IT Next January 2010 Issue

DEC 2009-JAN 2010 / RS. 150
VOLUME 01 / ISSUE 01

Taxation: Is your IT
infrastructure ready
30 Virtualisation: Has34
the ﬁzz settled or is
Tech for Logistics:
How IT can help save every
38 THE BIG Q
How to track IP theft
for GST roll out? it another passing fad? paisa you earn? and prevent it? Pg.53

ARE
YOU
THE NEXT

CIO?
7
S Ilango,
Senior Manager
Sushil Aggarwal,

STEPS
Aditya Birla Group
Leader-IT
Marathon Electric India

Rakesh Mohan
Project Manager
TO THE
Dhiraj Sinha,
Tech Lead
Dell Perot Systems
Flytxt
TOP SEAT
PAGE 16

15 MINUTE
Jojo Jose
GM (Systems)
GTN Group

MANAGER
Easy if you are willing
to change your mindset
A 9.9 Media Publication PAGE 47

EDITORIAL

It’s time for
the Maybach
The $825 Model T launched in 1908 by
Henry Ford was not just the first ‘affordable’
car. It also introduced the concept of “IT Next is more like a
assembly line in the automobile sector. This opened custom-built Maybach
a floodgate for others to follow. The concept of “one size fits that has been designed
all” became universal, spreading quickly across all sectors, including to suit your needs and
mainline media, which adopted it for reaching the masses. More recently,
requirements”
niche magazines have also gone the assembly line way, becoming all things S H U B H E N D U PA R T H
to all people.
So, when we decided to launch a new publication targeted to IT
Managers, one thing was clear—ours would be no assembly line. We
decided to take a tailor-made approach like the top-of-the-line custom-
built German car, the Maybach. The result is a thoughtfully crafted IT Next
that is customised to your needs.
We began with a survey of the IT Managers in India to confirm our
hypothesis that this is a community that wields considerable influence and
is far more extensive than the CXO fraternity, which several magazines
and portals focus on.
Indeed, the survey revealed that there is a yawning gap in the way
existing magazines, including majority of B2B IT publications, cater to
the specific needs of the IT Manager.
Not surprising then, that you overwhelmed us with your views, ideas
and concerns through your responses to our survey.
In fact, several stories in this launch issue are based on the suggestions
you gave us. We hope to further build on your inputs in launching our
online version, www.itnext.in, in the coming days.
Blogs To Watch!
I sincerely hope that you like IT Next not only in terms of the content and
http://www.timferriss.com
P HOTOG RA P H Y: DR LOH I A

design but also for its theme and philosophy. Believe me, we have toiled http://andrewmcafee.org/blog
over every aspect of this eclectic product. Unlike Ford’s Model T, IT Next
Your views and opinion matter
is more like a custom-built Maybach that has been designed to suit your to us. Send your feedback
particular needs and requirements. on stories and the magazine
at shubhendu.parth@9dot9.
So, do let us know your reactions and join us in the journey to facilitate in or SMS us at 567678 (type
and celebrate your growth as a technocrat. ITNEXT<space>your feedback)

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 1

CONTENT
Fa c e b o o k:
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Tw i t t e r :
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g r o u p s ? g i d = 2 2 6 17 7 0& t r k = m y g _

7
FOR THE L ATEST TECHNOLOGY UPDATES GO TO ITNEXT.IN DEC ’09-JAN ’10 V O L U M E 0 1 | I S S U E 0 1 u g r p _ ov r

09
SURVEY

STEPS
TO THE TOP

Page
SEAT
BASED ON AN EXTENSIVE SURVEY OF IT
MANAGERS, IT Next presents a handy guide for
technology managers who have their hearts set on
16 becoming a CIO

INSIGHTS BOSS TALK INTERVIEW
23 Clicking it big
Communication as a Service (CaaS) is set to change the way an enter-
prise communicates and collaborates today C OV E R P H OTO G RA P H Y: DR LOH I A , M EX Y X AV IE R & SA N TOS H BH AS K A R

26 No mishaps for this mail
e-Mail security needs to guarantee perimeter safety, confidentiality
and non-repudiation

28 Top 5 mobile applications
C OV E R DES I G N : JAYA N K N A RAYA N A N

Technologies that can help enterprises go mobile

30 Ready steady GST
The forthcoming GST regime will compel IT managers to execute a 05 Innovate to add value | 44 “There was no recession
complete realignment of the IT infrastructure. Are you prepared? Birlasoft CEO, Arup Gupta on in India” | SAP’s Asia-Pacific
importance of innovation and Senior V-P, Simon Dale, discusses
34 Has the fizz settled? how it can help IT managers the global slowdown and the
Is it time to assess the benefits of server virtualisation? succeed professionally company’s changing strategy

2 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

ITNEXT.IN

MANAGEMENT
Managing Director: Dr Pramath Raj Sinha
Printer & Publisher: Vikas Gupta

EDITORIAL
Group Editor: R Giridhar
Editor: Shubhendu Parth
Consulting Editor: Pravin Prashant
Page
LONG WAY TO GO | How ICT intervention in Associate Editor: Shashwat DC
Sr Correspondent: Jatinder Singh

38 the logistics sector can make a huge difference
DESIGN
Sr Creative Director: Jayan K Narayanan
OPINION 52 Manage IT | 5 simple steps Art Director: Binesh Sreedharan
12 Tech Talk: On cloud nine! to greening your enterprises Associate Art Director: Anil VK
| by Dr Manoj Saxena, CEO, Net- Manager Design: Chander Shekhar
Edge Computing Solutions OFF THE SHELF Sr Visualisers: Anoop PC, Santosh Kushwaha
60 HP shrinks your world | A Sr Designers: Prasanth TR & Anil T
14 Money wise: The Penny sneak preview of enterprise prod-
SALES & MARKETING
route to Pounds by Ratnakar ucts, solutions and services VP Sales & Marketing: Naveen Chand Singh
Nemani, CIO & Head—IT Projects (09971794688)
Wing, VST Brand Manager: Siddhant Raizada (09990388390)
National Manager-Events & Special Projects:
15-MINUTE Mahantesh Godi (09880436623)
MANAGER National Manager Online: Nitin Walia
47 Predicting IT right | (09811772466)
Strategic IT forecasting is a GM South: Vinodh Kaliappan(09740714817)
challenging task, but can make a THE BIG Q GM North: Pranav Saran(09312685289)
GM West: Sachin N Mhashilkar(09920348755)
difference to your business 53 Who stole my washing
Assistant Brand Manager: Arpita Ganguli
machine? | How to track IP
Co-ordinator Ad Sales, MIS, Scheduling:
48 Ofﬁce Yoga | Asanas for a theft and prevent it Deepak Sharma
busy manager
CUBE CHAT PRODUCTION & LOGISTICS
50 Get back to the class- 58 Pining to be a TV star | Yes, Sr. GM Operations: Shivshankar M Hiremath
room! | Choosing the right skills professional achievers too can Production Executive: Vilas Mhatre
to upgrade is key to beating the nurture off-beat aspirations and Logistics: MP Singh, Mohamed Ansari,
recession blues Rajesh Aggarwal, IT Manager, Shashi Shekhar Singh
D P Jindal Group is one of them
OFFICE ADDRESS
Nine Dot Nine Mediaworx Pvt Ltd
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REGULARS New Delhi–110 001, India
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Editor: Vikas Gupta
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AND
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54 EMC BC
I N S E RTS
B E FO R E
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© A L L R I G H TS R ES E R V E D : R E P R O D UC T I O N I N W H O L E O R I N
PA RT W I T H O UT W R I T T E N P E R M I S S I O N F R O M N I N E D OT N I N E
M E D I AWO R X P V T LT D I S P R O H I BI T E D.

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 3

BOSS TALK | ARUP GUPTA

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Innovate to
add value
oday, IT managers, I think, have

T become very inward-focused
in terms of adhering to process,
cost and scope. These are all good
things from the Capability Matu-
rity Model (CMM) perspective, but are they
really meeting the expectations of the customer?
Though we may follow all CMM processes faith-
fully, the customer is really looking for value-
add beyond their specifications. Real successful
IT managers are able to add value, enabling “The need of the hour is to find the best
customers to become more competitive in their
business spheres.
solution for a particular problem, rather
IT managers, in addition to knowing the than treat it just as a routine affair”
software delivery process, need to be aware
of technologies and domains so that they can choosing the more fruitful career path—
deliver the best possible solution to a particular managerial or purely technological. Some
problem. This is what we call an innovative Indian companies offer a clear growth path in
solution. That is the transformation that I would pure technology and pure domain, but still
like to see in the mind set of all IT managers. most professionals opt for the faster managerial
IT managers abroad would possibly be less route. Most Indian companies try to hire project
stringent about processes, giving more attention managers or senior practice managers with some
to adding value in terms of domain, new SUGGESTION BOX knowledge of the latest domain technologies,
technology and architecture. So how does one but as I said earlier, some of the deficiencies in
change the mind set of an Indian IT manager? managers in regard to technology and domain
One needs to start thinking out of the box and can be compensated by bringing all stakeholders
bringing together various stakeholders in the together. I have seen some of the best-of-the-
problem like domain expertise, technology breed IT companies in India do so.
expertise and possibly the architecture group for Yes, a pure technocrat too can become
a brainstorming session. That is exactly what the a CEO. I myself hold a master’s degree in
people abroad do. computer science and have grown through the
If the problem is too complex, outside ranks. However, more boards and promoters
consultants and talent can be involved, rather The book talks are inclined to hire CEOs who can showcase
than opting for the solution that exists in house about how to add diversity in terms of technology and domain,
and somehow make it fit the particular problem. value and make cli- and now, also an MBA degree. This ensures that
P HOTOG RA P H Y: D R LO H IA

I am not laying undue emphasis on routine ents more competi- with overall grooming, the individual can solve
things like operational efficiency and delivery. tive. It also has tips the complex sets of problems being faced by
The need of the hour is to find the best solution on how to build the companies today.
for a particular problem, rather than treat it just winning team.
The author is CEO of Birlasoft. He has more than 30 years
as a routine affair. WRITER: JIM COLLINS
experience in the IT industry and has previously worked
P UBL I S H E R : H A R P E R BUS I N ES S
IT managers are often in a dilemma about PRICE: INR 626.00 with Polaris and TCS

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 5

UPDATE
I N D U S T R Y
TRENDS

UPDATE DEALS
PRODUCTS
SERVICES
PEOPLE

promises to provide an online
platform for software developers
to create their own programs,
and space for customers to store
data.
The service had been in
testing phase for about a year
and will go fully live at the
beginning of next year, according
to Microsoft’s chief software
architect Ray Ozzie.
Big Blue (IBM) also raised
the stakes by launching a
new cloud computing service,
similar to that from Amazon
and Salesforce.com. Dubbed as
the ‘Smart Analytics Cloud’, it is
IBM’s biggest cloud computing
service yet and will be at first

The cloud gets MS and IBM
enhanced
their cloud
adopted internally by the
company.
Meanwhile, on the domestic
more pervasive commit-
ments, by
front, companies like Reliance
and Airtel have already
TECH TRENDS | There was much reason to cheer for the cloud comput- launching launched cloud service. Also,
ing front as bigger players made cloud announcements. While, it is services Zenith Infotech has entered the
still early days for the cloud industry, which Gartner Research esti- based on the space through its private cloud
mates will ring up sales of about $3.4 billion this year, the momentum model computing platform PROUD,
has started building up with two biggest software giants, Microsoft which it is positioning as a single
and IBM, announcing their plans. centralised computing system
Microsoft, which seemed to have missed the cloud bus, announced that can replace the need for
that it will roll out the long-awaited Azure system on January 1, 2010. customers to buy computing
Azure is Microsoft’s foray into the cloud computing system and it and network hardware as
separate and difficult-to-manage
components.
More recently, NIIT and
TELEC
OM Global end user spending on telecom is all set for a positive Hitachi have announced their
SPEND growth in 2010, after 12 months of negative growth cloud offering for the enterprise
(NUMBERS IN US$ BILLIONS) space. To begin with, Hitachi
Spending on 2000 Information Systems will
WAN optimisa-
leverage NIIT Technologies’ data
tion and SSL 1950
centre in Bangkok and create its
P HOTOG RA P H Y: P HOTOS .C OM

virtual private -4
.0
network 6 % 1958 % % first hub outside Japan. This will
1900 5. 3.2 1940
is less likely to be networked to their existing
be inﬂuenced
1850 1879 infrastructure. The services,
2007

2009
2008

2010

1854 according to the road map,
1800 should be available from the first
quarter of the next fiscal.
SO U R CE: GART NER , S E PTE M B E R 2 0 0 9

6 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

YOUR PRIMARY DEFENCE LAYER EXPRESS YOUR CREATIVITY COOL YOUR DATA UPDATE
Norton’s NIS 2010 claims to enhance user Genius has introduced new range of Extreme Networks has introduced a 10
experience with new fea- Graphic Tablets—the EasyPen i405 and Gigabit Ethernet switch, that promises
tures like Quorum and safe the MousePen i608. It features 30% power sav-
web protection. The product two buttons and 1024 ings, for the next
is Windows 7 compatible level pressure sen- generation data
and available at Rs 1,450 sitivity for control over centre, cloud com-
for a single PC license. drawing or writing. puting and hosted environments.

LinkedIn opens up APIs were evaluated on a case-
by-case basis, where priority was
given to “integrations that provide
the most value to the greatest
TECH TIDINGS | Popular net- number of LinkedIn users,”
working and professional site according to its former policy. The
LinkedIn seems to be opening up LinkedIn Platform now allows
to the developer community. It that access to everyone.
has launched a platform for the However, there is some
developer community. With this doubt on whether the move
move, third party developers will is too little and a tad late, as
be able use LinkedIn’s profile other networking giants like
content in their business appli- Facebook and MySpace have
cations and Websites. The move successfully engaged the
follows the company’s decision developer community in the last
to join hands with technology couple of years. There is a lot
companies—IBM, Microsoft, of speculation on the pending
Research In Motion (Blackberry), interface redesign, but no official
and Twitter—for integrations Announces across different networks. word on it.
with their respective products platform for Developers can now register at Nevertheless, by opening
and solutions. While these third party developer.linkedin.com to receive up its API the company has
partnerships created additional developers a unique key that allows access to insured that developers can add
channels for LinkedIn’s plat- discussion boards, sample code, to LinkedIn’s value by building
form, the latest move would provisioning code and more. In a whole new set of standalone
make LinkedIn ubiquitous the past, requests to use LinkedIn products.

AROUND THE WORLD QUICK BYTE

Unified communication:
to touch $4.2 Bn by 2014
While the world rued the economic slowdown, there
was a silver lining for the Unified Communications
(UC) industry. Enterprises took to UC solutions to cut
GOOGLE CO-FOUNDER SERGEY BRIN
down on costs. According an ABI Research report, ON CHROME OS VS MS WINDOWS...
the segment is set to jump from $302 million in 2008 “CALL US DUMB
to $4.2 billion by 2014. The growth confirms the BUSINESSMEN, BUT
WE REALLY FOCUS ON
perception of UC as a productive and cost-cutting USER NEEDS RATHER
technology rather than a fancy collaborative tool, THAN ON STRATEGIES
particularly for MNCs with offices across multiple RELATED TO OTHER
BUSINESSES”
geographies.

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 7

UPDATE

Salesforce unveils
office networking tool
WEB 2.0 | Understanding the
significance of social network-
ing and the opportunity it can
bring for corporates, Salesforce.
com, has introduced an in-house
social networking model called
Salesforce Chatter. INTERVIEW
The service is intended to PAUL KAELEY
provide a platform where all Director—Global Storage (Data Man-
agement) Consulting Practice, Dell
employees can collaborate and
connect with their co-workers
using the intranet. The new itself with Twitter and IT NEXT: What is your outlook of the
The service, an in-house social tool will be Facebook that users are IT consulting business in India?
networking and collaboration included in all already comfortable with.
PAUL: There is a great opportunity
tool aims at improving interaction paid editions While employees at
within the India market in the IT consult-
within the organisation. It enables of Salesforce Salesforce have already
ing space. Our consulting approach is
employees to create their profile, CRM and started using the
designed to help customers of all sizes
update their status, and inform Force.com chatterbox, the company
to rapidly identify ways to drive more
peers about “what they are doing,” is looking at making it
efficiency within their data centres. Using
right away. available to the corporate
our Measurable Rapid Insight (MRI)
The move comes on the in early 2010.
approach we can quickly identify what
expected line of the changing The new chatter edition
customers are spending on storage and
working environmemt, with will be sold for $50 per
then show a path to how they can reduce
enterprises swiftly evaluating user per month and will
cost and complexity.
how cloud and social networking include salesforce chatter,
can help them reach business salesforce content and How are you addressing the needs of
goals in a smoother way. Force.com, the company IT managers?
The service also integrates informed.
Our whole strategy is focused on quickly
addressing key pain points of IT manag-
ers. Our storage services directly map

Enterprise software market to key issues faced by our customers
today—from data growth to data protec-
tion and optimising storage.
to grow 10% in 2009 How is Dell applying its consulting
services for improved storage ef-
TECH TRENDS | The enterprise software been mitigated by the large untapped ficiency?
market in India continues to post a market that is adopting IT on a
The need to address enterprise data
healthy growth and is expected to regis- continuous scale, the report states.
management issues continues to be high
ter an overall 10.1% growth this year. The main driving force behind the
on the agenda of CIOs and IT Managers.
The recent Gartner report enterprise software market
P HOTOG RA P H Y: JAYA N K N A RAYA NA N

Most companies are spending a large
predicts that the market will still continues to ERP,
continue to improve and
touch 11.8% growth in 2010.
India is the fourth-largest
market in the Asia-Pacific
(APAC) region, and while
.3
ENTERPRISE S/W
GLOBAL
GROWTH IN
%
driven by SAP and Oracle.
India, China and Vietnam
are the biggest drivers for
the enterprise market in the
$20 billion APAC market,
percentage of their budget on storage and
Dell’s consulting services capabilities can
help quickly identify how organisations
can maximise their spend and ensure that
storage is matched to business needs.

the impact of the slowdown 2009 which will grow by 10.2%
Source: Gartner
cannot be discounted it has in 2009. By Jatinder Singh

8 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

UPDATE

SOCIAL NETWORKING

Fujitsu, NetApp join NSE starts
hands for storage to Tweet
The Twitter club got a major
The two boost as the National Stock
companies Exchange (NSE) begun sending
will jointly out live quotes of its benchmark
develop inte- index Nifty on the micro-blogging
grated data website. The Indian bourse cur-
management rently sends out an update of the
and storage Nifty index as well as the highs
products and and lows every 10 minutes during
solutions the trading hours. With this move,
NSE has become the ﬁrst Indian
bourse to join
the Twitter club,
beating its rival
Bombay Stock
Exchange (BSE).
Internationally,
TECH ALLIANCE | In what can be termed as a single console management major bourses
major realignment in the data management space, of the entire infrastructure, like NASDAQ
Fujitsu, a player in software management joined and increases productivity from the US and
hands with storage system vendor NetApp to pro- and operational efficiency FTSE from the
vide tightly integrated and automated storage and through ease of use. With UK have already
data management solutions. the combination of products established their
According to the announcement made by the and solutions from both presence on Twit-
two companies, they will jointly develop integrated companies, customers can ter. Meanwhile,
products and services in the areas of virtualisation, reduce their capex and NSE plans to provide more infor-
storage and data management, and storage services leverage IT infrastructure. mation over Twitter in the coming
and solutions. The two companies further days. The NSE Tweets have been
The two companies will also work towards plan to implement a global well received by the users. Within
integrating NetApp’s storage management joint go-to-market strategy a week of its launch, the NSE has
software into Fujitsu’s resource management for all complementary already registered about 1,600
framework, that dynamically orchestrates servers, products. The tie-up also followers.The exchange aims to
networks, storage and software to run applications envisages full integration of add some more indices and tools
on demand. NetApp V-series products on the social networking site in
The framework also enables easier with Fujitsu’s Eternus the coming days, besides enabling
administration of data centre environments, allows storage systems. investors to reach NSE through

NEWS @ WHAT IS COOKING AT MICROSOFT?
BLOG PERHAPS THE WHOLE, “end-of-the-world” thing in 2012 really has something to do with Microsoft, which is
likely to release Windows 8 in that year | Nicholas Kolakowski <uxevangelist@gmail.com> in Microsoft Kitchen

The blog posted two slides suggesting that the next Windows Server and

Windows 8 would be released in 2012. Earlier in October, the LinkedIn page
for Robert Morgan, a senior member of Microsoft’s Research & Development
team, stated his current projects included 128 bit architecture compatibility
with the Windows 8 kernel and Windows 9 project plan.

