akeb

Blog

  • Subroto Bagchi On Re-Inventing Oneself !

    Subroto Bagchi On Re-Inventing Oneself !

    Subroto Bagchi – One of the most wonderful and humble persons you will ever meet ! I had the good fortune of meeting this amazing human being and brilliant mind today.

    Subroto is one of the highly popular and engaging authors. His books connect with us due to the sheer honesty and genuineness. I have read all his books and I am his ardent fan. Hence I grabbed the opportunity to meet him today when CII organized the round-table discussion with him. I and few other IT Professionals met him at EDI, Gandhinagar today.

    Utpal asked Subroto about the different roles described in his book. Subroto explained the different roles as under:
    1. Rainmaker – Every organization needs these people – people who can get business. Every sales person should be a rainmaker.
    2. Thought Leader – People who can see ‘Day After Tomorrow’. People who are visionaries and connect dots which do not exist !
    3. Ninjas – People who can get flawless execution done without process violation within the time and budget constraints.
    4. Coach – People who can train and mentor people.

    Every organization needs a good mix of these roles to succeed. Organizations cannot be just Ninjas alone or Rainmaker alone.

    He urged everyone of us to get a formal assessment done and understand where we stand. What is our dominant profile. And dominant profile is like our DNA – it cannot be fundamentally changed. Formal assessment will lead us to our growth – sometimes we think we are Leopards though we might be actually a Jackal !

    Subroto_Bagchi_2

    I (Ash) requested Subroto to share how we transformed himself and grew himself in MindTree’s journey from ‘Idea To IPO’. Subroto explained that he thought there were four key pillars:

    1. Humility : Humility is very essential. We need to be receptive. Actually, CEO has to be like beggar !
    2. Unusual Sources : Seek information and ideas from unusual sources. Cultivate white space time – it is very important. Important ideas do not need to happen in board rooms – they might happen in bath-tubs. And when bathtub ideas happen, do not wait for market validation or excel forecast – trust your intuition !
    3. Mental Agility : Practice mental agility. Mind needs to be agile and challenge itself. Sometimes mental agility happens with displacement – change of city etc.
    4. Sense of Purpose : The most important factor ! The purpose determines your power in life. The practical examples of Intel, Microsoft and Dalai Lama drove home this point effectively.

    Very beautiful insights – worth internalizing in life !

    Subroto also explained that entrepreneurs need to create more leaders – leaders who can see the big picture and who can have critical questioning ability. Entrepreneurs fail when they always surround people who think like them and are sycophants.

    Subroto recommended the following resources:
    1. Book: A Whole New Mind – Why Right-brainers Will Rule the Future is a book by Daniel H. Pink
    2. Movie Documentary : Infinite Vision
    3. Book: Leading with Questions – How Leaders Find the Right Solutions By Knowing What To Ask

    Apart from the amazing experience, my reward was to get his personally autographed book ! Happy !!!

  • Travel Habits Infographic

    Google Insights on Travel Habits

  • Jobs: The Genius Is Missing !

    Jobs: The Genius Is Missing !

    Jobs Movie is a big letdown.

    I am an Apple fan. I am a Apple consumer since early 2000s. I have been interested in Steve Jobs, his leadership, his presentation skills, his innovation. I am aware that he was a flawed and an eccentric character. I loved Walter Issacon’s biography. Naturally, I was doubly excited about Jobs movie since its announcement – it married my two interests – Apple and Movies.

    Jobs movie captures only some moments of Jobs’ eventful life. The events are also given a passing reference. Jobs life has a perfect screenplay, which is not exploited fully.

    Apple produces glamorous products with story and magic around it, Jobs Movie does not !

    Steve was a great marketer and a greater businessman. He had a strange ability to spot magic and push people to innovation. He rallied the troops at Apple and made it the most valuable company in the world. This is not captured in the movie.

    I found that Woz was made to sound like a comical character – a second rung side-kick. Sculley episode was totally underplayed. The Lisa part was not given equal justice as well. The way Woz was cheated, or stock options denied to early members, making of Macintosh etc could have been effectively exploited. The dialogue between him and his designer at the end sounded very very fake and gospelic. You see that funny episode and other small moments like parking in disability spot.

    Many people expecting to see iPhone, iPad and other stories will be highly disappointed. This is outside movie’s frame. So is his cancer episode. For non-tech masses and many emerging countries, the context will be missing.

    The movie does not do justice to Jobs. It has many parts of his life but sum is lesser than parts. The movie could have been in the same league as The Social Network to become a business case study for leadership and technology business. It is not !

    The genius is missing in the movie.

  • InfoStretch Opens a Sales and Development Office in UK to Expand Its Operations in Europe

    InfoStretch Corporation, a leading provider of mobile application lifecycle services and solutions, including private mobile cloud infrastructure, announced today the opening of its first UK office in Hanover Square, London to continue its global expansion. InfoStretch currently has offices in Santa Clara, CA, Conshohocken, PA, and Ahmedabad and Pune, India. InfoStretch’s newest move to Europe aligns with its strategic vision to support enterprises worldwide and continue innovation with the help of local talent.

