Managing Offshore IT tag:www.infosysblogs.com,2009:/managing-offshore-it/1 2009-04-28T07:24:18Z Offshore Management Framework: The key to managing outsourced IT projects across time, distance and cultures. Movable Type 3.2ysb5-20051201 Global Swine Flu threat. Notes from the past: What next? tag:www.infosysblogs.com,2009:/managing-offshore-it//1.167 2009-04-28T07:08:04Z 2009-04-28T07:24:18Z Most of us watching the news are probably up-to-date on the Swine Flu outbreak. The Media, bloggers and others are generating awareness . . . and a lot of buzz. I was reflecting on what this mean to those of... Mohan Babu K. Most of us watching the news are probably up-to-date on the Swine Flu outbreak. The Media, bloggers and others are generating awareness . . . and a lot of buzz. I was reflecting on what this mean to those of us in the Business of Globalization. Such epidemics certainly a cause for concern. The way I look at it:

  • In the short run the pandamic will certainly impact trade and business as people become hesitant to get on a plane, travel and attend critical meetings. Companies, especially multinationals, will send out travel advisories based on their individual corporate risk assessments. More governments may issue travel advisories. Cross-continental and international travellers may have to undergo additional screening. . . . etc . etc.
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  • In the mid-term, say next few weeks: one should be watching with caution, use common sense while travelling and of course have confidence that the authorities around the world are going to do their best to contain the epidemic. Of course, HR departments, corporate security groups and governments are perhaps doing a quick scan of lessons learnt from that the SARS era. Note to self: there is an irony that the SARS scare also came at a time of global slowdown (in the tech sector)
  • Most of us in the business of globalization remember SARS virus scare that had a similar short-term impact on global trade . . . but was soon forgotten. In the long run, things will settle back into a pattern. And of course there will be new lessons learnt.
    • ]]>     Piracy, Pirates and Offshore Techies tag:www.infosysblogs.com,2009:/managing-offshore-it//1.166 2009-04-19T19:28:38Z 2009-04-19T19:42:04Z Perhaps the reason why some writers and bloggers are asking if “it time to stop using the word 'piracy'?” or Rename “Digital Piracy”? Which makes one wonder if there such a thing as Harmless piracy? Mohan Babu K. During the past few weeks, one couldn’t glance through the international headlines without reading about the saga of Piracy unfolding in the Gulf of Aden and at high-seas. To those of us in the software IT services business, another version of this scourge continues to impact us: software piracy. 

    Given that Piracy is noteworthy and the pirates at sea are operate offshore, I am surprised that some smart alec writer or blogger hasn’t picked up on offshoring piracy. It is probably because large software services firms, Infosys included, take Intellectual property rights seriously. Most have strong policies and guidelines preventing employees, consultants and service providers from indulging in such acts and violations are not tolerated.

    ]]> The numbers in terms of dollars lost to software piracy are hugh. For instance, this article talks about how “Software ranks among the most popular categories of counterfeited goods, and the Internet is only contributing to the rise in intellectual property violations, according to research by a piracy-prevention consultancy .  .   . During the month of June 2005, $91 million worth of entertainment media and software was pirated worldwide, up 13 per cent from December 2004, according to research from Canada's Gieschen Consultancy.”

    Though companies discourage the practice by strong enforcement within their environments, software piracy continues. Pervasiveness of wi-fi and broadband has made piracy a cottage industry. Many of us may support or actively participate in piracy without even blinking. Here is a dipstick: Do you feel guilty about making copies of the latest music hit that your friend bought? (or the other way around) While doing so, you may not feel as sinister as a gang of Somalis taking the captain of Mersk Alabama hostage, it is still about the owner of the “rights” not getting their due share. Which makes one wonder if there such a thing as Harmless piracy?

    ]]>     Silver linings in the cloud? tag:www.infosysblogs.com,2009:/managing-offshore-it//1.165 2009-04-08T11:13:57Z 2009-04-08T12:06:11Z The debate among digirati is getting a bit polarized with the recent publication of the “Open Cloud Manifesto” My colleagues from our Microsoft practice also continue to scan the horizon for clouds, much like Indian farmers will be doing so in a few months with the advent of Monsoon season. Not surprisingly they are siding with folks at Redmond on Open Cloud Manifesto though I personally find the debate a non-issue. When is the last time the “entire tech industry” and “all” vendors agree on anything? For instance, do we have a global standard for all facets of SOA - yet another hyped technology paradigm - that all vendors agree to? Of course, just to stretch an argument on cloud computing, one can throw some bit of offshoring mantra: as long as a strong cloud paradigm is defined, your cloud might as well be managed from offshore. Mohan Babu K. Most of us in the technology industry are observing the recent hype over cloud computing, some hoping that it might provide a boost to the tech sector in an otherwise bleak economic climate. And if one goes by the assumption that technology trends peak when the business press begins featuring them, cloud computing must be peaking the hype curve.