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 9

TECH TALK
OPINION DR. MANOJ SAXENA
CEO, NetEdge Computing Solutions

Key attraction
Cloud computing has a tremendous

On cloud nine!
enterprise pull because it conceals the
complexity of the infrastructure from
end-users. They do not know, or need
to know, what is there in the cloud.
Yes, that is where cloud computing is set to This has become possible due to one
of the key architectural attributes and
take enterprises--both big and small underlying technologies of the cloud
computing model—virtualisation.
This refers to the abstraction of physi-
cal IT resources from the people and
loud computing, as a ser- applications using them.

C vice offering, has been
gaining momentum in
India in the last couple of
years. While big players
such as Sun Microsystems, Google,
IBM, Amazon and Microsoft are in the
lead, many small private companies are
Virtualisation allows servers,
storage devices and other hardware to
be treated as a pool of resources rather
than discrete systems so that these
resources can be allocated on-demand.
Cloud computing brings a new level
of efficiency and economy to delivering
beginning to grab market share. IT resources on demand, and in the
The evolution of cloud computing process, it opens up new business
will create not only a dynamic IT models and market opportunities.
environment, but will also bolster user-
empowerment through the concept of Cost efﬁciency
IT as a Service. A wide range of cloud As organisations cope with a dynami-
computing platforms and applications cally changing business environment,
are emerging in the market, offering IT managers can look to cloud comput-
businesses an entirely new way to ing as a way to maintain a flexible and
deploy technology. scalable IT infrastructure that enables
business agility. The IT managers are
The architecture showing keen interest in investing time
Before delving deeper into the criteria “Cloud computing and understanding how the cloud will
for adoption of the cloud computing impact access control, network security
model by enterprises, it is important
brings in a new level of and other core network components.
to understand its architectural frame- efﬁciency and economy IT managers of many organisations are
work. While the majority of contempo- also eyeing the cloud computing ser-
rary Internet applications use three-tier
to delivering IT vices model to save money.
model as generic architecture, the use resources on demand” The principal findings of a research
of virtualisation in clouds has created a conducted recently among IT managers
new set of abstraction at higher levels— of SMEs to study the acceptance of cloud
applications, platforms and infrastruc- of the software runs on a provider’s computing by businesses has revealed
ture. These layers not only encapsulate infrastructure and serves multiple that IT managers are aggressively
on-demand resources but also define a clients. The middle layer, Platform as a deploying cloud computing initiatives
new application development model. Service or PaaS, offerings can provide to accomplish business objectives.
Within each layer of abstraction, there for every phase of software development As budgets for cloud computing
P HOTOG RA P H Y: AJAY C H AW L A

are myriad business opportunities for and testing, or they can be specialised increase, IT managers are examining
defining services that can be offered on around a particular area such as critical technologies for building the
a pay-per-use basis. content management. Infrastructure as infrastructure behind the cloud.
Software as a Service or SaaS a Service or IaaS lies at the lowest rung. So how does an individual, a business
occupies the highest layer and features This layer can deliver basic storage and or an IT manager take advantage of
a complete application offered as a computing capabilities as standardised the cloud computing trend? Cloud
service on-demand. Single instance services over the network. computing is not just about proliferation

12 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

OPINION

Companies have realised that by clinging to the
cloud they can access proﬁtable business
applications and can drastically boost their
infrastructure resources, all at a negligible cost.

of IT stacks on a restricted handful clinging to the cloud they can access
of infrastructure providers. It is profitable business applications
also about an emerging ecosystem and can drastically boost their
of complementary services that infrastructure resources, all at a
provide computing resources such as negligible cost. This is forcing IT
applications on demand, distributed managers and CEOs of companies to
databases and virtual private data deploy the cloud computing model in
centres for the entire range of IT their organisations.
consumers. These services span the Keeping in view the array of
range of customer requirements advantages that cloud computing
from individual developers and has to offer, the number and quality
small startups to large enterprises. of public and commercially available
Not only the larger firms but cloud-based service offerings has
also small and medium enterprises been growing fast. Using the cloud
can leverage cloud computing to is often the best option for start-
save costs. ups, research projects, Web 2.0
developers, or niche players who
Boon for SMEs want a simple and low-cost way to
Cloud computing provides an alter- load and go.
native to investing in one’s own A recent finding by global financial
infrastructure and software. There- services firm Merrill Lynch suggests
fore, the ability to cloud-source an that cloud computing will expand
application instead of buying self- into a global market of $95 billion
hosted applications has seen a sig- over the next four years. Gartner has
nificant rise amongst SMEs. Cloud also named cloud computing, green
computing presents a powerful IT and social-computing platforms
opportunity to SMEs to use latest among technologies that are poised
technologies and services from to achieve broad enterprise adoption
the cloud which also helps them in the next two to five years.
save costs, as it is a pay-per-license This cloud is not one to be blown
model. It helps them to avoid buy- away in a hurry.
ing the entire hardware or the soft-
ware library. Besides heading NetEdge, the author is also
Companies have realised that by a registered Computer Consultant with ADB

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT

MONEY WISE
OPINION RATNAKAR NEMANI
CIO & Head—IT Projects Wing, VST

step would be to avoid use of multiple
packages with similar functionality.
Besides, as an IT manager you can also
explore options like e-learning to cut

The Penny route travel and accommodation costs for
the HR department. Web conferences
also benefit geographically distributed

to Pounds functional departments.
Pennies can also be saved by delaying
investment in new IT infrastructure,
like new PCs, by a year or more. The
n times like these, when the IT manager can think of alternatives

I world economy is struggling to
recover from a long economic
downturn and top line growth is
either marginal or just not pos-
sible, cost reduction becomes a favoured
means for a company to stay afloat. It
is in these times that every function
instead of going in for basic technology
upgrades. A simple example can be
virtualisation of desktops or adoption
of thin clients. This will not only offer
benefits in capital expenses (Capex)but
also reduce the operational expensees
(Opex) by ensuring less power
within the company needs to be an consumption and lower manpower
active participant in financial matters, requirement. Not to talk about enhanced
and the CIO needs to also look at things security levels and the satisfaction of
from the perspective of a ‘Cheap Innova- creating a greener IT environment.
tion Officer’.
One might wonder how the IT Benchmark yourself
function, which seldom accounts for Finally, all this exercise will be in vain,
more than single digit of the overall if you do not really benchmark your-
expenditure, really helps reduce costs.
But in these times, a penny saved is
“The CIO needs to self. What is the percentage of IT spend
vis-à-vis net turnover? Ensure that you
indeed a penny earned. In fact, the look at things from check this ratio every year, benchmarking
IT function can play the catalyst in
enterprise-wide productivity measures.
a Cheap Innovation with the best companies. I would advise
IT managers to look at ways and means
Let me share with you how I have Ofﬁcer perspective” to turn the IT function into a profit cen-
done this at VST, one of the leading tre from a conventional cost centre. For
companies in the tobacco space. return on investment (ROI) that they instance, in case you have excess man-
fetched. Such evaluation always helps power, think of utilising their skills for
Be clear on ROI, TCO a firm plug any leakage in the process. outside projects instead of rendering
One of the primary functions of the IT For instance, on detailed examination them redundant. This will not only gener-
team is to work out the planned invest- we found out that Total Outsourcing ate revenue but also enhance employees’
ment for upcoming projects and keep of Services (TOS) well suited to VST trust in the company. Externally too, the
Total Cost of Operation (TCO) within needs since it offered twin benefits— firm can gain prestige and credibility.
reasonable limits. To accomplish this, contemporary technology and better The list can be endless. But
you need to align your IT needs with technical expertise. In fact, VST was earning better profits through cost
the company plan, as lack of business among the pioneers in the country to go in reduction should remain the eternal
can spell failure for projects. for long-term outsourcing in April 2004. mantra for IT professionals within
P HOTOG RA P H Y: S U RES H VA NGA PAL LY

Initiatives causing time inefficiency This pulled down our costs significantly. the organisation as they can lead the
and impacting strategic business should charge towards raising productivity
be identified and scrapped, even if they Re-examine current systems levels even as costs are cut. After all,
are already part of the projects portfolio. One of the important things that an IT pennies make pounds!
The first thing that I did after taking manager can do in these trying times
over as IT function head at VST was to is to re-valuate the existing infra- The author is a cost accountant by qualification
and an IT professional by choice. He is, cur-
identify the kind of investments that structure and try to pinch a penny rently, focussed on turning VST’s IT division into
were being made in IT and the precise here and a penny there. A simple first a profit centre

14 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

COVER STORY | XXXXXXXXXXX
09 SURVEY


16 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

09

7
XXXXXXXXXXXXX | COVER STORY
SURVEY

STEPS
TO THE TOP
SEAT
BASED ON AN EXTENSIVE SURVEY OF
IT MANAGERS, IT Next presents a handy
guide for technology managers who have
their hearts set on becoming a CIO
BY SHASHWAT DC / IMAGING ANIL T

Peep into an anthill and you will realise what seamless order and perfection mean.
Our tiny insect cousins have engineered a complex organisational structure which,
though hierarchal, is highly efficient. At the very apex, sits the queen, the head of all
the domicile ants, and does little than preen and procreate. Below the empress, there
are scores and scores of worker ants which toil endlessly to ensure that her majesty
remains unperturbed and at ease.

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 17

COVER STORY | 09 SURVEY

Were we to project this organisational case of Mr O who is the CIO of a large cabin, and moves in hallowed circles
structure on to a standard enterprise, pharmaceutical company and whose receiving awards and recognition with
more so on to the IT function of a typical lifestyle is the envy of many. More often amazing regularity.
enterprise, it will be fairly evident that than not, he is touring the country, or the So when does Mr O work? Well
the CIO is the queen of the IT-hill, globe, for work and conferences. He is honestly, he does not; he merely gets
waited upon by the rest of the managers courted by vendors, analysts, journalists the work done. Over the years, he has
and professionals. The IT head often has and others who are all ears for every word outsourced much of the infrastructure
little to do with IT these days; he frets that escapes his mouth. Even the CEO of management to external vendors. Now
and fumes over things like RoI, people the company pays attention whenever all he has is a small and well-knit team
management, business issues, et al. Mr O comes up with a new proposal or of managers and IT professionals who
For the sake of illustration, take the strategy. Mr O operates out of a spacious handle the day-to-day functioning of the
IT infrastructure and the data centre.
The anthill is not much different from
the IT-hill, is it?

“IT managers IT Next survey
While one cannot be sure if the worker
need to take ant within the anthill aspires to be the
up bigger queen, but IT managers certainly desire
challenges and “For an IT to become CIOs. This was evident when
we conducted a survey to ascertain
get out of their manager to what it takes to be a CIO. Our survey
comfort zone to succeed, it drew responses from nearly 250 IT
succeed” is essential managers around the country—repre-
senting a wide array of verticals, cities
—Dhiraj Sinha that he looks and profiles. To say that the response
Leader (Tech),
at bridging was overwhelming will be an under-
Dell Perot Systems
business statement. Nearly 200 IT managers
had completed the survey within two
versus IT gap” days, with more responses trickling in
—Jojo Jose
over the next few days. The dozen odd
GM (Systems),
questions in the survey were designed
GTN Group
to capture the ‘essentials’ of what it

P HOTO G RA P H Y: ( RI G H T ) SA N TO S H B H AS K A R
takes to be a CIO. Once, the verdict was
received from the IT managers’ end, the
same questions were posed to CIOs and
external consultants, and they were
asked to share their views.
Based on the findings from the two
surveys, we present the 7-step guide
to becoming a CIO. Though much
of this may seem fairly obvious and
commonsensical, do remember that it is

BE BUSINESS ‘DE-TECHNI- BE THE
SAVVY CALISE’ GAUNTLET GUY

7
You are already a tech Non-IT issues Be the ﬁrst to

1 2 3
whiz kid, but so are need to be stake a claim to
the other IT manag- befriended. Get challenging as-
ers eyeing the CIO’s out of the techie signments. Even
slot. Better bone up mould and you if the project fails,

THE on the company’s business;
understand its nuances. Get
will discover a new world.
Learn more about HR, mar-
you will end up learning.
And, of course, the powers

STEPS
familiar with business con- keting, sales, production that be will learn about you
cepts like RoI, EBITDA and and issues that interest if the project succeeds. You
PAT to gain an edge over the other people. will be that much closer to
competition. the coveted cabin.

18 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

COVER STORY

the small things that go to make a CIO.
And it is these traits and specialities
track of its financial standing, market
share, market scenario, competitors
09
SURVEY
that need to be imbibed and displayed and their strategies. Considering that
to earn the CIO cap. While the steps IT plays a very critical role, the CIO is
may seem fairly easy they demand a expected to don a business hat at all
complete change of mind set. junctures. And the IT manager, who
desires to take on the CIO role, needs to
Be business be at home wearing the business hat as
1ST savvy well. So, start practicing it right away.
STEP Over the past few years, “The CIO is an interface between

75%
the role of the CIO has business and technology. He is expected
undergone a 180 degree change. While, to have knowledge of both the worlds.
the CIO continues to remain the king It is very obvious that he can map the
(or the queen) of all things technical, technology to business processes and
his role has expanded to encompass all requirements easily because of his
functions in an organisation. Thus, a understanding of both,” says Ketan
CIO is no more chained to the data cen- Shah, Associate Director, Angel Broking. say Jack of All IT
tre or the IT department but is expected According to him, if a manager is Manager is most suited
to take on a bigger and more strategic aiming to become a CIO, then he has to become a CIO
role within the organisation. This is also to bring about a major change in his
because with rapid digitisation, IT and thought process. “An IT manager looks
technology are not just backend, but at the business from the technology

42%
front-end tools. perspective, while a CIO takes a
What this implies is that while a business view of technologies. This
CIO at a retail organisation may be change is possible only when an IT
concerned about implementing the best manager starts understanding the
inventory and warehousing system in business. Once an IT manager develops
his organisation, he also needs to look a better understanding of the business
at the Web and mobile as additional he can start mapping technology to want CEOs to mentor
fronts to reach the customer. Here, IT business, since technology is any way potential CIOs
can provide the organisation with a his forte,” Shah adds.
completely new revenue stream that did
not exist before. The CIO, in this case, ‘De-technicalise’
needs to be the change agent who ushers 2ND Read a Dilbert comic
in such a transformation—in a proactive
and not reactive manner.
STEP strip and you will
realise what the IT guys

47
S OU RC E: IT N EX T S UR VE Y 2 0 0 9

The IT manager too needs to think about the world, and in return,
inculcate this kind of business-
conscious approach. The first step is
to familiarise oneself with all business
concepts like RoI, EBITDA and PAT. It
what the world thinks about them.
Even today, despite the ubiquity of
computing lingo, it is hard for a layman
to have a conversation with a technical
%
feel 13+ years of ex-
is not enough to know just what your expert. It is not surprising, considering perience is neces-
company does, you also need to keep that techies are often considered geeks sary to become a CIO

BECOME BE A PEOPLE GET TURN INTO A
INNOVATIVE PERSON NETWORKED BE-ALL PERSON
Focus on the Managing people Increase your The CIO needs

4 5 6 7
needs and ways is inﬁnitely more circle. Join to be a jack-of-all
of doing busi- difﬁcult than man- online sites like trades. He has to
ness. Think out aging computers. LinkedIn, Face- manage different
of the box. Add Learn to inspire book, Orkut and tasks, different
value. Delight the cus- peers. Let them come to special community groups. people and different situ-
tomer and the boss. The you with their problems. Share experiences and ations, all the time. So, if
CIO’s seat will not seem Empathise and resolve their knowledge. The network your eyes are set on the
so distant. problems. They will love to will sustain you as you plum CIO assignment, get
follow you. work towards your goal. ready for all this and more.

