Archive for the 'Musings' Category

Narayanamurthy Bids Adieu to Infosys

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on August 20, 2006
in Musings
. 2 Comments

Mr. N. R. Narayanamurthy, the iconic founder of Infosys, today handed over the executive chairmanship of the $2 billion firm to his long time colleague Nandan Nilekani. The journey that he embarked on decades back today has come to a very happy and fruitful end, with Infosys being one of the best managed and globally respected IT companies in the world. Even though he has stepped down as the executive chairman, Mr. Murthy would remain the non-executive chairman. His new role would include guiding the future course for Infosys and also mentoring Infosys employees.

I still have fond memories of the time when I met him and spent a few hours with him. It was during Techfest, the annual technology festival of IIT Bombay, when Mr. Murthy was invited as the guest speaker during the Lecture Sessions that were a part of the festival. I was asked to go and pick him up from his guest house. The moment I met him, I found him very to be a very simple and down-to-earth person - unlike so many CEOs and tech-honchos that I had met during the festival a year before that.

As we were coming to campus in the car, I asked him one question during our conversation. Where is Indian software industry headed and to prepare ourselves for future, as students what are the languages/technologies that we should focus on? His answer was very simple and direct. He said that the software industry in India is still in a nascent stage and that as foreign companies start recognizing the potential in India and our expertise, we are destined to make it big. But his words of caution were that we students are the people who are going to be at the helm in the years to come. How we groom ourselves and what we learn would determine the success of any industry in India as well as globally. And to my question on languages, he had replied with the typical IITian elan - learn any language but learn it inside out. That would help you master any language or technology later. It is all about concepts - the building blocks.

What he had prophesized years back is a reality today. India has become one of the major global hubs for IT outsourcing, along with a huge influx of foreign companies either setting operations in India, or acquiring Indian IT companies. As he bids goodbye to Infosys today, he would be proud of what he has achieved. The company that started with a small capital of INR 10000 is today one of the largest IT companies in India. And everyday is a new milestone to be achieved, new successes to achieve and new courses to be defined. Most of the senior management across industries looks up to this man for his strong principlies, a clean management style and a never-say-die attitude. Truly, he has made the world “FLAT” and put India on the global software map.

Hats off to this great personality and here is wishing him the very best in his future endeavours.

Will HP Beat IBM?

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on June 11, 2006
in Musings and News
. 0 Comments

According to a recent BusinessWeek article, Hewlett-Packard is slated to overtake IBM by the end of this year. The new “Tech Superdog” has been consistenly focusing its energies on understanding consumer behaviour and coming out with innovative products - products that are not only at the cutting edge of innovation, but with an excellent after sales support service as well. I had written an article on the extremely pleasant experience of HP Customer Support service sometime back.

After selling its PC business to Lenovo, IBM a.k.a. the “Big Blue” has shifted its focus to large enterprises and corporations. And HP has taken the consumer route. It will be an interesting trend to watch as to what drives more growth. Though it is not exactly comparing apples with apples, but the different strategies of the two companies would provide some insight into the new set of business paradigms. With a leading market share in the printer business as well, HP is all set to become a strong contender for the number one position by the end of this year.

I have always liked HP as a company, and my recent purchase of HP notebook has been one of the best investment decisions that I have made in recent times. I do not doubt that given a chance, HP would be one company that I would love to work for. Or anyone else would for that matter.

Businessweek also provides an interesting piece of information:

IBM started off selling time clocks in 1914, and HP began in 1939 by building audio oscillators.

Weekend Trip to Murud Janjira

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on June 6, 2006
in Fun Stuff and Musings
. 0 Comments

Murud Janjira

I went for a weekend trip to Murud Janjira. It was a great experience, with the rains providing the much needed relief against Mumbai heat. I will be writing a small trip guide for people looking for information on how to go to Murud Janjira, and what are the interesting places to visit there. However, the review is a work in progress as of now. Check out the pics available on my photoalbum.

Tom Peters vs. C. K. Prahalad

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on April 19, 2006
in Books and Musings
. 0 Comments

There is an interesting comparison being drawn between two books written by some of the biggest names in business and strategy. John Kay, in a Financial Times article aptly titled “Beware of Grand Visions and Foresight in Business”, talks about the companies mentioned in the two books, viz. Competing for the Future by C K Prahalad and Gary Hamel, and In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman.