    As we head into the easter holidays, I decided to catch up on the chatter on cloud computing. I began with Kris Gopalakrishnan`s views express during his trip to Davos for WEF earlier this (Infosys CEO Sees Brightness in Clouds) Wall Street Journal recently featured a story (The Internet Industry Is on a Cloud -- Whatever That May Mean) that begins by explaining “Ever since Google Inc. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt publicly uttered the term "cloud computing" in 2006, a storm has been gathering over Silicon Valley.”
     

    ]]> What I liked about the WSJ piece was the author’s ability to distil the essence of the cloud paradigm:
    Despite its recent surge in popularity, the cloud is among the oldest pieces of computer jargon, says Alex Bochannek, a curator at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. For decades, engineers drew them in schematic diagrams to show where their own network joins another whose inner workings are unknown or irrelevant. "You symbolize that with a cloud, or some amorphous shape," says Mr. Bochannek.

    The author also builds on how software vendors are beginning to replace Cloud Comupting for other tech buzzwords including ASP, “online services” and "on-demand business services."

    The debate among digirati is getting a bit polarized with the recent publication of the “Open Cloud Manifesto”  My colleagues from our Microsoft practice also continue to scan the horizon for clouds, much like Indian farmers will be doing so in a few months with the advent of Monsoon season. Not surprisingly they are siding with folks at Redmond on Open Cloud Manifesto though I personally find the debate a non-issue. When is the last time the “entire tech industry” and “all” vendors agree on anything?  For instance, do we have a global standard for all facets of SOA - yet another hyped technology paradigm - that all vendors agree to? Of course, just to stretch an argument on cloud computing, one can throw some bit of offshoring mantra: as long as a strong cloud paradigm is defined, your cloud might as well be managed from offshore.

    Should the rest of us be peering at the looming clouds of a darkening economy, or as Kris Gopalakrishnan was quoted in CNBC await Brightness in the Clouds?

    There are several interesting viewpoints and analysis on cloud computing on including

    ]]>     Musings on Enterprise Architects, Business Architects and glorified Business Analysts tag:www.infosysblogs.com,2009:/managing-offshore-it//1.164 2009-03-12T10:30:43Z 2009-03-12T11:39:11Z Perhaps less than a decade ago the term “Architect” caught the fancy of the IS and software community and many technologists – we used to call them Systems Analysts – took on the Architect Moniker. Now with a renewed interest among Enterprise Architects in taking on additional focus on Business Architecture, I wonder if the BA (Business Analyst) community is also going to join the bandwagon. Sure, more the merrier one could say; but I am tempted to ask: will the REAL Business Architects who are Architecting their Businesses raise their hands please? Mohan Babu K. I am consulting with Enterprise Architects of a multinational client, helping define a framework for EA modeling. An area of emerging interest in the group here is around Business Architecture. The members of the core Enterprise Architecture team are seasoned technologists who also have a good grounding of the enterprise drivers and challenges. While they have grounding in the “Business of IS” it is not necessarily the “business” of the organization, which is to say they are not functional experts in HR, Finance or other operational areas.

    ]]> As I observe and to some extent facilitate the evolution of the Enterprise Architects in the group to don additional hat of Business Architects, I am also reflecting on trends I have seen in the industry: evolution of Business Analysts. Many Business Analysts I have worked with come from a few distinct backgrounds, including:

    Perhaps less than a decade ago the term “Architect” caught the fancy of the IS and software community and many technologists – including senior folks we used to call Systems Analysts – took on the Architect Moniker. Given that there is now a renewed interest among Enterprise Architects to take on additional focus on Business Architecture, which is by itself highly contextual to individual enterprises,  I wonder if the traditional BA (Business Analyst) community is also going to join the bandwagon.

