Three Trends Worrying the CIOs/IT Managers

Do you know the key trends that are affecting information security and are forcing businesses to draft stronger controls as they become popular within the organization? Well, these trends are:

·          Cloud

·          Mobile

·          Social Media

In its 2011 Global Information Security Survey, Ernst & Young informed that “The rise of cloud services, mobility and social media is creating a new security paradigm and companies are having difficulty keeping up”.  The explosive growth of the three has definitely taken the organizations by surprise, they are struggling with ways and means to ensure that there are no security breaches or data loss.

I personally feel that the look for the perfect security to keep in pace with the fast growth of the three technologies will continue for some time.  Organizations need to draft the proper security policies to ensure that infringement does not happen and protecting their customers’ data should be their utmost priority. But they should also keep in mind that the policies do not create disgruntled employees and users.

Here are my suggestions:

·    The issues and concerns about cloud security will continue, but the growth of Cloud will too continue—so if you want to be a step ahead in comparison with your competitors then adopt the Cloud and build a secured network.

·    Consumerization of IT is blamed for the mobility revolution. But it is bound to stay and CIOs/IT Managers should encourage Consumerization of IT to keep their workforce happy, savvy and in sync with the current times. Drafting the right security policy is of utmost importance here (Read my earlier post on Consumerization of IT.)

·    The use of social media and social networking sights continues to explode, and it will do so at least over the next decade and will continue will be an area of worry for the CIOs/IT Managers. But a kneejerk reaction like limiting and not allowing access to social media sites is not the right solution. Here too, drafting the right security policy for the organization would be a proper action.

Gartner High on Social Media & Mobile Apps

I have always spoken about and encouraged my clients and friends to use social media to propagate and enhance their brand image and recall. I have emphasized on the usage of the mobile applications to attract customers. The potential of the social media platform and it power of its ability to reach the masses around the world is immense. The ability of the mobile applications to make a positive impact on our lives is amazing (check out my previous posts: Mobile Apps for Strokes, Healthcare Apps). Hence I felt my stand is vindicated when Gartner recently mentioned “Companies Will Generate 50 Percent of Web Sales Via Their Social Presence and Mobile Applications by 2015”.

This trend will definitely continue for at least to the next decade. Today users are looking for innovative but simple ways to interact with the companies. The old way of interaction is gone as the users become more tech savvy and do not like to wait. Hence, fast, easy and advance tools to interact with the consumers will be major requirements for the companies across the globe.

Additionally, as the usage of the Smartphones increases and bypasses the traditional PC—the expectation of the consumers will be vastly different and more integrated with the social platforms and innovative mobile applications. For the content driven industries, it will be both a challenge as well an opportunity. And whichever companies makes the first plunge and brings in integrated solutions for the consumers will emerge as the winner.

Another opportunity for the companies will be to expand their reach all over the world without making any investment on physical infrastructure or manpower in every region that they want to operate.

As technology grows more advanced and its usage becomes more innovative, the demands of the net and tech savvy consumers will also be in par with it. I firmly believe that the future will be interesting! What say you?



P.S: Check out Gene Alvarez, Research Vice President at Gartner, comments on the above topic in the Gartner YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjF3hqKm93Q

Nielsen India - Content usage on high among SmartPhone users

Did you check out the recent report on Indian smartphones usage patterns by Nielsen India? Indian SmartPhone users spend more time on content than Voice and SMS!! Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights,  revealed in its most recent study of this emerging market that the average Smartphone user spends 2.5 hours a day using their phones with 72% of their time spent on activities such as gaming, entertainment, apps and internet related content. Only 28% of their time is now used for voice calls and text messaging.

Key Findings by Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights

• Smartphone users in India are using their phones for more than 2.5 hrs per day, of which communication (calls, SMS, emails) accounts for only 28% of usage
• Younger Smartphone  users (15-25 yr olds) spend more than 3 hrs per day on their phones and spend 60% of the time on entertainment & browsing e.g., gaming, surfing the net and multimedia
• 68% of 15-24 year olds used a chat app last month as compared to 42% for the 31+ year olds; and
• Data usage for 3G users was close to 44% more than 2G users
• An Android user installs an average of 19 apps in a month compared to 10 apps for a Symbian user
• 84% of Android users played a game in the last month compared to 59% for Symbian users

What are trends expected?

