84% Of Enterprises See Big Data Analytics Changing Their Industries’ Competitive Landscapes In The Next Year

87% of enterprises believe Big Data analytics will redefine the competitive landscape of their industries within the next three years. 89% believe that companies that do not adopt a Big Data analytics strategy in the next year risk losing market share and momentum.

These and other key findings are from a Accenture and General Electric study published this month on how the combination of Big Data analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT) are redefining the competitive landscape of entire industries. Accenture and GE define the Industrial Internet as the use of sensor, software, machine-to-machine learning and other technologies to gather and analyze data from physical objects or other large data streams, and then use those analyses to manage operations and in some cases to offer new, valued-added services.

Big Data Analytics Now Seen As Essential For Competitive Growth

The Industrial Internet is projected to be worth $500B in worldwide spending by 2020, taking into account hardware, software and services sales according to Wikibon and previously published research from General Electric. This finding and others can be found on the home page of the Accenture and GE study here: How the Industrial Internet is Changing the Competitive Landscape of Industries.

The study also shows that many enterprises are investing the majority of their time in analysis (36%) and just 13% are using Big Data analytics to predict outcomes, and only 16% using their analytics applications to optimize processes and strategies. Moving beyond analysis to predictive analytics and optimization is the upside potential the majority of the C-level respondents see as essential to staying competitive in their industries in the future.

A summary of results and the methodology used are downloadable in PDF form (free, no opt in) from this link: Industrial Internet Insights Report For 2015.

Key take-aways from the study include the following:

• 73% of companies are already investing more than 20% of their overall technology budget on Big Data analytics, and just over two in ten are investing more than 30%. 76% of executives expect spending levels to increase. The following graphic illustrates these results:

• Big Data analytics has quickly become the highest priority for aviation (61%), wind (45%) and manufacturing (42%) companies.  The following graphic provides insights into the relative level of importance of Big Data analytics relative to other priorities in the enterprises interviewed in the study:

• 74% of enterprises say that their main competitors are already using Big Data analytics to successfully differentiate their competitive strengths with clients, the media, and investors. 93% of enterprises are seeing new competitors in their market using Big Data analytics as a key differentiation strategy.  The single greatest risk enterprises see from not implementing a Big Data strategy is that competitors will gain market share at their expense.  Please see the following graphic for a comparison of the risks of not implementing Big Data strategy.

• 65% of enterprises are focused on monitoring assets to identify operating issues for more proactive maintenance. 58% report having capabilities such as connecting equipment to collect operating data and analyzing the data to produce insights. The following graphic provides an overview of Big Data monitoring survey results:

• Increasing profitability (60%), gaining a competitive advantage (57%) and improving environmental safety and emissions compliance (55%) are the three highest industry priorities according to the survey. The following table provides an analysis of the top business priorities by industry for the next three years with the shaded areas indicating the highest-ranked priorities by industry:

• The top three challenges enterprises face in implementing Big Data initiatives include the following: system barriers between departments prevent collection and correlation of data for maximum impact (36%); security concerns are impacting enterprises’ ability to implement a wide-scale Big Data initiative (35%); and  consolidation of disparate data and being able to use the resulting data store (29%), third. The following graphic provides an overview of the top three challenges organizations face in implementing Big Data initiatives:

Courtesy – Louis Columbus

Infographic – Why???

Recently I was researching about the growing importance of info-graphics for marketers…while it was encouraging to see many articulations to prove its importance, but I have to acknowledge that I was a bit underwhelmed by the actual use or embrace this strategic tool of communications…

While I may list its importance due to the mere fact that Studies have found that 90 percent of the information that we remember is based on visual impact. Include that tidbit with the fact that we live in an age where 1.5 billion pieces of content, 140 million tweets, and 2 million videos are created on a daily basis, and you can easily understand why a simple visual aid can make your brand stand out.

Therefore, even with the basis of the fact its still a tool for many reasons avoided by marketers….the primary reasons that seems to be popping up is expensive and lack of expert knowledge. Yes, a work of art cannot be cheap…..and not sure who told you that story telling can be done by someone who don’t understand it.

You need visualizer to draw and you need marketers to explain the story…..and the mashup is what you get in a good info graphic…..While its not necessary that you may want to go with what I am writing but you may want to read and see what people are claiming…One such is below and for the rest….simply Google it…

Embrace this communication tool…as its a perfect blend of what you want to tell and what your consumers want to see.

Roundup Of 3D Printing Market Forecasts And Estimates, 2014

3D printing’s potential to revolutionize manufacturing is quickly becoming a reality.

