Tale of a Journey: Social Irony Unfolds

On an ideal Saturday morning, I like to lie leisurely with flailing arms and stretched legs on my bed without worrying about the raging sun rays knocking at my window pane and ticking time clock. I sink into past as there would not be any future. A perfect start of the Saturday would be with a cup of tea and the recitation of Faiz and Iqbal with silence as my companion and audience.
Alas- it was not an ideal Saturday, the “scheduled business meeting” was disturbing my eternal peace, even though it was ought to start a bit late but the presence of its being, did not allow me to enjoy the morning calm and relish the soothing silence. After the soporific meeting was over, I rushed to catch an auto rickshaw for New Delhi Railway Station to board the train for my home town, Aligarh even though train was late by an hour from the scheduled departure time as per the “Train Running Information System (e.g. www.trainenquiry.com)”.My trust on the aforementioned website got shaken when I missed the train once thanks to the misleading information displayed there. Once bitten twice shy,since then I conciously ignore the information.

I waited for the auto rickshaw and finally found one after tiresome and desperate haggling with the autowala (Auto Rickshaw Driver) that certainly left a bad taste in the mouth. Public Transport System in Noida can be best described as miserable and lamentable. It is a collection of crowded government buses and a gang of autowala’s(Auto Rickshaw Driver) who demand the fare depending on their mood swings ,passenger’s luck and some times visible pity on the passenger’s face.

Who else but the touts greeted me at the main entrance gate of New Delhi platform , offering all kinds of tickets , from any where to every where .They can not be trashed as all fake , they arrange genuine tickets sans genuine price even though it is not available as per the railway reservation system. All these are being done under immense public glare and in collusion with police and railway authorities on a profit sharing arrangement. If you do not have plenty of time at your disposal, you will definitely miss the train as there is always a big serpentine queue at all the ticket counters of New Delhi railway station. Hey, shed your worries as the services are available to get the ticket hassle free without waiting for your turn in the crawling queue. To avail the services, you need to take a few right steps: identify the right face, greet the right person and offer the right amount of compensation for getting this challenging assignment done. Being a firm believer in the woman emancipation, I trust the woman touts more than their male counterparts.

Fortunately, I had booked the ticket in advance, just maneuvering through the crowd I reached the train compartment. New Delhi Railways station platforms are always crowded and crammed with the people of all ages and motley of faces and races. It is like a city in a state of flux, busy and buzzing. Trains and the railways stations are the real reflection of the class division and difference in the class status in the Indian society. Most of the trains have stuffy sleeper class, relatively comforting air- conditioned compartments (which are further subdivided in three classes) and agonizing general compartment. Sleeper class is mostly occupied by the lower middle class and air conditioned classes are for the privileged section of the society (based on their social stratification). Condition of the trains in general is pathetic with dirty compartments and stinking toilets many a times without any water. However, among all classes general compartment (particularly for the trains going to east) are in the worst state, labour class who comes to Delhi to earn their bread not even butter are stuffed like animals in a metal box (know as general compartment) where they have to spend more than twenty four hours sitting in the stifling and debilitating inhuman environment.

Beyond these horrifying tales of gross negligence and mismanagement by the railway authorities, let me share the interesting part of my train journey. I entered the cabin and found my seat already occupied. At my humble request (laced with a cosmetic smile) people adjusted themselves to allow me to fit into the available space. As always the number of people occupying the seats were more than the reserved quota thanks to the goodwill of the ticket collectors and the morbid fear of the local hooligans.Fellow companions were gregarious, pleasant and convivial even though they belonged to different age groups. Aligned with long and rich argumentative tradition of India, we pounced upon every single chance to get into the discussion with each other about any thing under the sun. A middle aged couple just returning from Amaranth Yatra was ecstatic about their journey which made them feel closer to the God. They were sharing the fear and fun of a helicopter ride which they took for the first time on their way to holy cave for pooja. Two relatively young guys were engrossed in the discussion about the mundane stuff like recent salary hike, busy morning schedule and the television soaps which they started watching, enjoying and following after their marriages. Their wives also participated in the discussion about the TV soaps that enthralled them and kept them engaged while their husbands were away at work. Occasionally the young ladies confided and whispered about their favorite topic of in-laws and also thanked God for bestowing his blessings on them by granting independence from them.

