Business 2.0 : Re-envisioning Business for sustainability and development

The way business was conducted stayed unchanged for thousands of years, save for improvement in transportation enabling easier movement of good. The real revolution in the way Business was carried out came with the usage of ships to cart goods across the seas, with some of the traders ending up in India and ruling over it for nearly 4 centuries. From then on, speed at which business was carried out got faster and faster. Business transactions remained fragmented all throughout this time with non standardized, gold based currency system until there came a need for standardizing the way to conduct business. With the introduction of paper based currency and standardization, businesses became efficient and can be termed as Business 1.0.
With the advent of Internet and Virtual money, Businesses came to be transacted at the speed of light or nearly thereof, with large amount of money changing hands in an instant; with virtual money constituting nearly 90% of the global economy. Business 1.0 evolved into Business 2.0 during this time and not just the money but even goods became virtually available, anytime any place. Brick and Mortar gave way to Click and Order, someone even becoming Click and Mortar to make goods available both physically and virtually.
Somewhere, between 1.0 and 2.0, Mankind lost sight of the basic tenets of business and greed, overcame the best of men, to mint as much money as possible in the shortest span of time became the norm. As a result, we are already seeing repercussions in the form of global warming & related changes and financial meltdowns leaving no man, woman or child ,unaffected in its wake. However, as a society, we are rising above the norm and are taking some steps in the right direction. Finding our feet after having lost our way for so long is indeed difficult but we seem to have made progress. Dictatorships are being brought down, the greedy are being chastised and the poor are beginning to be taken cared of as seen the Arab Spring and the ‘Occupy Movement’ or the Anna Hazare revolution in India.
Businesses have begun to become more responsible and less greedy but Mother Nature is yet to be appeased as we continue to relentlessly attack her from all directions for our own greed. It is time that we took up the cause of Nature along with the cause of Mankind before it is too late for everyone. We should aim for development that is truly sustainable and ecologically sound. Sustainability is sometimes defined as managing the triple bottom line, that is, people, planet and profits by incorporating elements and factors towards making people relevant and businesses relevant. But sustainability should also incorporate resiliency over time. It is time, we build a business model wherein not just the manufacturers but everyone involved in the supply chain of suppliers to consumers become more Eco conscious.
As policies around the world become centered around community development and environment and not just economically, Businesses have to follow suit or in cases precede the government by becoming Eco friendly and pressurize the government into action. As awareness grows, so do opportunities and these are the opportunities that we must seize if we are to leave our world a better place than we found it.
Business 2.0 thus should be a proactive effort by businesses to stay ahead of the game by developing and redesigning new business models taking into account the various factors towards becoming sustainable and successful.

Revenge of the Colonists

This post is prompted by all the common mistakes in the usage of English Language I have seen by others and not committed by me as far as I know. I am amused, many a times, by not the comments but by the words that constitute the comment itself. LOL as a matter of fact is the expression I get when i see one such comment anywhere. Social media platforms like FB have exponentially increased our right / wrong usage of the words, thereby making us susceptible to inculcate wrong usage of words and terms in the most inappropriate of contexts.I understand practice makes perfect but I guess someone forgot to mention, “Perfect practice makes Perfect” because without practicing something that is perfect we become perfect in practicing something that is flawed and this causes many a consternation among the users as to the appropriateness of the usage.

I totally understand the fact that language is for communication and till such a time that the othr person knows what is being said / meant, we really shouldn’t have a problem but do we really have to go to such an extent that we abuse the language till it is nothing but a string of words in no particular order and worse, using wrong words. Makes one pull one’s hair out and kiss good bye to sanity. No seriously, we have been abusing the language so much.

All this reminds me of my High School teacher, GB ma’am, who was quite particular about the words that an answer for a question carrying 5 marks would be awarded with 4.5 if it carried even a single spelling mistake. A wrong word would be awarded 4 and with the kind of words being used nowadays, even getting a single mark would have been an achievement for most I believe.

Some of the worst mistakes have to be in the usages of than / then, shooted(there is no such word) / shot and the offenders simply carry on without having any cognizance of the effects of the usage. With many of my friends who are either embarking / embarked on a professional career soon or for some who are about to disembark from one, please mind your language so that you don’t end up in a mess over the usage of one.

I am also reminded of a PM whom I worked under in the organization I previously worked for, who could not spell the word “champagne” and instead used “champion” when he intended to mean that the team had done an excellent job and the effort was worth lauding and that entire project team had a celebration coming up.

As for the title, I once read an anecdote, or something thereof, about an Englishman commenting that they had decided to quit the country unable to bear the assaults on the English language and not bowing down to Gandhi’s plea.

