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BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY IN THE U.S. & INDIA SEPTEMBER - 2009 SILICONINDIA.COM

PUBLISHED SINCE1997

sil iconindia

BobbyGurvinder Singh, CEO


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silicon i n d i a

[InMy Opinion]

4 Important Entrepreneurial

LessonsBy Bharat Desai,Syntel

[Infocus]H1-B Restriction:SiliconValleytobe HurtInd ians Pa id 20 Times LessThanUS Employees

CloudComputing

IT industrysLatestHypeTalentDeficit to HauntIndianFirms

Americans, Britonsvisited

Indiathemostin 2008

[VCChakra]

Simply Hired Raises

$4.6 millionin Series D round

of Funding

[CEOSpotlight]

[Company Spotlight]

EC Manage:Betting on Effi-ciencyand CompetencyBy Jayakishore Bayadi

[Technology]

ROIfrom WebExperienceManagement:Making theCaseBy Loren Weinberg& ElaineChen,

FatWire Software

[Business]

A Journeyin CEMCustomers

Perceive ValueBased on Expe-

riencesThey Receive

[SI20 Profile]

[Entrepreneur 101]

EntrepreneurialVisionBy Gunjan Sinha

[SiliconIndia Blogs]

06

10

13

13

22

24

28

43

44

46

Contents August 2009

14Cover Story

By Jayakishore Bayadi

BobbyGurvinder Singh, CEO

CellSpin

CEll phonE tothE nExt lEvEl

Expanding

IndianInfrastructureSecWayfor TomorrowsGrowByAnilSeth,ProjectsandMar

Limited(SPML)

Telecom theGreat Leve

Economic Strata

ByAnil Nair, AvayaGlobalCo

HavingLostits Competiti

TextileIndustryFacesDe

BySanjayKJain,TTLtd

FutureOutlookfor Ceme

ByVinodJuneja,BrajBinaniG

PharmaceuticalsHealthyByRangaIyer,Wyeth

IndianElectricalEquipme

Switchingto FasterGrowBySunilSikka,HavellsIndia

IndiaThe RoadAhead for

ByGovindShrikhande,Shoppe

IndianShippingIndustryS

RoughWeatherByShri S.Hajara,

TheShippingCorporationofIn

31

32

34

37

38

39

40

42


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Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

Harvi Sachar

Managing Editor

Pradeep Shankar

Associate Editors

Jayakishore Bayadi ChristoJacobJaya SmithaMenon

Senior CorrespondentsAnithaGovind VimaliSwamy

Correspondent Eureka Bharali

Sr.Visualizer RaghuKoppalOnline Manager Suresh Kumar

Subscription Manager P Magendran

M

ai

li

ng Ad

d

re

s

s

SiliconIndia Inc44790 S. Grimmer Blvd

Suite 202,Fremont, CA 94538

T:510.440.8249, F:510.440.8276

Business Development Manager

Mona SharmaT:510.344.0450

siliconindiaSeptember2009 ,volum e 12-08 (ISSN 1091-9503)

Published monthly by siliconindia,Inc.

siliconindias circulation is audited and certifiedby BPA International. siliconindia is available throughmainstream retail outletssuch asBarnes& Noble,Borders,andTowerRecords.Itis alsoavailableatethnicAsian IndianstoresinmajorIndianhotspotsacrosstheU.S.Themagazineis alsodis-

tributed at majortrade shows and conferences,including Comdex,InternetWorldand PCExpo.

Copyright 2009 siliconindia, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproductionin whole or part of any text, photography or illustrations without writ-ten permission from the publisher is prohibited.The publisher assumes

no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or illustra-tions. Views and opinions expressed in this publication are not neces-sarily those of the magazine and accordingly, no liability is assumed bythe publisher thereof.

siliconindia

To subscribe to siliconindia

Visit www.siliconindia.com or send email [email protected]

SEPTEMBER - 2009

Editorial

Indias maiden moon mission launched on October 22 last yearwas abruptly terminated, as the radio contact with the Chan-

drayaan-1 spacecraft was lost last month. A mission life of

two years lasted only for ten months. However ISRO scientistsclaimed that the mission was a great success and 95 percent of itsobjectives were completed.

Government has set up an assessment committee to look into

the performance of the mission in totality. But what is more impor-tant for the team of Chandrayaan is to learn from the failure and

bounce back with full vigor with the already announced Chan-drayaan II.

As Murphys Law states Things will go wrong in any given sit-uation, if you give them a chance. Or more commonly, whatever

can go wrong, will go wrong.

In the Indian context, it is a great challenge for the team from anemotional and social point of view since somehow failure is not re-

spected in our culture. The social stigma and pressure attached tofailure poses the biggest challenge. This is perhaps one of the

biggest stumbling blocks in building a Silicon Valley in India.As Randy Komisar, Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

says, What distinguishes the Silicon Valley is not its successes, butthe way in which it deals with failures. The Valley is about experi-mentation, innovation, and taking new risks. Only a small business

that can deal with failure and still make money can exist in this en-vironment. It is a model based on many, many failures and a few

extraordinary successes.Whether in profession, project or business, failures are bound

to happen. By learning to bounce through repetitive process of suc-

cess and failure, you will develop a resilience that will lead to thetrue business confidence that will ultimately determine our success.

We at siliconindia always attempt to talk to entrepreneurs, busi-ness leaders, technology professionals across the ranks to under-

stand some of the mistakes they did and their learning. We could allshare and learn from each other and in turn will drive the economy.

As usual, please keep your contributions, feedback and comments

coming!

Harvi SacharEditor-in-Chief

[email protected]

Learning from Failure


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silicon i n d i a |6|S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 9

The story of Syntel is one of

transition and evolution. Imoved to the United States

in the late 1970s while

working for an Indian tech-nology services firm. Through my work

as a consultant, I realized that there wasa significant business opportunity deliv-

ering high-quality programming talent tocompanies in need of software expertise.

I decided to further my education by at-

tending The University of Michigan onnights and weekends, eventually earning

an M.B.A.In 1980, my wife Neerja and I were

both in graduate school and foundedSyntel (then called Systems Interna-

tional) using our savings of $2,000. Westarted providing IT staffing services to

Detroit-based automotive companies,

and earned $30,000 in our first year ofoperations.

We faced the usual challenges gettingthe business off the ground landing our

first customers, convincing people tocome work for us, and learning new sets

of skills like legal, finance, and HR.

We also had to address some of thenagging doubts that every entrepreneur

faces, like the questions: Is this really what you are most pas-

sionate about?

Do you believe you truly have some-

thing unique to offer?

As a fledgling company, how willyou attract large corporate clients?

Answering these questions

frankly and thoughtfully broughtthings into sharp focus, and changed

the direction of the company. It be-came clear that the long-term business

opportunity was in taking the work tothe people rather than bringing the

people to the work. It was then thatour mission began to change, and Syn-

tel started to undergo its first transfor-

mation.

The catalyst was the revolution in

global telecommunications that took

place in the early 1990s, which was areal game-changer for the IT industry.From that point forward, the conven-

tional time and materials onsite-staffing

model became pass and globalizationbecame the name of the game.

As Syntel continued to grow and

evolve into a global company, Iquickly faced another steep learning

curve. I experienced the same stark re-alization that every successful entre-

preneur comes to face at some point oranother. I suddenly lay awake at night

telling myself, How do we attract theright talent in order to grow the com-

pany? There are two ways to address

this challenge:

1. Learn new skills yourself and try to

cope with the increased complexity

of the business.2. Recognize the need for quality tal-

ent and establish a process to attract

and retain the best people to grow

the company.

Entrepreneurial Lessons

ImportantBharat Desai

An exercise in continuous evolution and anticipation of

trends; anticipating the direction the market is likely to

take and staying ahead of the curve

By Bharat DesaiThe author is C hairman, Syntel

in myopinion4


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For me, the latter one was the clearchoice.