Train was running hard oscillating from side to side and rattling loudly matching with the prattle inside the cabin. Some loud and disturbing voice was coming from the next cabin as a gentleman with not so gentle voice was exhorting about the election strategy which will make the BJP win the next lok sabha election.

Not all Indians blabber and argue, some believe in the power of silence too as exhibited by the lady from the “Far East “who was absorbed in the book and had occasional glance at the people around.

Suddenly train stopped at a dark and deserted station with a screeching sound, some people got off to take the stock of the situation and to inhale and feel the fresh air. Train stopped, tongue continued, there was only one voice in the cabin (voice of the lady returning from Amarnath Yatra), rest all were listening to her with undivided attention. She was talking about the internet, the most remarkable invention of the 2oth century which has become a necessity for them to connect to one of their daughters and her IT professional husband happily settled in Switzerland .She kept sharing her stories without getting distracted a bit by the flurry of the movements of the people for all kinds of reason :some of them searching for the right places as the seat number on ticket and chart does not match , vendors selling tea, coffee, water bottle and crackers etc., ticket collectors draped in dirty “black turned brown” jacket for the ticket validation and fund collection from the local passengers as good will gesture and service to the nation.

After a long wait, train started crawling again and I slipped into the thought of the people traveling in AC compartments/classes who represent the “Shining India”. These are the people who benefited most from the policies of liberalization, globalization, privatization and all such euphonious phrases. Their income has grown many folds since the economy opened up making them taller at least in their own eyes. There was another India(“Suffering India”) traveling in the same train in the congested, dingy and fetid compartment (known as general compartment) without basic amenities for human beings and disconnected from rest of the train. These people were also babbling, chattering and laughing in their own world .They have learnt to live in this unjust world of suffering, agony and abuses without any complaint, even to their God

Yawning gap between “Suffering and Shining India” is visible with the naked eyes but we have chosen to remain blind. It has been best described by Arunadhiti Roy as:

“It's as though the people of India have been rounded up and loaded onto two convoys of trucks (a huge big one and a tiny little one) that have set off resolutely in opposite directions. The tiny convoy is on its way to a glittering destination somewhere near the top of the world. The other convoy just melts into the darkness and disappears. A cursory survey that tallies the caste, class and religion of who gets to be on which convoy would make a good Lazy Person's concise Guide to the History of India. For some of us, life in India is like being suspended between two of the trucks, one leg in each convoy, and being neatly dismembered as they move apart, not bodily, but emotionally and intellectually”.

These journeys are a great learning experience; they teach a lot about the socio economic conditions of the society and provide opportunity to experience the political undercurrent and unassailable truths of life.

The” lady returning from Amaranth Yatra” continued sharing her views and worries about the difficulty of finding a perfect match for their second daughter. Emerging from the envelope of darkness, city was visible in the yellow and white light, familiar places were passing by as the train was inching towards my destination. After making the necessary noises, train stopped at the station and I could recognize from the cacophony and the buzz of the platform, the city I have chosen to live and love.

