it next_vol 1_issue 1

8/14/2019 IT Next_Vol 1_Issue 1

1/68

Taxation: Is your IT

infrastructure readyfor GST roll out?

Virtualisation: Has

the fizz settled or isit another passing fad?

Tech for Logistics:How IT can help save everypaisa you earn?

THE BIG QHow to track IP theft

and prevent it? Pg.53

30 34 38

DEC 2009-JAN 2010 / RS. 150

VOLUME 01 / ISSUE 01

A 9.9 Media Publication

Jojo Jose

GM (Systems)

GTN Group

Rakesh MohanProject Manager

FlytxtDhiraj Sinha,

Tech LeadDell Perot Systems

S Ilango,

Senior Manager

Aditya Birla GroupSushil Aggarwal,

Leader-ITMarathon Electric India

PAGE 47

PAGE 16

CIO?THE NEXT

ARE

YOU

7

STEPS

TO THETOPSEAT

Easy if you are willingto change your mindset

15MINUTEMANAGER


2/68

EDITORIAL

1D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT

PHOTOGRAPHY:DRLOHIA

So, when we decided to launch a new publication targeted to IT

Managers, one thing was clearours would be no assembly line. Wedecided to take a tailor-made approach like the top-of-the-line custom-

built German car, the Maybach. The result is a thoughtfully crafted IT Next

that is customised to your needs.

We began with a survey of the IT Managers in India to confirm our

hypothesis that this is a community that wields considerable influence and

is far more extensive than the CXO fraternity, which several magazines

and portals focus on.

Indeed, the survey revealed that there is a yawning gap in the way

existing magazines, including majority of B2B IT publications, cater to

the specific needs of the IT Manager.

Not surprising then, that you overwhelmed us with your views, ideas

and concerns through your responses to our survey.

In fact, several stories in this launch issue are based on the suggestionsyou gave us. We hope to further build on your inputs in launching our

online version, www.itnext.in, in the coming days.

I sincerely hope that you likeIT Nextnot only in terms of the content and

design but also for its theme and philosophy. Believe me, we have toiled

over every aspect of this eclectic product. Unlike Fords Model T, IT Next

is more like a custom-built Maybach that has been designed to suit your

particular needs and requirements.

So, do let us know your reactions and join us in the journey to facilitate

and celebrate your growth as a technocrat.

IT Nextis more like a

custom-built Maybach

that has been designed

to suit your needs and

requirements

Its time forthe Maybach

S H U B H E N D U P A R T H

Blogs To Watch!

http://www.timferriss.com

http://andrewmcafee.org/blog

Your views and opinion matter

to us.Send your feedbackon stories and the magazine

at shubhendu.parth@9dot9.

in or SMS us at 567678 (type

ITNEXTyour feedback)

The $825 Model T launched in 1908 byHenry Fordwas not just the first affordablecar. It also introduced the concept ofassembly line in the automobile sector.This opened

a floodgate for others to follow.The concept of one size fits

all became universal, spreading quickly across all sectors, including

mainline media, which adopted it for reaching the masses. More recently,

niche magazines have also gone the assembly line way, becoming all things

to all people.


3/68


4/68

2 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0

BASED ON AN EXTENSIVE SURVEY OF ITMANAGERS,IT Nextpresents a handy guide for

technology managers who have their hearts set on

becoming a CIO

TO THE TOP

SEAT7STEPS

COVERDESIGN:JAYANKNARAYANAN

COVERPHOTOGRAPHY:DRLOHIA,MEXYXA

VIER&S

ANTOSHBHASKAR

CONTENTDEC 09-JAN 10 V O L U M E 0 1 | I S S U E 0 1

16

Page

FOR THE L ATEST TECHNOLOGY UPDATES GO TO ITNEXT.IN

INSIGHTS

23Clicking it bigCommunication as a Service (CaaS) is set to change the way an enter-

prise communicates and collaborates today

26No mishaps for this maile-Mail security needs to guarantee perimeter safety, confidentiality

and non-repudiation

28Top 5 mobile applicationsTechnologies that can help enterprises go mobile

30Ready steady GSTThe forthcoming GST regime will compel IT managers to execute a

complete realignment of the IT infrastructure. Are you prepared?

34Has the fizz settled?Is it time to assess the benefits of server virtualisation?

SURVEY

09

05 Innovate to add value |

Birlasoft CEO, Arup Gupta on

importance of innovation and

how it can help IT managers

succeed professionally

BOSS TALK

44 There was no recession

in India | SAPs Asia-Pacific

Senior V-P, Simon Dale, discusses

the global slowdown and the

companys changing strategy

INTERVIEW

Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=195675030582

Twitter:http://twitter.com/itnext

LinkedInhttp://www.l inkedin.com/groups?gid=2261770&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr


5/68

3D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT

OPINION12 Tech Talk: On cloud nine!

| by Dr Manoj Saxena, CEO, Net-

Edge Computing Solutions

14 Money wise: The Penny

route to Pounds by Ratnakar

Nemani, CIO & HeadIT Projects

Wing, VST

15-MINUTEMANAGER47 Predicting IT right |

Strategic IT forecasting is a

challenging task, but can make a

difference to your business

48 Office Yoga| Asanas for a

busy manager

50 Get back to the class-

room! | Choosing the right skills

to upgrade is key to beating the

recession blues

52 Manage IT | 5 simple steps

to greening your enterprises

OFF THE SHELF60HP shrinks your world|A

sneak preview of enterprise prod-

ucts, solutions and services

THE BIG Q53Who stole my washing

machine?| How to track IP

theft and prevent it

CUBE CHAT58Pining to be a TV star| Yes,

professional achievers too can

nurture off-beat aspirations and

Rajesh Aggarwal, IT Manager,

D P Jindal Group is one of them

38Page

54Page

LONG WAY TO GO | How ICT intervention in

the logistics sector can make a huge difference

MANAGEMENT

Managing Director: Dr Pramath Raj Sinha

Printer & Publisher: Vikas Gupta

EDITORIAL

Group Editor: R Giridhar

Editor: Shubhendu Parth

Consulting Editor: Pravin Prashant

Associate Editor: Shashwat DC

Sr Correspondent: Jatinder Singh

DESIGN

Sr Creative Director: Jayan K Narayanan

Art Director: Binesh Sreedharan

Associate Art Director: Anil VK

Manager Design: Chander Shekhar

Sr Visualisers: Anoop PC, Santosh Kushwaha

Sr Designers: Prasanth TR & Anil T

SALES & MARKETING

VP Sales & Marketing: Naveen Chand Singh(09971794688)

Brand Manager: Siddhant Raizada (09990388390)

National Manager-Events & Special Projects:

Mahantesh Godi (09880436623)

National Manager Online: Nitin Walia

(09811772466)

GM South: Vinodh Kaliappan(09740714817)

GM North: Pranav Saran(09312685289)

GM West: Sachin N Mhashilkar(09920348755)

Assistant Brand Manager: Arpita Ganguli

Co-ordinator Ad Sales, MIS, Scheduling:

Deepak Sharma

PRODUCTION & LOGISTICS

Sr. GM Operations: Shivshankar M Hiremath

Production Executive: Vilas Mhatre

Logistics: MP Singh, Mohamed Ansari,

Shashi Shekhar Singh

OFFICE ADDRESS

Nine Dot Nine Mediaworx Pvt Ltd

K-40, Connaught Place, Outer Circle,

New Delhi110 001, India

Printed and published by Vikas Gupta for

Nine Dot Nine Mediaworx Pvt Ltd

K-40, Connaught Place, Outer Circle,


Editor: Vikas GuptaK-40, Connaught Place, Outer Circle,


Printed at: Nutech Photolithographers

B-240, Okhla PhaseI,


ITNEXT.IN

REGULARS

Editorial ________________01

Industry update __ __ __ __ __ 06

Tech indulge __ __ __ __ __ __ _62

Open debate _ __ __ __ __ __ __63

My log _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 64

PLEASERECYCLE

THISMAGAZINE

ANDREMOVEINSERTSBEFORE

RECYCLING

ADVERTISER INDEX

IBM Reverse Gatefold

Canon IFC

Samsung 10-11

TataComm 13, 27, 43

Sybase IBC

EMC BC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR INPART WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM NINE DOT NINEMEDIAWORX PVT LTD IS PROHIBITED.