From relatively simple make-to-stock to complex, engineer-to-order production strategies in aerospace, defense, discrete and industrial production, 3D printing technologies are redefining the manufacturing value chain.  Investors including venture capitalists, wealth management firms and nearly every market research firm covering high technology has published 3D printing forecasts or market estimates.

A summarized list of 3D printing market forecasts and estimates is provided below:

• Canalys predicts the global 3D printing market will grow from $2.5B in 2013 to $16.2B by 2018, attaining a CAGR of 45.7% in the forecast period. For additional information see 3D printing market to grow to US$16.2B in 2018. The following table compares 2013, 2014 and 2018 forecasts and relative market growth by 3D printers, services and materials.

• IBISWorld forecasts the U.S. market for 3D printer manufacturing in the U.S. will reach $1.4B in 2014, attaining a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 22.8% from 2009 to 2014.  The U.S. market will grow at a CAGR of 15.7% from 2014 to 2019.  IBISWorld’s report includes market shares, and shows 3D SystemsCorporation with 19.5% followed by Stratasys with 18.4%. You can read the IBISWorld report, 3D Printer Manufacturing in the US, February 2014 here(free, no opt-in).

• IDC predicts that worldwide 3D printer unit sales and installed base will grow at a combined compound annual growth rate of 59% through 2017, with the value of shipments attaining a 27% CAGR in the forecast period.  IDC’s excellent presentation titled 3D Printing – A Transformative Opportunity for Print and Manufacturingwritten by Robert Parker and Keith Kmetz was part of the IDC Directions 2014 briefing sessions earlier this year.  The following slide from the presentation compares 3D printer market units, installed base and value of shipments. IDC also predicts the Average Selling Value will also drop at a -19% CAGR through 2017.

• The 3D Systems Investor and Analyst Day presentation given June 10, 2014 includes a series of market forecasts and estimates, including an in-depth overview of how 3D Systems is evaluating market opportunities for 3D printing in healthcare. The following graphic is from the 3D Systems Investor and Analyst Day presentation available here:

• 3D printers will grow from a $288M market in 2012 to $5.7B in 2017, attaining an 81.9% CAGR in the forecast period according to research by Wells Fargo Wealth Management.  According to this firm’s compiled research, shipments of 3-D printers are expected to grow at a CAGR of 95% a year from 2012 to 2017 with revenue expected to grow at 82% in the same forecast period.  Well Fargo Wealth Management found that 3-D printing revenue is estimated to have achieved just 8% of its global market potential as of 2014, making the market opportunity worth $21–$28 billion by 2017.  Wells Fargo Wealth Management published the reportBeyond 2014: Evolving Opportunities in Technology providing these insights and the following charts showing the growth of 3D printing shipments and revenue:

• Equity analysts’ forecasts for additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing range from $7B by 2020 on an 18% CAGR, to aggressive market scenarios reaching $21.3B by 2020 on a 34% CAGR. Morgan Stanley’s forecast are among the most bullish there are.  Deloitte presented these figures at the 2014 Engineering & Construction Conference Bridging Innovation in the Industry Disruptive Technologies and their Impact on E&C. You can find the presentation here and a graphic below from the presentation comparing market forecasts.

• Gartner forecasts that 3D printer shipments will grow to 1.1M units by 2017 attaining a CAGR of 95%, and end user spending will grow to $5.7B, attaining a CAGR of 82% in the forecast period.  The presentation 3D Printing: The Hype, Reality and Opportunities – Today written by Pete Basiliere of Gartner is available on SlideShare.  A PDF of the presentation is available to Gartner clients here.

• The market for 3D printing products and services grew to $3.07B in 2013 attaining a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 34.9%, the highest in 17 years according to Wohlers Associates.According to industry expert Wohlers Associates the growth of worldwide revenues over the past 26 years has averaged 27%, with the CAGR for the past three years (2011–2013) reaching 32.3%.For additional information see the Wohlers Report 2014 Uncovers Annual Growth of 34.9% for 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing Industry. Wohlers Associates is one of the most knowledgeable firms tracking 3D printing, they have involved in this market for decades.

• 67% of manufacturers surveyed are currently implementing 3D printing either in full production or pilot and 25% intend to adopt 3D printing in the future. A study by Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC) of 3D printing adoption in the global aerospace industry’s MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) parts market estimates $3.4B annual savings in material and transportation costs alone. PWC’s recent report published in June, 3D Printing and the New Shape of Industrial Manufacturing, provides a wealth of insights into the adoption of 3D printing in manufacturing. The following graphic from the report compares adoption rates by small and large firms.

