Gagan explores thoughts and ideas on technology and business.
Chaos = Order
To fuel innovation in your team, bring about a chaos. It is amid the tangled web of processes and adrenalin-rush frenzy that new ideas germinate. This has been the thought process advocated by nearly all the proponents of innovation. Reinvent, Destroy old create new, Re-innovate, Rethink et al., different words but same meaning.
And now:
One may create order by introducing disorder. - Latest Research Proves the FACT !!!
Blogs are catching up fast with the Indian populace. Not only is the blogging culture breaking the ice with the young and old alike, but a lot of corporates have already started looking at blogs as a strategic investment (which is always low cost compared to other PR and marketing initiatives). The recent Business Line article throws more light on how Indian companies are also embracing the blogging revolution, and closely monitoring blogs to keep a tab on what is said about the company and its products. Netscribes, being an early entrant into this space, also finds a noteworthy mention in the article. An interesting article with an eclectic mix of thoughts and comments from the leading media, communications and consultancy firms that are studying, or have a presence, in this space.
Google Page Creator is a web based application that uses a basic what-you-see is what-you-get (WYSIWYG) style of interface, very nicely crafted to allow anyone to create and publish web pages, regardless of skill or knowledge level. To use it, you must have a Google account and a Gmail address. The pages are are stored on Google servers using a URL convention of gmailname.googlepages.com. Here is a screenshot of the editor.
This is a neat new introduction by Google, though I do not understand the popularity of this particular tool amidst a plethora of similar applications available online. However, if the pages created by Google Page Creator start showing higher in Google searches, then this trend is going to spread like wild fire. Everyone loves to see their homepage being ranked on the top in web searches - and if this new application can help do that, then the paradigm shift is imminent.
It would be interesting to see what other tools Google adds to this beta launch, so that the app becomes a handy tool for the serious amateurs/professional web designers. The new tool also seems to be another initiative by Google to keep building online social networks, even though the success of past initiatives like Orkut and Google Groups is still being measured. With a dominance in search engine rankings, Google is in a strong position to define and place its products aggressively in the virtual world.
Changing dynamics in the international business arena are forcing all organizations to take a relook at their business models and redefine their strategy. With the competition becoming global in nature, a lead in local markets does not essentially mean a niche in the ‘changed’ rules of business operations. A careful evaluation of future strategy, operational competencies and target markets has now become the key to survival. And finally the full emphasis is also on people - people productivity, training, lowering attrition - in short, keeping employees happy in every manner. A successful company would have outlined its future plans based on realistic goals, placed the right people in the right processes, and laid out a time frame for the things to move and results to start showing up.
Wipro is one such company that is making heads turn. After the exit of Vivek Paul, there were many people who thought that the exit meant a doom for the company. But a recent Businessweek interview with Azim Premji shows that things are actually brighter than before. Its revenues jumped by 9% with profits growing by 11% over the previous quarter. Here are some snippets from the interview:
“We’re investing more for the future, in people, in innovation, marketing, in the brand.”
“The most important thing is innovation — productivity innovation, innovation in training, in business models, in intellectual-property investment, in non-linear delivery models like managed services, in compensation programs. We’re also looking to innovate in our strategic acquisitions.”
“We’re pulling up people from within the organization and retraining them.”
It is nice to see the C.E.O. making the right kind of noise, and for once the focus on innovation seems to be the right path ahead. Existing software, competencies et al would soon be passe. The whole game is changing with newer innovations happening all across the world - WIMAX, Web 2.0, Microsoft Live .. to name a few. The need of any organization is not to develop its services around these innovations, but for survival, an active participation in the innovation process has become paramount.
The deal between Disney and Pixar seems to be coming through. After a tumultuous relationship between the two companies, the new synergy seems to be an interesting change. Pixar seems to have traversed a long journey from being George Lucas’ Lucasfilm Animation Group to Pixar and now becoming a part of Disney. Pixar Chairman and Chief Executive, Steve Jobs, will become Disney’s largest individual shareholder and a member of the board.
However, there are two things that might be a cause for concern here. Firstly, Pixar has had a winning streak whereas Disney has been struggling with its animation business. Whether this deal is able to create magic for Disney and bring it to profitability is a question that would merit a close attention. Secondly, speculation is rife about the neutral position of Apple in the market. A deal of this size with Disney might threaten Apple’s relationship with other iTunes content providers and other studios who see Disney as competition. It would be interesting to see how Steve Jobs dabbles between the two posts that he has up his sleeves now.
Rashmi points to a new political party that has been launched by none other than five IITians. Inspired by movie themes such as Yuva, the new party has been named as Paritrana, which means complete relief implying the end of the very cause of distress.
Tanmay Rajpurohit, who has done his MTech from Georgia Tech after a BTech (Aerospace) from IIT B, is the party President. Other office bearers include Ajit Shukla, Smit Bisen, Chandrashekhar and Bharat Sundaram - all IIT B and IITK graduates.
A big step towards a great cause. This is the first time that the technocrats have directly entered into politics by forming a political party. Hope to see these enterprising youth bring about a change and live up to the ideals on which the foundation of the party is based.
Here comes the first post from my blog, now running Wordpress 2.0. Wordpress 2.0 was officially released today, and I have just upgraded the blog to Wordpress 2.0, and even the changes are not visible on the front-end, the admin panel and edit boxes rock. I love the new user interface and the ability to upload images from within. In case you want to explore more about Wordpress 2.0, then check out Owen’s post on What’s New in Wordpress 2.0? The new version is available at Wordpress site.
The funny part is the time it took me to upgrade from 1.5 to 2.0. It took me a total of two hours to complete the upgrade. And that is not because Wordpress got its code all mixed up; do not worry as everything about the new version is rocking. The problem was my 256 kbps Sify broadband connection was proving to be a little slow to copy all the files from my Dreamhost server to my laptop. In short, it took one hour and fifty minutes for tranferring files, and wordpress took nearly one minute for the upgrade. The other ten minutes were spent activating and reinstalling updated plugins.
Anyways, now that I am done, it is a euphoric feeling. New interface, neat writing and better functionality. Wordpress 2.0 Rocks !!!
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