    Sure, more the merrier one could say: include all Entrerprise Architects and Business Analysts to the Business Architecture Party. But I am tempted to ask: will the REAL Business Architects, who are actually Architecting their Businesses raise their hands please?

    ]]> Any Oscars for Offshoring Slumdogs? tag:www.infosysblogs.com,2009:/managing-offshore-it//1.163 2009-02-23T05:48:21Z 2009-02-23T06:07:00Z Now, if a rags-to-riches fairytale of a Slum Dog can sweep the Oscars, what is to say that the fortune of Offshoring Slumdogs and global IT community will not turn around? I am sure many in the industry are dreaming: if Jamal Malik (Ram Mohammad Thomas in the original novel) could win a billion rupees in a quiz show because he is so incredibly lucky that his life-story literally follows the pattern of 13 questions in the quiz, what is to say that my life-experiences will not help win a billion. . . and fairytale story of Indian offshoring boom-to-bust-to- will not sweep the Oscars of life? Mohan Babu K. After I stopped by this blog last week to cross-post from entry on our EA blog, I was pleasantly surprised to see a ping from Michael, with whom I have exchanged notes in the past. He asks if my perspective has changed as rapidly as the global economic landscape.

    Michael, sure my perspective has changed . . .  in more ways than one. This said, it is fascinating - though not amusing - to see fellow techies suddenly transform into armchair experts in macro-economics, finance, globalization, free-trade etc etc, all the while wondering “what hit us?,” and “where to go from here?” and most importantly “what does this all mean to me?”

    ]]> This said, like thousands of Indian born technologists, [Ref NandanNilekani’s blog] I too cling to the hopes of a fairytale ending like that of the bollywood-hollywood hit Slumdog Millionaire that swept the Oscars last night. I must admit that I haven’t got around to watching the movie but just finished reading the original novel (Q&A by Indian Diplomat Vikas Swarup) over the weekend.

    Now, if a rags-to-riches fairytale of a Slum Dog can sweep the Oscars, what is to say that the fortune of Offshoring Slumdogs and global IT community will not turn around? I am sure many in the industry are dreaming: if Jamal Malik (Ram Mohammad Thomas in the original novel) could win a billion rupees in a quiz show because he is so incredibly lucky that his life-story literally follows the pattern of 13 questions in the quiz, what is to say that my life-experiences will not help win a billion. . . and fairytale story of Indian offshoring boom-to-bust-to-<whatever> will not sweep the Oscars of life?

    Hopes and Dreams: I guess this is what fairytales (and life) is made of?!

    ]]>     Long Time . . . No Blog tag:www.infosysblogs.com,2009:/managing-offshore-it//1.162 2009-02-19T20:05:30Z 2009-02-19T20:15:54Z Mohan Babu K. I have been neck-deep in “this and that” and haven’t got the muse to resume blogging back on this forum.

    Here is a cross-post from my recent entry on our EA blog based on the recently published Enterprise Architecture Survey which I helped conduct and author.

    I will be back soon to continue my observations on Offshoring, Globalization and sourcing

    ]]>     Learning to get over it tag:infosysblogs.com,2008:/managing-offshore-it//1.161 2008-12-10T06:15:51Z 2008-12-10T18:39:44Z Mohan Babu K. My last post on this blog was a while ago, when I mused about our personal tragedy.…My wife and I have been working hard to get over it, and move on. [Thanks for the sympathy and wishes]. And speaking of getting over, it is not just me… others seem to be needing a hand in getting over their personal and professional crusades; especially because of unfortunate situations that are being exacerbated by both local and geopolitical events: be it the global economic crisis   or the geo-political threats from terrorism and wars. 

    ]]> With all this happening around, it was almost like getting out of a time capsule when I met with a client in Europe recently. The gentleman had googled me, looked at my linkedin profile and a review of my book before we had an opportunity to meet. While talking about my book, he remarked at how offshoring has got commoditized in the past few years.

    This statement of an obvious fact made me reflect later. Even with a few road-bumps, my colleagues don’t seem to have a struggle in explaining offshoring or sourcing to client buyers. While cost was always a driver for sourcing, the challenge seems to have shifted up the value chain - as the worn out cliché goes – towards how sourcing and offshoring can be leveraged to address the challenge of survival many firms are facing.

    And as is customary during the year end, there are enough predictions and forecasts from industry gurus (real and armchair ones) to go around. A small sampling from fellow bloggers.

    Predictions for 2009 or not, one thing is for sure, businesses and individuals are all learning to get over it .. Now!

