sampark jul-aug

July - August Edition

After a long time, I was in the US and Europe in the month of July and got a first hand flavor of their "summer", something that our dear colleagues – Madhav and Jackie – wax so eloquently about in their write ups …and I must admit, with the nearly 16 hours of sunshine, clear blue skies, and with the cafes, parks etc. alive and throbbing with people (locals and tourists, alike), I can see why they do so !! [To read further, please scroll down to page 2]

1. Uphoria 2. Ugam Research – New Website 3. Launch of Ugam Anniversary Program 4. Admin Initiatives 5. Between Us – Thane & GW

In This Issue: • Leadership Speaks • SPECIAL EDITION: 12 Year Celebrations • Piping Hot

• Milestones • Spotlights • IT & ERM Buzz • Candid Chat • Frame It • Celebrations

Cand id Chat W it h N it in Bhat ia

I absolutely love being a part of the backstage/organizing team of GPA (and sometimes even front-stage ) [To read further, please scroll down to page 48]

www.ugamsolutions.com

Sunil Mirani CEO

The months of July/August in North America are referred to as the “Dog Days of Summer”. I never quite understood the term and what was the relevance of dogs in this. Yes, it is extremely hot and in a place like New York, extremely humid too. [To read further, please scroll down to page 5]

Madhav Mirani CMO

Leadership Speaks

Scroll down further for more articles from the Leadership Team


Hello all, After a long time, I was in the US and Europe in the month of July and got a first hand flavor of their "summer", something that our dear colleagues – Madhav and Jackie – wax so eloquently about in their write ups …and I must admit, with the nearly 16 hours of sunshine, clear blue skies, and with the cafes, parks etc., alive and throbbing with people (locals and tourists, alike), I can see why they do so !! I had mentioned in my last SAMPARK about the clear signs of sustained growth that we are seeing across both our verticals, and my recent visit to Paris, London and the US, further reinforced that belief. The follow up to the high powered Ipsos delegation to India (referred to in the last issue of SAMPARK) was a meeting with them in Paris (along with Irfan and Madhav), as well as Siddharth (Sid) visiting the Ipsos folks in Romania, US and Canada. And it is extremely clear… and also evident on the ground…that Ipsos has made the message very clear in their organization that Ugam is their preferred partner. The results also speak for itself – ever since the post-merger integration of their operations, we've seen almost a 5x increase in the volume of work (on a monthly volume basis in certain service lines) from them!! Considering that they've hardly experienced any top line growth in their business, it is clear that we are getting this volume by increasing our share of the overall pie, at the cost of their internal teams and/or our other India based competitors.

In addition to Ipsos, there are some very exciting (and large) proposals in our RESEARCH business (across both the 'RO' and 'Projects' segments) in which we are in the final stages of selection, and which I am confident of winning…and if all of them materialize, will result in the growth of our MR business by almost 40% over next 12-18 months. For the fear of getting jinxed, I don't want to take any names just yet, but…what excites me most about this potential growth (beyond just the $$ number), is the fact that in all these opportunities, we've been able to position ourselves very well, leading our pitch by expertise, and making it a value play, rather than a cost (saving) play. In fact, in the one specific case, the client (which is not a typical survey research firm), has chosen us despite having their own operations center in Philippines because, by their own admission, they don't have the expertise in house. This opportunity entails helping the client make a transition to the ConfirmIT Platform, and while its a limited, one time opportunity (over many months), it is one in which we have totally moved away from an FTE or $$/hr pricing, but rather priced for the project as a whole, thereby fully capturing the value we bring to the table. Needless to say, if executed as per plan, it should be very profitable! Similarly, one of the other opportunities entails helping the MR firm with a transition to the 'Dimensions' platform, while another opportunity entails recruiting and building a global panel using our international data collection expertise. Common across all of this has been the prospective clients' confidence in our expertise, and our ability to capture the value that we bring to the table in our pricing. This is exactly where we want to be – leading by expertise, bringing lots of value , being competitive in our pricing, but yet doing so in a manner that allows us to capture value. Indeed a win-win for all

LEADERSHIP SPEAKS

Sunil Mirani CEO


I also had the opportunity to spend a few days with the sales team, and clients, of our RETAIL vertical in the US, and I come away extremely enthusiastic about the same. We have a list of marquee clients that many companies would give an arm and a leg for – the likes of Staples.com, Target, Williams Sonoma, GAP, OfficeMax, Nike, COSTCO, eBay, Sears, etc – are all clients that are leading players in their category, and making all the right moves in becoming a 'consumer centric retailer'. eBay, as an example, continues to be extremely impressed by us, as recently evidenced by the very positive feedback they shared with Hiren and Pallav during their recent visit to Israel. And we continue to see significant increase in demand from clients such as Sears and Overstock, where the potential volume of work is at least 2-3x from where we are now. Again, rather than the size, what is most important from my point of view, is the kind of business problems that we are solving for them. Common across all these clients is that our solutions go towards helping them solve two very important business problems - (I) making decisions around pricing, assortments and promotions and (2) ability to rapidly onboard SKU's and provide rich, comprehensive and timely product information that helps increase online conversion. You may recall in my last SAMPARK write up, I had referred to the disruption being caused in the world of retail due to the rise of the digital consumer; and as a result of which, most leading retails are now making investments not so much in the back end systems (supply chain, POS systems etc…. where only incremental benefit can accrue), but rather in areas that help them sense, shape and respond to consumer demand signals.

LEADERSHIP SPEAKS

Our solutions fall bang on in that sweet spot, and as a result we are very well positioned to build on the platform that we have created. We still have some work to be done in terms of getting our "product/solutions" to be robust, and on a business model that enables us to deal with the fluctuations/variations in demand, but yet in a profitable and sustainable manner. However, seeing this team work at close quarters as I have over the past few weeks, (and will continue to do so going forward in the months to come), I am confident that we will get there sooner rather than later. As I plan my business trips to the US and UK in September, and the BETWEEN US sessions in GW, TH and CJB over the next few weeks, I look forward to meeting and interacting with you. Cheers Sunil PS – much to the country's delight, we won the U-19 World Cup as well, beating Australia in Australia, with Unmukt Chand doing a standout job in the finals. So, now India is the World ODI champions in both the senior and junior league. Now all we need to do is learn to play the real stuff, I.e. Test cricket


LEADERSHIP SPEAKS

Madhav Mirani, Sunil Mirani & Irfan Karim at the Eiffel Tower in Paris

David Schoenfeld, Madhav Mirani, Ashish Kacker, Gaurav Anand, Shweta Srivastava

& Sunil Mirani at Chicago

Sales team posing by

Lake Michigan!!


