Recently, I attended the most famous IT industry event in India. I don’t want to name it because I have not been paid for the publicity that will be generated by my sheer association with the event. more

One of the consistent discussions that kept on cropping up while I was at the India Leadership Forum in Mumbai this month was over smaller companies. How can smaller companies find business if they don’t have overseas sales offices, and how can they be found when a potential client is actively looking for a smaller partner – probably because they are themselves fairly small and might not be considered very important by the big suppliers. more

Mr Jerry Rao, Chairman of NASSCOM Foundation introduced Mr Azim Premji. “Azim, needs no introduction really”, he said. An individual when confronted with challenges, has choices that he can make – oft it leads him to make compromises with his soul, resulting in a final outcome that he thinks is appropriate. Here was a man amongst us today, who was thrust into the family business quite early in life, yet never wavered from his basic principles of doing business with a clean conscience. Mr Rao also quoted Milton Friedman who once famously said that the only business of business is business. Mr Premji, Sir, we are proud to have you with us, thus saying, he invited Azim Premji to address the closing session of Day 2 at NILF 2010. more

We are glad to announce that the following have been selected as the three individual winners for the prize of ‘Gifting Software worth Rs. 40,000 to any one Indian Non-Profit of your choice’ more

When I was in India recently for the NASSCOM conference I noticed a lot of other countries being represented at the show. In fact, over twenty different countries had delegations there in Mumbai. more

Mr Atul Nishar, Founder of Hexaware Technologies, did the initial round of introductions as he addressed on the need to stand out in a crowd. All mid-sized companies live through this challenge, he said. No number 2 company ever became number 1 simply by imitating the market leader. The differentiators that we see today because of globalisation, can be in various forms: that of fiscal adaptation, in cost structures, addressing labour laws and in infrastructure management, Mr Nishar said. He then invited Prof Dipak Jain of Kellogg School of Management to take the dais: more

Mr Ashank Desai, the Chairman of Mastek and also the Chairperson for this session, introduced Lynda Gratton, the professor of Organisational Behaviour from London Business School. We are indeed lucky to have her address at the NILF, Mr Desai said. According to a recent survey conducted by FT, London Business School was ranked as the No 1 B School in the world and Prof Gratton was amongst the leading management thinkers of the world today. With an overall 18th rank and the highest in women, she certainly had all the right credentials. Prof Gratton has also authored several books, such as, Integrating the enterprise and Living Strategy. On a lighter vein, Ashank Desai shared a joke. A man had once gone to purchase a parrot and in one particular cage,  there were a dozen of them chirping away, but he caught one of them taking a nap. “Why is that’? enquired the man. “Oh, he is the Chairman”, shot back the seller. This had the crowd in splits. In this environment, no matter which strategy you adopt, ultimately it will be your employees who will drive business and deliver value, Mr Desai said. In a globalised and highly competitive environment, how much attention should you give to your employees? Their need is different from those of your customers , he said. With rising customer pressures, striking that vital balance becomes an imperative. Mr Desai spoke of some of the pressing challenges that employees face today: Commuting long distances and maintaining a work life balance is only a few of them. more

Mr Saurabh Srivastava, Chairman of CA Inc, also the Chairperson for the session wished the participants a very good morning and welcoming them for Day 2.”Hope you have enjoyed last evening and the food and drinks being served was good enough”, he began on a lighter vein. The business models of the future will be determined by partnerships, he said. The expectations of consumers in India has undergone a dynamic shift in the last decade or so. In this electronic age, everything is expected to happen on real time basis. The long wait, which consumers in the past were  accustomed to -  often running into months – is long over, as demanding consumers want products and services delivered faster, with better quality and at a cheaper rate. For instance, the same consumer who was wont to wait, now gets overtly worked up, if there is a call-drop. Such changes in behavioural pattern has put a lot of pressure on organisations to deliver. A value proposition, which needs to improve on a continuous basis. The margin of error is very low which necessitates the need to develop effective partnerships and complement on each other’s strength. For a linear growth in business we often concentrate on our core competence and vendors. For non-linear growth, we often need to develop partners, lest we miss out an opportunity. The communication channel also needs to be well oiled to stay relevant. Mr Srivastava talked about the NISG project where NASSCOM has a 51 % majority stake and the government, the balance 49 %. The UID project which is slated to change the lives of a billion people, is another example of how partnerships have the potential to make a difference. This project is a matter of national pride, driven by one of the luminaries of our industry and CA would be deploying human resources on secondment, he said. Mr Saurabh Srivastava also welcomed others to come forward and support this huge initiative. The project is mammoth in size and scope and needs to be rolled out very quickly. This is only possible when we are able to leverage on partnerships that support the entire ecosystem. The other advantage of building on partnerships, is the brand equity that it all adds up to, in terms of goodwill and reputation, he said. Islands may get washed away by Tsunami but continents don’t. We can choose to sit back and think – only as long as the clock is ticking – or choose to act on it. more

The first day was almost nearing an end. Despite the fact that the day was packed with sessions, meetings and other activities, the participants were all charged up and as keen to attend this session, as the inaugural. After all they had ample reasons to be. It’s not every day that you get to hear Adil Zainulbhai, Pramod Bhasin, Stephen Roach & Vineet Nayar – all at the same time. Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL Technologies and also the Chairperson for the session began on a rather humorous note. Out of four people at the top table, there were two intellectuals and a couple of others, he jocularly remarked. He also took a dig at his old friend Pramod Bhasin – excuse me, I am sorry but I forget your name – much to the mirth of all present. Having set the tone, he invited Stephen Roach to the dais. more

The stunning Corporate Editor of CNBC, Ms Shereen Bhan, also the Chairperson for the session, welcomed the participants with her dazzling smile. The turn of events in the last few quarters has taught us to strike a balance between looking inward and outward, she said. We have to also get back to the basics and our core values – all the more difficult to do so at the time of downturn, where mere survival becomes a challenge at times. With this, comes the need for being adaptive combined with agility. Protectionism imposed by US has taught us that the rules of the game may change overnight, upsetting all strategies and long-term plans. There are companies which look inward at such times and seek out a solution, whereas others who set a mandate by drawing parallels from outside. There is a lot to be learnt from customer feedback and comparing with those of other industries. She also talked about innovation and how it can make a difference. Ms Bhan then invited Mr Rajiv Bajaj to take the dais. more