Waka Waka It’s time for Africa

April 30th, 2012 sachin

As part of Drishti’s focus on developing economies I got a chance to visit Africa a few weeks back. The initial thoughts were Africa … as a market “How interesting could it be?”. To my surprise it turned out to be an amazing opportunity at hand for those who are willing to dig deeper.

In this trip we looked at two clusters South and East Africa. I got a chance to visit Mauritius and South Africa in South, Kenya and Tanzania in East.

Mauritius is a well established BPO destination for its multilingual capabilities. French and English are widely spoken and understood. The island is culturally a beautiful place with a mix of Indian and French community. Apart from BPOs which is a well understood market we also got to know of Enterprises and their hunger to automate for efficiency.

South Africa was a contrast to other markets and is a mature market. We got a chance to visit Jo’Burg as well as Cape Town. The enterprises there are already exploring alternate delivery models like hosted contact center and managed services. This is going to be an interesting market for us and yes for the table top mountain and beautiful vines Cape Town would stay as a favored destination to visit.

Next was Zimbabwe, as an outsider the only view I had was that they play cricket and their currency situation in early 2000 is a case study on hyper inflation. Talking to the locals I understood that their economy is strong because of the belief the people have in hard work and the hunger to learn. The knowledge is limited and in the context of things. When I gave a presentation to a bank on tools to automate a call center, the only question I was asked was why do we need a call center. This has led me to believe that this market needs a lot of expertise and selling would never be needed if you can be a trusted friend.

Kenya was last on the tour and I felt closer to home. The Insurance and Telecom sector is on a boom and the customer on the street demands much more service because of competition. I believe that in coming years Kenya would become an example of growth for other African countries.

The trip was an eye opener and for those looking to build products do consider Africa as a serious market. For a simple reason which I learnt from founders of Comviva, someone asked him why should we sell in Africa and he replied if we will not – then who will?

I look forward to working closely in this market and be a part of this wonderful growth story. No wonder Shakira’s song plays in all countries – It’s time for Africa.

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Qatar – Opportunity Beckons!

March 27th, 2012 Saurav Samanta

A blast of desert sand greeted me on my first steps down the stairs of the flight. I thought to myself, this would be something!

Doha – Al Dawha literally meaning ‘The Big Tree’ has indeed fanned out to accept a whole range of foreign nationals as its own. Indians, Bangladeshis, Philippinos and Egyptians together constitute more than 50% of the country’s population. Along with Arabic and English, Hindi is a rather prominent and accepted language here. There is also a unique language formed out of need, which the locals refer to as ‘Hirabic’. The marriage of Hindi to Arabic!

High Rises at Al Dafna – West Bay

High Rises at Al Dafna – West Bay

Wherever you can set your eyes upon, Monumental constructions are underway clearly showing the rate at which this city and the country are growing. Western influence has shaped the way of life that is Muslim in practice and traditions with a western flavor of food and fun, which I must say, is a good combination to have. Many a European has settled here calling it their home. Below is a view of the newest western district Al Dafna or simply The West Bay.

Businesses in Doha are mostly categorized into typically Government and Private Sector. What the country lacks in population (read manpower) definitely makes up with the dedication and can-do attitude. The country is gearing up to play host to the 2022 FIFA World Cup and possibly 2020 Olympic Games which is not only bringing in foreign investors from all walks of life but also place Qatar in an equal or perhaps bigger foothold to Dubai, the long proclaimed playground of the rich and famous. Having being named the richest country in terms of GDP, Qatar Government is pouring in Riyals to better the infrastructure and core backbone of the economy. Tourism is on the cards and many internationally acclaimed Hotels chains are setting up operations here.

The IT Industry is also on the rise. A plethora of System Integrators, Software Companies and Telecom specialists have already setup offices here. Banking and Telecommunications are to be the key focus here in terms of infiltration. Both the sectors are cash rich and only want the state-of-the-art solutions. They are open to innovations however have certain inclinations towards ‘Brand’ recognition. The Government sector alone is equally lucrative where due to the tumultuous developmental activities and an ever-expanding economy, IT has become indispensable. The entire country is mobile and Internet savvy and the opportunities are endless on those fronts as well. However, Software solutions by themselves are not so much in the limelight as Hardware coupled with Software is.