I firmly believe that as 3G usages becomes more rampant in India, the focus and usage on content is going to increase. In fact, the time is ripe for the content developers to introduce innovative content. The jobs for content developer are also bound to increase, as a result. Hence, I do believe in future content would become the king in the SmartPhone arena.

Big Blue Overtakes MS-- shows a trend

You must have already read/heard the news that the Big Blue has overtaken Microsoft and become the 2^nd most valuable company across the globe. What an achievement for the company that was at the brink of closing down! And to become bigger and better than Microsoft which was in fact worth more than 3 times of IBM in 2000 is an applause worthy achievement.

Propelled by new growth areas and focus on services market, IBM kept on growing. In fact, as you all must be aware of, IBM Chief Executive Officer Sam Palmisano divested the company's PC business six years ago and decided to invest in software and services.

I do see a trend building here. The move is definitely from the boxes to services. There seems to be a paradigm shift from the personal computers to services and software. Along with IBM, many companies have divested its PC business to join the services bandwagon. The recent major company to move away from its PC business is HP, which was earlier a major player in the PC business.


The need for the hardware would always be there, but the reliance on it would become less. With companies further moving into virtualization and cloud, the demand for the hardware would drop.

But let me be clear on one point, I am not advising you to move away from hardware. I am a firm supporter of the hardware segment, and believe it to be an important segment of the IT industry. Just look at Apple—it’s the most valuable company.

My advice would be to ask you to find a synergy between your hardware, software and services segment. And that’s what the new age businesses would be looking for.

Do feel free to share your views on it!

Outsourcing -- 10 Steps to maximize

Outsourcing is an integral part of the IT process and many companies adopt it to bring efficiency and cut cost. Hence, it is extremely important for the companies to know and understand what they need to do and implement so as to get the maximum benefit out of outsourcing. With the industry seemingly on the verge of another recession, outsourcing is getting a strong shot on its arm. CIOs, IT leaders and sourcing managers are on the lookout for means and ways they need to follow to in order to get more from outsourcing. 

And help comes at the right time!! Gartner has identified 10 key steps in the sourcing strategy phase which looks like sure winners. So do the following to maximize your benefits from outsourcing:
1. Set context and objectives
2. Assess service delivery 'as is': Assess the organization's current internal and external capabilities.
3. Assess service and multisourcing management capability: Determine the level, position and maturity of the 10 multisourcing competencies within the organization to determine current and required capabilities.
4. Evaluate constraints and opportunities
5. Analyze gaps
6. Analyze external market
7. Conduct scenario planning: Compare the risk and potential value of different sourcing scenarios or models in terms of the organization's requirements and potential direction. Assess 'softer' issues, such as the fit of the sourcing solution to business objectives and
8. Analyze risks
9. Develop business case
10. Construct action plan

It’s imperative for companies to adopt best practices and follow steps that enable them to get the most out of outsourcing. And I see the outsourcing market grow at a fast pace, and it will be great for the Indian IT companies. You might ask why now? I would say because now is the opportune moment. The US and European markets are on a downturn and looking for ways to cut cost but still make profit, hence they are looking to outsource.






Do feel free to share your thoughts!!

Using tech for crop selection

I strongly advocate usage of technology in food security and firmly believe that it can make a major impact. Do check out my earlier post Usage of ICT in Food Security and IT & Food Security.

Using technology innovatively can take away a lot of misconception and misinformation, and at times ignorance too. And that’s what India’s agri-research body ICAR is aiming to do through their latest project. Using GPS technology, ICAR will provide farmers with exact information on the type of crops they should grow, and fertilizer and water requirements. This will enable the farmers to increase productivity which will in turn be a boon for the nation’s food security.

