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Love, Share and Trust are needed in abundance in the New Year to make our lives meaningful. Love is described in the thefreedictionary.com as " A deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying oneness". The key message here is of underlying oneness, the belief that we are all same in the eyes of the Lord irrespective of our position in Life. Hence loving your family, friends, neighbours and even strangers will make the world a much better and rewarding place for all of us to live happily. Share is described in the thefreedictionary.com as - A part or portion belonging to, distributed to, contributed by, or owed by a person or group. The key message here is sharing your time, knowledge, wealth, joy with others by selflessly giving whatever you can in time, kind or money or even volunteering to make our world a happier place. Trust is described in the t...

As Cloud Computing goes mainstream and drives the collaboration , commerce, cohesion and social mores in the World, the cloud skies are history and let us ring in 2014 as the Year for Clear Skies for Cloud Computing. Here are 14 thoughts for 2014 - 2014 will be the year where if you are not in the cloud your IT strategy maybe suspect.  2014 will be the year when cloud computing will be referred to as computing and be the technology for business and individuals. 2014 will be the year when your health parameters and personal life will be logged in the cloud through the internet of things.  2014 will be the year when mobility will be pass, phablets will rule the end point device market. 2014 will be when cloud security will not longer a concern, rather the cloud will be engine to secure the digital world. 2014 will be the year when SMAC will be an utility for the CMO. 2014 will be the year when Community Clouds will take center stage.  2014 will be the year when cloud evange...

Christmas in Ole Bangalore East used to be a week of joy and merriment, the city used to be colder and we would have children singing Christmas Carols from Door to Door for chocolates and goodies. The houses would be all decorated with lighted Stars at the key location of the bungalows and the whole air became festive. The Holy Ghost Church and the Catholic Center would be packed with the faithful for the midnight mass. Those were the days when Mass was still recited in Latin and many of us would join the midnight mass for the fun and bonhomie. There were still independent houses or cottages with tenants living in the outhouses on rent in the larger properties. Alas the old buildings are all gone to be replaced by apartments and there are but a few still remaining waiting for the day to go under the hammer .... going going gone .The whole area would smell of baking and cooking and the aroma would waft through the air and tingle our taste buds. We would look forward to the sweets and sa...

Recently I was in a panel discussion in a Seminar and the question of the CIO's journey to the corner office as the CEO of the Company. Unfortunately the instances of the CIO transforming to a CEO are few in the world of business and there are number  of reasons logically this transformation is possible but in a Real world it is a fantasy. Let us examine the qualities of a good CIO the first of course is being a good team player, second political acumen to survive and please the various stake holders in business and the last is the IT prowess. CIO's who are successful do excel in people management and handling corporate warfare and wading through uncertain cycles in the business. But are these qualities enough to make them the CEO, there are certain factors missing, the CIO never leads the business troops which is essential to be a CEO, neither does the CEO interact with the Board on a regular basis in most companies, the CIO is drowned in budgets,data and analysis whereas many...

As the year of SMAC the outlier which changed  the fortunes of business across the world in 2013. Looking into the crystal glass, we see that next year 2014 will the year of Community Clouds which will change the fortunes of companies which specialize in data center solutions. We will see community clouds being build by the Fortune 500 companies in a collaborative manner, business across Europe will drive the adoption of Community Clouds in Europe to adhere to the ENISA guidelines. Cloud Computing now moves beyond cost it is about reliability, economics of scale, security and mutli device support and global standards. Community clouds will be adopted by the banks of Europe, the pharmaceutical companies of Europe, the European Union and more. Developing regions in the globe too will adopt cloud computing, Africa will lead the charge with large nations like Brazil, Latin American countries and across the APAC region. A Bus in Mumbai, A community initiative ! Everyone is worried about...

We take much for granted today as we race towards a digitally connected world, thanks to the Internet; the internet is less then 50 years old and has transformed every aspect of our life. The telegram is dead in most parts of the world and its successor the fax machine is on its way out  ;  I remember getting my intimation for my job interview in the early 80's by telegram, fitting in a legible message with the least number of worlds in telegrams was an art. You paid per word for a telegram; verbosity was a luxury. Also there was the noisy teleprinter which was a dedicated point to point messaging systems and we needed special skills to operate the telex machines, these were known as telex operators.  Later these telex machines did get electronics and a computer inter-phase, but even that did not save them from extinction.  In the old days you had to wait for many years to get a land line telephone else you went to a post office to make a call, long distance calls were known as tru...