Nortel had been possibly the undisputed leader of IT and Telecom solutions until the acquisition by Avaya. Currently, Avaya and Cisco compete for the top position with Huawei following in the wake. Other than these two, the market is wide open for solutions such as Ameyo to serve the Travel, Retail, Transportation Industry along-with creating presence in the Enterprise and Government sector. The QITCOM 2012 event shows that Qatar is quickly becoming one of preferred destinations for business in the Middle East. Its welcoming nature and acceptability is what drives worldwide companies to create presence.

Exhibition Hall – QITCOM 2012

Exhibition Hall – QITCOM 2012


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ICT adoption in the Education Sector

February 13th, 2012 Chetna
Information and Communications Technology

ICT and Education Sector

Education industry is one the fastest developing sectors in the world and Indian education sector happens to be the most lucrative of the lot. There has been a tremendous revolution in ways of disseminating knowledge and information within educational institutions. More and more academic institutes are opening doors to welcome the advancement of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Recognizing the advantages that ICT can bring in, there has been a rising demand and desire to adopt latest ICT tools to impart education through a novel and innovative approach.

Coming to the interactions taking place within the educational sector, communications technology can do wonders in facilitating better connectivity amongst all stakeholders involved such as students, faculty, management, parents and other peer institutions and relevant organizations. Automation of the entire cycle of interactions can make it more manageable and orderly. A centralized repository that would store the relevant information and be available at a single click would help reduce time and efforts that was earlier too cumbersome on manual handling of processes.

Today’s students are more tech-savvy and wish to procure information regarding colleges and schools through various medium of communication. IT solutions have changed the way communications take place by leaps and bounds. SMS, live chat, web callback, and phone call, all of these have been made possible through the interactions solutions that help the institutions in maintaining a competitive edge in the world.

The focus and priority of software developers have been to develop and implement innovative and scalable solutions that can cater to the education field. Integration of technology with the educational system, initially a major obstacle has now been overcome and effectively translated into gains. With a view of reusing existing hardware/technology to build path breaking IT solutions has contributed to the growth and progress of the industry and the country as a whole.

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How to shortlist the right industry events?

January 31st, 2012 Chetna

Working in the IT domain, I believe that it is increasingly important for companies to market their products and solutions to new opportunity areas. For this, industry events and programs have become an effective platform to promote, exhibit or create awareness for their offerings. While short listing the events, one should keep in mind some basic objectives such as:

  • Previous years’ footfall
  • Audience segments
  • The sponsors (previous  and current)
  • Participation of prime competitors (which should make it all the more important for your company to participate)

Based on these criteria, one can categorize the numerous events as – customer-specific events, networking-specific events and events that can help in creating brand awareness among peers. Coming to the definition of these categories –

  • Customer-Specific Events are those that attract an audience which fulfill the necessary pre-conditions of being a prospect for a company. An event of this kind can bring-in direct business value as marketing of products/solutions reaches the right audience.
  • Networking-Specific Events draw business leaders from relevant companies to a single platform where they can communicate, indulge in brainstorming sessions and panel discussions related to products and market dynamics. Such events can be a great source of networking and enlighten leaders about the product/solution that one wishes to market.
  • Exhibitions and Showcasing Events enable one to create brand awareness through direct display of products or solutions.

With the event types, importance and objectives clear, the main task of gathering information on all events and actual short listing begins. The event info mining process takes you through various websites like linkedin and other social media platforms, websites of various industry associations and also on tech news portals.  After gathering the details, it is important to register them into centralized event calendars for reference as well as execution.

But, is the job done post this? What about the right representation from the company? By representation I mean, networking events would require some senior management representative from your company; preferably the business head. Similarly, customer specific events where direct marketing is happening, good oratory skills are a must. For exhibitions, a blend of pleasing personality, marketing as well as sales skills would suffice.

With the above ‘To Do’s’ noted and done, you are ensuring a sustained presence of your company as well as offerings within the industry circles. Your business is reaching the right audience via the right platform.

