Posts Tagged Technology
Innovation Matters!
Innovation matters. Big time. And, it makes a great difference to organization performance. I spotted this interesting blog post on Techcrunch, showing some interesting analysis of the mobile handset industry. An analyst from Deutsche Bank, Brian Modoff, pulled off this interesting analysis, showing that despite a small share of handset units and handset revenues, Apple and RIM have done a stellar job of garnering industry operating profits share. Its a disproportionate share!
Here are the charts:
Fascinating stuff!
5 comments June 2, 2009
Shai Agassi: A Bold Plan for Mass Adoption of Electric Cars
Shai Agassi, earlier a senior executive with SAP, is the founder-CEO of Better Place. In this TED talk, he blows us away with his thoughts about how we could make countries “oil-free” by 2020. He shares his passionate vision for an electric cars and a network infrastructure to enable the migration to and operation of emission-free vehicles.
Let me stop here and let’s hear from the man himself.
Add comment April 14, 2009
New Website from McKinsey
Consulting firm McKinsey has launched a new website called “What Matters”. The site builds on the knowledge derived from some of the best thinkers in the world. They asked though leaders to focus on 10 big issues and take a long view on these. Some of these issues include Geopolitics, Internet, Biotechnology, Energy, Climate Change, Innovation etc. Authors include Andy Grove, Rick Wagoner, John Thackara, Clay Shirky, Eric Schmidt, Gary Hamel among others.
Check it out!
2 comments March 31, 2009
iPhone Apps I Cannot Live Without
iLove iPhone – despite some of its limitations. It is not only the gorgeous interface and the reliable performance I like, but it’s also about the apps which add functionality to the device. The App Store has been a great succeess, with over 25000 apps and over 800 million downloads since its launch in July 2008.
I have about 80 apps on my iPhone. While I use many of these applications on-and-off, there are some which I use daily. These are apps that I love and I would dump the iPhone if these apps were not there!
So, here’s my list:
- ReQall: This is my favorite app for setting reminders and getting things done. ReQall trumps in providing a dead-simple way of adding reminders from the phone – voice. It lets you add reminders by voice by recording a message within the app and ReQall transcribes it for you. It sends back reminders in the form of emails and SMS. They even have some great pro features now. And, did I forget to mention that they have a great “Memory Jog” feature.
- Evernote: Again, a top-notch app. It is a simple note-taking application which takes notes in the form of text, voice and pictures. The great things is that is supports optical character recognition. So, you can search for text right inside the pictures! The package is complete with all the various access options that Evernote provides – it is easily accessible from the web, desktop app and the iPhone app – all in sync. There are many note-taking apps, but none like evernote.
- Nimbuzz: If you are not my grandpa’s grandpa, I would assume you use IM (Gtalk, Yahoo, MSN etc.). Nimbuzz provides an extremely comprehensive IM suite with support for all major IM services, VoIP over wifi and “dial-up VoIP over 3G”.
- Shozu: If you are a shutterbug like me, you have the need to click and post. Shozu releases the pictures on the phone and can upload to multiple websites like Flickr, Picasa, Facebook, Twitpic, Smugmug, Photobucket etc.
- Facebook: Needless to explain!
- Twitterfon: If you are a twit-addict and don’t want to dole out a couple of dollars for a paid app, this is the one for you. Great interface. Great functionality. It supports retweeting, opening of links, follow / unfollow, twitter search, viewing of trending topics and searching of twitter users by location. It also has a great little bookmarklet for the iPhone Safari browser which lets you post links from Safari.
- Brightkite: I use this as an “add-on” twitter app. I use this to share interesting places, restaurants, bars or simply my location with my friends. It detects your location and can post a link to your twitter / facebook about your location on a map, with details about the place you are at.
- Bloomberg: This is my news app of choice. Despite the fact that I love Google Reader for the iPhone, Bloomberg does a great job with business news. You can customize the news section and also take a look at leading indices, stocks, bonds, currencies etc. The app is slick and fast.
- Wikiamo: This simple app lets me search and browse through Wikipedia in a format that’s friendly for the iPhone screen. A must-have.