    InfoStretch – one of the fastest growing mobile solution companies has seen a growing demand for its services and solutions from Europe. This led InfoStretch to choose London as the next logical step in its global expansion. InfoStretch views its presence in London as a key determinant in providing best-in-class solutions for the European market.

    ”Our customer base has been consistently growing in Europe and our new office right in the heart of London will definitely help to establish stronger roots with existing and new clients,” says Rutesh Shah, President and CEO of InfoStretch. “Staying close to our customers will help us to understand their pain points and unique needs of the market.”

    InfoStretch plans to focus on developing state-of-the art mobile solutions and continue innovating new technology IP to support its solutions across key verticals, such as banking, retail, travel and healthcare. With its London office InfoStretch will have development, customer service, and technical service staff available to immediately meet European customer needs. InfoStretch is one of the first companies to establish a private mobile cloud infrastructure for Enterprise customers. With its European expansion it will be ready to serve the global needs of its customers to develop, test and manage mobile applications from European countries.

    Fiona Francois, Director of UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) for the Western US, hailed InfoStretch’s move to the UK as very timely reflecting London’s role as a global hub for technological innovation. “UKTI provided key support to ease the international business expansion process for InfoStretch,” she said. “This included advice on the UK corporate tax structure, the visa process and immigration facilitation, and in-country employee-recruitment. Moreover, the move has resulted in InfoStretch bringing new innovation, talent, and a number of highly paid jobs to the UK.”

    About InfoStretch
    InfoStretch is a leading provider of next-gen mobile application lifecycle services ranging from design and development to testing and sustenance. Since 2004, it has been providing expert solutions and services to various enterprises in the mobile ecosystem to help them monetize with cutting edge mobility solutions. InfoStretch offers the most cost effective, secure and scalable models to service clients across various verticals with competitive SLAs, strong enabling technology, and proven best practices.

  • Dance Your Ph.D Contest 2013

    Academics can be monotonous. But if you are capable of adding some imagination and fun to it, it can prove quite rewarding. The Dance Your Ph.D. contest 2013 is one such attempt of artistic expression of your academic work.

    Organised by international journal, Science, the competition is held every year in which thousand of students pursuing their Ph.D. translate their thesis in interpretive dance forms. The competition is open for students who have completed their Ph.D. even if it happens to be 50 years ago.

    Open for science faculty student, the candidate doing the Ph.D. is the main protagonist who explains his/her thesis work either in solo, duet or group dance form and has to be posted at Vimeo.com. The subjects covered in the category are Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Social Sciences category.

    The Ph.D. in each subject carries a cash prize of $500. The best work will be further awarded with additional $500, thus making it to $1000.

    The last day to submit the entry is October 1, 2013.

    How To Enter:

    Turn your Ph.D. thesis into a dance.
    Post the video at Vimeo.com.
    Send the link by October 1, 2013 to the organiser.

    The Prizes:

    Physics – $500
    Chemistry – $500
    Biology – $500
    Social Sciences – $500

    Best Ph.D. Dance of 2013

    An additional $500

    The Rules:

    1. You must have a Ph.D., or be working on one as a Ph.D. student.
    2. Your Ph.D. must be in a science-related field.
    3. You must be part of the dance.

    Source : India Today

  • Dravid’s Wisdom

    Dravid’s Wisdom

    Rahul Dravid is an leader who walks the talk. He is a leader who is grounded, humble, sincere, achiever and team-player. He has taken a stand on the current cricket controversy – he speaks his mind and he is fearless. We know many ex-cricketers who just sit back and enjoy perks from BCCI. He has chosen to show the mirror. Great Act !

    Here is a Quick Edit which appeared on Mint. Worth repeating !

    Rahul Dravid has always been a class act, both on the field and off it. It is thus good to see him remind cricket administrators, in an interview, that the success of the game rides on the loyalty of the fans. He had made a similar point in his wonderful Sir Donald Bradman Oration in 2011.

    Indian cricket is facing a credibility crisis, with administrative turf wars, betting controversies and conflicts of interest. The situation was similar in the mid-1990s. Dravid was one of a generation of cricketers who not only came together in a formidable combination on field, but also brought credibility to the game with their exemplary behaviour. The others were Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, V.V.S. Laxman and Anil Kumble.

    Dravid makes a point that has far broader relevance: Politicians owe their jobs to voters, CEOs to shareholders, bureaucrats to citizens, journalists to readers.

  • The Increasing Tribe Of Graphical Novels !

    The Increasing Tribe Of Graphical Novels !

    As The Attention Deficit Increases, The Need For Innovative Marketing Medium Increases. How Do We Engage The Audience Better Is A Key Question? How Do We Ensure Stickiness?

    The World Is Moving Towards Video And Images. An Important Trend Has Been Graphical Novel !

    Many People Think Graphical Novel Is For Kids. But It Is Finding Increasing Acceptance Across The Board. All Of Us Still Have A Kid In Us. I Still Love My TinTin Comics As Well As Chacha Choudhary Comics. Chandmama Was A Staple Diet.

