Analytics ROI-on the rise

Organizations are choosing analytic applications to improve the effectiveness of business processes, to increase visibility, to drive greater business profitability, and to drive greater productivity and results.  The past three years have seen waves of organic growth and acquisitions as vendors make a concerted effort, to deliver more ROI to customers in areas such as cloud deployment, collaboration, security, and mobility.

Various latest research report suggests that the average returns from analytics have been increasing, reaching $13.01 for every dollar spent in 2015 from just $10.66 in 2011.

Over the past three years, organizations continued to recognize the need for improved visibility and productivity. Existing business processes are no longer meeting the demand for quick, usable, and reliable insights for business decisions. As the need to deal with greater volumes of data, disparate data sources, and increased demands from business users for access, organizations are turning to analytic solutions and applications to deal with these pressures.

Analytics are being implemented to streamline and automate decision-making and
reporting and are increasingly being extended to other operational areas such as CRM, ECM, HCM, and ERP.  Customer leveraging of analytics is increasing the relevance of the market to become an operational cornerstone for success as BI becomes a platform for cross-operational analysis and piecing together the big picture for operations management. As a result, customers are not only driving down their deployment costs but are also increasing their ability to engage consolidated solution deployments for more processes, realizing increased benefits in formerly siloed areas.

ANALYTICS RETURNS ARE INCREASING:

Organizations are being driven to analytic solutions by the need to have more data transparency and improved decision-making processes. Many organizations are facing challenges maintaining data quality. They are also facing time constraints for meeting business demand in rapid decision-making in competitive and crowded markets.  As a result, they can no longer afford to wait weeks for reports on profitability, revenue,budgeting, and forecasting, and they can no longer afford to delay marketing campaigns. Many companies have seen the gains made in different parts of their organizations through analytics, and are looking to complement existing implementations with additional tools.

While improved decision-making and increased revenue growth continue to drive high ROI for analytics deployments, productivity is equally important.

To conclude : Analysts/experts expects that analytics will continue to develop into an operational backbone for organizations, consolidating key data sets and extending them out to other solution areas for increased data visibility. The increased data insights will likely lead to further increases in productivity and accuracy in decision-making. Customers who are already leveraging analytics for integrated decision-making stand to see the highest returns.

Ordinary people and extraordinary success

Warren Buffett is successful for investing and building long-term businesses. Bill Gates is successful for creating a software empire that has changed the way we use computers.

Success comes in many ways and forms. What’s interesting is that most successful people have very similar qualities.The more qualities you have in common, the higher your chances for being wildly successful.

“Thoughts lead on to purposes; purposes go forth in action; actions form habits; habits decide character; and character fixes our destiny.”

QUALITIES THAT SEPARATES THE  EXTRAORDINARY :

They make decisions and take action

Right or wrong action, they take it. Either way it’s always better than making no decisions and taking no action at all.“It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.”

India Inc. one of the most power CEO (Ex. CEO Tata group of companies) said………….

They do one thing at a time

They have a positive attitude

They have redefined failure

They don´t let fear hold them back

There are typical various hurdles before one can reach success and the most probable one is not just the most intelligent one but the most persistent who has the patience and will power to withstand all adversaries and overcome all the below mentioned hurdles in a most self controlled and cum manner.

1. Ability to think of a good problem (IDEAS)
2. Ability to work on it (TECHNICAL SKILL)
3. Ability to recognize a worthwhile result (EXPERIENCE)
4. Ability to make a decision as to when to stop
   and write up the results (EXPERIENCE)
5. Ability to write and document adequately (MY FAVORITE-Base for analysis)
6. Ability to profit constructively from criticism (GRIT)
7. Persistence in making changes (if necessary as a result of
   journal action). (TRUE GRIT – REFEREES  TRY THE SOULS OF THE SCIENTIST).

To conclude :If you want to achieve your life’s dream and be wildly successful, you need to model yourself after people who are living their dream. The more qualities you have in common, the higher your chances for being wildly successful.

#Intellectual #property #rights and #innovation protection

Today, possession of land, labour and capital are just not enough for a country to succeed. Creativity and innovation are the new drivers of the world economy. The policies adopted by a country shall determine the nations well being and further as to how it is developing the trapped intellectual capital.