    ]]>     Youngest victim of Offshoring tag:infosysblogs.com,2008:/managing-offshore-it//1.159 2008-08-17T16:12:45Z 2009-02-01T17:09:21Z I have been moonlighting on this blog since August’06 in my avatar of a corporate blogger. During the time I have enjoyed chronicling my observations and referencing experiences of my colleagues in the trenches and ivory towers alike. Like many Indian born technologists, I have benefited professionally from globalization and flattening of the world.. having begun my journey even before the phrase was coined by Tom Friedman. Mohan Babu K. Tom Friedman. ]]> I have also interacted with victims of global sourcing, some folks who were either downsized or laid-off when their organizations decided to offshore work. During the past few years, I have also been shocked to hear of occasional victims of offshoring: colleagues and peers who were involved in traffic accidents, while commuting to work and some dying while on assignment in foreign lands.

    To the list of victims of offshoring, I would like to add Aditya Mohan. Aditya, our 4.5 month old baby, died on board an international Jet Airways flight that was landing in Delhi. His death, during my business travel with family, under unusual circumstances brought home the unpreparedness of the system and infrastructure to support those involved in the business of offshoring:

    • Nandan Nilekani blogs “Are there parallels that can be drawn to derive some actionable insights to help transform Discoms to profit-making, world-class organizations?” I guess Nandan is not talking about Airlines from India that are globalizing despite their lack of preparedness in offering world-class service?
    • The lack of crisis support system in India. I have heard from friends and colleagues about their experiences on landing in India. In some cases I would just shrug my shoulder thinking what’s the big deal about a bit of hassle of shuttling from an international airport terminal to a domestic one? Not knowing how to react when an aircraft lands with a young child in a serious condition… I am not sure if any excuses in this regard are conscionable. [ps: you could help by reviewing and signing my petition asking authorities and the airline to investigate]

    The incident is making me reflect on the merits of frequent cross-country travel that many of us in the business of sourcing undertake, sometimes with young families. We do realize the risks in the back of our minds but one can say the professional benefits and advantages generally outweigh such hazards. The point where the line between personal and business risks gets blurred is unclear to me. ....… Dear Aditya RIP

    ]]>     Emerging risks of globalization and Risk Mitigation 101 tag:infosysblogs.com,2008:/managing-offshore-it//1.158 2008-08-10T15:20:48Z 2008-09-25T06:24:06Z Executives at client organizations are (and should be) taking a closer look at risks of globalization. The fact is that residents of Bangalore and for that matter most other major metros across the globe, are coming to grips with newer threats and risks. Most residents also realize that the specialists, government and other authorities are also working hard to address the newer risks in the society. Corporate leaders have a responsibility to work with the relevant stakeholders in the society to address and mitigate such risks. For executives at client and vendor organizations, the mitigation strategies would probably include reassessing their risk assessments and disaster recovery plans. Mohan Babu K. We seem to be living in an increasingly dynamic world where the meaning of risk continues to evolve. One does not have to really blog about the fact that disasters and other emergencies in a flattening world are more common today than perhaps in the past, a fact that hit home recently in the offshoring city [Bomb Blasts Hit India’s IT City Bangalore ]. Thanks in part to the resilience of Bangaloreans, the city bounced back almost instantly.

    Middle-managers in sourcing organizations and offshoring firms probably read about the incidents in the news and realized that the disruption to their operations was (thankfully) minimal, reflected on it a bit and went back to their operational challenges. However, technology executives, consultants and sourcing specialists, risk management consultants and others are taking a harder look at the risks and associated risk mitigation strategies

    ]]> Executives at client organizations are (and should be) taking a closer look at risks of globalization. The fact is that residents of Bangalore and for that matter most other major metros across the globe, are coming to grips with newer threats and risks. Most residents also realize that the specialists, government and other authorities are also working hard to address the newer risks in the society. Corporate leaders have a responsibility to work with the relevant stakeholders in the society to address and mitigate such risks. For executives at client and vendor organizations, the mitigation strategies would probably include reassessing their risk assessments and disaster recovery plans.

    Nothing new in what I am stating above. While in college years ago, I remember reading a chapter on Disaster Recovery (DR) where the author talked about an extremely ‘hypothetical’ scenario: an aircraft crashing on a data center. I am sure that chapter has been rewritten for students of IT today but I wonder about ‘hypothetical’ scenarios authors may be using. I had briefly analyzed key risks of global sourcing in my book and also blogged about it a while ago.