     

    The Zen Of Steve Jobs Was A First Big Hit For Graphical Novel Movement. Today, It Is A Very Popular Medium. Even Bollywood Movies Have Graphical Novels. Gandhiji’s Auto-Biography Will Be Released In Graphical Novel Form.

    I Came Across This In Mint – Produced By Manta Ray. Check Out The Theme Of Our Genius !

    free digital copy

  • AppFest 2013 – The Complete Report

    Vaibhavi Oza wrote a note on the AppFest 2013 Experience. I am sharing it as it gives a great picture of the event.

    Ahmedabad was proud to witness one of the most happening Appfest in India. The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) hosted the Second AppFest at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) from July 26 to 28. In their own words they have not expected such a huge crowd to turn up for the participation.

    The event was divided in three days Talkathon, Hackathon & Challengathon. On day one we saw a lot of industry experts talking about various issues that bothers app developers.

    Session started with talk on building android apps: challenges and solutions, where speakers like Anand Virani from Qualcomm, Ravi Vyas from Vserv talked on how to build cooler, richer apps and how to monetize the android apps.

    The session was followed by the Best Practices from industries where Satyajeet Singh, Cleartrip Mobile shared his experience and journey of going mobile, also Pawan Agarwal from Gaana.com talked on the selection of platform, which were the real lessons learned from their experiences.

    So once you know what challenges in building app are and what are best practices in industry the next thing comes is the Marketing of those apps and getting maximum downloads. Where Ninad chhaya, Mansa Gajaera & Smeer Ganpathy threw some light on what is to be done to make the apps marketable. Some of the things they highlighted were keeping the things simple and emphasize on knowing what your customer wants.

    In the session followed by this the speakers talked about going beyond your comfort zone for app monetization and app release. The thing they highlighted was that there are more innovative and smarter ways to launch your app and think beyond Google App store!

    The session followed by that was on Using the Facebook Platform to the best potential for your app where Alexandre Corso, Asian BU Head, KRDS- Facebook Experts India, gave insight on how effectively using facebook can help the developer.

    Session followed by this was again some industry highlights on marketing the apps and according to the Abhay Johorey, Head Airtel Online, Bharti Airtel, Secrets of successful User Acquisition is there is no Secret! The product has to be the best and there is no way you can keep the consumers more involved and engaged.

    The other sessions were on Monetization of apps, making money out of freemium strategy, Earning revenue by building Businesses around App gave some serious insights to the developers.

    The last session of day was On Entrepreneurship – Challenges of a freelance developer and raising investment, the session talked about bootstrapping, best practices for small developer operations

    and managing small team dynamics. Industry experts speak about fine-tuning processes, planning for new developers and how they can approach for gaining VC investment.

    All the sessions were followed by the Q&A sessions where participants came up with their queries and questions and the speakers has tried their best to address them.

    The day two we saw the different side of Gujarat developers, Designers and tech savvy people came up in great numbers there were total 45 teams for hackathon and 20 teams for challengathon! Each team consisting of an average of two people!

    To Summarize I will put a few quotes from the speakers on what works, what not works and what is important! So here are some of the secrete mantras form the speakers.

    “Don’t Just make an Easy App, Think about the Usability as well” – Amber Krishnan
    “God is in Details & that differentiates the Good app from the OK app”- Satyajeet Singh ( Cleartrip)
    “Focus on Native Experience than a Feature set”- Pawan Agrawal (Gaana.com)
    Understanding what kind of App will click to user is important- Sameer Ganapathy Digital Disney UTV
    “Secrets of successful User Acquisition is: there is no Secret” – Abhay Johorey ( Bharti Airtel)
    “Make A Story Around Your App, that will engage your user ” – Sameer Ganapathy Digital Disney UTV
    “App market is crowded No Doubt in that but, there is always some gap, identify that gap and make an app that fills that Gap ”- Zarik Nabi, Milestone Interactive
    “Consumer insight is the most important factor, keep your audience in mind when you build your app, listen to feedbacks and keep revamping the app ” – Zarik Nabi, Milestone Interactive

    And finally take away for me, the three days were full of excitement, fun and learning what industry expects! There exist a gap in what we develop and what industry & consumer wants!

  • AppFest 2013 : Gujarati Dictionary Wins Runners-Up Prize @ Hackathon

    AppFest 2013 was a grand success. Hackathon saw the best talent fight it out for the great honors and grand prize.

    image

    Space-O Team won the top honor for Book Barter concept. The runners-up prize was won by Arnion Technologies’ team of IT enthusiasts. These professionals tried to address the issue of language barrier faced by online users by introducing an offline Gujarati-English dictionary, which can translate words from and into both languages. The application developed by Keyur Brahmbhatt, Hitesh Chavda and Deval Talati allows users to select a word in other applications like books, websites or SMS, and converts it into another language. It learns the new words once the user goes online.

    Congratulations to All.

  • Ship Of Theseus – The Finest Indian Movie !

    Intellectual & Visual Treat !!!
    India’s Oscar Nomination !!!
    The Film Of The Year !!!

    Watch It ! No Review – Just Watch It !