Interestingly, ICAR has already collected GPS based soil samples across the country. It has and will further look into the nutrient status and acidic reaction of soil in agri-region. The plan is to build a complete database on the appropriate farming methods to be employed for maximum productivity.

As time goes by and the database grows, information will be provided to the farmers over the internet on appropriate farming techniques to be adopted in specific areas. So you see the farmers will not only know the type of crop suitable for their fields, but also the amount of water and fertilizer they should use!

Now this is what I call innovative usage of tech!! What say you?

SMS protection against fake drugs

I am a strong proponent of technology, and support innovative usage of technology to make our life easy. Do check out my earlier posts (Healthcare Apps—Maintain Your Health and Usage of ICT in Food Security) to see the positive impact of tech in our life. Here’s another - soon we will be using our cell phone to protect ourselves from spurious drugs! 

As you must be aware spurious drug business is a big business in some parts of the country and is responsible for the deaths and dangerous after effects. The Indian government is planning to make it mandatory for the pharmaceutical companies in India to install an SMS-activated system to counter fake drugs in the market. As per the plan, every medicine strip will have a unique number which the buyers can SMS to the customer care for verification. This will definitely give a big blow to fake pharma companies and help the consumers.

I am sure we will soon see more such innovative uses of technology in India for the benefits of the general masses.

Do feel free to share with me if you have seen any such interesting usage of technology!

Is Android going the Windows Way?

Remember the time when ‘you think of a computer as a body, you think of MS Windows as its soul’. Almost every computer in the world had Windows operating system. Now Android seems to be doing that with its impressive growth as the OS for the Smartphones.

Since its introduction in 2008, Android has been successfully in capturing the market and emerged as the market leader. A recent Gartner report said, “Android in the Smartphone operating system (OS) market doubled to nearly 62 percent in the second quarter of 2011, up from just over 31 percent in the corresponding period of 2010”.

As per my perspective, Android came in at the right time when the market was changing. The scene was changing from the computer to Smartphones. It was able to address the pain-points and the needs of the market. Additionally, it was open and flexible—and gave everyone the option to play and develop. If you look at the apps currently provided by Android market—it’s simply amazing.

The buzz in the market about Android is positive. There are rumors that Google is planning to foray into manufacturing of mobile hardware like Smartphones and tablets. Another step that will likely change the market scenario is the recent buy of Motorola mobility. It gives Google access to 17,000 patents!

But the most significant change would be mobile OS providers teaming up with the handset manufacturers and churning out products that meet the needs of the manufacturers and the customers. You might why is this change or step so significant?

Well, do you remember the major step that ushered in the personal computer revolution? Companies like Microsoft tied up with OEMs and brought in the revolution where Windows became the dominant player. The same revolution will happen in the mobile handset space, and Android will likely become the dominant player (going by the latest reports).

But will Android become as popular as Windows? As of now that it’s hard to say. Personally, I feel the market dynamics will not allow a single player to become as dominant and popular as Windows became in the personal computing space. But let’s wait and see what the future has in store for Android and its competitors?

What are your views on it?

Android on the Roll- Gartner

Google's Android is on the roll. A recent Gartner report showed that Android has soared ahead of its competitors. As per Gartner, "Google and Apple are the obvious winners in the smartphone ecosystem. The combined share of iOS and Android in the smartphone operating system (OS) market doubled to nearly 62 percent in the second quarter of 2011, up from just over 31 percent in the corresponding period of 2010 (see Table 2). Gartner analysts observed that these two OSs have the usability that consumers enjoy, the apps that consumers feel they need, and increasingly a portfolio of services delivered by the platform owner as well".

Though Symbian takes the 2nd spot, it is clearly in a down-slide motion. I feel continuous innovation and amazing apps on Android and iOS are fueling their growth. It is extremely crucial for Nokia to perk up its OS and make it strong enough to compete with Android and iOS. Additionally, the market seems to be getting restless to see what the Nokia-Microsoft partnership brings to the table.

Google and Apple OS will definitely keep growing. And with the latest acquisition of Motorola Mobility by Google, Android is bound to have a great run for the next couple of years.

