The number of women in the IT sector is on the rise. There are 2 million employees in this sector, out of which 28% are women (2007-08) up from 24% in 2005-06. Also the intake of women at the entry level this year was 46% up from 38% last year. Considering the next 10 years, India has a unique role to play for which contribution of women cannot be ignored, said NASSCOM president Som Mittal.
Moreover, NASSCOM conducted a survey of 50 companies and found that 11% of leaders in the industry were women. These roles were in senior management mostly for decision-making. Also two year’s back, three or four companies formally followed gender diversity programmes, but now there are about 80 companies that have some initiative to handle issues for women and take care of gender diversity and inclusiveness.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Techies turn to social media to reach consumers
Recognizing the limits of traditional advertising, established technology companies are diving headlong into the sometimes chaotic landscape of social media to promote their products.
Companies ranging from PC maker Dell Inc to storage equipment maker NetApp are increasingly turning to outside blogs, viral videos and websites such as FaceBook, Twitter, FriendFeed and Digg — and their tens of millions of users — to reach consumers.
These social networking sites harness the age-old power of the word-of-mouth recommendation and can be potent marketing tools. If nothing else, they demand a higher level of consumer engagement than conventional ads.
“This is 180 degrees from that sort of advertising,” said Debra Aho Williamson, a senior analyst at eMarketer. “Having a conversation with them (consumers) is a very new skill.”For tech companies with big marketing budgets, the shift to social media is an implicit acknowledgment that television and print are not necessarily the most effective ways to reach buyers, particularly younger ones.
In addition, with a recession looming, corporate budgets are being slashed. UBS has forecast global ad spending will fall 3.9 per cent in 2009. In such an environment, social media could prove to be a cost-effective way to sell to consumers.
But the strategy is not without some risk. While every company wants to generate buzz, online backlash can be brutal.
Consumer healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson learned that the hard way with a recent Web video ad for its Motrin painkiller. While apparently trying to be irreverent about the pain of wearing a baby in a sling, the ad offended many mothers who savaged it on Twitter, the wildly popular “micro-blogging’’ site where users communicate with short “tweets’’ of 140 characters or less. J&J was forced to apologize on Monday.
Brian Keeler, a vice president at media consultancy VShift, said the key to social media is credibility and enlisting consumers in the act of marketing itself. But if you upset your audience, it can mean trouble. “With the online media, things can go viral and spin out of control really fast,’’ he said.
Dell has a dedicated team of around 40 people that interacts with consumers through its blogs, community forums and third-party sites. The company began its social media push last year as it moved to repair its public image.
“There’s been a realization over the last several years that your customers are going to talk about you online and you have a choice to join that conversation,’’ spokeswoman Caroline Dietz said.
Companies ranging from PC maker Dell Inc to storage equipment maker NetApp are increasingly turning to outside blogs, viral videos and websites such as FaceBook, Twitter, FriendFeed and Digg — and their tens of millions of users — to reach consumers.
These social networking sites harness the age-old power of the word-of-mouth recommendation and can be potent marketing tools. If nothing else, they demand a higher level of consumer engagement than conventional ads.
“This is 180 degrees from that sort of advertising,” said Debra Aho Williamson, a senior analyst at eMarketer. “Having a conversation with them (consumers) is a very new skill.”For tech companies with big marketing budgets, the shift to social media is an implicit acknowledgment that television and print are not necessarily the most effective ways to reach buyers, particularly younger ones.
In addition, with a recession looming, corporate budgets are being slashed. UBS has forecast global ad spending will fall 3.9 per cent in 2009. In such an environment, social media could prove to be a cost-effective way to sell to consumers.
But the strategy is not without some risk. While every company wants to generate buzz, online backlash can be brutal.
Consumer healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson learned that the hard way with a recent Web video ad for its Motrin painkiller. While apparently trying to be irreverent about the pain of wearing a baby in a sling, the ad offended many mothers who savaged it on Twitter, the wildly popular “micro-blogging’’ site where users communicate with short “tweets’’ of 140 characters or less. J&J was forced to apologize on Monday.
