New Banks in India need Cloud Computing

The Indian regulator Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently agreed to provide licences to a number of new Banks in India with a caveat of serving the under banked population.
The promoters of these Banks will be scurrying with their consultants to hire CIO/CTO from other Banks to get off their Core Banking Systems off the ground before they can launch their banks.
It will be good for them to pause for a moment and consider Cloud Computing as a vehicle for their technology launch and here are some of the benefits

Cloud Computing will be the dawn of a new technology paradigm for Indian Banks. 

1. Time to Market will be in weeks rather then months so they can start their operations ASAP, especially if they adopt a SAAS based Banking solution. (e.g. the cloud based core banking solution offered by NABARD through Wipro and TCS).
2. They will operate in an Opex model, which means capital will not be locked into traditional technology capex investments. 
3. Agility  in their business will make launch of new and innovative products a breeze.
4. The under banked population can be easily reached from any device that can connect to the banks cloud Infrastructure. 
5. The significant savings in technology operation costs will be of immense benefit to the bank. 
6. They can focus on Banking rather then tackling information technology constraints and challenges. 
7. The regulator will support this initiative because this is not the first cloud computing banking solution in India. 

In a few months time we can spot the technology winners in these new banks and I am sure that the banks that adopt cloud computing will be at the top of the list. 

Arranged Marriages in the Cloud

India is a nation which is progressive and has a large middle class population who enjoy the benefits of this fast growing economy. But when it comes to marriage most of India relies on Arranged Marriages which binds communities together with similar traditions, language, dietary preferences, dressing , attitudes and more.

In the old days when communities were more local and not widespread Indians had the Matchmaker who would bring families together through marriages.
A good description of the matchmaker is the song from the movie Fiddler on the Roof :Matchmaker, Matchmaker,
Make me a match,
Find me a find,
catch me a catch
Matchmaker, Matchmaker
Look through your book,
And make me a perfect match
(courtesy : http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/fiddlerontheroof/matchmaker.htm)Indian arranged marriages Wikepedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arranged_marriage_in_the_Indian_subcontinent
With an Indian diaspora with global dispersion the Indian arranged marriage has become a challege to deliver.
The finalization of the Indian arranged marriage is  the engagement ceremony  followed by the lavish wedding a few months later, a cooling period between the two  partners to make sure it is all going to work out.

Indian Marriages value Harmony

I was in an engagement last week of an Indian arranged marriage and the girl and boy were in fine spirits. They discovered each other on a matrimonial website (maybe hosted on the cloud) and it matched all the criteria set out by them and their families for their future life partners  This was the first step of identification of prospective life partners.
Then it was the Facebook connection, the chatting  and the sharing of the photographs. The girl and boy met only about a week before the engagement. The boy was in the Silicon valley  and the girl was in Mumbai.
But  they  spent hours chatting with each other to make sure they were meant for each other and  their marriage would work for them, the outcome  of weeks of online socializing and online commitment was the engagement ceremony.
The boy sang a song  which was the clincher for the acceptance from the girl, wow how did he do that with 10000 miles of separation. When I asked the couple about how they could sing to each other, hey gave me a quizzical look, have you not used Skype.
The Indian arranged marriage has all its tools for its trade in the internet, the matrimonial website, Facebook, Google for discovery and Skype, everything that is needed for two hearts to meet and culminate in matrimony.

Thank you cloud computing for keeping the Indian Matrimonial process effective in a digital and dispersed world of Indians.

Arranged Marriages in the Cloud

India is a nation which is progressive and has a large middle class population who enjoy the benefits of this fast growing economy. But when it comes to marriage most of India relies on Arranged Marriages which binds communities together with similar traditions, language, dietary preferences, dressing , attitudes and more.
In the old days when communities were more local and not widespread Indians had the Matchmaker who would bring families together through marriages.
A good description of the matchmaker is the song from the movie Fiddler on the Roof :

Matchmaker, Matchmaker,
Make me a match,
Find me a find,
catch me a catch
Matchmaker, Matchmaker
Look through your book,
And make me a perfect match
(courtesy : http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/fiddlerontheroof/matchmaker.htm)

Indian arranged marriages Wikepedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arranged_marriage_in_the_Indian_subcontinent

With an Indian diaspora with global dispersion the Indian arranged marriage has become a challege to deliver.