    Paraphrasing Americans (and British): we live in a post 9/11 (and 7/11) world, fraught with newer risks. This said, one doesn’t have to rewrite a textbook on risk management. Any robust Risk management strategy should have a feedback mechanism to acknowledge, assess and plan for mitigation of newer risks.

    ]]>     Musings on Global Travel and Universal Adapters tag:infosysblogs.com,2008:/managing-offshore-it//1.157 2008-08-03T15:20:49Z 2008-09-25T06:24:06Z The Enterprise Architect and consultant in me is naturally inclined to find a solution for such problems leveraging available toolkits including SOA, integration, software adapters etc etc… just like some innovative marketers who have found a niche supplying universal adapters However, another part of me wonders if it is the consumer in us that accepts incompatibility Mohan Babu K. get a free phone charger with a little social engineering]]]> Of course, it is also a logistical challenge for offshoring-globe-trotting executives who have to carry universal adapters and chargers that can plug into different power plugs across the world.
     
    The problem of incompatible chargers is not restricted to cellphone makers. Ever been in a conference room where you forgot your laptop adapter and asked around if others have one you can borrow, only to find that you have a Toshiba and your neighbor has a Dell or HP?

    The problem of incompatible adapters/chargers is perhaps a fundamental design challenge we see back in the IT world too. And here we don’t even have to think of analogies since the problems are just the same: software vendors defining proprietary gateways and adapters – for reasons best known to them – and the end consumers, IT executives and CIOs continue to scramble around for ‘adapters.’

    Universal Adapter1

     

     [Image source: powermega.com]

     [Image source: vagabondish.com]

    The  Enterprise Architect and consultant in me is naturally inclined to find a solution for such problems leveraging available toolkits including SOA, integration, software adapters etc etc… just like some innovative marketers who have found a niche supplying universal adapters

    However, another part of me wonders if it is the consumer in us that accepts incompatibility from cellphone and laptop manufacturers which also accepts incompatibility from software vendors?

    ]]>     Do you want to debate the merits of IT Certifications with our offshore Architect? tag:infosysblogs.com,2008:/managing-offshore-it//1.156 2008-07-26T05:59:28Z 2008-09-25T06:24:06Z He has successfully cleared close to forty technical certifications and has three technology patent applications pending. He justifies the need for certifications by stating “nothing stops you from being good at a technology or a product and also certified on it. Bear in mind that a lack of certification can really hurt you when it comes to two equals. It is not worth taking this chance. Please do not let this pesky little hurdle come between you and your career growth.” And just to drive home the point, he adds “Einstein was lucky to not have worked in our industry, our age or with our global competition!” I guess there is no debating this matter with Amit! Mohan Babu K. (re)certification; but this entry is not about my viewpoint. Bloggers and the tech media regularly pick on the topic to fuel a debate (and possibly readership). A week ago, I was intrigued to receive an internal mail featuring Amit Jnagal, an Architetect based offshore, who has also recently donned the Corporate Blogger hat. The mail was intended to motivate fellow employees in our practice unit on the organizational drive towards employee certification. ]]> The note began with Amit talking about his earliest mentor in the IT world who motivated him to look at certifications as an opportunity “.. There is a new technology, a new framework or a new product springing up every other week. It is impossible for our customers or managers to gauge how technically sound a person really is. Since we cannot do the evaluation ourselves; we, and more importantly our customers, have started relying on certifications a lot…” Amit was told: and did he take this to heart?

    Amit has successfully cleared close to forty technical certifications and has three technology patent applications pending. He justifies the need for certifications by stating “nothing stops you from being good at a technology or a product and also certified on it. Bear in mind that a lack of certification can really hurt you when it comes to two equals. It is not worth taking this chance. Please do not let this pesky little hurdle come between you and your career growth.” And just to drive home the point, he adds “Einstein was lucky to not have worked in our industry, our age or with our global competition!”