The months of July/August in North America are referred to as the “Dog Days of Summer”. I never quite understood the term and what was the relevance of dogs in this. Yes, it is extremely hot and in a place like New York, extremely humid too. So many people complain on certain days when the weather can be a little difficult to do things externally. And you keep hearing this reference to the fact that it is expected since these are the “Dog Days of Summer”. I always sympathized that the poor dogs are being blamed for this weather when they had nothing to do with it. I was recently enlightened that the name comes from the ancient belief that Sirius, also called the Dog Star, in proximity to the sun was responsible for the hot weather. So I have now enlightened you with a fairly irrelevant piece of trivia. Still, the next time you hear someone refer to the “Dog Days of Summer”, you can point out that it had nothing to do with actual dogs but with a star! I bet many people don’t know this when they use this term. Just like the hot summer weather, our market research business has been heating up. We are in the midst of several interesting opportunities and sizeable ones at that. I do think that there are a couple of common themes that are driving this significant spurt in large opportunities.

One of the trends that I see occurring is a technology transformation of the market research industry. With the significant change in consumer behavior that has occurred and is occurring, several market research firms have realized that the technology platforms and infrastructure they have in-place are now no longer suitable for this new world. Hence, we are seeing the progressive market research firms moving forward with significant technology investments to update their legacy platforms and infrastructure. And this change is presenting opportunities for Ugam. Another trend that I see occurring is that market research firms are starting to see growth opportunities in certain specific areas such as customer satisfaction, consumption measurement, audience measurement etc. Amongst our existing and potential clients, we have seen a spurt in opportunities in these specific areas. The first half of the year was characterized by slow growth overall but the second half is off to a fast start and it portends well for the rest of the year. On the retail front, we have been very focused on our existing clients and on leads and opportunities that we have already opened. Through the summer, the intent has been on growing our business with existing clients and closing these advanced opportunities. We have made some great progress and our retail business currently remains on-track with the very aggressive business plan we had set at the beginning of the year. If you follow the financial results of our retail clients, you will see that

LEADERSHIP SPEAKS

Madhav Mirani CMO


their online business continues to significantly outpace their overall growth. For all our clients and potential clients, investment in their ecommerce business remains a top priority for management and this plays right into our wheelhouse. Talking about changing consumer behavior, recently my wife came home one day in a taxi. The taxi’s credit card machine was not working and she did not have US$ 5 on her to pay for the taxi ride by cash. I was incredulous that she did not even have cash of US$ 5 on her. I told her that she must have cash for an emergency. How could she not have any cash on her? Her point to me was that she never uses cash. Of course, that does not mean she does not spend. Quite the opposite, believe me! But she spends electronically using her credit card, debit card and her cell phone. She claimed that she had not spent any cash in weeks. It got me thinking about how our behavior in regards to cash and spending has changed. So I decided to try an experiment myself. I was going to go through one month and not spend any physical cash. Or I should say I was going to try and do that. And with the amount I travel, I expected it to be incredibly difficult. I was local in New York in week 1 and that was a breeze in terms of not spending cash. I was in California the following week. From buying a chewing gum at the airport to multiple Starbucks coffees to paying for the roadside parking meter, everything was dealt with electronically. Week 3 was in the Mid-West where I even paid for a single photocopy which cost me US$ 0.10 with my credit card.

In week 4, I was back in California and again from renting my car to paying for gas to buying a bottle of water from a vending machine, everything was electronic. Three days before my personal deadline of 4 weeks, a friend in California invited me to meet him at this Irish pub for a drink. I ordered a beer while I was waiting for my friend and the bartender told me the charge was US$ 7. I pulled out my credit card and he said that the bar was “cash only”. I was stunned. Who runs cash-only bars in todays day and age! Well, I suppose it had to be the Irish! So there I was with a clear choice in front of me – enjoy the cold beer which was amazingly tempting or walk out of the bar to keep my personal challenge alive. For those who know me, you know the choice I made! What was interesting at the end of this whole exercise was thinking about the implications of where we have already reached in terms of consumer behavior and what the future holds. We truly are in an age of the death of cash. Happy September, everyone! Madhav

LEADERSHIP SPEAKS


Mihir Kittur CIO

“In Service Of” Was in a meeting with the Director (Merchandizing Strategy and Analytics) at BestBuy who made a very interesting point. He said, whenever someone in his team brings him a report or suggests creation of a database/program; he asks them to come prepared with the answer to ... “this report/dbase/program you are suggesting is in service of what and for whom”. Think about it, doesn’t this happen to many of us? We tend to think up reports, dbases, programs, processes, systems ... and focus so much on the “how” that we forget for whom and why? Besides keeping us busy, what value is it going to add and for whom. What is the before and after of doing so? Is it worth it? Is it going to make any difference? Which takes me to another comment made by a senior leader in the Market Research industry who said, when you look at the websites of many firms in the offshoring space ... it is “description oriented” and not “benefit oriented”; i.e. these firms tend to describe what they do and not as much what is the benefit they deliver. I thought this point “in service of” or “what is the before - after” or “what is the benefit” will be vital to cultivate as it helps one figure the why, be more effective (why do something, one should not, in the first place), be better at prioritization and create impact/value. So the next time you propose a report, dbase, a process make sure you are thinking through those questions... So how does one think through “what is the benefit” ... well one source is to figure out the “pain point” / the problem. As within the pain point lies the opportunity and from which one can derive a benefit. And I must say thinking through the pain points is not as easy or obvious till one really starts putting one’s mind to it.