6/68


7/68

5D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT

PHOTOGRAPHY:DRLOHIA

BOSS TALK | ARUP GUPTA

The need of the hour is to find the best

solution for a particular problem, rather

than treat it just as a routine affair

T

oday, IT managers, I think, have

become very inward-focused

in terms of adhering to process,

cost and scope. These are all good

things from the Capability Matu-

rity Model (CMM) perspective, but are they

really meeting the expectations of the customer?

Though we may follow all CMM processes faith-

fully, the customer is really looking for value-

add beyond their specifications. Real successful

IT managers are able to add value, enabling

customers to become more competitive in their

business spheres.

IT managers, in addition to knowing the

software delivery process, need to be aware

of technologies and domains so that they can

deliver the best possible solution to a particular

problem. This is what we call an innovative

solution. That is the transformation that I wouldlike to see in the mind set of all IT managers.

IT managers abroad would possibly be less

stringent about processes, giving more attention

to adding value in terms of domain, new

technology and architecture. So how does one

change the mind set of an Indian IT manager?

One needs to start thinking out of the box and

bringing together various stakeholders in the

problem like domain expertise, technology

expertise and possibly the architecture group for

a brainstorming session. That is exactly what the

people abroad do.

If the problem is too complex, outsideconsultants and talent can be involved, rather

than opting for the solution that exists in house

and somehow make it fit the particular problem.

I am not laying undue emphasis on routine

things like operational efficiency and delivery.

The need of the hour is to find the best solution

for a particular problem, rather than treat it just

as a routine affair.

IT managers are often in a dilemma about

Innovate toadd value

P R O J E C T M A N A G E M E N T

choosing the more fruitful career path

managerial or purely technological. Some

Indian companies offer a clear growth path in

pure technology and pure domain, but stillmost professionals opt for the faster managerial

route. Most Indian companies try to hire project

managers or senior practice managers with some

knowledge of the latest domain technologies,

but as I said earlier, some of the deficiencies in

managers in regard to technology and domain

can be compensated by bringing all stakeholders

together. I have seen some of the best-of-the-

breed IT companies in India do so.

Yes, a pure technocrat too can become

a CEO. I myself hold a masters degree in

computer science and have grown through the

ranks. However, more boards and promotersare inclined to hire CEOs who can showcase

diversity in terms of technology and domain,

and now, also an MBA degree. This ensures that

with overall grooming, the individual can solve

the complex sets of problems being faced by

companies today.

The author is CEO of Birlasoft. He has more than 30 years

experience in the IT industry and has previously worked

with Polaris and TCS

The book talks

about how to add

value and make cli-

ents more competi-

tive. It also has tips

on how to build the

winning team.

SUGGESTION BOX

WRITER: JIM COLLINSPUBLISHER: HARPER BUSINESSPRICE: INR 626.00


8/68

UPDATE

6 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0

PHOTOGRAPHY:PHOTOS.COM

TRENDS

DEALS

PRODUCTS

SERVICES

PEOPLE

TECH TRENDS |There was much reason to cheer for the cloud comput-

ing front as bigger players made cloud announcements. While, it isstill early days for the cloud industry, which Gartner Research esti-

mates will ring up sales of about $3.4 billion this year, the momentum

has started building up with two biggest software giants, Microsoft

and IBM, announcing their plans.

Microsoft, which seemed to have missed the cloud bus, announced

that it will roll out the long-awaited Azure system on January 1, 2010.

Azure is Microsofts foray into the cloud computing system and it

The cloud getsmore pervasive

promises to provide an online

platform for software developers

to create their own programs,

and space for customers to store

data.

The service had been in

testing phase for about a year

and will go fully live at the

beginning of next year, according

to Microsofts chief software

architect Ray Ozzie.

Big Blue (IBM) also raised

the stakes by launching a

new cloud computing service,

similar to that from Amazon

and Salesforce.com. Dubbed as

the Smart Analytics Cloud, it is

IBMs biggest cloud computing

service yet and will be at first

adopted internally by the

company.

Meanwhile, on the domestic

front, companies like Reliance

and Airtel have already

launched cloud service. Also,

Zenith Infotech has entered thespace through its private cloud

computing platform PROUD,

which it is positioning as a single

centralised computing system

that can replace the need for

customers to buy computing

and network hardware as

separate and difficult-to-manage

components.

More recently, NIIT and

Hitachi have announced their

cloud offering for the enterprise

space. To begin with, HitachiInformation Systems will

leverage NIIT Technologies data

centre in Bangkok and create its

first hub outside Japan. This will

be networked to their existing

infrastructure. The services,

according to the road map,

should be available from the first

quarter of the next fiscal.

MS and IBM

enhanced

their cloud

commit-

ments, by

launching

servicesbased on the

model

UPDATEI N D U S T R Y

SOURCE: GARTNER, SEPTEMBER 2009

2000

1950

1900

1850

18002010

2009

2008

2007

Spending onWAN optimisa-tion and SSLvirtual privatenetworkis less likely tobe influenced

Global end user spending on telecom is all set for a positivegrowth in 2010, after 12 months of negative growth

(NUMBERS IN US$ BILLIONS)

TELECOM

SPEND

1879

1958

1854

19405.6%

-4.0%3.2

%


9/68

UPDATE

7D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT

YOUR PRIMARY DEFENCE LAYER

Nortons NIS 2010 claims to enhance user

experience with new fea-

tures like Quorum and safe

web protection. The product

is Windows 7 compatible

and available at Rs 1,450

for a single PC license.

EXPRESS YOUR CREATIVITY

Genius has introduced new range of

Graphic Tabletsthe EasyPen i405 and

the MousePen i608. It features

two buttons and 1024

level pressure sen-

sitivity for control over

drawing or writing.

COOL YOUR DATA

Extreme Networks has introduced a 10

Gigabit Ethernet switch, that promises

30% power sav-

ings, for the next

generation data

centre, cloud com-

puting and hosted environments.

TECH TIDINGS |Popular net-

working and professional site

LinkedIn seems to be opening up

to the developer community. It

has launched a platform for the

developer community. With this

move, third party developers will

be able use LinkedIns profile

content in their business appli-

cations and Websites. The move

follows the companys decision

to join hands with technology

companiesIBM, Microsoft,

Research In Motion (Blackberry),

and Twitterfor integrations

with their respective products

and solutions. While these

partnerships created additional

channels for LinkedIns plat-

form, the latest move would

make LinkedIn ubiquitous

LinkedIn opens upAPIs were evaluated on a case-

by-case basis, where priority was

given to integrations that provide

the most value to the greatest

number of LinkedIn users,

according to its former policy. The

LinkedIn Platform now allows

that access to everyone.

However, there is some

doubt on whether the move

is too little and a tad late, as

other networking giants like

Facebook and MySpace have

successfully engaged the

developer community in the last

couple of years. There is a lot

of speculation on the pending

interface redesign, but no official

word on it.

Nevertheless, by opening

up its API the company has

insured that developers can add

to LinkedIns value by building

a whole new set of standalone

products.

Announces

platform for

third party

developers

While the world rued the economic slowdown, there

was a silver lining for the Unified Communications

(UC) industry. Enterprises took to UC solutions to cut

down on costs. According an ABI Research report,

the segment is set to jump from $302 million in 2008

to $4.2 billion by 2014. The growth confirms the

perception of UC as a productive and cost-cutting

technology rather than a fancy collaborative tool,

particularly for MNCs with offices across multiple

geographies.

AROUND THE WORLD

Unified communication:to touch $4.2 Bn by 2014

GOOGLE CO-FOUNDER SERGEY BRIN

ON CHROME OS VS MS WINDOWS...CALL US DUMBBUSINESSMEN, BUTWE REALLY FOCUS ONUSER NEEDS RATHERTHAN ON STRATEGIESRELATED TO OTHERBUSINESSES

across different networks.

Developers can now register at

developer.linkedin.com to receive

a unique key that allows access to

discussion boards, sample code,

provisioning code and more. In

the past, requests to use LinkedIn

QUICK BYTE


10/68

UPDATE

PHOTOGRAPHY:JAYANKNARAYANAN

8 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0

WEB 2.0 | Understanding the

significance of social network-

ing and the opportunity it can

bring for corporates, Salesforce.

com, has introduced an in-house

social networking model called

Salesforce Chatter.

The service is intended to

provide a platform where all

employees can collaborate and

connect with their co-workers

using the intranet.

The service, an in-house social

networking and collaboration

tool aims at improving interaction

within the organisation. It enables

employees to create their profile,

update their status, and inform

peers about what they are doing,

right away.