In 1992, Syntel opened its firstGlobal Development Center in Mumbai,

which signaled the first of two majortransitions first from a staffing business

to a solutions business, then from onsite

delivery to an offshore delivery model.What has happened since then has

been an exercise in continuous evolutionand anticipating trends. From Y2K, the

dot-com bust, the push to offshore-cen-

tric delivery, the emergence of Web-en-abled business services, the growth ofKnowledge Process Outsourcing right

through to remote infrastructure services,

to cloud computing and SaaS, we havetried to anticipate the direction the market

is taking and stay ahead of the curve.Though it may have seemed chaotic

at times simultaneously trying to stayprofitable, maintaining the right mix of

skills, and retraining our workforce to

avoid obsolescence looking back overnearly thirty years in business, it is clear

that several rock-solid constants havetaken both Syntel and the IT industry for-

ward. The following are the importantones among them:

1. The Path toward Globalization is

Irreversible

Syntel itself is proof of this. Today,over 80 percent of our work is per-

formed in India, and we have suc-cessfully transitioned our core legal,

finance, and human resources func-

tions to India. This makes us one ofthe very few companies to have suc-

cessfully made the transition frombeing 100 percent onsite, and posi-

tions us uniquely to help our clientsmake this journey themselves as they

adapt to the new realities of the globaleconomy

Tomorrows entrepreneurs can rest

assured that this trend will continue,as clients increasingly focus attention

on their core businesses and continueto outsource non-essential functions

to improve cost, quality, flexibility,and time-to-market.

2. Talent is irreplaceable

From entry-level programmers totop management, you will sink or

swim based on the skills and talents

of those around you. For example, I

recently stepped back from my posi-tion as CEO to assume the role of amentor, coach, and strategic advisor.

In turning over the reigns to Ke-shav Murugesh, I was able to place

my trust in an experienced, seasonedexecutive who has progressed within

the company from CFO to COO and

now to CEO. At Syntel we believe inpromoting from within, and in con-

tinuously training and educating ouremployees. Over the past three

years, the training, retention, and de-velopment programs launched by

our Global HR Head, Srikanth Karra

and his team have made a huge dif-ference to Syntel, and an enormous

contribution to our growth.I believe that investing in your em-

ployees not only reinforces loyalty,but also ensures that you have the

best talent to develop solutions for

your customer problems. It also cre-ates an atmosphere that is collegial

instead of hierarchical, which bringsout the best in people.

3. World-class Infrastructure is

Critical for Brand Building

Since we opened our first Global De-velopment Center in Mumbai, we

have recognized that world class fa-cilities and infrastructure are critical

to building a strong brand to attract

talent and customers.Since we broke ground on our

Pune Development Campus in 2006,

Syntel has continued to invest ag-

gressively in infrastructure, with thevast majority of capital expenditures

focused on our India-based facilities.Syntel has committed to investing

nearly $100 million in capital ex-

penditure on our Pune and Chennaicampus facilities.

3. Customer for Life

One of the first lessons that any en-trepreneur will learn is that since

landing a client can be so tough, why

not keep them for life? Client cen-tricity, superior execution, and deliv-

ery excellence should not just beviewed as operational goals or met-

rics they are the lifeblood of your business and the path to customer

loyalty.One of the advantages that entre-

preneurs and smaller startup compa-

nies have is their ability to be nimbleand flexible in adapting to customer

needs. Whereas other players in our

space may focus on a factory ap-proach, Syntel has worked over theyears to retain this entrepreneurial

philosophy and to tailor our business

model to stay flexible and adapt tothe changing realities of the global

IT market.

Conclusion

Although the business world has

changed dramatically in the past 30

years, these four principles have re-mained constant. If you have the drive,

stamina, and flexibility to take on thechallenge of running your own business,

these simple precepts should serve youwell in the long run. They will enable

you to think critically and make toughdecisions that will keep you and your

business going through todays uncertain

and turbulent market and into the future.

Good luck! si

Client centricity, superior execution, and delivery

excellence are not just operational goals or metrics

they are the lifeblood of business and the path to

customer loyalty

siliconindiaFrom high profile columnists to Innovations

in business siliconindiagives you relevant

information that truly matters to you.

The only magazine thatcovers business, technology, career, and

entrepreneurship for Indian professionals

in the U.S.

It also presents bold, forthright and objective

views of the trends in the Indian industry.

We bring you information, ideas and insights to

help you navigate through today's changing

business landscape.

$24 for 12 issues

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siliconindia Inc, 44790,S Grimmer Blvd, # 202 Fremont, CA - 94538

Write to us at: [email protected]

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You may call us at 510-440-8249

8


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in


in

Cloud computing is the latest

super-hyped concept in IT. Ac-cording to Gartners latest Hyper

Cycle Report (2009), cloud computingis a very simple idea, but there are many

issues regarding its scope for deploy-ment that makes it a subject ripe for a

Gartner Hyper Cycle Report.

Gartner examined the maturity of1,650 technologies and trends in 79 in-

dustry areas for this report. Technolo-gies at the peak of inflated expectations

in 2009 include cloud computing, e- books, and Internet TV, while social

software and micro-blogging sites havetipped over the peak and will soon ex-

perience disillusionment among enterprise users, says Jackie Fenn, Vice

President, Gartner Fellow, and Co-au-

thor of Mastering the Hype Cycle.

As enterprises seek to consume theirIT services in the most cost-effectiveway, interest is growing in drawing a

broad range of services from the cloud,rather than from on-premises equipment.

The level of hype around cloud comput-ing in the IT industry is deafening, with

every vendor expounding its cloud strat-

egy and its variants such as private cloudcomputing and hybrid approaches, com-

pounding the hype.Another report released this year that

paints cloud computing as over-hyped is

the McKinsey Reporttitleair on cloud computing

this report, large organizamoney through adoptio

technology. While clou

optimal for small and

businesses, large compaless if using traditional dtualization is the optima

by implementing virtualicorporations can reduce

toring in depreciation an

Large technology launching new initiative

cating enterprise customhype, cloud computing

catapulted to the forefronand governments use this

cept in the real world. si

Cloud ComputingIT industrys Latest Hype

Several bright minds outsideAmerica fly to the US seeking

better opportunities in places likeSilicon Valley, which is referred as the

entrepreneurs Mecca. However, with

the hue and cry surrounding the H-1Bvisas the flow of immigrants into the US

may get affected, which may diminishthe tech prowess of the most technolog-

ically advanced nation in the world inthe long run.

There was at least one immigrantfounder in 25 percent of tech compa-

nies established in the US between

1995 and 2005, reveals a study by theDuke University and the University of

California. These entities generatedover $52 billion sales, while creating

over 450,000 jobs in 2005.The US administration under

George W Bush pushed for immigration

reforms, which failed to take shape.

Now Barack Obama is in the WhiteHouse; are these reforms on his priority

list? Recently, Obama assured pro-im-migrant activists that the reforms would

not lose its importance to the healthcare

and energy legislations.However, Senators Richard Durbin

and Charles Grassley have sponsored abill to stop the alleged abuse of H-1B

visas. They have introduced a legisla-tion to restrict the number of H1-B visas

issued. These visas are popular among

major technology companies that bringsome of the brightest minds to the US.

The current situation can make theUS less attractive to immigrants, who

may eventually contribute to the coun-

trys growth. Take the examples ofVikram Pandit, Indra Nooyi, or Sanjay

Jha who came to the US and are nowheading some of the largest companies

on the planet.Commentators like CNNs Lou

Dobbs have highlighted a huge reversebrain drain from the US, which has

been his dream, to be closer to reality.

Immigrants that have received their ed-ucation and work experience in the US,

are packing their bags to go back totheir homelands. In addition, for the

first time in five years there is also adecline in the number of foreign stu-

dents seeking admissions in the US

universities.

H1-B Restriction: Silicon Valley to be Hurt

After showcasing their talents to

the world all these years, com-panies in India could face a

huge talent deficit in the comingyears, says a report by Deloitte. Ac-

cording to the report, the reason forthis scarcity is that the country is not

producing enough people equipped

with the right skills required for theglobalized environment.

The New India Manager report alsostates that new talent management

model in companies will have to shiftin their outlook. The report suggests

that the paradigm of scarcity of jobs

should convert to scarcity of talent.Unless a fundamental shift occurs in

the educational system, it will con-tinue to produce degree holders that

will lack skills to operate in a corpo-rate environment, says Manish

Agrawal, Vice President of Strategy

and Innovation at Deloitte.

Agrawal has authored a study onthe evolution of the Indian manager

from the pre-liberalization periodtill now. The report states that glob-

alization has helped Indian man-agers to develop their competencies

and a global outlook that has un-

leashed a lot of creativity and inno-vation in the domestic industry.

However, not many managers inthe country have the required soft

skills such as communication abili-ties for operating in a global envi-

ronment among others. We need to

build such skill sets to enhance ourtalent pools, Agrawal adds.

