Technology Takes - Collaboration in a Color Palate

At an online forum at work, one that I regularly checkout, there was a post on lines similar to Technology usability Vs Customer experience". I found it a very pertinent question, especially in the context of the IT industry.

My take on this (I have already blogged about it before) is that -

I think that usability, although very important is only one component of a great customer experience. I strongly believe that a great customer experience is something that must be ingrained in the genetic DNA of Indian technology companies, affecting and consistently displayed in its value propositions and its fundamental thought processes. It is a sad fact that the true concept of a great customer experience is largely misunderstood and is mostly unidirectional in perspective even in the largest technology companies in India.

I think the key enabler to a great customer experience is collaboration. The biggest question in collaboration is who should be collaborating with whom and to what end ? The answer to this that collaboration yields unparalleled results only if it allows for participation and contribution from every entity in the ecosystem. The end is a self sustaining, truly innovative and hugely rewarding win-win result that every entity from the ecosystem can derive value from. And not to mention great customer experience because each entity in the ecosystem is a customer of the other entities.

I have a vision of IT industry evolving from a service provider model to a collaborative consulting model in the years to come.

For those of you who are wondering where the picture above came in, it is the result of my imagination, trying to place independent and strong colors in a collaborative canvas.

(PS- My opinions are my own, and in no way reflect the opinions/statements of the company I work for or my clients).

Macau Life P3

I am feeling very very lazy and uninspired now. I have finally shifted my stuff into my new house thanks to my friends who, for some or no reasons, decided to drop by my place and dirty up my flat that was just cleaned. This proved to be their undoing, as they got transformed into buffaloes :-) (Ramesh, Shawnand, Subhakar, Saurabh - sorry yaar's - this description is only to make it more interesting for my readers) lugging my stuff to my new place.

I hosted lunch today for my team. Went pretty OK except for the fact that it started quite late at 14:20 and the orders were also serviced pretty late. All of us hogged like hell and were happy, at least I was.

As I promised, I will start writing reviews of Indian Restaurants in Macau from tomorrow.

As I am not very inspired now, I will quit crapping and catch you guys some time later in the end of the day.

Macau Life P2

I have just woken up. It is 3:50 in the afternoon. It is raining like hell. Oh man, how it rains here. Most Indian rains will pale by comparison. I actually logged on to the internet find the phone number of the local Indian restaurant. There are about 4-5 Indian restaurants (or atleast pretending to be one) here in Macau. I will write a blog on these restaurants later. I am hosting a party tomorrow, in celebration of my impending marriage (celebration !!! @#%%##@ !!!!).

Any way as I said yesterday, I am shifting my house today. Moving your stuff is a difficult thing, I have so much of junk that after throwing away 20 % of it, my floor's trash cans are full of my stuff. Hmmm ! I got to start studying again for the GMAT. Tomorrow I will start again, I promise myself.

I watched the movie American Beauty yesterday. I did not like it very much. It was OK, but I did not like the ending. I have a thing for Hollywood movies. Good ones I mean.

I need to get going now. See you !!!!

Macau Life

As I munch on a granola bar and contemplate on what to write today, I realize that I have to shift my house tomorrow. This definitely sucks cos I really like this house. I have stayed here for 11 months now, and I live alone. Now this is pretty much OK with me, as I can keep the house any way I want and nobody complains except probably my maid who drops in once a month to clean it.

I have a pretty monotonous life. I liked Hyderabad much better. Hyderabad, according to me is one of the best cities I have lived in. The food is a great, I am a sucker for Hyderabadi dum biriyani, spicy and hot. In Hyderabad there are lots of stuff that I can do and lots of places to hang around. Macau is not such a bad place, but guys - it is only 25 sq Km. Now that probably is the size of an average Indian village.

The casinos here are good, very good actually. You have all of the major players from Las Vegas here. The Venetian, Sands and the Crown. Well they have to be believed to be seen. Extravagant and huge and of course places where you can find many people who either feel incredibily lucky or are fools or unlike you and me have lots of money. Would you believe me if I told you that the Venetian has a little Venice look alike setup on the second floor where you can shell out 500 MOP (thats 2500 Rs) for a boatman to row you and your galfriend (or boy friend- that is if you are gay or gal - rest assured I am neither) on a canal singing in truly beautiful voices that are enhanced by the building's sound wave engineering.

