Personal blog of Prasad Ajinkya
The Big Fat Geek’s thoughts on Business and how business processes can be automated via workflows and technology.
With the recent outages of the online service Twitter. Many have started asking the question, how good is a service really without the people who drive that service?
And another thought that comes to mind is – have they done that great a work if that service goes down without them? When do you call your work complete … when it is sustainable without you or when its completely and utterly dependent on you.
Thoughts welcome.
When I was doing my PGDM at IIM-I, I had taken one course known as IT Enabled Marketing (ITEM). The crux of that course was a simple model known as the 7C model. The point I am rekindling this knowledge is because I aim to use it in real life business for a change. The theory that was taught two years back is finally going through chrysalis and culminating (in what I hope) to reality. Any web portal should have as many of the 7C’s as possible, they would be –
The latest web portal that I was working on had just 4C’s … we are currently working on the 5th one. Will keep you posted on this.
We are in the process of releasing a website targeting SME’s. The portal is aimed at collecting orders from enterprises for customized corporate merchandise. You select the product, you upload your design, you put in your logo, we will deliver the product to you.
As part of our online marketing plan, we decided to go hire on search engine optimizer. This entire process of hiring an SEO was certainly an eye-opener. To understand this, you have to be an Indian … the way an Indian thinks is slightly different. The exact term I am referring to is jugaad … this very characteristic of an Indian to get things done … by hook or by crook.
So, how do you increase the page ranking of your website the jugaad way? Simple, you become a link-whore, or a forum spammer, or someone who keeps on flooding the open directories of the web.
What happened to the fine art of online PR? Is it alive or do I have to hire on these? Somehow it does not feel right. What will happen later on when the Semantic web revolution begins?
As I edit this piece after 5 years, it’s good to know that I was right (hah!! high-five former self!). There was a spam comment lying on this very post which I have deleted, and we are very much in the midst of semantic and structured SEO.
Online PR these days has become a paid service very akin (and oft confused) to/with SEO.
First it was Dell, and now Asus!!
Its great to see the era of designer hardware in India. Where users get to sport their identity by the very laptop decoration they use. Gone are the days where executives would sit tinkering on their ugly, grey/black boxes looking so busy and mighty. Nowadays, you see young bachhas in faded jeans and t-shirts carrying lappies of all shapes and sizes, but very few of them would be actually working while waiting at the flight terminal.
Soon, we will see more customer centric models where the customer can completely customize the look of his/her laptop. I can hardly wait for that day!!
At eYantra Ind Ltd, we have a very nice culture of weekly pooja. Every Friday evening, the employees assemble in front of the office’s devghar and the pooja begins. This rite is performed by our Accounts manager (I do not think its just a coincidence!), Mr. Koteswara Rao. Personally speaking, I like this weekly rite being a god fearing person myself.
Today, while I was talking to one colleague on this, he informed me that many Indian corporates are into this, a lot of SMEs, and some big ones like Satyam as well. He then went on to inform me that his friend does this for a living!! He goes to Satyam every week, and they have set up this employee pooja fund, which is given to the pujari as dakshina! And a pretty decent amount at that. So true, how many of us do take the time to do a small pooja every day? Its not surprising then that many of us dont even know how to proceed when its needed. My daily ritual consists of a simple incense stick and a small prayer, but for formal occassions, I would definitely want one Corporate Pujari for myself!!
Interesting business no? In fact a friend of a friend has launched a business of his own just on this theme. Its known as Sacred Moments, wherein he supplies to individuals and businesses with kits for occassions like these. Looks like some people are into Corporate Karma after all.
We are in the middle of SAP Go-Live! and a lot of the users are facing problems getting acclimatized to the new user interface and work flows of the ERP. We tried multiple ways of doing things to ease the adoption process … training sessions, training manual, hands-on personnel, et al. Nothing worked as efficiently, as involving the user a little more (hands-on personnel works, but for that then I have to spare valuable SAP resources!!).
Following a lengthy discussion, it was proposed that we create a SAP blog, wherein users would login and post their queries regarding SAP, the answers and the discussion that follows there-in would be through the comments section of each post. The idea was weird at first, but soon employees have started posting their queries.
First time I was involved in using a blog as an enterprise tool for collaborative discussions. Chalk up one more for corporate blogs!!
One day after a good satisfying lunch, Don and I hitched an autorickshaw back to our office. The road on which we got the ride is a one-way and the autowallah was reluctant to come along, saying that his children will have to wait. We assured him that we knew a shortcut (that we did), and we would walk the rest of the way ensuring that he gets to his kids on time.
Continue reading “Customer Orientation”