The finalization of the Indian arranged marriage is  the engagement ceremony  followed by the lavish wedding a few months later, a cooling period between the two  partners to make sure it is all going to work out.

Harmony is essential for Indian Marriages. 

I was in an engagement last week of an Indian arranged marriage and the girl and boy were in fine spirits. They discovered each other on a matrimonial website (maybe hosted on the cloud) and it matched all the criteria set out by them and their families for their future life partners  This was the first step of identification of prospective life partners.
Then it was the Facebook connection, the chatting  and the sharing of the photographs. The girl and boy met only about a week before the engagement. The boy was in the Silicon valley  and the girl was in Mumbai.
But  they  spent hours chatting with each other to make sure they were meant for each other and  their marriage would work for them, the outcome  of weeks of online socializing and online commitment was the engagement ceremony.
The boy sang a song  which was the clincher for the acceptance from the girl, wow how did he do that with 10000 miles of separation. When I asked the couple about how they could sing to each other, hey gave me a quizzical look, have you not used Skype.
The Indian arranged marriage has all its tools for its trade in the internet, the matrimonial website, Facebook, Google for discovery and Skype, everything that is needed for two hearts to meet and culminate in matrimony.

Thank you cloud computing for keeping the Indian Matrimonial process effective in a digital world.

Airlines need to adopt cloud computing if they want to keep flying in the Clouds .

"Jet, Set, Go: Race on to Slash Airfares"

 Websites crash and IndiGo, GoAir follow suit as flyers scramble for discounted Jet tickets."

Is the new on the first page of today's Economic Times - Mumbai

Websites crawling is not new to Indians but website crashing is a new phenomenon.

As Airlines globally crash or survive by mergers or filing bankruptcy it is time for them to cut flab in  their technology costs. 

Airlines for one can start porting their booking portals to the cloud, this will at least ensure that the crashes in their websites are reduced with better infrastructure though the risk of poor design and coding can also bring down their websites.

Let us assume that the design and coding are good, then the best way to prevent denial of service  is a resilient and rapidly scale-able infrastructure for the airlines computing.

Cloud Computing can also add on more security and reliability and help the airlines to meet their customer's expectation for a reliable online experience. 

The bonus will also be a more secure infrastructure and significant cost savings. 

 

Airlines need to adopt cloud computing if they want to keep flying  in the Clouds! 

Link to the Economic Times news : 

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/race-on-to-slash-airfares-indigo-goair-follow-suit-as-flyers-scramble-for-discounted-jet-tickets/articleshow/18582703.cms?adcode=50

Road Sense and Governance

Every day we get into the real world and encounter traffic as we ride to our place of work or for pleasure.
The way people behave in the roads gives us a sense of governance of the place we live in. 
If people park where they like irrespective of it being a no parking zone or double parking, it is clear that they care two hoots for courtesy or the law. It is not that they do not understand the consequence of not following the law, rather it is the nonchalant attitude knowing well that there will be  enforcement. of the law. 

This is where good governance steps in , when the law is enforced and punishment is meted out quickly without fear or favor then you will see citizens who comply with the laws of the land . But remove the element of governance and it you will see its impact reflected in the rowdy traffic on our roads. 

A simple measure of governance and road behavior is easy to observe,  all you need is to observe how people behave in the traffic and you will find the  governance barometer. 

When I travel from State to State in India it is so easy to map the behavior of its drivers to the governance, the same applies to other countries too. 

Try this the next time you are in a new city observe the drivers in the road and you will understand the effectiveness of governance in that city.   

Do share your thoughts !

Dell Cloud Computing & Microsoft

This weeks headlines has been about Dell departing from Wall Street and becoming a private company under the leadership of Mr. Michael Dell . " Dell to go private in landmark $24.4 billion deal"

Source : http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/05/us-dell-buyout-idUSBRE9140NF20130205

We also see Microsoft helping Dell with this buyout which has caused speculation of a merger of Microsoft and Dell. " Microsoft and Dell what the buyout means for them " runs another headline lauding the synergies . 

