TOGAF or ITIL ??

Question: For an Enterprise IT Solutions Consultant - Will it be better to go in for TOGAF or ITIL Certification.

Let me clarify that I am not talking about Technical Architecture. But I am focusing more towards the Business side of Enterprise Architecture.

The profile I have in mind is a person who can work out solution frameworks and provide solutions to Business Problems, without worrying about the underlying Technology.

I am leaning towards ITIL for now. I feel ITIL is better off as it deals it IT Service Management. But then will it suffice to design Enterprise Architecture Frameworks.... Provide Business Solutions. I am not able to decide.

Mumbai Terrorists - Were they Pakistani?

The subject line is really ridiciulous and I mean throughly ridiculous, correct?
Well surprisingly not many "well-informed" people seem to think so. Go through the article below, from Golnar Motevalli:
http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed2/idUSISL401536
I want to highlight this particular sentence:
"Last month's attacks by suspected Pakistan-based militants in the Indian city of Mumbai, in which 179 people died, has halted the faltering peace process between New Delhi and Islamabad."

What do you mean by "suspected"?? Has not this terrorist [Amir Kasab] confessed that he is from Faridkot, Pakistan. Has not this terrorist's father accepted that this lad is his son. See the link below:
http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/dec/12mumterror-kasabs-father-breaks-his-silence.htm
[Source: Google - 1st try, 2nd link].

In tha lieu, of this evidence - How can anyone still be "suspected". Amir Kasab IS a Pakistani - and thats a FACT.

What irked was the fact that this article is supposed to be an "Analysis", which the last I knew is done, based on facts. And to rub it in...This is being published by a respected source like Reuters, which carries its opinion to mutiple-millions across the globe.

Unfortunately, I didn't see a link on the article to send a reply - Hence me resorting to posting this here.

Wake up Golnar...smell the coffee.....and please get your facts right. The TERRORISTS who orchestrated the Mumbai attacks ARE Pakistanis. And let there be no two thoughts about that.

Farewell Jumbo

Today definitely one of India's greatest bowlers decided to call it a day. Anil Kumble retired from active Test cricket.

If someone describes this as an "end of an era" - He/She will not be wrong. Kumble has been one of the greatest bowlers India have produced: Prasanna, Bedi, Chandrashekhar, Venkataraghavan, Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath and now Kumble.

Kumble belongs to that category sportsmen with whom the entire game - the very principles of sport rise to a different level. People like Kumble make you believe that it is possible to be competitive without being nasty, it is possible to be aggressive without becoming a monster. It is possible to compete to your fullest. Gracious in victory and Dignified in defeat.

If there are some moments to be remembered in sport - I guess it would be these (not in any particular order):

1. The Indian team winning the world cup in 1983 - Kapil showing off the cup to the crowds with his trademark grin.
2. Boris Becker touching the Wimbledon cup after Edberg won - Becker would come back next year to claim his rightful hierloom
3. 15-Love; 30-Love;40-Love-Game - Ivanisevic vs. Agassi
4. Jonty Rhodes' run out of Inzamam
5. Shoaib ripping out Dravid and Sachin in 2 continous balls - Prasad knocking off Sohail's Off stump in Bangalore [As far as B'lore was concerned - India won the World Cup then and there]
6. Wasim Akram's double whammy in the 1992 semifinal against England - 2 wickets of two deliveries - One outswinger and one in swinger.
7. Michael Chang's defying gravity on that return at the net in the US Open
8. Kapil's 431 - Dravid's exultant shout and leap after the Kolkata test against Australia
9. Ivanisevic winning the Wimbledon in 2001 on a wildcard.

and 10 - Definitely those 10 wickets in Kotla against Pakistan in 1999.

For someone who has made that kind of an impact in a sport - Someone who turned his handicap to his advantage - He is a role model for all of us. A perfect example of "Never say die" spirit.

Thank you Anil and fare well.

Enterprise Decision Management

"If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”
- Issac Newton

In the recent past, Enterprise Decision Management [EDM] has become all the more important to organizations. EDM manifests itself in myriad forms - Business Intelligence, Business Processes, Demand Management, Business rules, Data Mining, Regulatory Compliance to name a few.