In fact, I thought of sharing this very relevant video link [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XETaA1b6ep4&feature=relmfu] that features the co founders of Instagram – A social, photo sharing app, who speak on this topic, i.e. “Finding the Problem is the Hard Part”. As a part of ThotCube (our innovation platform), we are running a series called ThotJam. In this series, we are working hard on trying to build the ability to “Think Client” and our most recent Jam sessions focused on pain points. Well what is ThotJam? It’s a weekly forum where an “opted in” few, meet, and jam around certain topics around a theme so as to collectively improve their knowledge, perspective and capability. Unlike training where one is shortlisted, selected, expected to attend, is teacher lead, there is a well defined course ... the ThotJam format is quite the opposite ... the ThotJammers self select and opt-in, have a choice if they want to or don’t want to attend, the group jams around topics/real problems/opportunities and the course content is fluid. The current series consist of a very diverse group of seventeen ThotJammers across locations in India and the UK. We were inspired by musical jams and have hence, chosen that format ... see definition of a musical jam: A jam session is a musical act where musicians play (i.e. "jam") by improvising without extensive preparation or predefined arrangements. Jam sessions are often used by musicians to develop new material, find suitable arrangements, or simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Jam sessions may be based upon existing songs or forms, may be loosely based on an agreed chord progression or chart suggested by one participant, or may be wholly improvisational. Jam sessions can range from very loose gatherings of amateurs to sophisticated improvised recording sessions intended to be edited and released to the public.

We are aiming to complete the first ThotJam series in a couple of weeks and are planning to extend it’s reach. The ThotJam series will be “in service of” collectively improving our knowledge, skills, and perspective around relevant themes to drive value ... stay tuned.

LEADERSHIP SPEAKS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XETaA1b6ep4&feature=relmfu















LEADERSHIP SPEAKS


Jackie Mold GM, Ugam EU

Its gold for team GB.....we have certainly done well at this Olympics, and this is all down to the hard work from the wonderful athletes, but, and there is always a but, when we found out that London would be hosting the 2012 Olympics a large amount of money was invested in finding, supporting and training the best people to represent UK and on this occasion you can see a sound investment has given excellent results. Nobody knows for certain what will define the identity of London’s Olympics, but I hope we have shown the world that London is one of the most diverse, cosmopolitan cities on Earth. There are 205 countries competing in the Games, and people in London speak 300 languages combined. In the London office, excluding our international interviewers, we have a combination of 8 different nationalities from the projects team...sadly I just about get by with English! The vibe in London at the moment is truly wonderful, lots of happy people of all nationalities. I believe London Olympic Games will also have a positive impact on Britain and in many areas, not just the obvious, such as impressive sports venues. I am really hoping it will play a big role in boosting the British economy . It will also promote Britain’s diversified culture. Having said all that we are in a recession and most of Europe is struggling, I found myself trying to figure out this idea of a happy country that is going through a recession, so how are we coping with this odd mix. For sure UK has had to cope with austerity measures and there has been a lot of complaints

that this is too painful, cutbacks to welfare and other social spending will never be popular choices, but in the mainstream most people except this has to be done, I am not sure we would have tolerated these cutbacks if we had not had the feel good factor of 2012. If we look at other countries in Europe, some look very grim, in fact I think this in itself has helped UK as people want to be seen as doing better... and working harder, a bit like the Olympics. In fact we have just tried to place a project with some vendors in Spain, France and Italy only to be told “sorry we cannot do this work in August as we are on holiday” and believe me this was from a number of vendors! There was a general smugness in the London office that we work all year...so we should not be in as much difficulty as these countries.... So what is all of the above doing to Market Research, well most companies are seeing a healthy growth, so the work is out there, the big question is how data is collected, everybody is looking to reduce cost end clients still want the work done, but look for agencies that are competitive and give added value, for the last 5 years I have heard so much about mobile research this is going to be quicker have more reach, and cheaper, but it’s not really been proven, nobody has really got it right, and there has been too much resistance from agencies just as there was with online research, which now has a well established place in the world of data collection. Then along came tablets...which will make mobile data collection happen. I read an interesting article discussing the impact which mobile devices have on our daily lives, in London 65% of people check their primary email account on their mobile phones before checking it on a traditional desktops. People are completing research questionnaires on their mobile devices, and I am talking about questionnaires programmed for a desktop. Who knows what this is doing to the data being collected, can you really view and complete a questionnaire on an iPhone??? We need to be sure we are looking at ways to make this work, with options for all methods of online research. Maybe it time I got myself an iPad. Best wishes from the Olympic City!

LEADERSHIP SPEAKS


“Eat that Frog” by Brian Tracy, (one of the best selling Management Books also available in our in-house Library) is about managing your time and priorities. Its title is from Mark Twain’s quote “If you eat, a live frog, first thing in the morning, you can go through the rest of the day knowing that the worst is behind you” – similarly if you’ve completed your most difficult task first, the rest of your work-day would be a breeze. We tend to make ourselves busy with small, menial tasks because we want to avoid and postpone the biggest task. And when we try to attempt that, it usually is, when there is very little time and very little energy left, as we have already exhausted ourselves, thinking about how to push it out and fill that space with menial tasks. The reason why I started my note with Brian Tracy’s book is because I wanted to first address the ‘Big Toad’; the question on everyone’s mind - viz. “Why are the Golden Pyramid Awards not being held in July/August?” There have been some rumors (and some really ridiculous ones like ‘Budgets’) doing the rounds but allow me to clarify and explain the reasons that perhaps were not best explained in the short mail that I had sent earlier.

The Golden Pyramid Awards is the highest recognition given to an Ugamite – they are our Victoria’s Cross, our Param Veer Chakras, our Bharat Ratnas. Having said that, we had observed that, over the last few years something was not quite right. Firstly, the attendance to the Awards functions was diminishing; secondly, some of us could not relate to why a particular person was given a particular award; and thirdly some of the winners were more interested in the monetary token than the award itself. Basically, our Golden Pyramid Awards were losing its sheen – which is why we decided to revamp our entire Recognition program. The rescheduling of the Awards Function from July to March is part of the new recognition program which has been kicked off in various Service Lines. The revised Recognition program is aimed towards making periodic selections of those Ugamites who have contributed and performed against the categories Target achievement, Process improvement, Individual brilliance, Leadership and Ugam Values (TaP In Leadership Values – a simple way to remember the categories, brilliantly devised by Chaitra Hegde from TM team) through monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly Functional level Recognition programs. The nominations for the Golden Pyramid Awards would therefore be made from those who have been recognized at the Recognition Programs. This way we will ensure to get the BEST and hence only the BEST will win the coveted Golden Pyramid Award.