- Zyb Sync: If you are always worried about losing your contacts in case your phone is lost or gets “bricked”, this is the app for you. Zyb is a great app that can backup your contacts on the Zyb website. You can even edit your contacts on their website and sync back. Zyb was bought over by Vodafone and should be a very reliable service.
A lot of these would change with the launch of iPhone OS 3.0 and its various features. I am waiting patiently for a brand new lineup of apps this summer. What are your current favorite iPhone apps?
2 comments March 26, 2009
Talent 2.0
Let me begin with a cliche “Talent Management needs to move to the next level.” Now, what exactly is this next level? By the way, what is the current level?
Let’s say that the systems, processes and practices we have today are “Talent 1.0″. We have the antiquated recruitment systems, tired performance management tools, compensation administration, succession planning etc. all automated by heavily transactional and cumbersome software. While we have the tools and technology, the implementation is rather average. Line managers are reluctant to use these tools because these are complicated, offer little insights about talent and often appear very “admin” kind of activity. These tools are looked upon more from a “compliance” perspective rather than “business critical.”
Let’s call the next level – Talent 2.0. And I reckon a lot needs to change for us to move to this next level. A lot. So, this is how, I think, Talent 2.0 will look like:
- Firstly, we need to understand that people managers are the primary interface to talent. Inherently, many managers are not so clear about how talent management works. Simply automating the talent management processes using heavy-duty enterprise software cannot yield the desired results. HR and business will integrate much better to develop a shared understanding of the talent issues.
- Next, we need simple, yet powerful tools to stay connected to people. We plainly cannot rely on the enterprise software in its current form. Web applications like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter etc. and blogs will need to play a bigger role in communicating effectively with employees and mining rich real-time insights about employee behaviour.
- Finally, the way we build our talent pipeline would need to change. CV’s and interviews are not enough – how much can you judge a person from a piece of paper and a 45 minute interaction. People would look at hiring talent from within their social networks. There is rampant interactions and sharing of ideas within social networks and employers would know people better when they recruit from these networks.
These are just some top-of-the-mind thoughts. How do you think Talent 2.0 will look like?
2 comments March 24, 2009
How Social Media Changed My Media Consumption Habits?
The term “social media” is not just a hype-word for me. The web has made far-reaching changes to the way many of us consume media. Here are the top 6 ways in which my media habits have changed.
- From a content “consumer”, social media encourages people to also create content. So, I no longer am just a consumer, but a part of the ecosystem of producers and consumers. I write articles on my blog, create photographic content, video content etc. And, it’s not that I had a major change in my life which made me a “content producer”. It’s is the very nature of the “wikipedia economy” to make people “active”, rather than “passive” in the ecosystem.
- Social media has weaned me off traditional media. I hardly read the newspaper these days. It’s quite a big “object” to hold in the hands anyway. Instead, I prefer to read all the news / blogs via Google Reader on my iPhone. It is always available, easy to use and serves me fresh content.
- Not that I am a big TV fan, but I was quite sure that people cannot imagine their lives without the idiot box. But, I can see a lot changing there. More and more video content is moving to the web (Hulu, Youtube, on-demand movies etc.). Not only this makes content available on demand, rather than fixed show timings, it is also a great way of content “discovery”, rather than being tied to the content you subscribed for. Also, there are possibilities to buy specific content that you like and watch it at your leisure on the phone or computer. So, I don’t like all shows on Discovery Travel & Living, but I can definitely buy Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations through iTunes.
- I have an audio cassette of one of my favourite artists, but I don’t know how to play it. With music moving to digital formats, we made the content more portable. The iPods provided a great interface to run through and organize your music on-the-go. And, then phones doubled up as your music player. Even more, now I don’t necessary have to store music, I can hear it streaming from the web legally though sites like Last.FM, Pandora etc. While the radio still is in fashion (somewhat), you have tons of web apps offering streaming radio.
- The social media makes the content timeless for me. So, I am free to go back to look at the content repeatedly with ease.
- Best of all, my content is no longer confined to me. It’s out there in the open – for sharing. Always available to everyone – on demand!