Brian Keeler, a vice president at media consultancy VShift, said the key to social media is credibility and enlisting consumers in the act of marketing itself. But if you upset your audience, it can mean trouble. “With the online media, things can go viral and spin out of control really fast,’’ he said.
Dell has a dedicated team of around 40 people that interacts with consumers through its blogs, community forums and third-party sites. The company began its social media push last year as it moved to repair its public image.
“There’s been a realization over the last several years that your customers are going to talk about you online and you have a choice to join that conversation,’’ spokeswoman Caroline Dietz said.
Own a personal supercomputer!
US technology firm NVIDIA rolled out high-performance “personal supercomputers” that let desktop workstations handle mind-boggling tasks once far beyond their capabilities.
Computers built with innovative NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs) are capable of handling calculations typically relegated to expensive supercomputing “clusters”, a technology breakthrough the company says could soon bring lightning speeds to the next generation of computers aimed at the consumer market.
NVIDIA’s Tesla Personal Supercomputers deliver approximately 250 times the processing power of current computer workstations for similar prices, according to the California-based company. “This changes everything. This supercomputing power is being brought to the workstation,” Tesla computing products general manager Andy Keane said.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other universities and research facilities are already using GPU-based personal supercomputers. “GPU-based systems enable us to run life science codes in minutes rather than the hours it took earlier,” said Jack Collins of the Advanced Biomedical Computing Centre in the US state of Maryland. “This exceptional speedup has the ability to accelerate the discovery of potentially life-saving anti-cancer drugs.”
NVIDIA, founded in 1993, became renowned for GPUs that drive sophisticated computer game and video hardware. While CPUs typically handle tasks in a linear style, zipping from start to finish in series, GPUs work on tasks simultaneously in order to do things such as get colour pixels together on screens to present moving images. Sets of NVIDIA chips built for speed, power, and superior graphics production are built into upgraded Macintosh notebook computers recently rolled out by Apple.
GPUs that could do parallel computing mathematics at lightning speed were engineered by NVIDIA to make Tesla chips that put desktop workstations on par with supercomputers at one 100th of the price. “You can’t ignore the GPU; you can’t say it is just a game chip,” Keane said.
Computers built with innovative NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs) are capable of handling calculations typically relegated to expensive supercomputing “clusters”, a technology breakthrough the company says could soon bring lightning speeds to the next generation of computers aimed at the consumer market.
NVIDIA’s Tesla Personal Supercomputers deliver approximately 250 times the processing power of current computer workstations for similar prices, according to the California-based company. “This changes everything. This supercomputing power is being brought to the workstation,” Tesla computing products general manager Andy Keane said.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other universities and research facilities are already using GPU-based personal supercomputers. “GPU-based systems enable us to run life science codes in minutes rather than the hours it took earlier,” said Jack Collins of the Advanced Biomedical Computing Centre in the US state of Maryland. “This exceptional speedup has the ability to accelerate the discovery of potentially life-saving anti-cancer drugs.”
NVIDIA, founded in 1993, became renowned for GPUs that drive sophisticated computer game and video hardware. While CPUs typically handle tasks in a linear style, zipping from start to finish in series, GPUs work on tasks simultaneously in order to do things such as get colour pixels together on screens to present moving images. Sets of NVIDIA chips built for speed, power, and superior graphics production are built into upgraded Macintosh notebook computers recently rolled out by Apple.
GPUs that could do parallel computing mathematics at lightning speed were engineered by NVIDIA to make Tesla chips that put desktop workstations on par with supercomputers at one 100th of the price. “You can’t ignore the GPU; you can’t say it is just a game chip,” Keane said.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Gender inclusivity awards announced: NASSCOM
NASSCOM, the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of IT software and services, today announced the winners of 'gender inclusivity' awards instituted by the organization.
The awards, which recognize outstanding practices to promote gender empowerment and women leadership development, were declared at the 3rd Annual IT Women Leadership Summit opened here on Wednesday.
It would be presented at the gala award nite being organized as part of the summit tonight. The 'gender inclusivity' awards recognize the efforts made by the company through policies, procedures and systems to foster inclusivity and innovative programs that are targeted at strengthening gender inclusivity at the work place.