LEADERSHIP SPEAKS

Dharmesh Mistry Chief Talent Officer


As we’re all aware, most of the teams have embarked upon their Recognition Programs and we are all very excited for the Golden Pyramid Awards for FY12-13, which will be held in March 2013. If your team does not have a Recognition Program in place yet, please do reach out to your SL Head or feel free to write to me at [email protected] Okay – Now that I have the ‘Big Toad’ off the table, some updates from the TM team! The REACHERS program has taken off to a great start and I would like to thank all the REACHERS personally, for the dedicated work that they are doing in reaching out – whether it be to new Ugamites or towards ensuring a better involvement and participation in various activities or even at helping a colleague resolve their issues. Thank you so much REACHERS – you make us proud. We have been receiving numerous nominations and there has been a great participation towards all our training programs which have kept the TD team busy over the months. The ‘Angels’ of the TD team have trained more than 740 Ugamites over various training programs in the last 5 months… and there is more to come! Do look forward to some exciting training programs that will help you upgrade your skills and help you to move forward in your career.

And finally, to save the Best for Last, our TE team has launched the Ugam Anniversary Broaches, which is about Celebrating Loyalty with Ugam. Each Ugamite will be felicitated for each year/milestone completed with Ugam. And what better way, to proudly showcase our tenure than wear these intricate yet highly meaningful Broaches. Now you can flaunt your commitment and association with Ugam everyday and increase the number of Broaches on your lanyards with every completed year. Go ahead and start collecting your Stars, Shields and Medallions That’s it from the TM team for now! If you get a chance, do read, “Eat That Frog” – it indeed, is very helpful. Cheers! Dharmesh

LEADERSHIP SPEAKS

mailto:[email protected]






SPECIAL EDITION – 12 Year Anniversary

All our offices donned the Ugam Colors on the occasion of our 12th Anniversary since inception. Passages leading the bays were decorated with Orange and Gray Balloons and Ugamites proudly wore the Ugam colors to mark the Anniversary Celebrations. The UK Office too, got onto a celebratory mode with posters depicting the number 12 – denoting the Anniversary Year of Ugam and culminating the Celebration by cutting an Orange Cake.


SPECIAL EDITION – 12 Year Anniversary

Posters designed and put up by our UK Ugamities!


PIPING HOT - Uphoria

It gives us immense pleasure to share that Research Operations recently did a grand unveiling of the most awaited Employee Recognition Program on 4th and 11th August 2012 at Coimbatore and Mumbai. Aptly named “UPHORIA” (derived from the term “Euphoria”), this means “State of Happiness” … Recognition is the primary objective of Uphoria … which is a … “Timely, informal or formal acknowledgement of a person’s or team’s behavior, effort or business result that supports the organization’s goals and values, and which has clearly been BEYOND normal expectations” . Doing so, we intend to achieve the following … Reward and Recognize … TO DRIVE … 1. Performance and Behavior 2. Engagement 3. Alignment 4. Motivation The above resulting in … “HAPPY employees, customers and, organization” Below are some snaps that capture the essence of Uphoria … Cheers, Team Uphoria



employee

organization customer

1 < Our vision

Annual (Golden Pyramid Award)

Drive

Rewards and Recognition

Engage

Align

Motivate

Ongoing (Impromptu) Monthly (Spotlight) Quarterly (Uphoria)

2 < Framework & Implementation process

Presented to service line heads/Business Managers and agreed on the concept

3 < Identified RnR Champions

Launch of quarterly > event (Q1 2012-13) …

Town Hall Meeting

Individual Brilliance linked to Ugam Values or Smart and Different Team Performance linked to Exceeding Results or Smart and Different Leadership Qualities linked to Ugam Values

4

< Normalize and finalize on Rewards and Recognitions across service lines for 3 broad categories viz.

http://www.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http://info.infiniteconferencing.com/Portals/98866/images/effective_webinar.jpg&imgrefurl=http://info.infiniteconferencing.com/bid/84644/Create-an-Effective-Webinar-and-Promote-It&usg=__fVY3fUVRihMMGeXy-ZrFOuGuWT8=&h=203&w=248&sz=25&hl=en&start=2&zoom=1&tbnid=8Li52Gc2k4e80M:&tbnh=120&tbnw=152&ei=aII_ULz9FsfNmgW60IFQ&prev=/search?q=present+it&tbnh=138&tbnw=147&hl=en&sig=112941718539856082248&biw=1280&bih=619&tbs=simg:CAESEgnYz9utBE1TRSGj_1zoASV6exQ&tbm=isch&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=287&vpy=190&dur=925&hovh=162&hovw=198&tx=101&ty=82&sig=112941718539856082248&page=1&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:81



5 > Prepared citations across categories

Individual Brilliance (demonstrating Ugam Values) Individual Brilliance (Smart and Different)

Team Performance Leadership Qualities



6

Unveiled quarterly event “Uphoria“ at Coimbatore and Mumbai

Functional Head does the unveil of quarterly event Uphoria and walks through the Employee Recognition program, its purpose and what it means to all Ugamites through an interactive presentation

7

Managers, across all Service lines, addresses everyone about the achievements and value delivered by the team member and recognizes him/her with a Certificate of Appreciation and Uphoria badge

Recognizing Individual Brilliance linked to Ugam Values

8 Recognizing Team Performance

Managers, across all Service lines, highlights their respective teams’ achievements, explains the “how” (behavior), value delivered and recognizes them with a Certificate of Appreciation along with Uphoria badges

9 Recognizing Leadership Quality linked to Ugam Values

Manager highlights about the leadership qualities demonstrated, achievements, value delivered by the team member and recognizes him/her with a Certificate of Appreciation and Uphoria badge



11

Individual Brilliance linked to Ugam Values with a Uphoria trophy, reward, Certificate of Appreciation & a badge

Rewarding the “Best of the Best”

Team Performance with a Uphoria trophy, reward as Outbound program, Certificate of Appreciation & a badge

Leadership Quality linked to Ugam Values, with a Uphoria trophy, reward, Certificate of Appreciation & a badge

Wrapped with fun filled events and snacks/meals (at the end of event)...