The move comes on the

expected line of the changing

working environmemt, with

enterprises swiftly evaluating

how cloud and social networking

can help them reach business

goals in a smoother way.The service also integrates

TECH TRENDS |The enterprise software

market in India continues to post a

healthy growth and is expected to regis-

ter an overall 10.1% growth this year.The recent Gartner report

predicts that the market will

continue to improve and

touch 11.8% growth in 2010.

India is the fourth-largest

market in the Asia-Pacific

(APAC) region, and while

the impact of the slowdown

cannot be discounted it has

been mitigated by the large untapped

market that is adopting IT on a

continuous scale, the report states.

The main driving force behind theenterprise software market

still continues to ERP,

driven by SAP and Oracle.

India, China and Vietnam

are the biggest drivers for

the enterprise market in the

$20 billion APAC market,

which will grow by 10.2%

in 2009.

Salesforce unveilsoffice networking tool

Enterprisesoftware marketto grow 10% in 2009

itself with Twitter and

Facebook that users are

already comfortable with.

While employees at

Salesforce have already

started using the

chatterbox, the company

is looking at making it

available to the corporate

in early 2010.

The new chatter edition

will be sold for $50 per

user per month and will

include salesforce chatter,

salesforce content and

Force.com, the companyinformed.

IT NEXT:What is your outlook of the

IT consulting business in India?

PAUL: There is a great opportunity

within the India market in the IT consult-

ing space. Our consulting approach is

designed to help customers of all sizes

to rapidly identify ways to drive more

efficiency within their data centres. Using

our Measurable Rapid Insight (MRI)

approach we can quickly identify what

customers are spending on storage and

then show a path to how they can reduce

cost and complexity.

How are you addressing the needs of

IT managers?

Our whole strategy is focused on quickly

addressing key pain points of IT manag-

ers. Our storage services directly map

to key issues faced by our customers

todayfrom data growth to data protec-

tion and optimising storage.

How is Dell applying its consulting

services for improved storage ef-

ficiency?

The need to address enterprise data

management issues continues to be high

on the agenda of CIOs and IT Managers.

Most companies are spending a large

percentage of their budget on storage and

Dells consulting services capabilities can

help quickly identify how organisations

can maximise their spend and ensure that

storage is matched to business needs.

By Jatinder Singh

INTERVIEW

PAUL KAELEY

DirectorGlobal Storage (Data Man-agement) Consulting Practice, Dell

The new

tool will be

included in all

paid editions

of Salesforce

CRM and

Force.com

ENTERPRISE S/WGLOBAL

GROWTH IN2009

Source: Gartner

.3%


11/68

UPDATE

9D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT

PHOTOGRAPHY:PHOTOS.COM

TECH ALLIANCE | In what can be termed as a

major realignment in the data management space,

Fujitsu, a player in software management joined

hands with storage system vendor NetApp to pro-

vide tightly integrated and automated storage and

data management solutions.

According to the announcement made by the

two companies, they will jointly develop integrated

products and services in the areas of virtualisation,

storage and data management, and storage services

and solutions.The two companies will also work towards

integrating NetApps storage management

software into Fujitsus resource management

framework, that dynamically orchestrates servers,

networks, storage and software to run applications

on demand.

The framework also enables easier

administration of data centre environments, allows

Fujitsu, NetAppjoinhands for storage

single console management

of the entire infrastructure,

and increases productivity

and operational efficiency

through ease of use. With

the combination of products

and solutions from both

companies, customers can

reduce their capex and

leverage IT infrastructure.

The two companies furtherplan to implement a global

joint go-to-market strategy

for all complementary

products. The tie-up also

envisages full integration of

NetApp V-series products

with Fujitsus Eternus

storage systems.

The Twitter club got a majorboost as the National Stock

Exchange (NSE) begun sending

out live quotes of its benchmark

index Nifty on the micro-blogging

website. The Indian bourse cur-

rently sends out an update of the

Nifty index as well as the highs

and lows every 10 minutes during

the trading hours. With this move,

NSE has become the first Indian

bourse to join

the Twitter club,

beating its rival

Bombay Stock

Exchange (BSE).

Internationally,

major bourses

like NASDAQ

from the US and

FTSE from the

UK have already

established their

presence on Twit-

ter. Meanwhile,

NSE plans to provide more infor-

mation over Twitter in the coming

days. The NSE Tweets have been

well received by the users. Within

a week of its launch, the NSE has

already registered about 1,600

followers.The exchange aims to

add some more indices and tools

on the social networking site in

the coming days, besides enabling

investors to reach NSE through

SOCIAL NETWORKING

NSE startsto Tweet

The two

companies

will jointly

develop inte-

grated data

management

and storage

products and

solutions

WHAT IS COOKING AT MICROSOFT?PERHAPS THE WHOLE, end-of-the-world thing in 2012 really has something to do with Microsoft, which islikely to release Windows 8 in that year | Nicholas Kolakowski in Microsoft Kitchen

The blog posted two slides suggesting that the next Windows Server andWindows 8 would be released in 2012. Earlier in October, the LinkedIn pagefor Robert Morgan, a senior member of Microsofts Research & Developmentteam, stated his current projects included 128 bit architecture compatibilitywith the Windows 8 kernel and Windows 9 project plan.

NEWS @

BLOG


12/68


13/68

SMS itnext samsung


14/68

OPINION

1 2 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0

PHOTOGRAPHY:AJAYCHAWLA

C

loud computing, as a ser-

vice offering, has been

gaining momentum in

India in the last couple of

years. While big players

such as Sun Microsystems, Google,

IBM, Amazon and Microsoft are in the

lead, many small private companies are

beginning to grab market share.

The evolution of cloud computing

will create not only a dynamic IT

environment, but will also bolster user-

empowerment through the concept of

IT as a Service. A wide range of cloud

computing platforms and applications

are emerging in the market, offering

businesses an entirely new way to

deploy technology.

The architecture

Before delving deeper into the criteria

for adoption of the cloud computing

model by enterprises, it is important

to understand its architectural frame-

work. While the majority of contempo-

rary Internet applications use three-tier

model as generic architecture, the use

of virtualisation in clouds has created a

new set of abstraction at higher levels

applications, platforms and infrastruc-

ture. These layers not only encapsulate

on-demand resources but also define anew application development model.

Within each layer of abstraction, there

are myriad business opportunities for

defining services that can be offered on

a pay-per-use basis.

Software as a Service or SaaS

occupies the highest layer and features

a complete application offered as a

service on-demand. Single instance

Key attraction

Cloud computing has a tremendous

enterprise pull because it conceals the

complexity of the infrastructure fromend-users. They do not know, or need

to know, what is there in the cloud.

This has become possible due to one

of the key architectural attributes and

underlying technologies of the cloud

computing modelvirtualisation.

This refers to the abstraction of physi-

cal IT resources from the people and

applications using them.

Virtualisation allows servers,

storage devices and other hardware to

be treated as a pool of resources rather

than discrete systems so that these

resources can be allocated on-demand.

Cloud computing brings a new level

of efficiency and economy to delivering

IT resources on demand, and in the

process, it opens up new business

models and market opportunities.

Cost efficiency

As organisations cope with a dynami-

cally changing business environment,

IT managers can look to cloud comput-

ing as a way to maintain a flexible and

scalable IT infrastructure that enables

business agility. The IT managers areshowing keen interest in investing time

and understanding how the cloud will

impact access control, network security

and other core network components.

IT managers of many organisations are

also eyeing the cloud computing ser-

vices model to save money.

The principal findings of a research

conducted recently among IT managers

of SMEs to study the acceptance of cloud

computing by businesses has revealed

that IT managers are aggressively

deploying cloud computing initiativesto accomplish business objectives.

As budgets for cloud computing

increase, IT managers are examining

critical technologies for building the

infrastructure behind the cloud.

So how does an individual, a business

or an IT manager take advantage of

the cloud computing trend? Cloud

computing is not just about proliferation

Cloud computingbrings in a new level ofefficiency and economyto delivering ITresources on demand

of the software runs on a providers

infrastructure and serves multiple

clients. The middle layer, Platform as aService or PaaS, offerings can provide

for every phase of software development

and testing, or they can be specialised

around a particular area such as

content management. Infrastructure as

a Service or IaaS lies at the lowest rung.

This layer can deliver basic storage and

computing capabilities as standardised

services over the network.

