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

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

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

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

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

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

Design Critic #5 & 6

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

Design Critic #3 & 4

The next 2 design critics are here...

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

Design Critic #1 & 2

According to us, there are 8 types of design critics... presenting the first two today... others are on the way!

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

iGate – Entrance Gate or Exit Gate?

Brand in News: iGate

Executive Stepping down: Sean Narayanan, The  Chief Delivery Officer at iGate

Executive who is shaking up things: Ashok Vemuri, CEO at iGate

Press Story: Narayanan had differences with the CEO, Ashok Vemuri’s operational and management style.

Background: Narayanan joined iGate in 2006 and helped create an integrated delivery organization. Prior to joining iGate, Narayanan was VP and global practice head of IT infrastructure services at Cognizant.

The Big Irony: Narayanan's resignation comes within months of his receiving fresh stock awards and retention sops from the Nasdaq-listed , $1-billion IT services firm. In July, iGate approved retention bonuses for five top executives, including Narayanan , under which each would get $1,50,000 on June 30, 2014, and $1,00,000 on December 31, 2014, provided they were still employed in the company on the applicable payment date.

My Take: Another case that shows ‘money’ is not the end-of-all things when you in the top layer of management. You look for other intangibles like respect, pride, prestige and satisfaction. 

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

"ABEL, YOU'RE FIRED."

Brand under boil: AOL

Scene: Cafeteria at Patch’s headquarters in Manhattan

Patch Who: AOL's local news subsidiary

CEO under lens: Tim Armstrong

What really happened in the cafeteria, filled with employees to hear Tim’s ‘I want to deliver a News’ kind of speech.

News reports say that an employee was trying to take a photo of his CEO. (I have no idea why he did that when his CEO was blowing warm and hot)

Armstrong interrupted himself to say, "Abel, put that camera down right now."

Then, without taking a breath, he said, "Abel, you're fired."

The silence that followed this shocking incident was deafening not just to the employees at Patch but to the entire workforce!

It is good that CEOs are transparent... but a transparent and public firing!????! I am finding it tough to understand his over-the-top action even if he was in an irritable mood.

Catch the full story at: http://www.businessinsider.in/THE-COST-OF-WINNING-Tim-Armstrong-Patch-And-The-Struggle-To-Save-AOL/articleshow/25355140.cms#!

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

CHUGS, MUGS, BEER BELLY & A NEW FONT

Kinglish – Kingfisher claims that it is the world’s first crowd sourced font. The unique tag is that it was created by people populating the most happening watering holes in the pub city of Bengaluru. Kingfisher with enthused spirit invited the chillers and drinkers to spill some beer and create a new font. The beer induced parlance was then taken to the design studio. Hundreds of expressions for each letter were examined, instagramed, tweeted, shared, and curved until the perfect alphabet screamed BEER from every angle.

KINGLISH, the world’s first crowd sourced font found its place in history as it was launched as the official font of the Kingfisher Premium The Great Indian Octoberfest – 2013 and the unofficial dialect of the beer guzzlers around the world. See Video

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

Assault on Google!

Assault on Google - new, large banner ads are being tested by Google in the US market, apparently breaking a 2005 promise by the company.

“There will be no banner ads on the Google homepage or Web search results pages... There will not be crazy, flashy, graphical doodads flying and popping up all over the Google site. Ever.” said Marissa Mayer, who was then the vice president for search at Google.

Well, she said this in 2005 and we are in 2013. If we have to believe what Synrgy says and Search Engine Land reports (The banner ads were first noted online last Wednesday on the Twitter account of Synrgy, a digital marketing start-up, and first reported by Search Engine Land.) my first crazy reaction was... so what?

Now, Marissa is the chief executive of its rival Yahoo! And more importantly Google is battling a slowing desktop search business and falling ad prices. So what comes first to Google – bottomline or your 8-year old promise!?!?

All said and done, I wonder why Google is not coming forthright about its intentions on featuring these ads... if there is a change in stance, just say it Google.

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

Overnight Success in Business

Doodling a business idea for some time now... make sure you are ready for the jump before you actually jump... here is a quick test:

1    1)  You like chaos, challenges and setbacks

2    2)  You like corner place, command and easy cheques

If you have selected 1), I think you should continue reading...

You should be ready to forgo vacations and do more work than a 9-6 job offer. You will be forced to change your role from a strategist to a clerical admin without changing your seat.