John Kay writes - In Competing for the Future, CK Prahalad and Gary Hamel suggested that companies should adapt a strategy concerned with ‘creating stretch goals that challenge employees to accomplish the seemingly impossible’. But hindsight is a harsh taskmaster and most of the companies paraded by P&H for their foresight, have since underperformed.

A 2002 Fortune study reviewing the companies that Tom Peters and Robert Waterman had picked two decades earlier showed that they had generated shareholder returns in excess of the Standard & Poor’s index. This is not true of the Prahalad and Hamel’s 12, which yielded 6.2 percent per year against 9 percent for the market as a whole. The four companies [Prahalad and Hamel] praised for ‘regenerating their strategy’ were all subsequently acquired by larger companies in the same industry. AT&T, Compaq, JPMorgan and Banker’s Trust …

A point worth noticing here is the different thought process between the business thinkers and gurus from the academia, and those that are at the helm of the business. The article and the results might give contrasting clues as to who drives what … do the businesses drive management thinking or vice versa. That should become an interesting point of discussion, as successful businessmen often cite the knowledge and insight gained through years of experience to be the key factor for success. On the other hand, we have seen lots of academic thinking and models (remember game theory et al) contributing effectively in redefining the business models of ailing corporations and turning them around.

I think that any forecast needs to be based not only on the academic studies, but also by taking into account the common business acumen. It can be very well compared with the stock markets - fundamental and technical views. In the longer run, you have to go hand in hand with both to make a sound investment decision. In a similar fashion, business acumen combined with research and new operational paradigms (read academia) would also need to go hand in hand to survice in the present times. So if you are a believer in only one school of thought, every decision might become a risk. This is a tangential take on the article, but this is the thought that flashed through my mind when I read the article.

Tom Peters was quick to take note of John Kay’s article. This is what he writes in self admiration on his blog:

“I guess my perverse pleasure comes because almost every “big” management book seems to need to devote a paragraph to trashing the companies Bob and I picked. None cites even a dollop of data to support their point … which doesn’t slow them down in the least. We did indeed make our share of mistakes—but the bunch-as-a-whole have been remarkably resilient.”

However, Chris Valey has a different take on the article and says that Prahalad’s latest book actually makes good sense. On a separate note, The Independent has come out with a listing of twelve books that have changed the world. Check them out as they should make for an intersting reading.

HP Customer Service

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on April 18, 2006
in General, Musings and Technopolis
. 3 Comments

In these times of aggressive marketing, and marginally improving customer service to back it up, Hewlett-Packard has come as a pleasant surprise. I had recently bought the awesome HP dv1345 laptop from a vendor in India. During the course of installing some new software, I found that my bluetooth was not running. And the DVD writer was not working directly from Windows XP.

After doing some deep searches on Google, and accessing various online discussion forums, I thought that the best way to address this would be to have someone from HP take a look at it. But due to time constraints, I thought of trying the online help desk of HP. And I was flabbergasted. The service is not only fast, but an extremely pleasant experience in itself. I came to know about the software driver upgrade for Bluetooth. And the DVD writer was not a hardware problem, but a Windows error. I tested the DVD writer with Nero and it is rocking. The HP help desk was quick to respond and the chat applet was nicely designed. I found the people informative, and I was able to resolve both the problems quickly with their help.

It is nice to see that HP is not only focused on innovation, and marketing of its new products - but at the same time has the right kind of customer service to back it up. The help desk people are always ready to help you out with eagerness and enthusiasm. These positive experiences make me feel that going along with HP, even though there were IBM, Sony, and Toshiba around - was a good decision.

Intelligence - Business or Competitive

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on October 21, 2005
in Musings and Personal
. 0 Comments

Business Intelligence
Business intelligence (BI) is a broad category of application programs and technologies for gathering, storing, analyzing, and providing access to data to help enterprise users make better business decisions. It is the process of gathering information in the field of business. It can be described as the process of enhancing data into information and then into knowledge. Business intelligence is carried out to gain sustainable competitive advantage, and is a valuable core competence in some instances.