TECH TALKDR. MANOJ SAXENA

CEO, NetEdge Computing Solutions

On cloud nine!Yes, that is where cloud computing is set totake enterprises--both big and small


15/68

D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT

OPINION

Companies have realised that by clinging to thecloud they can access profitable businessapplications and can drastically boost their

infrastructure resources, all at a negligible cost.

of IT stacks on a restricted handful

of infrastructure providers. It is

also about an emerging ecosystem

of complementary services that

provide computing resources such as

applications on demand, distributed

databases and virtual private data

centres for the entire range of IT

consumers. These services span the

range of customer requirements

from individual developers and

small startups to large enterprises.Not only the larger firms but

also small and medium enterprises

can leverage cloud computing to

save costs.

Boon for SMEs

Cloud computing provides an alter-

native to investing in ones own

infrastructure and software. There-

fore, the ability to cloud-source an

application instead of buying self-

hosted applications has seen a sig-

nificant rise amongst SMEs. Cloudcomputing presents a powerful

opportunity to SMEs to use latest

technologies and services from

the cloud which also helps them

save costs, as it is a pay-per-license

model. It helps them to avoid buy-

ing the entire hardware or the soft-

ware library.

Companies have realised that by

clinging to the cloud they can access

profitable business applications

and can drastically boost their

infrastructure resources, all at a

negligible cost. This is forcing IT

managers and CEOs of companies to

deploy the cloud computing model in

their organisations.

Keeping in view the array of

advantages that cloud computing

has to offer, the number and quality

of public and commercially availablecloud-based service offerings has

been growing fast. Using the cloud

is often the best option for start-

ups, research projects, Web 2.0

developers, or niche players who

want a simple and low-cost way to

load and go.

A recent finding by global financial

services firm Merrill Lynch suggests

that cloud computing will expand

into a global market of $95 billion

over the next four years. Gartner has

also named cloud computing, greenIT and social-computing platforms

among technologies that are poised

to achieve broad enterprise adoption

in the next two to five years.

This cloud is not one to be blown

away in a hurry.

Besides heading NetEdge, the author is also

a registered Computer Consultant with ADB


16/68

OPINION

1 4 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0

PHOTOGRAPHY:SURESHVANGAPALLY

In times like these, when the

world economy is struggling to

recover from a long economic

downturn and top line growth is

either marginal or just not pos-

sible, cost reduction becomes a favoured

means for a company to stay afloat. It

is in these times that every function

within the company needs to be an

active participant in financial matters,

and the CIO needs to also look at things

from the perspective of a Cheap Innova-

tion Officer.

One might wonder how the IT

function, which seldom accounts for

more than single digit of the overall

expenditure, really helps reduce costs.

But in these times, a penny saved is

indeed a penny earned. In fact, the

IT function can play the catalyst inenterprise-wide productivity measures.

Let me share with you how I have

done this at VST, one of the leading

companies in the tobacco space.

Be clear on ROI, TCO

One of the primary functions of the IT

team is to work out the planned invest-

ment for upcoming projects and keep

Total Cost of Operation (TCO) within

reasonable limits. To accomplish this,

you need to align your IT needs with

the company plan, as lack of businesscan spell failure for projects.

Initiatives causing time inefficiency

and impacting strategic business should

be identified and scrapped, even if they

are already part of the projects portfolio.

The first thing that I did after taking

over as IT function head at VST was to

identify the kind of investments that

were being made in IT and the precise

step would be to avoid use of multiple

packages with similar functionality.

Besides, as an IT manager you can also

explore options like e-learning to cuttravel and accommodation costs for

the HR department. Web conferences

also benefit geographically distributed

functional departments.

Pennies can also be saved by delaying

investment in new IT infrastructure,

like new PCs, by a year or more. The

IT manager can think of alternatives

instead of going in for basic technology

upgrades. A simple example can be

virtualisation of desktops or adoption

of thin clients. This will not only offer

benefits in capital expenses (Capex)but

also reduce the operational expensees

(Opex) by ensuring less power

consumption and lower manpower

requirement. Not to talk about enhanced

security levels and the satisfaction of

creating a greener IT environment.

Benchmark yourself

Finally, all this exercise will be in vain,

if you do not really benchmark your-

self. What is the percentage of IT spend

vis--vis net turnover? Ensure that you

check this ratio every year, benchmarking

with the best companies. I would adviseIT managers to look at ways and means

to turn the IT function into a profit cen-

tre from a conventional cost centre. For

instance, in case you have excess man-

power, think of utilising their skills for

outside projects instead of rendering

them redundant. This will not only gener-

ate revenue but also enhance employees

trust in the company. Externally too, the

firm can gain prestige and credibility.

The list can be endless. But

earning better profits through cost

reduction should remain the eternalmantra for IT professionals within

the organisation as they can lead the

charge towards raising productivity

levels even as costs are cut. After all,

pennies make pounds!

The author is a cost accountant by qualification

and an IT professional by choice. He is, cur-

rently, focussed on turning VSTs IT division into

a profit centre

The CIO needs tolook at things froma Cheap InnovationOfficer perspective

The Penny routeto Pounds

return on investment (ROI) that they

fetched. Such evaluation always helps

a firm plug any leakage in the process.

For instance, on detailed examination

we found out that Total Outsourcing

of Services (TOS) well suited to VST

needs since it offered twin benefits

contemporary technology and better

technical expertise. In fact, VST was

among the pioneers in the country to go infor long-term outsourcing in April 2004.

This pulled down our costs significantly.

Re-examine current systems

One of the important things that an IT

manager can do in these trying times

is to re-valuate the existing infra-

structure and try to pinch a penny

here and a penny there. A simple first

MONEY WISERATNAKAR NEMANI

CIO & HeadIT Projects Wing, VST


17/68


18/68

COVER STORY | XXXXXXXXXXX


1 6 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0

COVER STORY | 09 SURVEY

1 6 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0


19/68

XXXXXXXXXXXXX | COVER STORY


1 7D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT

COVER STORY

Peep into an anthill and you will realise what seamless order and perfection mean.

Our tiny insect cousins have engineered a complex organisational structure which,

though hierarchal, is highly efficient. At the very apex, sits the queen, the head of all

the domicile ants, and does little than preen and procreate. Below the empress, there

are scores and scores of worker ants which toil endlessly to ensure that her majesty

remains unperturbed and at ease.

BASED ON AN EXTENSIVE SURVEY OFIT MANAGERS,IT Nextpresents a handyguide for technology managers who havetheir hearts set on becoming a CIO

BY SHASHWAT DC / IMAGING ANIL T

TO THE TOP

SEAT

7STEPSSURVEY

09

1 7D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT


20/68

1 8 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0

PHOTOGRAPHY:(RIGHT)SANTOSHBHASKAR

COVER STORY| 09 SURVEY

Were we to project this organisational

structure on to a standard enterprise,

more so on to the IT function of a typical

enterprise, it will be fairly evident that

the CIO is the queen of the IT-hill,

waited upon by the rest of the managersand professionals. The IT head often has

little to do with IT these days; he frets

and fumes over things like RoI, people

management, business issues, et al.

For the sake of illustration, take the

case of Mr O who is the CIO of a large

pharmaceutical company and whose

lifestyle is the envy of many. More often

than not, he is touring the country, or the

globe, for work and conferences. He is

courted by vendors, analysts, journalistsand others who are all ears for every word

that escapes his mouth. Even the CEO of

the company pays attention whenever

Mr O comes up with a new proposal or

strategy. Mr O operates out of a spacious

cabin, and moves in hallowed circles

receiving awards and recognition with

amazing regularity.

So when does Mr O work? Well

honestly, he does not; he merely gets

the work done. Over the years, he hasoutsourced much of the infrastructure

management to external vendors. Now

all he has is a small and well-knit team

of managers and IT professionals who

handle the day-to-day functioning of the

IT infrastructure and the data centre.

The anthill is not much different from

the IT-hill, is it?

IT NextsurveyWhile one cannot be sure if the worker

ant within the anthill aspires to be the

queen, but IT managers certainly desire

to become CIOs. This was evident when

we conducted a survey to ascertain

what it takes to be a CIO. Our survey

drew responses from nearly 250 IT

managers around the countryrepre-

senting a wide array of verticals, cities

and profiles. To say that the response

was overwhelming will be an under-

statement. Nearly 200 IT managers

had completed the survey within two

days, with more responses trickling in

over the next few days. The dozen odd

questions in the survey were designed

to capture the essentials of what ittakes to be a CIO. Once, the verdict was

received from the IT managers end, the

same questions were posed to CIOs and

external consultants, and they were

asked to share their views.

