted leakage of sensitive company information and data via the e-mail route. So we have IT managers and CIOs spending more and more on security across the globe. Gartner estimates that US $13.5 billion will be spent on security software next year, up from US $ 8.3 billion in 2006, a CAGR of over 10%.

Any good e-mail security system must accomplish the following three tasks— perimeter security, confidentiality and non-repudiation.

Perimeter security This piece of the e-mail security system guards corporate e-mail infrastructure against the entry of spam, trojans and worms. However, the world of anti-spam and anti-virus has become so crowded that it is difficult to zero in on the best approach and solution.

Some analysts have declared that stand-alone anti-virus software is dead. But it is too early to write it off. Multi-functionality in the technology world has become the rule rather than the exception. This trend is converging on perimeter security as well. The functionality of the plain vanilla anti-virus software is expanding rapidly to effectively combat the changing threat scenario. It is not too long away when an anti-virus software solution will also be routinely expected to prevent data loss.

Early signals emerged last year when Sophos acquired Utimaco, a data security firm.

“It’s important to look at perimeter security as a solution rather than a simple anti-virus or intrusion protection. Appliances bring in the additional benefit of leaving application servers undisturbed because of their dedicated processing

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it next | d e c 2 0 0 9 – j a n 2 0 1 0

e-Mail security needs to guarantee perimeter safety, confidentiality and nonrepudiation

By M o h i t C h h abr a

capability to manage e-mail security,” says Ruchin Kumar, Senior Solution Specialist at SafeNet. The IT manager’s top two expectations from an e-mail security system are automatic updating and scalability. Since new viruses emerge all the time, the security solution must have automatic update capabilities so that the e-mail systems are fully protected all the time.

The selected solution must also have the capability to accommodate the expanding needs of the company.

Confidentiality The time card and time sheet were invented to do one simple job—monitor employees during work hours. However, employee tracking has now gone digital with more detailed insight.

This evolution has been driven in part by today’s widespread use of the Internet and e-mail in the workplace. However, these pose a serious risk to the information that resides inside a company, particularly since a staggering 70% of corporate data resides in e-mails.

A 2008 survey conducted by Forrester about issues around outbound e-mail security found that two-thirds of the companies are concerned about ensuring that e-mail should not be used

Security | insight

13

$

bn

will be spent on security software next year—up from $8.3 bn in 2006

67

%

companies are concerned about ensuring that e-mail should not be used to disseminate trade secrets or IP, but only

36

% companies perform

regular audits of outbound e-mail source: Gartner

to disseminate trade secrets or IP but only 36% are currently performing regular audits of outbound e-mail.

Kumar adds, “It’s not just the tools, but also the policies that will ensure that confidentiality is maintained.

Today effective freeware is also available to track e-mail activity on the network.” Implementation of digital signatures using the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is an effective way to kill two birds, confidentiality and non-repudiation, with one stone, he observes.

Non-repudiation Non-repudiation is the concept of ensuring that a party cannot repudiate or refute the validity of a statement or contract.

The IT Act of 2000 took the first

Ensuring the e-mail chugs on merrily So you are updating or creating policies for e-mail use? It will be worthwhile for IT managers to tackle the following posers honestly. l Why does secure e-mail impact your business? (What is driving your organisation forward and how security issues can be a roadblock?) l What is your intellectual property? l What do you sell? l What personal or private information do your systems contain and how sensitive is this? l Are you exchanging information with partners and distributors? l Who are your customers? l Who has access to company IP? l Where and when is information accessed? l How is it accessed? Do not overlook the risk of sensitive information being sent via mobile devices like Blackberry and smart phones

step in granting legal sanctity to digital signatures. Also, digitally signed e-mails are admissible as evidence in a court of law. Nearly all e-mail clients now come with the functionality of integrating digital signatures.

But no less important than the tools is the e-mail use policy framework which companies need to put in practice. The right questions need to be raised and candidly answered to formulate effective guidelines. (See box: Ensuring the e-mail chugs on merrily). Only the amalgamation of state-of-the-art technology and well-defined company policies can ensure that e-mail continues to serve business and industry in a secure and sound manner. Critical data needs crucial handling.

d e c 2 0 0 9 – j a n 2 0 1 0 | it next

insight | mobility

unwiring the enterprise

Our Top Mobile applications

The growing use of mobile devices is bringing about several changes in consumer behaviour, forcing businesses to rework their marketing and customer-relationship strategies.

Today businesses are increasingly being conducted outside office at unconventional locations as mobile devices and applications let executives carry ‘office’ in their pocket.

Moreover, the advent of ‘cloud’, which could significantly increase the computing power of mobile devices, is poised to bring drastic change in the way mobile applications are being developed, acquired and used.

IT NEXT identifies five mobile application segments that could have a significant impact not only on the way your company operates but also on its productivity, efficiency and overall profitability. These application categories should top your shopping list if you are looking at investing in making enterprise-wide ICT infrastructure more mobile.

By ravi s p

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one Mobile collaboration and conferencing From hot-desking to hotconferencing Meetings and conferencing are important business enablers. It is easy to connect with a business executive on the move and include him in an important meeting at office by just dialing his mobile phone. However, many times, the mobile participant may need to have access to presentations being delivered at the meeting; he must refer to a document or share one with other participants.

Also, as more and more business is conducted on the move, mobile collaboration and meetings are becoming important. Even now, it is not uncommon for business

mobility | insight executives to attend meetings in unplanned location with no access to a PC or laptop but only through a mobile phone.

We believe that mobile applications, which enable meetings and collaboration, will top the list of priorities for business organisations across industries. Mobile meetings and collaboration are already a reality with new technologies and applications, high speed wireless networks and feature-rich powerful smart phones. For instance, mobile executives can deliver presentations to a remote meeting or access presentations being delivered at the remote meeting or share documents using Cisco WebEx meeting center on their smart phones.

two Mobile CRM Getting more personal with customers Every service or product now offers hundreds of choices to customers. For business organisations, this means not just more competition but also more demanding customers. Customers now expect faster response to their enquiries and real time resolution of their complaints.

three Mobile marketing applications Up, close and personal Mobile applications that address marketing needs will be extremely critical. Not only have mobile phones become the number one mass media tool but have also emerged as

Mobile customer relationship management (CRM) is increasingly becoming critical in such a business environment.

In such a scenario, the ability to service customersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; demands while outside of the office is becoming a necessity for an increasingly mobile workforce.

Making the CRM application mobile will not only help companies build a more loyal and happy customer base but also generate more business.

one on which people spend the most time compared to television, newspapers or even Internet. Mobile marketing can help companies get more personal in their sales and marketing campaigns as they can reach out to different target segments with customised marketing communications. This will be especially effective for companies with a diverse customer base.

Cloud computing will drasticallychangetheway mobile applications are developed, acquired and used across enterprises

four Enterprise locationbased services Where, what and how?

Location-Based Services (LBS) applications have generally been considered more suitable in consumer applications. However, they are beginning to find their way to enterprise applications. For instance, there are already several applications that leverage inexpensive mobile handsets, embedded A-GPS technology and wireless data network to deliver much more efficient and effective fleet management and asset tracking system.

With the help of LBS, enterprises can become more productive and efficient in the realms of transportation, logistics, healthcare, emergency services, security, disaster management and much more. Many countries have taken the lead in LBS.

five Governance, risk and compliance applications Addressing regulatory and information security concerns As more and more workers go mobile, business organisations face a new challengeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;how to ensure compliance with regulations when critical information is accessed outside their networks. Moreover, how do they ensure their mobile workers have any-time-any-where secure access to information? This is particularly critical in industries like healthcare, financial and banking services and in stock exchange listed companies that must comply with hundreds of regulations.

However, one of the key challenges that mobile enterprises will face is effective management of risks and compliance-related issues that growing mobility will entail. It is in this context that they will need an effective mobile application or an array of applications that lets them manage all mobile applications with ease and addresses all their compliance and security-related concerns.

While these, we believe, will be the top five mobile application segments that will attract enterprise attention and investment, it is noteworthy that the definition of mobility will continue to evolve dramatically over the next few years.

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insight | taxation

steady

gst 30

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Il lustratio n: Photos. c om

ready

The forthcoming GST regime will compell IT managers to execute a complete realignment of the IT infrastructure. Are you prepared?

By Jatin d e r S i n g h

taxation | insight

I

f there is one memory that Sudhir Desai readily wants to forget, it is about the arduous days in 2005 when Value Added Tax (VAT) was introduced in India. As an IT manager with a large white goods company Desai was caught completely unaware because the IT infrastructure was not ready for the changes proposed by the government. Complicationg the problem was the fact that different state governments were implementing the same scheme in different time frames and prescribing different rates. Almost overnight, the entire system at Desai’s firm came close to a standstill.

There was little option for Desai and his team but to manually realign all the systems right from ERP to HR management. Over a period of two months, they worked day in and day out to get the system up and running. Since the operations of the company were spread over a large geography, the challenge and the subsequent work was far more daunting. For these two months, Desai barely slept, ate or even went home. These are the days he wishes he could forget.

Today, he has a new worry—General Sales Tax (GST), which is all set to replace multiple state and central levies and consolidate them into a single central and state GST levy from April 2010. No wonder then, Desai and IT managers like him have already started to lay the preliminary ground work for the transition. Being an all pervasive tax, GST will substantialy impact all stakeholders including the staff engaged in marketing, finance, sales, tax and IT. Being at the helm of managing the infrastructure required for GST roll out, IT managers also need to understand every possible effect of past tax structure and retain the accuracy of post-GST implementation.

“It is important for companies to start at a broader level and conduct an impact analysis of how introduction of GST will impact the business,” suggests Nimish Goel, Manager-tax and regulatory services, PwC. He further adds that an organisation needs to ascertain the vendors’ capability of making changes in the ERP systems as it gets ready to migrate to the GST regime.

Readiness quotient It is necessary for an IT head to analyse if the existing ERP accounting system is

ready to deal with the forthcoming change.

Also, some of the key strategic areas, including system of invoicing, managing supply chain, input credits, maintaining records, and providing sufficient and accurate information for filing GST returns should be planned in advance.

Preparing a multiple plan of action will add value to the future action plan. Also, meetings between technical and domain experts on the working of an emergency notification system will help in taking precautionary measures in advance.

“For any IT manager, it does make sense to map the ERP system. Though GST is not a very complex deal, wrong interpretations may lead to sleepless nights for any IT manager,” says Arun Gupta, Group CTO, K Raheja Corp.

More importantly, an IT manager needs to interact with his vendors to understand their role and to make them ready to provide documents and invoices within GST purview at the earliest.

Caught in ambiguity “The structure of GST is still not known…

The general thinking is that processes will be simplified to get the true advantage of a unified tax system. It is still being discussed and debated by the government. Success of ERP implementations will lie in the ability to quickly adapt to the new GST regime as and when it is announced,” says Thomas Abraham, MD, Sage India.

In fact, the industry still seems to be groping in dark on the exact nature of the policy as the guidelines are yet to be announced. Says Yogesh Kumar Sharma, Head, ERP, Jindal Group, “There is absolutely no clarity on the way forward.