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 19


who will be more at home talking SSL essential to make the shift. So, next time that stretched across continents. The
than IPL. you step out for a break ensure that you huge addition of manpower, infrastruc-
Meanwhile, the CIO, who now do so with a non-techie. While, it may be ture, and business was truly mind-bog-
plays a much broader executive role, is a bit tough to discuss IPL when there is gling. The management of the company
expected to work in close tandem with the more interesting SSL or VBL, you decided to form a core transition team
other non-IT functions of the company, will soon get the hang of it. for the amalgamation to be effectively
whether accounts or HR. He might “The mantra for success is to be a executed. The proactive CIO of the com-
not lead those functions but plays a very good team player, understand team pany indicated his eagerness to lead the
crucial role in deciding whether they emotions and be a listener. This makes team. Needless to say, he was assigned
are a success or a failure. He needs to you very effective in collaborating the task. Within a year, when the two
be at home talking about impact of the with peers. And most importantly, companies were successfully inte-
slowdown, and discussing ways to translate technical jargon into business grated, kudos (and bigger management
curtailing attrition. language,” observes Sanjeev Kumar, roles) came his way.
Hence, the IT manager, wishing CIO, Polygenta Technologies. The moral of the story is simple. If
to make the transition to the classy you do not have the stomach to take on
glass cabin, needs to ‘de-technicalise’ Be the gauntlet challenges, you cannot be trusted to
himself. He needs to come to grips with 3RD guy be a leader. If you want to impress the
other functions in the company and be STEP Some years back, there management that you are the apt person
able to discuss them without resorting was a relatively small for the CIO post, you need to proactively
to technical jargon. In fact, CIOs BPO firm that acquired a major trans- take on more. In fact, if some challenging
emphatically highlight this in the IT national operator in a big M&A deal. project, like a new implementation
Next survey, making it the second most Suddenly, the player that operated out or productivity measures, is likely to
important trait or behaviour that is of a few offices in India had a footprint be undertaken, then do not forget to
propose your name. The setbacks in
the project will teach you a lot, and
the success of the project will teach
the organisation to take you seriously.
Picking up the gauntlet always pays,
“An IT manager even when it may not seem apparent.
should be able
to interact Become
with different “Proper 4TH innovative
STEP One CEO shared an
team members resource interesting insight. A
easily and planning and few years back when his company
ask right monitoring was looking to fill the CIO position, he
was caught in a quandary. There were
questions” capabilities are two senior managers with the requi-
—Rajesh Agarwal key qualities site experience. Both had spent years
IT Manager, required to in the company and were almost simi-
DP Jindal Group larly placed in terms of education and
become a CIO” personal profile. But the CEO did not
—Rakesh Mohan
want to elevate somebody just because
Project Manager,
of the person’s experience or seniority;
Flytxt
he desired someone with an innovative
streak. He noticed that the company’s
HR head had played a rather proac-
tive role in the ERP rollout and other
P HOTOG RA P H Y: ( LEF T ) D R LO HI A

similar initiatives. It was no surprise,
the CEO opted to bet on the HR guy’s
innovation rather than the senior IT
manager’s experience.
This incident does not imply that
experience plays second fiddle when
it comes to bagging the CIO cap. In

20 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

COVER STORY

fact, a vast majority of respondents,
in our survey, felt that around 15 years
with all the business functions like HR
or marketing or sales to understand
09
SURVEY
of experience was required to make the underlying organisation processes
the transition. But innovation can be and improve his own business
a big distinguishing factor. So, as an understanding,” Dhumal adds.
IT manager, look for ways to bring
innovation in the business processes Be a people
of the company. 5TH person
Innovation can relate to anything: STEP The trouble in interact-
can you automate the temporary staff ing with people is that
muster, or can you devise a tool to they seldom behave in a rational man-
compare IT equipment buys. Even ner. Unlike computers and data centres
Green IT could be a major drive. To be that can be easily managed, human
innovative, you need to be attentive to management is infinitely more com-
the needs and ways of doing business. plex. And this is the key requirement
Make a point to peruse case studies, from any leadership role, including
interact with peers and imbibe the habit that of a CIO.
of being innovative. A CIO needs to get his work done
“In my opinion, the transformation from a team of trusted professionals.
from being an IT manager to a CIO starts He needs to inspire confidence amongst

TO GRADUATE FROM BEING AN IT
MANAGER TO A CIO, ONE NEEDS TO START
LOOKING AT THE BUSINESS VALUE OF
TECHNOLOGY AND MATCHING IT TO THE
OVERALL GOAL OF THE ORGANISATION
7%
4
respondents think
CIO aspirants should
have ﬁnancial account-
ing skills
with change in mindset, attitude and team mates. You need to be looked upon
approach. A typical IT manager is one as a mentor, a leader who is trusted and

86%
who spends most of his time in managing respected by the team.
IT work like incident management, IT managers have to analyse how well
support management, building IT, (or badly) placed they are as a co-worker.
running IT systems and infrastructure,” Are you a source of inspiration for
says Prasad Dhumal, Senior Director IT juniors in the team? Do they come to you
(South Asia), DHL Express. for solutions to their problems? Are you
To graduate from IT manager to able to get work done with minimum think an innovative
a CIO, you need to start looking at resistance from other members of the
streak is necessary
the business value of technology team? Have you been able to ensure that
for IT managers to
and matching it to the overall goal the best members in the team are able to
of the organisation. One also needs grow, and do not leave the organisation?
make the transition
to be proactive in understanding Answer these questions honestly,

53%
technology needs of upcoming and then either pat yourself on the
products and services, and have the back or change your working style.
S O UR C E : I T N EX T S U R V EY 2 00 9

ability to closely work with business Remember, while as an IT manager you
to develop, innovate and implement IT need to get your work done from servers
solutions. Don’t be a re-active partner and desktops, as a CIO you will need
and execute the standard IT solutions to work with IT managers and other
available in market. professionals. So, start being a people believe that a man-
“The IT manager needs to broaden person if you are not one already. agement degree is not
his horizon by getting more involved critical

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 21


Get networked best bet when it comes to networking. or talent, but is more of a jack-of-all.
6TH Have you noticed how Create a profile that fully captures Remember, as a CIO you are expected
STEP many seminars and your achievements and strengths, to do things that go beyond the tradi-
events CIOs attend? Or and start connecting with friends and tional technology role, right from busi-
how many memberships clubs and seniors. In the real world, find a club of ness alignment of technology to dealing
associations they boast of? In fact, like-minded professionals and join it. In with vendors. So, if your eyes are set on
Indian CIOs are amongst the most net- fact, very soon, IT Next will be starting a the plum CIO assignment, then prepare
worked CXOs in the world. They have club for IT managers, where knowledge- yourself for all this and more.
formed different clubs, both in real and sharing in the community will be As Arun Gupta, Group CIO at K
virtual worlds, where they meet, dis- promoted. Watch out for more details, Raheja Group, says, “You need to put
cuss and deliberate on various things. or drop us a line. We will give you a buzz some questions to yourself. Can you
Think of any renowned CIO and search when the club comes to your city. make presentations confidently in
for him on Linkedin.com. You will find “It is fairly important to network, a management group meeting? Do
that he is well connected to his peers, as it helps in getting inputs. Sharing people within your team and your
and is a member of several groups. experiences is an integral path to users trust you? Can you negotiate
Networking, according to CIOs, is an growth. The network will sustain you well with a vendor or a user? Are you
important way of learning about new even when you reach your goal,” advises able to resolve conflict? Are you able
technology and solutions. Rajiv Gerela, VP, Deutsche Bank. to hold your head high and have a
IT managers should take some disagreement with your boss without
time to connect with peers and others. Turn into a getting beaten? If the answer to any
Online, there are social networking 7TH be-all person one of these is in the negative, then
sites like Facebook, Orkut, MySpace STEP Our survey highlighted start working on them before you can
and Twitter. But, from a professional an interesting fact that think of being a CIO.”
perspective, LinkedIn seems to be the a CIO is not master of just one skill Another important factor that can
ease the transition is a guru or a mentor.
But, finding one can be a real tough
task. Like Alok Kumar, IT Consultant at
Sears Holding, puts it, “It is extremely
“It is imperative important for every emerging leader to
for an IT have a mentor who will guide and shape
manager to their career. Anyone with the dream to
understandlong “One needs become a leader, will find it very difficult
to translate it into reality without a
term business to think of mentor.”
goals rather quick wins to Interestingly in our survey, a
than short term accelerate self majority of respondents, both IT
managers and CIOs, stated that a CEO
gains” growth and is the best mentor for an IT manager
—Sushil Aggarwal start building looking to make it to the top seat. After
Leader-IT, Mara- a long term IT all, it is the CEO who takes the call on
thon Electric India whom to appoint CIO.
strategy” It should be fairly clear by now that
—S Ilango
though the life of a CIO may seem akin
P HOTOG RA P H Y: ( LEF T ) D R LO HI A ( R IG HT ) M EX Y X AV IE R

Senior Manager,
to that of the queen in the anthill, it is
Aditya Birla Group
anything but the same. To be a CIO,
you need to be multi-talented, multi-
skilled and multi-faceted. The job
requirements are challenging. So, if you
have the stomach for it and your heart
is set on becoming one, it is time you got
going. Good luck.

How did you like this story?
Send your feedback at
editor@itnext.in

22 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

APPLICATION | INSIGHT

CLICKING
IT BIG
By integrating traditional network with modern day
communication systems, CaaS is set to change the way an
enterprise communicates and collaborates today
BY JAT I N D E R S I N G H / I M AGI N G SAN TO SH KU SH WA H A

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 23

INSIGHT | APPLICATION

Innovation is no longer just thinking out Says Zoeb Adenwala, CIO, Essel Propack,
of box. Now, it is more to do with producing “Every organisation wants to focus on its core
vernal themes, within the box. It is with that competencies. Maintaining and running such
understanding, companies across the globe, boxes is obviously not the focus area. We are
are focusing on innovation in a more doable using complete mailing as a pay-per-service
fashion, without unduly compromising their model. CaaS can definitely provide the luxury
core business interests. of exploring new growth areas rather than
Communication as a Service (CaaS) is laying too much stress on non-core areas.”
“IT BRINGS one such concept that enables businesses In today’s value-driven market, no one can
ALL BENEFITS to focus on their core capabilities. With underestimate the importance of seamless
THAT ARE BE- CaaS, the communication capacities of an
organisation are placed on the web and the
interaction between employees, stakeholders
and vendors as delay in decision-making
ING LEVERAGED applications can be used by the agent and can cause hefty losses. To ensure seamless
BY LARGER members as per need. connectivity, trends like social networking,
ENTERPRISES While many enterprises are setting out to
realise the business gains of CaaS, others are
cloud computing, usage of intelligent devices
and collaborative approach are in vogue. And
TODAY, WITHIN perplexed by conflicting stands. For some, it with CaaS, all these come in a single basket.
THE REACH OF is just another Unified Communications (UC) Adds Vikas Arora, Group Director,
SMALLER model that uses SaaS platform, while others
mix it up with Computing as a Service.
Enterprise Services Division, Microsoft
India, “Communication is one of the key
COMPANIES” To start off, CaaS is hosted on demand resource application in organisations across
—Johnson Varkey, Busi- model where the communication needs of verticals. With software services becoming an
ness Development Manager, an enterprise are managed by a third party. increasingly convenient and affordable means
Cisco India and SAARC CaaS allows your business to undertake of business, collaboration applications such as
incremental technology improvements e-mail, web conferencing, document sharing,
without placing undue stress on managing a online collaboration are bound to become hot
premises-based solution. candidates in future.”
The CaaS vendor is responsible for all
kinds of hardware and software maintenance Show me the power
with major emphasis on quality of service. It Imagine yourself scanning news on your
enables the organisation to outsource various laptop on a power-packed Monday morning
communication channels—VoIP, IM, video when, all of a sudden, a message from your
conferencing and much more. CEO pops out asking you to join him for
Considering that resource and an urgent meeting on some pressing issue.
infrastructure are always a big constraints, And, you get connected with your boss just
experts feel there is ample scope of growth by clicking the ‘connect now’ option on your
“WITH SOFT- for CaaS as well as its broader counterpart, company’s internal blog on web without mak-
WARE SERVICES UC, in India. What’s more, they argue that
messaging applications would continue to
ing any complex arrangements. That is the
advantage of CaaS.
BECOMING CON- grow on the cloud as it eliminates the need Johnson Varkey, Business Development
VENIENT AND to run applications locally, and hence helps Manager, Cisco India and SAARC, says,
AFFORDABLE, organisations save software maintenance,
management, deployment and support cost.
“CaaS and its benefits can be applicable to
organisation of any size. In fact, CaaS can
ONLINE COL-
LABORATION Why CaaS?
ADVANTAGE CAAS
APPLICATIONS As an IT manager, have you ever been con-
cerned about the rising overhead for a system „ Users can communicate effectively without

ARE BOUND TO whose capacity may often increase or fall short having to switch between networks, services,
systems or applications
BECOME HOT IN of expectations? Do you often get scared that
„ Improves inter organisation and intra
FUTURE” your system might become obsolete, forcing
you to spend heavily on an upgrade? And organisation collaboration
—Vikas Arora, Group Di-
moreover, does managing communication „ Helps integrate traditional network and
rector, Enterprise Services
infrastructure give you more panic than com- communication systems of an organisation
Division, Microsoft India
fort? Well, if that is the case, then CaaS could „ Huge savings on real estate rental cost—between
just be the right solution for you. $3,000 to $10,000 per employee per year

24 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

APPLICATION | INSIGHT

bring all benefits that are being leveraged by applications and services while making IT
larger organisations today, within the reach of management easier and more responsive to
smaller organisations.” business needs. We believe businesses have
Let us take up healthcare. Considering the matured in their IT strategies and are now
size of our country, it is virtually impossible for ready to explore hosted infrastructure as
doctors to reach far-flung areas. But thanks to an option not only for short-term scalability
CaaS, it is possible to bring patients virtually needs but also for longer-term requirements.”
into the specialist’s consulting room along The key issues for growth of CaaS in the
with details of his condition and case history Indian market are regulatory challenges, “CAAS CAN
for immediate consultative diagnosis and pricing and functionality bundles. Experts feel DEFINITELY
discussion with a local doctor. Innumerable
lives can be saved.
that the decision to go in for CaaS would finally
evolve around TCO and ROI. For instance,
PROVIDE THE
“CaaS integrates traditional network and Telework Coalition, in a 2006 study, found LUXURY OF
communication systems, enabling users to that companies can actually save between EXPLORING NEW
communicate effectively without having to
switch between networks, services, systems
$3,000 and 10,000 per employee per year in
real estate rental costs.
GROWTH AREAS
or applications,” says Ganesh Swaminathan, CaaS can transform the way employees RATHER THAN
Director, Office of Innovation at CSC India. work today. For instance, a manager can reach LAYING TOO
Picking up steam?
out to employees through personal text and
video blogs, and every employee can post his
MUCH STRESS
The CaaS market is in a nascent stage in comment on the executive’s blog. This can be ON NON-CORE
India, and there are very few service pro- done on the internal blog site. This frees time AREAS”
viders who are offering solutions bundled for genuine interaction, audience participation, —Zoeb Adenwala, CIO,
Q&A and feedback when the manager meets Essel Propack
the teams face-to-face.
COMPANIES CAN However, to meet these changing needs,

ACTUALLY SAVE collaborative effort is required from
vendors, enterprises and service providers.
BETWEEN $3,000 AND “Corporations need to have predictable phone
bills for budgeting purposes. The US model
10,000 PER EMPLOYEE of pay-per-call is very enticing for service

PER YEAR IN REAL providers as they can bill surprisingly large
amounts, but bad for enterprise planning,” says
ESTATE RENTAL COSTS
S OURCE:T EL EWO R K COAL I T I O N STU DY
Thomas Boltze, CTO, China Cascade Interactive.
But to leverage the benefits associated with
CaaS, IT managers would need to upgrade their “CAAS
along with bandwidth to enterprise end cus-
tomers. Only recently, telecom service pro-
skills. “Over the years, there has been a big shift
in the role of an IT manager… Infrastructure
INTEGRATES
vider Bharti has tied up with Cisco to form a is not in his control. The key challenge lies TRADITIONAL
strategic business alliance to facilitate man- in identifying which CaaS service to go for? NETWORK AND
aged data services, hosted UC and connected
branch service for Indian enterprises.
Can he map what is required?” asks Saurabh
Sanghoee, Head, Consulting and Solutions
COMMUNICATION
According to industry experts, many more Integration, Orange Business Services, India. SYSTEMS,
players are expected to join the bandwagon Creating a substantial platform and making ENABLING
soon. “UC as a service model concept is still
in the early days of its development. It is
appropriate strategy form the core area an IT
manager should look into. Nevertheless, the
USERS TO
expected to gain traction by the beginning of core competency of any service lies in the COMMUNICATE

2011. However, with right value proposition value, convenience, efficiency and proper WITHOUT
and customised offering the Indian market
has the potential to grow significantly,” says K
utilisation of resources, and here CaaS has a
definite role to play.
SWITCHING
B Saneesh, Senior Research Analyst, Gartner. BETWEEN
According to George Varghese, President NETWORKS”
and Head, Enterprise Business, Reliance ITNEXT<space><your feedback> —Ganesh Swaminathan,
Communications, “Hosted IT offerings are a 56 78
76
and send it to
Director, Office of
*Special rates apply
cost-effective model for provisioning processes, Innovation, CSC India

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 25

INSIGHT | SECURITY

NO MISHAPS E-mail security
needs to

FOR THIS guarantee
perimeter

MAIL
safety,
confidentiality
and non-
repudiation
BY MO H I T C H H A B R A

he most efficient and effective business communication tool today, is capability to manage e-mail security,” says

T electronic mail. According to the Radicati group, there are over 400
million corporate mailboxes worldwide, and more than 45 billion
e-mail messages are transmitted each day. And while businesses are
becoming increasingly dependent on e-mails today, it has also turned
out to be a vault of technical disasters.
Viruses, trojans, spyware and spam sneak into corporate inboxes everyday and
can seriously undermine the performance of corporate IT system. Another cause
Ruchin Kumar, Senior Solution Specialist
at SafeNet.
The IT manager’s top two expectations
from an e-mail security system are
automatic updating and scalability. Since
new viruses emerge all the time, the
security solution must have automatic
of concern for the IT manager is the unwarranted leakage of sensitive company update capabilities so that the e-mail
information and data via the e-mail route. So we have IT managers and CIOs systems are fully protected all the time.
spending more and more on security across the globe. Gartner estimates that US The selected solution must also have the
$13.5 billion will be spent on security software next year, up from US $ 8.3 billion capability to accommodate the expanding
in 2006, a CAGR of over 10%. needs of the company.
Any good e-mail security system must accomplish the following three tasks—
perimeter security, confidentiality and non-repudiation. Confidentiality
The time card and time sheet were invented
Perimeter security to do one simple job—monitor employees
This piece of the e-mail security system guards corporate e-mail infrastructure during work hours. However, employee
against the entry of spam, trojans and worms. However, the world of anti-spam tracking has now gone digital with more
and anti-virus has become so crowded that it is difficult to zero in on the best detailed insight.
approach and solution. This evolution has been driven in part
Some analysts have declared that stand-alone anti-virus software is dead. But it by today’s widespread use of the Internet
is too early to write it off. Multi-functionality in the technology world has become and e-mail in the workplace. However,
the rule rather than the exception. This trend is converging on perimeter security as these pose a serious risk to the information
well. The functionality of the plain vanilla anti-virus software is expanding rapidly that resides inside a company, particularly
to effectively combat the changing threat scenario. It is not too long away when an since a staggering 70% of corporate data
anti-virus software solution will also be routinely expected to prevent data loss. resides in e-mails.
Early signals emerged last year when Sophos acquired Utimaco, a data security A 2008 survey conducted by
firm. Forrester about issues around outbound
“It’s important to look at perimeter security as a solution rather than a simple e-mail security found that two-thirds
anti-virus or intrusion protection. Appliances bring in the additional benefit of of the companies are concerned about
leaving application servers undisturbed because of their dedicated processing ensuring that e-mail should not be used

26 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

SECURITY | INSIGHT

ENSURING THE

$ 13
will be spent on se-
curity software next
year—up from $8.3 bn
bn
E-MAIL CHUGS
ON MERRILY
So you are up-
dating or creat-
ing policies for
e-mail use? It
will be worth-
in 2006 while for IT managers to tackle
the following posers honestly.
z Why does secure e-mail impact your
business? (What is driving your organi-

67
companies are con-
cerned about ensuring
%
that e-mail should not be
sation forward and how security issues
can be a roadblock?)
z What is your intellectual property?
z What do you sell?
z What personal or private information
do your systems contain and how
sensitive is it?
z Are you exchanging information with
used to disseminate trade partners and distributors?

secrets or IP, but only z Who are your customers?
z Who has access to company IP?