Based on the findings from the two

surveys, we present the 7-step guide

to becoming a CIO. Though much

of this may seem fairly obvious and

commonsensical, do remember that it is

Dhiraj Sinha

Leader (Tech),

Dell Perot Systems

IT managers

need to take

up biggerchallenges andget out of their

comfort zone to

succeed

Jojo Jose

GM (Systems),

GTN Group

For an ITmanager to

succeed, itis essentialthat he looks

at bridgingbusiness

versus IT gap

BE BUSINESSSAVVY

You are already a tech

whiz kid, but so are

the other IT manag-

ers eyeing the CIOs

slot. Better bone up

on the companys business;

understand its nuances. Get

familiar with business con-

cepts like RoI, EBITDA and

PAT to gain an edge over the

competition.

DE-TECHNI-CALISE

Non-IT issues

need to be

befriended. Get

out of the techie

mould and you

will discover a new world.

Learn more about HR, mar-

keting, sales, production

and issues that interest

other people.

BE THEGAUNTLET GUY

Be the first to

stake a claim to

challenging as-

signments. Even

if the project fails,

you will end up learning.

And, of course, the powers

that be will learn about you

if the project succeeds. You

will be that much closer to

the coveted cabin.

THE

STEPS7 1 2 3


21/68

1 9D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT 1 9D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT

the small things that go to make a CIO.

And it is these traits and specialities

that need to be imbibed and displayed

to earn the CIO cap. While the steps

may seem fairly easy they demand a

complete change of mind set.

STEP1ST

Be businesssavvyOver the past few years,

the role of the CIO has

undergone a 180 degree change. While,

the CIO continues to remain the king

(or the queen) of all things technical,

his role has expanded to encompass all

functions in an organisation. Thus, a

CIO is no more chained to the data cen-

tre or the IT department but is expected

to take on a bigger and more strategic

role within the organisation. This is also

because with rapid digitisation, IT and

technology are not just backend, but

front-end tools.

What this implies is that while a

CIO at a retail organisation may be

concerned about implementing the best

inventory and warehousing system in

his organisation, he also needs to look

at the Web and mobile as additional

fronts to reach the customer. Here, IT

can provide the organisation with a

completely new revenue stream that did

not exist before. The CIO, in this case,needs to be the change agent who ushers

in such a transformationin a proactive

and not reactive manner.

The IT manager too needs to

inculcate this kind of business-

conscious approach. The first step is

to familiarise oneself with all business

concepts like RoI, EBITDA and PAT. It

is not enough to know just what your

company does, you also need to keep SOURCE:ITNEXTSURVEY2009

75%say Jack of All ITManager is most suited

to become a CIO

42%want CEOs to mentorpotential CIOs

47%feel 13+ years of ex-perience is neces-

sary to become a CIO

SURVEY09track of its financial standing, market

share, market scenario, competitors

and their strategies. Considering that

IT plays a very critical role, the CIO is

expected to don a business hat at all

junctures. And the IT manager, whodesires to take on the CIO role, needs to

be at home wearing the business hat as

well. So, start practicing it right away.

The CIO is an interface between

business and technology. He is expected

to have knowledge of both the worlds.

It is very obvious that he can map the

technology to business processes and

requirements easily because of his

understanding of both, says Ketan

Shah, Associate Director, Angel Broking.

According to him, if a manager is

aiming to become a CIO, then he has

to bring about a major change in his

thought process. An IT manager looks

at the business from the technology

perspective, while a CIO takes a

business view of technologies. This

change is possible only when an IT

manager starts understanding the

business. Once an IT manager develops

a better understanding of the business

he can start mapping technology to

business, since technology is any way

his forte, Shah adds.

STEP2ND

De-technicaliseRead a Dilbert comic

strip and you will

realise what the IT guys

think about the world, and in return,

what the world thinks about them.

Even today, despite the ubiquity of

computing lingo, it is hard for a layman

to have a conversation with a technical

expert. It is not surprising, considering

that techies are often considered geeks

COVER STORY

BECOMEINNOVATIVE

Focus on the

needs and ways

of doing busi-

ness. Think out

of the box. Add

value. Delight the cus-

tomer and the boss. The

CIOs seat will not seem

so distant.

BE A PEOPLEPERSON

Managing people

is infinitely more

difficult than man-

aging computers.

Learn to inspire

peers. Let them come to

you with their problems.

Empathise and resolve their

problems. They will love to

follow you.

GETNETWORKED

Increase your

circle. Join

online sites like

LinkedIn, Face-

book, Orkut and

special community groups.

Share experiences and

knowledge. The network

will sustain you as you

work towards your goal.

TURN INTO ABE-ALL PERSON

The CIO needs

to be a jack-of-all

trades. He has to

manage different

tasks, different

people and different situ-

ations, all the time. So, if

your eyes are set on the

plum CIO assignment, get

ready for all this and more.

4 5 6 7


22/68

2 0 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0

PHOTOGRAPHY:(LEFT)DRLOHIA

COVER STORY| 09 SURVEY

essential to make the shift. So, next time

you step out for a break ensure that you

do so with a non-techie. While, it may be

a bit tough to discuss IPL when there is

the more interesting SSL or VBL, you

will soon get the hang of it.The mantra for success is to be a

very good team player, understand team

emotions and be a listener. This makes

you very effective in collaborating

with peers. And most importantly,

translate technical jargon into business

language, observes Sanjeev Kumar,

CIO, Polygenta Technologies.

STEP3RD

Be the gauntletguySome years back, there

was a relatively small

BPO firm that acquired a major trans-

national operator in a big M&A deal.

Suddenly, the player that operated out

of a few offices in India had a footprint

that stretched across continents. The

huge addition of manpower, infrastruc-

ture, and business was truly mind-bog-

gling. The management of the company

decided to form a core transition team

for the amalgamation to be effectivelyexecuted. The proactive CIO of the com-

pany indicated his eagerness to lead the

team. Needless to say, he was assigned

the task. Within a year, when the two

companies were successfully inte-

grated, kudos (and bigger management

roles) came his way.

The moral of the story is simple. If

you do not have the stomach to take on

challenges, you cannot be trusted to

be a leader. If you want to impress the

management that you are the apt person

for the CIO post, you need to proactively

take on more. In fact, if some challenging

project, like a new implementation

or productivity measures, is likely to

be undertaken, then do not forget to

propose your name. The setbacks in

the project will teach you a lot, and

the success of the project will teach

the organisation to take you seriously.

Picking up the gauntlet always pays,

even when it may not seem apparent.

STEP

4THBecomeinnovativeOne CEO shared aninteresting insight. A

few years back when his company

was looking to fill the CIO position, he

was caught in a quandary. There were

two senior managers with the requi-

site experience. Both had spent years

in the company and were almost simi-

larly placed in terms of education and

personal profile. But the CEO did not

want to elevate somebody just because

of the persons experience or seniority;

he desired someone with an innovative

streak. He noticed that the companysHR head had played a rather proac-

tive role in the ERP rollout and other

similar initiatives. It was no surprise,

the CEO opted to bet on the HR guys

innovation rather than the senior IT

managers experience.

This incident does not imply that

experience plays second fiddle when

it comes to bagging the CIO cap. In

Rajesh Agarwal

IT Manager,

DP Jindal Group

who will be more at home talking SSL

than IPL.

Meanwhile, the CIO, who now

plays a much broader executive role, is

expected to work in close tandem with

other non-IT functions of the company,whether accounts or HR. He might

not lead those functions but plays a

crucial role in deciding whether they

are a success or a failure. He needs to

be at home talking about impact of the

slowdown, and discussing ways to

curtailing attrition.

Hence, the IT manager, wishing

to make the transition to the classy

glass cabin, needs to de-technicalise

himself. He needs to come to grips with

other functions in the company and be

able to discuss them without resorting

to technical jargon. In fact, CIOs

emphatically highlight this in the IT

Nextsurvey, making it the second most

important trait or behaviour that is

An IT managershould be able

to interact

with differentteam members

easily andask right

questions

Rakesh Mohan

Project Manager,

Flytxt

Proper

resourceplanning andmonitoring

capabilities arekey qualities

required tobecome a CIO


23/68

2 1D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT

SURVEY09

COVER STORY

SOURCE:ITNEXTSURVEY2009

with change in mindset, attitude andapproach. A typical IT manager is one

who spends most of his time in managing

IT work like incident management,

support management, building IT,

running IT systems and infrastructure,

says Prasad Dhumal, Senior Director IT

(South Asia), DHL Express.