Every second day there is a different version from states and industry experts and we are just assuming how things will shape up post GST. Its definitely a big concern for every IT manager. Though we have not started the preparations yet, we would be setting up a GST team by the end of December to meet the switchover deadline.”

Agrees, Robin Banerjee, CFO, Suzlon Energy, “The industry has not started the preparations yet. As rules and regulations have yet to be drafted by the government, there are lot of uncertainties.” However, he asserts that one has to be prepared for any kind of changes.

“The structure of GST is still not known...

The general thinking is that processes will be simplified to get advantage of the tax system…”

—Thomas Abraham, MD, Sage India

“Though GST is not a very complex deal, wrong interp­ retations may lead to sleepless nights for any IT manager” —Arun Gupta, Group CTO, K Raheja Corp

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insight | taxation

“Ascertaining the preparedness of ERP vendors for making changes in the ERP systems is critical for any organiSation AS it gets ready to migrate to the GST regime” — Nimish Goel, Manager-tax and regulatory services, PwC Notably, out of 120 countries where the GST has been implemented, only two countries—Brazil and Canada—have dual level GST model, similar to what has been proposed in India. Explains Siddharth Mehta, Senior Manager, Indirect Tax, Tax and Regulatory Services, KPMG India, “Existing tax regime in India is very complicated.

There are indications that GST in India may be implemented at dual level like in Brazil and Canada. The dual model will essentially combine both state and central taxes into a single system and, considering the quasi-federal structure of India, it seems to be justifiable.”

Ironing out the creases

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IT Manager’s to-do list Prepare multiple plans of action. benefits Perform systematic verification under different probabilities to derive exact tax benefits Work closely with a tax consultant to understand post-GST effect Form a GST team within the organisation Ensure GST roll out in a way that there is minimum disruption to current business Stop issuing invoices with sales tax, excise, service tax or entry tax after GST implementation Ensure proper authentication to prevent loss of credit while handling invoices with old dates Re-organise any automatic process that may exist in the organisation for calculating present taxes with April 2010 as the bill and invoice date

Photo graph y: Photo s.c om

At the moment, there are many blackholes in the proposed GST that will be clarified only after the release of final draft guidelines by the government.

“GST will simplify the life of software (particularly the ERP) developers as they have to handle only one kind of tax.

However, it is important to analyse the compliance preparation and short-term impact analysis within an organisation,” comments Dr Manoj Saxena, CEO, NetEdge Computing.

During the initial stages, there may be several transactions pertaining to tax with old rates. Therefore, an IT manager will need to keep an eagle’s eye on all these developments.

Also, to achieve successful transition, incorporation of the new Tax Code— central GST (CGST) and state GST (SGST) is required. According to experts, this could be a big structural change, and would hence need to be accommodated in the ERP. It is crucial for an IT manager to amend all open point of sale (POS) to incorporate the new GST rather than VAT or any other criteria. In the absence of auto update, the ERP may stop you from getting goods in.

Since all service providers, manufacturers, traders and retailers will

have different identification numbers for sales tax (state wise) and service tax (excise registration number, PAN, TAN, TIN) they may need to change all that data during the course of GST implementation.

Market analysts assert that none of the existing ERP or accounting systems is ready to deal with such massive changes.

As CST will no longer continue and proposed GST credits may take place during inter-state transactions, it needs to be examined whether or not the stock transfer-and-sell model will continue to be efficient under the new framework.

“While uniform GST system will throw up many deployment challenges, it will help completely do away with small warehousing agents and substantially reduce in-transit pilferages thanks to the modern handling systems,” says Sanjay Goel, Chairman, GTC Group.

“On the SCM front, there will a heavy reduction in the funds blocked with government and firms will have to invest less. Globally over $25 Billion every year gets stuck with tax issues which an optimised Supply Chain can save or reduce,” he adds.

Finally, as there are still a lot of ifs and buts to GST, it is really hard for anyone to prescribe a foolproof solution for the IT manager to follow. However, to start with, it would be prudent to have an in-house GST team comprising people from both tax and IT departments. Furthermore, sufficient training will need to be provided to all users to ensure smooth functioning of operations.

Meanwhile, our IT manager Desai, once bitten, twice shy, is working hard with different functional departments to ensure a smooth transition. Hopefully, all those who faced the music during the VAT days will have it easier during the transition to GST.

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

insight | Server

has

the

fizz settled?

Server virtualisation made its way into legacy-dominated enterprises astride big hype.

Now that the dust has settled, it is time to assess the benefits of the technology

By Siya Saha n i

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From SOA to Web 2.0, from cloud computing to virtualisation, history repeats itself on binary screens. A technology surfaces from nowhere, burgeons unnoticed, bubbles up thanks to hype and then bursts as soon as new technology hype steals the thunder. So before the buzz around server virtualisation becomes history, why not try a quick download?

Server virtualisation has emerged as a technology for hiding the physical characteristics of IT resources from the other side of the curtain in which different systems, applications or endusers interact with those servers. And servers, we know, form a thick slice of the pie called budget.

Server | insight

We can do it Reality check: Do a candid analysis. Compute whether the benefits outweigh the costs in your situation. If the management of IT hardware and software resources is a current or anticipated headache, you should take a look at VMware, Xen and Microsoft Virtual Server. Carefully consider the benefits and disadvantages for your particular situation.

Devil is in the details: The most critical factor for a virtualised infrastructure is how well you design it and how it is planned for provisioning and future requirements. This includes proper selection of servers, storage sub-systems and networking, based on the performance and availability requirements. A properly planned environment with features like check pointing and automatic failover can ensure 99.99% uptime.

Dashboards helps: Visibility into what is being deployed, where, how, and by whom, help enterprises track system deployments and correct variations from their standard operating environment (SOE). Replace or augment operational performance and event monitoring solution with something that will handle the virtual systems better. Automate the processes that are in place for managing the full lifecycle of virtual systems, including VM provisioning, migration, and decommissioning.

Interestingly, with a freeze on IT investments, server virtualisation has become all the more critical. For instance, server shipments on a global scale have tanked over the last few quarters (in the second quarter of 2009, worldwide server shipments dropped 28% year-on-year, according to Gartner). Yet, the dependence on IT has only increased thanks to all the automation or productivity measures.

Little wonder, for the IT manager who has to eke out more processing power from lesser or same equipment, virtualisation is the only key.

The hype part is not entirely untrue, asserts Indivar Nair, Consultant at Independent Information Technology Consultants and an expert on virtualisation based out of Mumbai.

“Though there are the obvious and highly talked about features like savings in costly floor space, cooling, power and infrastructure management, it does not make them any less important,” he says.

For many, it started as an underdog technology since VMware had been around for a few years before the buzz about server virtualisation started in

the IT industry. But now virtualisation is a hot topic.

Says Deepak Tawri, Engineering Manager at Qlogic Software, “In recent years, it has moved towards mainstream in production servers.

And the faith is that there is still room to grow. I understand that about 75% of large enterprises use virtualisation to some extent, but most of those have virtualised only about 10% of their servers.” So, when one virtualises servers, there are definitely some benefits that focus the spotlight on the IT manager.

Headaches are history Smoother software migration, reduced downtime, less physical system maintenance, fewer headaches, business agility getting real, increase in service capabilities and flexibility of business processes, reduced hardware constraints leading to faster deployment cycles and server consolidation are just a few upside areas to start with.

On an average, enterprises report that they get around four to five different functional benefits—better SLAs, faster

recovery from failures, improved audit, and faster provisioning, as Andi Mann, V-P of Research, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) suggests. However, business continuity and disaster recovery outshine everything else.

“Apart from consolidation, ease to manage, cost-saving and disasterrecovery are clearly big reasons prompting customers to adopt virtualisation as it helps them to migrate critical application to another server or location in very short time,” Mann says.

As P V Aslekar, Manager IT at Badve Engineering, points out too, recovery of data is the most critical part of IT operations, and managing data security and anything else related to data is crucial for IT managers.

According to Nair, a properly planned virtualisation environment can also reduce manpower requirements to a great extent. “For example, where one had to install complete OS and applications on a new hardware, which could take hours or days, a new virtual server can be easily started in minutes using a pre-configured virtual server image file,” he asserts.

Improved server utilisation and humble spatial-cum-software and hardware costs affect budget decisions and ROI math on the balance sheets as well. “For example, you can put one 10 Gbps card in the physical machine which could be shared by 10 virtual servers, each being allocated 1 Gbps of bandwidth,” says Tawri.

Clearly, the over-provisioning model used by earlier data centers is becoming unsustainable and offers poor ROI. Shajy Thomas, Head of Technology at Crest Animation Studios from Mumbai, elucidates: “Server virtualisation is addressing the problems of over- and under provisioning of servers… As a result, we can optimise server utilisation, gain operational efficiencies, control power and cooling costs, and control capital investments better.” Centralised and secure management, configuration, change detection, performance analysis etc are other positives that add up to a lot of Green Computing. What more could you ask for?

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insight | Server

Virtualisation might have few issues that needs to be addressed, but it certainly helps an enterprise improve the way business is done.

Data management and DR Shrunk downtime Maintenance headaches off Agility

Bright Spots

Better server utilisation, quick implementation and provisioning Better SLAs and audit H/W related benefits Reduced HR and other costs Cooling, power-space savings and other Green IT frills Security gaps Licensing maze Low expertise

Grey Areas

Not all is great Security always makes the alarms go off when it comes to virtualisation. With more touch points and loss of control to the low-level hyper-visor, attacks and accentuated vulnerabilities are a big security concerns for many.

Without doubt, the biggest problem for IT managers with virtualisation is the demand for new approaches to managing virtual systems, observes EMA’s Mann. “This is mainly because the environment is so much more complex. The average enterprise uses around 11 different platforms,

Inadequate vendor support Inter-operability issues

technologies and vendors in its virtualisation environment alone. It is difficult to gain and preserve all the needed skills.”

Then there are wrinkles in the balance sheet. The confusing algebra of licensing costs still haunts IT cubicles; it becomes even more complex for virtual setups. Also sporadic and dynamic resource usage need to be calculated, which is much tougher to tote up than just initial costs.

Many other areas are still unanswered or unaddressed adequately. Human issues top that list, especially if an

enterprise is running short of skills, abilities, acceptance, adaptability and willingness to share resources. No doubt, HR problems like politics, skills and resource are three of the top five barriers to virtualisation success, if you ask Mann.

But, then again, as with anything else, virtualisation, if not implemented properly, can be counter-productive, warns Nair. Indian IT managers have long known the benefits of virtualisation, but adoption levels are still low. The main reason, asserts Nair, is lack of expertise.

Implementation ills Virtualisation comes with its set of challenges, Thomas states adding that it will lead to over-burdening of IT management and skill set requirements. “The decision for virtualisation integration should be based purely on the actual business requirement and ROI,” he recommends.

Even though most virtualisation software can be easily be implemented, there is very little expertise available in sizing, planning and designing virtualisation environments. It is no surprise that trial runs by organisation do not yield the required results.

“We are habituated to installing and running software out of the box. That does not work in case of virtualisation as lot of planning and proper sizing of resource requirements is very essential,” Nair reasons.