Competitive Intelligence
Competitive Intelligence is researching the business environment a (usually private) firm operates in, in order to influence its emerging strategy for business development.

Loosely defined, a competitive intelligence scenario would entail scoping the market vis-a-vis industry trends and analysis of the verticals the organization operates in; and further finding opportunities that exist in those verticals thereby shaping the company ‘focus’ and formulating the future course of action. However, Business Intelligence becomes a broader term, which deals with the paradigms and factors that shape up the future course of action by evaluating the “competitive intelligence”, using information research techniques to garner data that supplements competitive intelligence, and evolving a multitude of strategies related to business development in a broader perspective.

The two are often confused. Just my two cents :-).

HP DV1345 Review

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on October 17, 2005
in Gadgets, Musings and Reviews
. 4 Comments

After a full one year of being fixated on Apple Powerbook, and waiting for the newer updated versions to come out, I finally ended up buying a HP. It was a long wait, complete with frustration and the indecisiveness to go in for a notebook that I might not be allowed to use in office, considering that the technology infrastructure did not support Mac hardware. Using a Mac in office would mean adding new drivers for printers, modifying existing LDAP and IMAP settings for network and mail, and a whole bunch of other tools and tweaks just to support one Apple laptop. That seemed a little too much to ask for, and in this vacillating state of mind, I was hanging on and waiting for a G5 Powerbook. During this time, I was interacting and networking with people in Powerbook forums and also seeking information about usage and support from various Mac Groups in India. The mixed reviews and advice that I got online, blended with the skeptical viewpoints offered by my seniors at work made the decision a little difficult. And then finally, the much awaited 20 September event happened and there turned out to be no updates. And that was it for me.

My primary requirements for using a laptop were:

  • For both office and home use
  • Small and lightweight; Ideally 2.5kg or less
  • DVD writer
  • 1Gb of ram or 1×512 so that I can easily upgrade in future
  • Good graphics and easy to use keyboard layout
  • Attractive appearance
  • Under INR 65,000

As the wait became a bit too much, I went ahead and bought the sleek HP dv1345. There were a lot of options to choose from, considering a blend of performance and style. Sony, HP, Dell and IBM were the brands that I had shortlisted as possible options. Sony Vaios turned out to be a disappointment, as much as they were sleek, they had a lot of shortcomings including no separate CDs for recovery software, Windows XP was being provided as an installer file on the hard drive, the card reader was limited to only Sony SD cards et al. And given the price, it did not seem like a fair deal at all. IBM is one brand that was recommended to me by one and all, given its sturdy built and durability. However, the boring black color did not appeal to me much. But then came out the IBM Z60t with a silver titanium body, and I suddenly developed an inclination. And then the revelation that the laptop would get launched only after three months, made it seem too much to wait for again. I also checked out Dell, but the 700m had a 12” screen and was a lot heavier than I thought it would be. And it was then that I laid my eyes on the dv1000 series range from HP.

I liked the design and the awesome widescreen the moment I saw it. And the keyboard layout is class apart from other standard layouts that I have seen in a lot of laptops.

The HP dv1345 comes with a standard configuration that is as follows:

  • 1.73 GHz Intel Centrino Processor
  • 512mb RAM (512×1)
  • WinXP Home
  • 60gb 5400rpm HD
  • DVD Dual Layer RW/CD Writer
  • Brightview Widescreen 14.1” Display
  • Intel 2200 b/g wireless w Bluetooth
  • 6 cell battery
  • Remote Control

Build and Construction
The dv1345 is a lot nicer looking than what it appears to be in photographs. The dv1345 has a shiny exterior painted silver, whereas the inside of the laptop is black in color.

The beautiful HP DV1345 Laptop

The inside of the laptop has a very smooth matte feel, except for the QuickPlay buttons which have a shining and smooth plastic feel. The keyboard has a blue back-lighting, which is easy on the eyes and a pleasure to look at in the dark.

Top View of the HP DV1345

Overall, the laptop feels solid and sturdy, with both the exterior and interior looking very attractive.

I will be putting up a more detailed review with respect to specific features in sometime, as I am still testing it on various parameters. More pictures can be seen here.