36 % companies
regular audits of out-
perform
z Where and when is information ac-
cessed?
z How is it accessed? Do not overlook
the risk of sensitive information being
bound e-mail sent via mobile devices like Blackberry
SO U R CE: GART NER and smart phones

to disseminate trade secrets or IP but step in granting legal sanctity to digital
only 36% are currently performing signatures. Also, digitally signed
regular audits of outbound e-mail. e-mails are admissible as evidence in
Kumar adds, “It’s not just the tools, a court of law. Nearly all e-mail clients
but also the policies that will ensure now come with the functionality of
that confidentiality is maintained. integrating digital signatures.
Today effective freeware is also But no less important than
available to track e-mail activity on the tools is the e-mail use policy
the network.” Implementation of framework which companies
digital signatures using the Public need to put in practice. The right
Key Infrastructure (PKI) is an effective questions need to be raised and
way to kill two birds, confidentiality candidly answered to formulate
and non-repudiation, with one stone, effective guidelines. (See box:
he observes. Ensuring the e-mail chugs on
merrily). Only the amalgamation
Non-repudiation of state-of-the-art technology and
Non-repudiation is the concept of well-defined company policies can
ensuring that a party cannot repudi- ensure that e-mail continues to
ate or refute the validity of a statement serve business and industry in a
or contract. secure and sound manner. Critical
The IT Act of 2000 took the first data needs crucial handling.

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT

INSIGHT | MOBILITY

UNWIRING THE
ENTERPRISE

OUR TOP
Mobile applications
The growing use of mobile devices
is bringing about several changes
in consumer behaviour, forcing
businesses to rework their marketing
and customer-relationship strategies.
Today businesses are increasingly being
conducted outside office at unconventional ONE
locations as mobile devices and applications Mobile collaboration
let executives carry ‘office’ in their pocket. and conferencing
Moreover, the advent of ‘cloud’, which could FROM HOT-DESKING TO HOT-
significantly increase the computing power CONFERENCING
Meetings and conferencing are
of mobile devices, is poised to bring drastic important business enablers. It is
changes in the way mobile applications are being easy to connect with a business exec-
utive on the move and include him in
developed, acquired and used.
an important meeting at office by just
IT NEXT identifies five mobile application segments dialing his mobile phone. However,
many times, the mobile participant
that could have a significant impact not only on may need to have access to presenta-
the way your company operates but also on its tions being delivered at the meeting;
productivity, efficiency and overall profitability. These he must refer to a document or share
one with other participants.
application categories should top your shopping list if
Also, as more and more business
you are looking at investing in making enterprise-wide is conducted on the move, mobile
ICT infrastructure more mobile. collaboration and meetings are
becoming important. Even now,
BY RAVI S P it is not uncommon for business

28 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

MOBILITY | INSIGHT

executives to attend meetings in unplanned location with no access to
a PC or laptop but only through a mobile phone.
FOUR
We believe that mobile applications, which enable meetings and Enterprise location-
collaboration, will top the list of priorities for business organisations based services
across industries. Mobile meetings and collaboration are already a
reality with new technologies and applications, high speed wireless WHERE, WHAT AND HOW?
networks and feature-rich powerful smart phones. For instance, Location-Based Services (LBS) applications
mobile executives can deliver presentations to a remote meeting or have generally been considered more suit-
access presentations being delivered at the remote meeting or share able in consumer applications. However, they
documents using Cisco WebEx meeting center on their smart phones. are beginning to find their way to enterprise
applications. For instance, there are already
several applications that leverage inexpen-
TWO Mobile customer relationship
management (CRM) is increas-
sive mobile handsets, embedded A-GPS tech-
nology and wireless data network to deliver
Mobile CRM ingly becoming critical in such a much more efficient and effective fleet man-
GETTING MORE PERSONAL business environment. agement and asset tracking system.
WITH CUSTOMERS In such a scenario, the ability With the help of LBS, enterprises can
Every service or product now to service customers’ demands become more productive and efficient in the
offers hundreds of choices to while outside of the office is realms of transportation, logistics, healthcare,
customers. For business organi- becoming a necessity for an emergency services, security, disaster
sations, this means not just increasingly mobile workforce. management and much more. Many countries
more competition but also more Making the CRM application have taken the lead in LBS.
demanding customers. Custom- mobile will not only help
ers now expect faster response companies build a more loyal
to their enquiries and real time
resolution of their complaints.
and happy customer base but also
generate more business.
FIVE
Governance, risk and
compliance applications
THREE one on which people spend the
most time compared to televi- ADDRESSING REGULATORY AND IN-
Mobile marketing sion, newspapers or even Inter- FORMATION SECURITY CONCERNS
applications net. Mobile marketing can help As more and more workers go mobile, busi-
companies get more personal in ness organisations face a new challenge—how
UP, CLOSE AND PERSONAL their sales and marketing cam- to ensure compliance with regulations when
Mobile applications that paigns as they can reach out to critical information is accessed outside their
address marketing needs will different target segments with networks. Moreover, how do they ensure their
be extremely critical. Not only customised marketing commu- mobile workers have any-time-any-where
have mobile phones become nications. This will be especially secure access to information? This is partic-
the number one mass media effective for companies with a ularly critical in industries like healthcare,
tool but have also emerged as diverse customer base. financial and banking services and in stock
exchange listed companies that must comply
with hundreds of regulations.
However, one of the key challenges that
CLOUD COMPUTING WILL mobile enterprises will face is effective
management of risks and compliance-related
DRASTICALLYCHANGETHEWAY issues that growing mobility will entail. It is

MOBILE APPLICATIONS ARE in this context that they will need an effective
mobile application or an array of applications
DEVELOPED, ACQUIRED AND that lets them manage all mobile applications
with ease and addresses all their compliance
USED ACROSS ENTERPRISES and security-related concerns.

While these, we believe, will be the top ﬁve mobile application segments that will attract enterprise attention and investment, it is noteworthy
that the deﬁnition of mobility will continue to evolve dramatically over the next few years.

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 29

INSIGHT | TAXATION

READY IL LU ST RAT IO N: P HOTOS . C O M

STEADY
GST
The forthcoming GST regime will
compel IT managers to execute
a complete realignment of the IT
infrastructure. Are you prepared?
BY JAT I N D E R S I N G H

30 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

TAXATION | INSIGHT

f there is one memory that Sudhir ready to deal with the forthcoming change.

I Desai readily wants to forget, it is
about the arduous days in 2005
when Value Added Tax (VAT)
was introduced in India. As an
IT manager with a large white goods com-
pany Desai was caught completely unaware
because the IT infrastructure was not ready
Also, some of the key strategic areas,
including system of invoicing, managing
supply chain, input credits, maintain-
ing records, and providing sufficient and
accurate information for filing GST returns
should be planned in advance.
Preparing a multiple plan of action will
for the changes proposed by the govern- add value to the future action plan. Also,
ment. Complicating the problem was the meetings between technical and domain
fact that different state governments were experts on the working of an emergency
implementing the same scheme in differ- notification system will help in taking
ent time frames and prescribing different precautionary measures in advance.
rates. Almost overnight, the entire system “For any IT manager, it does make sense “THE STRUCTURE
at Desai’s firm came close to a standstill. to map the ERP system. Though GST is not a OF GST IS STILL
There was little option for Desai and his
team but to manually realign all the systems
very complex deal, wrong interpretations may
lead to sleepless nights for any IT manager,”
NOT KNOWN...
right from ERP to HR management. Over says Arun Gupta, Group CTO, K Raheja Corp. THE GENERAL
a period of two months, they worked day More importantly, an IT manager needs THINKING IS THAT
in and day out to get the system up and
running. Since the operations of the company
to interact with his vendors to understand
their role and to make them ready to provide
PROCESSES WILL
were spread over a large geography, the documents and invoices within GST purview BE SIMPLIFIED TO
challenge and the subsequent work was far at the earliest. GET ADVANTAGE
more daunting. For these two months, Desai
barely slept, ate or even went home. Those Caught in ambiguity
OF THE TAX
are the days he wishes he could forget. “The structure of GST is still not known… SYSTEM…”
Today, he has a new worry—General The general thinking is that processes will —Thomas Abraham, MD,
Sales Tax (GST), which is all set to replace be simplified to get the true advantage of a Sage India
multiple state and central levies and unified tax system. It is still being discussed
consolidate them into a single central and and debated by the government. Success of
state GST levy from April 2010. No wonder ERP implementations will lie in the ability
then, Desai and IT managers like him have to quickly adapt to the new GST regime as
already started to lay the preliminary and when it is announced,” says Thomas
ground work for the transition. Being an all Abraham, MD, Sage India.
pervasive tax, GST will substantially impact In fact, the industry still seems to be
all stakeholders including the staff engaged groping in dark on the exact nature of
in marketing, finance, sales, tax and IT. the policy as the guidelines are yet to be
Being at the helm of managing the announced. Says Yogesh Kumar Sharma,
infrastructure required for GST roll out, IT Head, ERP, Jindal Group, “There is
managers also need to understand every absolutely no clarity on the way forward.
possible effect of past tax structure and retain Every second day there is a different version
the accuracy of post-GST implementation.
“It is important for companies to start
from states and industry experts and we are
just assuming how things will shape up post
“THOUGH GST
at a broader level and conduct an impact GST. Its definitely a big concern for every IS NOT A VERY
analysis of how introduction of GST will IT manager. Though we have not started the COMPLEX DEAL,
impact the business,” suggests Nimish Goel,
Manager-tax and regulatory services, PwC.
preparations yet, we would be setting up a
GST team by the end of December to meet
WRONG INTERP-
He further adds that an organisation the switch over deadline.” RETATIONS
needs to ascertain the vendors’ capability Agrees, Robin Banerjee, CFO, Suzlon MAY LEAD TO
of making changes in the ERP systems as
it gets ready to migrate to the GST regime.
Energy, “The industry has not started the
preparations yet. As rules and regulations
SLEEPLESS
have yet to be drafted by the government, NIGHTS FOR ANY
Readiness quotient there are lot of uncertainties.” However, he IT MANAGER”
It is necessary for an IT head to analyse asserts that one has to be prepared for any —Arun Gupta, Group CTO,
if the existing ERP accounting system is kind of changes. K Raheja Corp

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 31

INSIGHT | TAXATION

“ASCERTAINING THE PREPAREDNESS OF ERP VENDORS FOR MAKING
CHANGES IN THE ERP SYSTEMS IS CRITICAL FOR ANY ORGANISATION AS
IT GETS READY TO MIGRATE TO THE GST REGIME”
— Nimish Goel, Manager-tax and regulatory services, PwC

Notably, out of 120 countries where have different identification numbers
the GST has been implemented, only for sales tax (state wise) and service tax
two countries—Brazil and Canada—have (excise registration number, PAN, TAN,
dual level GST model, similar to what TIN) they may need to change all that data
has been proposed in India. Explains during the course of GST implementation.
Siddharth Mehta, Senior Manager, Market analysts assert that none of the
Indirect Tax, Tax and Regulatory existing ERP or accounting systems is
Services, KPMG India, “Existing tax ready to deal with such massive changes.
regime in India is very complicated. As CST will no longer continue and
There are indications that GST in India proposed GST credits may take place
may be implemented at dual level like during inter-state transactions, it needs
in Brazil and Canada. The dual model to be examined whether or not the stock
will essentially combine both state and transfer-and-sell model will continue to
central taxes into a single system and, be efficient under the new framework.
considering the quasi-federal structure “While uniform GST system will
of India, it seems to be justifiable.” throw up many deployment challenges,
it will help completely do away with small
Ironing out the creases warehousing agents and substantially
At the moment, there are many black- reduce in-transit pilferages thanks to the
holes in the proposed GST that will be IT MANAGER’S modern handling systems,” says Sanjay
clarified only after the release of final
draft guidelines by the government.
TO-DO LIST Goel, Chairman, GTC Group.
“On the SCM front, there will a heavy
“GST will simplify the life of software Prepare multiple plans of ac- reduction in the funds blocked with
(particularly the ERP) developers as tion benefits government and firms will have to invest
they have to handle only one kind of tax. less. Globally over $25 Billion every
Perform systematic verification
However, it is important to analyse the year gets stuck with tax issues which
under different probabilities to
compliance preparation and short-term an optimised Supply Chain can save or
derive exact tax benefits
impact analysis within an organisation,” reduce,” he adds.
comments Dr Manoj Saxena, CEO, Work closely with a tax consultant Finally, as there are still a lot of ‘ifs’ and
NetEdge Computing. to understand post-GST effect ‘buts’ to GST, it is really hard for anyone
During the initial stages, there may to prescribe a foolproof solution for the IT
Form a GST team within the
be several transactions pertaining to tax manager to follow. However, to start with,
organisation
with old rates. Therefore, an IT manager it would be prudent to have an in-house
will need to keep an eagle’s eye on all these Ensure GST roll out in a way GST team comprising people from both
developments. that there is minimum disrup- tax and IT departments. Furthermore,
Also, to achieve successful transition, tion to current business sufficient training will need to be
incorporation of the new Tax Code— provided to all users to ensure smooth
Stop issuing invoices with sales
central GST (CGST) and state GST functioning of operations.
tax, excise, service tax or entry
(SGST) is required. According to experts, Meanwhile, our IT manager Desai,
tax after GST implementation
this could be a big structural change, and once bitten, twice shy, is working hard
would hence need to be accommodated Ensure proper authentication with different functional departments to
in the ERP. It is crucial for an IT manager to prevent loss of credit while ensure a smooth transition. Hopefully,
to amend all open point of sale (POS) to handling invoices with old dates all those who faced the music during the

incorporate the new GST rather than Re-organise any automatic
VAT days will have it easier during the
VAT or any other criteria. In the absence process that may exist in the
transition to GST.
of auto update, the ERP may stop you organisation for calculating
from getting goods in. present taxes with April 2010 Find similar stories online
Since all service providers, as the bill and invoice date on the website
manufacturers, traders and retailers will www.itnext.in/Insight

32 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

INSIGHT | SERVER

THE
HAS

FIZZ
SETTLED?
Server virtualisation made its FROM SOA TO WEB 2.0, from cloud
computing to virtualisation, history
way into legacy-dominated repeats itself on binary screens. A tech-
nology surfaces from nowhere, bur-
enterprises astride big hype. geons unnoticed, bubbles up thanks to
hype and then bursts as soon as new
Now that the dust has settled, technology hype steals the thunder. So

it is time to assess the benefits of before the buzz around server virtuali-
sation becomes history, why not try a

the technology quick download?
Server virtualisation has emerged
as a technology for hiding the physical
BY SI YA SA H A NI
characteristics of IT resources from
the other side of the curtain in which
different systems, applications or end-
users interact with those servers. And
servers, we know, form a thick slice of
the pie called budget.

34 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

SERVER | INSIGHT

WE CAN DO IT recovery from failures, improved audit,
and faster provisioning, as Andi Mann,
REALITY CHECK: Do a candid analysis. Compute whether the V-P of Research, Enterprise Management
benefits outweigh the costs in your situation. If the manage- Associates (EMA) suggests. However,
ment of IT hardware and software resources is a current or business continuity and disaster recovery
anticipated headache, you should take a look at VMware, Xen outshine everything else.
and Microsoft Virtual Server. Carefully consider the benefits and disadvan- “Apart from consolidation, ease
tages for your particular situation. to manage, cost-saving and disaster-
recovery are clearly big reasons
DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS: The most critical factor for a
prompting customers to adopt
virtualised infrastructure is how well you design it and how it is
virtualisation as it helps them to migrate
planned for provisioning and future requirements. This includes
critical application to another server or
proper selection of servers, storage sub-systems and network-
location in very short time,” Mann says.
ing, based on the performance and availability requirements. A properly
As P V Aslekar, Manager IT at Badve
planned environment with features like check pointing and automatic failover
Engineering, points out too, recovery
can ensure 99.99% uptime.
of data is the most critical part of IT
DASHBOARDS HELPS: Visibility into what is being deployed, operations, and managing data security
where, how, and by whom, help enterprises track system deploy- and anything else related to data is
ments and correct variations from their standard operating envi- crucial for IT managers.
ronment (SOE). Replace or augment operational performance and According to Nair, a properly planned
event monitoring solution with something that will handle the virtual systems virtualisation environment can also
better. Automate the processes that are in place for managing the full life cycle reduce manpower requirements to a great
of virtual systems, including VM provisioning, migration, and decommissioning. extent. “For example, where one had to
install complete OS and applications on
a new hardware, which could take hours
or days, a new virtual server can be easily
Interestingly, with a freeze on IT the IT industry. But now virtualisation started in minutes using a pre-configured
investments, server virtualisation is a hot topic. virtual server image file,” he asserts.
has become all the more critical. For Says Deepak Tawri, Engineering Improved server utilisation and
instance, server shipments on a global Manager at Qlogic Software, “In humble spatial-cum-software and
scale have tanked over the last few recent years, it has moved towards hardware costs affect budget decisions
quarters (in the second quarter of mainstream in production servers. and ROI math on the balance sheets
2009, worldwide server shipments And the faith is that there is still room as well. “For example, you can put one
dropped 28% year-on-year, according to grow. I understand that about 75% 10 Gbps card in the physical machine
to Gartner). Yet, the dependence on IT of large enterprises use virtualisation which could be shared by 10 virtual
has only increased thanks to all the to some extent, but most of those have servers, each being allocated 1 Gbps of
automation or productivity measures. virtualised only about 10% of their bandwidth,” says Tawri.
Little wonder, for the IT manager servers.” So, when one virtualises Clearly, the over-provisioning
who has to eke out more processing servers, there are definitely some model used by earlier data centres is
power from lesser or same equipment, benefits that focus the spotlight on the becoming unsustainable and offers
virtualisation is the only key. IT manager. poor ROI. Shajy Thomas, Head of
The hype part is not entirely untrue, Technology at Crest Animation
asserts Indivar Nair, Consultant at Headaches are history Studios from Mumbai, elucidates:
Independent Information Technology Smoother software migration, reduced “Server virtualisation is addressing
Consultants and an expert on downtime, less physical system main- the problems of over- and under
virtualisation based out of Mumbai. tenance, fewer headaches, business provisioning of servers… As a result,
“Though there are the obvious and agility getting real, increase in service we can optimise server utilisation, gain
highly talked about features like savings capabilities and flexibility of business operational efficiencies, control power
in costly floor space, cooling, power and processes, reduced hardware con- and cooling costs, and control capital
infrastructure management, it does not straints leading to faster deployment investments better.” Centralised and
make them any less important,” he says. cycles and server consolidation are just secure management, configuration,
For many, it started as an underdog a few upside areas to start with. change detection, performance
technology since VMware had been On an average, enterprises report that analysis etc are other positives that add
around for a few years before the buzz they get around four to five different up to a lot of Green Computing. What
about server virtualisation started in functional benefits—better SLAs, faster more could you ask for?