Inadequate vendor support, snags in compatibility, concomitant hardware and software requirements and concentration risk darken the clouds a little. Talking about the concentration risk, Tawri says, “The biggest advantage of virtualisation is the ability to consolidate several physical servers onto one machine. But putting most of your application’s eggs in one basket is risky. If the host machine breaks down or needs to be taken offline, then several

“Server virualisation has moved towards mainstream… about 75% of large enterprises use it to some extent, but most of those have virtualised only about 10% of their servers” —Deepak Tawri, Engineering Manager, Qlogic Software

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Server | insight

“Though most virtualisation software can be easily implemented, there is very little expertise available in sizing, planning and designing the environment” —Indivar Nair, Consultant, Independent IT Consultants

“… cost-saving and disaster-recovery are clearly big reasons “Server virtualisation addresses prompting customers the problems of over and under provisioning of servers…” to adopt virtualisation —Shajy Thomas, Head of Technology, Crest Animation Studios as it helps them migrate critical apps to other fears seem highly unfounded and to test out the solutions. Organisations server or location in a these exist mainly because of lack of expertise. that have been able to break this vicious short time” “Most organisations invest in new circle have successfully adopted —Andi Mann, VP (Research), Enterprise Management Associates

virtual servers will go down. However, this problem can be solved by having a standby or cluster server.”

IT manager’s dilemma Yes, virtualisation does look like a double-edged sword to most IT managers.

Nair is right when he says that while IT managers would like to adopt virtualisation and reap its benefits, they are still wary of performance issues. However,

hardware every year and since these servers were not sized for multiple virtual servers, they cannot be reused for virtualisation. After investing in hundreds of servers over time, IT managers find it difficult to sell virtualisation to management as it would initially require more hardware and software purchases. Here again, lack of expertise ensures very low or negligible adoption of open source virtualisation solutions,” Nair observes.

Also, IT managers are under pressure to upgrade or add new services all the while which gives them little time

virtualisation and reaped rich benefits.

Virtual servers may still not be seen as robust and capable enough to run large enterprise applications but they have definitely made IT administrators’ life much easier in terms of allocating and managing servers which run moderate or small size applications. There is still hope that server virtualisation will not be just another passing fad.

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Tech for Logistics

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tech for Logistics

Technology adoption within the logistics segment is still fairly low, resulting in a digital divide that separates the good from the not-sogood organisations. But things are changing

BY S h ash wat D C

Photo graph y: photo s.c om

T

he queer thing about logistics is that though, as a sector, it accounts for hundreds of crores in the GDP, the players in the segment are obsessed with saving every paisa that they earn.

Consider this. Logistics major Gati has offices at over 400 locations in India and connects close to 600 districts in the country through its humungous fleet of vehicles. Every time, it is able to cut down travel between its disparate offices through operational efficiency, precious money and time are saved. Little wonder, GS Ravi Kumar, CIO, Gati, while taking decision for IT implementation on multi-crore projects, is always conscious about saving every rupee. “For us at Gati, IT investment is not a cost but an instrument for controlling costs,” he clarifies.

Indeed, IT can play a major role in increasing the operational

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Tech for Logistics efficiency of the players, especially when it comes to the express cargo segment. Yet, investment on IT by logistics players in India is, at best, paltry, with most of the players seemingly satisfied with lower hanging fruits like computerisation of offices or implementation of primitive warehousing solutions.

According to a recent study

by Kale Consultants, while 48% of the logistic companies in the country considered IT critical for their operations, only 24% of the companies were found to be above the average in terms of technology adoption. And 86% of the companies were found to spend less than 1% of their revenues on technology adoption!

Haves and have-nots Fragmentation of the market is the main reason, according to Ajay Chopra, CEO, Drive India Enterprises.

“The Indian market comprises a huge chunk of unorganised players who dot the landscape. While in the organised sector, the use of IT has been fairly high, the same cannot be said of the unorganised sector. According to a recently published study, IT investments by the Indian logistics industry accounted for some Rs 400 crore in 2007 and were set to rise to Rs 1,000 crore by 2013. It goes without saying as to who will be spending this money,” he adds.

With the opening of the markets and entry of large players like DHL, Fedex and others into the domestic scene, there is a clear line that divides the big and the small players. While companies like DHL and AFL have brought with them processes and practices that are followed at an international scale, the small-time Indian players have been found wanting on both vision and inclination to spend on technology.

This has resulted in a clear contrast in the way the big players use technology to deliver customer services like real-time tracking of

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Indian logistics industry to spend Rupees

1,000 Crore on IT over five years Spending Growth 22% CAGR Logistic IT spend

54%

46%

India spends Rs 150,000 crore in operating costs annually; can improve supply chain efficiencies through effective IT interventions.

Much like the banking industry, the logistic sector is also required to keep Historical data, which often poses a big challenge

shipments, while the older ones still harp on the power of proof of delivery (POD). In fact, the push for technology adoption usually comes from the customer side.

“It is the customer who more often than not drives the need to implement latest technology. For instance, customers, who have in the course of travel or work interacted with DHL internationally, are accustomed to very high level of service standards. We have to replicate that in India. Hence, for us, customer satisfaction is the ultimate guide when it comes to making any decision, be it a strategic one or one related to IT investment,” affirms Prasad Dhumal, Senior Director IT, South Asia at DHL Express.

But if the customer was the beacon for IT adoption by the logistics sector, the economic slowdown has proved to be the prime reason for productivity gains through technology adoption.

In the past year or more, players across the board, even the small and medium ones, have suddenly become conscious of the need to automate their systems and be more efficient.

One domestic company that has been designing software solutions for the logistics vertical, Four Soft, talks about the trend.

“Technology is no more a mere differentiator or competitive edge any more. It is a necessity for the logistics industry to improve customer service, ensure customer retention and win new customers.

It’s the only way that can help the industry to face the stiff pressure to reduce costs and increase productivity. The conviction to adopt latest technology has crept in deep and the increasing flow of RFIs and RFPs in spite of the economic downturn is a proof of this realisation,” states Umashankar S, VP (marketing) at Four Soft.

Overall, the most commonly used IT solutions in the industry are Warehouse Management System (WMS) for managing inventory, Transport Management System

tech for Logistics or Location-Based Services (LBS) for tracking fleet movement, Freight Forwarding System (FFS) for handling custom clearance for international movement, Web-enabled services for collaborating with agents and vendors online and Track and Trace Solutions (TTS) for tracking shipment over the web and mobile tools.

Another crucial requirement of the sector is the need for data storage and back-up. For instance, Unni Nair, Manager IT, Aramex, had to deal with huge amounts of transaction and customer data. “It was a big challenge for us. Much like the banking sector, we are also required to keep historical data. That often poses a big challenge as there is no off-the-shelf solution to meet the requirements,” he states.

Currently, Aramex has deployed a mix of storage solutions ranging from NAS to tape storage.

Build versus buy One of the most common refrains that emanates from almost all CIOs in the industry is the lack of need-specific solutions for the players. While ERP has become a basic requirement that interconnects different functions within the company, yet most companies in the cargo sector use custombuilt software. The reason, according to many, is that unlike other sectors like manufacturing or banking, logistics is a very heterogeneous sector where one company’s way of functioning is often at odds with that of another. This was quite the reason why Gati decided to build its own solution.

Back in the year 2000 when Gati was contemplating large-scale computerisation and digitisation within the company, it evaluated the various options that were available. But after intense scrutiny, it realised that the customisation of these solutions would be as big an effort as building one and also they would be much costlier than a home-grown solution. Keeping these two things in mind, Ravi Kumar got cracking with the internal team and created a solution that completely

“While challenges of each player might be unique, there still is the common thread... admin, finance, payroll, HR and enterprise asset management ...”

—Rod Strata, Industry Principal, Transportation & Logistics, SAP Asia

mapped the need and requirements of Gati. Dubbed as Gati Enterprise Management System (GEMS), the solution is Web-enabled and links all the offices on the same platform.

“The design and development work started in January 2001, and it took two years and a half to complete GEMS which covers the entire end-to-end requirement of Gati. We also connected our major locations through fibre and the rest through a mix of cable, dial-up and broadband connections.

Developing the software internally has given us complete control on the way we scale or tweak it to match our requirements. This would not have been necessarily possible with an external solution,” asserts Ravi Kumar.

Yet, Rod Strata, Industry Principal,

“With applications like Google Map, customers will now play a more pro-active role in terms of deciding where and how the shipment should move” Prasad Dhumal, Senior Director IT, South Asia at DHL Express

Transportation & Logistics, SAP Asia, who has worked with scores of logistics companies across the world, advocates package solutions offered by the likes of his company.

“While the challenges of each player might be unique there still is the common thread amongst all like HR, payroll, enterprise asset management, finance and administration. This is where a fully integrated solution like the ones from SAP scores. We know what the common pain points are for all clients in this vertical and have, therefore, designed a solution that takes care of the same. So, in a way, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Also, we have been working with players in this segment for a long time and thus have fine-tuned our solutions to the

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needs and requirements of the logistics function,” he states.

So, here you had a look at both the sides of the coin.

Infrastructure blues Infrastructure is a bottleneck for any segment in India, especially for the logistics industry. And it is not only the physical infrastructure that poses a problem but also the multiplicity of rules and regulations that often makes operations a headache. Chopra from Drive India points out that taxes are levied by the Centre, state and even city municipal bodies.

“The amount of paperwork that we need to undertake to take a consignment say from Delhi to Mumbai crossing multiple state borders is just huge. That causes a lot of delay and additional expenses,” he states. He, however, is optimistic that the proposed implementation of GST might just be able ease life, “if only implemented completely and in the right spirit.”

Meanwhile, the little said about the physical infrastructure the better. Everything right from ports to highways to intra-city roads is in bad shape. Ironically, logistics, including transportation, accounts for around 11% of the GDP. Yet, it is unable to dictate terms when it comes to ensuring that large-scale infrastructure projects are undertaken.

On the IT front, the players face lot of issues on two counts—erratic power supply that necessitates constant power backup, and the connectivity challenge. CIOs of large companies, that have offices in tier 2 and 3 cities, need to ensure that there are not many power hungry devices in these offices. Also, the need to maintain redundancy is a major headache. CIOs need to keep multiple vendors simply because they are not able to trust the service standards of current players.

“For instance, when I use the mobility services from one vendor, I need to sign up for another, simply because there is no single operator that provides nationwide coverage,” states Dhumal.

Nair from Aramex, on the other hand, risked going for a single vendor.

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“For us at Gati, IT investment is not a cost but an instrument for controlling costs” GS Ravi Kumar, CIO, Gati

“We were facing huge problems in terms of multiple-vendor solutions for our communication needs, different service levels and different costs. That is when we decided to go for a singlevendor solution and implemented the same from Reliance,” he informs.

The road ahead As the logistics segment needs to stay ahead in the technology race, it goes beyond saying that it is constantly on the lookout for new software and solutions to streamline its operations.

Already, the segment is using GPS and GIS solutions for fleet management.