Till next post
Nik

What is Business 2.0!!!

I am currently the chief editor of our college newsletter and we are currently working around a theme called “Business 2.0″, which was decided after a meeting with the chairperson so as to decide what we could come up with something relevant to the students and I am to write an featured article on the same.

So I am sitting at my desk, nearly smacking my head on the laptop for the last 48 hours trying to come up with an article worthy of putting it in and here’s my horror story.

The first thing as soon as i got back to my room was to do a Google search cos I have heard Business 2.0 as often as everybody else but what does it actually mean; I was as clued in as the next person or a little better if you consider Mukul with his MBBS background. So what does the Google search query throw up with 0.31 seconds : 1.65mn results with not a single noteworthy reference to peruse. Not wanting to tear my hair out, I took my next pick Blekko and it belched out nearly the same or a little better but still no luck as to the direction. If you have been wondering why on earth did i simply not visit Wikipedia, i suggest you take a look here . Now that your curiosity is slightly appeased at my misery on seeing the same, let me continue.

So I was basically left stranded in a vast ocean of data without as much as an oar to help me point in the right direction. I thought going on twitter and looking at tweets related to the same would help me a little and take a look for yourself what happened next.

Tweet #1: Web 2.0 : I actually kinda have heard about this but where the flying fish is Business 2.0 and if you are not referring to one stop using the hashtag.

Tweet #2 : App Economy. (Don’t you dare ask me what this is)

Tweet #3 : Women in Business 2.0 – The Movie. Apparently they are taking pre-orders but no word on what to expect in it.

Tweet #4 : Business 2.0. the new economy.  ( WHAT!!!!!! now what is new economy. Wikipedia link again. Strike 2 )

FB is not even on my consideration list of places to look for information as the only things i ever get to see is My vacation, my dog, my cat, my this and my that and nothing worthwhile ever and not to mention the Facebook IPO of $5 Billion..are people out of their frigging mind buying up FB IPO with 865mn people only making it earn $3.4 Bn in 12 frigging months.Ughhh. Disgusting.

Continuing where I left off from, Don’t worry I have not moved an inch as without an oar to row me somewhere, i am standing still and in the same place before i digressed. So what do i learn from this entire 48 hour exercise, Business 2.0 is a frigging myth that we use to console ourselves that the world is changing at a rapid pace and that there are people who know what it means while what it actually is, is what none really knows and everyone’s just bluffing their way around the world screaming their lungs out as to what it means. One such Business 2.0 guru / Social media consultant is listed below. Listen to him and his legion of Business 2.0  consultants at the risk of losing your sanity

Cheerio.

Nik

The beginning of the end of MBA

its that time of the year when senior batches graduate and junior batches become seniors,  when committees and clubs transition to having a new hierarchy or flat structure and having a new face at the helm to manage affairs to ensure that the club/committee functions as smoothly as it used to under the people before them. It is also the time when we hang up our thinking hats and let down our hair and make the best use of the time that is lying on our hands vacant and unused. It is also that time of the year when a lot of us are placed in good places and hopefully in as good profile as has been shown to us and the rest receiving enormous support from the ones placed. it is also that time of the year when the Zephyr team is working the hardest and the senior batch even more by downloading TV series and movies and stuffed as there is very little time left for doing so. This is also that time of the year when any and every reason to celebrate is seized upon and made ample use of not just for one occasion and at times multiple occasions. The year though barely a month old and seemingly a long time before the end has already brought a lot of joy and griefs into lives of many, the cycle of happiness and suffering repeated over and over again within a span of days, when promises of friendships are reneged, broken or forged and treasured, of people falling in love or falling out of it, of people loving fate or just plain ruing it, of life itself or contemplation of outside of it, where the eternal struggle with fate has been determined to a certain extent or is still on without any end in sight. It is also that time of the year for us that we discover our new selves and improve as though we are casting aside our skins like snakes or slipping into a new ones as though we are all born actors. Life itself must go on; on an endless note but i guess the month of February is THAT time of the year for senior batches from IMT to prepare themselves to face the world outside the cozy confines of the institute while the junior batches are preparing themselves for a larger role at the college and also a stint outside during their summer internship. Overall February will always remain that time of the year wherein I did what i wanted to and remained happy for quite a few reasons and coz of quite a few people.

Cheerio

Nik

Is it time Google did an Apple???

Google and Apple maybe a classic case of Allies turned Foes in the Tech world but look beyond, they are the biggest rivals and threats to each other and are now competing in myriad environments hitherto unknown to play host to such behemoths with vast financial muscle to pull out all the stops to go for an all out war in a fight to finish whereby culmination is signified by the wipe out of one of the 2 fighters. They seem like straight out of the movie “Gladiator” where in Maximus and the Roman Emperor are in a battle of the wits but only that the role of who’s who in this battle is not as distinctly clear as the movie portrays. So why this blog if nothing is crystal clear. Read on to see my muse run on in a play of words.