Life or Life style: IT Industry Perspective

It was the pleasant spring, marked by the mellow sun and gentle breeze, work place was buzzing with the usual activities and one and all was in hurry as there is no tomorrow. There was an occasional but imposing silence prevailing over the buzz of the day after the long and hauling session of deliberation and argumentation. Without breaking the hallowed silence one of my colleagues confided in me to share the tragic news of the sudden demise of Ranjan Das ,CEO of SAP , India. By any stretch of imagination, it was impossible to believe that one of the most physically fit and health conscious CEO of the IT industry would succumb to a fatal cardiac arrest at such a young age (certainly not a viable, die-able age*).Alas –my day is too busy to think of these tragedies beyond the moments of instantaneous shock and grief.
When the silence of the night descended and I confided myself to my own secluded space of nothingness , events of the day started appearing before my eyes , ghastly tragedy which got lost in the hustle and bustle of the day started hounding me, scaring me and even staring me in the face. I could not understand why I was losing my calm and sleep over the death of someone whom I never met and or knew well. There have been numerous cases of death of young IT professionals in past due to “sedentary lifestyle Problems” as prescribed by the doctors and social scientists but I never felt unnerved and conveniently remained stoic and at best indifferent.
This disturbing incident forced me to observe, understand and analyse the life style in the much hyped IT and ITES sector which redefined India and positioned it proudly on the global map. This industry has always been associated with the better salary (buried in past but the perception persists), global assignments which make parents a few inches taller in the society and the go getting attitude of the young generation.
Beyond much hyped glitz and promising career, this industry has inseparable relationship with high stress level and self prescribed ”over-the-counter medicines” such as cigarette and alcohol to overcome their woes and worries.
It sounds vapid (perhaps “not so cool” is the right phrase) to discuss the health hazards and sedentary life style issues with which IT professionals are struggling every now and then. Social scientists and doctors raised the alarm, each time these kinds of news got the media attention though rarely as the killer does not have the marketable/sellable face. Being an insider, I believe that it is more dangerous than it really seems to be but all and sundry is happily treading the path of self destruction in the unmitigated hope that it might bring glory and much enviable success.
Major reasons which are seriously affecting the physical and mental health of the young IT professionals are elucidated below.
1 Long Working Hours: Recession and the Dog-Eat-Dog world of the information technology have forced the companies to reduce the price. But the change in prices does not necessarily mean the change in profit, for which corporate world has invented a new mantra “more for less” which resulted in the reduction of resources and delivery time. Employees, the weakest among all stake holders of the organization have been entrusted with the onerous task of meting the crushing dead lines of the delivery by working for extra time and even on week ends.
2 Erratic work schedules: Off shore projects which include the application outsourcing, voice based services .etc where the employees are required to work as per customer time zone which might fall in the late hours of the local time. Many a times resources are working in late night shifts (described as graveyard shift) continuously for a period of more than fifteen days.
3 Working Conditions:Work in the IT and ITES industry is mostly about sitting in front of the computers for endless hours but unfortunately neither workplace is ergonomically designed nor enough care is taken by the person themselves about the health advices displayed at their work desk in jazzy design and flashy colours.
4 High Stress Level: Most of the IT professionals are over stressed thanks to the long and tiring work hours which is not just affecting the their physical and mental health but also destroying the peace at home as they do not devote quality time their personal lives deserve. This creates a vicious cycle of stress which is further augmented by the complications of the stress. There is a ubiquitous phenomenon of peer pressure which inspires few but impels all to win the race of life at every cost even at the cost of life.
5 Long Traveling Hours: Many people spend a lot of time in traveling from places to places which leaves the body and mind exhausted. Long term exhaustion may also cause the burnout of the individuals.
6 Eating Habits: IT industry is known for its love of junk foods and caffeinated beverages. Unhealthy habits e.g. smoking addiction and alcohol consumption are also quite prevalent among the IT professionals, some times to overcome the stress and many a times to celebrate the spirit of life.

The list is long and commonsensical, without any revelation or surprises. Old Cliché “Health is wealth” still holds true and any accomplishment at the cost of physical and mental health can neither be relished nor does it make an economic sense. We must learn to manage the paradoxical situation where growth and stress are indelibly linked after all health is an individual’s choice not the organization responsibility. To dispel the fear, I would conclude the discussion on a lighter note with the following quote of Mark Twain.

"Be careful about reading health books.You may die of a misprint."

Do not panic, stay calm and be conscious of your health.

Demystifying Leadership

Who is a leader?

Not a long time ago, during my my college years, I imagined leaders as the super human beings blessed with the eloquence of diction and an enviable oratory skill that evokes infinite passion and inspires the generation. I firmly believed that born leaders are flamboyant, they exude confidence and emanate positive energy during the dark and difficult  juncture of time, they command reverence from their friends and foes alike, they have  big  dreams and clarity of directions to navigate through the unchartered territory towards their envisioned new world. Not surprisingly, during my salad days I adored the likes of Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King Jr, Che Guevera, Nelson Mandela and Jawahar Lal Nehru and many more  for varied reasons.
As the life unfolded, my understanding of the leadership behaviour got enlightened and evolved thanks to the timeless books and priceless stories of others’ experiences. My own interactions with the people of various walks of life hugely influenced the process of necessary evolution.

The recipe for a leader?