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Hospitality industry-opening doors for next-gen communications solutions

December 30th, 2011 Chetna

The season of holidays arrives! Like any other individual who wishes to escape the humdrum of a routine life, I too planned to welcome the New Year with a vacation on my mind. The best way? – it’s simple!. Just log into a web portal offering attractive packages for travelling and accommodation. But it was a disappointing experience as I tried booking my tickets online and was left yearning. I shelled a huge amount of money from my credit card using the net banking service provided by the website and ultimately, was fooled into saying that you have received your tickets via an e-mail. But lo and behold! There was no e-mail! And I vowed not to use the site anymore.

I would be tagged by the travel and tourism company as a ‘dissatisfied customer’. Working in the domain of communications technology for quite some time, it was disheartening to see that businesses are still following the traditional methods and in the process, losing out on customers. In an age of automation, communications software are available to manage such cumbersome processes, eliminating the possibility of errors or latency. Yet, there still exist certain travel portals that are happy without considering such solutions for their businesses.

In a typical hospitality business, the interactions mainly consist of bookings, telemarketing, managing packages that involve sight-seeing and accommodation and inter-house communications inside large chains of hotels. These interactions can take place across various communications channels such as phone, web, SMS or even live chats.

In an age of internet and online travel portals, the web has become an extremely important customer touch point and needs to be integrated into the overall contact strategy both in the form of capturing the interest of incoming customer traffic and also as a mass reach-out tool. A communication solution that can integrate multiple channels like phone, email, SMS, web etc. and help deliver a personalized experience to the customers is the need.

The right solution ensures optimum customer satisfaction and guest experience. But the question is ‘HOW’?

The solution helps in self-service to manage the incoming customer queries and telemarketing to attract new customers and generate businesses. With high-end automation, it streamlines the haphazard interactions taking place. It intelligently routes the calls to agents with the expertise to offer attractive deals and hampers in addition to resolving their queries. Powering the businesses, as a back-end support, the solution ensures 24×7 availability, hence, eliminating the possibility of a ‘lost or dissatisfied customer’.

Such solutions are fast becoming a way to differentiate their services from the competition. Hotels, travel agencies and travel portals are realizing that software solutions, integrated call centers, and mobility can help improve their guests’ experience, increase staff productivity, reduce costs, and drive new revenue streams.

The good news is that leading travelling companies have already benefitted much from next-gen IT technology and created a customer base that is loyal and also a propagator of their services. Quite contrary to my bad experience, they have gained much from the word-of-mouth publicity from their satisfied customers. This, itself has brought them great business and continues to do so. I am urged to say in the end that communications technology has gained new heights and businesses must make use of such solutions in order to ensure growth and progress.

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Legacy Vs State-of-the-art

September 29th, 2011 Saurav Samanta

“Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them.” – Alfred North Whitehead.

We have indeed come a long way from the times of Edison and Graham Bell, who started the revolution of making the world a small place. If not for them, you would still be reading this on a papyrus or goatskin at best!

The ever changing nature of technology is what pushes the boundary of acceptance for us mere mortals. What was standard once, becomes a footnote in the next page of technological evolution.

Take Legacy systems for example. You ask, what are legacy systems? Why are they called legacy?

Simple. A type of technology which has been outdated by something Faster, Smarter, Better (I quote so at the risk of Vodafone suing me!). This is especially true in the IT segment where innovations are the order of the day.

Earlier, we had machines replacing men. Now, we have more efficient machines replacing other, older machines who have not been able to keep up with the ‘times’. Having said that, it is not easy for CIOs and IT decision makers to simply scrap their existing platforms every time something new shows its face. This constant cycle of change does tend to weaken the business value of said legacy systems, which have been developed over a lengthy span of time, with considerable investments going into them.

Market research shows that even though cost-effective technology and services are available today, yet nearly 80% of IT operations still rely on legacy technology to get their work done. International Data Corp. estimates that 200 billion lines of legacy code are still in use today on more than 10,000 large mainframe sites. The difficulty in accessing legacy applications is reflected in a December 2001 study by the Hurwitz Group that found only 10% of enterprises have fully integrated their most mission-critical business processes – According to a study done in 2001.

Monolithic legacy architectures are often challenged and superseded by more modern SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) and MDA (Model Driven Architecture) based systems, such as Ameyo. Legacy systems execute business policies and decisions that are hardwired by rigid, predefined process flows, making integration with customer relationship management (CRM) software and Internet-based business applications torturous and sometimes impossible which is where modern technologies have an upper-hand. 