Though quite a few players have already started a few projects that involve use of RFID, all of them are waiting for costs of the tags to come down.

So what else could be in the offing?

Dhumal attempts a little bit of crystalgazing. “The logistics sector per se is a big user of the latest in technology, and I envisage the trend to continue. In the coming days, with the emergence

of 3G and video hand-held devices, I believe there will be integration of the same into the service bouquets.

Also, in the future, the customer will tend to play a more pro-active role in the terms of deciding where and how the shipments move from one of his warehouses to dealer or to the market, thanks to online applications like Google Maps,” he states.

Also going ahead, sustainability is going to be one of the biggest discussion points for the industry. Considering the climate-change consciousness that is sweeping across the country and the globe, it is just a matter of time before the logistics players are forced to go green. In fact, one of the terms that is doing the rounds nowadays is ‘green logistics’ wherein ICT is used to cut down on the carbon footprint of the company. Globally, the transportation sector is responsible for high emissions of carbon dioxide, and since the sector uses vehicles, planes and ships extensively, any cut down on that front can help the company in reducing its carbon footprint.

“Sustainability is going to be a big thing and IT will play a crucial role in this. For instance, one customer with the effective use of BI was able to reduce close to 10% of the containers that were shipped. That is a big saving on time, money and emissions. In fact, we have a specific team within SAP that is working on the sustainability aspect,” states Strata.

Whatever be the state of affairs, green or not so green, one thing is for sure: the Indian logistics industry has a long way to go in terms of technology adoption. The difference between the tech-savvy and the old-world players is stark. Hopefully, with the turnaround in the offing and the economy picking up, investments will pour in especially from smaller players who will like to take on the big ones. And for them tech spend is not an option, it is lifesustaining oxygen.

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

Photo graphy: Sures h Vanga pally

Tech for Logistics

interview | Simon Dale

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Simon Dale | interview

“there was no

recession

in india”

Photo graph y: mexy x avie r

SAP Asia-Pacific’s Senior V-P (sales) Simon Dale, in a freewheeling interview with Shashwat DC, discusses the global slowdown, the company’s mid-term strategy change and why it is extending itself beyond ERP into bussiness intelligence There has been a lot of talk about the transformation of SAP. When did this process start and what were the objectives?

Simon Dale: The initiative usually referred to as SAP mid-term strategy was put in motion a few years back. At that point, we looked inwards. The need for it was fairly obvious, as the core business five years ago was ERP and it was growing only by a small percentage. In order to maintain our leadership and gain greater market share, we needed to grow our business a lot more swiftly.

That is when we decided to move into adjacent spaces, especially in the business user space as we call it. These are businesses that do not normally think of using an ERP. Most of them are managers and analysts who, while intricately involved in the decision-making process, are not direct users of ERP. In the business user space,

we saw business intelligence, performance management, and risk management as the markets of the future. We also realised that it would take too long to build everything we needed. So we bought Business Objects. That got us into the space and that is also how we transformed.

Customers today are looking for a single vendor who can meet all their requirements right from hardware to software to consultancy. What does SAP bring to the table?

We still see ourselves as a software vendor which works closely with an ecosystem of partners to meet the requirements of our customers. Our business has grown and (we have) been successful by building active partnerships with companies of all shapes and sizes.

So we remain independent in our work, and continue to work on our USP, that is, building solutions in

and around ERP. Meanwhile, the implementation and maintenance is taken care of by our partners who are masters in this domain.

And I firmly believe that this strategy (of aligning with partners) has worked perfectly for us because in a value chain, where different organisations are involved, all are going to add to value, and the combined value will always be larger than the individual (one). I think that if we were going to do everything ourselves, it would either distract us from our core business, or may not allow us to scale in areas in which we would like to grow.

Traditionally, SAP has been an ERP vendor. Is there a strategic shift in the focus?

I won’t really term it as a strategic shift. We continue to focus on ERP even as we add to our capabilities in the business user space. We are just expanding our business. In

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interview | Simon Dale fact, before the slowdown, one of our stated goals was to double our market cap in the near future. We are still committed to it.

In fact, the business intelligence space was growing three times more quickly than the ERP space and two-third of the total growth of SAP came from Business Objects. I think that moving into the business user space is merely an extension, and not really a major shift of focus.

Many organisations in India and elsewhere have either scaled down or frozen their IT investment plans. Do you see the trend changing soon?

It is inevitable... the economy will bounce back. We already are reading reports on the signs of a bounceback. When we specifically talk of India, there was never any recession here… the economy was growing even in the face of the global downturn. Thus it is not that bad here as everyone tends to make it sound. But even so, at the end of the day, if things slow down a little, it is an opportunity for organisations to take stock of what they have got, what are the things that they are doing badly, and what are the things they should be doing. And for all these queries, IT and business intelligence serve as enablers.

Hence, I believe that the time is ripe for organisations to start investing in IT infrastructure so that they are well prepared for the subsequent bounce. Also, once they have done this introspection, they will be ready to scale up quickly and fast.

SAP has been talking a lot about ‘Clear Strategy’. What exactly is it?

Clear Strategy is trying to give people a clear vision on how they may deal with the current crisis.

Right now, if you were to ask most business leaders about what may happen in the next 12 months in their business, then based on their intelligence and by merging

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it with other real factors, we can turn information into true insight.

With this, organisations can get a quick overview of the prospects for the company and can set a course for the future. This is what we mean by Clear Strategy.

Why is there not much noise from SAP on the cloud front?

We are a software and service player. So we do provide BI on demand, sourcing on demand and CRM on demand. We also provide our software to other OEM providers. Thus, in a way, we enable their clouds as well. That is where our current participation stands. As far as the future is concerned, we are carrying out research projects in conjunction with our customers. We are working on various offerings and the value they can provide. We are still working on various value propositions of services to be delivered in the future.

What is the Value Academy programme that you run for IT professionals?

Basically, we have a lot of consultants working with us; they

When we talk of India there was never a recession here… the economy was growing even during the global downturn”

How did you like this interview?

Send your feedback at editor@itnext.in

are called value engineers. To be more specific, they are business consultants who understand the nitty-gritty of technology. There is a methodology that these consultants follow. We share the same with our customers and give them access to our tools so that they can make a business case out of technology decisions.

We run it on a regular basis in different countries, and it has been found to be pretty useful in imparting business knowledge to IT professionals. In fact, we have a dedicated person who handles the Value Academy programme here in India. And yes, a lot of senior IT managers do join us for the academy and hopefully benefit from it. It is a great value proposition for the community at large.

15minute manager

training Education workplace compensation workforce trends skills development personal development

office Yoga Tips Page 48

Key factors in IT forecasting page 49 Training Get Back to the Classroom! page 50 Manage IT 5 simple steps to greening your enterprise Page 52

By S u m a E P

Photo graph y: photo s.c om

W

hen GMR began work on the Hyderabad International Airport, it was estimated that the airport would cater to five million passengers per annum.

The infrastructure, including the backend IT, was accordingly put in place.

Halfway through the project, this estimate was raised to seven million passengers per annum, which required GMR to re-configure networks and ports for additional capacity and make other changes in the infrastructure.

With six months left to begin operations, the estimate was changed to 12 million passengers per annum.

“Fortunately, we had configured the servers for additional capacity, for up to 20 million passengers. The change in estimate, therefore, required us to work only on re-configuring networks and ports, and adjust the space, power points, etc, for additional check-in counters and so on,” says Sivaram Tadepalli, CIO, Delhi Airport who was also associated with the company’s hyderabad project.

Change in market conditions is just one of the challenges that IT forecasting faces. There are several others such as rapid changes in technology changes or sudden competitor moves.

Sometimes, it appears that it would be

IT Strat

Predicting it right Strategic IT forecasting is a challenging task. However, it can make a difference to your business

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15-MINUTE MANAGER impossible to accurately forecast an enterprise’s IT needs in such a rapidly changing scenario.

Why forecasting is important?

“Business requirements and priorities set the guidelines for IT forecasting,” says Tadepalli.

“It’s demand-based forecasting,” says Diptarup Chakraborti, Principal Research Analyst, Gartner. “Organisations should align their IT needs based on the shortterm, medium-term and long-term business plans and goals.”

“Most companies in India follow a bottom-up approach to IT,” says Krishnamurthy Hegde, Enterprise Solutions Architect and the Founder of Interactive Media Worldwide, a hugely popular community on LinkedIn. He explains that when a company begins operations, it starts acquiring hardware and applications as and when the need arises. That, according to him, is a good way to start, because at that point, it is difficult to forecast a growth roadmap for the business.

“However, as complexity increases, the company will face a bottleneck

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By Dr Naveen Arya | aryansclinic@gmail.com

Asanas for a busy manager More people report body aches after office hours than in the morning

Body aches Neck Lower Back Shoulder Headache Upp er Back

l Sit on the edge of the chair and spread your feet a little apart. Place your palms flat on your thighs facing downwards, your spine should be erect, looking straight ahead. Inhale and exhale evenly for five counts each.

Repeat minimum 10 times.

Upper Arm Calf Feet Knee Palm Fore Arm Eye Dryness

Morning

It’s a fallacy to believe that Yoga postures require a special setting and specific time.

Like much else in life, Yoga can be adapted to meet the needs and requirements of your hectic lifestyles, even during office hours.

All that you need is a comfortable chair and a straight sitting posture. Do them at your own pace and your convenience and feel the difference.

Evening

Source: IIT Bom bay- IDC

l Next, put both hands on your shoulders, with your elbows apart and then rotate your arms both clockwise and the anti-clockwise.

Repeat 15 times each. l Place both hands on your chest, so that the arms overlap with each other. Now inhale and move your both arms outwards and while exhaling, bring them to the starting position. Repeat the exercise for a minimum 20 times. l Hold out your hands in front of you, with the both arms parallel to the ground. Now inhale and move both your arms outwards.

Exhale and come to the previous position.

Good health requires a committed approach that can be met by quick office yoga

l Lock fingers of both of your hands in each other and stretch your hands over your back.

Next, move both your hands in such a way that both elbows come in contact with each other, while you exhale. Repeat the movement 15 to 18 times.

Photo graph y: photo s.c om

Constructing forecast

Office Yoga

Photo graph y: Jayan K Narayanan

“IT forecasting should be able to guide the business on how to use IT better,” says Tadepalli. “It balances the growth of business with the cost of IT involved.

IT should be able to ensure that as the volume of business transactions increases, the cost of each transaction does not increase; rather, it should go down. Only then can it add to bottom line growth,” he adds.

“Most businesses today are enabled

by IT, and some even have IT as the backbone for their product, solution or service delivery. Today, having adequate IT infrastructure is a given and does not give you any special strategic advantage.

But not having it definitely puts you at a huge disadvantage against competition.

Therefore, it is impractical to think of a business plan without an adequate and well thought out IT infrastructure plan,” says Mohan Verma, Executive Director, PriceWaterhouse Coopers (PwC).

