Time to go cloud...

As I wander through the streets of Spain, I am ensuring that I am making use of my blackberry to the fullest extent - Chatting with people, Google mapping, Skype calls at the cheapest rate possible, booking tickets, booking my restaurants, storing information etc. – Amazing what it can do for me to move from one city to the other. Innovation is the key driver in Science and Technology, and it never stops at a particular point. Things which were not accessible ten years ago are just few minutes away from access. The Encyclopedia has given way to the Wikipedia. Yes, we are in the Flat World. Flat World is a concept coined by Thomas Friedman, who mentions about access to free information from anywhere in the world and at anytime. This concept has eventually given way to the next big wave in the IT sector - Cloud Computing.

A Cloud is nothing but a reference to the Internet. And the definition of Cloud Computing origins from the fact that technology is used to the fullest extent to manage the business and resources for computing purposes. The cloud is where that data and information are stored and the desktops and notebooks can gain access to these data and information, at any point in time and from any place in this world.

Global competition and business strategies have seen innovative models in this flat world. To be globally connected with your consumers or assume the target segments for your business, it becomes equally important for companies to maintain a transparent business and with huge data centre. Cloud Computing perfectly utilizes the Technology, People and Strategy model, and helps the consumers and customers access the data and information readily and at ease. From an organizational point of view, Cloud Computing will help the customers to control the costs, by improving the performance of the organizations business.

Large corporations and companies use Cloud Computing technologies to communicate with customers and business partners and to encourage collaboration within the company. A number of companies and businesses are looking to understand the working of Cloud Computing and the effects in their business. The costs or the ROI are much higher than the costs of purchasing, developing and maintaining traditional client-server application. According to IBM, cloud computing, or network-delivered services and software, can save customers up to 80% on floor space and 60% on power and cooling costs, and deliver triple asset utilization. Currently, all the big companies are pushing to introduce the concepts of Cloud Computing into the market. Gartner.com and McKinsey Quarterly reports have already stated that Cloud Computing would be the key driver of the business within next five to ten years.

One can find various lists of pros and cons of the concept, but the fact is Cloud Computing is shaping the way users work and interact with information on the Web by shifting focus to the information users. The rising popularity of online ―user-driven services like MySpace, Facebook, Wikipedia and YouTube has brought the Cloud Computing technology into picture. The underlying concept of this technology relies mainly on user collaboration – web services, p2p networking, blogging, podcast, online social networking sites etc. In the long-term, Cloud Computing will be the strategic delivery model for most of the firms and the one’s to benefit the most are the big corporations. Is your business ready for one?

p.s: This article can also be read at http://consultingnetwork.co.in/time-for-businesses-to-go-cloud/1166/

Building your mind map - the first step to your career inroads

Having lived in Europe for a little over three years, it has been fascinating while at the same time appalling to see the rise of the financial meltdown and more recently the road to its damage control. Fascinating because of the way the entire meltdown proceeded and partly because of the role that bankers from the top schools and firms played in this crisis situation, and appalling because of the effect it had on the various industries, banks and firms – read the pink slips.

While consulting companies in most countries recently were trying to settle down, projects had dried up and people either put on bench, if the firm were able to sustain on their resource investments, or worse shown the pink slip. Despite this, the number of MBA hires is growing strongly, with all size and types of consultancy targeting MBA graduates.

According to the European association of management consultancy in Europe (FEACO.org) there are over 65000 Management Consultancy firms in Europe employing over 350,000 consultants. Despite the downturn, many sectors are still recruiting even though the internships for graduates for this summer were hard to get by. Cost reduction and innovation has made IT Consulting, Operations Management, Marketing and Communications even more challenging and demanding profession. At this juncture it is necessary that the consultants or the MBA graduates understand the different inroads one can make while thinking of a dream career move.

In the first place, is consulting your game? Well it may be if you like long work hours with frequent time-critical decisions, highly competitive environment, moving from one deadline to the other and more importantly traveling. For the few lucky one’s bluffing through the interview to get that high salaried job will only end up lowering your performance and confidence if you are not sure of what you are expecting or anticipating next. Early exposure as an analyst and/or consulting only helps you develop and enhance your functional, technical and soft skills for your long term professional growth. Having involved with clients from a rookie level IT consultant to Project & Team Management roles, I did manage to polish my skills and find the right fit for the projects before embarking on the assignments. After having worked on few start-up business plans, and played my part in few consulting projects, I did realize the importance of understanding the business or the company in advance before picking up any project or assignments. If you already been doing that the you are ready for the next move – research the company that you would like to work with, understand the different sector options and functional roles they have to offer and lastly what you can offer from your experience. While the best experiences are gained through small boutique firms, the best clients to work with come from the Big 4 consulting firms.