An effective intellectual property system is the foundation of such a strategy. Within knowledge-based, innovation-driven economies, the intellectual property system is a dynamic tool for wealth creation providing an incentive for enterprises and individuals to create and innovate; a fertile setting for the development of, and trade in, intellectual assets; and a stable environment for domestic and foreign investment.

India has had a bad reputation for the protection of intellectual property because of reasons unrelated to software (e.g., lack of product patents in pharmaceuticals, and a slow judicial system), but also because of high piracy rates of software packaged products.

India does not award patents for software because under Indian law, software tends to fall into established un-patentable subject matter (i.e., business method, algorithm or pure mental act). However, software that has a technical effect and is part of a physical system is patentable.

India has always been the land of discoveries and inventions but were never good at patenting unlike the west whereby in the process it had to loose out on many discoveries and inventions.

Zero, symbol: Indians were the first to use the zero as a symbol and in arithmetic operations, although Babylonians used zero to signify the ‘absent’. In those earlier times a blank space was used to denote zero, later when it created confusion a dot was used to denote zero (could be found in Bakhshali manuscript).In 500 AD circa Aryabhata again gave a new symbol for zero (0). However the credit was given to some other mathematician from the other part of the world.

Algebraic abbreviations: The mathematician Brahmagupta had begun using abbreviations for unknowns by the 7th century.[106] He employed abbreviations for multiple unknowns occurring in one complex problem. Brahmagupta also used abbreviations for square roots and cube roots.

However, the wind is beginning  to change it’s direction, for sure.India has just managed to successfully blocked two patent claims of US consumer goods major Colgate Palmolive , which wanted IPR cover on two oral compositions made from Indian spices and other herbs. It has also blocked a patent filing for a composition containing botanical extracts from three herbs , including cinnamon, a common kitchen spice across India , known as “Dalchini”.

India opposed the claim using the traditional knowledge digital library (TKDL),database created in the last decade to fight bio-piracy.Besides, Colgate the other big players who bit the TKDL bullets are Nestle,L’Oreal, Unilever, Ranbaxy etc..

In recent past, India has identified 1500 cases of biopiracy,out of which about 200 have been checked by Patent examiners and India has won already 180 cases out of 200 and the balance 1300 odd cases to be fought.

#Moving up the value chain-Indian IT

The Indian software industry has evolved over last two decades since the very early part of 90s, growing in size and creating wealth for the nation which is phenomenal , at the same time paradoxically battling to move up the value chain from a perception of mere “Coders” to “Business Architects”.

Moving up the value chain mandates the following:

•  Making available specialized knowledge in specific areas.

•  Pooling of knowledge from multiple streams to create new tools.
• Creation of leaders who can convert the specialized knowledge into   deliverables using   the newly available tools.
• Building talent pools of people who are ready to acquire and build on the knowledge gained.
• Enabling innovation to continually take IT to new areas and provide greater social value   these thoughts have motivated this paper.

Way up the Value chain :

To win in a dynamic business environment is not an easy task. Enterprises are looking for solutions to solve key challenges, which include:

• Simplifying operations: Address complexities and their implications to drive operational excellence.
• Designing new business models: Adopt innovation across offerings, processes, delivery, finance technologies, and business systems to be on the cutting edge and create more value for customers.
• Operating with agility and efficiency: Make quick and informed decisions and understand cost-value implications across the value chain and ensure rapid execution.
• 

Software Companies should be able to  help clients bridge the gap between business and IT, seize new business opportunities, and generate value from their technology-enabled investments.Indian IT service companies can move up the value chain by offering management consulting services. 

However it will be wrong to say that there is no progress in that direction,India is certainly moving away from its humble beginnings of being a low-cost development center and up the value chain to become an IT innovation hub (Though in limited sense). It is worth mentioning here, “SAP Labs India” , for instance, the India-based research and development team made a “significant contribution” to the development of the software giant’s HANA in-memory computing appliance.

Over time, Indian IT services companies moved up the ladder to provide specialized services for verticals, followed by consulting services and eventually to product development, which is typical of the stages of a conventional IT value chain. My only debate here would be that, ONLY FEW COMPANIES has managed to take this direction, leaving others to stick to the old traditional route, even the bigger companies’ lion share of revenue still today comes from the bricks and mortar revenue model .

“It takes a lot of skills to create a product. The company not only needs to understand the market requirement but also what the missing link is for customers, have the technical skills to create a product that is bug-free, and have the marketing skills to promote the product. So it is still a long way to go before we can catch up with the rest of the world in terms of real product innovation.