• PwC predicts that within three to five years 3D printing technologies will be used for producing military, commerical and complex weapon parts and system components.  In the recent research note 3D Printing: A Potential Game Changer for Aerospace and Defense, PwC provided a 3D printing adoption map, which is shown below.  PwC observes that “as quality and speed continue to improve, 3D printing will become a viable process for an  ever-increasing number of applications, including traditional production parts. No one  knows how rapidly the technology will take to mature, but most experts believe it will  make significant strides within the next five years.”

Courtesy – Louis Columbus

Basics to using your website as a marketing tool

It’s no more a secret that a website has emerged as the single most effective marketing tool in the hands of a businessperson today. Through a website, one can effectively tell customers about themselves along with their products and services. The wise thing is to focus one’s efforts on a website to ensure increased internet traffic, which will ultimately lead to increased sales. Here are some of the basic things that will help you use your website as an effective marketing tool.

Old news is no news. This is true for a website also. It is important to update the content on a website on a regular basis. By adding a few new things at least once a week, you can be sure to attract people, who will keep coming back on a regular basis to see what's new. Attracting people is one thing but what is more important is to retain them. To keep visitor’s interest alive, provide them with interesting reading material instead of boring business details.

Care should be taken to make the website search engine optimised (SEO). The content, the images used and even the name of the website (read company) should be search engine optimised! SEO has become an indispensable tool, which ensures thousands or even millions of hits a day. It can be safely concluded that no other kind of Internet marketing can be as effective or is capable of driving as much traffic as search engine optimization is.

When using website as a marketing tool, it is important to go beyond branding. It is important to create a unique logo or image for a website that is memorable and is also able to say much more than words can.

In today’s border-less economy where customer interactions are not hindered by geography and time zones, websites should be made more personal and interactive. Using blogs and being active on various online communities will help you get in touch with customers from anywhere in the world and at any time of day. Your posts will keep you in people’s memory and will help sell your products and services even while you are not around.

For more personal touch, mentioning yourself by name and using pictures is a great way to go about it. It only makes things easy as people like to know there are human beings on the other side of the screen. It’s also a good idea to run your own ads on your site. One can use different ads that link to services and products available on your business website.

One should consciously work towards making their website an authority site on a niche topic. This will help the site getting noticed much easily than when one tries to appeal to a broad audience. By catering to a limited audience, it is easy to attract that niche market. Though its sounds small but remember on a global scene, a niche also translate into millions of people all over the world!

Marketers, get ready for the social networks?

Marketers are continually hopping onto social media marketing as a perfectly productive means of reaching out to more and more people. Even if they are not able to measure the numbers yet, they are keen on using this tool as an effective means of creating the right buzz about themselves.

In an innovative big to promote itself, Aquafina created a contest on video networking website MySpace for users to create a winning video. The reward was a trip to none-other-than the Sundance Film Festival. The brand has profiled itself on MySpace since 2006, filling in with podcasts and film festival updates. This was one of their most innovative and effective ways to reach out to the film community. The influence that social media marketing of this kind provides cannot be met with a single line ad.

Closer home, a recent instance is the promotion of Bollywood [s1] film Tashan on Facebook, YouTube and Orkut. Promoters of the film have created a community specific to the film. On Facebook, it runs with the tagline, “Don’t worry about who you are, just carry your Tashan in your heart.” The film got popular even before it was released and the reader profile perfectly complimented the audience the film required.

Social media marketing can be a tricky game. If your existence on the web is simply a platform for your company, you might want to get involved with B2B media marketing that allows you to access the communities you specifically want to target. You can access this on networks like ITtoolbox or LinkedIn.

On the other hand, you can involve more publicly by hosting podcasts, webcasts and blogs for your brand on the numerous social networking websites with their readership of anything like a million. Since people are talking about you anyway, you might as well don the discussion hat and play along. It will only benefit your brand. Cincom Systems, an IT organization has made available a series of online educational & promotional videos, podcasts and screencasts, on the social media sites YouTube, Ning and Facebook. The famous bollywood actor Amitab Bachan, Aamir Khan and other are now hooked to blogging. Marketing experts like Dale Wolf runs the perfect customer experience management (www.perfectcem.com) blog, Steve Kayser’s Expert Access newsletter has managed to achieve a phenomenal global subscription base of nearly 141,000 subscribers. These examples truly accentuate the importance of these next generation tools for marketers.

For those who have still not recognized the perfectly simple and productive marketing tool that social media provides, it is time to wake up and smell the coffee. There is no challenging the tremendous traffic that a good posting can attract. These will be people who can add to your business and a lot of them will be ones who will keep coming back to your website.

