Business and Information Technology

Business and Information Technology

 

It is a weekday, and Priya Awasthi, 26, is at work at her high-security Electronic City office in Bangalore. She is in a large, cool, bright hall, surrounded by neatly arranged banks of computers, with biometric sensors and closed-circuit cameras recording every movement. Six clocks show the time in Sydney, Tokyo, Bangalore, London, New York and San Francisco. In front of her, projected on a giant screen, are a bunch of changing numbers, dials and graphs. The scene looks like NASA's space shuttle launch center. But it shows us how deep the technology has penetrated in the business and one cannot think about running a business without having a regular IT infrastructure or outsourced one. Whether you run a MNC or a SME , you have to allocate a part of your revenue for IT infrastructure and if you ask why? Answer is simple: if you want to compete and make profits you have to adopt and equip with global standards in this flattening, fiercely competitive world.

 

Nearly twenty years ago, personal computers began to revolutionize the way we work and play. In recent years, though, the Internet has been the primary source of technological innovation, offering us everything from online auctions to networked research libraries Today almost every business organization invariably requires a strong and efficient Information Technology (IT) system for its survival and sustenance. This change in organizational structure has not come about in a day, but rather is the result of efforts of various people who are constantly thinking of making human lives simpler and better. Technology has greatly helped businesses in terms of increasing their speed, efficiency. It has also made the working environment more safe, predictable and transparent. Overall, technology has helped the firms in their growth by maximizing their operational leverage.

 

Technology, to a large extent is demand driven. It is the need to create simple ways to do things that leads to innovation and invention. This when applied and accepted on a large scale brings about what we refer to as “Technological Revolution”. In recent times, the technology that has transformed our lives in a big way has been the Computers.

 

The development of computers can be classified in 3 phases. Under phase I from 1940s to mid 1960s, comes what we call as first generation computers (using vacuum tubes), second generation computers (using transistors) and third generation computers (which used integrated circuits-ICs). Advancement in ICs led to development of computer chips or silicon chips. Therefore, under phase II (from mid 1970s to early 1990s) emerged microcomputers which we called Personal Computers or PCs. With the coming of PCs the whole business-to-business and business-to-customer model changed drastically. With greater connectivity, linkages between firms and firms-customers increased and became more direct. Vendor development came into existence and with it the whole idea of value chain addition and quality enhancement.  Phase III started somewhere in early 1990s when Marc Anderson introduced a software browser called Netscape (its generic name being Mosaic). It was followed by the Internet explosion. Internet has made it possible to share data throughout the world within a few seconds and now even in nano seconds.

 

Businesses, not to be left behind also joined the bandwagon and developed their own official websites or web portals to disseminate information directly to their customers, suppliers and investors. In contemporary times, where firms are trying to leave as large a global footprint as possible, firms need to have access to timely and accurate information in order to operate efficiently. Business has been driven by the rapid evolution in technology: virtualization, cloud computing, standardization of IT infrastructure, and the availability of sophisticated tool sets. Industries including telecom and banking, financial services and insurance became the early adopters.  

 

Adoption of IT also has the advantage of reducing transaction and processing costs, greater access to inventory levels, improving accounting information and improving feedback capabilities. Thus, integration of IT in Business not only helps businesses to communicate better among themselves but it also helps in catering to a wider audience while incurring minimum costs. It has also been driven by changes in customer demands and a mature offshore supply environment. Nowadays, it provides the customer with a unique and individualized experience, right at home. Be it online banking or online buying, everything is just a click away, with consumers having the freedom to do these tasks according to their own convenience and their own suitable time.  

 

Though technology is highly desirable, but it is not always easy to introduce new technology. For starters, many new technological inventions are wasted because of lack of clarity on its application. For example, it was Emile Berliner who gave the phonograph (later called gramophones) its purpose, namely playing music. For others, acceptance by masses may take too long a time as was the case with sewing machines i.e. masses are generally the late adopters. This could partly be due to the very high prices charged for the new products which might deter masses from buying them. Further, today technology has been often accused of being too complex and intrusive in nature. In fact, it has been observed that there has been a migration of technology from fore-front to behind the curtain which has sent the wrong impression to customers that everything is as simple as it seems while ignoring the ever growing complex networks in the background. Moreover, there is huge mismatch between consumer demands and vendor supplies that needs to be rectified and brought in alignment.