Google came into the fight with Apple with the introduction of Android which ran on a plethora of devices against the latter’s iDevices. Apple has lost market share but still maintained profitability even in the most dynamic of environments such as the mobile phone. The success is attributed in parts to the iDevices but mostly to the ecosystem that Apple has built mainly centered on iTunes and the tight linkage with iDevices coupled with its philosophy of one lineup, one product at a time philosophy.

In stark contrast, Android which eventually started in a clunky manner with its Chocolate flavor and then moving on to Donut, Eclair till its latest Ice cream Sandwich by way of  which it has managed to catch up to most of its counterpart’s features but the offerings by OEM partners have been lambasted for a lot of reasons from quality of build to customization and bloatware. Of course, i love my Nexus One to bits but then again HTC has done a fantastic job with the build and with the pure Google experience, have cut much of the crap that my friends experience with other Droid devices.

Now that Google has Motorola Mobility in its wings and all the patents that could have been acquired, its time they step up the game to the next level and take on Apple with all its might. To begin with, Google should build a iTunes of its own and allow for easy sync with PC than the clumsy way of custom jukeboxes from OEM. Also an Android mobile is usually stuck with the flavor of Android it gets shipped in and hence this should be rectified at the earliest with at least support being provided for 3-4 versions by which time, they will get outdated and users will no longer use instead of being a generation behind by the time they are shipped out of the door. Building reverse compatible is something key that Apple does and time that Google aped the same instead of always quoting that the devices were too slow to run the latest versions and hence denying them the latest Android version.

Currently updates to Android devices are delivered Over-The-Air and is mostly at the discretion of the wireless carrier to push the update to device which makes it a pain in the ass for many, not to mention the hefty data consumption forming a good chunk of the 3G data plan instead it should allow for a download and sync option than rooting and updating currently being done. Google can also come up with more Pure Google experience phones by leveraging all the resources that Motorola currently has to offer in terms of Manufacturing, Dealership and Patents to get the best possible devices out to the market. Maybe instead of one lineup one device philosophy, it can adopt a price segmentation based one lineup one device which ll give it access to all strata of the consumers in the market looking for a mobile phone.

Maybe this is wishing a bit too much but i just wish Google would do something right all the way to the end instead of starting in a grand manner and resorting to mediocrity midway like its many products and experiments in the past. Till next post.

Nik

2 cents on TED

I am not sure as to how many guys are aware of TED. TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate “ideas worth spreading”. All about TED can be found here. So what makes my blog post any different from the wiki page. I ain’t anything new to offer but only my views on TED.

To begin with TED is a fantastic platform for myriad variety of peopleto come together and deliver a talk on their favorite topic which can range from the most abstractest to the next most abstractest but then again, there is a superb idea behind each one of them. these ideas are game changing to definitive in many aspects. Each of the speakers put together their knowledge and experience into the making of a talk. I have started following the talks on a regular basis and each time i come back wowed with all that people have been doing around the world, be it defining the word privacy for FBI or Open source Cancer research and so on.

So if all this is also available on the net, then why this blog post. Thats because, i stumbled upon an android app called TED Air, curious to check it out i downloaded and started using it. Now it turns out that all the 1019 talks, which is the total number of talks, are available for streaming and into my mobile where i can watch it at my convenience. I am simply getting more and more enchanted with TED. Hope u do too and gain something from this invaluable platform. Till next post.

Nik

Empty Nest Syndrome

This is not really a blog post as much as it is a muse. Some of my best friends and friends that i have had close to me for a long time all have gone elsewhere either for work or for studies. It just is an example of Empty Nest syndrome where in the baby birds have spread their wings and have taken flight in the form of their decision to move away from family. Some of the people who have done so are Srinath, Giri, Prakash, Divya amongst my closest friends and me included. In contrast, i see Harshad who has quit a job and moved closer home in Belgaum and works as a freelancer on some technology. Makes me wonder a lot more…till next post

Nik

News of the World

The title bears no reference to the newspaper by the same name but to the overall news that we are exposed to. This was an article long time in the making but without me having the mood to strangle a few good neurons to write this post. Here I am with my views on a topic that i hold close.