Infosys Technologies walked away with the award for excellence in gender inclusivity from the IT Services and Product Companies sector, while IBM India Pvt ltd bagged the award for the most innovative projects in gender inclusivity.
Among the BPO sector IBM Daksh Business Process Services emerged winner whereas Ajuba solutions and ADP private limited walked away with the laurels in the best emerging company sector.
The award criteria includes five parameter namely business rationale, senior leadership support, communication, accountability and measurable results. "These awards recognize companies who are doing outstanding work enabling inclusivity and we hope that other companies will emulate the best practices," said Som Mittal, president, NASSCOM, while addressing the media.
The awards, which recognize outstanding practices to promote gender empowerment and women leadership development, were declared at the 3rd Annual IT Women Leadership Summit opened here on Wednesday.
It would be presented at the gala award nite being organized as part of the summit tonight. The 'gender inclusivity' awards recognize the efforts made by the company through policies, procedures and systems to foster inclusivity and innovative programs that are targeted at strengthening gender inclusivity at the work place.
Infosys Technologies walked away with the award for excellence in gender inclusivity from the IT Services and Product Companies sector, while IBM India Pvt ltd bagged the award for the most innovative projects in gender inclusivity.
Among the BPO sector IBM Daksh Business Process Services emerged winner whereas Ajuba solutions and ADP private limited walked away with the laurels in the best emerging company sector.
The award criteria includes five parameter namely business rationale, senior leadership support, communication, accountability and measurable results. "These awards recognize companies who are doing outstanding work enabling inclusivity and we hope that other companies will emulate the best practices," said Som Mittal, president, NASSCOM, while addressing the media.
Google relaunches SMS service in India
Search giant Google Inc. has launched an SMS-based text message service that will offer search services across the country recently.
This service would be available across all operators on both GSM and CDMA mobile phones at cheaper rates, even to those who have mobile phones but do not have Internet connections.
Google has come up with a newer version of Google SMS Search at the price of regular SMS. The product has been reincarnated, with a new number and several features. Users can SMS query to 9-77-33-00000 and get automated answers on cricket scores, Indian Railways, stock quotes, local business search, movie showtimes, currency conversion, flight status, weather, horoscope, taxi service and ATM.
Vinay Goel, products head, Google India, said, "The latest offering is part of our mobile strategy in the sub-continent, where text messaging has become a part of daily life."
This service would be available across all operators on both GSM and CDMA mobile phones at cheaper rates, even to those who have mobile phones but do not have Internet connections.
Google has come up with a newer version of Google SMS Search at the price of regular SMS. The product has been reincarnated, with a new number and several features. Users can SMS query to 9-77-33-00000 and get automated answers on cricket scores, Indian Railways, stock quotes, local business search, movie showtimes, currency conversion, flight status, weather, horoscope, taxi service and ATM.
Vinay Goel, products head, Google India, said, "The latest offering is part of our mobile strategy in the sub-continent, where text messaging has become a part of daily life."
Zenith forays into BPO space; Goes ahead with expansion
Despite the global recession and the massive layoffs, Zenith software, a leading software company and part of the $120 million Zenith Group, having recently forayed into the KPO space is going ahead with its expansion plans. The Bangalore-based company is expanding its office into a new campus that can house that can accommodate 500-600 per shift.
In an interview with Manu Sharma of CIOL Bureau, Sampath Kumar, CEO of Zenith Software talks about the new business foray and its recruitment drive in India. Excerpts.
CIOL: What has been the impact of recession on Zenith Software?
Sampath Kumar: The US recession has not affected us so far. The only problem is that the US companies want to push the dates. No one wants to decide immediately but business has not affected us in any way. But they are keen on outsourcing the work to India. It is a ‘wait n watch’ situation to gauge its impact in 2009.
CIOL: What has been your recent expansion plans?
SK: Since we are foraying into the information technology enabled services (ITES) in a big way, we are expanding our office by moving into a new campus of 25,000 sqft of built-in space located in Koramangala. The building will comprise of four floors and can accommodate 400-500 employees per shift and we can be further expanded to accommodate 1,500-2000 if necessary.
CIOL: What is Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), why has Zenith forayed into this space?