    

But going forward in future we must admit that technology alone is rarely the key to unlocking economic value, in fact companies create real wealth when they combine technology with new ways of doing business. Having said that Information Technology will continue to affect the business activity be it managing relationships, be it managing capital and assets or leveraging information in new ways.

 

BY : Neha  Richa Amit

The unique game

First my friend said about the news and asked me to read the snippet at any cast. Why? because it is related to me and someheer you'll like it, he said.

Then i searched on the net and got the interview as well as the article. I was extermely delighted to see the person who stands tall in IPR world yet so humble and down to earth has come up with wonderful idea of ipr law game. This is a matter of pride for me and in fact even i was thinking that IPR should be promoted at school level and people should be made aware of IPR and its applications. Many of us do not think IPR is a good career option and hence there is a deep derath of talent in this sector and People who need professionals in this area are compromising with quality. So i starongly recommend this game, not only for children above 12 but also for grown ups. This one game will sure infuse that much needed interest in IPR and who knows many of us would start taking IPR as serious option? here goes the news...

In the next three months, a rather unique board game will hit the stores and that will be a board game on IPR

For starters, it’s a locally developed game, a rarity in a business where international games such as Monopoly, Scrabble, Risk or Scotland Yard, largely owned by global companies such as Hasbro Inc. and Mattel Inc., rule the roost.

Then, it’s developed by a lawyer.

And finally, it’s a game on intellectual property rights, or IPR.

The game is the brainchild of Pravin Anand, one of India’s best-known IPR lawyers. It took him two years to develop the game—and in these two years, Anand has had a busy day job.

The result, Anaryst, is probably the world’s first board game on IPR, and Anand is in talks with Noida-based Frank Educational Aids Pvt. Ltd to market it. Anand has also given away around 200 sets of Anaryst to schools, law firms, and friends to gauge their reaction to the game that he first unveiled last year at a function presided over by science minister Kapil Sibal, himself a well-known lawyer.

Anand’s motive in developing Anaryst is to acquaint young people—the game is essentially meant for anyone over the age of 12, although even younger children can play it—with the concept of IP and IPR, something that he hopes will encourage some of them to opt for a career in IP.

That’s a possibility, although not everyone who loves Monopoly ends up being Donald Trump.

Anand expects the board game to sell for around Rs500. Monopoly costs around Rs999 here. Manish Govil, director, product development at Frank Educational Aids, says that while it is difficult to predict the demand for the game in numbers before its formal launch in the market, he is positive it will receive a “positive reception”.

“The game is a new concept dealing with a current issue (IP). I’m sure children and adults would be interested in it,” Govil says.

Uday Athavankar, a professor at the Industrial Design Centre in Indian Institute of Technology, Bangalore, which specializes in creating and conceptualizing board games, too, believes Anaryst is “a new concept”.

And Sanjay Subrahmanyan, an avid board game enthusiast who blogs on board games, also says Anaryst is the first of its kind to be created in India.

The game, which follows a “roll and move” format, can be played by two-four players.The rules are simple. Players start by choosing one industry, represented by a pictographic card, out of four options—automobile, pharmaceutical, food and beverages, and information technology—depicted by a car, a drug, a drink and a computer system.

Each product has a portfolio of 15 unique intellectual properties associated with it marked on the cards. For instance, in the auto industry there are 15 properties associated with a car such as a patent in the “improved axle”, copyright in the light controlling software and trademark in the brand name.

Each player is given 5,000 A,nas, the currency of the game and acronym for Anand and Anand. The goal is to complete acquiring all the 15 intellectual properties of the chosen industry.

Tresspassers on other players’ squares, that represent factories, have to pay a fine or go to court and pay damages or go to jail. Players can also acquire IP of other players’ industries, become “trolls” and trade them later. The goal is to complete the industry portfolio without going bankrupt.

Stirring interest early

Anand says he has taken the game to students of New Delhi’s Salwan Public School to allow students to try it, and received an encouraging response.

“The school is planning to have inter-school Anaryst competitions. Children learnt that IP is not as complicated as performing a brain surgery. They will learn through the game that in a monogram they create, a recipe or an essay they write, IP is in everything,” the lawyer says.