The urgency of the CIO to ride the juggernaut called inclusive technology is a challenge. Today the young executive is more tech savvy then most people in the IT department who have become tired and jaded in just keeping the lights on. Innovation and Excellence from the IT department needs a CIO who can juggle being a strategist, innovator and also hit the sweet spot in emerging technology swings. The CIO needs to deploy  technology as a catalyst to stitch the organization together in delivering the same goal and vision as articulated by the Board . CIO has Miles to Go and Promise to Keep in an Uncharted Terrain! In the world of SMAC the CIO has to become an aggregator and has to change his teams pace in adopting technology which is driven by his company's employees and customers rather than by the IT Team. Gone are the days when the CIO had a chance to choose build deploy and support technology, today the CIO  has to deliver in real time in a hyper competitive environment and...

Everybody is a Winner Baby was a popular song many decades ago and  is true for Cloud Computing. Everybody wins in the Cloud, the service provider, the application developer, the network provider, the end point device maker and all the innovators who come up with a new idea everyday in the cloud. Cloud is about Innovation and Excellence with a small investment to get started and if your idea is big enough you are all set to be a Winner. When you compare the capital invested to the rewards by companies like Twitter and FB the  poster boys of today your realize that no other investment has provided humongous valuation for such a small investment, The valuation hinges on the innovative ideas and excellence of delivery and savvy marketing to the end consumer. Everyone is a Winner in Cloud Computing !  In cloud computing  you signed for Salesforce or Google or Zoho  for free and got hooked and   realized you could be technology illiterate and still  add mor...

Recent advertisements have shown IBM  comparing itself against AWS in the cloud. Here is the ZDNet article  http://www.zdnet.com/ibm-takes-aim-at-amazon-web-services-via-marketing-campaign-7000022805/ . It seems to be a let down for Big Blue who has forgotten its blue blood and is stooping to compare itself to a company which is about a decade old. If you missed my blog on the Big 5 it is worth a read again, since most of the analogies seems to have panned out, here is the link http://cloudbus.blogspot.in/2011/04/big-5-in-cloud-computing.html?q=the+big+five Photo Credit : Sudesh IBM seems to have forgotten that the Elephant can Dance and only  needs to learn new steps in the world of SMAC and Internet of Things.IBM should not discount its loyal customer base who are there to cheer and support IBM through thick and thin; some customers could also teach IBM to dance to their tunes. IBM has all the arsenal required, but is reluctant to open its chest and take off to the clou...

"SMAC" is the a acronym for Social, mobile, analytics & cloud the four pillars of the fifth wave of technology as defined by  Cognizant Technology the  Teaneck, New Jersey headquartered ITES company (NASDAQ Symbol : CTSH). SMAC will change the customer dialogue by leveraging on the collective strength of the Social Media Network, Mobile devices, Analytics driven by Big Data solutions and Cloud Computing as the underlying backbone of affordable and reliable engine for computation.  Let us look at each of these components and their impact on our lives today: 1. Social Media - The Social Media has seen breakneck growth and significant valuation with the winners, we have the four undisputed leaders in this segment Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest  & LinkedIn with competition from Yahoo, Google and Microsoft and another hundred more social media sites of different hues and aspirations.   2. Mobility - The way we handle and process information anytime an...

Unlike many parts of the world  the Indian Marriage still take a traditional route whether arranged of the prospective partners decide to marry themselves. With the Indian diaspora  setting their footprint globally technology comes to the rescue again.  Let us start with the matchmaking, it is more complex then the song in the Movie Fiddler on the Roof "Matchmaker", though the criteria remains about the same. Here are the lyrics to the Matchmaker Song :  http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/fiddlerontheroof/matchmaker.htm After the match making is done mainly through matrimony websites dedicated for this purpose which are complex matching engines and then a number of meetings between the parents and the concerned couple it is finally decided and announce it is an YES. Then come the engagement ceremony, which is today's post.   The engagement ceremony normally takes place in the groom's residence , a priest is called to first pray to the gods and then a contract or what is k...

Europe has blown the War Bugle, they will build their own EU clouds and secure their data and applications within the boundaries of Europe. The Rest of the World will also follow suit in building their own Secure clouds for their business, government and anything else that needs cloud computing. The Gold Rush is on for Secure Clouds built bottom up, it is going to be a bonanza for leaders who offer virtualisation solutions like VMWare and its competition including Microsoft Azure & others, Data Center Equipment hardware providers  IBM, DELL, HP and CISCO and others. The marketing teams in these companies that provide the building material for cloud computing are going to be busy and laughing all the way to the bank. Their fears of the cheap Public Cloud will be history and no longer a challenge to their growth and revenues. Secure Clouds in the Horizon will herald the demise of Public Clouds. The cloud pundits who understand how to put together a cloud computing environmen...

