Guru Yatra - Program for Business Leaders

I am pleased to announce my Guru Yatra (Teachers Journey) to educate Business Leaders in cloud computing. You can find more about the program at http://lssubramanian.com/program/.
The goal is to provide  business leaders with an easier way to learn about cloud computing, what they can do in cloud computing , and how they can benefit from it.
Thank you Stephen, Claudian, Sanjay and Milind  at Webaccess  for  creating this  wonderful website.

LS Subramanian 

Guru Yatra - Program for Business Leaders

I am pleased announce Guru Yatra (Teachers Journey) to educate Business Leaders in cloud computing. 

You can find more about the program at http://lssubramanian.com/program/.

The goal is to provide  business leaders with an easier way to learn about cloud computing, what they can do in cloud computing, and how they can benefit from it.

Thank you Stephen, Claudian, Sanjay and Milind  at Webaccess  for  creating this wonderful website.

LS Subramanian 

Microsoft Rides the Cloud Again

When the going gets tough, the tough get going is the old adage.
Microsoft has shown how it can fight back as it gains market share in the cloud.
It has a new set of salesmen who can answer your doubts about cloud and Microsoft is best at what it does that is Marketing and Building TRUST.
Microsoft Windows 365 has been a great success with the Microsoft Juggernaut of marketing sales and partners clawing back their rightful market share.

  

Microsoft's launch of PAAS services opens the floodgate for deployment of reliable and secure  Hybrid Clouds.
Microsoft is working on its consumer solution with the launch of the new X-BOX gaming device, this truly converges home entertainment and will be a big winner for Azure. Microsoft may integrate the X-BOX games in its mobile strategy.
Microsoft should launch its own Mobile devices for Christmas this year, we would see outstanding tablets coming out of Microsoft stables which will seamlessly integrate with Azure.
It is my belief that the new Microsoft mobile device will be the Avatar for consumer computing !
Microsoft needs to be congratulated for clawing back from the pits, many felt that it was going the way of Nortel and Blackberry being situated close to the Canadian border.
Microsoft has again demonstrated that it is an all American company and has bounced back !
2013 could be the year of Azure for Microsoft  and Steve Ballmer may have the last laugh !

Indian SAAS solutions can recreate the Indian IT Story ! BUT.

This week has been busy as I had to review a number of cloud based solutions SAAS and cloud hosted for a contest among Indian Software companies. Some of the solutions were outstanding in compliance, workflow,agriculture,  abstract word search engines, patient management, rewritten ERP solutions, content management, specific business vertical solutions   optimization solutions all were world class solutions and can be used anywhere in the world.

It is a wide open marketplace, can Indian Companies tap the opportunity ?
Photo Credit : Amitav Thamba 

BUT here is what these companies need to do to compete in the world market place
1. Declare the name of cloud vendor they are using, it is difficult to ascertain whether they are in the cloud or a traditional hosting environment.
2. Provide a free trial of your solution, with ability to regularize it after the trial period. Most companies wanted a big form to be filled before the trial, you have a few seconds before the mouse clicks away from your site. Grab the customer with a simple email id and a password like Google does.
3. Provide a payment gateway to sign up to your solution immediately anywhere from the world, customers that need a cloud solution want to start using it from the word GO.
4.The designs are good, but give some features to customize it for the customer without your help, ability to add  the customers company logo and template could be a beginning.
5. English is not the only language in the cloud, you could also provide your solutions in Spanish, German, French, Russian and Mandarin and Swahili and more languages to capture the world.
6. Your solutions must be for the world and not for India and India's problems, many countries who have no software solutions will be the fastest adopters of cloud computing solutions, target these countries.
7. You do not have an online chat to answer queries, customers need solutions NOW in the cloud and support has to be proactive through chat and voice.
8. Some of the sites were simple and effective, many still lean on Indian verbose, the English have long left this country, stick to the point so that the eyeballs of your customers freeze at your site and they empty their wallets.
9. Lastly keep up the good work, go social, you need a  social media presence to be discovered in the crowded digital marketplace. Get your blog, twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and more into place so the world knows you exist and make sure you use SEO tools.
All the best to you brave entrepreneurs  in making the difference to customers who believe in the cloud by providing them the best SAAS solutions in the world.

Selling a SAAS Software to the CIO

Today an old friend of mine asked me on my idea of selling SAAS software solutions to a CIO.

His contention was since I was a CIO  could I share my perspective of how to go about selling SAAS solutions to CIO's.

The CIO

The CIO - Chief Information Officer is a busy person, who is more like a juggler who has to make sure that the digital infrastructure and solutions are working like a well oiled machinery for the success of  the business.

CIO is a busy person and it is important you have your elevator pitch ready to get your product into his.her eco system.

Pitching to the  CIO

Will the solution be useful for his business, does it feel a need that a Business has been asking for  a while.
If it is a new fad the CIO has no time for your solution.