    I guess there is no debating this matter with Amit!

    ps: List of Amit’s Certifications begins with

    • Sun Certified Enterprise Architect
    • Sun Certified Business Component Developer
    • Sun Certified Web Component Developer
    • Sun Certified Java Programmer
    • IBM Certified WebSphere Specialist
    • IBM Certified XML Specialist
    • IBM Certified UML Specialist
    • IBM Certified eBusiness Solution Designer
    • IBM Certified Enterprise Connectivity Specialist
    • JCert Certified Enterprise Developer
    • IBM Certified WebSphere Administrator
    • Certified TOGAF Practitioner
    • ... etc...
    ]]>     Pre Sales and referenceable clients tag:infosysblogs.com,2008:/managing-offshore-it//1.155 2008-07-18T11:11:56Z 2008-09-25T06:24:06Z Client references – for case studies and referrals -- to vendors perhaps mirror our personal thinking. For many of us, is one thing to showcase a portrait in the family living room but not everyone wants to be featured in a public shop/mall. Similarly, some organizations don’t want to have their projects and work featured for competitive reasons while may have organizational and cultural reasons. Mohan Babu K. My team is working on a large proposal for a prospect that is looking for a revamp of its Enterprise Architecture Strategy. This prospect, and as other clients are also increasingly doing, asked to speak with a few past clients where we had done similar work. And here, it was not one or two but nearly half-dozen references they were asking to speak with. Those who have worked on pre-sales support initiatives probably realize the significance of such a request.

    It is one thing to get an existing client to agree to use a reference to the work we have done as a case study but getting them to actually talk with another prospect; well that’s where things get interesting.

    ]]> While working on the reaching out to our internal project and account teams, I began pondering over the client request. Years ago when we were newly married, my wife and I went to a nearby photo-studio for a portrait. The photographer did a great job and was pleased enough with his art that he had a request for us: could he blow-up a copy and use it in his studio as a reference? My wife and I were (obviously) flattered but told him that we would think over his request.

    Client references – for case studies and referrals -- to vendors perhaps mirror our personal thinking. For many of us, it is one thing to showcase a portrait in the family living room but not everyone wants to be featured in a public shop/mall. Similarly, some organizations don’t want to have their projects and work featured for competitive reasons while others may have organizational and cultural reasons not to do so.

    The flip side to this mindset is when one wears a buyer’s hat: when we go to a service provider, we either want a referral or want to review prior work: a photo album/portfolio in case of an individual at a studio or past client case-studies and references in case of software services. Wearing a buyer’s hat, I could see why the photographer wanted to showcase our photo: the photograph was as much about his skill as it was about my enigmatic smile (well I would like to believe that). Similarly, client references and case-studies for vendors are as much about showcasing their skills in solving complex problems as it is about the client’s projects.

    Bottomline: if you are the kind of client that asks the vendor for case studies and speak to their references … you should have a policy of allowing vendors to use your projects as references; right?

    [ps: In case you are wondering if I agreed to the photographer’s request? Well, I did what most gentlemen would do: let their stakeholder decide]

    Interesting blog posts on this theme

    • How to Select an Outsourcer: “"One of the most important things is whether the vendor has bona fide, provable experience," Pollock states. "Can it provide a list of customers, case studies, and referenceable clients?"
    • Take Note Before You Hire a Sourcing Advisor: the best incentive for sourcing consultants is to earn referenceable clients and repeat business, so in most cases, they work diligently to overcome all of these challenges.  Just take note of these potential obstacles, as you would before you dive into any major investment with the goal of a positive return.
    • 12 Keys to Tuning Up Your Sales Force: Intellectual Capital. What is that, you say? These are your referenceable clients. Other than your employees, they are your most valuable asset.
    • Are Your Client References an Asset?: One powerful, but often neglected intangible asset is a firm’s list of client references.
    ]]>     Architecting Business Solutions vs. the Business of architecting technology solutions (continued) tag:infosysblogs.com,2008:/managing-offshore-it//1.154 2008-07-11T04:05:30Z 2008-09-25T06:24:06Z Clients have an opportunity (and perhaps responsibility) to ensure that the high-end consultants they engage continually provide unbiased inputs. In a sense, the challenge faced by consulting Enterprise Architects is an opportunity to you, the client. You can efficiently leverage their ideation, selling, persuasion and presentation skills to help your internal Enterprise Architects and CXOs sell the ideas and strategies to your businesses and stakeholders. By doing so, you let consultants gain the privilege of being trusted advisors, which in some cases may lead to additional downstream and business for their firms. Mohan Babu K. In my previous post, I talked about the extending role of Enterprise Architects at services firms into Marchitects. This ‘selling’ of architecture services is no different from what our peers in client organizations undertake too.