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 35

INSIGHT | SERVER

Virtualisation might have few issues that need enterprise is running short of skills,
abilities, acceptance, adaptability and
to be addressed, but it certainly helps an enterprise willingness to share resources. No doubt,
improve the way business is done. HR problems like politics, skills and
resource are three of the top five barriers
to virtualisation success, if you ask Mann.
But, then again, as with anything
Data management and DR
else, virtualisation, if not implemented
Shrunk downtime properly, can be counter-productive,
Maintenance headaches off warns Nair. Indian IT managers
Agility have long known the benefits of
virtualisation, but adoption levels are
Better server utilisation,
quick implementation and still low. The main reason, asserts Nair,
BRIGHT
provisioning is lack of expertise.

SPOTS Better SLAs and audit
Implementation ills
H/W related beneﬁts
Virtualisation comes with its set of chal-
Reduced HR and other costs
lenges, Thomas states adding that it will
Cooling, power-space savings lead to over-burdening of IT management
and other Green IT frills
and skill set requirements. “The decision
for virtualisation integration should
Security gaps
be based purely on the actual business
Licensing maze requirement and ROI,” he recommends.
Low expertise Even though most virtualisation
software can be easily be implemented,
GREY Inadequate vendor support
there is very little expertise available
AREAS Inter-operability issues
in sizing, planning and designing
virtualisation environments. It is no
surprise that trial runs by organisation
do not yield the required results.
“We are habituated to installing and
running software out of the box. That
does not work in case of virtualisation
Not all is great technologies and vendors in its as lot of planning and proper sizing
Security always makes the alarms go off virtualisation environment alone. It of resource requirements is very
when it comes to virtualisation. With is difficult to gain and preserve all the essential,” Nair reasons.
more touch points and loss of control needed skills.” Inadequate vendor support, snags in
to the low-level hyper-visor, attacks Then there are wrinkles in the compatibility, concomitant hardware
and accentuated vulnerabilities are big balance sheet. The confusing algebra and software requirements and
security concerns for many. of licensing costs still haunts IT concentration risk darken the clouds a
Without doubt, the biggest problem cubicles; it becomes even more complex little. Talking about the concentration
for IT managers with virtualisation for virtual setups. Also sporadic and risk, Tawri says, “The biggest advantage
is the demand for new approaches to dynamic resource usage need to be of virtualisation is the ability to
managing virtual systems, observes calculated, which is much tougher to consolidate several physical servers
EMA’s Mann. “This is mainly because tote up than just initial costs. onto one machine. But putting most of
the environment is so much more Many other areas are still unanswered your application’s eggs in one basket is
complex. The average enterprise or unaddressed adequately. Human risky. If the host machine breaks down
uses around 11 different platforms, issues top that list, especially if an or needs to be taken offline, then several

“SERVER VIRTUALISATION HAS MOVED TOWARDS MAINSTREAM… ABOUT
75% OF LARGE ENTERPRISES USE IT TO SOME EXTENT, BUT MOST OF
THOSE HAVE VIRTUALISED ONLY ABOUT 10% OF THEIR SERVERS”
—Deepak Tawri, Engineering Manager, Qlogic Software

36 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

SERVER | INSIGHT

“THOUGH MOST VIRTUALISATION
SOFTWARE CAN BE EASILY
IMPLEMENTED, THERE IS VERY
LITTLE EXPERTISE AVAILABLE IN
SIZING, PLANNING AND DESIGNING
THE ENVIRONMENT”
—Indivar Nair, Consultant, Independent IT
Consultants

“… COST-SAVING AND
DISASTER-RECOVERY ARE
CLEARLY BIG REASONS “SERVER VIRTUALISATION ADDRESSES
PROMPTING CUSTOMERS THE PROBLEMS OF OVER AND UNDER
TO ADOPT VIRTUALISATION PROVISIONING OF SERVERS…”
—Shajy Thomas, Head of Technology, Crest Animation Studios
AS IT HELPS THEM MIGRATE
CRITICAL APPS TO OTHER
SERVER OR LOCATION IN A thesemainly because of lack of expertise. to test outbeen solutions. Organisations
exist
fears seem highly unfounded and
that have
the
able to break this vicious
SHORT TIME” “Most organisations invest in new circle have successfully adopted
—Andi Mann, VP (Research), Enterprise hardware every year and since these virtualisation and reaped rich benefits.
Management Associates servers were not sized for multiple Virtual servers may still not be seen as
virtual servers, they cannot be reused robust and capable enough to run large
for virtualisation. After investing enterprise applications but they have
virtual servers will go down. However, in hundreds of servers over time, definitely made IT administrators’ life
this problem can be solved by having a IT managers find it difficult to sell much easier in terms of allocating and
standby or cluster server.” virtualisation to management as it managing servers which run moderate
would initially require more hardware or small size applications. There is still
IT manager’s dilemma and software purchases. Here again, hope that server virtualisation will not
Yes, virtualisation does look like a dou- lack of expertise ensures very low or be just another passing fad.
ble-edged sword to most IT managers. negligible adoption of open source
Nair is right when he says that while IT virtualisation solutions,” Nair observes.
managers would like to adopt virtuali- Also, IT managers are under ITNEXT<space><your feedback>
sation and reap its benefits, they are still pressure to upgrade or add new services 56 78
and send it to
76
wary of performance issues. However, constantly which gives them little time *Special rates apply

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 37

TECH FOR LOGISTICS

38 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

TECH FOR LOGISTICS

Technology adoption within the logistics
segment is still fairly low, resulting in a digital
divide that separates the good from the not-so-
good organisations. But things are changing
BY SHASHWAT DC

13%
he queer thing about logistics is that though, as a

T sector, it accounts for hundreds of crores in the GDP,
the players in the segment are obsessed with saving
every paisa that they earn.
Consider this. Logistics major Gati has offices at
over 400 locations in India and connects close to 600 districts in
the country through its humungous fleet of vehicles. Every time,
it is able to cut down travel between its disparate offices through of the Indian GDP

operational efficiency, precious money and time are saved. Little
wonder, GS Ravi Kumar, CIO, Gati, while taking decision for IT
is spent on logistics,
implementation on multi-crore projects, is always conscious about unlike 10% in US and
saving every rupee. “For us at Gati, IT investment is not a cost but
an instrument for controlling costs,” he clarifies.
Japan, and 11% in
Indeed, IT can play a major role in increasing the operational Europe

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 39

TECH FOR LOGISTICS

efficiency of the players, especially
when it comes to the express cargo
Indian logistics shipments, while the older ones
still harp on the power of proof of
segment. Yet, investment on IT by industry to spend delivery (POD). In fact, the push for
logistics players in India is, at best, technology adoption usually comes
paltry, with most of the players Rupees from the customer side.
seemingly satisfied with lower “It is the customer who more
hanging fruits like computerisation of
offices or implementation of primitive
warehousing solutions.
According to a recent study
1,000 often than not drives the need to
implement latest technology. For
instance, customers, who have in the
course of travel or work interacted
by Kale Consultants, while 48%
of the logistic companies in the
country considered IT critical for
their operations, only 24% of the
CRORE
on IT over ﬁve years
with DHL internationally, are
accustomed to very high levels
of service standards. We have to
replicate that in India. Hence, for us,
companies were found to be above customer satisfaction is the ultimate
average in terms of technology Spending Growth guide when it comes to making any
adoption. And 86% of the companies 22% CAGR decision, be it a strategic one or one
were found to spend less than 1% related to IT investment,” affirms
of their revenues on technology Prasad Dhumal, Senior Director IT,
adoption! South Asia at DHL Express.
The economic slowdown is
LOGISTIC IT SPEND
Haves and have-nots the reason why technology is
Fragmentation of the market is the being increasingly used to boost
main reason, according to Ajay Cho- productivity in the logistics sector.
pra, CEO, Drive India Enterprises. In the past few years, players across
“The Indian market comprises a the board, even the small and
huge chunk of unorganised play- 46% medium ones, have suddenly become
ers who dot the landscape. While
in the organised sector, the use of
54% conscious of the need to automate
their systems and be more efficient.
IT has been fairly high, the same One domestic company that has been
cannot be said of the unorganised designing software solutions for the
sector. According to a recently pub- logistics vertical, Four Soft, talks
lished study, IT investments by the about the trend.
India spends Rs 150,000 crore in operating
Indian logistics industry accounted “Technology is no more a mere
costs annually; can improve supply chain ef-
for some Rs 400 crore in 2007 and differentiator or competitive edge
ﬁciencies through effective IT interventions.
were set to rise to Rs 1,000 crore by any more. It is a necessity for
2013. It goes without saying as to the logistics industry to improve
who will be spending this money,”
he adds.
MUCH LIKE customer service, ensure customer
retention and win new customers.
With the opening of the markets THE BANKING It’s the only way that can help the
and entry of large players like
DHL, Fedex and others into the INDUSTRY, industry to face the stiff pressure
to reduce costs and increase
domestic scene, there is a clear line
that divides the big and the small
THE LOGISTIC productivity. The conviction to
adopt latest technology has crept
players. While companies like DHL SECTOR IS ALSO in deep and the increasing flow
and AFL have brought with them
processes and practices that are REQUIRED of RFIs and RFPs in spite of the
economic downturn is a proof of this
followed at an international scale, the
small-time Indian players have been
TO KEEP realisation,” states Umashankar S,
VP (marketing) at Four Soft.
found wanting on both vision and HISTORICAL Overall, the most commonly used
inclination to spend on technology.
This has resulted in a clear DATA, WHICH IT solutions in the industry are
Warehouse Management System
contrast in the way the big players
use technology to deliver customer
OFTEN POSES A (WMS) for managing inventory,
Transport Management System
services like real-time tracking of BIG CHALLENGE or Location-Based Services (LBS)

40 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

TECH FOR LOGISTICS

for tracking fleet movement, Freight
Forwarding System (FFS) for handling
custom clearance for international
movement, Web-enabled services for
collaborating with agents and vendors
online and Track and Trace Solutions
(TTS) for tracking shipment over the
web and mobile tools.
Another crucial requirement of
the sector is the need for data storage
and back-up. For instance, Unni Nair,
Manager IT, Aramex, had to deal with
huge amounts of transaction and
customer data. “It was a big challenge
for us. Much like the banking sector,
we are also required to keep historical
data. That often poses a big challenge
“While challenges “With applications
as there is no off-the-shelf solution of each player like Google Map,
to meet the requirements,” he states.
Currently, Aramex has deployed a mix might be unique, customers will
of storage solutions ranging from NAS
to tape storage. there still is the now play a more
Build versus buy common thread... pro-active role in
One of the most common refrains that
emanates from almost all CIOs in the
admin, ﬁnance, terms of deciding
industry is the lack of need-specific
solutions for the players. While ERP
payroll, HR and where and how
has become a basic requirement that enterprise asset the shipment
interconnects different functions
within the company, most companies management ...” should move”
in the cargo sector still use custom- —Rod Strata, Industry Principal, Prasad Dhumal, Senior Director
built software. The reason, according Transportation & Logistics, SAP Asia IT, South Asia at DHL Express
to many, is that unlike other sectors like
manufacturing or banking, logistics is
a very heterogeneous sector where one
company’s way of functioning is often of Gati. Dubbed as Gati Enterprise Transportation & Logistics, SAP Asia,
at odds with that of another. This was Management System (GEMS), the who has worked with scores of logistics
quite the reason why Gati decided to solution is Web-enabled and links all companies across the world, advocates
build its own solution. the offices on the same platform. package solutions offered by the likes
Back in the year 2000 when “The design and development work of his company.
Gati was contemplating large-scale started in January 2001, and it took “While the challenges of each player
computerisation and digitisation two years and a half to complete GEMS might be unique there still is a common
within the company, it evaluated which covers the entire end-to-end thread amongst all like HR, payroll,
the various options that were requirement of Gati. We also connected enterprise asset management, finance
available. But after intense scrutiny, our major locations through fibre and administration. This is where
it realised that the customisation and the rest through a mix of cable, fully integrated solutions like the ones
of these solutions would be as big dial-up and broadband connections. from SAP score. We know what the
an effort as building one and also Developing the software internally common pain points are for all clients
they would be much costlier than a has given us complete control on the in this vertical and have, therefore,
home-grown solution. Keeping these way we scale or tweak it to match our designed a solution that takes care of
two things in mind, Ravi Kumar got requirements. This would not have the same. So, in a way, you don’t have to
cracking with the internal team and been necessarily possible with an reinvent the wheel. Also, we have been
created a solution that completely external solution,” asserts Ravi Kumar. working with players in this segment
mapped the need and requirements Yet, Rod Strata, Industry Principal, for a long time and thus have fine-

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 41

TECH FOR LOGISTICS

tuned our solutions to the needs and of 3G and video hand-held devices,
requirements of the logistics function,” I believe there will be integration of
he states. the same into the service bouquets.
So, here you had a look at both the Also, in the future, the customer will
sides of the coin. tend to play a more pro-active role
in the terms of deciding where and
Infrastructure blues how the shipments move from one
Infrastructure is a bottleneck for any seg- of his warehouses to dealer or to the
ment in India, especially for the logistics market, thanks to online applications
industry. And it is not only the physical like Google Maps,” he states.
infrastructure that poses a problem but Also going ahead, sustainability is
also the multiplicity of rules and regula- going to be one of the biggest discussion
tions that often makes operations a head- points for the industry. Considering
ache. Chopra from Drive India points out the climate-change consciousness
that taxes are levied by the Centre, state
and even city municipal bodies.
“For us at Gati, that is sweeping across the country
and the globe, it is just a matter of
“The amount of paperwork that IT investment is time before the logistics players are
we need to undertake to take a forced to go green. In fact, one of
consignment say from Delhi to Mumbai not a cost but the terms that is doing the rounds
crossing multiple state borders is just nowadays is ‘green logistics’ wherein
huge. That causes a lot of delay and an instrument ICT is used to cut down on the carbon
additional expenses,” he states. He,
however, is optimistic that the proposed
for controlling footprint of the company. Globally, the
transportation sector is responsible for
implementation of GST might just be
able ease life, “if only implemented
costs” high emissions of carbon dioxide, and
since the sector uses vehicles, planes
completely and in the right spirit.” GS Ravi Kumar, CIO, Gati and ships extensively, any cut down
Meanwhile, the little said about on that front can help the company in
the physical infrastructure the reducing its carbon footprint.
better. Everything right from ports to hand, risked going for a single vendor. “Sustainability is going to be a big
highways to intra-city roads is in bad “We were facing huge problems in thing and IT will play a crucial role
shape. Ironically, logistics, including terms of multiple-vendor solutions for in this. For instance, one customer
transportation, accounts for around 11% our communication needs, different with the effective use of BI was able to
of the GDP. Yet, it is unable to dictate service levels and different costs. That reduce close to 10% of the containers
terms when it comes to ensuring that is when we decided to go for a single- that were shipped. That is a big saving
large-scale infrastructure projects are vendor solution and implemented the on time, money and emissions. In fact,
undertaken. same from Reliance,” he informs. we have a specific team within SAP
On the IT front, the players face lot that is working on the sustainability
of issues on two counts—erratic power The road ahead aspect,” states Strata.
supply that necessitates constant As the logistics segment needs to stay Whatever be the state of affairs,
power backup, and the connectivity ahead in the technology race, it goes green or not so green, one thing is for
challenge. CIOs of large companies, beyond saying that it is constantly sure: the Indian logistics industry has
that have offices in tier 2 and 3 cities, on the lookout for new software and a long way to go in terms of technology
need to ensure that there are not solutions to streamline its operations. adoption. The difference between the
many power hungry devices in these Already, the segment is using GPS and tech-savvy and the old-world players is
offices. Also, the need to maintain GIS solutions for fleet management. stark. Hopefully, with the turnaround
redundancy is a major headache. CIOs Though quite a few players have already in the offing and the economy picking
need to keep multiple vendors simply started a few projects that involve use of up, investments will pour in especially
P HOTOG RA P H Y: S U RES H VA NGA PAL LY

because they are not able to trust the RFID, all of them are waiting for costs of from smaller players who will like to
service standards of current players. the tags to come down. take on the big ones. And for them
“For instance, when I use the mobility So what else could be in the offing? tech spend is not an option, it is life-
services from one vendor, I need to sign Dhumal attempts a little bit of crystal- sustaining oxygen.
up for another, simply because there is gazing. “The logistics sector per se is
no single operator that provides nation- a big user of the latest in technology,
Find similar stories online
wide coverage,” states Dhumal. and I envisage the trend to continue. In on the website
Nair from Aramex, on the other the coming days, with the emergence www.itnext.in/vertical

42 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

INTERVIEW | SIMON DALE

44 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

SIMON DALE | INTERVIEW

“THERE WAS NO
RECESSION
IN INDIA”
SAP Asia-Paciﬁc’s Senior V-P (sales) Simon Dale, in a freewheeling
interview with Shashwat DC, discusses the global slowdown, the
company’s mid-term strategy change and why it is extending itself
beyond ERP into business intelligence

There has been a we saw business intelligence, and around ERP. Meanwhile, the
lot of talk about the performance management, and implementation and maintenance
transformation of SAP. When risk management as the markets is taken care of by our partners
did this process start and of the future. We also realised who are masters in this domain.
what were the objectives? that it would take too long to build And I firmly believe that
Simon Dale: The initiative usu- everything we needed. So we this strategy (of aligning with
ally referred to as SAP mid-term bought Business Objects. That got partners) has worked perfectly
strategy was put in motion a few us into the space and that is also for us because in a value chain,
years back. At that point, we looked how we transformed. where different organisations
inwards. The need for it was fairly are involved, all are going to add
obvious, as the core business five Customers today are looking to value, and the combined value
years ago was ERP and it was for a single vendor who can will always be larger than the
growing only by a small percent- meet all their requirements individual (one). I think that if
age. In order to maintain our lead- right from hardware to we were going to do everything
ership and gain greater market software to consultancy. What ourselves, it would either distract
share, we needed to grow our busi- does SAP bring to the table? us from our core business, or may
ness a lot more swiftly. We still see ourselves as a soft- not allow us to scale in areas in
That is when we decided to move ware vendor which works closely which we would like to grow.
into adjacent spaces, especially in with an ecosystem of partners to
the business user space as we call meet the requirements of our cus- Traditionally, SAP has been
an ERP vendor. Is there a
P HOTOG RA P H Y: MEX Y X AV I ER

it. These are businesses that do not tomers. Our business has grown
normally think of using an ERP. and (we have) been successful by strategic shift in the focus?
Most of them are managers and building active partnerships with I won’t really term it as a strategic
analysts who, while intricately companies of all shapes and sizes. shift. We continue to focus on ERP
involved in the decision-making So we remain independent in our even as we add to our capabilities
process, are not direct users of work, and continue to work on our in the business user space. We are
ERP. In the business user space, USP, that is, building solutions in just expanding our business. In

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 45

INTERVIEW | SIMON DALE

fact, before the slowdown, one of
our stated goals was to double our
market cap in the near future. We
are still committed to it.
In fact, the business intelligence
space was growing three times
more quickly than the ERP space
and two-third of the total growth of
SAP came from Business Objects. I
think that moving into the business
user space is merely an extension,
and not really a major shift of focus.

