Thought Garage

IT Outsourcing, a couple of years back, literally meant  shifting Product Development, Software Implementation and most of  back office management to India (from US and major European countries). But when Nandan Nilekani of Infosys said ‘The World is Flat’, he did not mean moving work to Bangalore alone or India in general.  In fact he was hinting about  the future of Outsourcing, the out sourcing 2.0.

"Any thing can be outsourced to anywhere in the world." (Following  the same tenets of outsourcing : price, time and knowledge)

Facing serious problems of attrition and salary increases and increasing competition all over, Indian IT companies are fast expanding to rest of the cheaper and better world: Mexico, China and a few other third world countries. Time is fast approaching for Indian IT engineers to start discussing about  loosing their jobs to their cheaper counterparts in the rest of the world. 

While expansion to Mexico, China and few other third world countries seems to be a rational choice, I am little confused with the rationale of American graduates in choosing outsourcing firms. Having spent most of my time in one of the top three IT firms in India, I have no clue why American College graduates turn down Google and join Infosys. The following story in NY Times says that it is happening.

Many of them are recent American college graduates, and some have even turned down job offers from coveted employers like Google. Instead, they accepted a novel assignment from Infosys, the Indian technology giant: fly here for six months of training, then return home to work in the company’s American back offices.

India is outsourcing outsourcing.

Outsourcing Works, So India Is Exporting Jobs – New York Times

Times are fast changing. Businesses and markets world wide have tasted outsourcing and its price advantage. It will never stop. Weak Dollar and alarming attrition rates have started forcing Indian IT firms to go for job cuts and expand further into new cheaper destinations. This, I believe,  will increase exponentially in the next few months.  The saga of outsourcing continues. For businesses, it doesn’t matter. Infosys may not care whether they do it from India or any part of the world. They also need outsourcing to rest of the world for the same exact price advantage.

That would,  in general change a lots of things for the Indian economy, that has been riding on the high tides for a while. And  these are definitely quite an Interesting and very tough times for typical Indian IT engineer, who have already deeply in debt trying to reach out booming and mostly hyped up real estate and western lifestyles. Can they afford to loose their jobs at this juncture to rest of the world? 

On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind – the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.

 

I thought for a moment, what difference would it make, if every blogger writes something about the issue? I remembered the Starfish story. If every blogger take one single action along with writing their ideas about the issue on thier blogs, it would make a huge difference. 

“The Starfish Story” by Loren Eiseley

Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work. One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.

He came closer still and called out “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?” The young man paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean.” “I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?” asked the somewhat startled wise man. To this, the young man replied, “The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.”

Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, “But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!” At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, “It made a difference for that one.”

Short answer, because it’s kind of a blue print of my own dream phone.

Some time around August last year(2006), I started blogging about Cellular Lifestyles, exploring the new lifestyles today’s smartphones are creating.   I drew a raw picture that capture my idea of dream mobile phone (you can guess that I am not a graphic designer, and it doesn’t take more than a minute with powerpoint). I also expressed my frustration and pain of carrying multiple devices available at that time in more than one article and eagerly waiting for the domination of smart phones (multi-function). 

What I really want in a mobile

This is that crazy simple picture showing all the functionality that I always wanted in a mobile phone.

I received over 100 emails, some of them  criticizing that I am being foolish to combine everything into one device or some nicely put it as the swiss army knife approach is just not smart any more. Well, I prefer to stay foolish and stay hungry for a smart device that does all I wanted (like Steve Jobs said “Stay Hungry. Stay foolish“). I never had a clue that there is something similar is already in the making.

The iPhone

Back to the present, July 2007, I hold a phone in my hands that almost does everything I ever imagined. The  iPhone, a lovely device with a truly revolutionary interface and intutive functionality blend, that almost matches my dream phone blue print. Interface is however something I have never imagined.

I love my iPhone, not only because it is indeed my dream phone, but I admire each and every design element of iPhone, starting from its revolutionary interface to the single sheet packaging of all its accessories in such a novel box.

Read my first musings about iPhone and little emotional response. about some criticism about iPhone I couldn’t take it.  When I get some time, I will write how I am enjoying the cool new features of iPhone, indeed my dream phone. 

Till then, Stay foolish, Stay Hungry and keep dreaming.

Forbes Special Report : India at 60

Indeed, India today is nothing like the nation of its great liberator, Mahatma Gandhi–free but also buried in poverty, and very much an underdeveloped country. Now, by virtue of pressure from some visionary entrepreneurs and links to global telecom networks, India has emerged as one of the half-dozen most dynamic economies in the world. Its stock market is surging, a new middle class is developing and the nation is anticipating the moment when the vast bulk of its population begins to enter the global economy. That’s the real challenge for India, and the rest of the world: a billion more people suddenly driving cars, heating and lighting their homes and setting ever higher aspirations for themselves and their children.

Rediff Special Series : India at 60

Dental Tourism, just another form of outsourcing. Who says ‘price’ is not a factor when it comes to healthcare?

At least 2,544,000 people around the world will search the internet for dental treatment abroad this year, according to Reva Health Network. In June alone, 636,155 dental tourism-related searches were carried out globally by 212,051 unique users on Google, Yahoo! and MSN search engines.

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