End Of India's IT Services Success Story? Not yet.

For years, analysts, academics and researchers have been predicting the “End” of India's IT Services sector.

Fred Giron's Blog on Forrester.com (Is This The End Of India's IT Services Success Story?) is sure to generate some debate among those in the IT services sector but nothing more than that.

While one can debate if Innovation by Indian IT players is the silver bullet, the rate of growth of the sector has certainly tapered off in recent years. The rate of growth is nowhere near that we saw 5 or 6 years ago.  The reason for slowdown may be more due to sheer size of organizations and the linear nature of business model more than any other factor.

Is "innovation" the silver bullet? I guess only time will tell.

Psst … You want to replace your office computer with an iPad? Sure. Do you want the SLA to go with it?

There was an interesting in Wall Street Journal that I was reflecting on over the weekend (Apple Macs Land on More Corporate Desks). The article chronicles how General Electric employees can now choose Apple over Windows PCs. Though the spotlight was on GE, the author adds “Apple has very little of the corporate computer market but is making progress, according to market researcher Forrester Research, which estimates the Cupertino, Calif., company will sell $9 billion worth of Macs and $10 billion worth of iPads to businesses this year, up about 50% from last year.” A tweet from Prof. San yesterday alerted me to another article, almost a corollary to the fist one titled “How management has failed at RIM.” The article chronicles the rise and fall of Canadian tech giant that that till few years ago was unstoppable.
These and other similar articles appearing in business press are a sure sign that business users are looking at adopting wider range of smart-devices at work. The popularity, ease of use and features of smart phones and tablet computers have been analyzed by tech analysts, digerati and bloggers but the Enterprise Architect in me continues to reflect on the implication of these technologies on business computing.

The shift towards personal choice of computing devices at work has interesting implications: Blackberry, that till recently was the standard-issue smartphone for business users is now losing ground. Business users who prefer iPhones or Android smartphones are tired of carrying two devices – one for personal use and another issued by their employers. Add to the mix the resurgence of interest in tablet computing devices, lead by iPad’s, Amazon’s Kindle Fire, BN’s Nook and several Windows based competitors.

Technology innovations in the space continue pushing boundaries of usability, restricted only by imagination. What began as a move from Personal Computers to Laptops a few years ago is leading to yet another seismic shift towards smartphones and tablet computers. The implication is clear: IT teams are increasingly getting requests from “IT user” communities to either expand the scope of computing devices that are approved for Personal (and Professional) computing at work. Most organizations still dictate a narrow array of devices that can be hooked to corporate networks for ‘business’ use.

Enterprise Architects, responsible for spearheading (and gate keeping) technology standards are coming to grips with the implications. However, for EA’s it is not just usability or “coolness factor” we have to weigh in while evaluating this push towards open computing. Security (of course), Support, Upgrades and updates, Integration and extensibility are just a few dimensions to evaluate while formulating an approach for corporate rollout.

 Traditionally, IS teams have been responsible for support of hardware, software and infrastructure required by ‘users’. This division of labor suited everyone well. Non-IT users could focus on their core competence - be it sales teams out in the field or bank tellers or reservation agents or nurses at hospitals monitoring patient records. For most system issues, users would call the IS help-desk that either walks them through the problem resolution or sends someone onsite to help. Service Level and Operating Level Agreements (SLAs/OLAs) were well defined and understood. By opting for personal choice of computing device, there are a few scenarios that begin emerge:

Scenario 1: Laissez faire Cafeteria style buy-and-bring-your-own-device to work. In this model, users will have to take on ‘personal responsibility’ for problem resolution for the devices they opt to acquire. For example, I opt to bring in an iPad to work (instead of my office issued HP/Dell/Whatever Wintel laptop) and just before an important client presentation, I encounter a problem with wifi and network access that I am unable to troubleshoot. Turns out it is a hardware problem for which I cannot call my IS tech support. I have to get in touch with Apple’s help desk and work through the issue.

Scenario 2: Expand scope of support with levels of service: IS team extends a list of “supported” systems to include emerging genera of desktops, tablets and handhelds. To control costs, one could contemplate level-of-service for device classes. For example currently serviced Windows desktops/laptops would get a “Platinum level” service that includes hardware, operating system and application support, Mac OS devices would get a “Gold level” service level and so on.