The Deloitte report states that it re-mains to be seen as to what extent the

country would be able to enhance thecompetency level of its young popula-

tion to make them employable. This is

also a challenge, which the govern-ment would have to deal with in the

years to come, it adds. According toAgrawal, if the shift is made now it

will take 5-10 years to generate a goodquantity of employable talent. si

Talent Deficit to Haunt Indian Firms


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s i l i c o nindia |silicon i n d i a |12|S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 9

Americans and Britons continueto top the list of foreign arrivals

in India. According to the latestfigures published by the Tourism Min-

istry, out of the 5.37 million foreigntourists who visited India last year,

827,866 were Americans and 787,197

were Britons.The arrivals from Britain saw a de-

cline of 1.1 percent in 2008, while thatfrom the U.S. rose by 3.6 percent. How-

ever, there is a decline in the number oftravelers coming from the neighboring

Pakistan. Interestingly Bangladesh andSri Lanka, the other neighbors, were

third and fourth on the list, accounting

for 540,092 and 228,548 tourists re-spectively. During the same period,

223,587 Canadians, 217,816 Frenchand 209,252 Germans visited India, fol-

lowed by the Japanese (150,732), Aus-tralians (148,055) and Malaysians

(119,040).In 2007, about five million travelers

had visited India (nearly double from2000), according to the Tourism Min-

istry. Visitors from the U.S. accounted

for 15.7 percent of the total.According to a statement made by the

Tourism Ministry, Tourists from these10 countries constituted about 64.34

percent of the total arrivals to India.However, there is a reduction in the

numbers from five countries includingPakistan, Finland, and South Africa. Ar-

rivals from Pakistan reduced by 25.1

percent and from Finland and Kenya by10 percent, compared to 2007. The

number of travelers from Mauritius andSouth Africa fell by 8.5 percent and 6.2

percent respectively.The first five months of 2009

showed a sharp decline in the numberof foreign tourist arrivals in the country,

compared to the same period in 2008.However, officials say that a slight in-

crease has been witnessed from June. Inother areas, the maximum growth was

seen in tourists from West Asia and

Eastern Europe in 2008, an increase of20.9 percent and 18.5 percent over that

of 2007.

Americans, Britons visitedIndia the most in 2008

in

I

ndians are the fastest growing group

of illegal immigrants in the US, ac-cording to the American Community

Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau. Indi-ans in the U.S. are the fastest growing

Asian community as well, and the AsianIndian population in the U.S. grew from

1,679,000 to 2,570,000 in the seven years

from 2000 to 2007.

Indian Americans have the highest

growth rate of 53 percent amongst Asian

American communities. It is alsoamongst the fastest growing ethnic group

in the U.S.. So far, Chinese Americansare the largest Asian American ethnic

group followed by Filipinos and IndianAmericans. Many Indians get into the

U.S. with an H-1B Visa so they do not

have to cross the border illegally. Thesemight contain Indians who go to the U.S.

for better job prospects but end up livingillegally.

The survey also shows that Indian il-legal immigrants have attained a higher

level of education than other illegal im-migrants in the U.S.. Also, another rea-

son for the increase in Indian Americans

could be the fact that Indians can speakEnglish fluently. Immigrants from India

often work for high-tech companies and

perform highly skilled jobs such as engi-

neering and computer programming.

When it comes to illegal immigra-tion, Hispanic illegal immigrants

largely outnumber other undocu-mented immigrants. Even after re-

strictions imposed and the recentdrug-blood bath, Mexicans make up

nearly seven million of the estimated

12 million illegal immigrants. Thenext largest group of Hispanics is Sal-

vadorans and Guatemalans. But Indi-ans are the fastest growing group of

illegal immigrants in the U.S., accord-ing to U.S. Department of Homeland

Security report. As per the report, thereare 270,000 unauthorized Indians in

the U.S. - a 125 percent jump since

2000. This is the largest percentage in-crease of any nationality with more

than 100,000 illegal immigrants. si

Indians the Fastest Growing Illegal Immigrants in the US

Simply Hired, a Silicon Valley

based job portal headed by Gau-

tam Godhwani, has bagged $4.6million in its series D round of funding.

IDG Ventures and Foundation Capital

led the funding to assist the company tofurther augment its presence in the in-ternational market.

With this new round of funding,

we aim to support the future domesticgrowth, increasing the headcount from

50 to 80 in 2009, and accelerate our in-ternational expansion, says Gautam

Godhwani, Co-founder and CEO, Sim-ply Hired. The funding follows 16 con-

secutive quarters of revenue growth and

four quarters of positive cash flow. In-cluding this round of funding, Simply

Hired has raised $22.3 million to date.

According to ComScore and

Nielsen Media, the privately held Sim-ply Hired was the fastest growing job

site in 2008. Its network, where Simply

Hired powers job listings, includesLinkedIn, MySpace, The WashingtonPost, CNNMoney, BusinessWeek, and

Plaxo, reaching 24 million visitors

monthly. This strategy of reaching jobseekers where they are spending their

time on the Web, has earned Simply-Hired.com and its network the ranking

as one of the forty most trafficked web-sites in the US, according to Quantcast.

Job search is a global problem, and

Simply Hired is committed to reaching both active and passive job seekers

globally at both Simply

at other online destinatio

network, says GodhwaFounded in 2003, Si

recently launched local

engines for Brazil, BeItaly, and the Netherlandkets include Australia, C

Germany, India, Spain, a

the company now operatries and seven langua

continents.Godhwani says that

enables Simply Hired to pand its footprint with

sources and facilitates

relationship with the nIDG online properties.

Simply Hired Raises $4.6 millioSeries D round of Funding

$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

Gautam Godhwani

The mobile apps space is all therage today in large part thanks to

the app store arms race started byApples iPhone platform. Apple has to

be congratulated and thanked for itsenormously successful marketing cam-

paign evangelizing mobile apps. Now

that consumers have been educated tospend on mobile apps, there is obviously

a lot of entrepreneurial angst directed to-

wards exploiting the new platforms.As a veteran of the industry who has

seen the development and launch of

MIDP1.0, BREW 2.x and WAP appli-cations, we have definitely come a long

way in terms of features and capabilities

afforded by modern day mobile OS plat-

forms such as iPhone 3.0, Blackberry,Windows Mobile 6.0, Android and

many others. Any developer with basicprogramming skills can now develop a

GPS enabled, network-aware app withvideo streaming capabilities integrated

with popular social networking sites!

Perhaps more importantly, any devel-oper can now sell that app to millions of

users.This new era of un-walled gardens

brings a completely new set of chal-lenges for any entrepreneur with a busi-

ness plan that includes mobile apps.

With the commoditization of the techni-cal skills and distribution channels nec-

essary to launch mobile apps, it is backto the basics for entrepreneurs thinking

of creating mobile apps

Marketing. What compelcontent does your app

user that users will actuasupported apps just an i

users paying you)? Howout that your app exists a

its clones? If you can pr

ing answers to these twoyou have the beginning o

business plan.If you cannot answ

tions just yet, then I willyou to dabble in the mo

as a hobbyist. You will g

for the industry, and you k just may strike it lucky

great viral app that makeBut.that is not a busin

CEO SPOT

Mobile Apps Becoming all the Skava provides strategy and execution to brands, retailers and contereach out to consumers across social sites, widgets and mobile device

By Arish Ali, CEO, Skava

Arish Ali


8/25

Smarter mobile applications that un-

derstand more about you and offer apersonalized experience based on

your usage patterns. There is a wealth of

data about you sitting on your phone. Yourmobile phone knows how many calls and

text messages you send, whom you sendthem to, where you typically send them

from, and much more. And this is infor-mation that is unique to mobilevery lit-

tle of it is available from the Desktop PC.

In the past this information, if used at

all, was primarily used for targeted adver-tising. Today, with RIM, Apple, Google,and Nokia bringing faster, more afford-

able, and more powerful devices to mar-ket than ever before, we are entering a

Smartphone revolution that changes the

game. Thanks to the proliferation of smart-phones and the increasing penetration of

high-speed data networks, it has becomemuch easier to capture all the information

already sitting on the phone, analyze on thehandset or on servers in the cloud, and then

deliver a personalized experience to the

end user. This is exciting.I believe that the top three factors

shaping the industry in the new few yearsare 1) Increasing smartphone penetration,

2) Popularity of the app stores as a distri-bution channel, 3) Faster, more affordable

data networks. The Apple iPhone App-Store has shown us how creative develop-

ers can be when given a powerful platform

and how enthusiastically customers willdownload and try out new apps. As more

of the world adopts Smartphones and

more manufacturers/carown app stores, we wi

wealth of apps offeringservices.

