Human energy Crisis sucks Information Technology

Can you work for 43 hours a day? I repeat, 43 hours a day! You must be thinking I am not talking sense. But this is the true scenario for many of us who are working in the Information Technology sector. The exponential growth of user expectations and regulatory requirements led to multitasking. The decreasing headcount and increasing workload have immensely contributed to the fatigue factor of the employees. A study reveals that the impact of multitasking has compelled the techies to work for 43 hours a day.

Information Technology is now benchmarked not against line-of-sight competitors but against “best imaginable” practitioners. This has raised the performance bar for IT. But where is the energy to respond? The future CIOs will have to re-energize the human energy level of their teams. People who are always negative suck the energy level and they may be removed from the enterprise. The organizations should be exothermic and not endothermic. If you know the cost and value that IT generates for the business that will release all kinds of positive energy. So there is a need of World Class IT accounting.

We need to pass over fatigue as a motivator. Ingenious work requires intellectual thinking and emotional engagement. We need to ensure positive work culture by offering people a sense of security so that they can really focus on their work with enthusiasm. This will really improve productivity and will bring solution to lots of business problems.

Contributed By:
Rik Das
(Globsyn Business School)

Pix Source: http://energyzarr.typepad.com

Concerto with Dot Matrix

Old is gold. Once again this proverb is rightly proved with Mutek Electronic Music Festival. The festival is organized in Canada from June 2-6, 2010. Architect and installation artist Thomas McIntosh and composer and sound artist Emmanuel Madan has redifned the relationship between technological systems, culture and human experience in conspicuous ways. “Symphony for Dot Matrix Printer #2” will be performed to coordinate the operation of a variety of rapidly clacking dot matrix printers to produce musically fascinating sounds. Madan and MacIntosh have gathered as many dot matrix printer as they can and carefully auditioned each of them. Some of them print a lot faster, some of them print slower, some have low rumble sounds, some of them are more prickly. The duo vigilantly assembled the printers to make an orchestra.

Each printer is paired with an old PC, all of which are networked to a file server. At the beginning of the performance, each computer downloads the text it will print from a file server. Each then waits for instructions from another server, an old Next box in this case, for when to print some text on its printer. The PC is the musician, the text file is the score, the printer is the instrument, and the server, which instructs the PCs at the precise moment when to print a section of their files, serves as the conductor. Those hearing any given 10 seconds would associate it as nothing more than office noise, but a few minutes' exposure reveals amazing achievements of rhythm, harmony and composition.

Our society is fueled by the ideas of unending advancement. The archaic equipments can be readily used for a range of purposes. We have to think that how we are going to reuse the waste products even as ingredients to our progress. The “Symphony for Dot Matrix Printer” throw the leading light to this idea. This June the world is waiting to welcome the amazing achievements of melody, composed by the genius duo which open up new doors and ideas of tapping unused and abandoned computer equipments that can be readily used for other purposes.

Contributed By:
Rik Das
(Globsyn Business School)

Pix Source: www.fondation-langlois.org

Taming The Giant with Novelty

Which one is the world’s most valuable technology company based on market valuation? The answer that flashes in millions of minds is undoubtedly Microsoft. Unfortunately, this is the wrong answer. The population should bring in a paradigm shift in thinking while rating the topmost technology company. The correct answer is Apple. On 26th May,2010, Apple passed Microsoft to evolve as the leader based on market valuation.

People have started scratching their heads to discover the secret weapon of Apple that helped the company to surpass the software giant. If we observe carefully we may find out that Apple takes the time to explain things to the consumer that no other vendor bothers to do. This has played a key role in the success story. During the launching of Apple I- Pod , the tight synchronization with ITunes and FireWire support in speedy transfer has differentiated it from the existing MP3 players in the market. Apple has concentrated on conceptual marketing with simple tagline for iPod “1,000 songs in your pocket” that moved the mass.

Started with a smaller base Apple has continually dazzled the market with new things like iPod, iPhone, iPad. Traders seems to be somewhat bore with Windows and MS Office inspite of its billion dollar revenue. Traders may be considering Microsoft products as old business. On the contrary Apple built a lot of successful new businesses. The new addition in Apple’s success story is iPad which is somewhat in between phones and computers. Most consumers will easily understand the key features.

The Apple story once again proves that there is nothing permanent except change. Apple has converted their retail effort to practical laboratories where people can have easily accessible hands on classroom. Apple has succeeded where others failed miserably due to its novelty and uniqueness. The magic of education has driven the current success of Apple and has crowned it as the world leader.

Contributed By:
Rik Das
(Globsyn Business School)

Image Source: http://www.westmont.edu

Google TV : Redefining Entertainment

The Internet companies justify the law of Digital Darwinism. The one that adapts the best to the environment will be the most successful. Google TV has proved this fact once again. The attraction of audiovisual media for the mass is unquestionable and the indigenous entertainment device for people is the one and only television. However, in recent times the definition of entertainment has been changed with the introduction of computers. The web has become an interesting tool to find and access exciting internet contents. But the viewing quality is not always as good as the television.

Google has evolved with the solution with Google TV and created a huge impact in the marketing and media ecosystem. With Google Chrome built in it has revolutionized the traditional television combined with the power of Internet. One can easily move between the television and the web which opens up the television from a few hundred channels to millions of channels available across the web. The television no longer remains confined to video shows but has emerged as a multispecialty device. It is a photo slide show viewer, a gaming console, a music player and much more. The functionalities described are nothing but the beginning of the triumph. Google has already started collaboration with several companies to provide semantic search, personalized recommendation and social features for Google TV.

Google TV is the elicit solution for the population to experience their diversified likings of television and web on a single screen. You can start innovating sitting right in your living room with this new venture of Google.

Contributed By:
Rik Das
(Globsyn Business School)