Source: http://www.firstpost.com/tech/microsoft-and-dell-what-the-buyout-means-for-them-615566.html

In the past Microsoft and Dell had a great partnership  for 25 years, Microsoft provided the software solutions and Dell did the desktop

But then came along two disruptive technologies the Mobile and Cloud Computing,  the world of desktops and desktop software started to shrink. The partnership struggled to keep the Microsoft desktop and the Dell PC alive and relevant, but the writing on the wall was clear, there was no future in desktops.
Dell has seen the writing on the wall,  cloud computing and mobility is the future! 

Dell has the best Supply Chain Management for hardware manufacturing, Microsoft has the best  supply chain for software, the only contender who combined both was Apple, but Apple is slowly rotting due to the demise of Steve Jobs. 

Microsoft has failed at capturing the imagination for its tablets and other devices which it has tried to market, at the heart of Microsoft mobile strategy is the mobile phone and its Windows 8, but it is dependent on mobile makers like HTC, Samsung and Nokia. 

Windows 8 for the mobile is good today, but Microsoft could not let go  its desktop genes;  so it decided to thrust Windows 8 on the desktops of its loyal subjects desktops and all hell broke lose, you cannot use a software made for a mobile with a touchscreen on a laptop, and Microsoft's market share numbers reflect this blunder.

Microsoft struggles to get market share for Azure as cloud computing solution; pushing desktop software to customers who are prisoners is different from selling an utility like cloud, Microsoft is still at the start line of this race and figuring on how to sell an utility in a non-proprietary world driving by open source software. 

But Microsoft is a juggernaut with huge Cash Reserves, it has got stamina and the money, it does not want to go the Digital, Nortel, Tandem , Motorola way, it wants to be relevant forever. 

So here comes Michael Dell a visionary and maverick strategist who sees that the desktop era has ended and it is time to move to an ecosystem that binds his customers to Dell, He sees how Apple has made its customer's fanatical, he understands that every fanatical following has a cycle of life, just like Lotus Notes many year ago and Blackberry more recently. 

Michael Dell and his team understand that computing is destined to be an utility and has reached an inflection point like electricity did about hundred years ago to become a commodity, today electricity is traded in Power Exchanges. 

Dell Will be the Rising Sun Again - The Samurai Warrior in Computing

No one knows commodity markets and customization better then Dell who changed the rules of the desktop, Dell have the strategy, vision and  ability to sell an utility called  cloud computing.

Dell understands how Apple has bound its customers to the Apple religion. 

Dell will do the same but to a different market segment, the one that buys Dell desktops and laptops and cannot afford the Apple ecosystem. 

The end point devices - mobility devices will be made by Dell, Dell will also own the applications in these devices and the cloud computing which allow them to work seamlessly from anywhere at anytime; Dell knows that Microsoft has the cloud and the end point solutions, what is missing is hardware an area which no one knows better then Dell.

Dell will not buy HTC or Nokia to fill this technology gap rather it will hire teams from these successful companies and maybe in the interim licence technology from Microsoft. 

Time to market  and competitive price points and distribution will be a breeze for Dell since it is a proven leader on cost optimization and real time supply chain better then anyone else in the computing world in this planet. 

Execution and Time to market is key for Dell; with  energy conserved from not dancing to Wall Street's tunes Dell can now focus on its core competence of making its large customer base happy by providing affordable computing which today only the rich can afford in its Apple Devices and is not met by the Google ecosystem. 

Dell will change the world with this approach and the carriers will have to again go back to selling bandwidth rather then holding mobile device manufacturers to ransom. The internet bandwidth is a commodity today and all that Dell needs is to buy a telecom carrier and they have all the pieces together and Dell can waltz to the bank and has no need to share its spoils with Wall Street.

Could Dell be the Knight in Shining Armor for Microsoft ?

This blog is posted from a Dell Inspiron with a Windows 8 operating system.