There are several other scenarios besides one can analyze but before that a few critical questions one would need the business users to answer: 

• How much of “ownership” is the typical business user willing to take in a Laissez faire model?
• What is the total cost(to organization) to be able to expand support and service levels for “All” devices - current and emerging?

Other interesting links on the topic

• Corporate users make the iPad connection -FT  
• Ready for work- Apple “Get secure access to email, calendar, and contacts via Exchange ActiveSync or open standards like IMAP, CalDAV and CardDAV. With support for IPSec and SSL VPN and WPA2 Enterprise Wi-Fi, users can also connect to private corporate networks.”
• iPad at Work: The Essential Guide for Business Users
• Kindle Fire Presents Challenges and Concerns for Corporate IT

Seasons Greetings from Fedex .. and power of viral videos

This morning I was intrigued to see the link to a video clip on Yahoo’s homepage.

 “It was the monitor toss seen 'round the world. FedEx has responded to a viral video that showed one of the company's drivers throwing a (now broken) computer monitor over a fence.”

With online holiday shopping and eCommerce – even in a sluggish economy – crossing allexpectations, the action by an (irate?) Fedex employee could come as a jolt to most of us. Fedex .. and UPS, DHL and other courier firms are the last mile in eCommerce, perhaps providing  the closest “human” face to an otherwise contact free shopping experience. And when an employee - even if it one of several hundreds of thousands of them in the supply chain business – goes rogue; and is caught on tape shamelessly doing so, the video is bound to go viral.

Not surprisingly, Fedex responded with swiftness and issued a statement “The situation has now been resolved to the customer's satisfaction, and we are handling the employee according to our disciplinary policies...While we continue to be surprised about the behavior shown, we know this is an aberration and is not reflective of the outstanding FedEx customer service that makes us proud around the world.”

Score +1 for bloggers and viral media and for speedy customer satisfaction response.  Season’s Greetings!

Any Lessons to be learnt from AMRI tragedy in Calcutta, India? Sure … But

It was shocking to read about the horror from the Kolkata #AMRI hospital fire that claimed 86 of 160 patients. (NYT)  Given the sense of public outrage, it is not surprising to see how the Government has formulated a “Special Investigation Team” to probe the “causes of the worst hospital fire in recent memory”.

Obituaries are being written and a lot of questions being asked by Digirati and Media and more importantly the Indian middle class, that is a key ‘consumer’ of private hospital services in India.

Non resident Indians, self included, are also closely watching the outcome of investigation though I am personally not holding my breadth on any meaningful change in attitude towards the value of individual human lives in a country with over a billion of them. Perhaps it is my personal  glimpse into human-crisis-management in India has made me a bit cynical (ref)
But I guess it is not just me. Santosh for Über Desi blog sums it up in a sentence “ Indian cities, over the last 20 years in particular, have sought to model themselves after the West; swanky malls, ritzy apartment complexes and state-of-the-art hospitals and medical care; for all this prosperity and opulence, safety and concern for human lives is still a “phoren” concept.”

If you ask most Indians and NRIs if there are any Lessons to be learnt from AMRI tragedy, most of us would say sure! But the real question is whether we have an appetite for changing the status quo. And can Indians afford the cost of safety that accompanies a concern for human life.

Writing an e-book. Learning from Mark Cuban?!

It is thanksgiving day and I got around to catch up with some reading, blogs etc. There was an interesting article in WSJ earlier this week "In E-Books, a New Player" The article describes how the entrepreneur Mark Cuban plans to leverage his cyber presence to write an e-book.

Mark Cuban has 335,000 friends on Facebook and 760,000 followers on Twitter. Monday, the Internet billionaire and owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team will test just how friendly those fans really are. . . . Mr. Cuban has written a 30,000-word e-book, "How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It." Culled from blog postings Mr. Cuban has made over the years about his business career, it will be available for $2.99 through online digital-book retailers. To drive sales, Mr. Cuban plans to tap all his online followers. "All I have to do is get them to pay attention and hit a link," he says, estimating that his blog posts attract anywhere from 50,000 to one million readers.

The potential success of Mr. Cuban’s book also hinges on his cyber-popularity and popularity.   Fascinating model that many wannabe writers will surely try to follow.

While writing my book on Offshoring IT Services, I didn’t really leverage as much of Web 2.0 as I probably should have. Would my experience on writing and publicizing a book have been any different?