“Children need to understand these concepts with subtlety early enough to be interested in it. Those students may now want to look at IP as a career. ”

Aparna Keswani, 17, was one of the students at the school who played the game with her friends. The game is now available in her school library. She says it definitely “stirred an interest” in IP among her classmates. “I wasn’t aware of what IPR means. In websites I often saw ‘Copyright 2009’ written at the end of the pages. It (the game) explained what trademark, patents, copyrights and designs mean and how it can be used in different industries,” she says.

Marketing Anaryst won’t be easy, says Subrahmanyan. “The problem with the board game industry is that some makers like Funskool dominate the market as they have rights like Scrabble and Monopoly that have been popular for over 40 years,” he says.

“Unfortunately, there is no board gaming culture in India, like in countries like Germany,” he adds. “Here, there are only cards and gambling.”

Anand is not worried because he is not interested in the business aspect as much as in cultivating his hobby and “spreading the message of intellectual property”.

“Even at the inauguration I had mentioned that it is an open source game, anyone can pick up the idea and work on it,” he says.

The lawyer now plans to develop an online version and make it available on a website so it can become more accessible and reach out to a larger audience.

I wish him all the success and hope many more to come in future. Also despaerately waiting for online version to hit the market. Gr8 going sir!!!

Courtesy : Live Mint

Fact Box - 9 (Capt. Gorur Ramaswamy Iyengar Gopinath)

It is the same time again when everyone of us talks about elections, Its imlications, repercussions, Goverment and Politics. When i heard the news that besides the regular contenders and champions of different communities (castes), there are few who are contesting for country. It remains to be seen, wheteher they are truly in battle for the country and for being the change they want to see, or just the rhetoric and gimmick to win and rule.

So i heard that Capt. Gopinath is contesting from Suth Bangalore as an independent candidiate. I realized that in my Fact Box series, i didnt post anything form quite sometime. So what better time than this wud be to post his fact box. More so when i got a piece in her own penned down article.

excerpts for you...

Vital Statistics

Spouse	Bhargavi Gopinath
Children	2 daughters: Pallavi and Krithika.
Residence	Bangalore

Education
 I was born in a small village called Gorur in Hassan district of Karnataka. My father was a poor school teacher and a farmer as well. I went to a Kannada-medium school till Class V after which I was selected at the Sainik School in Bijapur which had just been set up to cater to students in Karnataka. Incidentally, I failed the first time I appeared for the entrance exam as the paper was in English of which I did not know a word. My headmaster, however, was a very determined man and he wrote to the defence ministry asking them how they hoped to recruit boys from villages in South India if the paper was held in English and not in their mother tongue. I was able to appear again for the exam, this time in Kannada and that's how I got selected.
Career Highlights
Captain Gorur Ramaswamy Gopinath is considered the father of low-cost airlines in India. He was born in a village in Hassan district of Karnataka. A graduate from the National Defence Academy and Indian Military Academy, he served in the Indian Army for 8 years. He started commercial helicopter service in 1996. Understanding the needs of this segment, Capt Gopinath decided to start Air Deccan, the first low-cost, no-frills airline of India in August 2003. The French government has bestowed the award of Chevalier de la legion d’Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour) on Capt G.R Gopinath. He is also the recipient of several awards such as the ‘Rajyotsava Award’ by the Government of Karnataka, ‘Personality of the Decade Award’ instituted by KG Foundation , ‘Editors Choice Award’ by the Indian Express Trade and Tourism Awards and “Sir M Visvesvaraya Memorial Award” by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce & Industry. Captain Gopinath is contesting the Lok Sabha polls as an Independent from Bangalore South Constituency.

Fast Facts

After completing school, I got selected to the NDA (National Defence Academy) and went on to be commissioned in the Indian Army where I spent the next eight years and fought in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation war. I quit the Army to come back to my village and take up farming. I got into sericulture and eco-farming. Later, I set up Deccan Charter, India's first private helicopter charter company which was followed by India's first low-cost airline Air Deccan. My dream was to have an inclusive India with equitable growth for which connectivity was crucial.

I have been involved in different enterprises, in different fields and have managed to build meaningful businesses which contributed to nation-building. Over the past two decades, I have been a critic of several Government policies and systems and have worked with successive Governments on policy for reforms and progressive measures, particularly in the aviation sector.