Thanks to Web 2.0 you can use this master of a marketer to attract more links to your website or the company. The idea is to create a posting or an advertisement that connects to the user on the website you are choosing to harness. Added to this is the low cost advantage that all of us are eventually happy to employ. Search engines also pick up websites that receive natural links from known domain names. These are some first hand advantages of social media marketing that many of us are meaning to ignore so very far into its development.

It’s easy to assume that most of the traffic generated thus will not be productive. But a trend that has been noticed is that while initially you might see a spurt of visitors, the numbers will stabilize soon after. And this will be the number to reckon with. It could be clients, customers, partners, potential partners,. All of whom need to be on your list. It is also not presumptuous to say that a lot of the secondary traffic that visits your website could be people interested in what you provide.

Simply advertising on Web 2.0 is an efficient means of attracting traffic to your website. Because the number of users is so high on this case, it adds to the traffic you will eventually attract. Again, the only trick is to make it available to your target audience because the click, as we all know, is only a flick of a second.

While the profits of such marketing do not add up immediately or even evidently, it will generate a linkage on the web that will support your business through mentions, connects and recommendations. Social media marketing perfectly compliments your other forms of marketing. It can even be a support system for you as this is one means of communication that has no time span or recurring costs involved.

Another term touted with as much ease as social media marketing these days is ‘social media optimization’. With this, brands aim to alter their website such that it makes it easily searchable and receives more mention on blogs and podcasts etc. Adding a blog to your own website is a greater way of going about it. If your website is static, it will get more dynamic with regular updates and with several links connecting to anything that you post.

Social media marketing can therefore be a great means to promote your site through social media networks as well as within 3D worlds like Second Life and There.com.

Instead of randomly rushing through this sea of information, marketers prefer to build on a specific idea for brand awareness and then encourage brand attention and feedback with increased albeit more casual visibility. What cautions them is the user feedback that can also be negative. But one cannot forget that users in this case also become contributors and when the product is good, gladly act as ambassadors. As more threads are attached to your name, viral marketing picks up at an unprecedented pace. And this is where the crux of the game lies.

Marketers are therefore now busy fine tuning themselves to the new needs of this growing media that cannot be ignored. Social media marketing is far removed from traditional concepts of marketing. This makes it a more challenging medium but one that can be most effective in the medium to long run.

Intellectuals are still pondering over measurements that most correctly define the reach of this new media. There are four broad measures identified so far—audience, content tracking, online media analysis and online market research. Whatever the measurements and whatever its reach, opinion is unanimous for social media marketing. There seems to be nothing like it in the near future.

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[s1]The Indian Film Industry like Hollywood

Simplifying Web 2.0: It’s not really that technical!

If you are not comfortable with technology and its concocted numerical nomenclature. If you haven’t figured out Web 2.0 yet, we give you a load up on what it really means to get connected!

How many of us are comfortable with technology and advancements in it? Not too many, I’m sure. The recent generation is a little more ‘Tech-savvy’ they say, but even then it’s just a very superficial understanding of the terms and their purposes. Under this condition, when someone mentions Web 2.0, it seems a little over your head! Have they actually reinvented the web? Isn’t that what 1.0, 2.0 etc are supposed to mean? Different versions of the same thing. So does this affect the way we use the web? It will probably become more complicated with more tools, more buttons, more of everything to make the user think even more while using it! So many questions that tend to make Web 2.0 seem like some enigma which is understood by just a few and blindly used by the rest. But the fact of the matter is that, Web 2.0 would not exist if it was not for the common user. It is us that make the new version of the Web, and not the geeks in their cubicles writing innumerable lines of code.

Web 2.0 was a term introduced to the world during the first O’Reilly MediaWeb 2.0 conference in 2004, but has never really been accepted widely as the right nomenclature. We could possibly define Web 2.0 as a knowledge-oriented environment where human interactions generate content that is published, managed and used through network applications in a service-oriented architecture.This by itself is obviously confusing and is not how you would want to describe it to someone who you are trying to explain the simplicity of Web 2.0 to! However, I have mentioned it here for those who are interested in knowing the technical description of the term. For the rest, it is basically trying to say that Web 2.0 is a place where you, your friends, your family and anyone else can come share information in various forms and get connected to each other in the process. Basically, let’s come hang out and exchange information!