    Enterprise Architects, many of whom report into a CIO/CTO organization are also under continual pressure to ensure that the organization derives an optimal ROI from their IT investments, which means they need to ‘sell’ the value of robust, scalable architecture, planning and roadmaps to their stakeholders, some of whom may be focused on the tactical: ensuring that the quarterly targets are met, budgets balanced and operational challenges addressed. Even the ‘strategic’ focus may sometime involve reacting to external trends (read between the lines: it is the economy, slowdown etc)

    ]]> But back to the challenge of selling that Enterprise Architects at service firms face:

    • Thinking beyond revenue and dollars: Most service firms aspire to move up the proverbial ‘Value Chain.’ And when it comes to technology services, what better value chain than consulting with client CxOs on their Enterprise Architecture? However, this ‘move up value chain’ is not as simple, or even sexy as it sounds. Why? Because sales teams at services firms are geared towards (and rewarded for) ‘downstream’ and ‘incremental revenue.’ The challenge is that when consultants work with clients on their EA strategies and roadmaps, they shouldn’t - and generally don’t - have downstream-dollar-signs in their eyes…. which doesn’t always please internal sales teams. [footnote: taking this high-road is not always practical since reward (and bonus) structures for individuals, including architects at service firms are geared towards meeting unit, group and organizational numbers.] 
    • Being unbiased while recommending solutions: Another challenge consultants, especially from larger services firms face is while recommending solutions and technology options to clients. Architecture consultants from a product vendor organization may have their account teams tacitly leaning on them. The reason is not hard to find: most service firms have their proprietary solutions, frameworks and toolkits for myriad technologies. Consulting organizations make considerable investments in developing such solutions and the ROI can be derived only when sold/deployed by clients. There are times when these toolkits and products may be an ideal fit for a client need; but not always. Consulting Enterprise Architects need to be unbiased and be willing to push back their Account management teams when need arises. [Again, taking the high-road may come at a personal cost: internal bonuses and incentives]

    Clients have an opportunity (and perhaps responsibility) to ensure that the high-end consultants they engage continually provide unbiased inputs. In a sense, the challenge faced by consulting Enterprise Architects is an opportunity to you, the client. You can efficiently leverage their ideation, selling, persuasion and presentation skills to help your internal Enterprise Architects and CXOs sell the ideas and strategies to your businesses and stakeholders. By doing so, you let consultants gain the privilege of being trusted advisors, which in some cases may lead to additional downstream and business for their firms.

    ]]>     Architecting Business Solutions vs. the Business of architecting technology solutions tag:infosysblogs.com,2008:/managing-offshore-it//1.153 2008-07-04T10:37:59Z 2008-09-25T06:24:06Z while reading Andrew Manning’s blog entry on “Enterprise Architects: Time for more job titles?” I began thinking about a barbeque I attended at a friend's place few weeks ago where colleagues and peers had gathered. It was interesting to observe that folks who had gathered were finding it hard to pick on neutral topics beyond the day’s weather and the difficulty in maintaining the lawn, using the host’s backyard as a case-in-point. It was not hard to see why. A few were from the ‘sales’ side of our business – account managers, engagement leaders and the like – and others from the consulting side - IT architects and consultants. And not surprisingly, it was the few Marchitectects in our midstwho were trying to find an icebreaker. Mohan Babu K. It is rather unlike me to be off the blogsphere for an extended hiatus, but I guess even corporate bloggers have to occasionally field life's curve balls.

    Anyway, back to the theme of this blog; while reading Andrew Manning’s blog entry on “Enterprise Architects: Time for more job titles?”  I began thinking about a barbeque I attended at a friend's place few weeks ago where colleagues and peers had gathered. It was interesting to observe that folks who had gathered were finding it hard to pick on neutral topics beyond the day’s weather and the difficulty in maintaining the lawn, using the host’s backyard as a case-in-point. It was not hard to see why.  A few were from the ‘sales’ side of our business – account managers, engagement leaders and the like – and others from the consulting side - IT architects and consultants. And not surprisingly, it was the few Marchitectects in our midstwho were trying to find an icebreaker.