I was researching on Predictive Analytics in the Financial Services arena - another fancy name for Business Intelligence which allows you to forecast/flag certain future outcomes based on past decision data. In short, a proactive approach to make better/informed business decisions in the future. I was looking at trying to fit Predictive Analytics into implementing fraud controls.

In this process of research, I came across this wonderful information storehouse called EDM Blog [www.edmblog.com]. Rather than me talking about it, just go there, browse and discover. The contributors are people who are leaders in this field. In a way, its learning from the masters. Happy Reading !!

OnMobile - Tipping Point ??

I happened to read about this company OnMobile a few days back. It was listed on BSE with a starting rate of INR 450 per share. 109,00,000 shares issued. So that means a market cap of nearly INR 490.5 crore [assuming a share price of Rs. 450 per share]....CRISIL rating of 4/5 meaning "above average" fundamentals.

OnMobile basically sells content for cell phones. stuff like jokes, ads etc which keep popping up on your cell. And apparently this is huge business because this company made Rs. 1,329.7 million, up at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 80.2 percent from 826.2 million in the 2004-05. Profit after tax was Rs. 337.2 million in 2006-07, up from Rs. 140.2 million in 2005 at a CAGR of 55.1 percent. 90 percent of 2006-07 revenue was from revenue sharing agreements with carriers [B2B].

Now we come to the most interesting part....where did this company start from? Believe it or not, this was an offshoot from my former employer...Infosys. This to me atleast, was an amazing find. For the first time I see a company being spun off in an Indian scenario. OnMobile seems to have inherited the good genes from its parent.

Personally what interests me is the question - Are such spin offs the beginning of a new trend in Indian businesses. If so then this would be an amazing ground for budding entrepreneurs who have ideas, but not the time to take those ideas and build it into a successful corporation. I hope that now our so called biggies look at seriously spinning off companies.....offering the parent a solid investment vehicle. Maybe this could be the ultimate perk....if you perform well, we give you enough money [and valuable advice if required] to start off on your own.

I do hope that this is not a one off case and hopefully is a tipping point to a new trend in Indian business.

Employee Satisfaction

I found this blog on Saravana Bhavan's employees....and their willingness to serve. Read the blog and the comments. Its pretty interesting. Even at closing time on the late night shift, the waiter "is willing to work for an extra 2 hours". Now that well and truly is an indication of employee satisfaction. The blog/issue finally veers to the IT industry, where employee dis-satisfaction seems to be the order of the day. Its no secret that if you find a satisfied IT employee, you probably need to classify him/her(homo abnormalus ??) and preserve the person for posterity. And I should know this very well.......I as one of the dissatisfied breed until about 18 months back. And some how this dissatisfaction seems to be the part and parcel of almost all "knowledge workers".

But now comes my question - What would it take to satisfy a knowledge worker. Going by the Saravana Bhavan blog, as an IT programmer - we see an equal amount of facilities being provided to us. So why in the world are we not satisfied. Lets not grumble about the "repeatability" of work. all work does become routine after a certain point in time. So that begs the question - we are paid pretty good salaries, we have good facilities.....employees are taken care of. Inspite of this why don't us IT workers have job satisfaction. This is something I always did not understand. Saravana Bhavan workers don't get to go to US or Europe.......earn in USD or Euros....then why is that they are so satisfied when they are provided work conditions which are almost the norm for all IT employees.

Maybe an answer is relativity. The average hotel waiter is treated like a second-class citizen by both customers and employers alike. The bus-boys are treated even worse. So I guess when they see an establishment like Saravana's providing such incentives they are more than willing to stick around. This of course is a very self-denial answer. Denial in the sense that I dont have the heart to call my own breed a bunch of fat, lazy buggers, who probably should be horse-whipped into working.

But seriously, what is the "incentive" that could be provided to an ever growing breed of IT workers to make them work "an extra 2 hours". Extra money might not be the answer.

P.S - I found the link to the Saravana's article on S Anand's blog.

Love is Blind

The caption says it all..... :-)