To graduate from IT manager to

a CIO, you need to start looking at

the business value of technology

and matching it to the overall goal

of the organisation. One also needs

to be proactive in understandingtechnology needs of upcoming

products and services, and have the

ability to closely work with business

to develop, innovate and implement IT

solutions. Dont be a re-active partner

and execute the standard IT solutions

available in market.

The IT manager needs to broaden

his horizon by getting more involved

74%respondents thinkCIO aspirants shouldhave financial account-

ing skills

86%think an innovativestreakis necessaryfor IT managers tomake the transition

53%believe that a man-agement degree is notcritical

team mates. You need to be looked uponas a mentor, a leader who is trusted and

respected by the team.

IT managers have to analyse how well

(or badly) placed they are as a co-worker.

Are you a source of inspiration for

juniors in the team? Do they come to you

for solutions to their problems? Are you

able to get work done with minimum

resistance from other members of the

team? Have you been able to ensure that

the best members in the team are able to

grow, and do not leave the organisation?

Answer these questions honestly,and then either pat yourself on the

back or change your working style.

Remember, while as an IT manager you

need to get your work done from servers

and desktops, as a CIO you will need

to work with IT managers and other

professionals. So, start being a people

person if you are not one already.

TO GRADUATE FROM BEING AN ITMANAGER TO A CIO, ONE NEEDS TO STARTLOOKING AT THE BUSINESS VALUE OFTECHNOLOGY AND MATCHING IT TO THEOVERALL GOAL OF THE ORGANISATION

fact, a vast majority of respondents,

in our survey, felt that around 15 years

of experience was required to make

the transition. But innovation can be

a big distinguishing factor. So, as an

IT manager, look for ways to bringinnovation in the business processes

of the company.

Innovation can relate to anything:

can you automate the temporary staff

muster, or can you devise a tool to

compare IT equipment buys. Even

Green IT could be a major drive. To be

innovative, you need to be attentive to

the needs and ways of doing business.

Make a point to peruse case studies,

interact with peers and imbibe the habit

of being innovative.

In my opinion, the transformation

from being an IT manager to a CIO starts

with all the business functions like HR

or marketing or sales to understand

the underlying organisation processes

and improve his own business

understanding, Dhumal adds.

STEP5TH

Be a peoplepersonThe trouble in interact-

ing with people is that

they seldom behave in a rational man-

ner. Unlike computers and data centres

that can be easily managed, human

management is infinitely more com-

plex. And this is the key requirement

from any leadership role, including

that of a CIO.

A CIO needs to get his work done

from a team of trusted professionals.

He needs to inspire confidence amongst

2 1D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT


24/68

2 2 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0

PHOTOGRAPHY:(LEFT)DRLOHIA(RIGHT)

MEXYXAVIER

COVER STORY | 09 SURVEY

Sushil Aggarwal

Leader-IT, Mara-

thon Electric India

It is imperativefor an IT

manager to

understand longterm business

goals ratherthan short term

gains

S Ilango

Senior Manager,

Aditya Birla Group

One needs

to think ofquick wins toaccelerate self

growth andstart building

a long term ITstrategy

STEP6TH

Get networkedHave you noticed how

many seminars and

events CIOs attend? Or

how many memberships clubs and

associations they boast of? In fact,Indian CIOs are amongst the most net-

worked CXOs in the world. They have

formed different clubs, both in real and

virtual worlds, where they meet, dis-

cuss and deliberate on various things.

Think of any renowned CIO and search

for him on Linkedin.com. You will find

that he is well connected to his peers,

and is a member of several groups.

Networking, according to CIOs, is an

important way of learning about new

technology and solutions.

IT managers should take some

time to connect with peers and others.

Online, there are social networking

sites like Facebook, Orkut, MySpace

and Twitter. But, from a professional

perspective, LinkedIn seems to be the

best bet when it comes to networking.

Create a profile that fully captures

your achievements and strengths,

and start connecting with friends and

seniors. In the real world, find a club of

like-minded professionals and join it. Infact, very soon,IT Nextwill be starting a

club for IT managers, where knowledge-

sharing in the community will be

promoted. Watch out for more details,

or drop us a line. We will give you a buzz

when the club comes to your city.

It is fairly important to network,

as it helps in getting inputs. Sharing

experiences is an integral path to

growth. The network will sustain you

even when you reach your goal, advises

Rajiv Gerela, VP, Deutsche Bank.

STEP7TH

Turn into abe-all personOur survey highlighted

an interesting fact that

a CIO is not master of just one skill

or talent, but is more of a jack-of-all.

Remember, as a CIO you are expected

to do things that go beyond the tradi-

tional technology role, right from busi-

ness alignment of technology to dealing

with vendors. So, if your eyes are set onthe plum CIO assignment, then prepare

yourself for all this and more.

As Arun Gupta, Group CIO at K

Raheja Group, says, You need to put

some questions to yourself. Can you

make presentations confidently in

a management group meeting? Do

people within your team and your

users trust you? Can you negotiate

well with a vendor or a user? Are you

able to resolve conflict? Are you able

to hold your head high and have a

disagreement with your boss without

getting beaten? If the answer to any

one of these is in the negative, then

start working on them before you can

think of being a CIO.

Another important factor that can

ease the transition is a guru or a mentor.

But, finding one can be a real tough

task. Like Alok Kumar, IT Consultant at

Sears Holding, puts it, It is extremely

important for every emerging leader to

have a mentor who will guide and shape

their career. Anyone with the dream to

become a leader, will find it very difficult

to translate it into reality without amentor.

Interestingly in our survey, a

majority of respondents, both IT

managers and CIOs, stated that a CEO

is the best mentor for an IT manager

looking to make it to the top seat. After

all, it is the CEO who takes the call on

whom to appoint CIO.

It should be fairly clear by now that

though the life of a CIO may seem akin

to that of the queen in the anthill, it is

anything but the same. To be a CIO,

you need to be multi-talented, multi-skilled and multi-faceted. The job

requirements are challenging. So, if you

have the stomach for it and your heart

is set on becoming one, it is time you got

going. Good luck.

How did you like this story?Send your feedback [email protected]


25/68

APPLICATION | INSIGHT

2 3D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT

IT BIG

CLICKING

By integrating traditional networkwith modern daycommunication systems,CaaS is set to change the way an

enterprise communicates and collaborates today

BY JATINDER SI NGH / IMAGING SANTOSH KUSHWAHA


26/68

IT BRINGSALL BENEFITSTHAT ARE BE-ING LEVERAGEDBY LARGERENTERPRISESTODAY, WITHINTHE REACH OF

SMALLERCOMPANIESJohnson Varkey, Busi-

ness Development Manager,

Cisco India and SAARC

WITH SOFT-WARE SERVICESBECOMING CON-VENIENT ANDAFFORDABLE,ONLINE COL-LABORATION

APPLICATIONSARE BOUND TOBECOME HOT INFUTUREVikas Arora, Group Di-

rector, Enterprise Services

Division, Microsoft India


2 4 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0

INSIGHT | APPLICATION

Innovation is no longer just thinking out

of box. Now, it is more to do with producing

vernal themes, within the box. It is with that

understanding, companies across the globe,

are focusing on innovation in a more doable

fashion, without unduly compromising theircore business interests.

Communication as a Service (CaaS) is

one such concept that enables businesses

to focus on their core capabilities. With

CaaS, the communication capacities of an

organisation are placed on the web and the

applications can be used by the agent and

members as per need.

While many enterprises are setting out to

realise the business gains of CaaS, others are

perplexed by conflicting stands. For some, it

is just another Unified Communications (UC)

model that uses SaaS platform, while others

mix it up with Computing as a Service.

To start off, CaaS is hosted on demand

model where the communication needs of

an enterprise are managed by a third party.

CaaS allows your business to undertake

incremental technology improvements

without placing undue stress on managing a

premises-based solution.

The CaaS vendor is responsible for all

kinds of hardware and software maintenance

with major emphasis on quality of service. It

enables the organisation to outsource various

communication channelsVoIP, IM, video

conferencing and much more.Considering that resource and

infrastructure are always a big constraints,

experts feel there is ample scope of growth

for CaaS as well as its broader counterpart,

UC, in India. Whats more, they argue that

messaging applications would continue to

grow on the cloud as it eliminates the need

to run applications locally, and hence helps

organisations save software maintenance,

management, deployment and support cost.