Please do share your views.

Users store sensitive data on Android and iPhone devices

Nowadays, almost all of us use Smartphones to do our work. We download apps, network, watch videos, listen to music and do much more than we did or even imagined a couple of years back.  But more than often, we never care about the security aspect of the device that we use. ViaForensiscs, an innovative digital forensics and security firm, has come out with a rather interesting report Mobile App Security Study which specifically mentioned that sensitive user data stored on Android and iPhone devices.

As per the report and from the conclusions that I have drawn, the following are likely to become trends:

• Data security will stay as a major pain-point for the organizations. The last few years have seen major companies and their customers being affected by security breaches and data loss. Hence, organizations will definitely spend massively on innovative and strong security measures to protect their consumers’ data.
• The large-scale growth and spread of Apple and Google in the Smartphone market has opened up business opportunities. App developers, content providers and other such companies are taking advantage of these platforms to provide services and solutions to the customers. This trend will continue.
• The Smartphone OS providers and app developers will work together to secure the data on their customers’ Smartphones as data security will gain prominence among the consumers.
• As we all know and as report pointed out, “Smartphones today handle a great quantity of private and sensitive data, in a highly portable, network-connected mobile computer. The data stored and transmitted can include security credentials, personal financial information, private communications, sensitive company data and more”. So it will become increasingly important for the services providers, developers and the consumers to work together to prevent the cybercriminals from accessing personal data.
• Financial apps are being used by consumers to do business and banking on their Smartphones. Contrary to popular beliefs financial apps developers are adding encryption to the apps as a security measures. As we use our Smartphones more to do our banking activities, the need from fool-proof security measures will increase.
• As the consumers become aware, they will demand secure apps from their service providers. To meet the growing threats on mobile devices, the ideal outcome is for app providers to develop higher competency in mobile app security.

 Knowledge empowerment among the consumers and demand for secure apps will definitely make the companies provide secured solutions to the consumers. Additionally, preventing breaches and data loss is extremely important for the companies to ensure happy and loyal customers.

What do you say?

Nokia Behind Apple & Samsung in Smartphone category

You must have read the news—both Apple and Samsung have surged past Nokia in the Smartphones category. Nokia was once the undisputed leader not only in the SmartPhone category but also in the overall mobile category. So what does this change signify?

• One thing is pretty clear. Nokia can no longer sit on its past laurel and need to quickly come out with products that are in sync with the latest trends and customer needs. Although it is still a leader in the overall mobile phone category, but competitors are eating into its market-share.   
• The greatest pitfall for Nokia seems to be its Symbian OS. It fell through as Android and iOS raced past it. As others went ahead with innumerable innovative features, Symbian looked a bit off-beat. In fact, as compared to Android and iOS, Symbian seems to be the least preferred OS.
• The market expects Nokia’s partnership with Microsoft to bring in some positive changes. But both Symbian and Windows OS lag behind. Hence, whether the deal will be beneficial—only time can say. Additionally, products born out of the partnership are still to hit the market

Nokia needs to look closely at the market and come out with products to attract the consumers. More than the premium customers, the masses can have a big impact on the market. And that’s exactly what the market leaders have learnt from the success of the non-branded and local low priced products. Nokia made a late entry to the dual sim market too.

Nokia has the potential to become a leader again after all its design and technology has always been great. But the organization needs to understand that the demands of the market are different as compared to say a couple of years back. Today customers look for applications, innovative features, and cost also does make a major difference.

So my advice to Nokia would be:

• Innovate on your OS
• Provide applications that makes the life of the consumers easy
• Give features that are easy to use 
• Introduce products that are cost effective and goes easy on the wallets of the consumers

I welcome your viewpoints.

Security Market Grows, Trends I see

A recent IDC report caught my eyes - APEJ (Asia/Pacific excluding Japan) security market posts a 7.5% growth in 2010. Additionally, IDC expects the:

• Identity and Access Management (IAM) and Security and Vulnerability Management (SVM) markets to experience the largest growth of 17% and reach US$375 million and US$161 million respectively in 2011.  
• Secure Content and Threat Management (SCTM) market to grow at 13.3% and reach US$1,059 million in 2011.