In terms of challenglenge that mobile entrep

is monetization. Despite

the iPhone AppStore, wany long-term sustainab

entirely on the mobileonus will be on develop

enue models are do not vertising and one-off pu

However, just as thternet led to revolution

models like Amazo

Google, we will undoubusiness models emerg

bile apps industry. si

silicon i n d i asilicon i n d i a |14|S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 9

In the next few years, phones willchange in three fundamental ways

to become a lot smarter than they

are today. Phones will add value bynotifying us of interesting things than

just being used as browsers. A phone isnot a PC. It is an interrupt-based de-

vice that is intended to alert you itrings when someone calls or buzzes

when an SMS comes in. In the same

way, it should proactively notify youof content, people, places in your sur-

roundings that would add value toyour everyday life. You should be able

to use your phone as a phone a de-vice that alerts you, as obtrusively or

unobtrusively, as youd like, of oppor-tunities to socialize, play, work, shop,

watch a show, or just grab a coffee.

Interestingly, location will be a com-modity and will be used in conjunction

with other aspects of a users context

to enrich their experiences. LocationBased Services (LBS) has become a

dirty word for our generation of mobileusers for a good reason historically,

location has been used a little too sim-plistically by most mobile apps. The ex-

ample people give of the holy grail of

LBS is always the same You are walk-ing by a Starbucks, and you get a

coupon sent to your phone. Well fromwhat we know, Starbucks doesnt even

have coupons the occasional unsatis-fied customer may get a free drink

voucher from the barista to use nexttime. And even if they did have

coupons, if all I got all day from loca-

tion based apps is marketing material ofvarious kinds, of course I would hate

LBS too.

Here is what we believe. Location isone very important component, but only

one component of a users context. Whothe user is, what they like, the time of

day, their social graph these are all im-portant inputs to context as well. The

phone has the advantage of always

being with you it knows your location,it can be trained to know whom you are

and what you like, including social re-lationships you enjoy and therefore a

perfect device for you to get ContextBased Services. And in some contexts,

those coupons we talked about do makesense like if you want to shop or are

looking for a cheap place to eat. si

(Aloqa, founded in 2007, is the company, which created application for mobile phones which pushes notifications in real-time

about nearby events and social opportunities wi th relevancy based on the users current location, pre-defined interests, andsocial networks. Aloqa has offices in Palo Alto, CA and Munich, Germany)

CEO SPOTLIGHT

In the last two years, the mobile

handsets have matured to become aviable development platform.

Today, one can leverage the touchscreen interfaces, GPS, accelerometers,

good quality video capture, Wi-Fi ac-

cess capabilities and build very sophis-ticated applications. Secondly

distribution is also there, thanks to theproliferation of marketplaces like Apple

App Store, Nokia Ovi store, AndroidMarket place and so on. In just around

two years, iPhone has thousands of newapplications and growing.

On the other hand, two years back,

most of mobile users were using thephones to call or text someone. Now if

we look at the mobile users, they knowwhat mobile apps are and are choosy

about which they use without their car-

rier involvement. Many are free, so itseasy to try new applications and to

discard them. In fact, most of the newapplications have very limited use and

the user never gets to use them after

the first few tries. This ability to buildsophisticated applications, distribute

easily with out going through alengthy carrier process and get con-

sumers to try them out is creating anunprecedented opportunity for mobile

application vendors.Over the next few years, we will see

consolidation of the Software platforms

(iPhone, Android, Symbian, WindowsMobile) for mobile handsets. In addi-

tion the intense competition among thehandset vendors will drop the prices

considerably making i

for most people.This creates a phen

nity and a challenge forthis space: Its crucial

both in product develop

we monetize. On the pgagement upon first us

tomers need that rush ofirst time they open the

the monetization fronlooking for solutions th

their lives. Value can bsolves a problem or s

fun. Entrepreneurs hav

ative on monetization peting with other ind

with zero overhead anglobal mainstream con

(Qik is a mobile live video streaming platform, which enables anyone to stream video live from their mobile phone

the world. The company is based in Redwood City, CA)

(Sensobi is a Cambridge, Massachusetts based startup building a bettefor business professionals to help you stay on top of your important co

Mobile video players, large andsmall, are currently in a

pitched battle to replicate the

success of online video in the mobilespace. Indeed, the mobile video space

whether it be user-generated-content orpremium content is exploding as the

amount of content being uploaded to theWeb is increasing at a frenzied clip (esti-

mates just for You Tube are that there is

20 hours of video being uploaded everyminute). What makes this so challenging

is the vastly different nature of the onlinevideo platform, which is essentially uni-

form, from the mobile platform, which isalmost completely fragmented across

handsets, operating systems, networks

and now, even app stores. More thanany other factor, fragmentation has been

a barrier to the adoption of mobile video,

and success in the mobile video spacewill be defined by those that can over-

come the fragmentation problem andfind a quick path to monetization.

We belive an on the fly mobilevideo transcoding approach, along with

the ability to use the native browser and

media player of the individual device, isthe best answer to solving the fragmen-

tation problem. Together, they eliminatea significant barrier to adoption, both on

feature phones as well as smart phones.Content is then limited only by what can

be indexed on the Web and there would

be no need to pre-encode or store anyvideos, thereby making it practical to

keep up with the exploding amount of

new devices added weekly and new con-tent uploaded daily.

As for monetization, in-video adver-tising is going to be key. And make no

mistake that the mobile video platformoffers an exceedingly rich potential for

monetization of video since the mobile

phone offers the potential for very spe-cific ad targetingwhether it be demo-

graphic, geographic or by interest. Adynamic mobile video ad-stitching en-

gine will enable taking advantage ofthese ad-targeting opportunities. si

(Vuclip is a mobile video search portal, which allows users access any videos in the

web on mobile. The company is based in Milpitas, CA)

Phones must be Smart, Not Just Smart Phones

Mobile Video: Overcoming Fragmentationissue is Important

Monetization would be the Key Challenge

Mobile Apps: Hot Space to WBy Ajay Kulkarni, CEO, Sensobi

Ajay Kulkarni

By Ramu Sunkara, CEO, Qik Inc

Ramu SunkaraBy Sanjeev Agrawal, CEO, Aloqa Sanjeev Agrawal

By Dr. Nickhil Jakatdar, CEO, Vuclip

Dr. Nickhil Jakatdar


9/25

s i l i c o ni n d i a

CellSp

CEll phonE t

thE nExt lEv

Expandin

Sara frequents MySpace to

connect with her oldfriends, make new ones,

and drum up jobs. Well,this social networking

savvy homemaker isnt in front of acomputer; instead, she uploads pic-

tures and taps into the celebrated so-

cial network from her cellphone.

During my sons birth, I used theCellSpin app installed in my mobile

phone to post pictures to Flickr, My-

space, and other social networkingwebsites from the hospital. You can

also use it to upload

like YouTube,says a Mobile phones ha

come an essential and our daily lives. With

people being touched every day, the mobile

exceeded 2 billion con

ally. Thats why the m

tions area has becomespaces to watch nowa

The San Jose, CA,

is one such mobile apppany that is all set t

CELLSPIN QUICK FACTS

Founded: 2006

Co-Founders: Bobby Gurvinder

Singh &

Marcos Klein

Space: Mobile

applications

Investors: Angel Investors

CEO: Bobby GurvinderSingh

Headquarters: SanJose, CA

Website: www.cellspin.net

By Jayakisho

COVER ST

Bobby Gurvinder Singh, CEO


10/25


emergent opportunity to start a revo-lution by expanding the capacity of the

cell phone to the next level. CellSpinsinnovative, user-friendly application,

which is being used by number of so-cial networking enthusiasts across

over 120 countries, and growing with

every new app store launch, enablesthe user to share photos, videos,

audio, and text on the Internet quicklyand painlessly. With our simple and

quick technology, youll never want

to go back to the old way of upload-ing, says a jubilant Bobby Gurvin-der Singh, CellSpin CEO and

Co-founder. As an extension of this

opportunity, today, CellSpin has beensuccessful in extending its products

to the radio and TV stations as well,wherein listeners or viewers can send

audio, video, photos, and text to thewebsites of these stations.

When CellSpin was founded in

2006, social networking was just gain-ing momentum and was expected to be

the next big thing in the Web 2.0arena, founders Bobby Gurvinder

Singh and Marcos Klein, both Ciscoveterans, envisioned the revolutionary

opportunity the convergence of mobileand Web 2.0 was to open up. Whycant the cell phone in your pocket be-

come a fertile territory for the hugely popular social networking trend?