In conclusion, Legacy systems are but a major hurdle in the ever-changing world of IT, especially the Contact Centre Industry. The vulnerabilities and complexity of legacy solutions are simply no match to the latest and greatest of IP, VOIP and Cloud based technologies who have slowly but surely claimed their ground and continue to do so. In a world where any technology becomes obsolete in the blink of an eye by something which not only better equipped at handling the same task  than any legacy applications, but also is able to churn out results at a much faster and efficient pace, Legacy is a dying and soon to be extinct breed.

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Importance of Business Partners

September 16th, 2011 Vishal

Let me start with the goal of having a business setup. Obviously it is selling your product to the market and achieving profits and ultimately expanding your business. It is also important that your product should have “a way” differentiated from competitors and has a unique USP.

One of the most significant steps in making a business successful is the origin of partners. A business partner can be a supplier, a customer, an agent or reseller or a vendor of complimentary offerings.

Now, let me define Partnership. Partnership is basically an alliance with other companies or their channels that specialize into same kind of related services or products. Then again there are different levels of partnerships that can be defined according to your business requirements. The levels of partnership can be either on commission basis or for sharing leads. Most of the companies classify the levels as Silver, Gold and Platinum depending upon the commissions or services offered.

Partnership as the name suggests is a hand in hand process which allows businesses to expand, target new segments, make new offerings, pitch  to new customers and make a presence in the market.

Companies nowadays are focusing more on being reliable Business Partners. The reason for this is that businesses believe that instead of focusing on physical assets and economies of scale, the drivers for success reside in connectivity and intangibility. Businesses need to develop and manage complex organizations around themselves so as to succeed.

Teaming up with other complementary solution providers you are able to provide the complete solutions to the customers. Thus, it results in expanding of business more quickly and efficiently. The benefits that are offered as a result of business partnerships include:

  • Providing complete solution to enterprises
  • Expanding networks
  • More leads and areas to work upon
  • Business Development
  • Business Expansion
  • Relationships with Customers as well as companies
  • Improved productivity and intangibility

In the end I would conclude that businesses have evolved during last few decades and sharing and hence expanding business opportunities via partners is the need of the hour. It not only provides you with monetary benefits but also ensures long term profitability for the enterprises.

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Long live Telemarketing

September 8th, 2011 Naveen

Good morning sir, I am xyz calling from abc to sell you 123…….tell me one person who has not been through this regular annoyance which does not seems to die out anytime sooner.

It has been over a few years since the pan India National Do Not Call (DNC) registry went into effect. From the time of its inception till today, there are over 15 crore numbers on the list, with more being added every month. Of all the listed phone numbers, more than 30 percent are now covered under the list in India and growing at a steady rate.

Brainy pundits have duly suggested and equated this trend to writing a final obituary for telemarketing which of course has changed the industry dynamics. But has the industry really died……hmmm not yet, at least not in the eyes of telemarketing professionals who have taken this legislation in a healthier context. With ill-practices getting weeded out the time is highly opportune for doing ideal telemarketing culminating to an ideal sell.

Industry trends have shown that businesses doing telemarketing have comprehensively added to their revenues over the years consistently. For standalone telemarketing this number would not be that significant, but there is no question about the enormous impact the medium has had on the business ecosystem.

Using and executing effectively, telemarketing has allowed businesses having the direct marketing concept, to emulate as closely as possible the one-to-one sales advantage bringing them closer to customers. But this has its own pros and cons.

Telemarketing efficiency depends purely on the immensely large number of contacts reached via an outbound campaign which has become difficult to sustain in the present regulatory scenario in an industry which is also being marred by existing high turnover. There are about 1300 entities (outsourced / in-house) identifying themselves as telemarketing services provider to the sector as per TRAI (nodal regulatory agency in India). These service providers deliver more than an estimated 100 crore outbound calling hours per year for business operations.

While some telemarketing processes are aggressive reach campaigns, others are more mature and controlled form of establishing customer contact with both falling into business-to-business and business-to-consumer categories.