You might need to understand what fits you well. Every stage of the company’s application process becomes as equally important as every minute on the football game between Real Madrid and Barcelona. CV’s, CL, Case Studies, Initial interviews, Fit interviews, HR interviews, Partner interviews – all start looking like those challenges you always wanted to jump on just as the athletes would do in the hurdle trainings. CV is the first thing that will land you an interview and one of the biggest challenges that most candidates face – writing the resume. Every CV needs to be tailored to the needs of the company and role and the best bet is to explore the sample CV options that these companies provide, else we always have the option of ‘Google’ing in this flat world. I personally am a huge fan of case studies. While there are no definite solutions to it but it just tickles your brain to define the most suitable solution in a short span of time backed with numbers and analysis. Listening skills, body language, question asking abilities, character – gives you a pint of the gallon of projects that are in store. The basic golden rule like for any game or challenge is to PRACTICE and to PREPARE in advance.

Nostalgia: Navy Nagar & Sea Cadet Corps

Mumbai during the 1990's, ah! it was Bombay back then. The period when our teachers blessed us with endless list of homework; the time when we would course around the lanes playing Cricket, Football, Kabaddi and whatever kept us on our feet; when every Sunday I would go trekking with my friends accompanied by our parents - those were the times when the days' were filled with such excitement and adventure. Nostalgia crept in, when after a little more than a decade, I got re-connected with a friend from the school days (Must thank the social media boom here)

As we sipped the afternoon coffee, in some 30 degree Celsius Madrid heat, reminiscing of the times spent in the sailing school, in the 35 degree Celsius Bombay weather, flashed through. Both of us were associated with the Sea Cadet Corps (also referred to as the "SCC"). Yes, the Sea Cadet Corps - the wonder years of sea adventures. For the newbie’s and for the new born digital nerds, Sea Cadet Corps is a non-government voluntary youth organisation with honorary officers imparting nautical and allied training to the boys and girls in the age group of 10 to 18 years. In conjunction with the Naval Sailing Club, adjacent to Training Ship Jawahar at Navy Nagar in Colaba, Mumbai, the Sea Cadet Corps was actively involved in conducting the 1982 Asian Games Sailing Event, 1987 Commonwealth Regatta, the International Enterprise World Championship in 1991 and the Asian Sailing Regatta in 2004. To experience these adventures, one had to undergo the rigors of disciplinary courses and training's. In a nut shell, it was all about "D-I-S-C-I-P-L-I-N-E", the fitting 10-letter word I could think of from my worthwhile experiences with the Sea Cadet Corps. The thoughts of a 5th grader dreaming of the big submarines flashed by when the life of Navy Officers lured me to those dreadful waters and sea monsters. Time dedicated to the likes of watching discovery channel and grazing through the encyclopedias from the nearest library trying to grasp what this adventure all meant was all worthily invested (let me remind you, back then the Internet had not boomed to the scale it has today). Submarines and sea creatures were my next research. My family has some kind of history associated with serving the country, and perhaps that influenced my decision to join this adventurous training camp. Top Gun, Men of Honor, Under-siege, and Down Periscope were some of the “must watch" movies that would pump in the adrenaline to venture out in the sea. I still remember (though loosely) my very first interview back in 1993, with Commodore Rabi Ahuja on the Training Ship Jawahar. The Commodore almost got me, a little shy Cadet back then, weeping for not talking out loud while addressing to one of the reporting Officers. Since then the training acquired through this institution has helped me with not only instilling confidence but has also brought discipline into my life. Officers and Cadets had to scream their lungs out - AYE AYE SIR! Or let me put it this way, they were known to be super active and vocal, when in action and particularly in marching parades. Waking up at 0400hrs every Sunday morning, travelling an hour through Bombay’s lifeline i.e. the local trains and the B.E.S.T bus services to reach the ship's quarterdeck for an early breakfast before the Cadet parade at 0730hrs. Phew!!! Catching the B.E.S.T from Mumbai's Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus Station (we called it Victoria Terminus aka V.T. Station back then), moving through the silent streets of Fort and bakery lane on a Sunday morning with several other fellow Cadets, who as well looked more than half-sleepy, was not an easy task as I had first thought it to be. The initial weeks were tough to adjust to this routine, as I had never experienced this before, but as time flew by I got bonded with the wonders of the early morning alarms, tying the 8's Knot, the Sailing and Rowing lessons, the alpha-beta-delta of flag signals, the swimming in the ocean – yes, would you believe, I did dive into the Arabian Sea as part of the weekend course between the Training Ship Jawahar and the Lighthouse :) (well, not that Mumbai boasts of good sea water, but I did befriend with the crabs, and developed a good palate for sea salt), the blue Cadet uniform and the white Cadet cap, and the dream of making a four year run for that Officers white uniform and the peak cap.

The coffee mug is now almost empty and we were taking our last sip. The unforgettable experiences of swimming in the sea water and those of rowing near the Training Ship Jawahar always reminds of some good crazy times I experienced. I think the foundation of my personality was established with the Sea Cadet Corps - no doubt about that. After all, it was for the love of anchoring in the sea and in the manmade mean machines. Since then the wonders of the never-ending digital world and that of some heavy metal has kept me attached to my present-day passion. Until next time - Aye Aye Captain!!