Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my readers in the United States and my American readers abroad; enjoy this day with your friends and families.

For those who want to learn more about this holiday, the website of Plimoth Plantation, a museum and research center with exhibits on 17th-century colonists and the Wampanoag tribe, has a lot of useful information. As American as Pumpkin Pie is a good place to start.

Outsourcing: Naresh Lakhanpal And Hiro Notaney Of Patni Computer Systems (Part 8)

Hiro: I think this concept of empowerment is a really good point. I have not been here so long, but I think that now we are moving toward a more collaborate management style. It’s something that I’ve noticed quite a bit. The leadership takes input, and then they encourage people and try to build consensus. This one of the things that I have noticed even in the short time that I’ve been here. The  hierarchy of the past is being eroded now. >>>

Outsourcing: Naresh Lakhanpal And Hiro Notaney Of Patni Computer Systems (Part 7)

By guest author Tony Scott

Tony: Do you think [this idea of being more about the human touch] is happening now? Because that also changes the way you sell and deliver services overall. Five years in the future, will the mix of delivery people and customer interface people going to change in terms of where they’re located, or do you think it will be similar to what are you looking at now? Most of your delivery capability is still in India, right? >>>

Outsourcing: Naresh Lakhanpal And Hiro Notaney Of Patni Computer Systems (Part 6)

By guest author Tony Scott

Hiro: The dual nature of the cloud is where we spend a lot of time with the customers, saying, Okay, we can deliver in the cloud. Yes, that will create greater efficiency, but there’s also this other side where the technology itself can make you more efficient – it can make a particular process, not just the delivery of it – work in a way that has inherent advantages. So, when we talk to our customers, we try to make it as explicit as possible what they need and how it all works, as opposed to just saying, “Oh, the cloud, we’re right there.” >>>

Catching Up On Readings: An Eye On Travel And Retail

All eyes will be on travel and retail as the holiday season, so important for both industries, begins this week. Deal Radar company ShopIgniter believes that the 2010 holiday season will be a watershed moment for social commerce, and players as diverse as Amazon, Apple, Intel, and Orbitz stand to gain greatly from the ever-tighter intertwining of commerce, mobile computing, and the Internet. Click on the full article to read my coverage of such topics in this week’s posts. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Dr. Reed Sheard, CIO Of Westmont College (Part 7)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

SM: What about higher education–specific vendors?

RS: I would put Apple in there. Apple would count as an education-specific vendor.

SM: How so? Do they have specific offerings for higher education?

RS: Every other year, Apple organizes a conference for CIOs in higher education. They have account executives who are focused only on higher education. Apple also has pricing models that are beneficial to the higher education sector. These are some of the things they do, and our Apple user base in higher education in general qualifies them as a vendor. This is a pretty significant shift to the Apple platform across higher education that has created an interesting and creative dynamic. This is an interesting dialogue happening among colleges and universities. >>>

Outsourcing: Naresh Lakhanpal And Hiro Notaney Of Patni Computer Systems (Part 4)

By guest author Tony Scott

Naresh: So, once again, it’s giving people permission to say it’s okay to be different, and it really is because we believe that diversity of thought, diversity of mind is going to get us further in the end.

I would say that it’s the idea of having permission to do these things that is opening up folks, and that’s been interesting. I can tell you for my organization, one of the things that was a shock to me was after they realized I was here, I started getting all these e-mails asking for my approval for all sorts of things that were exceptions. I went back to my people and said, “Wait a second, how many exceptions can I deal with? You have to work with each other to figure these things out. Your peer group is going to help solve more issues for you than if you bring it to me, because I may be on an airplane to India, and if you’re expecting a response right now, it won’t happen.” >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Dr. Reed Sheard, CIO Of Westmont College (Part 6)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

SM: I think when you talk in terms of e-mail or CRM, the basic e-mail or CRM, these are horizontal functionalities. You would definitely have an advantage if you use somebody else’s solution that has been built, tested, and scaled, and something that is scalable on this level has the right kind of support. There is no reason to reinvent that wheel for higher education specific solutions if there is such horizontal functionality available today. >>>