Important for you to map the CIO with the benefits and advantages for your software product.

Remembers not more than 7 points .. that is all his attention level, so get the best first.

Here goes a suggestion of key points of interest

·        Cost of Ownership of our solution  is Low

·        Our solution Will work in any device and standard operating system

·        We have already rolled out three (n) locations successfully

·        You can do the pilot in a few hours on our self service environment

·        Can you please nominate someone from your team to check our solution.

·        we will give you a free trial for three months and lock in the price before the evaluation

·         You can customize the solution with your company logo and screens of your company

Managing the CIO

You might have found the CIO' attention but closing the deal has to be done surgically and with finesse at the shortest possible time, before similar product vendors come knocking the CIO's door.

You can move the CIO into buying with the right strategy !

Managing the CIO's ego is something of an art, we recommend a salesman who can do this and not a technology and product specialist :-)

Finding the CIO

Find out the curious CIO's in conferences and events or some whom you may know professionally, they are the  people open to ideas and willing to try.

Beware of CIO's who are good listeners, they sponge your product idea and try to build it themselves to keep their troops at home happy.

Happy Selling!

Realizing the Buddha in Oneself

The more we contemplate inwards the more we seek to find the Buddha in us.

Gautama Buddha the prince turned seeker turned enlightened showed us many ways to realize oneself.

 

Some of the key to realize the Buddha in us is to start looking inwards  by contemplation, meditation  chanting or simply living the eight fold path and serving the community.  

Every one of them helps the seeker in realizing the Buddha in Oneself. 

This week is Buddha Purnima and it may be a good time to recognize that each one of us has the potential to realize the Buddha in us. 

Cloud Computing and Traffic Congestion

One of the challenges in any metro today is reaching your destination in time and comfort. Today it took me two hours to travel a distance of less then 20 Kms ( 12.5 miles) which was a real waste of my time and not a nice experience.
The best way to beat the traffic in metros like Mumbai is to travel between 3 a.m. to about 7 a.m. when the roads are mostly empty, signals do not operate and it is a free world. This is also the graveyard shift and no business can be done at this time.

Evening Traffic near IIT Powai -Mumbai

One of the solutions of managing traffic is using mobility, cloud computing for algorithmic engines which can guide the users in wading their way through traffic.
Some of the cities where I have seen this can be immediately implemented is Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, London (M25), New York, Sao Paulo, Sydney, Tokyo and many more.
The convergence of cloud, mobility, big data brings an opportunity to use technology to tackle traffic congestion in our cities.  It has been proven that increasing the roads and building more flyovers does not help in reducing traffic congestion. Rather what is needed is  traffic flow management and here is where cloud computing, mobility, big data and transport algorithms can make the difference.
Cloud computing is already being tested for Air Traffic control by GE
http://www.gereports.com/cleared-for-take-off/.
Here is an opportunity to build a solution in the cloud to manage traffic congestion which has an immediate impact on the GDP and the happiness index of the citizens.

The Gold ornament seller

Earlier this week I was with my wife to buy some gold ornaments at Tanishq (http://titan.co.in/Tanishq/)  and all went well until we paid the money for the ornaments.  There was scheme of gold coins as a promotion  and the salesmen told us that we would get two small coins but once we had paid the money the cashier insisted we were eligible only for one. After about fifteen minutes the cashier relented and give my wife the two coins, 

When I told my friend about this he told me the cashier was smart, because by denying us the gold coin, he would have been richer by one gold coin from the promotion.

It sounded strange to me that a company that spent  money on branding and marketing would have the customers buying experience marred by the cashier at the closure of the transaction.

All i could do at that time was to tweet about the experience

LS Subramanian ‏@lssubramanian13 May

Tanishq staff at Oberoi mall need training on customer closure at cash section!

But receiving no response to my tweet  I am convinced that Tanishq has no Social media presence !

This brought back memories of about 40 years ago when the jeweler visited my home.
A special place was made for him in the living room with a table on which he would set up his scale to weigh the gold ornaments he had to deliver or take back to be recycled.

I was always curious about the balance but he would always have a small weight on one side, my suspicion was that there was a flaw in the balance, but I was too young to ascertain that by forcing the jeweler to balance his two pans.

The jeweler was a great marketer and would always increase my mother's budget substantially during every visit. He carried no jewelry with him rather a catalog of designs and my mother would choose what she liked.  Today  we go the high street or mall to buy the gold ornaments.

But in conclusion nothing has changed, whether trying to pocket one gold coin or not balancing the scale, the finer points of the business remain same.

Gold, Gold ....all that glitters is not gold !