Come January we will have 7 new Indian Banks given licences to operate from the many applicants. The new licences will be given with conditions attached for rural thrust in banking and also social banking. As the applicants eagerly await their licences and start head hunting for their leadership the promoters will need to review whether Cloud Computing could be  the Elixir for getting them operational in weeks rather then months. Cloud computing will give them reach to the remote rural hamlets in India and also be effective, reliable and a secure vehicle to reach banking technology to the 40 million unbaked Indians. As the head hunters set the wheels in motion to hire the new suite of leaders to put execution plans into action it may the time for the Board of these promoter Banks to consider Cloud Computing for their profitability, agility and secure banking. Are New Indian Banks Ready to Fly into the Cloud ? Photo by Amitav Thamba Hiring Technology leaders from the conventional te...

Founders must Let Go! Many founders are so attached with their company that they are unable to scale of grow their company fast enough to realize value and take it to greater levels.  The challenge for the Founders is to grow the company quickly and then bring in professional management and list the company so that the risks are distributed among shareholders plus the company can raise more capital and the founders can de-risk their investment in their company.  But most times company founders treat their company as the extension of their personality and like a protective parent do not let go and allow it to grow and mature. There are so enamored by their success that they suffer from myopia. Over the last 20 years I have seen companies similar in aggression and business grow, but I have found companies where founders were willing to take it to a wider investor base and also bring on board more passionate professionals succeed where as companies where the owners have hung on a...

Over the Centuries any Disruptive Technology has always been welcomed with skepticism and resistance to adoption, sometime the creators of these disruption have been executed, imprisoned or forced to publicly take back their technology insights and apologize for their oversight. In the last fifty years disruptive technologies have transformed the way we live, eat and procreate and also pair, whether it is DNA sequencing, bio-technology;genetic modification, health and medical delivery, intrusion into our privacy and the way we conduct our lives and business. These disruptive technologies have compressed time and have been deployed  quickly that we sometimes forget that there was an era without these tools. Let us take the instance of this blog, in the old days I would have to get this written in a typewriter, have it proof read and hope to disseminate it through print media, indeed a herculean task for a layman to get their ideas to the  world. Disruptive Technologies Adoption...

With a porous digital world many nations will build National clouds and National intranets to protect their citizens, government and country from intrusion. A national cloud will go against the very tenets of the internet as a growth engine for collaboration and dissemination of information in a free world. Countries will erect fences to keep out the freedom offered by the cloud, internet and social media.  As national clouds and intranets get build countries will shut access to the internet and will also encourage us of social media and other collaboration tools within the country. This will impact the globalization of digital data and also the sharing of information and use of the social media and the internet for dissent and discussion. We are charting into dangerous waters as a few countries have already demonstrated the ability to contain the internet access and also have deployed national clouds. All this does not augur well for the growth of computing and the future of the i...

Recently there have been a few Shutdowns of Cloud Services with short notice periods which have forced customers to scurry for cover and in some cases customers have been caught in a bind Shutdown in the Cloud will be an eventuality when companies cannot scale in the cloud and remain profitable, they get choked for cash and suffer slowly leading to instant death within weeks after they are choked of funds. How do we handle Shutdown's in the Cloud will be the next domain for Risk Management in the Cloud. Though outright it looks straightforward and it appears we can apply the same matrix as we would to technology vendors, but this may not be the right approach. There are various dimension of Risk to be associated and constant monitoring of the health of the vendors is essential in the fast changing landscape of technology vendors which is pitted with risk and unexpected twists and turns. Why Cloud computing, we seem to forget how Tandem, Digital was snapped up by Compaq in months wh...

In a fast changing world Honesty is the victim which is discarded as a liability by citizens who want to grow rich and accumulate wealth by all means. The old adage Honesty is the Best Policy is under threat, as you look around you may be convinced that the Dishonest are prospering while the Honest are still at the Starting Line. But then one can justify that dishonest people do not reap the benefits of their actions which is advocated by most religions or to quote the Bible "As you Sow so shall you Reap". At school we used to have a weekly class of Moral Science where the virtue of honesty was imbibed for eternity into our souls forever. The question which one asks in today's situation is Does Being Honest essential and is a good attitude to life. As I look around me I find the Honest People more content and balanced and managing with what they have earned within their abilities and genuine labor. Dishonest people stand out in a crowd,  for some strange reason it becomes...