12 13

Rewarding the “Best of the Best” 10



RECOGNIZED FOR INDIVIDUAL BRILLIANCE

RECOGNIZED FOR INDIVIDUAL BRILLIANCE

Result-Oriented Work Ethic Abdul Jaleel [DP] Vikram Ezhil [SP]

Relentless pursuit of excellence Dhananjayan Palaniswamy [SP] Krishna Kumar Dhandapani [SP]

Shankar Thirugnanam [3S] Vinaya Rao [Pronto]

Enrich the lives of our colleagues Latha Venkatachalam [DP]

Pradeep Kumar Pitchumani [SP] Ragul Srinivasan [SP]

Revathi Rajkumar [RW] Yatish Karkera [SP]

Client First Balavinu Pandi [DP]

Uma Maheshwari [DP]

Result Oriented Work Ethic Abuzar Shaikh [DP] Ashish Ubriani [DP]

Christopher Fernandes [PM] Gilmerio D’souza [SP] Iliyash Shaikh [DP] Jatin Gala [OEC]

Jigna Mehta [MVA] Kevin Sequeira [PS] Nischay Chavda [DP]

Pratik Dabhi [PM] Pravin Darekar [DP]

Pravin Gad [SP] Rahul Patwari [SP] Rashid Khan [DP] Rohit Asmuc [DP]

Vinayak Mote [RAID]

Relentless pursuit of excellence Manish Handa [DP]

Roshni Sajwan [OEC] Tom Johns [SP]

Enrich the lives of our colleagues

Nagesh Tambat [SP] Supriya Acherakar [SP]

Client First

Ashish Dubey [SP] Neha Patankar [SP] Sagar Kotian [CPA]

Solomon Travasso [PS]

Integrity Shashank Kanojia [SP]

Coimbatore

Mumbai



REWARDED FOR INDIVIDUAL BRILLIANCE

Arun Dhandapani [3S] {Result-Oriented Work Ethic}

Sathish Kumar [SP] {Relentless pursuit of excellence}

Saravanan Anbalagan [DP] {Result-Oriented Work Ethic}

Sugannya Jayakumar [RW] {Result-Oriented Work Ethic}

REWARDED FOR INDIVIDUAL BRILLIANCE

Manish Amin [Panel Support] (Chris Crasto receiving the reward on behalf of Manish)

{Relentless pursuit of excellence}

Aditya Deshpande [SP] {Result-Oriented Work Ethic}

Nilesh Harde [SP] (Huzaifa receiving the reward on behalf of Nilesh)

{Relentless pursuit of excellence} Amit Rangle [DP]

{Relentless pursuit of excellence}

Rohan Thomas [PM] {Integrity}

Sahil Kamdar [DP] {Result-Oriented Work Ethic}

Mumbai

Coimbatore



RECOGNIZED FOR TEAM PERFORMANCE

SP – UNIT1 GROUP1 IPSOS

SP – UNIT1 TRANSFORMERS

SP – UNIT3 MSI

DP – UNIT3 IPSOS TORONTO

RW – UNIT2 HARRIS INTERACTIVE

DP – UNIT 2 – KN TEAM

SP – UNIT 1 – QA TEAM

SP – UNIT 2 – GROUP 3

SP – UNIT 3 – SUPERVISORS

RAID + 3S PRONTO

RW – UNIT 2 – HARRIS INTERACTIVE

REWARDED FOR TEAM PERFORMANCE

< SP – UNIT 1 Quality Assurance Team IPSOS

3S + RAID – TEAM PRONTO > MULTI-CLIENT

< DP – UNIT 3 IPSOS WINNIPEG

SP – UNIT 2 IPSOS CONFIRMIT >

GFK – KN PANEL SUPPORT >

Coimbatore Mumbai

Coimbatore Mumbai



Chirag Tanna [DP]

Mario Thirituvaraj [DP]

RECOGNIZED FOR INDIVIDUAL BRILLIANCE FOR LEADERSHIP QUALITIES

Gary Joel [SP]

REWARDED FOR INDIVIDUAL BRILLIANCE FOR LEADERSHIP QUALITIES

REWARDED FOR INDIVIDUAL BRILLIANCE FOR LEADERSHIP QUALITIES

Deepen Bajaria [SP]

Mumbai

Mumbai

Coimbatore



HIGHLIGHTS OF THE UPHORIA Q1 (2012-13) Mumbai

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE UPHORIA Q1 (2012-13) Coimbatore



Winners of Best Team Performance rejoicing the “Outbound” program


PIPING HOT – Ugam Research & Ugam Interactive

Ugam Research Launched a New Website In July, Ugam Research released a new website. This new website provides an updated look and feel, clearer navigation, more information, and a Content Management System (CMS) that allows us to make quick and easy updates internally as needed. The home page highlights not only our offerings, but also the qualities that make us stand out from the competition, such as Project Management skills, our outstanding employees, innovative solutions, and the awards we have won. Our solution offerings were restructured and now provide more details, thanks to the content from a wide variety of Operations Employees. This was a true team project and had inputs from over a dozen people across Ugam Research. Many thanks to this informal team who provided hours of work creating appropriate content. The new website has also been optimized for search engines. All comments and suggestions are welcome and can be sent any time to Nina Akindele. The website is www.ugamresearch.com

Ugam Interactive at the Shop.org Workshop For the past several years, Ugam Interactive has been participating at the Shop.org Workshop in San Diego. This show has been a very important place for us to contact and meet relevant potential users and influencers of both our Content and Competitive Intelligence solutions. Last year David Schoenfeld and Ashish Kacker attended and were so busy trying to talk to all the people that wanted to know more about our solutions that this year we sent out the entire Ugam Interactive business development team of David Schoenfeld, Ashish Kacker, Gaurav Anand, and Shweta Srivastava. All four employees were extremely busy this year generating leads for potential new business. Some of the companies they spoke to were Abercrombie & Fitch, Home Depot, Under Armour, Nordstroms, Macy’s, Nike, and REI. Several requests for project quotes were submitted. This year Ugam Interactive increased its presence at the show by also sponsoring the social event on Tuesday evening. This sponsorship allowed us to not only have increased visibility at this important event, but allowed us to provide an item for the welcome bag that all attendees received, which ensured that every attendee heard the name “Ugam Interactive”. Our next show is in September in Denver, the Shop.org Annual Summit.