Though social networks take differentforms, they typically link folks with

common interests and values. The mo-

bile variety tends to appeal to thethrongs of young people who have an

insatiable desire to stay connected atall times. And mobiles could also help

in this. The logic was proved perfect.That was the beginning of our jour-

ney. We set out to build the mobile ap-plication that helps users send media

content to a wide range of destinations

from websites, email addresses, andmobiles, which we call as mobile

blogging platform. Just as you receiveemail and SMS messages on your cell,

you can access the status updates,says Singh.

Certainly, mobile blogging isemerging as a hot market segment

with immense potential. According toavailable data, about 10 percent of

adult mobile phone owners in theU.S. regularly access mobile blog-

ging services and this number will al-

most double in 2011. In manyrespects, mobile could be a natural

extension of the PC social network-ing experience in coming days.

Facebook co-founder Dustin

Moskovitz says, citing Facebooksmobile user base that grows fasterthan that of the website, Nowadays

things that are inherently social are

inherently mobile. Thus, phonesprovide immediacy not typically pos-

sible on a PC. What is intriguing isthat folks can comment on a restau-

rant, concert, or dinner date duringthe activity. And friends may not wait

until they get home to tell them how

the date went! For most people, cam-era phones are the place where lifes

precious moments flourish. Snap aphoto of a favorite pet dog, and with

CellSpins technology you can shareyour interest and joy by posting it on

your social networking site directlyfrom the mobile!Well, CellSpin initially had a plan

to build such mobile applications forthe smartphones. However, as the

company evolved they learnt thatsmartphones would occupy only 15

percent of the total mobile segment,

which made the founders to build theapps for non-smartphones as well.

Today, CellSpin has premium applica-tion for 300 plus Smartphone models

worldwide for media upload and mo-bile SMS, MMS, and email support

for all non-smartphones worldwide.So with CellSpin mobile applica-

tion and SMS, MMS, and email serv-

ice, one no longer has to wait to get tohis computer to post audio, video,

photos, and text to the favorite web-sites simultaneously, like Facebook,

MySpace, Blogger, YouTube, Picasa,Flickr, Live Journal, and Live Spaces,

with others to follow. What is inter-esting is that by using the CellSpin

software and by selecting multiplepublishers on the post screen one can

send the content to multiple sites at thesame time making life of a user much

easier, which is our key differentiator.

And CellSpin is the first and only mobile application enabling mobile

phone users to seamlessly integratemultimedia content to live eBay auc-

tions, claims Singh.

Today, CellSpin is seeing an ever-growing demand from users acrossthe world. As of now, the company

offers its application free for its

users, as it is mobile advertisementsupported. The application, which is

successful on the iPhone platform aswell, and is soon launching on An-

droid platform, is available in vari-ous app stores, including Apples

iTunes, Blackberry app store, and

Nokias Ovi store. Users, assumingthey are already signed up for an ac-

count, can also download their appsfor Apple iPhone, Blackberry Curve

and Pearl, Blackberry Storm, Win-dows Mobile, Palm OS, and Nokia

S60 at their respective websites.Though the company is currentlyoffering its advertisement-supported

apps for free to its users, it aims tocharge the users for its mobile appli-

cations soon. Though mobile advertis-ing is big, its not growing as fast as it

used to be and as estimated, which

prompted CellSpin to launch premiumapps wherein users need to buy the ap-

plication for use. Also, the big ques-tion for us was sustainability in user

behaviour. Stickiness factor becomesimportant in this business. Once the

user downloads his app, he may be ac-tive for initial few weeks or months.

Later on, peoples interest in using the

app dies down, due to which advertis-ers may pull off. Hence, if you charge

users for the apps, one will get his in-vestment upfront, rather than waiting

for advertisement revenues to fill yourinvestments, adds Singh.

The Extended Opport

Singh says, Let us saradio show, TV show, o

mous blogger, celebrit

do your listeners, vieweteract with you or your

own website. Commuform of blog that allow

community to interact wusing content from bo

the Web on your own w

It was in 2008 thfounders began explori

tential market. Why radio stations, TV statio

organizations? Even thtions want to keep their

teners, readers, and vie

with them. For a typicano easy way to interac

pictures, audio, video,their favorite radio or T

their mobile other than Even radio stations wa

for their listeners to audio, video, or text, f

phones to the stations w

big channels like CNN financial muscle to imp

capability, which maythe case of small and

radio stations. Thats

the needs of the radio scided to approach them

Today, there are aboustations in the U.S, and

and about 2,000 new

Cellspins

innovative,

user-friendly

application enables

the user to share

photos, videos,

audio and text

on the Internet

quickly and

painlessly,

which is being

usedacross

over 120

countries

Mobile

blogging

is emerging as a

hot market

segment with

immense potential.

According to

available data, thereare about10

percentof adult

mobile phone

owners in the U.S.

regularly access

mobile blogging

services and that

will be almost

doublein

2011


11/25

they are local. However, by integrat-ing with social networking sites

across the countries, we may get theaudience in millions and much more

than we get from the community blogging as the user base could be

bigger and diverse in nature. User be-

haviors are also diverse in nature inboth the categories, informs Singh.

Challenges in the Game

It is not an easy task to build an ap-

plication, which should run on dif-ferent operating systems (OS) whenthere are over six operating systems

out there. What was challenging

was that we had taken every platformwhich is out there into consideration

and write codes for them. Our teamhas to work extensively in the back-

end to support this entire social net-working site as well, explains

Singh. CellSpin has about 18-20

high-end servers sitting in the datacenters along with Amazon servers

that take care of activities of millionsof CellSpin users. Furthermore, we

need to constantly upgrade our appsas well whenever there are updates in

the OSes. This is the biggest chal-lenge for us, he adds.In addition, the company needs to

keep pace with these networkingsites by making necessary changes in

our backend system and connectingwith them so that there is no user in-

terruption due to technical reasons.

And adding new features to the application is another task CellSpin

carries out in their labs. Attendingrequests of integrating from diverse

social networking sites from differ-ent countries and making this work

on all those 400 plus versions ofsmartphones and non-smartphones is

quite a demanding task, he explains.

The Road Ahead

For CellSpin it was indeed a chal-lenging journey. Though the com-

pany initially started with the visionof becoming a leader in mobile blog-

ging space, now it h provide mobile appli

small and medium meby enabling them reac

people using CellSpiniA company may start

however, over a pericompany should evolv

is the right thing to do,

portunity and money isstrategic direction of

should be, opines Sivately held, angel fun

has been conferred thApplication Award fo

leaders in mobile indselected as one of t he Tnies to launch at DEM

Going forward, w400 million smartphon

be sold by 2010, the cting on the gold mine of

opportunity. Even in

markets like India and3G is set to roll out, it is

opportunities in mobilwell-defined strategies,

is a bright prospect for Cfil its aim to touch the

ited opportunities. Cert

is all set to become thebile social media servi

connects mobile consumonline social networks,

photo storage sites, andcommunity destination

TVs from the pint-sizedcell phones! si


2,000 TV stations, about 100,000 po-tential widget users pertaining to small

and medium businesses in the U.S.and Canada. And the potential world-

wide market for the medium sizedmedia properties is 100,000 widgets.

In India there are about 500 FM sta-

tions as of now, and the numbers arelikely go up to 1,000 by 2010.

Foreseeing this, the companystarted building their second flagship

community blogging product for

this segment. The company has en-hanced the same mobile blogging application to suit the new platform

wherein the stations can embed one

line of code on their websites and en-able their users to send the media

content to thewebsite by creating auser generated content (UGC) plat-

form. CellSpin UGC platform will provide hosted media storage and

backup for all types of UGC, mobile

application for all smartphonesworldwide for media upload to radio

or TV shows, mobile SMS, MMS,and email support for all non-smart-

phones, integrated live PC Webcamvideo recording and uploading, inte-

grated live PC audio recording anduploading, integrated file-browse ca-pability for pictures, text, video, and

audio uploading inside the UGCwidget for radio or TV shows along

with integrated facilty, security, andspam protection and flagging capa-

bilities for each media type for the

user community.