We definitely cannot deny the fact security threats are a major headache for the enterprises. In fact, the threats are evolving at a fast pace, and at times become difficult for the companies to keep track of all the threats. Moreover, virtualization and cloud is also increasing the worries for security. Based on the report and current scenarios, the trends I foresee are:  

• IT Security threats will no longer be confined to the enterprises, it will impact the customers and partners and to some extent the other connected stakeholders too.
• Security breaches and data loss will happen via social media and network.
• Security attacks will happen via employees personal mobile devices.
• With 3G and 4G enveloping the telecom arena, the number of attacks using smartphones will rise.
• As the enterprises adopts virtualization and moves on to cloud, the security issues will take a whole new dimension.

I see more additional scenarios. In such a situation what should a CIO do?

• For starters, we are in an age of IT Consumerization and it will not be a good idea to ban personal devices or access to the online services and solutions. So it becomes important for the CIOs to draft foolproof security rules and regulations, and implement them.
• CIOs should proactively adopt the latest security solutions, and create a highly secured network.
• Social media activities should be monitored and come under standard guidelines. For examples, denying access to unknown sites.
• Security vendors should be encouraged to develop robust solutions which should be dynamic enough to keep in pace with the changing security threats.

There can be and definitely will be more measures. I do look forward for your views.

NASSCOM to focus on start-ups and small IT companies

You must have read the latest report that NASSCOM will focus on start-ups and small IT companies. This is a major development and is bound to create positive ripples in the Indian IT industry. I have seen many start-ups and small IT companies fold up because the support to sustain was not there. But things will definitely change for good with this stance of NASSCOM.

You might ask- what would be the great shakes if NASSCOM supports the start-ups and small IT companies? Well, one thing you should know-- it was NASSCOM, spearheaded by late Dewang Mehta, which revolutionized the Indian IT industry and acted as a strong catalyst in the emergence of India as an IT powerhouse. This latest development will give further boost to the Indian IT industry and I strongly believe will make the following possible:

• The main difference between the Indian and US IT industry is that we are providing the support whereas they were and are still innovating and are seen as innovators. And that’s one of the major reasons for the world to become so dependent on them. This support from NASSCOM will lead to a spurt of IT companies with innovative solutions. Earlier many start-ups and small companies with great ideas, innovative products and right motive, failed because the support was not there. 
• Our IT acumen is very strong but our entrepreneurial zeal is not that strong. In comparison to the western world, we have very few IT entrepreneurs. The reason varies from lack of support to fear of failure. But this development will encourage many Indians with innovative ideas and solutions to set-up shops. It will truly lead to a spurt of start-ups and small IT companies. 

Although this stance was long due, but it has come at an opportune time as the world is coming out of recession and people are looking for the next big idea or solutions. I foresee some great solutions and products coming out from the Indian IT sector in the near future. Additionally, I strongly feel that we should get together to support and encourage the entrepreneurial spirit lying dormant inside us and come out with companies that continuously innovate. In the IT world of the future—Innovation will be the key to success.

Private Cloud will create jobs and lead to investments

Cloud’s potential and expected benefits just keeps on growing. Organizations and governments are opening to the benefits of the cloud. Now another piece of news comes as music to the proponents of cloud. A study on private cloud space in India conducted by EMC Corporation and Zinnov Management Consulting estimated that the total cloud market in India will reach a market value of $ 4.5 billion by 2015.

 I have always propagated the fact that cloud will be a job generator in India. I feel vindicated by the report on the employment scene- private cloud is expected to create 1 lakh jobs by 2015. I personally feel with the increasing adoption of the cloud, the number of jobs too will further increase.

In fact, in India the private cloud adoption is increasing- though at a slow pace currently. The study pointed out that private cloud adoption will dominate and account for $3.5 billion in revenues, growing at over 60%. Hence, cloud computing is bound to increase and will form a significant part of an organization’s total IT spend.