Why CaaS?

As an IT manager, have you ever been con-cerned about the rising overhead for a system

whose capacity may often increase or fall short

of expectations? Do you often get scared that

your system might become obsolete, forcing

you to spend heavily on an upgrade? And

moreover, does managing communication

infrastructure give you more panic than com-

fort? Well, if that is the case, then CaaS could

just be the right solution for you.

Says Zoeb Adenwala, CIO, Essel Propack,

Every organisation wants to focus on its core

competencies. Maintaining and running such

boxes is obviously not the focus area. We are

using complete mailing as a pay-per-service

model. CaaS can definitely provide the luxuryof exploring new growth areas rather than

laying too much stress on non-core areas.

In todays value-driven market, no one can

underestimate the importance of seamless

interaction between employees, stakeholders

and vendors as delay in decision-making

can cause hefty losses. To ensure seamless

connectivity, trends like social networking,

cloud computing, usage of intelligent devices

and collaborative approach are in vogue. And

with CaaS, all these come in a single basket.

Adds Vikas Arora, Group Director,

Enterprise Services Division, Microsoft

India, Communication is one of the key

resource application in organisations across

verticals. With software services becoming an

increasingly convenient and affordable means

of business, collaboration applications such as

e-mail, web conferencing, document sharing,

online collaboration are bound to become hot

candidates in future.

Show me the powerImagine yourself scanning news on your

laptop on a power-packed Monday morning

when, all of a sudden, a message from your

CEO pops out asking you to join him foran urgent meeting on some pressing issue.

And, you get connected with your boss just

by clicking the connect now option on your

companys internal blog on web without mak-

ing any complex arrangements. That is the

advantage of CaaS.

Johnson Varkey, Business Development

Manager, Cisco India and SAARC, says,

CaaS and its benefits can be applicable to

organisation of any size. In fact, CaaS can

Users can communicate effectively without

having to switch between networks, services,

systems or applications

Improves inter organisation and intra

organisation collaboration

Helps integrate traditional network and

communication systems of an organisation

Huge savings on real estate rental costbetween

$3,000 to $10,000 per employee per year

ADVANTAGE CAAS


27/68

CAASINTEGRATES

TRADITIONALNETWORK AND

COMMUNICATIONSYSTEMS,

ENABLINGUSERS TO

COMMUNICATEWITHOUT

SWITCHINGBETWEEN

NETWORKSGanesh Swaminathan,

Director, Office of

Innovation, CSC India

CAAS CANDEFINITELY

PROVIDE THELUXURY OF

EXPLORING NEWGROWTH AREAS

RATHER THANLAYING TOO

MUCH STRESSON NON-COREAREAS

Zoeb Adenwala, CIO,

Essel Propack


2 5D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT

APPLICATION | INSIGHT

bring all benefits that are being leveraged by

larger organisations today, within the reach of

smaller organisations.

Let us take up healthcare. Considering the

size of our country, it is virtually impossible for

doctors to reach far-flung areas. But thanks toCaaS, it is possible to bring patients virtually

into the specialists consulting room along

with details of his condition and case history

for immediate consultative diagnosis and

discussion with a local doctor. Innumerable

lives can be saved.

CaaS integrates traditional network and

communication systems, enabling users to

communicate effectively without having to

switch between networks, services, systems

or applications, says Ganesh Swaminathan,

Director, Office of Innovation at CSC India.

Picking up steam?The CaaS market is in a nascent stage in

India, and there are very few service pro-

viders who are offering solutions bundled

along with bandwidth to enterprise end cus-

tomers. Only recently, telecom service pro-

vider Bharti has tied up with Cisco to form a

strategic business alliance to facilitate man-

aged data services, hosted UC and connected

branch service for Indian enterprises.

According to industry experts, many more

players are expected to join the bandwagon

soon. UC as a service model concept is still

in the early days of its development. It isexpected to gain traction by the beginning of

2011. However, with right value proposition

and customised offering the Indian market

has the potential to grow significantly, says K

B Saneesh, Senior Research Analyst, Gartner.

According to George Varghese, President

and Head, Enterprise Business, Reliance

Communications, Hosted IT offerings are a

cost-effective model for provisioning processes,

applications and services while making IT

management easier and more responsive to

business needs. We believe businesses have

matured in their IT strategies and are now

ready to explore hosted infrastructure as

an option not only for short-term scalabilityneeds but also for longer-term requirements.

The key issues for growth of CaaS in the

Indian market are regulatory challenges,

pricing and functionality bundles. Experts feel

that the decision to go in for CaaS would finally

evolve around TCO and ROI. For instance,

Telework Coalition, in a 2006 study, found

that companies can actually save between

$3,000 and 10,000 per employee per year in

real estate rental costs.

CaaS can transform the way employees

work today. For instance, a manager can reach

out to employees through personal text and

video blogs, and every employee can post his

comment on the executives blog. This can be

done on the internal blog site. This frees time

for genuine interaction, audience participation,

Q&A and feedback when the manager meets

the teams face-to-face.

However, to meet these changing needs,

collaborative effort is required from

vendors, enterprises and service providers.

Corporations need to have predictable phone

bills for budgeting purposes. The US model

of pay-per-call is very enticing for service

providers as they can bill surprisingly large

amounts, but bad for enterprise planning, saysThomas Boltze, CTO, China Cascade Interactive.

But to leverage the benefits associated with

CaaS, IT managers would need to upgrade their

skills. Over the years, there has been a big shift

in the role of an IT manager Infrastructure

is not in his control. The key challenge lies

in identifying which CaaS service to go for?

Can he map what is required? asks Saurabh

Sanghoee, Head, Consulting and Solutions

Integration, Orange Business Services, India.

Creating a substantial platform and making

appropriate strategy form the core area an IT

manager should look into. Nevertheless, thecore competency of any service lies in the

value, convenience, efficiency and proper

utilisation of resources, and here CaaS has a

definite role to play.

COMPANIES CANACTUALLY SAVEBETWEEN $3,000 AND10,000 PER EMPLOYEE

PER YEAR IN REALESTATE RENTAL COSTSSOURCE:TELEWORK COALITION STUDY

ITNEXT

and send it to567678

*Special rates apply


28/68

INSIGHT | SECURITY

2 6 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0

E-mail security

needstoguaranteeperimetersafety,confidentialityand non-repudiation

BY MOHIT CHHABRA

NO MISHAPSFOR THIS

MAILThe most efficient and effective business communication tool today, iselectronic mail. According to the Radicati group, there are over 400million corporate mailboxes worldwide, and more than 45 billione-mail messages are transmitted each day. And while businesses arebecoming increasingly dependent on e-mails today, it has also turnedout to be a vault of technical disasters.

Viruses, trojans, spyware and spam sneak into corporate inboxes everyday and

can seriously undermine the performance of corporate IT system. Another cause

of concern for the IT manager is the unwarranted leakage of sensitive company

information and data via the e-mail route. So we have IT managers and CIOsspending more and more on security across the globe. Gartner estimates that US

$13.5 billion will be spent on security software next year, up from US $ 8.3 billion

in 2006, a CAGR of over 10%.

Any good e-mail security system must accomplish the following three tasks

perimeter security, confidentiality and non-repudiation.

Perimeter securityThis piece of the e-mail security system guards corporate e-mail infrastructure

against the entry of spam, trojans and worms. However, the world of anti-spam

and anti-virus has become so crowded that it is difficult to zero in on the best

approach and solution.

Some analysts have declared that stand-alone anti-virus software is dead. But it

is too early to write it off. Multi-functionality in the technology world has becomethe rule rather than the exception. This trend is converging on perimeter security as

well. The functionality of the plain vanilla anti-virus software is expanding rapidly

to effectively combat the changing threat scenario. It is not too long away when an

anti-virus software solution will also be routinely expected to prevent data loss.

Early signals emerged last year when Sophos acquired Utimaco, a data security

firm.

Its important to look at perimeter security as a solution rather than a simple

anti-virus or intrusion protection. Appliances bring in the additional benefit of

leaving application servers undisturbed because of their dedicated processing

capability to manage e-mail security, says

Ruchin Kumar, Senior Solution Specialist

at SafeNet.

The IT managers top two expectations

from an e-mail security system are

automatic updating and scalability. Since

new viruses emerge all the time, the

security solution must have automatic

update capabilities so that the e-mail

systems are fully protected all the time.The selected solution must also have the

capability to accommodate the expanding

needs of the company.