Many of these changes we see in this new web-driven world are very disruptive, changing attitudes, behaviour and even ways of doing business.
What changes did social media bring to your life?
9 comments February 21, 2009
Gmail Tasks – Should It Be Tied to Google Calendar?
UPDATE: Here it is! Google is listening and they have now tied up Tasks with Calendar.
By now, many of us know that Gmail Tasks is now available on the iPhone and G1. An interesting competitive analysis was done of the most commonly used “to-do” tool – Paper.
Paper has a number of popular features:
- Easy editing. Cross out with pen and write something new.
- Works offline. You can read paper even when your PC is not connected to the internet.
- Mobile. Fold paper and stick in pocket.
- Instant boot up. Just pull paper out of pocket — don’t have to wait for it to load.
However, paper does have some limitations:
- Limited availability. You don’t always have a pad of paper with you to write new things.
- Not ubiquitous. If you leave a piece of paper in one pair of jeans, you can’t access it from the other jeans you’re currently wearing.
- Difficult to organize. Eventually turns into a giant mess on your desk.
I am a big fan of mobile productivity and couldn’t agree more with this. And, the most compelling reason is that the phone makes all your data (emails, to-do’s, calendar, notes) portable and available on demand, on the go.
However, I would love to see more inter-operability between Tasks and Google’s other productivity apps, in particular Google Calendar. Tying up Tasks with Calendar will make for a more comprehensive productivity application, with ability to easily add emails as tasks and even get reminders through SMS. That should give users a more complete scheduling and GTD (Getting Things Done) application. The icing on the cake would be if Google voice-enables Tasks, giving users the ability to add Tasks and Reminders using voice. Just like ReQall (which is my current favorite reminder app).
UPDATE: Google Blogoscoped is reporting that a user has spotted the “Tasks” feature in his Google Calendar. Looks like someone is listening!
2 comments February 4, 2009
IBM Going Enterprise 2.0?
Looks like IBM is taking a first web towards open collaboration – integrating services like LinkedIn, Tripit, Skype, Flickr, Salesforce etc. This, to me, is a definite first step towards re-defining the way enterprise applications and fuelling social collaboration across the enterprise. I think I am going to follow this closely.
Edit: Another piece of interesting information – “IBM Announces Lotus Notes ActiveSync Support For iPhone”. This is what I have really been waiting for. Now the question is – whether companies will allow their corporate emails to sit in employees’ personal phones? Or will companies start investing in iPhones instead of Blackberries?
What are your thoughts about this development?
Add comment January 20, 2009
2008 Round-up: Most Popular Posts
Wow! Was that 2008 that just zipped past me!! Time flies.
It has been an eventful year for me. I got promoted. I left my job at Gallup India. I got married. Yay! I had a wonderful vacation in Thailand. Yay, Yay!! I joined Towers Perrin in Sing a pore. I went about Singapore. And so on.
Meanwhile, a lot of posts on this blog got quite popular. And, I thought it will be a good idea to do a quick round-up of the various things I wrote about in 2008.
- The concept of “Micro-Boredom” and how the mobile phone has become my saviour.
- My wishlist from the grand-daddy of internet – Google.
- The business case for Employee Engagement. This post got a lot of attention and was eventually published on the front page of Deccan Herald’s Career Supplement DH Avenues.
- I got myself an iPhone 3G and wondered if it is “smart-phone” enough. Subsequent fixes from Apple have resolved some of my issues with the almighty phone.
- I borrowed from some research by my company to think about “deal-structuring” for employees or how we could maximize employee RoI from their relationship with organizations.
- 2008 was the year of economic ‘pain’. I mused about how we could manage differently.
- I am bowled over by the wonderful system of ‘incentives’ in Singapore. But, why are restaurant staff here not incentivized enough to provide great service to customers?
- I became a fan of TED. Fascinating stuff. Kevin Kelly impressed with his talk on the next 5000 days of the web.
- Mumbai will not forget 2008 so easily. Neither will I. I blabbered as Mumbai took the bullets.
- I started thinking about simplifying the interfaces of enterprise applications. I think this is a big big opportunity.