15-MINUTE MANAGER

“Having adequate IT infrastructure is a given... not having it definitely puts you at a huge disadvantage against your competition” —Mohan Verma, Executive Director, PwC

“Study the market... and projected business plans... and work with various teams—HR, finance and sales” —Diptarup Chakraborti, Principal Research Analyst, Gartner

Key factors i n IT f o r eca st i n g

IT forecasting should be based on the business plan and business development roadmap. It should be flexible enough to realign to dynamic business requirements IT forecasting can go wrong due to unexpected changes in the economy, market, business or competitive scenarios Create short-term, medium-term, and long-term forecasts, depending on business needs and goals. Make forecasts for best case, worst case and most likely scenarios Take as many inputs as possible, related to the economy, market and your business. Consider all internal and external factors that could affect the business. Also, keep track of technology changes and trends Developing an enterprise-wide application reference model, in tandem with the business vision and the business development roadmap, is a sound strategy Hiring a consultant may add significant value to IT forecasting

IT should be able to ensure that as the volume of business transactions increases, the cost of each transaction does not increase... rather it should go down in making these diverse pieces of IT work together. That is the time to introduce a top-down approach for IT forecasting and build an enterprise-wide architecture for your applications,” he explains.

He advises that based on the business model and the business development roadmap, enterprises should create an “enterprise-wide application reference

model, which comprises application reference, technology reference and data reference models.”

“In the data reference model, based on transactions and number of users, you determine data volume which will define storage capacity and bandwidth requirements. Depending on how distributed the enterprise is you can determine LAN, WAN and

storage requirements. The technology reference model determines what technologies you need, while the application reference model defines your application stack,” Hegde explains.

What can go wrong?

Chakraborti of Gartner cites several reasons why IT forecasts can go wrong.

First is the situation where growth or decline is faster than expected. “Nobody could have forecast the recent recession wherein India’s GDP plummeted from 9% in January 2008 to 5.8% in the fourth quarter of 2008. This sharp drop amounted to a $ 30-billion loss in GDP. In such extreme situations, IT forecasting will go wrong,” he says.

“Technology changes very fast and new innovations kill old-

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15-MINUTE MANAGER generation devices,” says Tadepalli, citing how virtualisation and cloud computing are doing away with the need to have separate servers for each application. “Therefore, you have to look around, study trends and standards in technology management and then augment IT to meet business requirements,” he adds.

Towards better forecasting “Depending upon the industry, the scale of growth of an enterprise and its existing IT maturity, IT infrastructure forecasting can range from being a simple process to an extremely intricate and challenging one. For a fast growing company with relatively inadequate IT infrastructure, a formal exercise, aligning the business vision, objectives and projected growth with the IT infrastructure requirement, would have to be undertaken,” says Verma of PwC. Chakraborti of Gartner advises taking as many inputs as possible and creating IT forecasts for best case, worst case and most likely scenarios. “Study the market, market growth, growth of various departments in your company, the company’s hiring plans, projected business turnover and economic growth. Work with various teams, such as HR, finance and sales,” he adds.

Hiring a consultant to enhance this critical function is also a sound strategy.

“The consultant gives an outsider’s view and brings in experience from different companies… However, the enterprise has to provide proper information and visibility to the consultant,” says Hegde.

Finally, K V Ranganathan, Senior GM—IT, Brandhouse Retails, points outs, “While the IT manager would be constrained by the budgetary support he may get from his management, he would be in a dilemma as to what initiative he has to drop or has to carry forward. In such a situation, the IT manager has to be clear about his priorities. The wish list or the forecast of the IT manger has to keep in mind the business requirement and realities. He must realise that IT exists for business and not as an individual entity.”

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Training

Get Back to the Classroom!

Choosing the right skills to upgrade is key to beating the recession blues

By Mo h i t C h h a br a

W

hen the ‘R’ word started to do the rounds of office corridors and meeting rooms, Shashank Rana would break into a cold sweat. Apart from the uncertainty, he was wary of taking responsibilities of a different kind because of his morbid fear of working with numbers of the currency kind.

Shashank is the IT Manager of CMA Inc, a large publisher of comic and other recreational books for children and young adults. He is a whiz-kid of sorts in the company. He can troubleshoot networks with the same ease as a chef chops onions.

He is respected in the organisation for making systems and platforms of all kinds work together like a symphony.

But things started to change for Shashank when cost reduction and cost optimisation became necessary as the fear of a major slowdown turned into a reality.

Shashank’s task-list had a lot of unchecked items and most of them related to issues that had nothing to do with computers and machines. His understanding of finance was limited to what he read in the morning dailies. And now as a middle-level manager in CMA he was being confronted with a tsunami of numbers. “Something has to be done about this,” the techno whiz-kid decided.

training Some interesting forthcoming calender programmes Programme title and

Dates

Institute

Jan 11 - 16, 2010

IIM Calcutta

Jan 18 - 21, 2010

IIM Ahmedabad

Jan 18 - 20, 2010

IIM Calcutta

Jan 18 - 20, 2010

IIM Bangalore

Jan 20 - 23, 2010

ISB, Hyderabad

description Managerial leadership and conflict resolution Strategic IT management Forecasting for effective business decisions Managing people in software projects Leading teams for high performance

Photo graphy: Shamik Banerjee

15-MINUTE MANAGER

“It is critical to ensure the right fit before an employee is nominated for any executive education programme”

“... transformation of techno-commercial professionals is the only way for them to overcome the growth plateau”

“The straight off benefit of such certifications to the employee is that they immediately add value to their profile”

—Anita Tuteja HR consultant

—Jitender Dhaka CEO, Jobline Consultants

—Vishwajeet Singh CIO, FCM Travel

As if in a trance, he picked up the phone and dialed Amit Mehta’s number.

Amit, a friend from school days, was a banker and pursued his interest in technology rather passionately. He was a maven to most of his friends who looked at him for advice and direction.

After the greetings, Shashank got straight to the topic.

“Amit, I need your help. Teach me how to read these numbers and tutor me about cost-cutting…” he hurriedly spoke. “Cost management,” Amit cut him short. “Promise me a couple of beers in return,” he said to overcome the awkward interruption. “So I will see you at six this evening at our watering hole,” said Shashank before hanging up with a new sense of relief.

In the evening, Shashank reached their rendezvous early. He occupied

a corner spot that was relatively less noisy. Shashank wasted no time when Amit arrived and reiterated his request.

“Hey, you need more than just a tutoring session. I feel you should join a course.

A course that gives you a well rounded perspective of finance, and also prepares you for bigger responsibilities within your organisation,” Amit responded professorially.

“Specialised courses are available for virtually every subject today. It’s time you looked at this as a careerbuilding exercise than just a training to read numbers,” he added. “This makes sense,” replied Shashank.

Making the right choice “It is very important for technical professionals to realise that transformation into techno-commercial professionals is the

only way to overcome the growth plateau in any organisation,” says Jitender Dhaka, CEO, Jobline Consultants. And this comes with the added advantage of being aligned with strategic issues and also the capacity to multitask.

Both employees and organisations need to realise that a slowdown is the best time to enroll in courses that not only up-skill employees for larger strategic roles but also lead to higher degree of employee-employer engagement. “The straight off benefit of such certifications to the employee is that they immediately add value to their profile,” feels Vishwajeet Singh, CIO of FCM Travel.

But the bigger question is: what kind of certifications should one enroll for? “The first step is to ascertain one’s larger goals—both personal and professional,” feels Dhaka. And he is

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15-MINUTE MANAGER Manage IT

5 simple steps

TO GREENING YOUR ENTERPRISE Saving power in these carbon conscious days is more than merely saving money.

Here is a simple and easy guide on how you can save power and money

right. Not only are certifications for middle management expensive, they also entail an opportunity cost of letting the employee go for the period of the course.

“It is critical to ensure that the right fit is achieved before an employee is nominated for any kind of executive education programme,” feels Anita Tuteja, an independent HR consultant. “The onesize-fits-all approach is very dangerous, especially when one of the objectives of this nomination is the conservation and optimal utilisation of resources—both monetary and human,” she adds.

Measure and record. Organisations should start measuring the power consumption across the company. Dig out the power bill for the company for the past three months, and compare it with those of earlier quarters. Dig deeper to find out who the biggest guzzlers are. Make an energy map based on this research.

1

Powering off. Standby mode is the one of biggest tragedies that could have happened to computing. It is estimated that close to 40% of employees keep their PCs on standby mode when leaving for home. The solution is to tweak the system to go into a shut off mode after a fixed time span. Usually this can be done at the network level itself and poses no technical challenge.

2

Virtual is real. Data centres use massive amounts of electricity; large ones can use megawatts of power. The interesting thing about these data centre is that a bulk of the power, around 60% of it, goes not in the processing of information but in the cooling of the equipment. The key words here are: consolidate and virtualise to reduce power consumption.

3

Take the soft(ware) road. While it might not be popular yet, but there are lots of software application that aid and abet green. Ideally, once the energy consumption pattern has been mapped, and virtualisation done, the next step is to go in for software solutions that help better manage the existing infrastructure. One of the most common approaches is to host applications on the cloud. This is not only cost effective but also carbon effective.

4

Purchase green. Buy green should be the new mantra. So, whenever any RFP is floated make sure it has some green parameters in it as well. Also, whenever you are asked to evaluate a product or a technology solution dig deeper into the carbon footprint of the product, the disposal, and other things. Make it a point to make green an important and integral part of your evaluation.

5

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“The fundamentals of technology remain the same. So when we recruit technical workforce, we want to be sure that the candidate has the right skills if not the right certifications,” feels Singh. However, the lens changes when a senior level recruitment is being done. “Candidates with a broader base of skills often come across as far more confident,” he points out. “This is also an outcome of their ability to converge a number of seemingly unrelated concepts and trends because of their training,” feels Tuteja. And in this rapidly transforming world, this is an asset for any organisation.

A sampler of recent management development programmes (MDPs) conducted by various top business schools points towards this trend. For instance, IIM Ahmedabad would have concluded a five-day programme on strategic planning of information systems by the time this magazine reaches you.

The programme covers various managerial issues in IT such as creating business models, planning for hardware and software, vendor selection and risk evaluation of IT projects. “These programmes are often a reflection of the demands and expectations of a company from its employees,” adds Tuteja.

So, it is a good time to magnify your spectrum of skills and be ready to face the future. As Tom Hanks’ character in the film Castaway famously remarked, “You never know what the next tide might bring.”

Photo graphy: photo s.c om

Broadbasing is the mantra

Security

the big

Who stole my washing machine?

EXPERT PANEL

Mu rali Ta l asil a Director, Forensic Serv ices, KPMG India

The Situation...

Cut it from here

Shankar Saxena was shocked to see the full page ad of Whites Appliances announcing the launch of their new fully automatic washing machine. Not only was the look and feel of the product similar to the product that Shankar’s company Makton India was about to launch, its technical specifications matched too.

Ignoring his cup of tea, Shankar immediately logged on to the Whites website and what he saw hit him in the gut like a hammer. Even the website had the same elements that his team had put together in their plan.

Soon, he was sitting with his key team members and legal experts trying to figure out the source of the information leak as also to understand whether there was any legal action that Makton could initiate against Whites.