Many organisations in India
and elsewhere have either
scaled down or frozen their IT
investment plans. Do you see
the trend changing soon?
It is inevitable... the economy will
bounce back. We already are read-
WHEN WE TALK OF
ing reports on the signs of a bounce-
back. When we specifically talk of
INDIA THERE WAS
India, there was never any reces- it with other real factors, we can NEVER A RECESSION
sion here… the economy was grow- turn information into true insight.
ing even in the face of the global With this, organisations can get a HERE… THE ECONOMY
WAS GROWING EVEN
downturn. Thus it is not that bad quick overview of the prospects
here as everyone tends to make it for the company and can set a
sound. But even so, at the end of the
day, if things slow down a little, it is
course for the future. This is what
we mean by Clear Strategy.
DURING THE GLOBAL
an opportunity for organisations
to take stock of what they have Why is there not much noise
DOWNTURN”
got, what are the things that they from SAP on the cloud front?
are doing badly, and what are the We are a software and service are called value engineers. To be
things they should be doing. And player. So we do provide BI on more specific, they are business
for all these queries, IT and busi- demand, sourcing on demand and consultants who understand the
ness intelligence serve as enablers. CRM on demand. We also provide nitty-gritty of technology. There
Hence, I believe that the time is ripe our software to other OEM is a methodology that these con-
for organisations to start investing providers. Thus, in a way, we sultants follow. We share the
in IT infrastructure so that they are enable their clouds as well. That same with our customers and
well prepared for the subsequent is where our current participation give them access to our tools so
bounce. Also, once they have done stands. As far as the future is that they can make a business
this introspection, they will be concerned, we are carrying out case out of technology decisions.
ready to scale up quickly and fast. research projects in conjunction We run it on a regular basis in
with our customers. We are different countries, and it has
SAP has been talking a lot working on various offerings and been found to be pretty useful
about ‘Clear Strategy’. What the value they can provide. We in imparting business knowl-
exactly is it? are still working on various value edge to IT professionals. In fact,
Clear Strategy is trying to give propositions of services to be we have a dedicated person who
people a clear vision on how they delivered in the future. handles the Value Academy
may deal with the current crisis. programme here in India. And
Right now, if you were to ask most What is the Value Academy yes, a lot of senior IT managers
business leaders about what may programme that you run for do join us for the academy and
How did you like
happen in the next 12 months IT professionals? this interview? hopefully benefit from it. It is a
in their business, then based on Basically, we have a lot of con- Send your great value proposition for the
feedback at
their intelligence and by merging sultants working with us; they editor@itnext.in community at large.

46 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

15MINUTE
TRAINING
EDUCATION
WORKPLACE
OFFICE
YOGA
TIPS
Key factors in IT forecasting PAG E 49
Training Get Back to the Classroom! PAG E 5 0
MANAGER

COMPENSATION PAG E 48

WORKFORCE TRENDS Manage IT 5 simple steps to greening your
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT enterprise PAG E 5 2
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

BY S U M A E P

hen GMR began

W work on the
Hyderabad
International
Airport, it was
estimated that the airport would cater
to five million passengers per annum.
The infrastructure, including the back-
end IT, was accordingly put in place.
Halfway through the project, this esti-
mate was raised to seven million pas-
sengers per annum, which required
GMR to re-configure networks and
ports for additional capacity and make
other changes in the infrastructure.
With six months left to begin opera-
tions, the estimate was changed to 12
million passengers per annum.
“Fortunately, we had configured the
servers for additional capacity, for up
to 20 million passengers. The change in IT STRAT
estimate, therefore, required us to work

PREDICTING
only on re-configuring networks and
ports, and adjust the space, power points,
etc, for additional check-in counters and

IT RIGHT
so on,” says Sivaram Tadepalli, CIO,
Delhi Airport who was also associated
with the company’s hyderabad project.

Change in market conditions is just
one of the challenges that IT forecasting
faces. There are several others such Strategic IT forecasting is a
as rapid changes in technology
changes or sudden competitor moves.
challenging task. However, it can
Sometimes, it appears that it would be make a difference to your business

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 47

15-MINUTE MANAGER

impossible to accurately forecast an
enterprise’s IT needs in such a rapidly
changing scenario.

Why forecasting
is important?
“IT forecasting should be able to guide
the business on how to use IT better,”
says Tadepalli. “It balances the growth
of business with the cost of IT involved.
IT should be able to ensure that as
the volume of business transactions
increases, the cost of each transaction
does not increase; rather, it should go
down. Only then can it add to bottom OFFICE YOGA By Dr Naveen Arya | aryansclinic@gmail.com

line growth,” he adds.
“Most businesses today are enabled
ASANAS FOR A BUSY MANAGER
by IT, and some even have IT as the
More people report body It’s a fallacy to believe that Yoga postures
backbone for their product, solution or
aches after office hours than require a special setting and specific time.
service delivery. Today, having adequate in the morning
Like much else in life, Yoga can be adapted
IT infrastructure is a given and does not
to meet the needs and requirements of your
give you any special strategic advantage. BODY ACHES
hectic lifestyles, even during office hours.
But not having it definitely puts you at a N EC K
All that you need is a comfortable chair and
huge disadvantage against competition. LOW E R BAC K
a straight sitting posture. Do them at your
Therefore, it is impractical to think of a S H O UL D E R
own pace and your convenience and feel the
business plan without an adequate and H E A DAC H E
difference.
well thought out IT infrastructure plan,” U P P E R BAC K

says Mohan Verma, Executive Director, UP P E R A R M z Sit on the edge of the chair and spread
PriceWaterhouse Coopers (PwC). CALF your feet a little apart. Place your palms flat
FEET on your thighs facing downwards, your spine
Constructing forecast KNEE should be erect, looking straight ahead. In-
“Business requirements and priorities PA L M hale and exhale evenly for five counts each.
set the guidelines for IT forecasting,” says FO R E A R M Repeat minimum 10 times.
Tadepalli. E Y E D RY N ES S
z Next, put both hands on your shoulders,
“It’s demand-based forecasting,” says
Morning Evening with your elbows apart and then rotate your
Diptarup Chakraborti, Principal Research
S O UR C E : I I T BO M BAY- I D C arms both clockwise and the anti-clockwise.
Analyst, Gartner. “Organisations should
Repeat 15 times each.
align their IT needs based on the short-
term, medium-term and long-term z Place both hands on your chest, so that
business plans and goals.” the arms overlap with each other. Now
“Most companies in India follow inhale and move your both arms outwards
a bottom-up approach to IT,” says and while exhaling, bring them to the
Krishnamurthy Hegde, Enterprise starting position. Repeat the exercise for a
Solutions Architect and the Founder of minimum 20 times.
Interactive Media Worldwide, a hugely
z Hold out your hands in front of you, with
popular community on LinkedIn. He
the both arms parallel to the ground. Now
explains that when a company begins

inhale and move both your arms outwards.
operations, it starts acquiring hardware
Exhale and come to the previous position.
and applications as and when the need

arises. That, according to him, is a good z Lock fingers of both your hands with each
way to start, because at that point, it is other and stretch your hands over your back.
difficult to forecast a growth roadmap Next, move both your hands in such a way
for the business. Good health requires a com- that both elbows come in contact with each
“However, as complexity increases, mitted approach that can be other, while you exhale. Repeat the move-
the company will face a bottleneck met by quick office yoga ment 15 to 18 times.

48 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

15-MINUTE MANAGER

“Having adequate IT KEY FACTORS
infrastructure is a given... I N I T F O R ECA ST I N G

not having it definitely IT forecasting should be based
on the business plan and business
puts you at a huge development roadmap. It should be
flexible enough to realign to dynamic
disadvantage against business requirements

your competition” IT forecasting can go wrong due
to unexpected changes in the
—Mohan Verma, Executive Director, PwC economy, market, business or com-
petitive scenarios

Create short-term, medium-term,
and long-term forecasts, depending
“Study the market... on business needs and goals. Make

and projected forecasts for best case, worst case
and most likely scenarios
business plans... and Take as many inputs as possible,
related to the economy, market and
work with various your business. Consider all internal

teams—HR, finance and external factors that could af-
fect the business. Also, keep track of
and sales” technology changes and trends

—Diptarup Chakraborti, Principal Developing an enterprise-wide
Research Analyst, Gartner application reference model, in
tandem with the business vision
and the business development
roadmap, is a sound strategy

Hiring a consultant may add signifi-
cant value to IT forecasting

storage requirements. The technology
IT SHOULD BE ABLE TO ENSURE THAT reference model determines what

AS THE VOLUME OF BUSINESS technologies you need, while the
application reference model defines
TRANSACTIONS INCREASES, THE COST your application stack,” Hegde explains.

OF EACH TRANSACTION DOES NOT What can go wrong?
INCREASE... RATHER IT SHOULD GO DOWN Chakraborti of Gartner cites several
reasons why IT forecasts can go wrong.
First is the situation where growth or
in making these diverse pieces of model, which comprises application decline is faster than expected. “Nobody
IT work together. That is the time reference, technology reference and could have forecasted the recent reces-
to introduce a top-down approach data reference models.” sion wherein India’s GDP plummeted
for IT forecasting and build an “In the data reference model, based from 9% in January 2008 to 5.8% in the
enterprise-wide architecture for your on transactions and number of users, fourth quarter of 2008. This sharp drop
applications,” he explains. you determine data volume which amounted to a $ 30-billion loss in GDP.
He advises that based on the business will define storage capacity and In such extreme situations, IT forecast-
model and the business development bandwidth requirements. Depending ing will go wrong,” he says.
roadmap, enterprises should create an on how distributed the enterprise is “Technology changes very fast
“enterprise-wide application reference you can determine LAN, WAN and and new innovations kill old-

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 49

15-MINUTE MANAGER

generation devices,” says Tadepalli, TRAINING
citing how virtualisation and cloud

GET BACK
computing are doing away with the
need to have separate servers for each

TO THE
application. “Therefore, you have
to look around, study trends and
standards in technology management

CLASSROOM!
and then augment IT to meet business
requirements,” he adds.

Towards better
forecasting Choosing the right skills to upgrade
“Depending upon the industry, the scale
of growth of an enterprise and its exist- is key to beating the recession blues
ing IT maturity, IT infrastructure fore-
casting can range from being a simple BY MO H I T C H H A B R A
process to an extremely intricate and
challenging one. For a fast growing
company with relatively inadequate hen the ‘R’ word started to do the rounds of office corridors
IT infrastructure, a formal exercise,
aligning the business vision, objectives
and projected growth with the IT infra-
structure requirement, would have to be
undertaken,” says Verma of PwC.
Chakraborti of Gartner advises
taking as many inputs as possible and
W and meeting rooms, Shashank Rana would break into a cold
sweat. Apart from the uncertainty, he was wary of taking
responsibilities of a different kind because of his morbid fear
of working with numbers of the currency kind.
Shashank is the IT Manager of CMA Inc, a large publisher of comic and other
recreational books for children and young adults. He is a whiz-kid of sorts in the
company. He can troubleshoot networks with the same ease as a chef chops onions.
creating IT forecasts for best case, worst He is respected in the organisation for making systems and platforms of all kinds
case and most likely scenarios. “Study work together like a symphony.
the market, market growth, growth of But things started to change for Shashank when cost reduction and cost
various departments in your company, optimisation became necessary as the fear of a major slowdown turned into a reality.
the company’s hiring plans, projected Shashank’s task-list had a lot of unchecked items and most of them related to issues
business turnover and economic that had nothing to do with computers and machines. His understanding of finance
growth. Work with various teams, such was limited to what he read in the morning dailies. And now as a middle-level
as HR, finance and sales,” he adds. manager in CMA he was being confronted with a tsunami of numbers. “Something
Hiring a consultant to enhance this has to be done about this,” the techno whiz-kid decided.
critical function is also a sound strategy.
“The consultant gives an outsider’s view
and brings in experience from different TRAINING Some interesting forthcoming
companies… However, the enterprise CALENDER programmes
has to provide proper information and
visibility to the consultant,” says Hegde.
PROGRAMME TITLE AND DATES INSTITUTE
Finally, K V Ranganathan, Senior DESCRIPTION
GM—IT, Brandhouse Retails, points
Managerial leadership and
outs, “While the IT manager would be Jan 11 - 16, 2010 IIM Calcutta
conﬂict resolution
constrained by the budgetary support
he may get from his management, Strategic IT management Jan 18 - 21, 2010 IIM Ahmedabad
he would be in a dilemma as to what
initiative he has to drop or has to Forecasting for effective
Jan 18 - 20, 2010 IIM Calcutta
carry forward. In such a situation, the business decisions
IT manager has to be clear about his
Managing people in software
priorities. The wish list or the forecast Jan 18 - 20, 2010 IIM Bangalore
of the IT manger has to keep in mind the projects
business requirement and realities. He Leading teams for high
must realise that IT exists for business Jan 20 - 23, 2010 ISB, Hyderabad
performance
and not as an individual entity.”

50 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

15-MINUTE MANAGER

“It is critical to ensure “... transformation of “The straight off
the right fit before techno-commercial benefit of such
an employee is professionals is the certifications to the
nominated for any only way for them employee is that they
executive education to overcome the immediately add
programme” growth plateau” value to their profile”
—Anita Tuteja —Jitender Dhaka —Vishwajeet Singh
HR consultant CEO, Jobline Consultants CIO, FCM Travel

As if in a trance, he picked up the a corner spot that was relatively less only way to overcome the growth plateau
phone and dialed Amit Mehta’s number. noisy. Shashank wasted no time when in any organisation,” says Jitender Dhaka,
Amit, a friend from school days, was Amit arrived and reiterated his request. CEO, Jobline Consultants. And this comes
a banker and pursued his interest in “Hey, you need more than just a tutoring with the added advantage of being aligned
technology rather passionately. He session. I feel you should join a course. with strategic issues and also the capacity
was a maven to most of his friends who A course that gives you a well rounded to multi task.
looked at him for advice and direction. perspective of finance, and also prepares Both employees and organisations
After the greetings, Shashank got you for bigger responsibilities within need to realise that a slowdown is the best
straight to the topic. your organisation,” Amit responded time to enroll in courses that not only
“Amit, I need your help. Teach me professorially. up-skill employees for larger strategic
how to read these numbers and tutor “Specialised courses are available roles but also lead to higher degree of
me about cost-cutting…” he hurriedly for virtually every subject today. It’s employee-employer engagement. “The
spoke. “Cost management,” Amit cut time you looked at this as a career- straight off benefit of such certifications
P HOTOG RA P H Y: S H A MI K BA N ER J EE

him short. “Promise me a couple of building exercise than just a training to to the employee is that they immediately
beers in return,” he said to overcome read numbers,” he added. “This makes add value to their profile,” feels
the awkward interruption. “So I will see sense,” replied Shashank. Vishwajeet Singh, CIO of FCM Travel.
you at six this evening at our watering But the bigger question is: what
hole,” said Shashank before hanging up Making the right choice kind of certifications should one enroll
with a new sense of relief. “It is very important for technical profes- for? “The first step is to ascertain
In the evening, Shashank reached sionals to realise that transformation into one’s larger goals—both personal and
their rendezvous early. He occupied techno-commercial professionals is the professional,” feels Dhaka. And he is

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 51

15-MINUTE MANAGER

MANAGE IT right. Not only are certifications for

5 SIMPLE STEPS middle management expensive, they
also entail an opportunity cost of

TO GREENING YOUR ENTERPRISE letting the employee go for the period
of the course.
“It is critical to ensure that the right fit is
Saving power in these achieved before an employee is nominated
carbon conscious for any kind of executive education
days is more than programme,” feels Anita Tuteja, an
merely saving money. independent HR consultant. “The one-
Here is a simple and size-fits-all approach is very dangerous,
easy guide on how especially when one of the objectives of
you can save power this nomination is the conservation and
and money optimal utilisation of resources—both
monetary and human,” she adds.

Broadbasing is the mantra
“The fundamentals of technology
remain the same. So when we recruit
technical workforce, we want to be sure
that the candidate has the right skills
if not the right certifications,” feels
Singh. However, the lens changes when
a senior level recruitment is being
done. “Candidates with a broader base
Measure and record. Organisations should start measuring the of skills often come across as far more
1 power consumption across the company. Dig out the power bill for confident,” he points out. “This is also
the company for the past three months, and compare it with those of earlier an outcome of their ability to converge
quarters. Dig deeper to find out who the biggest guzzlers are. Make an en- a number of seemingly unrelated con-
ergy map based on this research. cepts and trends because of their train-
ing,” feels Tuteja. And in this rapidly
Powering off. Standby mode is the one of biggest tragedies that
2 could have happened to computing. It is estimated that close to 40%
transforming world, this is an asset for
any organisation.
of employees keep their PCs on standby mode when leaving for home. The
A sampler of recent management
solution is to tweak the system to go into a shut off mode after a fixed time
development programmes (MDPs)
span. Usually this can be done at the network level itself and poses no tech-
conducted by various top business
nical challenge.
schools points towards this trend. For
Virtual is real. Data centres use massive amounts of electricity; large instance, IIM Ahmedabad would have
3 ones can use megawatts of power. The interesting thing about these concluded a five-day programme on
data centres is that a bulk of the power, around 60% of it, goes not in the strategic planning of information systems
processing of information but in the cooling of the equipment. The key words by the time this magazine reaches you.
here are: consolidate and virtualise to reduce power consumption. The programme covers various
managerial issues in IT such as creating
Take the soft(ware) road. While it might not be popular yet, but there
4 are lots of software application that aid and abet green. Ideally, once
business models, planning for hardware
and software, vendor selection and
the energy consumption pattern has been mapped, and virtualisation done,
risk evaluation of IT projects. “These
the next step is to go in for software solutions that help better manage the
programmes are often a reflection of the
existing infrastructure. One of the most common approaches is to host appli-
demands and expectations of a company
cations on the cloud. This is not only cost effective but also carbon effective.
from its employees,” adds Tuteja.