Simple isn’t it?
Let’s take some examples to get into the spirit of Web 2.0 a little more. How many of us have an Orkut, Facebook or MySpace account? Pretty much everybody. And this is exactly what Web 2.0 is all about. People no longer use the Web just to check their mail and send out information at fixed points of time.It’s now all about making everything real time and sharing and exchanging information then and there. The sites mentioned above allow you to put up photos, write down your thoughts, make a profile that people can browse, share videos and lots more. Suddenly no one on the net is a stranger. People can look through your profile and learn more about yourself even before they have met you. You can connect to people you would never have directly met, but who may be able to help you in a number of ways from hobbies, to accommodation, to education and a lot more. These sites function on user-generated content and that’s what Web 2.0 is all about.

Putting the power in the hands of the user!You will no longer be told what to do online, but will be asked what you want to do. The Web is no longer a place for the ‘Tech –savvy’ or the professionals who want to showcase their skills. It’s all about the common user who wants to share his thoughts, his work, his skills and allows others to view and rate his work.Everybody can now have their own web page, and even a custom URL to give them their own online identity.

Blogs have already been advanced enough to allow you to not only write about your experiences, but to also include pictures, videos and lots of other features that make them a rich source of information and an outlet for the creatively inclined to showcase themselves to the whole world.Gone is the time when you had to have big bucks behind you to do anything online and even then have technical expertise to execute it.

Now, all you need is some basic computer knowledge and you are on your way to destinations unknown! You no longer need a space ship to “Boldly go where no man has gone before!”But for all its plus points and advantages, the Web 2.0 advancement also has some serious privacy invasion and identity theft drawbacks. With the amount of personal and potential sensitive information online, you need to make sure you take care of who is looking at your web pages and blogs. Identity theft for creating bogus accounts, image theft, misuse of personal information are all very serious and real threats that abound in this brave new world of the Web.

The movies “The Net” and “The Net 2.0” dealt with a fictional situation of the ill effects of the World Wide Web, but these seem very plausible with the simplification of the Web of late. But with the ease it introduces and the scope for enrichment of our lives, Web 2.0 cannot be viewed as a bad advancement at all.It’s just up to the user to ensure that he/she uses it responsibly. “With great power comes great responsibility”, said Spiderman and that applies to the Web as well. With the new power and control that it offers to the common user, it is up to him to ensure he uses it carefully and makes sure he watches his own back and other’s as well. At this time of sharing information and thoughts, sharing concerns and watching out for your online colleagues is a must. After all, isn’t that what Web 2.0 is all about. Sharing, exchanging and experiencing what others have.

The Enterprise 2.0 Vision

Open source, SaaS, SOA, offshoring, Web 2.0 and other emerging technologies and models are reshaping the future of corporate computing.

One of the hardest things for organizations to do is to retire old applications. Unlike hardware that tends to be replaced on a regular cycle, old software sticks around way too long. It definitely over stays its welcome. I remember when I worked at John Hancock decades ago and watching as departments struggled to replace aging systems. While they were ready and willing to make the change, they often didn’t know precisely how these old systems worked. The developers never documented what they wrote and those people had retired years earlier.

Now you would think that the problem had gone away. In reality, the problem got worse with the advent of client/server computing where there was less structure applied to the development process. I came across a very old article I wrote back in 1996 that talked about a lot of those issues (please ignore the picture). Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, web based development came along. Instead of having a few hundred developers, the web brought the advent of thousands of developers all provide changes and updates to applications. We are now at a cross roads that is quite unique.

While we still have many aging applications that cannot be easily updated, we also have the need to move to Web 2.0 to create Rich Internet applications (RIA). Web 2.0 offers a way to dramatically transform the user experience. Organizations are looking to this approach to development to make access to knowledge and information much more immediate and intuitive than ever before. But the transition isn’t easy.

I got thinking a lot about the transition from client/server applications and old web based applications when I met with Nexaweb a few weeks ago. The company has been around since 2000 and specializes in the Web 2.0 space. While there has been a lot of hype around Web 2.0 it actually is a very pragmatic technology infrastructure. While I think that a lot of customers assume that you can just approach Web 2.0 as though it were a simple web application. The reality is quite different. In fact, good Web 2.0 applications have to be well architected. What I liked about what Nexaweb is doing is their approach to application modernization with a Web 2.0 spin. In essence, Nexaweb is focused on modernization of aging client/server applications by providing tooling that documents the existing code. It is designed to identify bad code and provides a tool to generate a model driven architecture. Like any good consulting organization, Nexaweb has leveraged best practices used to help its consulting clients move old applications to Web 2.0. Nexaweb is selling a set of productivity tools that can generate a model driven architecture. It is intended to generate code as part of this process. The company claims that it can reduce the cost of transforming old code by as much as 70 percent.