Dear Children I would like to congratulate you for doing well in academics; you have worked hard and deserve this recognition. I would like to share a few important lessons I have learnt, Do your best , in every task big or small. Be punctual and courteous at all times. Cultivate the habit of reading. books teach us about the world and open our minds to new ideas. Respect and listen to your parents , be aware of the sacrifices they make to give you a good education and remember they always have your best interest in whatever they do for you. Volunteering - Whenever you have a chance volunteer to help however small the task may be; this allows you to learn new skills and also makes you a valuable member of our community. Remember that all of us are born equal and each and every one of us has the ability to realize our dreams; be passionate in whatever you do , passion translates into excellence. It is our teachers who nurture our talent and help us realize our true potential. We must th...

Cloud computing will provide the comfort and stability in the world of VUCA ( volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) . Wiki source for VUCA :  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatility,_uncertainty,_complexity_and_ambiguity Cloud computing is the right solution to help business in its technology investments and answers its concerns on the following issues confronted in the world of VUCA : Anticipate the Issues that Shape Conditions Understand the Consequences of Issues and Actions Appreciate the Interdependence of Variables Prepare for Alternative Realities and Challenges Interpret and Address Relevant Opportunities Cloud computing also helps the organization to be prepared with technology enabled tools in the VUCA world :  Knowledge Management on Sense-Making  Planning and Readiness Considerations  Process Management and Resource Systems  Functional Responsiveness and Impact Models  Recovery Systems and Forward Practices Cloud Computing will be t...

Today is celebrated as Teachers Day in India in honor of the late President Dr.  S. Radhakrishnan who was a celebrated academic and today is his birthday. Wiki :  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarvepalli_Radhakrishnan Teachers are the single largest influence-rs of Society in the way the citizens think act and their value systems and attitude to their fellow citizens.  In an ever changing world the teacher stands like a bedrock supporting and nourishing their students.  Our first formal educations starts with the teachers who teach us in primary, middle and senior school, they set our future course and direction for excellence and a thirst for knowledge.  Then we have another set of teachers in college at our graduate studies and then as we decided to pursue more knowledge in our post graduate studies and beyond.  As we progress in life we would be lost without the guidance of our teachers, they are the singular beacon of light that infuse knowledge and thought in our minds.  As a teach...

There has been widespread attack on security of data and there has been a clamor to bring back data into the data centers and set the clock back on cloud computing and the internet. This has been driven by panic and a lack of understanding by many on the risks associated with data in motion, any data in motion is vulnerable to attack and capture whether encrypted or otherwise. Data in motion can be in device and more importantly a network whether private or internet, the risks are compounded based on the medium in which data is in motion. Any  government requesting data and data encryption security features like keys and algorithms do so to secure and protect the country. The governments primary business is to protect its citizens in a complex world run on digital technology and it is every citizens duty to cooperate with the government . Do not allow your cloud computing plans to wilt, there is a bouquet of security strategies to protect your data. There are  fears ...

We collect many friends as we traverse various stages of life, but we have a few true friends who tell it as it is ! True friends are those who have no qualms in telling you that your not doing the right thing and need to set it right ! True friends are those whom you can trust to give you a fair and objective assessment about something which is bothering you ! True friends are those with whom you are at ease in a few seconds, even if you have not met them for decades ! True Friends are those that help us shape our character, our career, our personal lives and also our values. True Friends are those that realize that your purse is empty, but do not embarrass you when they pay up for you, they know it will be your turn another day ! Beware of Fair weather friends are like leaves in autumn who will blow away from your life after spring ! True friends are those who lend their shoulder when you are in distress, those who suddenly chat up with you when you think you have been forgotten ! Tr...

It it time to bid goodbye to cloud computing, the time has come to evangelise the three services offered by the cloud IAAS - Infrastructure as a service PAAS - Platform as a service SAAS - Software as a service. Are you ready to embrace cloud services Cloud has been established as an utility - secure reliable resilient and trustworthy. So the future is in evangelizing, marketing, branding and deploying the services that ride on the cloud. The opportunity in SAAS has seen exponential growth making cloud ubiquitous for computing. The next challenge is in increasing PAAS and SAAS adoption, this means shaking up the enterprise computing space, changing the mindsets of the CTO/CIO and the CISO  and the Cloud Strategist. Are we ready for this, the next year will see the intense adoption of PAAS and SAAS as more companies shut down their data centers and move to cloud computing. Are you prepared to ride the next tsunami in the cloud computing saga, are you prepared to deploy and support P...

