Friday, February 28, 2014

Creativity Versus Coding - The merger is on!


Indian IT firms’ attempts to enhance the value chain have resulted in HR rush at the gates of country's arts and design schools. With salary offers at a premium of well over 40-50%, IT firms are making a beeline to recruit students from the likes of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Srishti School of Arts, National Institute of Design ( NID) and MIT Institute of Design. 

Compared to entry-level salaries of tech graduates at Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3.5 lakh per annum, 
design students are being picked up by companies such as Microsoft, SAP Labs, TCS, Cognizant, Mindtree, Infosys, Wipro and InMobi, as well as e-commerce players such as Amazon, Myntra, and Flipkart for anywhere between Rs 4 lakh and Rs 18 lakh, depending on the institute.  Companies have just a few seconds to grab the attention of potential customers or end-users. They need to use a multi-sensorial, audio-visual kind of approach to tell their story or sell their product. People from a coding background like software engineers might find it harder to connect with their customer base as compared to design students, who have the training to connect companies with customers better. 

The demand for design students in IT outstrips the supply, which is driving up salaries. This is the price you pay for creativity, not just coding and engineering. So the biggest challenge is to find people with technology background, blended with creative or design capability.
My Take:  Even though a bit late, IT firms have realized and taken the right logical step to attract ‘Intuition, Design and Creativity’. I am sure we are now closer than before in delivering better value in the software product development space.


~ Satish Chathanath Call : 9884011654 Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Saturday, February 22, 2014

WhatsApp at 19 billion? Was it a foolish move or a masterstroke by Facebook?


If a user base of 450 million is strong, then an addition of 1 million users everyday, I repeat ‘everyday’ is heady stuff! It will be just matter of time for WhatsApp to reach the magic number of one billion users. Why I think Facebook’s move is smart is because of its biz strategy - if you can’t outdo a newcomer, buy him! The other aspect is that mobile is where money will ring better. FB understands it better and hence gets prepared for the mobile future. 

~ Satish Chathanath Call : 9884011654 Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Friday, February 21, 2014

Indian Advertising & The Black Moolah!


The Indian Advertising market has grown by 11.1 per cent in 2013 to reach Rs.31,877 crore. Print advertising was the largest segment accounting for 41.3 per cent followed by TV at 39 per cent, digital at 10 per cent and outdoor, radio and cinema making up the balance 10 per cent. Ad market is expected to grow strongly at 16.8 per cent in 2014 to reach Rs.37,000 crore.

Sam Balsara, Chairman & Managing Director, Madison World, said the expected high growth was because 2014 was an election year. “We expect nearly 50 per cent of this growth or Rs.2,500 crore to come from the Lok Sabha elections and five State elections. Not only will political parties spend, but hundreds of individual candidates, we expect, will unleash small campaigns in print and outdoor. Organic growth and new advertisers will fuel the rest”.

My take: So what is going to fuel the growth of Indian Advertising Market? Slush money, Gas Pricing bubbles, Coal Field receipts, 2G Spectrum underbelly and of course the black moolah!


Source: Pitch Madison Media Advertising Outlook 2014

~ Satish Chathanath Call : 9884011654 Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Leadership is all about Courage to Act!


So it requires a Narayana Murthy to ask non performers in Infosys to leave!! Hmmm...

Software services giant Infosys, which employs 1.5 lakh people, may hand over pink slips to those who “did not add value” despite “high salaries” as it looks to cut costs and increase operational efficiency.
Infosys Executive Chairman N.R. Narayana Murthy, who returned last June from retirement to head the firm and put it back on high growth trajectory, said that employees hired at huge salaries, but not performing, be asked to leave.
“One of my tasks was to ensure that the identified people who were receiving very high salaries but were not contributing as much as we wanted, were either given opportunities where they can add value to the company or they could seek opportunities elsewhere,”
 “Our costs have ballooned very rapidly in the last 2-3 years. For example, on-site compensation was 36 per cent of the overall revenue in 2010-11 and it went up to 46.3 per cent in 2012-13... A part of it was because we hired people at high salaries outside India and these people did not add value to the company,” he said.
On return, Murthy initiated a major organisational restructuring which saw eight top-level exits including that of Americas head Ashok Vemuri and BPO head V Balakrishnan in the past six months.
Mr. Murthy told analysts that Infosys would have a new chief executive by March 2015 when co-founder and present CEO SD Shibulal retires. “The new CEO will be in place by the time Mr Shibulal is ready to leave, sometime in March 2015, and I will be available for him to ensure that there is a proper transition,” he said.  
Source: The Hindu

~ Satish Chathanath Call : 9884011654 Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Designer - Find out if you are Selfish, Smart or Dumb?

A serious, humorous and freakish view on how a designer lives life. After going through the strip, let me know if the thoughts expressed are real, utopian, serious, humorous or freakish. Or even better - so what!!



~ Satish Chathanath Call : 9884011654 Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Design Critic #7 & 8


Here comes the final 2 in the lot... Seriously which one are you ;)



~ Satish Chathanath Call : 9884011654 Mail : csadhy@yahoo.co.in

Friday, November 29, 2013