A lot of research has been done on the leadership qualities, umpteen number of research papers have been published  and huge sums of money are being spent every year by the organizations in training the employees to become future leaders.

There is no agreed standard definition of leadership and its prerequisites,  eminent personalities and noteworthy  scholars have defined leadership and its attributes in their own unique way even though a lot remains common.

John Maxwell, author of “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership “defines leadership as “influence, nothing more, nothing less”. He goes on to say: “He who thinks he leads but has no-one following him, is simply taking a walk.

I wondered if the “Influence” is all needed for the leadership and was trying to decipher this mysterious phrase before I incidentally  discovered this beautiful couplet from the doyen of Urdu poetry and philospher Allama Iqbal.  

“ Nigah buland,sukhan dilnawaz,jan pursoz

yahi hai rakhat-e-safar mir-e-karwan kay liyae”
“A lofty vision; a voice which touches the heart, a consciousness suffused with

compassion, these are the only real requirements for the leader of the caravan”

These beautiful lines challenged and changed my view about the tenets of leadership.

Allama Iqbal described vision as the essence of the leadership. He further asserted that  compassion and ability to converse  with politeness and humility are intrinsic attributes of a great  leader.  The mentioned leadership traits  specially the compassion and humility are unheralded and have been glossed over by many management gurus and philosophers. Compassion and humility are not the signs of weakness, It rather strengthens the resolve to accomplish the objectives without craving for the credit of the same.

My belief in this brilliant definition got further strengthened and complimented by the arguments of Jim Collins in his best seller “Good to Great”. He explained and emphasized the importance of the  the compelling modesty of the Level 5 corporate leaders (based on the leadership style) who act with quiet and calm determination to make the corporate organisation successful. He further elaborates in the book that “level 5 leaders embody a paradoxical mix of personal humility and professional will”.

Epilogue
In the modern corporate world of instantaneous gratification, impactful sound bites, quick results and innate desire to be visible and wowed by one and all, these subtle leadership qualities   are definitely inconspicuous in the mundane business transactions and interactions.

For business managers, meeting immediate goals is  sacrosanct and everything else is invariably  sacrificed at the altar of “delivery targets”.

“Corporate trainings” and “study of the leadership thoughts and principles” preached and pronounced by the management gurus help individuals in understanding the leadership qualities, however development and implementation would not be feasible without conducive and encouraging work culture.

I wish and hope that organizations would promote the culture of practicing the leadership qualities envisioned and enunciated by Allama Iqbal and Jim Collins, by aligning the same with the Core values of the Organizations as the essential and enduring tenets.

ERP Evaluation: An Insider View

Introduction:
Many of the medium and small enterprises are adopting and embracing “ERP Solution" with open arms as a next big disruptive change to make their organizations efficient, effective and competitve.ERP implementation requires significant amount of capital investment, long execution time, meticulous planning, highly skilled resource pool and unflinching faith of the organization leadership in the product and the people handling the execution.
With the mammoth cost of failure hovering around, an objective analysis of the ERP Solution vis-à-vis organization business processes becomes the sine qua non for the organization to make the prudent decision about the need and fitment of the ERP solution.

Evaluation Parameters:
Here are the key questions which must be understood, analyzed and answered objectively during the solution evaluation process.

1.Alignment with organization’s strategic growth Plan:
ERP solution must be an integrated component of the overall strategic growth plan of the organization. It should not be treated as a dream project of an exuberant CIO, which might bring good luck to the organization.

2. Measurable Objectives and Outcomes:
Measurable KPI,s need to identified, evaluated and bench marked with the best practices of the industry. Following the foot print of the competitor (“Me Too” Syndrome) without objective analysis will not yield the required result expected out of much hyped product and technology. There are many statistical tool and methods available for evaluating the product cost and the benefits. Comparison of “Total Cost of ownership” and “Return on Investment” over a period of 3-5 years is one such method which provides useful insight to the leadership for making a decision. Various Factors influencing the TCO are mentioned below.
• Cost of Acquisition (Hardware, software License etc.).
• Cost of implementation (External services, overheads, Internal cost etc).
• Operation and maintenance cost (Direct and Indirect cost).
• Cost of replacement.
• Cost of not having the required tool which may result in the loss of future opportunities.

