IT is dead! Long live IT!

Hindustan Times – Delhi edition. Friday, September 21, 2007

Is India’s IT revolution just about cheap labor and repetitive coding? Is there a need for innovation and business orientation?

I love oxymorons, – and they have nothing to do with airy idiots – retrofuturism, hitech fashion, mass customisation, happily married … the list goes on. I’ve just added Information Technology.

Before jumping to the conclusion that this article is a proclamation of accession or another attempt at sensationalisation, I provoke you to disagree vehemently. How can IT be dead? Surely not Indian IT! The revolution has just about begun. If this were a multiple-choice question, I would answer ‘All of the above’.

While on exams, remember when we used to poke fun at a teacher who had the reputation of awarding marks by the number of extra sheets you took? How we could make the clever guys look stupid! I’m thinking that this is exactly what we’ve gone and done to Indian IT today.

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What do I care what my Client thinks?

IT Magazine – September 2007

We IT guys have never had it better. The only problem is that our clients never seem to understand us. My question is, “Do we understand our clients? Do we care about what they think?” My short answer is, “No.”

I heard a recent speech by Anu Aga, former chairperson of the Thermax Group, where she borrowed a thought from Miles Kington,“Knowledge tells you that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom tells you not to put it in the fruit salad!”

Although she used it in a different context, I found it appropriate in the context of IT. Wise IT entrepreneurs (however much of an oxymoron that might seem) know that technology is a tomato. Their wisdom, however, tells them that it is not the business itself.

Now you’re thinking, “Who’s this guy who’s trying to get my attention – does he think we don’t know our stuff?” Let me hasten to introduce myself. My credentials are of little significance; my philosophy is what matters— sustainability, innovation, globalisation and culture are the cornerstones of successful entrepreneurship. Since I now have your attention, I am going to try my utmost to keep it.

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