SK: Zenith has signed up with NovusSTS (pioneers in the newly defined recruitment process optimization business) for providing RPO services. RPO is a form of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) where an employer outsources or transfers all or part of its recruitment activities to an external service provider.
CIOL: What are the work involved in RPO and its benefits?
SK: RPO involves the outsourcing of all or just part of recruitment functions and process. RPO providers manage the entire recruiting/hiring process from job profiling through the on boarding of the new hire, including staff, technology, method and reporting. A properly managed RPO will improve a company's time to hire, increase the quality of the candidate pool, provide verifiable metrics, reduce cost and improve governmental compliance. The RPO service provider is the source for in-scope recruitment activity.
CIOL: What is the future of RPO industry in India?
SK: Since only about 20-25 companies are into this pace in India, we see a bright future. Our policy is not to target the big players but instead found a partner for the delivery.
CIOL: What is Zenith role in the LPO industry?
SK: Zenith has been in this sector for the last three months and has entered into a joint venture with a law firm based in US. We have started with the training process and have about 10 employees, who are corporate lawyers and LPO professionals involved in document reviews, immigration services and contract drafting.
CIOL: Explain the travel software developed by Zenith?
SK: The company has developed a travel software similar to IBS. It is a total integrated software for the tour operators operating across the country. This is the first product by Zenith and was earlier exhibited in Mumbai in a travel expo called – Travel Eye. The product is likely to hit the market by 2009. In respect to the pricing of the software, we have planned to price it between Rs 5-10 lakh, depending on the module, we will customize it as per your requirements. The product was developed over the last two years and about 10 software engineers were involved in the product.
CIOL: What are the other software developed by Zenith?
SK: Following our success with the travel software, we are also developed a software for a retail company in Australia. Similarly also developed a automobile product for the Norwegian market expected to be rolled out in 2009.
For the insurance sector, we have signed up with a UK-based company for the development and support of large US insurance firms. This is for the life insurance products and we will handle the customisation, maintenance and the enhancement of the product. Similarly, we have also signed up with a Swiss company for non-life insurance. We have completed the prototype of the product using Java and the product will be out by end of 2009.
CIOL: What has been the attrition in your organization?
SK: The attrition in our company is only 8-10 percent much lesser than the industry standards of 25-30 percent in BPO industry. Presently we have a 50:50 mix of developers and ITES (BPO) employees. I feel ITES will outdo IT and already we have employed 35 members in the last one-month and will hire another 25-30 in the next few months.
CIOL: When has Zenith forayed into the Scandinavian market?
SK: Zenith has forayed into the Scandinavian market through a partnership with Norway-based Software Offshoring Consulting (SOC). SOC is part of the Norwegian Data-Invest Group that has been providing progressive and market oriented solutions and services. This partnership will expand Zenith Software Ltd’s (ZSL) footprint in the European market.
ZSL and SOC have been working together on joint product development for the automotive industry. This product will also be maintained by ZSL for all the clients across the globe. This relationship has now matured into partnership wherein ZSL-SOC would jointly market and provide offshore development services. This is an exciting phase in ZSL’s growth plans. With SOC’s strengths we will be able grow in the Nordic.
CIOL: How do you see the future of Zenith Software shaping up?
SK: With our foray into BPO/KPO space and from the present turnover of $6 million, we had anticipated a jump of $10-12 million by 2009. But do the present industry scenario we may now expect only a 50 percent growth from the initial target of 75 percent. The only problem we are facing is that things are not happening and projects are getting delayed. The trend is not only in the US market but also in UK and European markets as well. ”US is creating a ripple affect on other countries.”
By 2012, Zenith expects the company to have 2000 plus employees with major revenues from UK, European countries and a 10 percent decline from the US markets. The company will strongly look at analytics, insurance, claim processing, medical billing and market research in the future. We are in talks with insurance and healthcare industries.
CIOL: Any IPO plans in the pipeline?
SK: We have seen a good growth so far which has been totally debts free. We see inorganic growth growing faster than organic growth. We plan to roll out an Initial Public Offering (IPO) when the company reaches a turnover of about $50 million and with over 3000 employees.
CIOL: What are your plans for expansion into Tier II cities?