Indian firms invest an estimated INR 10,000 crore in outbound telemarketing generating INR 60,000 crore in annualized business value. This again is a downfall from the prime time of telemarketing in the mid 2000’s, when single businesses were recording double digit growths in customer acquisition.

Another roadblock to the growth of telemarketing industry has been the introduction of Do-not-Call registry and the subsequent regulations. Post this, the business has shrunk further, even though the regulations are not that stringent as of now and businesses have been given enough time to adjust. In fact, DNC regulations do not take the blame entirely, the affected business is the result of both regulatory and market forces. The DNC lists, as well as the revised telemarketing sales rules, have forced businesses to restrict calling activity. Firms who were heavy users of outbound telemarketing until a few years back have significantly mellowed down to prevent legal logjams.

The regulations related to Unsolicited Commercial Calls or UCC prevention has forced the telemarketing companies to employ a more focused outbound strategy rather than blind dialing on a mass scale. Also there has been significant shift of marketing spends from vanilla telemarketing to a more robust, sustainable and composite strategy of going the multi-channel way of customer reach-out which has the potential to drive the prospects to inbound call centers.

Even though deliberations are still ongoing on the effectiveness of regulations on outbound telemarketing and its upcoming demise, businesses have adopted innovative strategies to meet their ROI goals. These include – transferring customer sales calls to a sales call center for cross-selling, Internet and e-mail marketing to generate immediate leads and also by only calling those who are not on the DNC lists.

To conclude, even though it’s a highly hated term, the fact remains that telemarketing is here to stay and that too as a very effective marketing channel for businesses. The idea is to understand that its profitability does not come with the power and ability to “push” not-needed products, but from the ability to offer the right products and services to the right customer at the right time.

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Product Demonstration: An effective marketing tool

September 3rd, 2011 Chetna

Market force and customer satisfaction: my ears are perplexed by these two words that have become a rage since the time of their inception. Customer satisfaction remains the most sought after endeavor for companies alike.

Defining the customer cycle we get four primary stages – suspect, lead, prospect and finally customer. The suspect stage is when a company defines a target segment that can possibly be future customers.  This segment consists of suspects. Once an initiative to establish contact is made, the suspect matures to a lead stage. Upon reciprocating with some interest in the product on offer, the lead becomes a prospect or prospective buyer of the product. This is the point where maximum pre-sales efforts happen and aggressive convincing is required to further push the prospect to a customer stage.

As noted by various sales people the probability of a prospect backing out at the last minute are about 70% greater than that of creating a lead from a suspect base. And in the end conversion rate would always be calculated from the prospects that were turned into customers. A major portion of sales efforts is taken up by this stage only. The transition from this stage can be made smoother with introduction of innovative marketing tools.

By an effective marketing tool, the only thing that comes into my mind would be a tool that is able to convey to the customer, the key benefits and features of the product. Breaking down boundaries with a technology-resistant population can be hard, specifically if they’re forced to read pages of technical documentation, or dial-in to a support line whenever they want assistance.  A well-executed visual presentation permits them to review instructions at their own pace, put up their queries as and when required and re-go to challenging spots as necessary. Product demonstrations can do wonders to marketing strategies and initiatives. No amount of text can ever be equated to a visual demonstration of the product. Shooting fancy words or an eloquent usage of language skills is unmatchable to the impact that a live moving image can create.

Software companies often make use of engaging, dynamic tools that accelerate the sales process in the shortest span of time. Live Demos guide users by way of the product’s operation with step-by-step visual instruction and content that caters to their personal computer skill level. These demonstrations supply an engaging way to familiarize your user-base with the functionality you provide. Moving images coupled with sharp and precise content becomes a ‘wow’ package to leave a long lasting impression in the minds of the audience. Targeting and customizing the product demonstration as per the customer turns out to be a boon as it engages a prospect and articulates the value of the solution directly.

The demonstrator must be charismatic and possessing an in-depth knowledge of the product. A live session that is interactive, interesting and appealing leaves the audience completely fascinated by the presentation. A crisp and precise demonstration is always easy to be presented and is devoid of repetition, thereby keeping the audience glued to it. Clarity of voice along with good presentation skills produces overwhelming response and a promise of future undertakings.