And on the softer side if you embrace your start-up with all your time and energy, be ready to miss the hugs and kisses from your home partner.

And on the harder side reality can suck... your sales presentations face repeated rejections and your potential buyers turn you down. Every nerve will be strained and tested as if you need to prove to them that you are still in and want to succeed. You better hang on!

And the toughest part is that you need to do this not just for days or weeks or months... buddy it could be for years... if things work out well... it will be less than 8 years!

Forgive me for yet another motherhood statement: “Achieving 'overnight success in business' takes a few long years!!”

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

Boxed Customer Delight – Do online shopping sites getting it right?

For every consumer ad on TV today there is almost one promoting a website business. Take sites like flipkart, jabong, fashionandyou, myntra, snapdeal, inkfruit, yebhi, caratlane and others have got just 2 big asset to showcase: 1) their own website where transactions happen 2) Packaging of the product their customer order for. Luckily they do not have multiple other customer touchpoints to spend their time, money and focus. On the other hand, unluckily, they have only these 2 touchpoints to attract, entice and retain their customers. While website is an ever-changing tech piece and  it is a stubborn marketing piece yet to reveal all of customers’ sales-push buttons... but most players are figuring it out really good to get this property working and helping trickle-sales to a flow. But how are they faring when it comes to the second asset of theirs – packaging?

This asset is special because this is the one customer touches, feels and experiences. To an extent we can say, if they bungle this up on the last mile of the 2 miles;), they will lose customers. No wonder that most of these sites are working with design experts (Indian and international names like Michael Foley) to make the final delivery of the boxed customer delight to be pure awesomeness!! Most of them are reluctantly jumping into customized packaging ideas like red based packaging for a wedding gift wrapper.  Are they succeeding in Package Branding? Time will tell... but they are extending the branding space and have put more focus on areas like costume branding of the delivery person and delivery vehicle branding. Looks like they are hungry for more sales-driving branding ideas!

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

How racist our brain is !?!

We always believed that a right-brain person is a creative thinker where colours have a field day, while a left-brain person is a boring accountant splitting things in black and white!  This is a myth says science now!

Scientists at the University of Utah have debunked the myth with an analysis of more than 1,000 brains. They found no evidence that people preferentially use their left or right brain. All of the study participants — and no doubt the scientists — were using their entire brain equally, throughout the course of the experiment. (source: http://www.livescience.com)

So... one good feeling I get out of this is the proof that our brain is not racist!

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

Super Optimist or Stupidest Pessimist

Anyone can be a super optimist. Anyone can be a stupidest pessimist. But the toughest thing to be is just being 'human'! I think people who belong to this mid-category usually come up with creative work that packs more energy than the extreme bloats and hollows of the world. Mark my word, it is pure luck to meet a handful of such remarkable characters before you catch the last bus to heaven!!

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

Hey Start-up... What's your carrot?

The moment you become ready to dirty your hands in the muddy pool of business is the moment you stop worrying about dirtying your wrist watch and shoes. The best way to start is to 'start'. 

Tell me what energizes you to be on your own... is it one of these or something else.. pl do share:

1. Simple, I can take my own decisions!

2. I know better than what my boss at work knows!

3. Work flexibility - I can plan breaks, vacations and holidays better!

4. I can spend more time with wife, kids and pets!

5. I get to hire people I want to work with!

6. Because I like to face risks head on!

7. Money, money, money, money. And Money!!

8. Just want to see if I can click in Business!

9. I want to be the next Steve Jobs. I want to follow my passion..

10. I am tired of waiting for things to happen!

11. I want to do something for the society!

12. I don't want to be another sheep. I am the shepherd.

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

Who cuts the oxygen to your Ideas?

Wonder why great ideas are always booed away and shoed away?
Because it creates fear in the minds of people around you - peers and managers! They don't want your idea to challenge their pay cheque or authority or cosy zone.

In most corporates, most of the ideas are rejected for selfish reasons!

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

Post - The Last Emperor

Today is World Post Day! One of the most visible faces amongst community workers is Post Man! From 1700s - the era of messengers, who travelled large distances on foot or horseback to today’s swank mail vans, they delivered smile, laughter, fun, money and sadness. But now whenever I see the vanishing post boxes or fading postal services, it reminds me of Bernardo Bertolucci’s classic movie – The Last Emperor. Only future will reveal how long post can fight the grand entry of emails and smart phones...  but their stamp of red will never be forgotten!

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