SK: The company is also targeting at Tier II cities like Mysore, Mangalore. But we find a number of problems like poor resource stain, poor infrastructure is another major problem. In fact, we initially looked at a SEZ in Salem, but later withdrew the idea.
In an interview with Manu Sharma of CIOL Bureau, Sampath Kumar, CEO of Zenith Software talks about the new business foray and its recruitment drive in India. Excerpts.
CIOL: What has been the impact of recession on Zenith Software?
Sampath Kumar: The US recession has not affected us so far. The only problem is that the US companies want to push the dates. No one wants to decide immediately but business has not affected us in any way. But they are keen on outsourcing the work to India. It is a ‘wait n watch’ situation to gauge its impact in 2009.
CIOL: What has been your recent expansion plans?
SK: Since we are foraying into the information technology enabled services (ITES) in a big way, we are expanding our office by moving into a new campus of 25,000 sqft of built-in space located in Koramangala. The building will comprise of four floors and can accommodate 400-500 employees per shift and we can be further expanded to accommodate 1,500-2000 if necessary.
CIOL: What is Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), why has Zenith forayed into this space?
SK: Zenith has signed up with NovusSTS (pioneers in the newly defined recruitment process optimization business) for providing RPO services. RPO is a form of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) where an employer outsources or transfers all or part of its recruitment activities to an external service provider.
CIOL: What are the work involved in RPO and its benefits?
SK: RPO involves the outsourcing of all or just part of recruitment functions and process. RPO providers manage the entire recruiting/hiring process from job profiling through the on boarding of the new hire, including staff, technology, method and reporting. A properly managed RPO will improve a company's time to hire, increase the quality of the candidate pool, provide verifiable metrics, reduce cost and improve governmental compliance. The RPO service provider is the source for in-scope recruitment activity.
CIOL: What is the future of RPO industry in India?
SK: Since only about 20-25 companies are into this pace in India, we see a bright future. Our policy is not to target the big players but instead found a partner for the delivery.
CIOL: What is Zenith role in the LPO industry?
SK: Zenith has been in this sector for the last three months and has entered into a joint venture with a law firm based in US. We have started with the training process and have about 10 employees, who are corporate lawyers and LPO professionals involved in document reviews, immigration services and contract drafting.
CIOL: Explain the travel software developed by Zenith?
SK: The company has developed a travel software similar to IBS. It is a total integrated software for the tour operators operating across the country. This is the first product by Zenith and was earlier exhibited in Mumbai in a travel expo called – Travel Eye. The product is likely to hit the market by 2009. In respect to the pricing of the software, we have planned to price it between Rs 5-10 lakh, depending on the module, we will customize it as per your requirements. The product was developed over the last two years and about 10 software engineers were involved in the product.
CIOL: What are the other software developed by Zenith?
SK: Following our success with the travel software, we are also developed a software for a retail company in Australia. Similarly also developed a automobile product for the Norwegian market expected to be rolled out in 2009.
For the insurance sector, we have signed up with a UK-based company for the development and support of large US insurance firms. This is for the life insurance products and we will handle the customisation, maintenance and the enhancement of the product. Similarly, we have also signed up with a Swiss company for non-life insurance. We have completed the prototype of the product using Java and the product will be out by end of 2009.
CIOL: What has been the attrition in your organization?
SK: The attrition in our company is only 8-10 percent much lesser than the industry standards of 25-30 percent in BPO industry. Presently we have a 50:50 mix of developers and ITES (BPO) employees. I feel ITES will outdo IT and already we have employed 35 members in the last one-month and will hire another 25-30 in the next few months.
CIOL: When has Zenith forayed into the Scandinavian market?
SK: Zenith has forayed into the Scandinavian market through a partnership with Norway-based Software Offshoring Consulting (SOC). SOC is part of the Norwegian Data-Invest Group that has been providing progressive and market oriented solutions and services. This partnership will expand Zenith Software Ltd’s (ZSL) footprint in the European market.
ZSL and SOC have been working together on joint product development for the automotive industry. This product will also be maintained by ZSL for all the clients across the globe. This relationship has now matured into partnership wherein ZSL-SOC would jointly market and provide offshore development services. This is an exciting phase in ZSL’s growth plans. With SOC’s strengths we will be able grow in the Nordic.