I visited the Starbucks at Hiranandani Powai  and found it packed to the gills, there was a person at the door to welcome me and told me I could sit anywhere I liked and there were no reservations.  The Americano coffee large was good and nice and affordable and hot. [caption id="attachment_119" align="aligncenter" width="225"] There was comfort and sanctuary in the kaka tea shop like shade from a tall tree.[/caption] It brought back memories in the early 1980's of the Kaka tea shop at Wheeler Road, Cox Town in Bangalore a favourite haunt late in the night for a cup of tea. Kaka is a term used for a  specific community from Kerala who specialise in setting up tea stalls and provide snacks at an affordable rate. Some of the most exciting debates and discussions were at the Kaka shop whether it be politics, philosophy, science or anything under the SUN, there was always an opinion and everyone pretended to be the master. There was not internet or search...

Banking Technology Security Business : Banking on Digital Money, Cloud Computing & Mobil... : Abstract : When the world decides to Bank on Digital Money we will Go Green and change the way we handle Money! Will Banks change to Digit...

I was in a  meeting today and when my turn came to speak I spoke of the business school aiming to be better then the best business school in the world There was stunned silence in the group and it was the I realized that I had raised the bar beyond  then the grasp of the audience.    When we set targets in our why not aim for  the loftiest goals, why do we settle for the second best and keep our targets in our comfort zone. Until I raised the bar it was all challenges from local schools, when the bar went global there was a HUSH.  What is there to fear in Raising the Bar, When you raise the Bar you start seeing life in a new perspective and have a better world view and your horizons expand.  Are you ready to raise your the Bar  ? 

Manufacturing in an earlier era led to management thinking and also automation of processes, courtesy the efforts of great management gurus like Alfred Sloan, Frederick Winslow Taylor, Michael Porter, Tom Peters, and Michael Hammer and C.K. Prahalad.  Manufacturing can benefit from Cloud Computing ! For the preceding decades, the financial markets sucked the best and the brightest minds to drive greed and make profits in investment banking and financial markets. This era fortunately is slowing down and the regulators and economists of the world have realized the futility of driving financial markets without underlying security provided by manufacturing. Engineers who were trained and equipped for manufacturing, migrated to a coveted MBA degree lured by the offer of huge starting salaries coupled with even bigger annual bonus. They drove an invisible economy driven by paper bonds and other instruments and created more complex instruments all based on an economy, which was created by...

In a recent cloud conference they were two Senior Technology Professionals who spoke in the conference and the general consensus of the participants was all they did was to Rave, Rant and Spit Venom at Cloud Computing. People who attended their session were wondering how they had reached such Senior roles in Information Technology Leadership with so much bias and attitude against emerging technologies like cloud computing. Raise the Bar not degrade yourself and the cloud  These these two personalities were able to bring about a pall of gloom and disbelief  among the participants in this cloud conference. Many wondered if  they had such strong views against cloud computing why they were invited by the organizers ? Why did they take time off to use the forum at the conference to belittle the participants in the cloud conference and also show how petty minded they were.. Cloud Detractors Need to be Kept Away from Cloud Computing Conferences as speakers ! As a cloud evangelis...

Recently Forrester stated that 70% of "private clouds" aren't really clouds at all http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/022613-forrester-private-clouds-267108.html Therein lies a tale of deceit, misinformation and false gratification of many organizations believing they have a cloud in place.  To get the facts right we need to revisit the definition of cloud computing as defined by NIST which in may opinion is the final authority on cloud computing standards and is followed by the industry and professionals.  http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-145/SP800-145.pdf Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared  pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that  can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.  This cloud model is composed of five essential characteristics, three service ...

Banks scurry to meet compliance requirements; many have a team of professionals whose job is to meet compliance requirements and also convince the auditors that the Bank is Compliant. A lot of energy is expedited in ensuring SOX, ISO 27 K +++, Basel compliance, the regulators long compliance which banks need to comply with. Let us focus on Security, many banks have an annual audit and some of them may have a bi- annual audit, Audits cost time and money and the financial risk management is more demanding then information security; technology is secure, we have a firewall and anti virus and anyways it is not a Board Item in many banks. Banks need to be able to Crow about their Security  In the old days information security in banks was bracketed under operational risk, but as banks rely more on technology, information risk management has come out of its own and the banks appoint a CSO, CISO,  GRC Team etc. Many Banks follow a prudent policy of separating IT Risk Management from ...