The new product called Nexaweb’s Enterprise Web Suite including a UML modeling tool, a reporting tool that identifies repetitive processes, and code that is no longer used. Clearly, Nexaweb isn’t the only company taking advantage of modeling tools and an architectural approach. But the fact that the company is focused on helping companies transform their aging client/server applications into modular, service oriented approach is a step forward. It is one of the set of companies focused on not just updating applications by transforming into Web 2.0. What stands out is the fact that Nexaweb seems to be combining application transformation into business services (can you say Service Oriented Architectures). However, I must add that IBM has been on this track for quite a few years. Through its industry models, IBM has been helping companies transform its aging areapplications into industry specific business services. In addition, Microsoft’s Silverlight and Adobe’s Air are adding a new level of sophistication to the momentum. WaveMaker, that I discussed in an earlier entry is making a contribution as well.

The trend is clear and it is good for customers. We are finally seeing software companies providing a path to moving code into the new world that is based on reusable, modular services that are architected. The next stage in the movement towards a service oriented architecture is applying this approach to the new generation of Web 2.0. Let me add a disclaimer — this isn’t magic. There is hard work here. None of these approaches or tools are automatic. They give customers a head start but there is hard work to be done. The alternative is to hold your breath and hope that things don’t break too quickly. There are so many promises of easy solutions to hard problems. There are solutions and tools that take the drudgery out of leaving legacy applications behind. But there is worthwhile hard work that really has to be done.

Judith Hurwitz is president of Hurwitz & Associates This piece originally appeared in her blog.

It’s just a wake up call for the IT industry

It would be pessimist and unfair to assume that we could no longer be the greatest providers of outsourced software services for the world. The industry simply needs to evolve to grow into a bigger industry with larger targets. At the same time, the country needs to prepare as a whole to provide an appreciable environment to overseas customers.

The country is fretting over what seems to be a not-so-bright-future for the Indian IT industry. For those making the bucks, India’s fairytale story can’t seem to go bust so soon. And it might not. Yes, the IT industry is being met with serious challenges that it needs to address immediately. But the good news is there is still a chance and all we need is to prepare for the future. Going by the past trends, the IT industry has always seen it ups and downs. Concluding anything on the Indian IT | ITeS industry would be premature. A recent interview with NASSCOM president Som Mittal, in which he stated that the IT sector expects to meet or even exceed its software export target of $ 60 billion and overall software and services revenue goal of $ 73-75 billion by 2010. So dismissing these numbers would not be appropriate.

However there are surly certain issues that require a thought or considerations. On the surface, there seems to be a downturn in India’s bright and booming IT industry. To start with, there is the appreciating rupee against the Dollar. The Indian rupee has strengthened 15% against the Dollar the last one year. But America being the primary provider of outsourced business to India’s IT companies, their dipping economy fares trouble for companies here.

Another twist to this tale is the reduced spending on IT services by American companies as their economy slows down. Not only has this caused a drop in the rate of salary hikes and hiring, American firms are also passing on and creating lesser work for Indian’s IT companies. As the bulk of work lessens, India being the largest provider of low-cost outsourced services, the impact is reflected surely and poorly.

As Infosys Chief Mentor and Non-Executive Chairman Narayan Murthy has constantly pointed out, another bottleneck the Indian IT space faces is India’s clogged infrastructure. Any foreigner, who steps down at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi or the Bengaluru International Airport for the first time, will not get the best first impression. For a country that opened its doors for other countries almost a decade back, there is poor development.

Our airports need serious makeovers. Let’s hope the new ones will provide the extraordinary experience that a visitor deserves. If you walk down the road from Bangalore’s airport to the city’s best-known hotel Leela, the traffic and pollution are stifling. Similarly, if you land at Delhi or Mumbai’s international airports, there is nothing welcoming about them yet. The efforts are on, but it needs speed and urgency. Or we are bound to lose work to competitors like China, Eastern Europe and Russia, who not only provide low-cost services but also better propriety. With new fiscal budget awaited in near time I would advocate for policies that would aid to sustain the India IT shining story. The Government will also need to look in continuing the tax holiday to smaller STPs beyond 2009

Competitors are another major threat to Indian’s IT industry. While the industry might not be as organized in countries like Russia and China, they are on their way. And they are also producing quality engineers, comparable to India. Even countries in central Europe are not very far from achieving what we have been bloating over. Emergence of these countries in the IT space has already started impacting our client’s preferences and margins.