CellSpin is exactly what terres-trial radio needs to connect with the

social media landscape. Their toolsallow my listeners to interact with

FM radio and its DJs in ways neverbefore possible and as a result my

stations ratings and web page views

have quadrupled. CellSpin truly isRadio 2.0, says Aaron Traylor, Pro-

gram Director, On-Air DJ at GapBroadcasting Radio, one of the

clients of CellSpin that operates 116

radio stations in 24 markets acrossthe USCellSpin.Interestingly, even radio stations

promote CellSpin apps so that more

users can download the apps andmore and more of their users can

stay in touch with the stations. Infact, his exercise could give a

greater mindshare about CellSpin tothe listeners of the station. The com-

pany offers its application on SaaS

model and charges the station basedon the views they had got per show

widget. They are also planning tocharge these radio stations on a

monthly basis.The CellSpin platform is now

being used by 10 radio stations i n theU.S. The company is working with amajor Media Company, which is top

player in the radio industry that sellsdigital technology to radio industry

in the U.S. Cellspin is also workingwith few leading Indian firms to

bring the mobile and community-

blogging platform to local Indianmarket. That will have better inte-

gration with locally popular socialnetworking sites like Orkut, BigAdda

and many more.Well, what is intriguing is that in

terms of acquiring users, the mobile blogging and community blogging

are totally different ballgames. And

even the user patterns differ. Fromboth we are targeting millions of po-

tential users at a single instance.Moreover, as one may be aware, each

radio or TV station or media organi-zation will have millions of users, but

Cellspin

is exactly

what terrestrial

radio needs to

connect with the

social medialandscape. Their

tools allow

Radio stations

listeners to

interact with FM

radio and its

DJs in waysnever before

possible

With

more

than400 million

smartphones

expected to be

sold by 2010,

Cellspin is sitting

on the gold mine

of a huge market

opportunity. Even

in the emerging

markets like India

and China where

3Gis set to roll

out, it is creating

novel

opportunities


12/25

tune 500 clients all over the U.S., since

the beginning, the companys focushas been the category of companies

who fall between $50-$500 million inrevenues, of which Chakraborty calls

as $50-500 segment. Total address-

able market in this segment is esti-mated as over $2 billion.

Thats why as a nimble, mid-sizedorganization with a deep talent pool,

proven capabilities, Chakraborty be-lieves EC Manage can build compe-

tence quickly and price more

competitively than its competitors orbig players in the market, whose di-

verse portfolio of services creates in-efficiency with SAP/Oracle and whose

high overhead often prices them out ofthe $50-500 segment. We are effi-

cient people. We are not looking at

cheap way of executing things. Ourfocus is fulfilling clients need, which

should be done in an efficient man-ner, explicates Chakraborty. He

claims that the company provides over30-40percent cost advantage com-

pared to its competitors, depending oncase to case.

And that is the reason while many

of the SAP and Oracle applicationservices providers in the market are

floundering without a viable businessmodel, EC Manage has managed to

grow, and grow steadily. As on July31, 2009, the company has registered

consolidated global revenue of $72

million. Today the company has bignames like Accenture, Cognizant,

Synopsys, IBM, which is the latest ac-quisition, as some of its key clients.

The company has its presence in the

San Francisco, San Diego, and Dallas.Internationally the company has of-

fices in the London, Toronto, andCanada along with specialized Global

Support Centers in Hyderabad andBangalore in India.

Other key reason for EC Manages

sustained year-over-year growth sinceits inception, according to

Chakraborty, is the firms steadfastfocus on building deep expertise im-

plementing, customizing and main-

taining, and upgrading SAP andOracle solutions. Were well knownfor our SAP and Oracle experience. It

is why they put faith and trust in EC

Manage. We get the job done right, ontime and on budget, says

Chakraborty. Another differentiator isthat the companys customers, not EC

Manage, own their SAP/Oracle Appli-cations licenses. This helps the com-

pany develop the superb working

relationship with SAP/Oracle thatcould keep their consulting practice

and customer support so strong.

Challenges and the Road Ahead

Despite all these, journey may not be

smooth either. There are few chal-

lenges as well. Particularly, since thecompany is focusing on $50-500

segment, Chakraborty fears of un-certainty in this market segment, as

there have been the instances ofdelay in decision-making and imple-

menting solutions and abrupt termi-nation of projects by the companies.

Not only that. Overall availability of

capital in the market is limited asmost of the companies in this seg-

ment are run by internal accruals.Another key challenge he perceives

is that with the current hue and crysurrounding the H-1B visas, the flow

of immigrants into U.fected, which might c

of good manpower forWell, till date, the

been managing the their internal accrua

going forward, the c

priority would be to grline. We also intend t

rate entity to marke portfolios in the nea

most importantly, th

actively looking folevel partnership with cle. As we stepped on

in the IT consulting

ness, we embarked onQuality Journey to pr

achieving SEI-CMMLevel 3 certification

end. Our executive teathe challenges that aw

pany, but the team is

ted to deliver only theto our compan

Chakraborty.

Though the global scape was drastically ch

going difficulties affectin

players, the company is portunities which is yet

rently, the company is stSAP practice in prepa

challenges and opportever-changing business

next decade, EC-Managtion itself as a choice S

services provider to lea

ners in the West Coast. EC Manage being focus

becoming key solution space rather than just a se

it is well prepared, anachieve its growth goal

EC MANAGE AT A GLANCE

Founded: 1999

Space: SAP Applications Services

CEO: Rabi Chakraborty

Global Headcount: Over 692

Headquarters: Fremont, CA

Global Revenue: $72 million as on July 31, 2009

Website: www.ec-manage.com

Betting on EfficiencyEC Manage

silicon india |silicon i n d i a |22|S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 9

When we

approacha client,

we do notsound as

just another SAP and Oracle Applica-

tions services provider. We work oncore of the products as we have the

team with deep expertise, few ofwhich are worked before in develop-

ment of these applications, which is

our key value proposition to theclient, claims Rabi Chakraborty,

CEO of Fremont, CA based EC Man-age. The 10-year old IT services com-

pany, incorporated in April 1999 provides SAP application services;

offshore development; outsource de-velopment; and workforce manage-

ment services to companies in the lifesciences, retail, financial services, tele-

com and media, and utility/energy in-

dustries. Interestingly, the companyhas also indigenously developed few

applications which SAP and Oracledoesnt offer and could seamlessly

work hand-in hand with larger frame-works like SAP and Oracle.

It was during 2002, whenChakraborty, an Oracle veteran, andhis team decided to bestow a whole

new outlook for the company, whichwas till then working on web tech-

nologies, Java, J2E platforms, and pro-

viding consulting services apart from

developing several small extension of products. We found applications

services would be the preeminent areato work as we believed that in coming

times businesses need to pursue the

business applications in order to sur-vive and be efficient and hence we

began with offering Oracle, Peoplesoftapplications services. In 2004, we

started on SAP applications services as

well. In 2006 we started on develop-ment of our own frameworks, like

eMed Report, a health records man-agement solution and eWork Bench, a

workforce management solutionwhich are hugely appreciated by our

customers, says Chakraborty.With hundreds of ERP solutions

vendors and service providers floatingaround, it is interesting to note that

why EC Manage stands out from the

crowd. On the one hand, you have bigfirms who threw bodies at implemen-

tation projects and clocked big timefees, and on the other hand you had

these small-to-big players who werefinding immigration loopholes and

building body shops. Despite all these,as a competent team firm off the street,EC Manage has been betting on their

core expertise and domain knowledge.Our consultants in the company

pride themselves with their successful

stints on projects on technology do-

main solutions such as SAP, Oracle,PeopleSoft, Microsoft, Java, and

mainframe/legacy systems. We followa framework that allows us to ap-

proach a much broader client sector.

We recognize that each organizationhas its own way of doing business and

as such may require a custom fitted so-lution that is technically precise and

form fitted to their business needs,

explicates Chakraborty. To make thishappen, EC-Manage, which is now

grown into over 692 people organiza-tion globally, deploys a wide range of

technology professionals including de-velopers, business analysts, subject

matter experts, specialists in database,networking, and others, interestingly,

all having average expertise of overfive years.

Focusing On $50-$500 Segment

Today, most industry experts agree

that the large enterprise market forSAP and Oracle solutions is nearing

saturation. There is also a general con-sensus among experts that the market

for selling SAP and Oracle solutionsto small and midsize companies isnearing an inflection point and is

poised for rapid growth. However,though EC-Manage maintains a long

history of project delivery for its For-

Competency&

Company Spotlight: By Jayakishore Bayadi

We follow a framework that allows us to approach a much br

sector. We recognize that each organization has its own way o

business and as such may require a custom fitted solution tha

technically precise and form fitted to their business needs

Rabi Chakraborty


13/25

The Web is a primary chan-nel for driving sales, cus-

tomer loyalty, andoperational efficiencies; so

building an effective Web

presence is clearly business-critical. In-vesting in the right Web initiatives can

also quickly deliver a meaningful return

on investment (ROI). Web ExperienceManagement (WEM) capabilities canenable enterprises build and deploy an

effective Web presence that will helpdrive revenue and cost savings. This

makes it easy for business users to man-

age the Web content, campaigns, and thewebsites as a whole and deliver a rele-

vant and engaging experience to websitevisitors. However, in todays challenging

economic scenario many enterpriseshave become cautious about major new

technology investments. To secure a

budget for these important initiatives, onemust therefore demonstrate a positive

ROI from the Web projects. Fortunately,one can make a compelling case for

WEM using a straightforward method ofROI calculation and measurement.