Ugam Solutions - Social Media To reach our targeted clients, and keep our employees up-to-date on some items, Ugam has several social media outlets that all Employees are welcome to join/follow. Look for our various pages/groups on LinkedIN, Facebook, and Twitter. All Employees are welcome to join!

http://www.ugamresearch.com/






PIPING HOT – Ugam Interactive

Gaurav Anand

&

Ashish Kacker

at the Workshop

Gaurav Anand,

Shweta Srivastava

&

Ashish Kacker

at the Workshop


PIPING HOT – Ugam Anniversary Program

The Talent Engagement Team introduced the “Ugam Anniversary Program” - an Initiative to Celebrate the Loyalty shown by our Employees with Ugam. To felicitate each Milestone (completed year) at Ugam, we honor our Ugamites with the “Ugam Anniversary Broach” depicting the number of years at Ugam. The characteristics of the broaches are different for each year to give us a sense of Achievement and a desire to achieve the next Milestone.


PIPING HOT – Admin Initiatives

In an attempt to improve efficiency , the Admin Team initiated two key projects in the month of June 2012 - I-courier and Project Elmo. Project I-courier: The Tracking mechanism for the interoffice courier was not in place as employees din’t get confirmation for the couriers that were sent and received. Team Admin came up with the solution of an online booking system for Inter office couriers. Aptly, titled i-courier, this online feature helps the Admin team to track all couriers. Employees are now able to receive a confirmation once the courier has been sent. The Admin Team would like to specially thank Mangesh Pawar, Abilia Chettiar, Mithlesh Rai and Lokesh Gupta for creating the online system. Project Elmo: In an effort of creating awareness on ‘Clean Desk Policy’, the Admin Team introduced Project Elmo, a unique initiative which not only helps raise awareness, but also ensures a sense of accountability with a fun element. We have seen a huge response from all employees in all locations. Elmo, the Mascot for this initiative, inaugurated the program by visiting the Mumbai Offices, distributed chocolates and also gave away Gifts to those with “Clean Desks”. The Admin Team would like to thank Mangesh Pawar, Abilia Chettiar and would like to especially thank Ronald Francis from the Talent Engagement team for his support in design and internal communication.


PIPING HOT - Admin Initiatives

Elmo amongst our Ugamities


PIPING HOT - Admin Initiatives

Team Admins’ Day Out


PIPING HOT - BETWEEN US

The Talent Engagement Team along with the Leadership Panel successfully conducted the 6th Edition of “Between Us” in Thane on Friday, 29th June, 2012 and the 7th Edition in Goregaon on Wednesday, 29th August, 2012. “Between Us” – a one of a kind program that enables employees across levels, service lines and sites to come face to face with our Leaders, share ideas and challenges and come up with positive and productive solutions. This program has increasingly shown great heights of success as the Leadership team has collectively been able to resolve many issues and concerns put forth by the employees. Issues ranging from the condition of the Transport vehicles to the Home boundary limit and many other such issues have been resolved, keeping in mind our employees’ best interest. On the other hand, Questions to the Leadership Panel about the challenges they faced, the Leadership traits they employ and work ethics have also come to the forefront, where employees were encouraged and motivated by the personal experiences that were being shared. We highly appreciate the Managers of all the Service Lines, for assisting us in this endeavor, by giving in their nominations. We look forward to your continual support. To all our participants who’ve attended the sessions thus far, we thank you for your diligent presence and contribution in making “Between Us” a huge success. This is just the beginning. We have a long way to go, Ugamites! Stay Tuned.

Please feel free to write to us at [email protected] to share your thoughts on our initiatives.



BETWEEN US – Experiences Shared

The session was very interactive. I was able to raise my concern and got a reply directly from the Management team with no intervention or a communication barrier. The Management team answered all the questions in a very detailed manner and made sure it was also clear to all of us. In fact there were few questions which came up during the session and though there was no immediate answer from them, those questions were diligently noted by Irfan and the team promised to look in to that matter. Also, there was a question regarding home drop facility boundary to be exceeded for TH office and what a great solution we have for this now – the boundary is now exceeded until Ulhasnagar. So I would say it was a great session where we get a chance to raise our concerns and get a reply directly from the Management team. So if anyone is nominated to attend this session please take this as a great opportunity to have a chat with our Management team. I’m sure even if you don’t have a question just go and attend this session you will definitely enjoy it. Thanks! Abdul Basit Mulla Survey Programming Team



It was a great experience to participate in the “Between Us” session & I feel extra lucky as I got the chance to participate twice… Its really good to see that the top guys are not only willing to connect to people across levels but also they make a note of the important issues/suggestions. I have seen certain suggestions being immediately acted upon. Eg - The meeting room’s PC maintenance issue was raised at Thane & it was acted upon with no delay by our Desktop Team. In fact, the feedback on the resolution was also taken. It’s really good to be nominated for & be a part of such discussions as one also gets a hang of the organizations’ performance & future plans. But the sad part is that we don’t see participation from most Ugamites. I strongly feel that if the Top Management can take out couple of hours from their busy schedules for “Between Us” , then Why can’t we, Ugamites? Thanks Gayatri Joshi Talent Management Team



“Between Us” at Thane on 29-Jun-12 “Between Us” at Goregaon on 29-Aug-12

Nandita Shah

MILESTONES – July - August

Please Note: Employee Names are mentioned from Left to Right


Chirag Bhavsar

12 Years

9 Years

8 Years

Sunitha Jayakrishnan g Swati Savant

Mandar Ketkar g Mithun Kasla g Pradeep Deshmukh g Girish Nambiar g Husain Iqbal g Huzaifa Vasaiwala g Pottacheruva Srinivas g Kunal Wete g Jitendra Yadav g Pratik Khandagale

7 Years

No Photo




Nishant Kalyankar g Faheem Sayed g Vaseem Sayed g Bharat Bhatt g Tarun Bandi g Jagjit Singh Banwait g Mohammedali Rajapkar g Sashant Mohite g Sumukh Amin g Sourabh Pal g

