On track says NASSCOM

Software and services exports surged 29 percent during 2007-08 to garner $40.4 billion revenue — overcoming the strong headwinds such as an impending slowdown and a severe financial sector crisis in the US, as well as currency fluctuation — to meet the targets set at the beginning of FY08.

The domestic market continued to gain momentum, growing 26 percent to register revenue of $11.6 billion in FY08. This took the overall IT industry revenue — exports and domestic combined — to $52 billion, a growth of over 28 percent compared to the previous year; and the overall IT sector direct headcount touched 2 million professionals.

India’s software and services revenue is poised to grow between 21 and 24 percent during 2008-09 to touch $62-64 billion.

Pick Bird's Brain

Happen to listen to Pixar’s Brad Bird. In an interview, this director of two Academy Award–winning animated films (The Incredibles and Ratatouille) tells quite a load on how to foster creativity. Inspiring.

I believe that great managers and CEOs are the ones that can push their teams and individuals far out of their comfy zones and encourage them to embrace the unconquered territories in their businesses and verticals. And yet keep them motivated and provide support all along.

LinkedIn - the second wave

For many social media is now synonymous with LinkedIn. I presume that the second wave of LinkedIn proliferation is on. I see people adding in tens and tens of peers and friends into their networks. But let us pause for a minute here. Are there LinkedIn users who evaluate the value of their networks based on the number of links or people they have got? And hence the rush to add numbers??

On the contrary, I think a linkedIn network should be judged based on the level of reciprocity, interactions, profile visits, comments, business connections and desired results.

If we want our networks to be active and rewarding, we need to be contributing through answers and questions; and importantly helping others to reach a rung up. All this without having a score but with a tab on time !!

Key Challenges faced by the Captives

It is exciting to note that the second session of NASSCOM’s CAPTIVE Forum on "Key Challenges faced by the Captives" is happening at Chennai on 14th July 2008 at Hotel Courtyard by Marriott.

Mr. Raju Bhatnagar- Vice President, NASSCOM is at the forum to brainstorm on the challenges faced by the Captives, best practices followed and solutions.

The key question will be : i)whether the Captive Units can sustain and continue to grow at the same momentum. ii) what are the current stumbling blocks and future shocks.

Fuse to Label

I am reading a new book called : How Toyota Became #1.

It revolves around lean manufacturing and also talks about Toyota's 5-Question method :

1. Why did the machine suddenly stop? Because it blew a fuse.
2. Why did a fuse blow? Because the fuse wasn’t the right size.
3. Why was the wrong sized fuse in the box? Because one of the engineers put it there.
4. Why did the engineer do that? Because somebody in the supply room issued the wrong size fuse.
5. Why? Because the stock bin for fuses was mislabeled.

Analysis to the very root of the problem is the best long term solution. How true!! And how true that majority are caught in the symptomatic treatments and end up in temp solutions.

Consumer Research for FREE!

During my presentation on 'Branding Initiatives' at the NASSCOM Emerging Companies Forum, there was an interesting question on 'how feasible it is to build a brand through social media channels?'

I think more and more brand managers and communication specialists in India are waking up to the new media. The practice of using social media to build brands is fast catching up and there’s enormous work being done in this sphere. Social Media gives the customers a distinct voice - that voices its preferences, tastes, likes, dislikes, discontentment, frustrations and more. Smart companies and branding professionals listen to this patiently and work on how to leverage this interaction to create a positive brand image.
Even though the social media as a brand concept is still nascent in India, there are some organizations which are prioritizing this as one of the key ways of reaching customers and building trust.

30 out of 90 belongs to India

According to US Census Bureau International Data, out of a total projected population of 90 million people in the younger working ages (15-29) population between 2005-25, India will contribute nearly 30 million people.

So there is little doubt that India will continue to be the hub of global human resource activity. The moot question will be whether we have enough people to fill in the demand supply gap.

Communications during Recession

If the US recession is for real... Communicators should get ready to do MORE with LESS. Or should it be MORE square with MORE!

Recession means less consumers.
Declining consumer base means less demand.
Inadequate demand means more efforts to stimulate demand.
Inadequate demand means Marketing & Advertising needs to work harder.

Traditionally, organization worldwide toe this line - when people buy less, spend less on marketing, branding and advertising. According to research firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson, advertising in the US dropped 9% in the 2001 recession and Internet advertising specifically fell 27%. This applies to B2B communicators as well, because as consumer spending drops the businesses that sell to those consumers reduce their spending as well.

But shouldn't the advertisers be doing the reverse - spend more on advertising when the going gets tough? Please share your opinions?

'More' with 'Less'

If recession is for real. Communicators should get ready to do MORE with LESS.

Fewer consumers means less demand; less demand means efforts to stimulate demand (i.e,. marketing) are less effective overall. In other words, when people buy less, advertisers spend less. According to research firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson, advertising in the US dropped 9% in the 2001 recession and Internet advertising specifically fell 27%.

I should point out that this slowdown applies to business-to-business marketers as well, because as consumer spending drops the businesses that sell to those consumers reduce their spending as well.

Brand Loyalty through Conversation

According to a new study by the consumer social network ExpoTV, 55 percent of consumers want an ongoing dialogue with brands, and roughly 89 percent would feel more loyalty toward brands that directly communicated with them.

Once consumers have the ear of brand executives, they want to talk about what improvements are being made and what new products are in development. On top of that, 79 percent of consumers want to share their new product ideas.

These are the individuals that marketers should be targeting because of their knowledge, enthusiasm and influence. Embracing them is the key to harnessing the power of word-of-mouth marketing and ultimately driving brand loyalty.

The survey found a direct link between brand discussions and word-of-mouth buzz. Approximately 92 percent of respondents said they would recommend a product to friends after participating in a dialogue with a brand.

So still the best method for fostering brand loyalty is just the old-fashioned conversation. Interesting!!

CSR - Contribution Vs Greenwashing

I observe that there is a growing disconnect between the brands and their CSR activities. There are many well known brands in India that are into every social issue one can think of to gain cheap PR. This is not a welcome step and it can only whitewash or probably greenwash their brand names as customers don't see any connection.

In my company, Aspire Systems, we ensure that there is a connection that is easy to see between positive brand image and corporate philanthropy. We are in the outsourced product engineering services and hence 'Knowledge' is what we will be associated with. Our CSR wing called 'POLESTAR' solely focuses on imparting education, learning and development to marginalized kids and children of less-privileged schools in and around our workplaces. Our objective is to bring societal transformation through education and knowledge.

I believe that if organizations keep their commitment to do the right things, the consumers will continue to reward the brand through desired positive behaviours.

Udayan sans sensation

TV18 has promoted Udayan Mukherjee as managing editor, CNBC-TV18.

I feel happy for Udayan. He is a no-nonsense TV guy with his head on his shoulders. No rhymes or pacy delivery or aggressive postures and questions. He just delivers cutting edge news and insights to viewers. Plain simple communications. That's what we want right...?

I personally think Udayan has played a key role in building what is today India’s most respected business news network.

Good wishes Udayan!