How Big Data can help in meeting big energy needs

Big Data makes a big difference in how we generate and distribute energy and forecast our energy needs. Let's take a closer look at how the energy sector is levaraging Big Data to ensure cost-effective energy generation.
The world’s demand for energy is insatiable whether it is solar, wind, tidal, oil and gas, thermal, hydro-electric, wood, nuclear energy.
There are two types of energy -- renewable and non-renewable. The non-renewable energy is scarce such as fossil fuels and nuclear material and is found in earth and there is a limited availability. This energy we use in our daily lives, whether in our automobiles or for generating electricity, which powers our home.
Renewable resources regenerate as we use them and include solar, wind, water, magnetic and bio-fuel created from farming. This is the future of energy for the planet and its inhabitants and is generally known as green energy.
As the cost of energy increases and its availability decreases there is an extensive use of collating data in the discovery, extraction, processing and transmission and distribution of energy.
The energy business is increasingly using Big Data and cloud computing to ensure efficiency and cost effective solutions. Let’s take a closer look at the role Big Data and cloud computing is playing in the energy sector.
Exploration:
We will begin with exploration -- a geologist needs to identify the depth at which the non-renewable fuel can be found, the expected quantum that can be extracted and also the quality and yield. The geologist on the field collects data of a number of exploratory sites to create humongous quantum of data. This Big Data has then to be sieved and mapped into economics, local conditions and then a choice has to be made on which locations will be explored. This is an exacting and back breaking activity and on this rides millions of dollars of profit or loss of energy exploration companies. Big Data is able to handle discrete and non-discrete data and provide significant results in identifying potential sites for exploration.
Extraction
Extraction is a challenging task and has environmental issues to it, both in the harshness of the locations where the energy is extracted plus the impact of environmental damage caused as a by-product of extraction. The regulatory laws are getting tougher both for managing the people who are at risk at these extraction sites, which are a high risk environment and also in case environmental damage is caused. Big Data helps the extraction companies manage these risks and also arrive at optimum risk and ensure governance and best practices to contain risk. Many exploration companies use Big Data to manage a number of extraction by automated systems and keep the need for humans in the sites as low as possible.
Processing
The extracted fuel has to be processed to get the energy in a form that can be used, be it petrol, diesel, gas, shale, coal. The processing again needs data management to arrive at optimum output from the given raw material. Big Data is also extensively used in processing.
Generation 
When energy is converted from one form into another, mostly into electrical energy, Big Data computation and analytics again plays an important role in generating this energy and optimizing the generation needs to bring about efficiency and ensure cost-effective energy generation.
Distribution 
Distribution of energy and the supply chain logistics also has Big Data in the forefront. Whether it is electrical transmission and distribution grid management, oil pipes for pump liquid fuels or managing wind and tidal energy firms, cloud computing and Big Data is used to reduce the distribution losses and deliver at the most cost effective methods.
Metering 
Metering of consumption and prediction of usage of energy is important, one for collection of revenue and second for forecasting the energy consumption.  Also, green buildings can be monitored and managed by using applications in the cloud, for that matter city energy grids can be managed and optimized by using applications in the cloud coupled with Big Data.
Energy Markets
The energy markets are growing globally and cloud computing and Big Data analytics today plays an instrumental role in helping traders make informed decisions in the market related to risks and making profits from energy trading.
The future of clean, efficient and cost effective energy is being driven by the use of Big Data and cloud computing.
 Cloud is by itself a significant contributor to green energy and contributes in reducing the carbon footprint of the world.
With Cloud and Big Data we can take it to the next level by providing clean, renewable and cost effective energy for the planet.

This was published in Information Week - India.
http://www.informationweek.in/software/13-05-03/how_big_data_can_help_in_meeting_big_energy_needs.aspx

Big Data Conundrum

The Big Data Conundrum continues, those who are innovative and know how to leverage it, benefit.
Big Data is not for everyone, just like market research is not used by all enterprises. 
The first answer you will need is will Big Data be useful to my business and can I get the required investment ?
If your Business can benefit, then do you have clean data? the job of cleaning and collating Big Data is a challenging task and is not for the weak.  
You will then need to build a team with complementing skills to work on big data, though the attitude needed will be the ability to sift through chaff for grain, with patience and a need to win. 
Big Data cannot be driven by the CIO rather it should be driven by the leadership team who handle the business strategy, the CIO can help with the technology tools and solutions to make Big Data Reality.

Big Data similar to a Bougainvillea Bush, Beautiful but one needs to manage the thorns!

So who should lead Big Data, the ideal person is the person who leads the  Market Research and Strategy in an enterprise who can use big data fruitfully.
In a  healthcare environment it will be the Core Medical Research team who would lead the Big Data initiative. 
In a Government environment it could be the Department of Economics & Statistics who could lead  the team to take on Big Data. 
The CIO/CTO and Big Data are like Chalk and Cheese, but having stated this the CIO/CTO needs be part of the Big Data team but may not be the right leader to for the Big Data Charge.
So if you think Big Data will work for your organization you know whom you need to address and educate.