    ]]> Going back to Andrew’s list, I guess, one title, I would add is Enterprise Marchitects: folks at service firms who act as a bridge between sales and consulting. The “Enterprise Architects” at service firms - many of whom are also Marchitects -  have a distinct role to play in the industry. The role also comes with its share of challenges for obvious reasons:

    • Consulting Architects are generally sought ought in the industry and are well compensated, because of which their services also command premium/higher billing rates. From a software services context, it also means that Architects can add to a significant ‘cost’ component of a typical project. Cognizant of client’s cost constraints, the some Account Managers are more comfortable underselling the need for an architect to ensure a bigger pie of rest of the project rather than translate ‘cost’ to demonstrate ‘value.’ This means the architect, who is already under pressure to be continually ‘billable’ also has to juggle the hat of a Marchitect
    • Architects also need to accept the fact that though they bring a specialized/niche skill to the table, they are still considered as ‘resources,’  both to a firm’s own sales folks and of course to client’s FTEs and program stakeholders who naturally look at external consultants as hired-guns.
    • Another Marchitecture dimension is to juggle the buzz from internal and external spin doctors. Those of us who have been in the industry long enough know what I mean by spin doctors: folks who can take archaic sounding acronyms coined by industry analysts, visualize a few possible ‘scenarios’ and ‘solutions’ and start preaching it to clients, all with the conviction of a convert.

    Enterprise Architects with service firms juggle the above challenges, along with their day-jobs of helping clients architect robust, scalable technology and business solutions. Which brings us back to where I started: the delicate balance between Architecting business and technology solutions - which architects are skilled at – and the business of architecting technology solutions (read ‘selling’ architecture as a service) which is a skill Architects try to acquire. Now, this yin-yang has another dimension to it: measuring the ‘value’ that a consulting Enterprise Architect/Marchitect brings to the table. …

    I will continue the line of thinking in my next post

    ]]>     Offshore Architects as High Tech Cowboys tag:infosysblogs.com,2008:/managing-offshore-it//1.152 2008-06-02T18:16:02Z 2008-09-25T06:24:06Z Mohan Babu K. I read the interesting story about “High Tech Cowboys of the Deep Seas” in the Wired magazine a few months ago. [blog on gizmodo.com] The part that caught my fancy was the distinct parallel between the Cowboy life of the protagonists in the story and Architects working for offshoring firms: experts in their niche skills who are able and willing to travel to unchartered waters (literally) to salvage sinking ships (or projects). Unlike the Deep-Sea-Cowboys, the Offshoring ones don’t generally risk their lives or limbs; though it sometimes feels like it when one hits rough tides in projects. This said, for Architect-cowboys, roughing-it-up may include a missed flight connection or being stranded at an unscheduled stopover due to inclement weather, secondary inspections at unusually long immigration and customs etc etc.

    ]]> And of course, another key difference as Paul posts in a forum “pretty damn awesome, 10 million for a few days work, split by maximum 10 men in a team.” I haven’t heard of many clients paying as much for software service projects.

    Now, before we get carried away by the analogy and differences, the point I was really driving at was the “Cowboys” aspect of having to jump into deep end of projects where IT Architects may have little control over the strategic aspects or even key technology drivers, but still have to help salvage them.

    Case in point is a project that architects from my team were involved in a while ago. The client had invested in a massive re-engineering of a legacy system. The key challenge here was that the legacy system was internal facing: users were a select number of customer service representatives accessing the system. The focus of the initiative was on moving the functionality to the web to enable ‘customer self service’ but the folks conceptualizing the new system missed out on a key aspect of Non Functional Requirement: need to scale up to be able to support an exponential growth in concurrent users who would use the system, now that it was web-enabled. The switch was turned on and sure enough the system worked as promised. However, the (un-anticipated?) surge in concurrent users brought it to a grinding halt during the first week. After much finger-pointing, the team got into a salvage mode and decided to involve an independent third part; and this is where the “High Tech Cowboys” from my team were requisitioned.

    Perhaps a plug here would be for the “Performance Engineering and Enhancement” services Infosys offers. If only all my clients took a proactive and holistic approach to performance improvement. Well, we live in the real world and the world is littered with challenged/shipwrecked technology programs [Top 20 Risks U.S. Tech Companies Are Losing Sleep Over]; which is why “High Tech Cowboys” seem to be much in demand. And if a client really finds themselves in a shipwreck, our Tech-Cowboys are not going to ask why they got where they got.

    Ps: And in case you are wondering about the thousands of Mazdas that the cowboys in the wired magazine story helped salvage: Wall Street Journal ran another fascinating story on a “A 'Disassembly' Line After Odd Sea Disaster”

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