Archive for November, 2009
L U V the W Recovery – Talk by Mr. Arjun Malhotra – Chairman, Headstrong
After a round of king-sized breakfast hosted by Karan Bajwa of Microsoft at their Infinity Tower Building in Gurgaon, it was time for yet another riveting session for the CXO community in Gurgaon. In the past, we’ve seen the likes of Pramod Bhasin, Krishnakumar Natarajan, Kiran Karnik address on various topics of strategic interest to a roomful of CEOs, completely mesmerized by the quality of delivery. Naturally, the expectations were set very high. Mr Pavan Vaish, who runs IBM Daksh and the Chair for NRC Gurgaon, delivered the welcome address and introduced yet another illustrious speaker – Mr Arjun Malhotra of Headstrong and spoke highly of the latter’s achievements in setting up immensely successful entrepreneurial ventures, going right back to the 80’s and the emergence of HCL. Mr Vaish also touched upon briefly, the crux of the discussion for the day – Year 2009, being largely characterized by downturn, but would growth eventually return in 2010? If so, how does one strike a vital balance between caution and spotting an opportunity. The ambience was created and the stage set for Mr Arjun Malhotra’s address to NRC Gurgaon.
E-governance: The road less travelled
Mark Twain famously said, “I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one.” Unlike Twain, Prakash Rane, the chief promoter of ABM Knowledgeware, sniffed the opportunity that existed in the e-governance sector early on. At a time when the use of IT in governance was limited, Prakash ventured into the field of e-Governance.
The EMERGE Insight survey – Help us to serve you better
One of the most important initiatives is the NASSCOM EMERGE forum, which was set up in 2005 with the objective to help young and emerging companies to grow and scale up to become medium and large companies. Over the past four years, we have launched a series of programmes such as the Mentorship Program, EMERGE 50, Made in India product showcase and the EMERGEOUT conclave – all of which have been extremely successful thanks to the collaborative efforts of the EMERGE community.
The Need for ITIL Compliance and Training
“Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don’t think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without the talking about the other.” Bill Gates
A Booster Dose of Expertise, Insight and Advice
When Savi first approached the team of mentors at NASSCOM for assistance and expertise, the management team thought that they could gain a few insights in clarifying their goals. But the mentorship program brought them far greater benefits and offered them more guidance than they could have hoped for. NASSCOM spoke to Veena Mahendru, President and Co-Founder, Savi, to find out how the company has been transformed by its experience.
Transcript of the Go-to-market workshop at the NASSCOM Product Conclave
The Go-to-market workshop at the Product Conclave addressed the Question that allows an enterprise to emerge from a startup – the facility that marks the coming-of-age in the life of a startup. The workshop started with Brand building, and covered the range of channels you can use to reach your customers – Direct, digital and partner. The session was rich with practical tips and specific businesses applications.
Nasscom Mentorship program – must do!
Yesterday, Avinash and I had the good fortune to be part of the Nasscom mentorship program. No, we were not the mentors, we were being mentored. Sanjeev Aggarwal (Helion Ventures, founder Daksh) and Rajiv Puri (ex CEO JobsAhead.com).
The session lasted for almost two hours and we got a wealth of insights from these two gentlemen on how to grow businesses. There were some pointed observations from them that made us look up and take notice.
Live Blogging the 53rd session of the EMERGE Friday’s 2.0 on Exploring Business Opportunities in Germany at NASSCOM
As the Official Blogger for the NASSCOM Friday’s 2.0, many people ask me, that I would surely have a plethora of knowledge with me, as I have the opportunity to attend all the sessions and also since I LIVE blog the sessions, I must be highly attentive.
Wanted Fools and Angels
Alexander Pope’s 1709 “Essay on Criticism” had these immortal lines “…for fools rush in where angels fear to tread”. He was of course referring to the literary critics of his time and, in his time, implied some one who behaved foolishly rather than referring to a simpleton or someone lacking in intelligence as it does now.
What’s the DNA of your company?
Early last year, I met a startup team that was building the next great mobile application. They had built a system that could offer mobile social networking to end consumers. The team had great technologists including a few successful entrepreneurs among them. They were convinced that their system would be the next great thing for consumers; they were supremely confident (bordering on overconfidence) about the uniqueness of their offering. This company was trying to build a company focused on the end-consumer as their customer. This meant that they had to build a brand, build a system that would be ridiculously easy for consumers to use, have a mechanism that would keep attracting people back to them, and figure out a way to make money. Of course, companies like Google and MySpace were their role models. The team had enormous expertise in building and running systems for businesses, selling and marketing to businesses and supporting business customers. They however had no experience in developing consumer facing businesses, no experience of creating and running a brand, and no experience of the mobile world. And most importantly, they were targeting a consumer segment (namely, youth) that was far removed from the world the team inhabited – for example, the team was comprised of technology people in their late thirties to early forties who didn’t blog, didn’t socially network and essentially didn’t do the social things that their customers were involved with. Given that they were great technologists, they quickly figured out the nuances of mobile technology. But solving the other issues required a different mind-set, a different set of experiences, a different set of expertise and involvement. In short, it required a different organizational DNA.