Now demonstrations can vary from being an on-site demo, to showcasing a presentation on a public platform, to web demo which is facilitated through screen sharing and lastly, demonstration done at the premise. A meeting between a prospect and the business team of a company leads to a request for an on-site demonstration where the solution vendor happens to visit the prospect with the whole set up to be demonstrated at the prospect’s site. Next is an opportunity wherein the vendor finds a way to exhibit the product on an open platform, addressing to a large crowd that majorly comprises of a target audience. Then, comes a technology-based, largely popular way of product demonstration made possible through the use of web and made accessible through screen sharing. Lastly, a demonstration on-premise also proves to be lucrative in cases when the solution provider is able to present the product demo effectively and comfortably.

With product demonstration evolving as an excellent tool for marketing, one thing that remains certain is that the content of any marketing tool must be charming and attractive. In order for a demo to create a long lasting impression on the minds of the customer, the content is majorly responsible for the same. One can upgrade the demo for the existing customers to up-sell their existing product to a higher and costlier version. The buyers must be presented with innovative and interesting showcasing of product so as to ensure maximum numbers of repeat customers.

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Internship, ownership and mentorship – my 2 months @Drishti

July 27th, 2011 Anuj Jalan

While planning my sixth sem summer internship, I was wondering what company I would eventually join for the training. From the list of companies offering summer internship programs, I had created my own list and submitted my CV. I came to know that I had been shortlisted for a telephonic interview with Drishti-Soft Solutions.

After the grilling telephonic rounds, I had almost lost the hope of being selected. But to my surprise I was called in for the internship program at Drishti.

Following the age old myth, even I had imagined a slogging environment where office hours extend to over 16 per day and hardly any ‘life’. And considering my struggle through the interview process I would not be considered wrong in expecting the same in Drishti.

Now as the most brilliant minds research on a problem, even I did my share by simply taking the advice of my seniors ;-) . They said – “Without thinking twice, join Drishti.” I thought – “Okay! What is it about Drishti that makes them say so?” But anyways, rather than continuing my confused state, I decided to go ahead and finally let Drishti be my mentor!!

Now if I go into a quick flashback, I come to the start of my NIT days. I had a vision or let’s say a dream of becoming a successful developer. Fast-paced technology environment was my idea of exciting work opportunity. But was this new company going to give me this?

Well, yes it did!

Drishti was everything opposite to the myths of IT companies- a cool work environment, extensive learning and the very latest technology concepts to work on. I was very happy when I was allotted a live project to work upon using JAVA frameworks. I had never worked upon these technologies in my college so the task was really challenging and as usual I was very excited to learn.

Even after being a fresher to the domain, the team never let me feel alien to it. In fact the particular incident which I would term as ultimate grooming for any intern would be when I was allotted a project to work on. Now I was required to explore different possible approaches to the problem and deliver a solution. I said – “How would I be able to do it?” And the answer was – “That’s for you to find. You have to submit it by the end of this week.” I thought without any experience and training I would not make it.

But how wrong was I? To my surprise, I did find my way, made my own share of mistakes and learnt many new things. I had only read about Enterprise JAVA as a concept and never actually worked on it and here I did my project on this! And then I came to know that all along, my project manager was watching over each step I took. Now this is what I would call mentorship! Rather than spoon-feeding me he prompted me to find the bug and kill it!!

The teaching and assistance of everyone would be missed by me as I go back.  

The other memories I collected include – Friday parties. Actually now I think, these were just a reason to celebrate and unwind and also our RnD team was always the first one to gather in the cafeteria for the party ;-) . Then I had a wonderful time on the Rishikesh Trip. Celebrating completion of a project, we all went for a rafting trip to Shivpuri and “had the time of our lives”! The enjoyments continued with Drishti Annual Meet where being a part of Team ’B’, we played together, fought for victory and exhausted our energies in whistles and hootings! Wow! What a place to be….

Completing my internship, now I can say that I made the right decision of coming to Drishti. It gave me the perfect base of understanding technology the way we could never understand as mere students. Drishti introduced me to thinking about applications not just as a developer but as a user.  It also gave me an example I would give to my juniors for a place where you balance work and play!

Besides all the learnings, I know that I’m am more confident and adept

And in the end, I would like to thank the complete Drishti team for making my internship a great success and an ‘AWESOME’ experience.

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