India needs to stabilize the way IT firms are working. The talent is there but we still fall short of the demand. If we want to continue supplying work to firms abroad, we need sufficient talent within the nation to meet the demand. Engineers don’t simply need to provide outsourced services that mainly involve testing services. If the industry wants to survive, it will need to train professionals to do substantial tasks that will help firms move up the value chain.

Even companies that are outsourcing work to us now want to pass on more evolved work to India. They will soon be automated and we will be forced to take on other work. We need to prepare our systems and professionals for a future that involves different work like developing systems and solutions for foreign clients including diversifying in the various other geographical regions. Companies like TCS and Infosys have taken the clue and are already undertaking work that will help them grow from a service provider to a policy enhancer with larger foot print. Besides, the kind of outsourcing services we are providing right now might become redundant very soon.

At the same time, despite what the scenario looks like, salaries are being hiked at tremendous rates. Salaries of those higher up in the ranks is soon likely to match of those in the United States. This is not a positive sign for the low-wage advantage that we currently offer. Cost arbitrage may very soon not be considered as a differential factor but a hygiene one.

Fortunately, this is not the end of the story. So far, Indian companies have been providing peripheral work to foreign firms. But times are a changing and any IT firm that wants to keep evolving at the same rate will have to grow to be able to provide higher margin work like consulting. We need to the move up the value chain to sustain the advantage that we are currently offering to the world. In the recent NASSCOM leadership forum there was a great talk or recommendation to the India IT | ITeS company to move up the value chain to sustain the competitive advantage.

With annual growth rates of nearly 30% in the past ten years, Indian IT industry has been resting in peace. We have provided a bulk of talent and spearheaded some of the greatest software development any country has provided. The stats for future does looks encouraging provided the industry works together to over come the hurdle to reverse the IT down turn. It’s time to gear up. If we don’t change, and fast, we may very well be headed for a fall.

The fundamental business model of Indian IT industry of earn is $$ dollar and spend in rupees would prevail in the coming years with amendments of Earn in Yen, Euro, Pound, Dollar…..and spend in Rupees. However the ability to sustain would require a considerable cumulative effort of the industry and government.

Technorati Tags: India IT,Weakness of India,Future of India

Hardware 2.0

Quite recently the term Web2.0 is all over the place and it seems that everyone wants to get over this bandwagon. Though I shouldn't be complaining as I am in the queue to get onto the web2.0, web3.0, web4.0 and so on. These are surely new and exciting times\tools for the marketers.

Well I can go on and on over the Web 2.0 however selecting the topic of Hardware 2.0, hence need to keep the focus onto the same. A good example of Hardware 2.0 could be iPhone, and with the Apple release of an SDK for the iPhone and iPod touch, we can expect more and more application that we can be used on iPhone. Though not being an analyst, I will not be able to justify the new paradigm shift in the Hardware business. However with visible trends seen in the case of the Web's of the world surely foresee a new dimension to the hardware and its business as well.  Conceptually it will create a dimensional shift from what and how we know our hardware today.      

We all know how the "Soft" has changed over the years; yet can we say the same on the "hard" side? This encourages me to think that aren't we to much focused on diversifying in the software and not that much about on the hardware side. Is it to "hard".

The software side has gone and is expected to go through the hyperdisruption however I am yet to see this happening on the hardware side.

With the introduction of the Apple iPhone, and my friend being kind enough to let me see the features of it has forced me to think that we have gone through so much of development in the software, telecommunication, mobile technology however are we still living in the same age of enterprise "hard" automation. Can we we expect it to change? 

Things like Google, Salesforce, Appexchange, Mashup, so on has changed the way we compute today even at an enterprise level. The thing I would like to imagine is, can we move in direction on Hardware "hyperdisruption".  I have been hearing now and then the cloud computing, however still do not know that will I call it as enterprise disruption.

SMB, SME, "target the small", seems to be the flavor of all enterprise targeted sales. But sometime I do wonder that are the companies gear to understand the implication that the SMB sector entails. I may be talking specific to the Indian domestic market, with not even a single person in the name of an IT department in an SME organization that I have visited or known. Please do not take me wrong, I am talking about companies with annual revenue of $30 millions sustaining their IT on single free email id. Then we talk about things like online\on-demand application and we conveniently assume that the organizations we are targeting will have T1 lines with redundancy, backup, etc, etc.

Not going much in detail would like to put the question to wonderful people who have been kind enough to read this post -

• Can we imagine having a single "hard" server that will allow us to "add to cart" application(s) that are only one time downloadable & are pre integrated? Application that suits our requirements, at the time when we require, and not worrying about having T1 redundant net lines?
• Switch on & off application as per our requirements.
• Ability to create hardware that does not require a power connection and runs on power from the network cables as phone lines does (conceptually).
• Not to worry about backup, maintenance, etc. as that will build in by the hardware provider who providing you the servers.
• Can we imagine Hard 2.0, Hard 3.0, so on?