ConfidentialityThe time card and time sheet were invented

to do one simple jobmonitor employees

during work hours. However, employee

tracking has now gone digital with more

detailed insight.

This evolution has been driven in part

by todays widespread use of the Internet

and e-mail in the workplace. However,these pose a serious risk to the information

that resides inside a company, particularly

since a staggering 70% of corporate data

resides in e-mails.

A 2008 survey conducted by

Forrester about issues around outbound

e-mail security found that two-thirds

of the companies are concerned about

ensuring that e-mail should not be used


29/68

D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT

SECURITY | INSIGHT

z Why does secure e-mail impact your

business? (What is driving your organi-

sation forward and how security issues

can be a roadblock?)

z What is your intellectual property?

z What do you sell?

z What personal or private information

do your systems contain and how

sensitive is it?

z Are you exchanging information with

partners and distributors?

z Who are your customers?

z Who has access to company IP?

z Where and when is information ac-

cessed?

z How is it accessed? Do not overlook

the risk of sensitive information being

sent via mobile devices like Blackberry

and smart phones

ENSURING THEE-MAIL CHUGSON MERRILY

So you are up-dating or creat-ing policies fore-mail use? Itwill be worth-

while for IT managers to tacklethe following posers honestly.

$

13bnwill be spent on se-

curity software nextyearup from $8.3 bnin 2006

SOURCE: GARTNER

67%companies are con-cerned about ensuring

that e-mail should not beused to disseminate tradesecrets or IP, but only

36%regular audits of out-bound e-mail

companiesperform

to disseminate trade secrets or IP but

only 36% are currently performing

regular audits of outbound e-mail.

Kumar adds, Its not just the tools,

but also the policies that will ensure

that confidentiality is maintained.

Today effective freeware is also

available to track e-mail activity on

the network. Implementation of

digital signatures using the Public

Key Infrastructure (PKI) is an effective

way to kill two birds, confidentialityand non-repudiation, with one stone,

he observes.

Non-repudiationNon-repudiation is the concept of

ensuring that a party cannot repudi-

ate or refute the validity of a statement

or contract.

The IT Act of 2000 took the first

step in granting legal sanctity to digital

signatures. Also, digitally signed

e-mails are admissible as evidence in

a court of law. Nearly all e-mail clients

now come with the functionality of

integrating digital signatures.

But no less important than

the tools is the e-mail use policy

framework which companies

need to put in practice. The right

questions need to be raised and

candidly answered to formulateeffective guidelines. (See box:

Ensuring the e-mail chugs on

merrily). Only the amalgamation

of state-of-the-art technology and

well-defined company policies can

ensure that e-mail continues to

serve business and industry in a

secure and sound manner. Critical

data needs crucial handling.


30/68

INSIGHT | MOBILITY

2 8 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0

UNWIRING THEENTERPRISE

OUR TOPMobile applications

ONE

The growing use of mobile devices

is bringing about several changes

in consumer behaviour,forcingbusinesses to rework their marketing

and customer-relationship strategies.

Today businesses are increasingly being

conducted outside office at unconventionallocations as mobile devices and applicationslet executives carry office in their pocket.

Moreover, the advent of cloud, which could

significantly increase the computing power

of mobile devices, is poised to bring drastic

changes in the way mobile applications are being

developed, acquired and used.

IT NEXTidentifies five mobile application segments

that could have a significant impact not only onthe way your company operates but also on its

productivity, efficiency and overall profitability. These

application categories should top your shopping list if

you are looking at investing in making enterprise-wide

ICT infrastructure more mobile.

BY RAVI S P

Mobile collaborationand conferencing

FROM HOT-DESKING TO HOT-

CONFERENCING

Meetings and conferencing are

important business enablers. It is

easy to connect with a business exec-

utive on the move and include him in

an important meeting at office by just

dialing his mobile phone. However,

many times, the mobile participantmay need to have access to presenta-

tions being delivered at the meeting;

he must refer to a document or share

one with other participants.

Also, as more and more business

is conducted on the move, mobile

collaboration and meetings are

becoming important. Even now,

it is not uncommon for business


31/68

MOBILITY | INSIGHT

2 9D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT

CLOUD COMPUTING WILL

DRASTICALLY CHANGE THE WAYMOBILE APPLICATIONS AREDEVELOPED, ACQUIRED ANDUSED ACROSS ENTERPRISES

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

Mobile CRMGETTING MORE PERSONAL

WITH CUSTOMERS

Every service or product now

offers hundreds of choices to

customers. For business organi-

sations, this means not just

more competition but also more

demanding customers. Custom-

ers now expect faster response

to their enquiries and real time

resolution of their complaints.

Mobile marketingapplications

UP, CLOSE AND PERSONAL

Mobile applications that

address marketing needs will

be extremely critical. Not only

have mobile phones become

the number one mass media

tool but have also emerged as

Enterprise location-based services

WHERE, WHAT AND HOW?Location-Based Services (LBS) applications

have generally been considered more suit-

able in consumer applications. However, they

are beginning to find their way to enterprise

applications. For instance, there are already

several applications that leverage inexpen-

sive mobile handsets, embedded A-GPS tech-

nology and wireless data network to deliver

much more efficient and effective fleet man-

agement and asset tracking system.

With the help of LBS, enterprises can

become more productive and efficient in the

realms of transportation, logistics, healthcare,

emergency services, security, disaster

management and much more. Many countries

have taken the lead in LBS.

Governance, risk andcompliance applications

ADDRESSING REGULATORY AND IN-

FORMATION SECURITY CONCERNS

As more and more workers go mobile, busi-

ness organisations face a new challengehowto ensure compliance with regulations when

critical information is accessed outside their

networks. Moreover, how do they ensure their

mobile workers have any-time-any-where

secure access to information? This is partic-

ularly critical in industries like healthcare,

financial and banking services and in stock

exchange listed companies that must comply

with hundreds of regulations.

However, one of the key challenges that

mobile enterprises will face is effective

management of risks and compliance-related

issues that growing mobility will entail. It isin this context that they will need an effective

mobile application or an array of applications

that lets them manage all mobile applications

with ease and addresses all their compliance

and security-related concerns.

executives to attend meetings in unplanned location with no access to

a PC or laptop but only through a mobile phone.

We believe that mobile applications, which enable meetings and

collaboration, will top the list of priorities for business organisations

across industries. Mobile meetings and collaboration are already a

reality with new technologies and applications, high speed wirelessnetworks and feature-rich powerful smart phones. For instance,

mobile executives can deliver presentations to a remote meeting or

access presentations being delivered at the remote meeting or share

documents using Cisco WebEx meeting center on their smart phones.

Mobile customer relationship

management (CRM) is increas-

ingly becoming critical in such a

business environment.

In such a scenario, the ability

to service customers demands

while outside of the office is

becoming a necessity for an

increasingly mobile workforce.

Making the CRM application

mobile will not only help

companies build a more loyal

and happy customer base but also

generate more business.

one on which people spend the

most time compared to televi-

sion, newspapers or even Inter-

net. Mobile marketing can help

companies get more personal intheir sales and marketing cam-

paigns as they can reach out to

different target segments with

customised marketing commu-

nications. This will be especially

effective for companies with a

diverse customer base.

While these, we believe, will be the top five mobile application segments that will attract enterprise attention and investment, it is noteworthy

that the definition of mobility will continue to evolve dramatically over the next few years.


32/68

3 0 IT NEXT | D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0

ILLUSTRATION:PHOTOS.COM

The forthcoming GST regime willcompel IT managers to executea complete realignment of the ITinfrastructure. Are you prepared?

BY JATINDER SI NGH

INSIGHT | TAXATION

GST

READYSTEADY


33/68

TAXATION | INSIGHT

3 1D E C 2 0 0 9 J A N 2 0 1 0 | IT NEXT

I

f there is one memory that Sudhir

Desai readily wants to forget, it is

about the arduous days in 2005

when Value Added Tax (VAT)

was introduced in India. As an

IT manager with a large white goods com-pany Desai was caught completely unaware

because the IT infrastructure was not ready

for the changes proposed by the govern-

ment. Complicating the problem was the

fact that different state governments were

implementing the same scheme in differ-

ent time frames and prescribing different

rates. Almost overnight, the entire system

at Desais firm came close to a standstill.

There was little option for Desai

it next_vol 1_issue 1

Documents