To quote………

“No Single ‘Earth Shaking’ Invention From India In The Last 60 Years”, Says Narayana Murthy -IT czar (Ex. promoter and founder of Infosys).

To conclude : In long term, all Indian software services companies should find ways of moving up the value chain in terms of their own value proposition to the end clients and this is the only way they will be successful in engaging the existing clients and continue to do business and expand it further and  last but not the least –“SURVIVE“ competition to do business.

#Spirituality without #Religion

Over the years, mankind has made tremendous progress in every sphere of life be it science, technology, business, Innovation .Every attempt has been made to make like cozy and comfortable with every new innovation and scientific advancement. However, the very progress and sophistication is beginning to threaten the very existence of  life  today —reason– Ego,intolerance,lust and a false sense of invincibility and last but not the least “Interpretation” i.e. every one’s own interpretation of every thing which is heavily biased by one’s own convenience rather than reality and which is often far from the truth.

When we look around, many thriving Economies has been turn into dust and ashes during last two decade or so for some handful individuals wrong doing for their own individual benefit but given the color of Religious / Political  conflict .

Global inequality :

The richest 85 people in the world own more wealth than the bottom half of the entire global population. In other words,

The World’s 85 Richest People Are as Wealthy as the Poorest 3 Billion.

Even in pure business terms, for any economy to flourish, there is a need for a border less market beyond political and geographic boundaries and no economy can function on it’s own unless there is a wider global market to sell or buy. Even the mightiest can not survive on their own unless there is a market to sell.The Wealthiest in their own interest, need to ensure that Countries do not become bankrupt or they do not allow the political /civil/economic system of other countries to fail, rather allow it to prosper and protects it from becoming an UN-civilized nation where people can not lead a normal life .

If we try to trace back the history of thousands of years back and find that “Religion” has evolved and conceptualized by various great personalities of different times/races and region to ensure that they can guide and persuade a very large group of people to lead a disciplined, productive and healthy life, however with the passage of time each stage of leadership subsequently,has interpreted or rather mis-interpreted  “Religious practices as per their own convenience only to suit their own interest and belief.

It will be best , if the world can follow “Spirituality without Religion” .It’s like adopting the “Best practices” of every Religion and not having to interpret that one has to follow any specific Religion to attain the enlightenment.

“Spirituality is the best of what any religion is seeking to offer”. “Spiritual but not religious people, with their open minds, can take seriously what “organized religion” has to offer them.”

There is no single, agreed-upon definition of spirituality.It denotes a process of transformation, in medical terms “Scientific conditioning of your brain and your overall thought process. A state of mind with absolute control over all emotions.

If the wealthiest and mightiest can follow spirituality in true sense of the term, the world becomes  stable and peaceful , thus making it a  healthy and prosperous market to do business and ensuring prosperity at large in the journey . Masses always tend to follow the Rich and Famous, hence if they can promote spirituality then probably adoption and implementation become feasible and World can become a more better to place live.

To conclude : For economic prosperity of the world at large it is important that various countries remain economically, politically remain stable and peaceful and that is the only way long term business sustainability can be achieved and it is possible only when leaders can practice and guide in a true spiritual path in true sense of the term.

Analytics- Embedded Vs. Standalone

One of the hottest trends in business intelligence today is embedding analytics capabilities into transactional applications.

For decades now, business intelligence has operated as a distinct application. But that is changing rapidly. There is a trend toward embedding BI into applications where users will benefit from analytics, including such enterprise standards as CRM and ERP.

Embedded Analytics :

“The more embedded the analytics, the more useful it is going to be and the more it is going to be used,”.

“Organizations are now starting to embed predictive analytics into a variety of operational business processes such as financial transaction systems,” ,. “With real-time fraud prevention systems, analytics are applied to every single credit card transaction to automatically detect anomalies and flag transactions that should be investigated. This saves financial organizations millions of dollars.”.

For example, off-shore oil platforms use predictive analytics to prevent breakdowns of their production processes by analyzing impacts of combination of events and optimal times for intervention. Based on historical data on actions taken to fix problems of the operational oil production process, the embedded analytics predict the risk of breakdowns, pinpoint the most likely cause and suggest the best action to fix the problem.