The answer is a probable "YES".

Technorati Tags: Hardware 2.0 Future of IT

Simplifying Web 2.0: It’s not really that technical!

If you are not comfortable with technology and its concocted numerical nomenclature. If you haven’t figured out Web 2.0 yet, we give you a load up on what it really means to get connected!

By Shiraz Datta

How many of us are comfortable with technology and advancements in it? Not too many, I’m sure. The recent generation is a little more ‘Tech-savvy’ they say, but even then it’s just a very superficial understanding of the terms and their purposes. Under this condition, when someone mentions Web 2.0, it seems a little over your head! Have they actually reinvented the web? Isn’t that what 1.0, 2.0 etc are supposed to mean? Different versions of the same thing. So does this affect the way we use the web? It will probably become more complicated with more tools, more buttons, more of everything to make the user think even more while using it! So many questions that tend to make Web 2.0 seem like some enigma which is understood by just a few and blindly used by the rest. But the fact of the matter is that, Web 2.0 would not exist if it was not for the common user. It is us that make the new version of the Web, and not the geeks in their cubicles writing innumerable lines of code.

Web 2.0 was a term introduced to the world during the first O’Reilly Media
Web 2.0 conference in 2004, but has never really been accepted widely as the right nomenclature. We could possibly define Web 2.0 as a knowledge-oriented environment where human interactions generate content that is published, managed and used through network applications in a service-oriented architecture.

This by itself is obviously confusing and is not how you would want to describe it to someone who you are trying to explain the simplicity of Web 2.0 to! However, I have mentioned it here for those who are interested in knowing the technical description of the term. For the rest, it is basically trying to say that Web 2.0 is a place where you, your friends, your family and anyone else can come share information in various forms and get connected to each other in the process. Basically, let’s come hang out and exchange information!

Simple isn’t it?
Let’s take some examples to get into the spirit of Web 2.0 a little more. How many of us have an Orkut, Facebook or MySpace account? Pretty much everybody. And this is exactly what Web 2.0 is all about. People no longer use the Web just to check their mail and send out information at fixed points of time.

It’s now all about making everything real time and sharing and exchanging information then and there. The sites mentioned above allow you to put up photos, write down your thoughts, make a profile that people can browse, share videos and lots more. Suddenly no one on the net is a stranger. People can look through your profile and learn more about yourself even before they have met you. You can connect to people you would never have directly met, but who may be able to help you in a number of ways from hobbies, to accommodation, to education and a lot more. These sites function on user-generated content and that’s what Web 2.0 is all about.

Putting the power in the hands of the user!
You will no longer be told what to do online, but will be asked what you want to do. The Web is no longer a place for the ‘Tech –savvy’ or the professionals who want to showcase their skills. It’s all about the common user who wants to share his thoughts, his work, his skills and allows others to view and rate his work.

Everybody can now have their own web page, and even a custom URL to give them their own online identity. Blogs have already been advanced enough to allow you to not only write about your experiences, but to also include pictures, videos and lots of other features that make them a rich source of information and an outlet for the creatively inclined to showcase themselves to the whole world.

Gone is the time when you had to have big bucks behind you to do anything online and even then have technical expertise to execute it. Now, all you need is some basic computer knowledge and you are on your way to destinations unknown! You no longer need a space ship to “Boldly go where no man has gone before!”

But for all its plus points and advantages, the Web 2.0 advancement also has some serious privacy invasion and identity theft drawbacks. With the amount of personal and potential sensitive information online, you need to make sure you take care of who is looking at your web pages and blogs. Identity theft for creating bogus accounts, image theft, misuse of personal information are all very serious and real threats that abound in this brave new world of the Web.

The movies “The Net” and “The Net 2.0” dealt with a fictional situation of the ill effects of the World Wide Web, but these seem very plausible with the simplification of the Web of late. But with the ease it introduces and the scope for enrichment of our lives, Web 2.0 cannot be viewed as a bad advancement at all.

It’s just up to the user to ensure that he/she uses it responsibly. “With great power comes great responsibility”, said Spiderman and that applies to the Web as well. With the new power and control that it offers to the common user, it is up to him to ensure he uses it carefully and makes sure he watches his own back and other’s as well. At this time of sharing information and thoughts, sharing concerns and watching out for your online colleagues is a must. After all, isn’t that what Web 2.0 is all about. Sharing, exchanging and experiencing what others have.