ROI calculation for any ERP solution is very complex since all current and future benefits must be quantified and aligned with the financial matrix. Following factors significantly contribute to the ROI calculation.
• Identification of measurable KPI,s.
• Measurement of “KPI and Expected Improvement”.
• Direct Cost saving e.g. resource reduction, maintenance cost of legacy system, consolidation of multiple IT systems.
• Driver of future business growth by providing significant cost advantage, and efficient operation.
• Enabling fast and consistent Decision making

3. Business Process Reengineering:
ERP solutions are merely the tools for improving and integrating the business processes. For better utilization of the ERP Software, business processes must be streamlined and standardized to a greater extent by carrying out the Business Process Reengineering as a prerequisite of the ERP implementation. According to Hammer and Champy, “Reengineering is the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance such as cost, quality, service and speed".
Business process identification and BPR methodology adoption are two critical functions of the BPR processes.

• Business Process Identification (What to Reengineer?): Identification of the business processes for reengineering is the cornerstone of any BPR process. A business process is comprised of a series of steps or activities cutting across different functions of the organization. Measurement and Comparison of the Critical parameters (KPI’s) of the existing processes with the Industry bench mark, competitor’s data or the similar process of the other industries would help to identify the processes which are required to be reengineered.”Criticality of the process” and “Alignment with the BPR objective” are other important parameters for business process identification.

• BPR Methodologies: Various “Best of Breed” methodologies are available for BPR. It is selected by the organization based on the industry sector, business model and the objectives of the BPR. To facilitate the understanding of the BPR methodologies, key steps of one such basic methodology is mentioned below below.
• Declaration of Objective and Mission Statement.
• Project Preparation.
• "AS IS" Process documentation.
• "To BE" Process development.
• Implementation of Changes.

4. Leadership commitment and Communication:
It is the commitment of the leadership which drives the changes down the organizational hierarchy. Leadership need to communicate, clarify and explain the long term benefits which can be derived from the product. Clarity of communication from the leadership will ease out the resistance to change and alleviate the apprehensions.

5. Product Fitment:
ERP solution is not the panacea for ills, an organization is suffering from. None of the ERP product will be able to completely address all requirements of the organization out-of-the-box and map all the business processes. Business must exhibit the readiness and flexibility to adopt the best available solution offered by the product. In case of absolute necessity, custom product modifications should be allowed as they have a high impact on the maintenance and future upgrade of the application. There are various methods available for evaluating the product compatibility. Some of the well known methods are explained as mentioned below.
• Study of the product compatibility with the competitors.
• Analysis of the product compatibility in the same Industry or other industry with similar business processes.
• Product success stories and reference check.
• Suggestion of Independent Advisory firms.

6. Delivery Model Selection:
In the current context, consideration of software delivery model choices has become imperative from ROI standpoint. Gone are the days when the expensive “Greenfield on-premise implementations” were the only option available to the customer. With the advent of On Demand models, there are multiple choices available. Customers have a choice to go for a hosted solution or a shared hosted-outsourced solution or a dedicated infrastructure hosted solution and many more. A comprehensive cost/risk analysis needs to be done to finalize the right delivery model.

7. Cross Functional Project Team:
A cross functional evaluation team needs to be formed before the evaluation process begins. The team should draw from Senior Management who will act as sponsor, business users, IT team members and the project management staff. Formation and empowerment of such a team goes a long way in right requirement formulation, best product selection, efficient project execution and ultimately organization wide user adoption.

8. High Level Roll-out Plan:
It is very necessary to have clarity on the realistic timelines for the solution roll-outs. Moreover, prioritization of business processes and the organizations from a roll-out standpoint is as much important. This helps in optimal resource deployment and staggered investment mitigating the project risk. Having an unrealistic timelines and a big bang approach is the first step towards destabilizing the project.

Conclusion:
ERP is a wonderful Tool for integrating the various complex functions of the organization. First and foremost step for the successful business transformation using ERP solution as enabler is the selection of the right product and implementation partner. There are various techniques available for the product evaluation. ERP implementation is only a part of the broader business transformation strategy and should always be preceded by the Business Process Reengineering and standardization of the business processes. For the successful ERP implementation, dedicated cross functional team mandated by the leadership of the organization must be formed and empowered to take critical decisions.