CIOL: How do you see the future of Zenith Software shaping up?
SK: With our foray into BPO/KPO space and from the present turnover of $6 million, we had anticipated a jump of $10-12 million by 2009. But do the present industry scenario we may now expect only a 50 percent growth from the initial target of 75 percent. The only problem we are facing is that things are not happening and projects are getting delayed. The trend is not only in the US market but also in UK and European markets as well. ”US is creating a ripple affect on other countries.”
By 2012, Zenith expects the company to have 2000 plus employees with major revenues from UK, European countries and a 10 percent decline from the US markets. The company will strongly look at analytics, insurance, claim processing, medical billing and market research in the future. We are in talks with insurance and healthcare industries.
CIOL: Any IPO plans in the pipeline?
SK: We have seen a good growth so far which has been totally debts free. We see inorganic growth growing faster than organic growth. We plan to roll out an Initial Public Offering (IPO) when the company reaches a turnover of about $50 million and with over 3000 employees.
CIOL: What are your plans for expansion into Tier II cities?
SK: The company is also targeting at Tier II cities like Mysore, Mangalore. But we find a number of problems like poor resource stain, poor infrastructure is another major problem. In fact, we initially looked at a SEZ in Salem, but later withdrew the idea.
LIFE photo archive now available on Google
Time Inc announced that Google was putting online the entire collection of photos from the legendary but now defunct LIFE magazine including some of the most iconic images of the 20th century.
Time said access to LIFE's photo archive, a total of more than 10 million images, would be available on a new hosted service from the Internet search giant at ages.google.com/hosted/life.
The images from LIFE, a Time subsidiary, can also be found by conducting a search on Google.com or through Google Image Search.
The collection includes pictures from renowned photojournalists such as Alfred Eisenstaedt, Margaret Bourke-White, Gordon Parks and W. Eugene Smith.
The LIFE photo archive also includes the Zapruder film of the assassination of President John F Kennedy, The Mansell Collection from London and Hugo Jaeger's pictures of Nazi-era Germany from 1937-1944.
Time said 97 per cent of the photographs have never been seen by the public. "Millions of images have been scanned and made available on Google Image Search today with all 10 million images to be available in the coming months," Time said in a statement.
"LIFE will now reach a broader audience and engage them online with the incredible depth and breadth of the LIFE Photo Archive from serious world events, to Hollywood celebrities to whimsical photographs." LIFE president Andy Blau said.
R.J. Pittman, director of product management at Google, said "bringing millions of never-before-seen offline images online aligns with Google's mission to organize all the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."
Time said the photos are available for free for personal and research purposes. The copyright and ownership of all images remains with Time.
In September, Time and the Getty Images photo service announced the launch early next year of a new website, LIFE.com, featuring photos from the LIFE archives and Getty Images.
Time said access to LIFE's photo archive, a total of more than 10 million images, would be available on a new hosted service from the Internet search giant at ages.google.com/hosted/life.
The images from LIFE, a Time subsidiary, can also be found by conducting a search on Google.com or through Google Image Search.
The collection includes pictures from renowned photojournalists such as Alfred Eisenstaedt, Margaret Bourke-White, Gordon Parks and W. Eugene Smith.
The LIFE photo archive also includes the Zapruder film of the assassination of President John F Kennedy, The Mansell Collection from London and Hugo Jaeger's pictures of Nazi-era Germany from 1937-1944.
Time said 97 per cent of the photographs have never been seen by the public. "Millions of images have been scanned and made available on Google Image Search today with all 10 million images to be available in the coming months," Time said in a statement.
"LIFE will now reach a broader audience and engage them online with the incredible depth and breadth of the LIFE Photo Archive from serious world events, to Hollywood celebrities to whimsical photographs." LIFE president Andy Blau said.
R.J. Pittman, director of product management at Google, said "bringing millions of never-before-seen offline images online aligns with Google's mission to organize all the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."
Time said the photos are available for free for personal and research purposes. The copyright and ownership of all images remains with Time.
In September, Time and the Getty Images photo service announced the launch early next year of a new website, LIFE.com, featuring photos from the LIFE archives and Getty Images.
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