Everyday the newspaper seems to bring in the same kinda news which is nothing but bad news. I have begun hating the newspaper more and more. when i was working, my newspaper would be restricted to breakfast time which is 20 min give or take 5. But since i have come to IMT, it has increased substantially spread over the course of the day. I read all the pages and almost column by column but then all i see is that the news is so generic. All bad news evokes from me is a feeling of having read yesterday’s news and nothing new. Long back i had heard of a newspaper in Israel which published good news on front page and bad in the other pages. I did indeed search for this newspaper but then again didn’t find it cos it was local paper not published online.

My newspaper reading pattern somewhat goes on like this. Cartoon, Film Gossip, Sports, Business, Global news and then National and then front page. Only when i see the cartoon page that i realise i am reading a new edition and not yesterdays edition. Somehow i wish the newspapers get a little more sensible and stop sensationalizing all news. Somebody once remarked…”How strange it is that all the news around the world exactly fits in a newspaper”. I guess i have to stop reading the paper to prevent exposure to all the sensational news around me.

Nik

Life is Simple

This post is the result of a conversation with my parents in fact it was mostly with mom. Mom made a statement that neither of her sons were meant for something big. I retorted by saying that life is too simple to be complicated trying to achieve greatness and making world changing stuff.

My fundamental principles are probably too simple and uncomplicated to be considered serious enough but this post is all about myself and for myself. Feel free to comment.

1. Money is a means to happiness and happiness comes not from having money but spending it on stuff u want and doing things that make u feel good not storing it by the tons. Some money should always be available in case of emergency but then life is not a case of perpetual contingency where in u save up money for a rainy day.

2. Everyone goes abroad for some or the other reasons which can be categorized as Work, Education and Travel. When most guys go for education, they leave a family behind and they return once in 2 years.during education or work years, to see them. People going for work go for long term and same story repeats again. Before i continue, i would like to clarify that i am not a frustrated guy who has not been onsite or some such but my basic point is we go for making money but at what cost, Not being able to be with your family when u need them or they u, Weeks months and years of loneliness and we continue to live like that forever. We have been given a life to make the most of it by being ourselves and not use it up in pusuit of utopia. Maybe my thoughts are different but they are basically simple statements of truth..at least for myself.

3. Find an activity which u wan2 for a long time. I like creating prose mostly blogging, occasionally penning a few pages of my non existent novel but somewhere in a few years i ll complete it. I love reading novels and  blogs. I dont spend a considerable amount of money on books but suffice to say that i read reviews before buying a book.

4. Make a few good friends with whom u can be whatever u are and do all u feel like. Family and friends are very important for the mental and emotional well being of a person and also it becomes tiresome to wear a mask all the time so sometimes u just need to be yourself. I can quite happily lay claim for a few such souls whom i am happy to have in my life.

5. Don’t do something u dont wan2 do. Doing something that we dont wan2 do makes us feel bad both from outside and inside. Ruins the joy of doing anything. So always do what your heart tells u to and refrain from doing something that u wont enjoy. Starts with work and spreads to everything else.

6. Believe in yourself.  Enough  said.

7. Exercise and Sleep. 2 most important phases of a day. Just about enough exercise and right amount of sleep gets a man through anything. Exercise not just your body but also your brain

8. Remember Anandam Bramha

Till Next post

Nik

Obsession with Mona Lisa

I have never been able to understand the obsession of leading scholars, archaeologists and others with Mona Lisa. There is a lot of debate on who Mona Lisa is, whether the model who posed is somebody’s wife or a guy and so on. The painting all of 77X53 cm has sent the word many times its size into a tizzy over the intricacies and secrets of the painting. But  I still am unable to understand what is so gr8 abt the painting. Would the painting have been viewed differently if Leonardo had not drawn the so-called enigmatic smile or had drawn the eye brows. The painting has been subject to such intensive scrutiny that there is no more joy in viewing the painting but just as another test subject that will be dissected by all those who please and without any regards to the painters feelings or the beauty of the painting.

The painting has been viewed time and again under different microscopes, high resolution cameras that i wonder what they are trying to find or is that they feel that mona lisa (or whoever it is) will strip her clothes of subjecting herself to further scrutiny by the lechers. Some of the most important or unimportant discoveries abt Mona Lisa (which hardly matter) are:

1. No eye brow / enigmatic smile

2. Mostly Lisa del Giocondo, wife of some important person

3. Also rumored to be gay lover of Leo and supposedly there is a letter S in one of the eyes which spell out the name of that person

4. May not be Lisa but can be some one else that Leo was close to

5. Mona was pregnant….

For heavens sake, let the damn painting alone and enjoy the masterpiece of Leo and not tear it apart like there is no value to Leo but only to that of the painting…Sometimes i wonder what would have happened if Leo had not drawn the painting. Maybe all these archaic expeditions and so would not have been funded or such trivial questions raised and world would be short of one subject to blabber on abt..till next post

Nik