Ameet Tambe g Manoj Chawda g Sagar Patil g Sunny Harjani g Pankaj Goswami

6 Years

Libia Fernandes g Lovina Pawar g Manjiri Walve g Yatish Karkera g Rajesh Sawant g Chandrashekar Andhe g Kalpesh Tailor g Mahendranath Gosavi g Sandeep Sharma g Shaikh Asif g

Anand Agrawal g Saritha Shankar g Somil Dharia g Rohan Thorat g Emmanuelle Orr g Amit Dixit g Rohit Asmuc g Shubhajeet Kadam

5 Years




4 Years

Prasad Joshi g Rahul Parmar g Anand Rai g Janak Mehta g Shailesh Rathod g Abid Bhujwala g Vinod Nair g Madhvi Rabhadia g Sachin Satawase g Kiran Kadav g Amit Soni g Chetan Sawant

3 Years

Kalai Shelvi g Manu Mon g Sanjay Daryanani g David Schoenfeld

No Photo

MILESTONES – Memoirs…

Nandita Shah; BD Team; 12 Years What a great feeling to have completed 12 years at Ugam! I still remember our early days when we didn’t really have service lines. We were all one team working together across survey programming, tabulation, charting and even content services [as we called it then]. Today when I look back and think of those days, I feel really happy and proud to be a part of such a great organization. While there was a lot to give to the organization, there has been immense learning over these years. I have been lucky to have worked with various teams - OEC, PM, SOI and now MR-BD. It has really been a wonderful journey thus far and I hope to have many more years with Ugam


Chirag Bhavsar; Survey Programming Team; 9 Years There is a famous saying “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life”, Ugam – The beginning: I consider myself fortunate that right from the beginning of my career I found a job that I loved to do. Very eventful and exciting journey at Ugam, every day I learnt something new professionally and personally. Multiple formal trainings, complicated client requirements and superiors’ guidance very much helped me sharpening my skills. At Ugam, I gathered many wonderful memories. The most recent one is my first visit to CJB for Dimension training! I cherish those Friday team parties and team picnics very very much! Best in industry infrastructure, excellent work culture, best company policies, approachable superiors and friendly colleagues makes Ugam the best place to work! Thanks to all my superiors for believing & guiding me and all my colleagues for the support throughout.

MILESTONES – Memoirs…


Nishant Kalyankar; OMS - GEN; 6 Years 6 Years - Doesn’t really feel like a long time. I feel fortunate to be a part of the “Ugam” journey and opportunities presented to contribute towards Ugam vision & mission. The journey so far has been challenging but rewarding. This is the best time to express how I feel about Ugam. From the employee (that’s me too!) perspective, Ugam is a organization which… Believes that people are the biggest asset, which reflects in their decisions and actions Encourages performance and ensures all support for individuals and teams to succeed. Also celebrates the efforts/results of the performer Nurture employee friendly work environment which inspire everybody to perform at their best I have had a fabulous journey so far and looking forward towards the future. Cheers!

Lovina Pawar; OEC Team; 5 Years One of the timeless secrets to a long and happy life is to love your work. Spending your days doing work that you find rewarding, intellectually challenging & fun; you’ll soon discover you will never have to work another day with stress in your life. Your work will be your play & the hours will slip away as quickly as it did for me as I now complete 5 years with Ugam. Earlier most of us were content to have a job that simply paid the bills, but now we crave so much more in our work; we want fulfillment, creative challenges, growth, joy & a sense that we are living for something more. In a word we seek ‘Meaning’. A connection between the work we do and the lives we touch. So I take this opportunity to thank Ugam, the CEO’s, Management, Colleagues, Friends for enriching my life and help me serve, learn and grow.

Kalai Shelvi; PT Team; 3 years Never even realized how 3+ years passed in UGAM… !! Each day has been a fantastic experience with great learning! Also Ugam is a place where people’s thoughts and ideas are respected. Have never felt alone at any point in time. I have received a lot of support and guidance. Best things about Ugam is the free work culture. Young teams with lots of ideas and approachable management! Thanks to all who have supported and encouraged me during this journey!!


Feedback for Andrea Ralyea – Project Manager from Bruce Forni – Director at Growth Research Consulting (now at MMR Research Associates) Everything went very well, and Andi was great! MMR is a small consultative research agency, and we have field partners with whom we work very closely with. The operations folks are already aware you worked with me on this project and that everything went very well.

Feedback for Andrea Ralyea – Project Manager and Emmanuelle Orr – Associate Research Director from Ricardo Senra – Director at TNS I just want to let you know that Bruce Forni and the end client were very happy with the study you conducted for them. He said you and Andi were excellent! I hope you conduct more business with Bruce.

SPOTLIGHTS


IT & ERM BUZZ

ISMS Awareness Week “Just Feel - Learning is Fun”

Awareness is all about “having knowledge”.

Is Awareness only a ONE time job?? We don’t think so. Awareness is a continual process in all the areas to keeps you updated. Ugam’s Information Security Awareness Week is an example of “Awareness as a continual process” ISMS team conducted the 4th Information Security Awareness Week from 23rd to 27th July 2012. During this journey we observed significant improvement in terms of user awareness and maturity. As always the awareness week was full of Fun & Learning. All the efforts, creativity, team work and enthusiasm were clearly visible to all of us. ISMS Art, Jigsaw, Interactive Quiz, Poster contest, Cyrus to Virus were part of Fun & Learning. We would like to Thank everyone for the tremendous support & participation shown during the ISMS Week. We hope you all enjoyed the “Fun and Learning” activities.


IT & ERM BUZZ


IT & ERM BUZZ

ISMS Week - Cyrus to Virus Contest Winner

There was a contact based on the “Cyrus to Virus” story. This is a

story of Cyrus, a regular guy with larger than life dreams, who

chooses the wrong path to attain richness turning him into a Virus.

“Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time. When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, the one I feed the most.”

- Mahatama Gandhi We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are. In this amazing and eye-opening story of “Cyrus to Virus”, we see how an effervescent, vibrant and a promising career of an individual went to flog & flay. Cyrus could have sustained the growth, success and all the accomplishments, however; he chose the wrong path. A path that would have never made him successful but could have brought the company’s vital and imperative security at stake. As a part of an organization; we all are responsible for one most important thing apart from our daily roles and responsibilities i.e. adhere to the Company’s Information Security Policy. A *successful* individual in true sense is the one who is accountable for and discharges his responsibilities.

