Indian IT Industry Shouldn’t Drink The “Move Up The Value Chain” Kool-Aid

Every now and then, the Indian IT industry has been exhorted to “move up the value chain” (read develop products) or face extinction. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard the value chain Kool-Aid in my two decade career in software but the latest one was in the LinkedIn article entitled The Kirana … Read more

Industry Veteran Generates Buzz For New ERP Services Company In USA

Here’s our latest success story: Industry Veteran Generates Buzz For New ERP Services Company In USA SAP Customer List delivers readymade audience This veteran from the Enterprise Application space launched a new ERP services company. To spread awareness of the company’s offerings, he proposed to conduct an outreach campaign targeted at existing SAP customers in … Read more

Core Engineering Covets Top IIT Talent But Does Top IIT Talent Covet Core Engineering?

According to Economic Times, IIT Bombay has acceeded to the government’s request to open up first day of placement season to core engineering industries. This is despite the fact that these industries offer only “half of the average Rs 30 lakh (~US$ 46K) salary” benchmark set by traditional Day 1 prima-donnas like investment banking, ecommerce, … Read more

Making The Case For A Passport With Lifetime Validity

When I’d visited the local Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) to renew my passport around a year ago, I was delighted with the experience: The staff was courteous. By having a photocopier on premise for last-minute copies through to a well appointed waiting area and a modern display system, the PSK fulfilled its vision statement, adjective … Read more

Three Ways To Hide Your Secret Sauce

They say every product or service must have a secret sauce. Some startups take the secrecy part of this advice to the extreme by going into stealth mode until they launch. Some others point to today’s open world of startup events, mentoring sessions, Twitter and TED talks and question if it’s even possible to keep … Read more

#ProNetChoice Lets You Have Your #NetNeutrality Cake And Eat It Too

Enough water has flown under the bridge since I wrote Goodbye #NetNeutrality Hello #ProNetChoice. During this period, I got a chance to deep dive into the principle of “zero rating” and examine whether it can coexist with Net Neutrality. In this post, I’m pleased to say that #ProNetChoice, the concept introduced in the previous post, … Read more

Digital Marketing Must Get Rid Of Fly-By-Night SEO Operators

We focus on the SEM and CRO elements of digital marketing and work with third party SEO service providers whenever the technique could be useful in a specific campaign. (For a primer on the difference between SEM and SEO, see my blog post entitled SEO or SEM?.) Through the years, we’ve found it extremely hard … Read more

Empowering Frontline Is Still Key To Customer Delight

Those of you that have read the all time classic business book In Search of Excellence might recall the anecdote of the automobile company that rushes a part by helicopter to a customer whose car has broken down in the middle of a desolate highway. Needless to say, the company wins the customer’s loyalty for … Read more

Why Advertisers Must Pay For Ads Seen By Bots

There’s a raging debate about ad visibility in recent times. Much as I’d like to think it’s triggered by my post Don’t Fall For The ‘Invisible Versus Unseen Ads’ Charade, the real reason doesn’t matter. The crux of the issue is that advertisers are claiming that ~15% of their online ads are seen by bots, … Read more