Embedded analytics – the data expressed inside larger business applications as charts, graphs or tables – are often associated with a single type of data. If you’re using the aforementioned HR application, generally speaking, the information or views of data you would see inside the HR app would be singularly HR data. The reason embedded analytics are loved by people using business apps is because they are easy and relevant! Charts are right there all the time and pertinent to exactly what you’re looking at! The best part is, there’s little to no “design” effort on the part of a user, although most apps offer ways to configure information embedded within.

Standalone Analytics :

Generally speaking, standalone BI and/or data visualization tools are built to create custom views of multiple data sources and types as well as help you look at other relevant data sources together or within a wider context.

• They also allow IT and software developers to embed analytics into their applications, enabling them to mash and merge data in order to answer complex business questions.
• The resulting visualizations can then be embedded into applications to make it easier for us to benefit from the insights.
• These tools are broader and more robust than what you’ll find embedded inside a business application.

WHICH IS BETTER ? EMBEDDED OR STANDALONE ?

Should your organization forget embedded analytics and just focus on a robust BI/visualization solution? The answer is – both matter. There’s no reason to force users to exit an application experience just to view the same data they can get via embedded analytics. Similarly, it’s unacceptable to tell users they should export a bunch of data from multiple business apps into Microsoft Excel and figure it out themselves.

To conclude : Each one has their merits and demerits and it is purely the business need which will ultimately decide as to which one to adopt under the given circumstance.

Lessons beyond #Technology and #”B-Schools”

Today everyone is in a mad rush to make millions in a jiffy. However there is nothing wrong in making millions/billions but how you make it ,certainly matters!.

This applies to both at individual level and also the Organization leaders, because it has a direct impact on both sides of the coin. Tomorrow’s business leaders will need to be nimble and able to incorporate all aspects of good decision making in an increasingly global and complex business environment.

Ethical leadership is vital to the future of businesses around the world. Today’s executives should take an active role with Top notch technology and business schools to ensure that current students are fully prepared for the responsibility and authority they will take on.

Can ethics be taught? Yes it can, and yes it should. The whole purpose of education is to help individuals develop their judgment. Judgment is about making decisions among choices and ethics, at the basis level, is about making choices.

Ethics can help students understand the dangers of rationalization. A lot of bad behaviour goes on because good people tell themselves that such behaviour is not, in fact, bad. In the vast majority of cases, such rationalizations are rooted in very poor reasoning—reasoning that, if made explicit, would clearly and transparently be untenable. A course in ethics gives students an opportunity to look at some of the most important rationalizations, in order to examine them under the cold,dispassionate light of logic.

We don’t need to worry about turning bad people into good people. Most wrongdoing in corporate settings is actually done by good, honest folks who make bad choices, sometimes due to spectacular pressure and often aided by a range of self-serving rationalizations. When the pressure is on to “make the numbers,” it can be awfully appealing to tell yourself that “everybody does it” and that “no one is really getting hurt, anyway.”

Our world is rapidly changing – and the changes affect every business, every industry, and every country. The future growth and competitiveness of businesses around the globe are at stake. The business world eagerly awaits tomorrow’s strong and ethical leaders.

High-profile downfalls of corporate CEOs are not a new phenomenon :

The Rise and Fall stories.

Most recent one in India, Rahul Yadav of Housing.com. Venture capitalists having pumped in $140 million into Housing.com till now, finally exhausted their patience: Not with the money which they had invested, but with the person on whom they trusted their beliefs. REASON…Not on performance but inappropriate behaviour towards stakeholders,ecosystem and media.

Kenneth Lay of Enron’s downfall, and the imprisonment of several of its leadership group, was one of the most shocking and widely reported ethics violations of all time. It not only bankrupted the company but also destroyed Arthur Andersen, one of the largest audit firms in the world.

Ramalingam Raju of Satyam computers: The Satyam Computer Services scandal was a corporate scandal that occurred in India in 2009 where chairman Ramalinga Raju confessed that the company’s accounts had been falsified. The Global corporate community was shocked and scandalised when the chairman of Satyam, Ramalinga Raju resigned on 7 January 2009 and confessed that he had manipulated the accounts by US$1.47-Billion.

Rajat Gupta of Goldmansach group Inc. Rajat Gupta‘s impending journey into the federal prison system for criminal insider trading ends a remarkable success story and punctuates his swift fall from grace.

The list can go on and on ………………………………………..

To conclude : Humble, Collaborative, reflective,self aware and adaptable are some of the key behavioral traits needs to be nurtured by the Industry captains.