Don’t be the Virus, be the Cyrus; and trust “Sky is the Limit” for your

growth in Ugam-us!

Harshil Shah –

Winner of Cyrus To Virus

With a job offer comes freedom to access the company’s tools and

proprietary’s, with which comes responsibilities. Responsibility of

owning the company’s information’s, responsibility to maintain

confidentiality of the company’s proprietary, above all the

responsibility to maintain the loyalty to the trust shown by the

company by showering access to company’s belongings.

And higher the levels/designations higher is the responsibility.

What takes time and effort in the right way, is easily gained in the

wrong, but the former is stronger and everlasting…..

Shanmuga Krishnan -

Winner of Cyrus To Virus


IT & ERM BUZZ

Key initiatives completed in the last month:

– Conducted ISMS week to generate Information Security awareness

– Software license management where the entire software installation request will be centralized via the License manager

– Launched Post sales for the GPM team

Key initiatives in progress

– ISMS surveillance audit scheduled for Sept ‘12

– FLOW deployment for Better Ipsos

– Historical Information Portal (HIP) for the GPM team

– Deployment of Applicant tracking system for Talent Sourcing team

– Global Service desk launch to handle Level 1 network calls for better diagnosis/resolution on network related issues

– Improving the IT Service desk Categorization (issues/request) to improve turn around time

– OMS server consolidation and File Server Structure and Archival

– Thane File server data movement for better hardware redundancy and scalability

IT Team Picnic at Zenith Waterfalls


IT & ERM BUZZ

Pot-lunch at TH cafeteria

The Spread

Foodie-Tites are loving it…

The Winners

Other Celebrations

ERM Team members on a trek to Karnala Purple day in A3 & IT bay at GW

Birthday & Business Anniversary Celebrations


IT & ERM BUZZ

Kumar Kanagaraj is a Certified Red Hat Engineer

Personal Achievements

Name of Employee: Nitin Bhatia Date of Joining: 6-Oct-09 Team: HR Services, Talent Management


You have to explore various activities, find which one matches your interest and take out some time diligently for that activity. This helps me maintain a good work-life balance. It’s a constant endeavor to learn new things. Three things your colleagues don’t know about you yet but would love to. I’ve recently developed an interest towards learning Vedic Math (haven’t learnt many tricks yet…any fellow Vedic math fans here?!?) I absolutely love being a part of the backstage / organizing team of GPA (and sometimes even front-stage ) Ransy has literally ‘stalked’ me every day for the last 4 months to write this article (Ransy, I hope you publish this line ) A phrase or saying that you follow in life (if any) “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”

How long have you worked at Ugam? What is your date of joining? DOJ: 6-Oct-09. I’ll be completing 3 years in Ugam this Oct! What does your work in Ugam entail? I’m working in the HR Services Team. The HR Services Team acts as a key “connection” point for various Talent Management functions (both within & outside). We handle critical functions of collating & delivering payroll inputs, compiling HR MIS for various stakeholders,handling employee queries & ensuring compliance with the various Talent Management processes on a daily basis.. Your hobbies or activities you are involved in in your leisure time?. I love reading (mainly fiction) & listening to music. Your team has been recently involved in introducing HR align. Could you tell us about that?

CANDID CHAT

What were some of the challenges that were faced by your team? We implemented the PMS Module of HR Align (our HRIS tool) with the recently concluded appraisals. The project involved understanding the PMS process & workflow, designing & testing the module, preparing the appropriate training material & communication plan and finally implementing the module (phew!). The major challenge that we faced was that all this had to be done within a specified timeline as we wanted to launch the module & the tool with the Annual Appraisal. All this was possible only because of the excellent support provided by the HR Services & C&B Team. Tell us a little about your family. How do you balance your personal and professional life? I have a wonderful family consisting of my mother, brother, sister & wife. They are my support system. I think the best way to maintain a balance between you professional & personal life is by having to spend time for “yourself”.


CELEBRATIONS – Indian Independence Day

15th August is not just the day when we received Freedom from the

British Regime, but it’s a day when we Celebrate our right to live

Freely and remember the countless Martyrs who’ve laid down their

very lives to make India an Independent Sovereign Country.

Flags were put up on glass panes across all our offices and

employees wore White which signifies Peace and Tranquility.

We also had all our Ugamites gather up at their respective Cafeterias

to sing our “National Anthem”. It was extremely heartening to hear all

our Ugamites in one voice singing the ”Jana Gana Mana” in chorus.


CELEBRATIONS – Head Gear Day

CELEBRATIONS – Baby Born


Ruben Gnanaraj [OMS – CI]

was blessed with a Baby Girl on 4th June’12

and has been named

Jeffrina Gnanaraj



Jeetendar Thakurani [Gen]

&

Sonia Thakurani [RW]

were blessed with a Baby Girl

on 13th June, 2012

and has been named

Anisha Thakurani



Janak

Majithiya [IT Team]

was blessed

with a Baby Girl

on

20th June 2012 and

has been named

Krishna Majithiya



Shrikant Angre [SP Team]

was blessed with a Baby Girl on 1st August 2012

and has been named Sharyali Angre



Saurabh Sinha [OMS Team]

was blessed with a Baby Boy

on 6th August 2012

To the right, Saurabh’s older daughter, Nivedita

giving him a super strong warm hug!



Simon Borys [CATI Team]

was blessed with a Baby Girl on

15sth August 2012



Mahesh Somavashi [ERM Team ]

was blessed with a Baby Boy on 21st August 2012



Murtaza Merchant [CATI Team ]

was blessed with a Baby Boy on 30th August 2012 and has been named Ali Zaman

CELEBRATIONS


Vinayaka Veerasamy

Has won a Gold Medal in the All India Karate Championship which was held at Coimbatore on 25th & 26th August, 2012


Liked the new SAMPARK?

Write to us at

[email protected]

if you have any thoughts/suggestions/feedback

that you’d like to share with us.

Stay tuned for our next Edition of SAMPARK.

The Talent Engagement Team




sampark jul-aug

Documents

clear blue skies

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madhav mirani cmo leadership

ipsos folks

groundthat ipsos

leadership team

research business

volume of work