Some of us go to Venetian when we are dead bored, or feel like having free coke or juices. Ocasionally we lose some money on tha tables but make up for the loss by indugling in multiple rounds of the free drinks available and come out clear winners. And of course, sometimes we also go to check the shows that are on between 19:00 to 01:00. These shows are a mixture of european chicks dancing, or singing or sometimes both, clad in dresses (where are the dresses:-) ) that really do not require you to excercise any part of your brain at all (PS: Mom, Dad, Ashwin and Ram - if you are reading this post, I have never been to these disgusting ^&%^&^$ places, and only have heard of them from others)

Hey guys, I need to get going - I am hungry and well , the GMAT wars begin again.

Tic Tock Tic Tock !!!!

GMAT wars - This is my war.

I have realized that I want to do more with my life. I want to do an MBA. Why an MBA, I ask myself. Why not learn economics or geology ???

I want to understand what my clients really want. What drives their business ? And what must I do to help them drive it faster. I want to understand the intricacies of their business. OK, fair enough. But do I need an MBA for that ? Is it not said that steel only becomes sharper in the hot flame. But at the rate I am going in TCS and TCS is going, it might take me about 3-5 years to get to that flame. That others get to it only after 6-10 years in inconsequential to me. I am who I am.

Bottom line - I have to do an MBA. Where from. IIM's. An MBA from a good B school definately. I really do not want to take the CAT. I really do not like the idea of slogging, not especially for the CAT which requires a lot of slogging. Besides, Macau and this routine are not really good catalysts for study. And definately not for the CAT. This means I cannot take the CAT this Nov. I definately cannot wait for next Nov, besides I am getting married. More on the marriage later.

I think that the opportunity cost of a 2 year MBA is too great. In 2 years I might be in space.

The Indian School of Business seems to be a good option. High fees, but I think great school. And best of all, they require GMAT scores. Now GMAT is no peice of cake, but hey even if I am no math genius, I am good at maths. As far as I remember, I was damn good at IIT JEE math too. This thought may be an illusion, but hey, it makes me feel pretty good bout the GMAT.

I take a closer look at ISB. I see that they take mostly smart people with plenty of work exp and diversity. I like this. Imagine sitting in a supply chain management class with an army colonel responsible for delivering supplies to the Siachen glacier. WOW !!! Now this guy can certainly educate me me more ways than one on SCM. And for a guy like me who wants to sell technology (and newer ways to make money) to almost everybody from the drunk on the street and the farmer cooperative societies in Africa to the company topping the Fortune 100 list, this diversity is good.

ISB it is. I need a score of atleat 780 to blur my IT background. Not that IT is bad , just that too many IT engineers around. But once again - I am who I am. I am sure that there are not that many IT engineers around who can tranform India's largest IT company and the multi billion dollar Indian IT industry into a trillion dollar collaborative consulting industry. Yes that is my proposition to the world. I may not have figured it out completely, but I am now a man with a vision and a mission. And, for my sceptic readers, I say it is not bad to dream and fly high so long as you know where the ground is.

I think on this positive note I will stop writing and haul my ass to my study table.

So here I come ISB. Thus began the GMAT wars. :-)

Almost Done with the laymost !!!

The blog actually looks quite nice now. I especially like the way it looks.

I like sitemeter's counter. This is very nice. I ave also bought my own domain www.shankyrams.com from Blogger.

I will probably start blogging regularly now. This is turning into a habit.

My first blog

My first blog !!!!

I am a 23 year old, bored, IT engineer who has apparently just opened the windows of the world to his incoherent ramblings. I obviously have too much time or too little work or maybe this is the start of a hobby... only time will tell....

I am in Macau, city of casinos and gambling, a tiny island(s) near Hong Kong, working in TCS. I have been here for more than a year now, and am thoroughly miserable with my job which has remained more or less the same for the past year and this place. My soul seemly is to be empty while my belly full, the food here is good - I have a Filipino caretaker who cooks Indian food amazingly well- I am searching for something that will rouse, ignite and drive me.

I think I have found it... More on that later.....