The only person missing was Ravi Narayan who had been driving the project till recently, but had decided to quit a month ago for higher Your responses count. Log on to www.itnext.in/bigQ to submit your replies. The best entry will be published in the next print edition.

Alok Gu pta MD, Pyramid Cyber

Satish P endse CIO, HCC

pursuits in life. Was he the man to be blamed?

Shankar quickly checked with the IT team on any anomaly in the usage of Ravi’s laptop or email and was told that there was none. In fact, the technology team was quite sure that their security policies and tools restricted one from copying any classified data on laptops or any external storage device or printing the same.

“So how did the data fly out?” Shankar asked. “Could he have mailed the design details?” he wondered. “Not from the official email,” his CIO informed, adding that the Makton office network did not allow users to log on to any personal email accounts either.

Meanwhile, the legal team informed that since the tech specifications of Whites’ new product closely matched that of Makton’s, the company could explore the possibility of filing a copyright theft case and seek damages.

“The key to the case is the evidence of theft without which it would be difficult to prove that Makton was the company that had originally designed the product,” the legal team said.

NEXT

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the big q

the big questions...

What should the technology team of Makton India do to find out the

?

source of leakage and collect the vital ‘evidence of theft’ in a format that it is admissible in a court of law

?

What are the precautions in terms of policy changes and security tools that Makton needs to put in place to prevent recurrence of similar mishaps

Here are the answers...

‘Probe tech team first’ FIRST ANSWER

Murali Talasila Director, Forensic Services, KPMG India About me: Security and audit professional expert, been associated with firms like Pentafour, KPN, Deloitte, prior to KPMG

Information is the key to any organisation and since there are people willing to pay good money for it, companies are putting in controls to restrict data access and transfer. However, there is still a weak link—the technology team itself. Hence Makton needs to explore the possibility of involvement of someone from the technology team for this leakage.

Suspects have often gained access to the network of a company through VPN and separate network, courtesy the technology team.

This is the most difficult to prove and prevent. The network should be analysed immediately to check any compromise. Also, back-up of the server, firewall and routers should be analysed to check if any configuration changes were done.

There are four ways in which data could have leaked out, including the possibility of the fraudster physically handing over the details to the other company. However, the company policy does not allow taking prints of the same.

Copying to external physical storage may also be ruled out because of the policies and tools at Makton restrict one from copying any classified data to their laptops or any personal device. However, the imaged hard disk could provide details of external hard drives and storage devices plugged into the PC and laptop. Also, the data could have been shared on to the network and stored on to the PC on which administrative rights are available, and data could have been either transferred over internet or copied in the external storage. This needs to be probed.

Email is another common method used for ‘siphoning’ information. But then Makton network does not allow users to log on to any personal email accounts. However, a thorough forensic analysis of sent and deleted emails can help in uncovering the truth.

On the policy front, Makton may have restricted use of external emails in the company network but in practical terms it is very difficult to restrict such access as new email sites crop up very frequently and also, there is a large number of sites which provide for data storage.

Analysis of web cache of the key suspect’s machine can indicate any recent access to sites which provide these facilities. Sometimes, the analysis of cache may indicate access to certain Internet sites which provide for storage capability. This will entail review of the Internet’s ISA server logs and proxy logs. It is also important to forensically preserve hard disk image of machines used by key people against whom there is a suspicion.

SECOND ANSWER Makton should ensure that its IT policy incorporates change management process with involvement of senior management. Technology coupled with processes and awareness in people play a major role in organisational security. However, most organisations lack appropriate tooling and disciplinary measures against policy violations.

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the big q

‘Seek external expertise’ FIRST ANSWER On the face of it, this case looks like one of intellectual property theft blended with cyber crime. The Makton IT team seems to have done a good job with strict and tight policies to ensure that such mishaps do not happen. But often, gaps are left and can be exploited. In this case, however, there seem to be two possible scenarios. One, some weakness in the network has been exploited but from the outside and using a machine that did not belong to Ravi. Either Ravi accessed the network from a public machine or from a machine at home. Two, someone on the inside apart from Ravi is also involved, and he could have opened the network temporarily for access from the outside.

A forensic analysis of not just Ravi’s machine but also of the network is crucial. This is because courts of law accept only that evidence where a proper chain of custody has been maintained along with the use of scientific process and tools.Usually, internal IT teams are not equipped to handle such strict chain of custody. So the IT team must immediately engage with a company or consultant that has a proven expertise of cyber crime and cyber forensics to conduct a forensic acquisition and analysis of the source and suspect destination devices and applications including emails.

But before that Makton CIO must ensure that Ravi’s laptop is not used for anything at all. It must be shut down and sealed in a box. Like in any other crime a cyber criminal also leaves many electronic traces which can only be detected by experts.

Alok Gupta MD, Pyramid Cyber About me: Technopreneur for over two decades, associated with Samtech InfoNet, eKutir Tech and now Pyramid Cyber Security

SECOND ANSWER Despite Makton’s efforts to implement robust security policies, some gaps in implementation seem to have left room for certain vulnerabilities that can be exploited. To prevent recurrence of such incidents, companies should get their security policy reviewed by a team of experts. This should always be followed by a comprehensive third party audit to detect gaps and vulnerabilities. Cost of prevention is far lower than that of detection and resolution.

Organisations like Makton, where intellectual property theft is always a threat, can deploy online forensic tools. These tools can be used to set appropriate alerts in case confidential or restricted data is tampered with or leaked in future.

The other dimension of prevention is awareness since most users of IT in any organisation are functional professionals with very limited understanding and knowledge of cyber and digital ethics. So it is imperative to create that company-wide culture of ethical use of cyber assets.

NOTEs 80

Data loss is biggest info-sec risk amongst Indian enterprises. Difficulty in data classification, low enterprise and user awareness, key reasons (numbers in %)

44 SPAM

Compliance

Denial of services

0

Data loss

20

50

Virus Attacks

64 43

Unauthorised access

79

60

40

NEXT

50% data residing in Indian enterprises is considered sensitive

39 Source: Sym antecIDC Report, Nov 2009

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the big q

‘Foolproof security is impossible’ FIRST ANSWER It will be worth auditing the claims made by the IT team regarding the information security through competent third party. Several possibilities exist in this case. The culprit might have used a digital camera or even his mobile’s camera to click screen photos. He may have taken a printout and spirited them away. He may have written down the key facts in his diary. Chinks in security always remain. Constant vigilance is called for.

SECOND ANSWER Some of these possibilities can be eliminated using the suggestions listed below though their organisation-wide application is impractical. Use them only in departments critical from the information security perspective. n Ban use of digital camera / mobiles with camera n Physically partition the critical departments from others n Bar entry to these departments by others. People from these departments should go out if they want to meet others n Devise and implement thorough policy changes to ensure physical and digital security of the critical departments n Make use of Information Risk Management (IRM) software. It can control printing, copying, forwarding of files and can even make files invalid after a certain date However, do remember that one can still never claim to have a foolproof security.

Satish Pendse CIO, HCC About me: IT leader with multi sectoral experience, ranging from Godrej, Jet Airways, Marico, Kuoni, to HCC

NOTEs

More Resources

56

Preventing IP threat: http://www.setecinvestigations.com/resources/whitepapers/whitepaper5.php Preventing data loss: http://www.sans.org/reading_room/whitepapers/dlp/data_loss_prevention_32883

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cube chat | Rajesh Aggarwal

Pining to be a TV star Yes, professional achievers too can nurture off-beat aspirations and Rajesh Aggarwal, IT Manager, D P Jindal Group is one of them

By Jati nd er Si n gh

W My sucess

mantra Dig deep into details and execute your plan to the best of your capability

58

ith over 15 years of experience in the IT space, Rajesh Aggarwal, IT Manager at D P Jindal Group, is a fun-loving and down-to-earth person. And while he is professionally armed with degrees in computer science and management, he has intense interest in dramatics and movies. “I look forward to becoming a TV star one day,” he says .

A Delhi University alumnus, Aggarwal started his career in 1991 as a programmer with Paramarsh Informatics before moving on to Jagsonpal Pharma in 1992, where he worked untill 2005 as Deputy Manager, IT. In his current role as IT Manager with the DP Jindal Group, he is responsible for ERP implementation and maintenance, as well as network designing and implementation.

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Rajesh also shares responsibilities for IT budgeting, vendor management, SLA management, facilities management and implementation of the security policy.

Let’s share Rajesh’s mantra of success: dig deep into details and execute your plan to the best of your capability. He ardently believes that active discussion and team involvement are key ingredients for the success of any project. He is also a 3G fanatic and is evaluating the different functionalities it can offer to enterprises.

Amongst the various projects he has been involved in his career, developing an in-house ERP system in Jagsonpal Pharma was the most challenging assignment, he says. “There was no emphasis on proper training and development. I fought for internal training and got approval from the management to get the essentials. IT, then, was just developing.

cube chat

Fact File Name Rajesh Agga rwal Cu rrent d esig nation M anager IT, DP Ji nda l Gr oup Cu rrent role ERP im pleme ntation , mai ntenanc e, net work d esig ni ng and implementation , handli ng bu dgeti n g, vend or manageme nt, SLA management, IT proc urement & facilities ma nagement and im plementation of sec urit y poli cy Expertise ERP implementation

Photo graph y: D R Lohia

“Mental preparedness for a new role and the challenge that an assignment offers is more important than the designation” Due to high cost and customised needs, we had to develop an internal ERP,” he recalls.

When not at work, Rajesh prefers to spend time with his family. Ask him about his interests, and he will respond in a flash, “I enjoy watching movies. I often go out with the family and play with my kids.

Besides this, I am really fond of reading about IT innovations.” A proud father of two adorable girls, Rajesh is a strong advocate of girls’ education.

Though he hasn’t yet got an opportunity to fulfill his TV dreams, Rajesh draws inspiration from his younger daughter who has already appeared on Doordarshan’s reality dance show Dhanak Din Dha. “I am indeed proud of her achievement but it’s high time I proved my talent. I

auditioned for some laughter shows, but it seems there is no IT involved in acting,” he exclaims.

Speaking about the level of satisfaction with his career, Rajesh comments, “It has been an exciting journey so far. There were many hiccups initially however I have enjoyed both—my passion and challenges.”

When asked if he is eying the opportunity to become a CIO, he smilingly states, “CIOs need to shoulder very big responsibilities. While I have been made offers from decent companies, you need to understand that one cannot go just for a designation. Mental preparedness and the challenge an assignment offers plays a substantial role in such decisions, more than the designation,” he reasons.

Work experienc e 2005 - present DP J i ndal Group, Manager IT 1992-2005 Deput y M anager, IT, JagsonPal Pharmaceutic al 1990 - 91 Parama rsh InfoRmati c s: Programme r Edu catio n 1997- 99 MBA from IG NOU 1993 - 94 PG in mathematic s from M eerut Universit y 1989 - 90 PG di ploma in com puter sc ienc e 1985 - 88 B Sc (H), com puter sc ienc e, Universit y of Delhi

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update

off the shelf

A sneak preview of enterprise products, solutions and services

HP shrinks your world

Taking the video conferencing battle head-on, Hewlett Packard recently unveiled SkyRoom—a PC desktop program that combines aspects of video conferencing, Skype and IM.