Purchase green. Buy green should be the new mantra. So, whenever So, it is a good time to magnify your
5 any RFP is floated make sure it has some green parameters in it as spectrum of skills and be ready to face
well. Also, whenever you are asked to evaluate a product or a technology the future. As Tom Hanks’ character in
solution dig deeper into the carbon footprint of the product, the disposal, and the film Castaway famously remarked,
other things. Make it a point to make green an important and integral part of “You never know what the next tide
your evaluation. might bring.”

52 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

SECURITY

WHO
STOLE MY
THE WASHING
MACHINE?
BIG EXPERT PANEL

M UR A L I TA L AS I L A A LO K G UPTA SAT I S H P E N D S E
D I R EC TO R , FO R E N - M D, PY R A M I D C I O, H C C
S I C S E R V I C ES , CY B E R
KPMG INDIA

pursuits in life. Was he the man to be blamed?
THE SITUATION... Shankar quickly checked with the IT team on
any anomaly in the usage of Ravi’s laptop or
Shankar Saxena was shocked to see the e-mail and was told that there was none. In
full page ad of Whites Appliances announc- fact, the technology team was quite sure that
ing the launch of their new fully automatic their security policies and tools restricted one
washing machine. Not only was the look and from copying any classified data on laptops or
feel of the product similar to the product that any external storage device or printing the same.
Shankar’s company Makton India was about to “So how did the data fly out?” Shankar
launch, its technical specifications matched too. asked. “Could he have mailed the design de-
Ignoring his cup of tea, Shankar immediately tails?” he wondered. “Not from the official
logged on to the Whites website and what he e-mail,” his CIO informed, adding that the Mak-
saw hit him in the gut, like a hammer. Even the ton office network did not allow users to log on
website had the same elements that his team to any personal e-mail accounts either.
had put together in their plan. Meanwhile, the legal team informed that
Soon, he was sitting with his key team mem- since the tech specifications of Whites’ new
bers and legal experts trying to figure out the product closely matched that of Makton’s, the
source of the information leak and also to under- company could explore the possibility of filing a
stand whether there was any legal action that copyright theft case and seek damages.
Makton could initiate against Whites. “The key to the case is the evidence of theft
The only person missing was Ravi Narayan without which it would be difficult to prove that
who had been driving the project till recently, Makton was the company that had originally
but had decided to quit a month ago for higher designed the product,” the legal team said.
F RO M HE RE

Your responses count. Log on
to www.itnext.in/bigQ to submit
NEXT
CUT IT

your replies. The best entry will be
published in the next print edition.

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 53

THE BIG Q

THE SHOULD THE TECHNOLOGY TEAM OF MAKTON INDIA DO TO FIND OUT THE
BIG QUESTIONS...
?WHAT
SOURCE OF LEAKAGE AND COLLECT THE VITAL ‘EVIDENCE OF THEFT’ IN A FORMAT
THAT IT IS ADMISSIBLE IN A COURT OF LAW

? WHAT ARE THE PRECAUTIONS IN TERMS OF POLICY CHANGES AND SECURITY
TOOLS THAT MAKTON NEEDS TO PUT IN PLACE TO PREVENT RECURRENCE OF
SIMILAR MISHAPS

HERE ARE THE ANSWERS...

‘PROBE TECH TEAM FIRST’

FIRST ANSWER
Information is the key to any organisation and since there are people
willing to pay good money for it, companies are putting in controls to
restrict data access and transfer. However, there is still a weak link—the
technology team itself. Hence Makton needs to explore the possibility
of involvement of someone from the technology team for this leakage.
Suspects have often gained access to the network of a company
through VPN and separate network, courtesy the technology team.
This is the most difficult to prove and prevent. The network should
be analysed immediately to check any compromise. Also, back-up of
the server, firewall and routers should be analysed to check if any
configuration changes were done.
There are four ways in which data could have leaked out, including
MURALI the possibility of the fraudster physically handing over the details
TALASILA to the other company. However, the company policy does not allow
taking prints of the same.
Director, Forensic Copying to external physical storage may also be ruled out because of the policies
Services, KPMG India
and tools at Makton restrict one from copying any classified data to their laptops or any
About me: Security personal device. However, the imaged hard disk could provide details of external hard
and audit professional drives and storage devices plugged into the PC and laptop. Also, the data could have
expert, been associated
with firms like Pentafour, been shared on to the network and stored on to the PC on which administrative rights
KPN, Deloitte, prior to are available, and data could have been either transferred over internet or copied in the
KPMG
external storage. This needs to be probed.
E-mail is another common method used for ‘siphoning’ information. But then Makton
network does not allow users to log on to any personal e-mail accounts. However, a
thorough forensic analysis of sent and deleted e-mails can help in uncovering the truth.
On the policy front, Makton may have restricted use of external e-mails in the company
network but in practical terms it is very difficult to restrict such access as new e-mail sites crop
up very frequently, and also there is a large number of sites which provide for data storage.
Analysis of web cache of the key suspect’s machine can indicate any recent access to
sites which provide these facilities. Sometimes, the analysis of cache may indicate access
to certain Internet sites which provide for storage capability. This will entail review of
the Internet’s ISA server logs and proxy logs. It is also important to forensically preserve
hard disk image of machines used by key people against whom there is a suspicion.

SECOND ANSWER
Makton should ensure that its IT policy incorporates change management process with
involvement of senior management. Technology coupled with processes and awareness
in people play a major role in organisational security. However, most organisations lack
appropriate tooling and disciplinary measures against policy violations.

54 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

THE BIG Q

‘SEEK EXTERNAL EXPERTISE’

FIRST ANSWER
On the face of it, this case looks like one of intellectual property theft
blended with cyber crime. The Makton IT team seems to have done
a good job with strict and tight policies to ensure that such mishaps
do not happen. But often, gaps are left and can be exploited. In this
case, however, there seem to be two possible scenarios. One, some
weakness in the network has been exploited but from the outside
and using a machine that did not belong to Ravi. Either Ravi accessed
the network from a public machine or from a machine at home. Two,
someone on the inside apart from Ravi is also involved, and he could
have opened the network temporarily for access from the outside.
A forensic analysis of not just Ravi’s machine but also of the
network is crucial. This is because courts of law accept only that
evidence where a proper chain of custody has been maintained along ALOK GUPTA
with the use of scientific process and tools. Usually, internal IT teams
are not equipped to handle such strict chain of custody. So the IT team MD, Pyramid Cyber

must immediately engage with a company or consultant that has a proven expertise of
About me:
cyber crime and cyber forensics to conduct a forensic acquisition and analysis of the Technopreneur for over
two decades, associated
source and suspect destination devices and applications including e-mails.
with Samtech InfoNet,
But before that Makton CIO must ensure that Ravi’s laptop is not used for anything eKutir Tech and now
Pyramid Cyber Security
at all. It must be shut down and sealed in a box. Like in any other crime a cyber criminal
also leaves many electronic traces which can only be detected by experts.

SECOND ANSWER
Despite Makton’s efforts to implement robust security policies, some gaps in implemen-
tation seem to have left room for certain vulnerabilities that can be exploited. To prevent
recurrence of such incidents, companies should get their security policy reviewed by a
team of experts. This should always be followed by a comprehensive third party audit
to detect gaps and vulnerabilities. Cost of prevention is far lower than that of detection
and resolution.
Organisations like Makton, where intellectual property theft is always a threat, can
deploy online forensic tools. These tools can be used to set appropriate alerts in case
confidential or restricted data is tampered with, or leaked in future.
The other dimension of prevention is awareness since most users of IT in any
organisation are functional professionals with very limited understanding and
knowledge of cyber and digital ethics. So it is imperative to create a company-wide
culture of ethical use of cyber assets. NEXT

Data loss is the biggest information security risk amongst Indian
NOTES enterprises. Difﬁculty in data classiﬁcation, low enterprise and user awareness, key reasons
(NUMBERS IN %)
80
79 50% data residing in
60
64 Indian enterprises is
Unauthorised access

considered sensitive
Denial of services

40 50
44 43
Virus Attacks

39
Compliance
Data loss

20
SPAM

S O UR C E : SY M A N T EC -
I D C R E P O RT, N OV 2 0 0 9
0

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 55

THE BIG Q

‘FOOLPROOF SECURITY IS IMPOSSIBLE’
FIRST ANSWER
It will be worth auditing the claims made by the IT team regarding
the information security through competent third party. Several pos-
sibilities exist in this case. The culprit might have used a digital cam-
era or even his mobile’s camera to click screen photos. He may have
taken printouts and spirited them away. He may have written down
the key facts in his diary. Chinks in security always remain. Constant
vigilance is called for.

SECOND ANSWER
Some of these possibilities can be eliminated using the suggestions
listed below though their organisation-wide application is imprac-
tical. Use them only in departments critical from the information
SATISH security perspective.
PENDSE „ Ban use of digital camera / mobiles with camera
„ Physically partition the critical departments from others
CIO, HCC „ Bar entry to these departments by others. People from these departments should go
out if they want to meet others
About me: IT leader
with multi sectoral „ Devise and implement thorough policy changes to ensure physical and digital security
experience, ranging from of the critical departments
Godrej, Jet Airways,
Marico, Kuoni, to HCC „ Make use of Information Risk Management (IRM) software. It can control printing,
copying, forwarding of files and can even make files invalid after a certain date
However, do remember that one can still never claim to have a foolproof security.

NOTES

Preventing IP threat: http://www.setecinvestigations.com/resources/whitepapers/whitepaper5.php
MORE RESOURCES Preventing data loss: http://www.sans.org/reading_room/whitepapers/dlp/data_loss_prevention_32883

56 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

CUBE CHAT | RAJESH AGGARWAL

PINING
TO BE A
TV STAR
Yes, professional achievers too can
nurture off-beat aspirations, and
Rajesh Aggarwal, IT Manager,
D P Jindal Group is one of them
BY JATI N D E R S IN GH

ith over 15 years of expe- Rajesh also shares responsibilities for

W rience in the IT space,
Rajesh Aggarwal, IT
Manager at D P Jindal
Group, is a fun-loving
and down-to-earth person. And while he is pro-
fessionally armed with degrees in computer sci-
ence and management, he has intense interest in
IT budgeting, vendor management, SLA
management, facilities management and
implementation of the security policy.
Let’s share Rajesh’s mantra of success: dig
deep into details and execute your plan to the
best of your capability. He ardently believes that
active discussion and team involvement are key
dramatics and movies. “I look forward to becom- ingredients for the success of any project. He is
ing a TV star one day,” he says . also a 3G fanatic and is evaluating the different
A Delhi University alumnus, Aggarwal functionalities it can offer to enterprises.
started his career in 1991 as a programmer with Amongst the various projects he has been
Paramarsh Informatics before moving on to involved in his career, developing an in-house
Jagsonpal Pharma in 1992, where he worked ERP system in Jagsonpal Pharma was the
MY SUCCESS until 2005 as Deputy Manager, IT. most challenging assignment, he says. “There
MANTRA In his current role as IT Manager with the was no emphasis on proper training and
Dig deep into details and DP Jindal Group, he is responsible for ERP development. I fought for internal training
execute your plan to the implementation and maintenance, as well as and got approval from the management to get
best of your capability network designing and implementation. the essentials. IT, then, was just developing.

58 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

CUBE CHAT

FAC T F I L E

NAME
RAJESH AGGARWAL

CURRENT DESIGNATI O N
MANAGER IT, DP JINDA L
GROUP

CURRENT ROLE
ERP IMPLEMENTATIO N ,
MAINTENANCE,
NET WORK DESIGNIN G
AND IMPLEMENTATIO N ,
HANDLING BUDGETI N G,
V ENDOR MANAGEME N T,
SL A MANAGEMENT,
IT PROCUREMENT
& FACILITIES
MANAGEMENT AND
IMPLEMENTATION O F
SECURIT Y POLICY

EXPERTISE
ERP IMPLEMENTATIO N

WORK EXPERIENCE

“MENTAL PREPAREDNESS FOR A NEW ROLE AND THE 2005 -PRESENT
DP JINDAL GROUP,

CHALLENGE THAT AN ASSIGNMENT OFFERS IS MORE MANAGER IT

IMPORTANT THAN THE DESIGNATION” 1 992-2005
JAGSONPAL
PHARMACEUTICAL,
DEPUT Y MANAGER IT
Due to high cost and customised needs, auditioned for some laughter shows, but
we had to develop an internal ERP,” he it seems there is no IT involved in acting,” 1 990 - 91
recalls. he exclaims. PARAMARSH
INFORMATICS,
When not at work, Rajesh prefers to Speaking about the level of satisfaction
PROGRAMMER
spend time with his family. Ask him about with his career, Rajesh comments, “It has
his interests, and he will respond in a been an exciting journey so far. There EDUCATION
flash, “I enjoy watching movies. I often go were many hiccups initially however 1 997- 99
out with the family and play with my kids. I have enjoyed both—my passion and MBA FROM IGNOU

Besides this, I am really fond of reading challenges.” 1 993 - 94
about IT innovations.” A proud father When asked if he is eying the PG IN MATHEMATICS
of two adorable girls, Rajesh is a strong opportunity to become a CIO, he smilingly FROM MEERUT
advocate of girls’ education. states, “CIOs need to shoulder very big UNIV ERSIT Y

Though he hasn’t yet got an opportunity responsibilities. While I have been made 1 989 - 90
P HOTOG RA P H Y: D R LO H IA

to fulfill his TV dreams, Rajesh draws offers from decent companies, you need PG DIPLOMA IN
inspiration from his younger daughter who to understand that one cannot go just for COMPUTER SCIENCE
has already appeared on Doordarshan’s a designation. Mental preparedness and
1 985 - 88
reality dance show Dhanak Din Dha. the challenge an assignment offers plays B Sc, COMPUTER
“I am indeed proud of her achievement a substantial role in such decisions, more SCIENCE, UNIV ERSI T Y
but it’s high time I proved my talent. I than the designation,” he reasons. OF DELHI

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 59

UPDATE

OFF THE SHELF A sneak preview of enterprise products,
solutions and services

HP shrinks your world
Taking the video conferencing battle
head-on, Hewlett Packard recently unveiled
SkyRoom—a PC desktop program that
combines aspects of video conferencing, ASUS introduces
Skype and IM. heavy-duty
motherboard
Designed to meet heavy computing
demands, ASUS has introduced a new
motherboard in its ‘The Ultimate Force’
series (TUF). Featuring an Intel P55
chipset, the Sabertooth 55i boasts of
features like the CeraM!X microﬁn coating
and military level tested capacitors. It
claims to provide increased operational
stability for the high-end rigs.

The advanced ceramics-based composi-
tion—commonly used in the aerospace
industry for heat insulation—dissipates
heat rapidly to achieve rapid cooling. As
a result, more heat is rapidly conducted
away from the active system—allowing
users to enjoy previously unattainable
levels of stability.
The product is designed with the KEY FEATURES
“The Sabertooth 55i is the ﬁrst of our TUF
enterprise audience in mind, and it * Does not require a dedicated
series motherboards and the ultimate for
focuses on better quality communication network infrastructure
high performance needs,” claims Vinay
and collaboration rather than just video * Allows up to four team members
Shetty, Country head, Component Busi-
compatibility. It has some hefty system to meet virtually
ness, ASUS India.
requirements: a Core 2 Duo processor * Face-to-face meeting experience
above 2.33 GHz, with 2GB RAM and a * Handles presenters with multiple
2Mbps internet connection. displays
Current video conferencing solutions PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS
CPU: LGA1156 socket for Intel Core i7/Core i5
are designed more for boardroom meetings with multiple people talking.
Processors
For people who need to use such solutions for collaboration on projects,
Chipset: 16GB, DDR3 non-ECC, unbuffered
simple video conferencing is not adequate. HP SkyRoom extends the video

memory, dual channel memory architecture
conferencing solution by adding support for desktop sharing parallel to the
Storage: Upto 6 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s ports, 1 x Ultra
conference. While neither video conferencing nor screen sharing are new, the
DMA 133/100/66 for up to 2 PATA devices, 1 x
combination does introduce some interesting possibilities.
External SATA 3Gb/s port (SATA On-the-Go)
Unlike most screen sharing software out there, HP SkyRoom allows you to
Power Design: 12-phase CPU, 2-phase memory
select an area of the screen, while keeping the rest private. The software also
power, 2-phase VTT CPU power
allows for sharing the control between the participants of the conference.
USB: 14 x USB 2.0 ports (6 at mid, 8 at back panel)
The software encrypts the video, audio and screen share information using a
256bit AES cypher, and can thus work securely on an organisation’s existing network. PRICE: RS 17,700

60 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

UPDATE

MSI launches Netbook Enkay launches
HD-VC solution
for young executives Enkay Technologies has launched
a high-deﬁnition (HD) video confer-
encing solution for desktops and
Price laptops in India.
Rs 23,500 The software-based solution
can prove a boon for enterprises
that have a large telecommuting
workforce, as also for those using
video conferencing in a big way.
The HD VC solution also enables
users on the move to connect
through high speed data cards.
The VC solution that operates
on bandwidth ranging 128 kbps to
4 MB provides interactive multicast
facility on a multicast support-
ing network. It has features like
Micro Star International (MSI) has announced KEY ADVANTAGES session recording, playback and
the availability of the Wind U210 netbook * AMD Athlon Neo Processor streaming support, and enables
in India. Targeted at young managers, this * Windows 7 Home Premium data sharing through pen drive.
portable device with a wide-screen 16:9 aspect * Display 12.1” 16:9 LED Backlit The company claims its solution
ratio, and 12.1-inch display claims to provide * 2GB RAM plus 250GB HDD is fully compatible with ISDN,
14% greater display area when compared to * 1366 x 768 HD Ready Display ADSL, Broadband MPLS/VPN, IP
other netbooks in its size class. * HDMI port networks and windows Vista SP1.
The company claims that the netbook has It also boasts of multiple window
Ergonomic De-stress (EDS) keyboards that has 51% larger key space. Besides, the new layouts to support PTZ camera
product has an inbuilt 1.3 megapixel webcam that comes with MSI’s enhanced face and provides various layout op-
recognition software, Easy Face. The Wind U210 weighs around 1.3 kg is available tions for MS Outlook and LDAP
through all MSI dealers with price starting from INR 23,500. integration.

Brocade introduces KEY ADVANTAGES
* Doubles routing capacity
advanced MPLS router * Fastest route to advanced busi-
ness and MPLS services
* Offers vertical consolidation
with 33% space compression
* Improves operational efficiency
with 66% power consumption
savings

To support the deployment of high- multi-protocol label switching Fast Reroute, hot-standby LSPs, and
reliable virtual private network (MPLS) routers. Brocade claims fault detection and recovery.
(VPN) and IP voice, video, and data the product meets industry-leading The NetIron CER 2000 will
services in a cost effective manner, hardware-based routing capacity. be available by Q1 2010 in six
Brocade has announced the Brocade It also has advanced resiliency at models, including fiber and copper
NetIron CER 2000 Series compact multiple layers through use of MPLS configurations.