- I stumbled upon an idea to convert the employee benefits system into a ‘marketplace for benefits’. I have completely given up on looking at traditional system thinking on solving this critical problem that so many organizations face. An innovative and experimental approach is more likely to lead to a solution. I am looking for organizations who would like to partner with me on such an experiment.
And, if you think, I have bored you enough with this serious stuff, go straight to my alternate blog at Tumblr to enjoy some really cool pictures, videos, quotes and fun stuff. Or meet the shutter-bug in me at Flickr. Or, just head straight to my FriendFeed page to get a snapshot of all my online activity and networks.
Here’s to a peaceful and fulfilling 2009. Cheers!
2 comments December 25, 2008
Steve Job’s Worth to The Shareholders
However, cliched it may sound, but I firmly believe that employees are the biggest asset for an organization. Though there is no definitive way of measuring the “human” value, it makes sense intuitively. I came across this article by Jeff Segal from BreakingViews, where he does some simple calculations to indicate the value of Apple’s various businesses and the value of its ever-charismatic leader Steve Jobs.
He values the Mac business at about $19 billion.
iPod business at $14 billion.
iTunes store at about $1 billion.
iPhone business at $17 billion (that’s simply wow!).
Other businesses at $11billion.
Roughly, these add up to about $60 billion dollars, which is about $20 billion less than Apple’s market cap. And, Jeff concludes, that Steve Job is worth $20 mind-blowing-billions to Apple’s shareholders. That is the premium for a truly innovative leader. In a way, it makes all the more sense for companies to get the best people and invest in them. People assets can be as big as or even outgrow the core tangible business assets.
Add comment December 19, 2008
Simplify the Business Applications’ Interface
Further to my post titled “The Bane of Systems / Processes”, I have been thinking about enterprise information systems that I see in companies around me.
Why is it that we have cool-looking, easy-to-use and feature-rich interactive interfaces for consumer web-apps (think Gmail, Google Calendar, WordPress, Facebook, Google Docs, Gtalk, Twitter etc.) and extremely boring, intimidating interfaces for enterprise apps (think Oracle, IBM, SAP etc.).
Think of your company’s information portal or expense management system or accounting package or HRIS, and you get the shivers. Why does it have to be so non-intuitive? Why do you have to plug in so many pieces of unnecessary information? Is it that consumers apps need to be simple and business apps need to be complex just for the sake of demarcation? Is it the organization’s way of saying “It’s not simple. Complexity is the name of the game. You have to learn our systems. It’s not the same as your everyday stuff”??
I am sure there are tons of clever people who can simplify these dull, complicated interfaces. Don’t we have business consultants who can conceptually simplify information requirements, consolidate data and make life easy for the millions of employees who use these systems? And don’t we have ace coders to breathe life into these concepts? Companies need to start thinking about this and embrace the simple, uncluttered and fresh look. This will go a long way in making work ‘look’ simple, friendly and interesting. There will be a sense of familiarity with the IT environment and I feel that this will be a critical performance enabler and enhancer.
2 comments December 10, 2008
Kevin Kelly: Predicting the Next 5000 Days of the Web
I have become a huge fan of www.ted.com. I came across this very interesting talk by Kevin Kelly, founder-editor of the Wired magazine, on the future of the internet. He begins with a simple, yet powerful statistic – “the web is only about 5000 days old” and then goes on to predict the next 5000 days. Some key takeouts:
- The total processing power of the web will exceed that of the human race by 2040. He does this using simple approximations and using similarities in the functioning of the human brain and the web.
- All devices (PCs, mobiles, cameras, cars etc.) are just ‘windows’ to look into the big machine called the web. Every device will be web-based and the web will own every ‘bit’.
- Media will have a common platform.
- Humans will become the extended senses of the machine!
- Data would be able to transcend websites. Eg. you won’t have to tell different social networking websites about your identity. It will be able to identify you and your friends by itself.
- Humans and the web will be co-dependent. We will be “always on.” The web will be able to provide us a complete personalized experience, provided we are completely honest with it.
- In effect, the web will become much smarter, personalized (at the price of transparency) and very ubiquitous.
1 comment November 23, 2008