ASUS intros heavy-duty motherboard Designed to meet heavy computing demands, ASUS has introduced a new motherboard in its ‘The Ultimate Force’ series (TUF). Featuring an Intel P55 chipset, the Sabertooth 55i boasts of features like the CeraM!X microfin coating and military level tested capacitors. It claims to provide increased operational stability for the high-end rigs.

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“The Sabertooth 55i is the first of our TUF series motherboards and the ultimate for high performance needs,” claims Vinay Shetty, Country head, Component Business, ASUS India.

Product Specifications CPU: LGA1156 socket for Intel Core i7/Core i5 Processors Chipset: 16GB, DDR3 non-ECC, unbuffered memory, dual channel memory architecture Storage: Upto 6 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s ports, 1 x Ultra DMA 133/100/66 for up to 2 PATA devices, 1 x External SATA 3Gb/s port (SATA On-the-Go) Power Design: 12-phase CPU, 2-phase memory power, 2-phase VTT CPU power USB: 14 x USB 2.0 ports (6 at mid, 8 at back panel) PRICE: RS 17,700

Photo graph y: Jayan K Narayanan

The product is designed with the key features * Does not require a dedicated enterprise audience in mind, and it network infrastructure focuses on better quality communication * Allows up to four team members and collaboration rather than to meet virtually widecompatibility. It has some hefty * Face-to-face meeting experience system requirements: a Core 2 Duo * Handles presenters with multiple processor above 2.33 GHz, with 2GB RAM displays and a 2Mbps internet connection.

Current video conferencing solutions are designed more for boardroom meetings with multiple people talking.

For people who need to use such solutions for collaboration on projects, simple video conferencing is not adequate. HP SkyRoom extends the video conferencing solution by adding support for desktop sharing in parallel to the conference. While neither video conferencing nor screen sharing are new, the combination does introduce some interesting possibilities.

Unlike most screen sharing software out there, HP SkyRoom allows you to select an area of the screen, while keeping the rest private. The software also allows for sharing the control between the participants of the conference.

The software encrypts the video, audio and screen share information using a 256bit AES cypher, and can thus work securely on an organisation’s existing network.

The advanced ceramics-based composition—commonly used in the aerospace industry for heat insulation—dissipates heat rapidly to achieve rapid cooling. As a result, more heat is rapidly conducted away from the active system—allowing users to enjoy previously unattainable levels of stability.

update

MSI launches Netbook for young executives Price Rs 23,500

Micro Star International (MSI) has announced Key Advantages the availability of the Wind U210 netbook * AMD Athlon Neo Processor in India. Targeted at young managers, this * Windows 7 Home Premium portable with a wide-screen 16:9 aspect ratio, * Display 12.1” 16:9 LED Backlit and 12.1-inch display it claims to provide 14% * 2GB RAM plus 250GB HDD greater display area when compared to other * 1366 x 768 HD Ready Display netbooks in its size class. * HDMI port The company claims the netbook has Ergonomic De-stress (EDS) keyboards that has 51% larger key space. Besides, the new product has an inbuilt 1.3 megapixel webcam that comes with MSI’s enhanced face recognition software, Easy Face. The Wind U210 weighs around 1.3 kg is available through all MSI dealers with price starting from INR 23,500.

Brocade introduces advanced MPLS router

To support the deployment of highreliable virtual private network (VPN) and IP voice, video, and data services in a cost effective manner, Brocade has announced the Brocade NetIron CER 2000 Series compact

multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) routers. Brocade claims the product meets industry-leading hardware-based routing capacity.

It also has advanced resiliency at multiple layers through use of MPLS

Enkay launches HD-VC solution Enkay Technologies has launched a high-definition (HD) video conferencing solution for desktops and laptops in India.

The software-based solution can prove a boon for enterprises that have a large telecommuting workforce, as also for those using video conferencing in a big way.

The HD VC solution also enables users on the move to connect through high speed data cards.

The VC solution that operates on bandwidth ranging 128 kbps to 4 MB provides interactive multicast facility on a multicast supporting network. It has features like session recording, playback and streaming support, and enables data sharing through pen drive.

The company claims its solution is fully compatible with ISDN, ADSL, Broadband MPLS/VPN, IP networks and windows Vista SP1.

It also boasts of multiple window layouts to support PTZ camera and provides various layout options for MS Outlook and LDAP integration.

Key Advantages * Doubles routing capacity * Fastest route to advanced business and MPLS services * Offers vertical consolidation with 33% space compression * Improves operational efficiency with 66% power consumption savings

Fast Reroute, hot-standby LSPs, and fault detection and recovery.

The NetIron CER 2000 will be available by Q1 2010 in six models, including fiber and copper configurations.

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update

indulge

The hottest, the coolest and funkiest next generation gadgets and devices for you

Get yourself close and unwired with the best of business and personal objects this season. While Motorola’s Droid is fresh in flavor, you’ll find it really hard to ignore the XPS from Dell. Check these out HOT

Kindle (Global Wireless)

6” diagonal display, storage capacity for over 1500 books, 3G wireless access, long battery life, text to speech feature

Motorola Droid

Price: US $259

Location tagging, Wi-fi, Android Platform, 5MP camera and a DVD-quality recorder. Thinnest Qwerty slider at 13.7mm Price: $200 - and above

NEW Dell Adamo XPS Ultra thin, 9.99mm thick, weighs around 3 pounds, 13.4inch screen, 2 megapixel webcam and mono digital microphone, 4GB dual channel DDR3 SDRAM RAM and 128GB SSD Price: US $ 1,799

Tesla Roadster ‘S’ 300 mile range, 45 minute quick charge, 0-60 mph in 5.6 sec, seats 7 people, 17 inch infotainment touchscreen Price: US $49,900

Inspired by any or want to share your objects of desire? Send us your wish-list or feedback at editor@itnext.in

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update

open Debate

book For you A platform to air your views on the latest developments and issues that impact you

Is it a good idea to make the switch to Windows 7?

ASHOK RV GM(IS), SUNDARAM CLAYTON One thing is for sure, that Microsoft will repeat the Vista experience. Migrating from Windows XP to Windows 7 is tougher, because XP is well proven and established. Third party utilities and software working around XP are also proven and time tested.

While migrating from Vista is relatively easier. Also, the migration to Windows 7 requires user buy-in and budgets for such migration would be another challenge. Our latest desktop and laptop shipments are with Windows 7 only. In about a month, we can gauge and monitor the performance and then take a call for enterprise roll out.

NN RANGANATHAN MANAGER - BITS, M&M FINANCIAL SERVICES There could be lot of challenges—from getting user acceptance to an organisation’s ability to manage and automate the processes.

Besides, one needs to look at the licensing cost. The existing licenses, software agreements and upgrade path should be among the considerations. The proprietary application compatibility with the latest versions is still a question mark until the confirmations from respective vendors on their support on the latest version is received.

Nonetheless, it definitely is a good idea to migrate to Windows 7 as it has some great features to offer.

MANISH JAIN MANAGER IT, JUXT CONSULT While there has been much debate on the drawbacks of Windows 7, I would like to highlight the positives. There are quite a few interesting features in the new OS, like Windows recovery environment, Bit Locker, Home group policy, WSAF, AppLocker and others.

The new OS also has better security features and enhanced driver library.

Also, the fact that Windows 7 is not a memory hogger like Windows Vista, means that we will get better power and processor management.

All these make Windows 7 the best release from the Microsoft stable.

Hugs that work A 5-step plan for inspiring and creating a winning team...

Publisher : Bantam Books Price : $8.99

It looks like a recipe straight out of our desi Munnabhai’s flick… But Jack Mitchell’s book Hug Your People goes much beyond. In a hyper connected world, when, social networking is the hottest buzz and ‘relationships’ are things that can happen virtually, the top CEO and inspirational speaker highlights the need for bringing back the human connection in our businesses and our lives.

The book focuses on a simple fact of life that everyone wants to be appreciated.

It goes on to describe in five simple steps what one should do to inspire others to do better in life—professionally.

And while the examples and situations that Mitchell uses are from corporate world, and real work places, its impact is not limited to the office life alone.

Rather, as Howard Behar, author and director of Starbucks says, the book will help the reader become a better leader and a better person as well.

The book also has a Hugging Study Guide, a real utility tool, to give the readers a better understanding of what he means.

IT NEXT Verdict A quick tip book with real life office example.

Must read for IT managers. And yes, do not forget to take the HAT, or Hugging Achieve-

Your views and opinion matter to us. Send us your feedback on stories and the magazine to the Editor at editor@itnext.in

ment Test (HAT). It does help!.

Star Value:

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my log

Pravin Prashant Founder Editor, iGovernment.in & Consulting Editor, IT Next

st

ra

io

n:

an

oo

p pc

Innovation, technology and mobile

l

u

Il

ITMs need to swiftly adapt to the changing technology trends

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ITMs can also utilise these services, without much knowledge or expertise since these would be easy to use. So, the focus would be more on innovation, a key differentiating factor separating smarter companies with others.

Mobile applications will also go a long way in cost reduction but ITMs have to do a lot of brainstorming on what to bring to the forefront considering the form factor of the devices. Even information will vary with respect to hierarchy of people in the organisation. All of this will help in taking decisions on the move, enabling enterprises to be more nimble and flexible.

However, it would be a challenge for ITMs to design and develop mobile applications for all divisions and for all levels. This would not be an easy task as majority of the applications today are PC-centric. Hence, there is a need to develop these applications for the mobile environment, which is sure to have a larger role to play in years to come.

I also see mobile based query systems gaining popularity soon, leaving the organisations and the ITMs with the difficult task of deciding how much data to share. All this will lead to a paradigm shift in the way an ITM plans and executes.

The faster they can adjust to this new environment, the better it is for their growth and that of the organisation.

3 Essential

Reads

INSIgHT | sECuritY

No mISHAPS

FoR THIS

mAIl T

he most efficient and effective business communication tool today, is electronic mail. According to the Radicati group, there are over 400 million corporate mailboxes worldwide, and more than 45 billion e-mail messages are transmitted each day. And while businesses are becoming increasingly dependent on e-mails today, it has also turned out to be a vault of technical disasters.

Viruses, trojans, spyware and spam sneak into corporate inboxes everyday and can seriously undermine the performance of corporate IT system. Another cause of concern for the IT manager is the unwarranted leakage of sensitive company information and data via the e-mail route. So we have IT managers and CIOs spending more and more on security across the globe. Gartner estimates that US $13.5 billion will be spent on security software next year, up from US $ 8.3 billion in 2006, a CAGR of over 10%.

Any good e-mail security system must accomplish the following three tasks— perimeter security, confidentiality and non-repudiation.

Perimeter security This piece of the e-mail security system guards corporate e-mail infrastructure against the entry of spam, trojans and worms. However, the world of anti-spam and anti-virus has become so crowded that it is difficult to zero in on the best approach and solution.