I guess I will have to find out with my next book. :-)


 

Enterprise Architect : shifting from consulting to Full-time EA (and back)

For the past few years, I have been a consulting Enterprise Architect,  working with a wide cross-section of clients, industry verticals and technology domains. Some of my engagements have been short and specific to an EA domain. I have also had the opportunity of being embedded in client’s EA organizations for extended periods of time. Some of my offline with  client and consulting EA's sometimes shifts to career planning and management.  Many in full-time Enterprise Architect roles at large enterprises muse on moving to consulting; I have seen more than a few join my EA practice during recent times. Likewise, I have also seen fellow consultants take up full-time EA role at client enterprises.  

A few common themes for such shift include personal reasons constraints - need to cut back on travel consulting involves - or the urge to move on to other industry verticals which consulting gig’s can facilitate. And in many cases it also boils down to the bottomline ($$$).  Some random observations based on experiences of people I have seen switch roles

Full-Time Enterprise Architects	Enterprise Architect Consultants
The role of an Enterprise Architect is typically a mix of subject matter expert, internal consultant, mentor and coach.	Role of a consulting EA is that of a deep subject matter expert, focused on advising client’s decision making.
As key stakeholders bridging the business-IT divide, Enterprise Architects are vested in the success of strategic initiatives, held accountable for their decisions and advise given to business and IT.	Consulting architects are not expected to have a 'permanent' tenure with a client. While they may also be responsible to deliver in success of client’s initiatives, they are generally not held accountable
Vendor relationship and management skills are getting to be important, especially in large-scale sourcing contexts.	The focus is on client stakeholder management and ability to continually sell one’s individual and consulting firm’s services
As client’s technology teams get leaner with larger sourcing initiatives, Enterprise Architects are expected to add to project/ program governance and also governance around vendor management	EA consultants may sometimes get an opportunity to be a part of client's Architecture governance teams but the focus is primarily on solution delivery and reviews
An Enterprise Architect’s performance indicator, measure of success includes contributing to long-term growth and ensuring success of business’ initiatives	Consultant’s PI is more black-and-white and typically includes a mix of billable utilization, meeting sales targets, contributing to consulting firms’ downstream business
An EA can reach out to internal networks and resources not available to outsiders	The consulting EA may need to be facilitated on reaching out to internal - client - resources. however he will have access to his extended network from his firm

 
The above is by no means a comprehensive list though it may weigh in while one considers a switch from being a consulting EA to a full-time EA. Do ping with your inputs and I will add to it.

ps: Added note from a fellow EA (Kurt Barndt)  "I would add you serve who ever pays you.  If you work for a services organization sometimes you are put in the position to balance your company’s interests with that of your client(s).  Working in house has an easier alignment from a company perspective however organizational/peer alignments become more significant especially as there are less and less in-house employees in the ever growing services-based environment."

Does IT Matter? Warren Buffet says Sure: By investing in Business of IT

Almost a decade after Nicholas G. Carr ignited a firestorm with his Opinion piece in the Harvard Business Review "Why IT Doesn't Matter," Warren Buffet has answered.

For years after the Mr. Carr’s article and book were published, IT executives and technocrats tried refuting the view with logical arguments. Perhaps the most resounding rebuttal to the view is the action by the Oracle of Omaha.

Media today is abuzz on the move Berkshire Hathaway investing $10.7 billion in International Business Machines (IBM) this year. What makes it noteworthy is that Warren Buffet had for long refrained from making major investments in tech companies.  In an interview, Mr. Buffett was quoted saying "It's a company that helps IT departments do their job better, It is a big deal for a big company to change auditors, change law firms”  . or for IT departments to move away from using IBM. … Buffet was also quoted saying that as the company retains existing clients, they are growing substantially around the globe.  (Ref: CNBC Interview transcript)

What was unsaid in the interview with Mr. Buffet was how well IBM has embraced the global delivery model , a.k.a Offshoring pioneered by Indian firms – TCS, Infosys, Wipro et al.  It is expected that in 2011 , IBM will recruit approximately 24,000 more employees taking it to a total of nearly 154,000 employees from India.  IBM India account for about 90,000 employees. Roughly translated, IBM's Indian employees would generate $35 billion of IBM's revenues in 2010 (out of about $120 billion) [Wikipedia] 

The Enterprise Architect in me is fascinated by the move. More than any the utopian goal of “moving up the value” chain, excelling in the “business of IT” that most technocrats profess to, the action by an uber business strategist : investing $10.7 billion in an IT firm in the current economic climate speaks volumes.