The solution begins with outlining a

business case for the WEM initiativesand determining the metrics most impor-

tant to your business that WEM projects

can have an impact on. From there,

straightforward ROI projections can be

created based on potential bottomline aswell as top line improvements. These

projections can help get your projectsfunded and off the ground; and can also

demonstrate success to your organizationas the project progresses.

From Managing Content to Managing

User Experience

The Web is critical to a positive customerexperience overall. Organizations have

realized that to be effective in marketing,customer service, internal and external

communications, and more, they need todeliver highly relevant content and a rich

and interactive customer experience on-

line. According to Forrester, 63 percent

of WCM decision makers view im-proved customer experiences as a goalfor Web content management imple-

mentations. WEM capabilities are the setof tools the marketing and customer ex-

perience professionals need for easily

managing and updating Web content and

for transforming the site visitors Web ex-

perience as rich and effective as possible.The right WEM platform not only sup-

ports revenue-generating activities, butalso drives significant operating cost sav-

ings by enabling organizations to engagea broad audience in a targeted manner, to

encourage communities around theirproducts and services, and to manage a

large Web presence with ease. WEM ca-

pabilities are thus central to driving bothtop and bottomline business results.

WEM solutions offer the ability thatenable business users to collaborate

around Web content, author content on-line, design the site layout, publish con-

tent to the live website, create targeted

campaigns for online visitors, dynami-

cally deliver the right content to the rightsite visitor in the right language, analyzeand optimize the effectiveness of Web

content, and enable online communityinteractions with user-generated content.

With WEM, organizations can centrally

manage and globally deliver a rich expe-

rience and consistent branding acrossmultiple sites in multiple languages, sup-

porting and utilizing a diverse set of con-

tent contributors.Fig1: The components of WEM

Driving Top Line SuccessBy offering an engaging online customerexperience, organizations across many

industries can gain tremendous benefits,including increased site traffic, conver-

sion rates, customer advocacy, and cus-

tomer loyalty. Organizations can driverevenue-using WEM through several key

techniques:

Increasing return visits and loy-

alty:With the relevant content and anengaging Web presence, organiza-

tions can influence the prospects, cus-

tomers, partners, and other sitevisitors to return more often and rec-

ommend the organizations productsand services to others. For companies

selling online ad space, this leads togreater revenue through more eye-

balls on the site. For organizations

selling products, this leads to a greaterlikelihood for prospects to convert

into customers, as well as shortened

sales cycles. For information-based

services this leads to a higher qualityservice being delivered, driving sub-

scriptions and readership.

Increasing online conversion rates:

Through enabling targeted content

and campaigns and making it easy

to optimize these campaigns regularly WEM can help increase conversionrates as well as upselling and cross

selling. With targeted promotions andrecommendations, organizations can

provide site visitors with the most rel-

evant information based on their pref-erences, needs, or stage in the sales

cycle, making them more likely toregister and make purchases.

Improving time to market: By

launching new onlin

promotions more quitions can realize the g

programs sooner, as w

rapidly to new develoket changes. For exam

that is able to post fr

during a major newswincrease page views sthus its reputation an

well. In the meanwcompany that can get

a new product or ser

online faster can seethose new capabilities

Fig2: A model for the to

results organizations can

plementing WEM

With WEM, organizations can centrally manage and globally

deliver a rich customer experience and consistent branding

across multiple sites in multiple languages

silicon i n d i a |silicon i n d i a |24|S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 9

Reduce Time to

MarketStratergies

Metrics

Increase Return

Visits and SiteStickiness

Increase

Conversion Rates

Time to publishtime-sensitive

content/news

Time to luanch new

campaigns and

products online

Number of siteVisitors

Number of pageviews per visitor

Time spent on site

Volume of UGC

items posted

Ratio of visitors:purchasers

Ratio of visitors:registrants

WEM Revenue Generation Net Benet Model

ROI from Web Expe rience Management

Technology: By Loren Weinberg & Elaine ChenLoren Weinberg, Senior VP, Marketing and Product Managementand Elaine Chen, Director of Marketing, FatWire Software

Web ExperienceManagement

Participate

Author

Design

Publish

Target

Deliver

Analyze Conceptualize

0

10

20

30

40

50

Q

MAKING THE CASEFig1

Fig2

September 12 200


14/25

Driving Efficiencies and Saving

Time

WEM solutions can provide signifi-

cant savings by minimizing theamount of time it takes to perform

routine site maintenance tasks, and en-abling IT and business resources to be

used more strategically. The key effi-ciency drivers include:

Increasing IT output: By en-

abling marketers, content contrib-utors, and other lines of business

staff to author and edit content,WEM solutions can create dra-

matic savings by taking the burdenoff the IT staff that perform the

daily content management tasks. IT

resources can thus be used insteadon higher-value technical tasks.

For example, a major financialcompany has been able to support

over 100 sites and 150 differentcontent contributors globally with

a team of only four developers,

driving tremendous efficiencies fortheir business and enabling a small

development team to strategicallyand successfully support a global

business.

Increasing content contributor

and marketer output: Easy-to-usetools for managing website content

and campaigns can also provide the

marketing department and theother lines of business with great

efficiency. With intuitive tools,business people can more quickly

and effectively manage content andcampaigns without having to wait

in a queue for assistance from tech-

nical staff. Reduced time in creat-

ing and editing content, finding andreusing content, and creating and

launching online campaigns leadsdirectly to greater business effi-

ciency. The user-friendly interfacescan also limit training time re-

quired and encourage a high rate of

adoption of WEM tools. Increasing customer service effi-

ciency: Using WEM tools to createand maintain an up-to-date cus-

tomer support site with the contenttargeted at the individual cus-

tomers needs can result in majorsavings. By enabling customer

self-service and encouraging them

to go online rather than call thecustomer service phone center, or-

ganizations can deliver high-qual-ity customer service with limited

resources. For example, a globaltechnology company was able to

cut support center call volume by

half after implementing a new dy-namic customer support site, sav-

ing millions of dollars per year.Once bottomline cost savings

are calculated, they can then be addedto top line revenue increases to pro-

duce the net benefit of implementing

the WEM solution.Fig3: A model for the savings organi-

zations can achieve by implementing

WEM

Net Benefit and ROI

Once an organization has calculated

the projected net benefit of the solu-tion based on the metrics most rele-

vant to its goals and strategies, thisnumber should be compared to the

total cost of ownership (TCO) for theWEM solution. TCO is calculated by

adding software license fees, profes-sional services costs for implementa-

tion, and ongoing maintenance and

support fees for the WEM project.The TCO of any pre-existing Web

content management system shouldbe subtracted from this amount to

calculate the true incremental TCOof the new system.

With both projected net benefitand incremental TCO, one can de-

termine how quickly the investmentmade in the WEM can be paid back.

Using these data points, the paybacktime in months and subsequently the

annual ROI payback percentage one

can expect to achieve can be calcu-lated. These calculations are critical

to building a strong business casefor investment, and for showing the

success of WEM projects over time. Fig4: ROI worksheet

One final note: In addition to the

measurable ROI, it is also importantto consider the added non-financial

benefits the WEM can provide such as higher customer satisfaction

and loyalty, an enhanced brandimage, and improved employee job

satisfaction and performance. No

matter what solution or approachyou choose, continuing to measure

and analyze your results over timewill be key to achieving your busi-

ness goals and showing results toyour stakeholders. si


Calculating ROI

Net Benet Value

Revenue increase annual net benet A

Cost savings annual net benet B

Total annual net benet (A+B) C)

Incremental TCO

Proposed solution cost D

Current solution cost E

Total net cost (D-E)

Yearly ROI C/F

Payback in months F/(C/12

IncreaseContentContributor andMarketer Output

ImproveCustomerServiceEciency

IncreaseIT Output

Time to create/edit

content

Page layouttime

Time to publish

Targetedcontent

creation time

Training time

Collaboration time

Numberof customer

service calls

Time to supportcontent

authoring

Time to supportpage

layout


publishing

Time to supportcampaign

management


repurposing

Time to train businessusers

Business IT

Stratergies

WEM CostOptimization NetBenetModel

Metrics

Fig3

Fig4

A WEM solution can create

dramatic savings by taking

the burden off the IT staff

that perform the daily con-

tent management tasks as it

enables marketers, content

contributors, and others to

author and edit content

September 12, 200

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Todays new service offerings arepossible from the convergence of not

only the wireline and mobile com-munications sectors, but also from

bringing together the communica-

tions, computing, media, entertain-ment, and advertising industries.

