On Sify, Microsoft Alliance

Sify and Microsoft have entered into an alliance to promote the usage of licensed Microsoft products at 3500 Sify IWay cyber cafes throughout India.

Sify will offer its cyber café subscribers access to licensed Microsoft Office software to begin with, so that they can use the café as a virtual office for their needs. This will include training them in the use of MS Office for Microsoft Office certification to increase their productivity and skills.
The alliance will also include other Microsoft Certification program, affordable utility computing for the middle class and content for online education through the Sify I-way cafe chain.
"Our alliance also encompasses providing low cost utility computing for the masses that is affordable and easy to use," said Raju Vegesna, chairman and chief executive officer, Sify.

Here are a few things one should understand about how SIFY cyber cafe operate

• Sify has over 3500 VoiP enabled cyber cafes called “Sify Iway” in most the major cities (149 cities) and towns of India. These are franchise run cyber cafes where SIFY provides the network and billing software to run the cyber cafes.
• Just like prepaid mobile, IWAY provides you prepaid broadband access with a roaming user ID which you can use in any Sify IWay cyber cafe's through out India.
• The SIFY Iway cyber cafes have computers which are stripped down Microsoft Windows with absolutely minimal storage options. Once the user logs out of the computer all the files created during the session are deleted.
• Users experience is restricted to Web Browsing, IMing etc.
• Local storage doesn’t make sense, since it’s a shared PC and users might end up using a different PC during the next visit to the cyber café.

Had written about how SIFY Iway is an ideal candidate for a WebBased OS ecosystem and one that should be encouraged in India.

One would imagine that with such features, it makes SIFY Iway's ideal for web-based office , rather than offline Microsoft Office. It would be more convenient for Sify Iway users to use applications like ZOHO or Google Office products , rather than get tied down to Microsoft Office.

Users can create documents using applications like Writely, or ZOHO , store them in Box.net and access that data from another PC or from another city for that matter on the next visit to the cafe. And why restrict this to Office App's ? Supply chain or CRM applications for small and medium business in India, which cannot afford complex IT infrastructure or note books for their sales people,  should utilize this opportunity more effectively.

Commenting on the alliance with Sify, Ravi Venkatesan, chairman, Microsoft India said, "The idea is to work together, given the confluence of objectives of Sify as a company and our Unlimited Potential commitment, to offer affordable, easy to use services to Indians by leveraging Sify's IP capabilities, market reach over its sophisticated network and data center infrastructure across the country."

I don't quite understand, how this makes software affordable ? Between free and affordable, I guess free software is cheaper.

 

Technorati Tags: zoho, sify, webos

After second life interview, here comes video resume for Monster India

Monster India is now accepting video resume for interviewing candidates. This after the lunacy conducting interviews in second life virtual world.

“The new feature allows job seekers to speak directly to potential employers, and increase their chances of finding their dream job,” said Vikas Agarwal, VP- Product & Technology, Monster.com India.

All this is cool,but what if I don't want to be discriminated in the initial stages because of my race, looks, age or gender ? Does a candidate with a video resume stand higher chance than a candidate without a video resume ? This is nothing new and to a large extent avoided in United States because of fear of discriminatory lawsuits.

WSJ on outsourcing and rising India cost

WSJ talks about the rising salaries in India and  how companies are re-evaluating their strategy vis-a-vis outsourcing.  Savings and efficiency in India can only be achieved now  with scale. Smaller companies will find it difficult to attract and retain good talent. The culture of working for "stocks" at startups is not very popular in India. Besides highly motivated professional try to seek on-site assignments (i.e US and Europe) to further their career.

NASCOM (National Association of Software Services Companies) while acknowledging raising salary cost nevertheless is optimistic about growth in outsourcing revenues to India.

Responding to claims from some Silicon Valley companies that wage costs in Bangalore had risen to near US levels, the National Association of Software Services Companies said this was an isolated phenomenon. "It is there in pockets," said Ameet Nivsarkar, vice-president, research at Nasscom. "But we haven't come across this as a large trend."

In spite of rising salaries and real estate costs, India's information technology software and services industry is booming, with Nasscom forecasting sales will grow up to 27 per cent to $50bn in the year ending next March.

While raising salaries are a cause for concern, the strength of Indian Rupee vs USD is another major area of concern. Rupees has strengthened from mid 48 to mid 40 in 2007. This is hurting the profit margins.

The rupee has appreciated 5% in the last quarter and higher than the guidance provided by the IT Companies in the last quarter. Companies like Infosys, Satyam and Wipro are taking steps to hedge their rupee exposure. Outsourcing majors can hedge rupee to reduce their exposure, it not so simple for smaller companies who are doing in-house development.

While it is easy to dismiss India as a cheap source of labor, one has to remember the challenge faced by American companies in hiring the right talent in the US with the various visa restrictions. The demand for qualified IT professional far exceeds the supply and India is able to supply qualified professional to suffice this need. If outsourcing where to stop 100% in the next few years, it will drive the  salary and other costs here in the US making the companies un-competitive. An equilibrium is bound to emerge where outsourcing will continue to co-exist with Silicon Valley in the US.

Update 1 :  New York times has an article titled At I.B.M., a Smarter Way to Outsource discussing the IBM take on outsourcing.

Jobs in technology services may be particularly vulnerable because computer programming can be described in math-based rules that are then sent over the Internet to anywhere there are skilled workers. Already, a significant amount of basic computer programming work has gone offshore to fast-growing Indian outsourcing companies like Infosys, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services.

To compete, companies like I.B.M. have to move up the economic ladder to do more complicated work, as do entire Western economies and individual workers. “Once you start moving up the occupational chains, the work is not as rules-based,” said Frank Levy, a labor economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “People are doing more custom work that varies case by case."