Some analysts have declared that stand-alone anti-virus software is dead. But it is too early to write it off. Multi-functionality in the technology world has become the rule rather than the exception. This trend is converging on perimeter security as well. The functionality of the plain vanilla anti-virus software is expanding rapidly to effectively combat the changing threat scenario. It is not too long away when an anti-virus software solution will also be routinely expected to prevent data loss.

Early signals emerged last year when Sophos acquired Utimaco, a data security firm.

“It’s important to look at perimeter security as a solution rather than a simple anti-virus or intrusion protection. Appliances bring in the additional benefit of leaving application servers undisturbed because of their dedicated processing

26

sECuritY | INSIgHT

13

e-Mail security needs to guarantee perimeter safety, confidentiality and nonrepudiation

$

ENSURING THE E-MAIL CHUGS ON MERRILY

bn

so you are updating or creating policies for e-mail use? it will be worthwhile for it managers to tackle the following posers honestly.

will be spent on security software next year—up from $8.3 bn in 2006

67

 Why does secure e-mail impact your business? (What is driving your organisation forward and how security issues can be a roadblock?)

%

BY MOHIT CHHABRA

 What is your intellectual property?  What do you sell?  What personal or private information do your systems contain and how sensitive is this?

companies are concerned about ensuring that e-mail should not be used to disseminate trade secrets or IP, but only

capability to manage e-mail security,” says Ruchin Kumar, Senior Solution Specialist at SafeNet. The IT manager’s top two expectations from an e-mail security system are automatic updating and scalability. Since new viruses emerge all the time, the security solution must have automatic update capabilities so that the e-mail systems are fully protected all the time.

The selected solution must also have the capability to accommodate the expanding needs of the company.

36

 are you exchanging information with partners and distributors?  Who are your customers?  Who has access to company IP?

% companies

 Where and when is information accessed?

perform

 How is it accessed? do not overlook the risk of sensitive information being sent via mobile devices like Blackberry and smart phones

regular audits of outbound e-mail s o u r C E : Ga rt n E r

to disseminate trade secrets or IP but only 36% are currently performing regular audits of outbound e-mail.

Kumar adds, “It’s not just the tools, but also the policies that will ensure that confidentiality is maintained.

Today effective freeware is also available to track e-mail activity on the network.” Implementation of digital signatures using the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is an effective way to kill two birds, confidentiality and non-repudiation, with one stone, he observes.

Confidentiality The time card and time sheet were invented to do one simple job—monitor employees during work hours. However, employee tracking has now gone digital with more detailed insight.

This evolution has been driven in part by today’s widespread use of the Internet and e-mail in the workplace. However, these pose a serious risk to the information that resides inside a company, particularly since a staggering 70% of corporate data resides in e-mails.

A 2008 survey conducted by Forrester about issues around outbound e-mail security found that two-thirds of the companies are concerned about ensuring that e-mail should not be used

non-repudiation Non-repudiation is the concept of ensuring that a party cannot repudiate or refute the validity of a statement or contract.

The IT Act of 2000 took the first

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step in granting legal sanctity to digital signatures. Also, digitally signed e-mails are admissible as evidence in a court of law. Nearly all e-mail clients now come with the functionality of integrating digital signatures.

But no less important than the tools is the e-mail use policy framework which companies need to put in practice. The right questions need to be raised and candidly answered to formulate effective guidelines. (See box: Ensuring the e-mail chugs on merrily). Only the amalgamation of state-of-the-art technology and well-defined company policies can ensure that e-mail continues to serve business and industry in a secure and sound manner. Critical data needs crucial handling.

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No mishaps for this mail. How to ensure that your e-mail security is not breached. Pg 26 MoBilitY | INSIgHT

INSIgHT | MoBilitY executives to attend meetings in unplanned location with no access to a PC or laptop but only through a mobile phone.

We believe that mobile applications, which enable meetings and collaboration, will top the list of priorities for business organisations across industries. Mobile meetings and collaboration are already a reality with new technologies and applications, high speed wireless networks and feature-rich powerful smart phones. For instance, mobile executives can deliver presentations to a remote meeting or access presentations being delivered at the remote meeting or share documents using Cisco WebEx meeting center on their smart phones.

UNWIRING THE ENTERPRISE

OUR tOP

TWO Mobile CRM GettinG MORe PeRSOnAL WitH CUStOMeRS

Mobile applications

Every service or product now offers hundreds of choices to customers. For business organisations, this means not just more competition but also more demanding customers. Customers now expect faster response to their enquiries and real time resolution of their complaints.

the growing use of mobile devices is bringing about several changes in consumer behaviour, forcing businesses to rework their marketing and customer-relationship strategies.

Today businesses are increasingly being conducted outside office at unconventional locations as mobile devices and applications let executives carry ‘office’ in their pocket.

Moreover, the advent of ‘cloud’, which could significantly increase the computing power of mobile devices, is poised to bring drastic change in the way mobile applications are being developed, acquired and used.

IT neXT identifies five mobile application segments that could have a significant impact not only on the way your company operates but also on its productivity, efficiency and overall profitability. These application categories should top your shopping list if you are looking at investing in making enterprise-wide IcT infrastructure more mobile.

BY RAVI S P

28

THREE Mobile marketing applications

ONE

UP, CLOSe AnD PeRSOnAL

Mobile collaboration and conferencing

Mobile applications that address marketing needs will be extremely critical. Not only have mobile phones become the number one mass media tool but have also emerged as

FROM HOt-DeSKinG tO HOtCOnFeRenCinG Meetings and conferencing are important business enablers. It is easy to connect with a business executive on the move and include him in an important meeting at office by just dialing his mobile phone. However, many times, the mobile participant may need to have access to presentations being delivered at the meeting; he must refer to a document or share one with other participants.

Also, as more and more business is conducted on the move, mobile collaboration and meetings are becoming important. Even now, it is not uncommon for business

Mobile customer relationship management (CRM) is increasingly becoming critical in such a business environment.

In such a scenario, the ability to service customers’ demands while outside of the office is becoming a necessity for an increasingly mobile workforce.

Making the CRM application mobile will not only help companies build a more loyal and happy customer base but also generate more business.

one on which people spend the most time compared to television, newspapers or even Internet. Mobile marketing can help companies get more personal in their sales and marketing campaigns as they can reach out to different target segments with customised marketing communications. This will be especially effective for companies with a diverse customer base.

CLOUD COMPUTING WILL DRASTICALLYCHANGETHEWAY MOBILE APPLICATIONS ARE DEVELOPED, ACQUIRED AND USED ACROSS ENTERPRISES

FOUR enterprise locationbased services WHeRe, WHAt AnD HOW? Location-Based Services (LBS) applications have generally been considered more suitable in consumer applications. However, they are beginning to find their way to enterprise applications. For instance, there are already several applications that leverage inexpensive mobile handsets, embedded A-GPS technology and wireless data network to deliver much more efficient and effective fleet management and asset tracking system.

With the help of LBS, enterprises can become more productive and efficient in the realms of transportation, logistics, healthcare, emergency services, security, disaster management and much more. Many countries have taken the lead in LBS.

FIVE Governance, risk and compliance applications ADDReSSinG ReGULAtORY AnD inFORMAtiOn SeCURitY COnCeRnS As more and more workers go mobile, business organisations face a new challenge—how to ensure compliance with regulations when critical information is accessed outside their networks. Moreover, how do they ensure their mobile workers have any-time-any-where secure access to information? This is particularly critical in industries like healthcare, financial and banking services and in stock exchange listed companies that must comply with hundreds of regulations.

However, one of the key challenges that mobile enterprises will face is effective management of risks and compliance-related issues that growing mobility will entail. It is in this context that they will need an effective mobile application or an array of applications that lets them manage all mobile applications with ease and addresses all their compliance and security-related concerns.

While these, we believe, will be the top five mobile application segments that will attract enterprise attention and investment, it is noteworthy that the definition of mobility will continue to evolve dramatically over the next few years.

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Top 5 mobile applications.

Applications that should top an organisation’s shopping list. Pg 28 INTERVIEW | siMon DalE

siMon DalE | INTERVIEW

“tHeRe WAS nO

ReCeSSiOn

in inDiA” saP asia-Pacific’s senior v-P (sales) Simon Dale, in a freewheeling interview with Shashwat DC, discusses the global slowdown, the company’s mid-term strategy change and why it is extending itself beyond ErP into bussiness intelligence

Photo Gra Ph Y: MEX Y X avi Er

IT managers or Innovation Technology Managers (ITMs) today are being constantly challenged by shifting technology trends, requiring them to be more innovative than ever.

The recent study conducted by IBM worldwide for CIOs also lays emphasis on driving innovation and growth, which takes up 55% of their time vis-àvis 45% of time spent on traditional IT tasks like infrastructure and operations management. This holds true for ITMs as well, since the focus is more on lowering cost of operations.

On the technology front, I believe Internet technologies or cloud computing will have a bigger role to play as plans are on for offering not only one or two services but a whole suite of services like web-based e-mail, address book, word processing, spreadsheet, storage, collaboration tools and business applications. And this list will keep on increasing as Internet technologies gain momentum and cost reduction is the key mantra for corporate.

The cloud computing technologies are also advantageous since one can access information through smaller devices like smart phones, net books, tablet PCs, and other client devices using browser technologies. The other advantage is the use of open standards which makes it easier to switch service providers.

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there has been a lot of talk about the transformation of SAP. When did this process start and what were the objectives?

Simon Dale: The initiative usually referred to as SAP mid-term strategy was put in motion a few years back. At that point, we looked inwards. The need for it was fairly obvious, as the core business five years ago was ERP and it was growing only by a small percentage. In order to maintain our leadership and gain greater market share, we needed to grow our business a lot more swiftly.

That is when we decided to move into adjacent spaces, especially in the business user space as we call it. These are businesses that do not normally think of using an ERP. Most of them are managers and analysts who, while intricately involved in the decision-making process, are not direct users of ERP. In the business user space,

we saw business intelligence, performance management, and risk management as the markets of the future. We also realised that it would take too long to build everything we needed. So we bought Business Objects. That got us into the space and that is also how we transformed.

Customers today are looking for a single vendor who can meet all their requirements right from hardware to software to consultancy. What does SAP bring to the table?

We still see ourselves as a software vendor which works closely with an ecosystem of partners to meet the requirements of our customers. Our business has grown and (we have) been successful by building active partnerships with companies of all shapes and sizes.

So we remain independent in our work, and continue to work on our USP, that is, building solutions in

and around ERP. Meanwhile, the implementation and maintenance is taken care of by our partners who are masters in this domain.

And I firmly believe that this strategy (of aligning with partners) has worked perfectly for us because in a value chain, where different organisations are involved, all are going to add to value, and the combined value will always be larger than the individual (one). I think that if we were going to do everything ourselves, it would either distract us from our core business, or may not allow us to scale in areas in which we would like to grow.

traditionally, SAP has been an eRP vendor. is there a strategic shift in the focus?

I won’t really term it as a strategic shift. We continue to focus on ERP even as we add to our capabilities in the business user space. We are just expanding our business. In

d e c 2 0 0 9 – j a n 2 0 1 0 | it next

45

No recession in India. SAP’s Simon Dale on the slowdown and the company’s changing strategies. Pg 44

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