Still, customer satisfaction remainsone of the key differentiators in the

battle for market share in a con-verged services world.

A solution for this problem is not

to simply add another system or im-prove a business process, but to con-

tinually monitor what the customersexperience.

In this article, we talk in detailabout Customer Experience Manage-

ment (CEM) such as What isCEM?, Why do we need it? and

How to successfully implement it?.

Customer Experience Manage-

ment (CEM)

CEM is a strategic approach taken

by the CSP to augment businessprocesses and integrate a myriad of

data sets, software systems,

processes, and people to positivelyimpact the subscribers experience.

In order for a business to assessthe customer experience (CE), each

interaction must be managed acrosseach part of the CSP business

throughout the customer life cycle.

Customer Experience Manage-ment might be characterized as the

next logical generation of ServiceQuality Monitoring (SQM). CEM

truly connects the monitoring and as-surance functions of the OSS to busi-

ness objectives - ultimately leading

to enhanced customer satisfactionand a stronger business bottom line.

CEM assumes that products andservices are no longer sufficient to

satisfy the customer and elevatethe value proposition to the next

level of an experience.

In addition, it promotes an equal

relationship between customers

with CSP and ongoing dialogue

that improves and strengthensquality and length of the relation-

ships.

Companies that have adapted

CEM strategies have placed an

emphasis on their system, process,people, and customers as a part of

the experience creation and deliv-ery. It is a strategy and not point

solution.

Importance of CEM for CSPs

A telco has lot many systems in the

world to address Customer Satisfac-tion from various perspectives. Then

why we need CEM? Lets look intosome of the reasons:

CSPs are investing billions of dol-

lars in capital to provide conver-gent mobile and fixed broadband

services to consumers and busi-nesses but this has not led to im-

provements in customer loyalty,which is reflected in price conces-

sions and churn in mature seg-

ments of their business. CSPs may have the most innova-

tive loyalty and retention pro-grams, highly competitive

marketing for their products andservices; however, the churn rate

is increasing.

CSPs are adding more and moreproduct and service offerings for

their customers; and these cus-tomers are experiencing and per-

ceiving them through new andemerging touch-points and chan-

nels. Managing such a dynamicand complex mix of channels is a

nightmare. In many cases sub-

scriber information is scattered

throughout differeorganization, makin

gain a unified vietomer. It creates in

tomer experien

channels.Currently, ARP

and churn is increasin business model. As

nearly ten times costlie

customer than to retai

How do you manag

lenges?

1. A management sy

vides you quantifiameasure results.

2. A scientific approa

explains the relatiosatisfaction, spend

and customer prefommended produc

3. A sound and solidprinciples to corre

experience and CS

egy.

4. And a systematic f

methodology to destor effective custom

delivery across muand touch-points t

entire customer life

CSP can significantlyReturn on Investmen

well-implemented Cusence strategy.

CEM for CSPs, HOW

CSPs should have a proach, a cyclic model

ful in CEM.

(see fig1)

A Journey in CEMCustomers Perceive Value Based

on Experiences They Receive

Introduction

I

n the extremely competitive telecom sector customer satisfaction is a vital metric ofsuccess.Customer Experience Management (CEM) is a crucial aspect for communi-cation service providers (CSP) that aim at achieving this. In the current market sce-nario, CSPs are dealing with a dynamically changing economy. As of today, we havemoved from a product economy to a service economy, and heading towards an ex-

perience economy, which adds a level of emotion, that was previously missing in a p rod-uct or a service economy. The complexity of dealing with emotions of a customerincreases, given the fact that todays customers are using multiple channels and complexmethods to do business, like IVR, Web, contact center, email, chat, and POS.

CEM emphasizes the duration of

relationship and treatment of thecustomer as a journey, placing a

greater emphasis on every interaction

that leads to the experience of the

delivery of promised relationships

BUSINESS: By Karthikeyan KrishnanThe author is Lead Consultant at Collabera


16/25


FAQ: CSPs already have CRM.

Does one need CEM?

Difference between CRM and

CEM

Traditionally, CRM systems have

been internal or operational centric;they are about profiling and collect-

ing customer data for marketing and

cross selling purposes. Too often,

the emphasis has been on the com-

panys goals and not necessarily

what the customer wants.

CRM was born originally to

maximize revenues and profits from

its loyal customers. With CRM therewere very few, if any, listening

mechanisms or other aspects of mu-tual relationships. Most companies

simply viewed it as a quick way toincrease revenues from existing cus-

tomers.

CRM can be explained in the fol-lowing way: Every time the company

interacts with the customer, the com-pany learns something new. By cap-

turing, sharing, analyzing, and acting

upon this information, companiescan better manage individual cus-

tomer profitability.Gartner Research says that

around $46 billion was spent on

CRM systems to help institutions getcloser to their customers. 55 percent

of all these CRM programs actually

drive customers away and diluteearnings, bringing forth this empha-

sis on customer experience.CEM, on the other hand, is highly

customer-centric and utilizes sys-tems, technologies, and simplified

processes to improve the customers

experience with the company.

CEM is emphasizing the lengthof the relationship and the treatment

of the customer as a journey and notas a destination. In addition CEM

places a greater emphasis on every

interaction, thus leading to the cre-ation of experience to the delivery of

those promised relationships to thedesired target customers.

Customer Experience Manage-ment is turning the customer experi-

ence towards company process and

tunes it accordingly. CEMs premiseis almost the mirror image. It says

that every time a company and a cus-tomer interact, the customer learns

something about the company. De- pending upon what is learned from

each experience, customers may altertheir behavior in ways that affect

their individual profitability. Thus,

by managing these experiences, companies can orchestrate more prof-

itable relationships with theircustomers.

Customer-Centric Journey: Sum-

mary

In todays competitive communica-tions market efficient customer ac-

quisition and retention is critical; andservice providers are locked in a bat-

tle for customers and wallet share. Inresponse to the competitive pressure,

many service providers are moving

from a network-centric to a cus-tomer-centric mindset in order to

provide excellent customer service, build brand loyalty, and maximize

profitability.

Key aspects:

CEM is a strategy involving Sys-tems, Processes, People, and not a

point solution CEM is different from CRM

CEM is a continuous strategy andnot one-time implementation

A successful CEM will enable a CSPto conquer the last frontier: positive

customer experience is a strategic

differentiator. si

CRM was born originally to

maximize revenues and prof-

its from loyal customers.

CEM differs from it in that it

aims at managing each cus-

tomers experiences and

learning and mutually bene-

fiting from them

STEP1: Discover

Identify CEImprovementAreas Identify Indicators

Identify Metrics Note:You shoulduse one ofthe Customer

Experience AnalyticstoolThat willhelp

STEP2: Benchmark your business

Identify CESpecicBiz Scenarios

Analysisof yourperformanceagainstCEMetrics

Determine yourGoal

As- IsAnalysisGapAnalysis

STEP3: Implement

Incrementalchangesin System,Process, and

People to achieve thebenchmarkedgoals

STEP4: Validate

CustomerExperience Resultsagainstmeasured attributesor

metricsparameters

fig1

The Infrastructure sector in India is traversing

through one of its most interesting phasestoday. If we look at our growth pattern over

the past few years, we will realize how im-portant it is for a country to have a strong in-

frastructure to enable growth and development. Itsimperative that the nation prepares itself for the future

and the next anticipated growth curve. I am happy with

the fact that our government is pro-development and willlook into the issue with utmost concern and expedite the

necessary initiatives.Infrastructure projects, such as urban public trans-

port systems like metros, expressways, superior qualityhighways, flyovers, and world class airports will enable

us achieve our dreams however, these projects need to

be envisioned with a long term perspective.There is a huge opportunity for other allied sectors to

participate in the infrastructure sectors growth acrossIndia. A huge gap in demand and supply of power, addi-

tionally plagued by the losses in transmission and distri-

bution provides an opportunity to augment thisrequirement. We would need to up the power generation

as well as make sure that proper transmission and distri-bution

Documents

Silicon India Sep 09 Issue