IT/ITeS, telecom, BFSI, manufacturing and government sectors will contribute largest to the cloud market in India. But the study also mentioned that private cloud deployments will lead to cost optimization in segments like telecom and networking, facilities and fabric, hardware, software, internal labour and external IT services.  

Cloud is definitely the future!!

Google Music - The Game Changer

Have you checked out Google Music? Well, once you start using it; you will forget your files and CDs. You just have to upload your personal music collection to listen anywhere, anytime.

 

You can listen to your favorite songs directly from the web or on any enabled device with the Music app. The best part is that you don’t have to be online to listen to the songs as the songs you've recently played will automatically be available offline.

 

You can create your own customized playlists; and the playlists along with additional changes (that you might have made) will be available everywhere your music is. The playlists are automatically kept in sync.

 

Once you upload your favorite music, it will always be available for you. You no longer have to worry about cables, file transfers or storage space!

Check out the video to learn more about Google Music

Googe Music will change the way we listen to music. The days of CDs/DVDs, file transfers and painstakingly managing your playlists will be things of past. Accessing your music anytime and anywhere, and in any form will be possible now. 

A word of advice for the players in music industry -  it would make complete sense for  you  to join the band-wagon, before your competitors steal the show!!

Cloud for the Consumers

Recently a question was raised to me, “How would the cloud help the consumers?”

Well, first I want to explain that Cloud is definitely a huge opportunity for the large enterprises and the SMB sectors. The cost effective access to applications, platforms and infrastructure via the cloud is really amazing. It lets you do your work at a fraction of the cost. So for all, it’s a win-win situation.

So what the cloud has for the consumers? A lot, I would say.

• You can store your music in the cloud and access it anytime and anywhere you want. You can even allow your near and dear ones to access it.
• You can read innumerable papers and books as they get stored on the cloud. You can upload your digital books, papers etc on the cloud, and read at your own sweet time as well as allow others to read your content and point of view.
• You find it hard to store your video collections? Here too, the cloud can come to your rescue. You can store it and watch it whenever you want—without the fear of ever losing it.
• You can work on the documents simultaneously with your colleagues and friends, if that document is on the cloud. Won’t that make your life easy?

The above examples are just a few of the ways consumers can use the cloud. In fact, the cloud can enable you to store all your digital content at the same place and allow you to access it anytime and anywhere. The cloud has the potential to change your life and the way your work. As we go into the new decade, we will see numerous and newer ways that we can use the cloud to make our life easy and comfortable. I do firmly believe that the cloud will become way of life for us.

Please do feel free to tell me your views on it.

Online India Companies Booming

The internet boom is back in India. Online companies like snapdeal, flipkart, diapers.com and others are doing roaring business. The rapid internet penetration and high growth of mobiles subscribers are prompting retailers and organizations to flock to the online space to attract buyers. And the tremendous business done by the recent online companies have shown that the Indian consumers have come of age.

As a result, the future trends will be:

• Ecommerce will boom in India
• Instead of the ‘touch and feel’ need, Indian consumers’ preferences have changed to the speed of delivery and ease of availability.
• Companies that ensures fast delivery, and high quality services and products will rule the roost
• Majority of the users will shop online. It’s a growing phenomenon, and will soon reach a critical mass.
•  The lessons learnt from burst of the internet bubble in 1990s have enabled the current companies to ensure that they do not make similar mistakes. Hence mature companies with clear cut business models will emerge and sustain.
• Despite the current success scenarios, I don’t foresee Internet companies spouting at the drop of the hat unlike the 1990s scenario.
• Mergers and acquisitions will be rampant among the online companies in future as they try to consolidate their position in the online market space
• The scramble for the online internet space will see many companies closing doors. There are many companies offering similar services, and only the best among them will survive.

The changes are quite encouraging, and the online companies are gaining a major mileage due to the large audience milling the net. The high internet penetration ensures that a captive audience is there to be tapped and the growing number of internet companies show that the online business is on a great high. So I can safely say, in India we are re-building the internet bubble.

What’s your take on it?