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 61

UPDATE

INDULGE The hottest, the coolest and the funkiest next
generation gadgets and devices for you

Get yourself close and unwired with the
best of business and personal objects this
season. While Motorola’s Droid is fresh in KINDLE
(GLOBAL WIRELESS)
flavour, you’ll find it really hard to ignore 6 inch diagonal display,
storage capacity for over
the XPS from Dell. Check these out
1500 books, 3G wireless
access, long battery life,
text to speech feature
HOT MOTOROLA
PRICE:
DROID US $ 2 5 9

Location tagging, Wi-ﬁ,
Android Platform, 5MP
camera and a DVD-quality
recorder. Thinnest Qwerty
slider at 13.7mm
PR I C E :
$2 0 0 - A N D A B OVE

NEW

DELL ADAMO XPS
Ultra thin, 9.99mm thick,
weighs around 3 pounds, 13.4-
inch screen, 2 megapixel webcam
and mono digital microphone, 4GB
dual channel DDR3 SDRAM
RAM and 128GB SSD
PRICE:
US $ 1 , 7 9 9

TESLA
ROADSTER ‘S’
300 mile range, 45
minute quick charge,
0-60 mph in 5.6 sec,
seats 7 people, 17 inch
infotainment touchscreen
PRICE:
US $ 49 , 9 0 0

Like something? Want to share your
objects of desire? Send us your wish-list or
feedback at editor@itnext.in

62 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

UPDATE

BOOK FOR YOU
OPEN DEBATE A platform to air your views on the latest
developments and issues that impact you Hugs that work
A 5-step plan for inspiring and
creating a winning team...

Is it a good idea to make PUBLISHER : BANTAM BOOKS
PRICE : $8.99

the switch to Windows 7?

It looks like a recipe straight out of
our desi Munnabhai flick… But Jack
Mitchell’s book Hug Your People goes
much beyond. In a hyper connected
world, when social networking is the
ASHOK RV NN RANGANATHAN MANISH JAIN hottest buzz and ‘relationships’ are
GM(IS), SUNDARAM MANAGER - BITS, MANAGER IT, JUXT things that can happen virtually, the
CLAYTON M&M FINANCIAL CONSULT top CEO and inspirational speaker
One thing is for sure, that SERVICES While there has been highlights the need for bringing back
Microsoft will repeat the There could be lot of chal- a lot of debate on the the human connection in our busi-
Vista experience. Migrat- lenges—from getting user drawbacks of Windows 7, nesses and our lives.
ing from Windows XP acceptance to an organisa- I would like to highlight
The book focuses on a simple fact of life
to Windows 7 is tough, tion’s ability to manage and the positives. There are
that everyone wants to be appreciated.
because XP is well proven automate the processes. quite a few interesting
It goes on to describe in five simple
and established. Third Besides, one needs to look features in the new OS,
steps what one should do to inspire oth-
party utilities and software at the licensing cost. The like Windows recovery
ers to do better in life—professionally.
working around XP are also existing licenses, software environment, Bit Locker,
proven and time tested. agreements and upgrade Home group policy, WSAF, And while the examples and situations
However migrating from path should be among the AppLocker and others. that Mitchell uses are from corporate
Vista is relatively easier. considerations. The propri- The new OS also has bet- world, and real work places, its impact
Also, the migration to etary application com- ter security features and is not limited to office life alone.
Windows 7 requires user patibility with the latest enhanced driver library. Rather, as Howard Behar, author and
buy-in and budgets for such versions is still a question Also, the fact that Win- director of Starbucks says, the book
migration would be another mark until the confirma- dows 7 is not a memory will help the reader become a better
challenge. Our latest desk- tions from respective ven- hogger like Windows leader and a better person as well.
top and laptop shipments dors on their support on the Vista, means that we will The book also has a Hugging Study
are with Windows 7 only. latest version is received. get better power and Guide, a real utility tool, to give the
In about a month, we can Nonetheless, it definitely is processor management. readers a better understanding of
gauge and monitor the a good idea to migrate to All these make Windows 7 what he means.
performance, and then take Windows 7 as it has some the best release from the
a call for enterprise roll out. great features to offer. Microsoft stable.
IT NEXT VERDICT
A quick tip book with real life office example.
Must read for IT managers. And yes, do not
forget to take the HAT, or Hugging Achieve-
ment Test (HAT). It does help!.
Your views and opinion matter to us. Send us your feedback on stories and the
magazine to the Editor at editor@itnext.in STAR VALUE:

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 63

PRAVIN PRASHANT
MY LOG Founder Editor, iGovernment.in &
Consulting Editor, IT Next

The new

P PC
N OO
:A
‘I’ in IT

ON
TI
RA
ST
U
L
IL

ITMs need to swiftly adapt to
the changing technology trends

Today’s IT Managers (ITMs) are being The list of exciting new technologies for
constantly challenged by shifting tech- enterprise IT applications will continue
nology trends, requiring them to be more to grow as long as cost and efficiency 3 ESSENTIAL
innovative than ever before. The pressures
to innovate continue to mount. A recent
improvements remains a key priority for
ITMs. For example, mobile technologies
READS
INSIGHT | SECURITY SECURITY | INSIGHT

study conducted by IBM found that CIOs will significantly challenge the innovation NO MISHAPS E-mail security
needs to $ 13 bn
ENSURING THE
E-MAIL CHUGS
ON MERRILY
So you are up-

FOR THIS
dating or creat-
guarantee will be spent on se- ing policies for
curity software next e-mail use? It
perimeter

MAIL
year—up from $8.3 bn will be worth-
in 2006

around the world spend most (55%) of their capabilities of ITMs. There is a growing safety, while for IT managers to tackle
the following posers honestly.
confidentiality z Why does secure e-mail impact your

and non- business? (What is driving your organi-

repudiation
BY MOHIT CHHABRA
67
companies are con-
cerned about ensuring
%
sation forward and how security issues
can be a roadblock?)
z What is your intellectual property?
z What do you sell?
z What personal or private information
do your systems contain and how

time on driving innovation and growth, as need to develop applications for the mobile
sensitive is it?
that e-mail should not be z Are you exchanging information with
he most efficient and effective business communication tool today, is capability to manage e-mail security,” says used to disseminate trade partners and distributors?

T electronic mail. According to the Radicati group, there are over 400
million corporate mailboxes worldwide, and more than 45 billion
e-mail messages are transmitted each day. And while businesses are
becoming increasingly dependent on e-mails today, it has also turned
out to be a vault of technical disasters.
Viruses, trojans, spyware and spam sneak into corporate inboxes everyday and
can seriously undermine the performance of corporate IT system. Another cause
Ruchin Kumar, Senior Solution Specialist
at SafeNet.
The IT manager’s top two expectations
from an e-mail security system are
automatic updating and scalability. Since
new viruses emerge all the time, the
security solution must have automatic
secrets or IP, but only

36 % companies
perform
regular audits of out-
bound e-mail
z Who are your customers?
z Who has access to company IP?
z Where and when is information ac-
cessed?
z How is it accessed? Do not overlook
the risk of sensitive information being
sent via mobile devices like Blackberry

environment to aid decision-making on
of concern for the IT manager is the unwarranted leakage of sensitive company update capabilities so that the e-mail and smart phones

opposed to the more traditional IT tasks
SOURCE: GA RTNER

information and data via the e-mail route. So we have IT managers and CIOs systems are fully protected all the time.
spending more and more on security across the globe. Gartner estimates that US The selected solution must also have the
$13.5 billion will be spent on security software next year, up from US $ 8.3 billion capability to accommodate the expanding to disseminate trade secrets or IP but step in granting legal sanctity to digital
in 2006, a CAGR of over 10%. needs of the company. only 36% are currently performing signatures. Also, digitally signed
Any good e-mail security system must accomplish the following three tasks— regular audits of outbound e-mail. e-mails are admissible as evidence in
perimeter security, confidentiality and non-repudiation. Confidentiality Kumar adds, “It’s not just the tools, a court of law. Nearly all e-mail clients
The time card and time sheet were invented but also the policies that will ensure now come with the functionality of
Perimeter security to do one simple job—monitor employees that confidentiality is maintained. integrating digital signatures.
This piece of the e-mail security system guards corporate e-mail infrastructure during work hours. However, employee Today effective freeware is also But no less important than
against the entry of spam, trojans and worms. However, the world of anti-spam tracking has now gone digital with more available to track e-mail activity on the tools is the e-mail use policy

of infrastructure and operations manage- the move, enabling enterprises to be more
and anti-virus has become so crowded that it is difficult to zero in on the best detailed insight. the network.” Implementation of framework which companies
approach and solution. This evolution has been driven in part digital signatures using the Public need to put in practice. The right
Some analysts have declared that stand-alone anti-virus software is dead. But it by today’s widespread use of the Internet Key Infrastructure (PKI) is an effective questions need to be raised and
is too early to write it off. Multi-functionality in the technology world has become and e-mail in the workplace. However, way to kill two birds, confidentiality candidly answered to formulate
the rule rather than the exception. This trend is converging on perimeter security as these pose a serious risk to the information and non-repudiation, with one stone, effective guidelines. (See box:
well. The functionality of the plain vanilla anti-virus software is expanding rapidly that resides inside a company, particularly he observes. Ensuring the e-mail chugs on
to effectively combat the changing threat scenario. It is not too long away when an since a staggering 70% of corporate data merrily). Only the amalgamation
anti-virus software solution will also be routinely expected to prevent data loss. resides in e-mails. Non-repudiation of state-of-the-art technology and
Early signals emerged last year when Sophos acquired Utimaco, a data security A 2008 survey conducted by Non-repudiation is the concept of well-defined company policies can
firm. Forrester about issues around outbound ensuring that a party cannot repudi- ensure that e-mail continues to
“It’s important to look at perimeter security as a solution rather than a simple e-mail security found that two-thirds ate or refute the validity of a statement serve business and industry in a

ment. And if the pressure from their bosses nimble and flexible. Cloud computing is also 26
anti-virus or intrusion protection. Appliances bring in the additional benefit of
leaving application servers undisturbed because of their dedicated processing

IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0
of the companies are concerned about
ensuring that e-mail should not be used
or contract.
The IT Act of 2000 took the first
secure and sound manner. Critical
data needs crucial handling.

D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT

is not enough, the slew of new technologies driving the use of inexpensive and compact No mishaps for this mail. How to
being hurled their way has ITMs on their mobile devices like smart phones, net books, ensure that your e-mail security is
toes when it comes to innovation. and tablet PCs by simply using browser not breached. Pg 26
Take, for example, the rise of Internet technologies. I also see mobile-based query INSIGHT | MOBILITY

executives to attend meetings in unplanned location with no access to
a PC or laptop but only through a mobile phone.
FOUR
MOBILITY | INSIGHT

We believe that mobile applications, which enable meetings and Enterprise location-
collaboration, will top the list of priorities for business organisations based services

technologies and cloud computing. I believe systems gaining popularity soon.
across industries. Mobile meetings and collaboration are already a
reality with new technologies and applications, high speed wireless WHERE, WHAT AND HOW?
networks and feature-rich powerful smart phones. For instance, Location-Based Services (LBS) applications

UNWIRING THE mobile executives can deliver presentations to a remote meeting or
access presentations being delivered at the remote meeting or share
have generally been considered more suit-
able in consumer applications. However, they

ENTERPRISE documents using Cisco WebEx meeting center on their smart phones. are beginning to find their way to enterprise
applications. For instance, there are already
several applications that leverage inexpen-

OUR TOP TWO
Mobile CRM
Mobile customer relationship
management (CRM) is increas-
ingly becoming critical in such a
sive mobile handsets, embedded A-GPS tech-
nology and wireless data network to deliver
much more efficient and effective fleet man-

that these will play an increasingly bigger The variety of form and capability
GETTING MORE PERSONAL business environment. agement and asset tracking system.
WITH CUSTOMERS In such a scenario, the ability With the help of LBS, enterprises can

Mobile applications Every service or product now
offers hundreds of choices to
customers. For business organi-
to service customers’ demands
while outside of the office is
becoming a necessity for an
become more productive and efficient in the
realms of transportation, logistics, healthcare,
emergency services, security, disaster
sations, this means not just increasingly mobile workforce. management and much more. Many countries
more competition but also more Making the CRM application have taken the lead in LBS.
The growing use of mobile devices demanding customers. Custom- mobile will not only help
ers now expect faster response companies build a more loyal
is bringing about several changes
in consumer behaviour, forcing
to their enquiries and real time and happy customer base but also
generate more business.
FIVE

of mobile devices poses the first big
resolution of their complaints.

role in the enterprise IT environment, businesses to rework their marketing
and customer-relationship strategies.
Today businesses are increasingly being
conducted outside office at unconventional
locations as mobile devices and applications
ONE
THREE
Mobile marketing
applications
UP, CLOSE AND PERSONAL
one on which people spend the
most time compared to televi-
sion, newspapers or even Inter-
net. Mobile marketing can help
companies get more personal in
their sales and marketing cam-
Governance, risk and
compliance applications
ADDRESSING REGULATORY AND IN-
FORMATION SECURITY CONCERNS
As more and more workers go mobile, busi-
ness organisations face a new challenge—how
to ensure compliance with regulations when
Mobile collaboration Mobile applications that paigns as they can reach out to critical information is accessed outside their
let executives carry ‘office’ in their pocket. and conferencing address marketing needs will different target segments with networks. Moreover, how do they ensure their

given their significant productivity innovation challenge for ITMs. How and
be extremely critical. Not only customised marketing commu- mobile workers have any-time-any-where
Moreover, the advent of ‘cloud’, which could FROM HOT-DESKING TO HOT- have mobile phones become nications. This will be especially secure access to information? This is partic-
significantly increase the computing power CONFERENCING the number one mass media effective for companies with a ularly critical in industries like healthcare,
Meetings and conferencing are tool but have also emerged as diverse customer base. financial and banking services and in stock
of mobile devices, is poised to bring drastic important business enablers. It is exchange listed companies that must comply
changes in the way mobile applications are being easy to connect with a business exec- with hundreds of regulations.
utive on the move and include him in However, one of the key challenges that
developed, acquired and used.
IT NEXT identifies five mobile application segments
an important meeting at office by just
dialing his mobile phone. However,
CLOUD COMPUTING WILL mobile enterprises will face is effective
management of risks and compliance-related

that could have a significant impact not only on many times, the mobile participant DRASTICALLYCHANGETHEWAY issues that growing mobility will entail. It is
may need to have access to presenta-
MOBILE APPLICATIONS ARE in this context that they will need an effective

benefits. Furthermore, the use of open what to make available on what device and
the way your company operates but also on its tions being delivered at the meeting; mobile application or an array of applications
productivity, efficiency and overall profitability. These he must refer to a document or share
one with other participants.
DEVELOPED, ACQUIRED AND that lets them manage all mobile applications
with ease and addresses all their compliance
application categories should top your shopping list if
you are looking at investing in making enterprise-wide
Also, as more and more business USED ACROSS ENTERPRISES and security-related concerns.
is conducted on the move, mobile
ICT infrastructure more mobile. collaboration and meetings are
While these, we believe, will be the top five mobile application segments that will attract enterprise attention and investment, it is noteworthy
becoming important. Even now,
that the definition of mobility will continue to evolve dramatically over the next few years.
BY RAVI S P it is not uncommon for business

standards and technologies significantly to whom will require perpetual problem-
28 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 29

Top 5 mobile applications.
reduces dependence on a provider and solving and testing. Add to that constant
Applications that should top an
lowers switching costs. Thus, instead pressure to port PC-centric applications organisation’s shopping list. Pg 28
of being stuck with a non-performing, to the mobile and you have the perfect
INTERVIEW | SIMON DALE SIMON DALE | INTERVIEW

over-charging service provider, one can platform for our ITMs to innovate.
“THERE WAS NO
switch to a better alternative as and when New technologies like cloud computing RECESSION
IN INDIA”
required. Also, given the ease of use of and mobile will change ITMs life like never SAP Asia-Pacific’s Senior V-P (sales) Simon Dale, in a freewheeling
interview with Shashwat DC, discusses the global slowdown, the
company’s mid-term strategy change and why it is extending itself
beyond ERP into business intelligence

There has been a we saw business intelligence, and around ERP. Meanwhile, the
lot of talk about the performance management, and implementation and maintenance
transformation of SAP. When risk management as the markets is taken care of by our partners

these technologies, ITMs don’t have to before. The faster they raise their sights to
did this process start and of the future. We also realised who are masters in this domain.
what were the objectives? that it would take too long to build And I firmly believe that
Simon Dale: The initiative usu- everything we needed. So we this strategy (of aligning with
ally referred to as SAP mid-term bought Business Objects. That got partners) has worked perfectly
strategy was put in motion a few us into the space and that is also for us because in a value chain,
years back. At that point, we looked how we transformed. where different organisations
inwards. The need for it was fairly are involved, all are going to add
obvious, as the core business five Customers today are looking to value, and the combined value
years ago was ERP and it was for a single vendor who can will always be larger than the
growing only by a small percent- meet all their requirements individual (one). I think that if
age. In order to maintain our lead- right from hardware to we were going to do everything

invest too much time in learning how to focus on innovating with these technologies, ership and gain greater market
share, we needed to grow our busi-
ness a lot more swiftly.
That is when we decided to move
into adjacent spaces, especially in
the business user space as we call
software to consultancy. What
does SAP bring to the table?
We still see ourselves as a soft-
ware vendor which works closely
with an ecosystem of partners to
meet the requirements of our cus-
ourselves, it would either distract
us from our core business, or may
not allow us to scale in areas in
which we would like to grow.

Traditionally, SAP has been
an ERP vendor. Is there a
PHOTOGRAPHY: M EXY XAVI ER

it. These are businesses that do not tomers. Our business has grown
normally think of using an ERP. and (we have) been successful by strategic shift in the focus?
Most of them are managers and building active partnerships with I won’t really term it as a strategic
analysts who, while intricately companies of all shapes and sizes. shift. We continue to focus on ERP

leverage them. All this means they can put the better it is for their growth and that of
involved in the decision-making So we remain independent in our even as we add to our capabilities
process, are not direct users of work, and continue to work on our in the business user space. We are
ERP. In the business user space, USP, that is, building solutions in just expanding our business. In

44 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 45

more focus on driving innovation in usage their organisations. In fact, it is about
No recession in India. SAP’s Simon
and application of these technologies to time that we start calling them Innovation Dale on the slowdown and the com-
deliver greater business impact. Technology Managers. pany’s changing strategies. Pg 44

64 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 – J A N 2 0 1 0

IT Next January 2010 Issue

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