Day 8 In India

Day 8-January 10, 2014

  Today we got to visit one of the biggest technology firms in the world, Infosys.  At Infosys, we were met with armed (machine gun armed) guards working the security gate.  From there, our guide took us in a  huge 10 person golf cart (maybe I should call it an SUG) to Building #12 where we met Shyam Prasad, Lead Principal of the Education & Research Division.






You can get a better idea of the full scope of things Infosys does, by visiting the Infosys website.  Again today we were not permitted to take cameras inside the buildings so there are no interior pictures to show. But there are some great shots of Infosys's campus.  It is a gorgeous 50+ acre campus in the Electronics City District of  Banglore. 

 Shyam provided a very detailed presentation on the information needs and knowledge management systems that Infosys has in place. The first slide of the presentation was a quote from George Bernard Shaw, the only person ever to win both the Nobel Prize in Literature and an Oscar.  Shaw said, "If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple, but.... If you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas"

  This is kind of an informal guiding principle to the concept of information sharing and of Knowledge Management (KM) in general. Infosys actually defines KM as: "People, processe,s and technology directed towards the creation, harvest, and reuse of organizational knowledge."  Infosys proactively examines ways that KM can work for its employees, especially when they work with very short cycle (3 month) projects. KM plays a very important role in the lives of Infosys employees.  Most of their information resources have the letter "K" for knowledge incorporated into the tool's name.  For example, they use a service called Konnect (a professional networking platform).  The Kmail system is a query response product and Kshop is the most used KM resource that averages about 5,000 downloads a day.

 


We also got a tour of the campus's Central Library, known as the Infosys Development Center (DC).  The DC is like many libraries.  There are plenty of materials to check out on topics important to the success of Infoscions (People who work for Infosys).  It also serves as a place to read if you choose to do so on a break.  There are newspapers & quiet areas to read if you want to catch up on what is going on in the world. The librarian there was also very curious about Public Libraries in the US.  I spent a good deal of time giving her an overview of the American library system. 







 For lunch today, we dined at one of the many on-campus restaurants.  This was a buffet style version of the Toscano Restaurant chain.  Instead of the Italian food normally offered at  Toscano, La Terrace prepared a traditional India buffet that we all enjoyed.

 




Following lunch we hopped back on our huge golf cart & toured the entire complex.  The highlights included a towering glass building with a huge hole in the center (nicknamed the Washing Machine), a glass pyramid building and a lush green campus.  Then it was time to leave & we got to stare at the machine guns the guards were carrying as we waited for our ride. 

  After arriving back at XIME, our professor and the administration staff of XIME scheduled an open session where we could discuss any topics with a select group of their students.  They provided a great look into what the lives of MBA students are like in India. The group also gave us some insight into what daily life was like in India.  In return, many asked questions of us about colleges, libraries and life in general in America.  A very busy day all around. 

Here are a few random bits of knowledge I !

Lunch menu from today!

Here is a little more about the culture in India.  There are many similarities between India and the US.  Every morning our host supplies a stack of the Indian Newspaper Business Standard for students to pick up read the latest happening in business.  It remarkably looks just like a US business newspaper.  There is a stock market report on the Front Page and even an article about Facebook.

The TV News channel NDTV is frequently on in public areas when we go to visit the businesses on our itinerary.  It looks remarkably like CNN or MSNBC.  

There are two films that I have heard described as classic Indian movies.  The movie Sholay, just received a 3D re-release, so I have seen a lot of articles and news headlines about the film.  Apparently it is a classic.  So much so, that one theater in India has shown the movie continuously for 30 years because there is always someone who wants to see the film.  “The film follows two criminals hired by a retired police officer to capture the ruthless dacoit Gabbar Singh . Sholay is considered a classic and one of the best Indian films. It was ranked first in the British Film Institute's 2002 poll of "Top 10 Indian Films" of all time. In 2005, the judges of the 50th annual Filmfare Awards named it the Best Film of 50 Years.” I have found a full movie version on YouTube, but have yet to watch it.  But I do like the movie trailer.







Then there is also Mother India.  The movie is " the story of a poverty-stricken village woman named Radha who, in the absence of her husband, struggles to raise her sons and survive against a money-lender amidst many troubles. Despite her hardship, she sets a goddess-like moral example of an ideal Indian woman."  Here is a little video about the film. 











The most recent blockbuster smash in India would probably be Dhoom 3.  It is currently in the theaters, people are talking about it and I have seen music videos from the movie.  I have also seen movie posters for some US releases also.  We have seen THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY & HERCULES posters around town.

 The US has Wall Street & India has D-Street.

Plenty of pictures available on my Day 8 Photo Album on Facebook.

Day 7 In India

Day 7-January 9, 2014

    Today the group stayed locally and took a 10 minute walk up  our visit of the day. TATA Group is a huge multi-company conglomerate with business interests all around the globe. One of the divsions of TATA is TATA Consultancy Services

     In India, TATA is involved with everyone's lives from they time they wake up until the time they go to bed.  Under the TATA Group's corporate umbrella are TATA Motor Group (which makes the world's cheapest car, the NANO), watch companies, power companies, internet service providers, steel companies, insurance providers and much, much, much, more in India.   This video gives a brief look at what they do.  But you may not know they also have an impact on our lives also.  They own Jaguar/Land Rover, the Canadian division of Tetley Tea, the luxurious Taj Hotel chain (with US Locations in NYC, Boston & San Fransisco..here is a promo video) and the recently formed TATA/Starbucks, bringing the chain to India. 

 

  TATA is also deeply involved with technology and business solutions.  It is one of the largest consultant firms with a reputation for giving businesses a competitive edge.  We met with the leaders of the Information Resource Center (IRC) at TATA Consultancy Services (TSC) in Bangalore.  The Building we met in is built in the style of Disney's Epot Center Sphere.  We were ushered into a modern conference room where we were introduced to the team leaders & later the majority of the IRC team.

  At TSC, there are over 300,000 associates.  About 1/2 of those associates may need access to a piece of business or market information at any  time.  The job of the IRC is to supply the needed information to the associate in a given amount of time.  This information could range from a market analysis for a particular industry, predicted business trends in a 3rd world nation, etc.  The job of the IRC is to basically be the library of TSC.  There are many different types of libraries other than the traditional public, school or college libraries.   In today's world, there are law libraries, large corporations have libraries, and also special libraries.  Many times libraries serve as a Knowledge Management Center, that distributes knowledge or information to those who need it.  The IRC is an award winning Special Library and truly serves the role of a Knowledge Management Center.  Associates can be working on projects involving banking, pharmaceuticals, public utilities or any possible topic imaginable and will need information pertaining to that business sector.  The associates will need the IRC to supply them with particular business information so they can go ahead and use that information to serve their clients. 

This is a previous logo.

  TSC's IRC also consists of printed books, magazines/business journals, CDs, DVDs, Audiobooks and also online data bases.  The IRC is much a like a library in the sense that people can physically visit the library for materials on business and related topics.  Associates can also send in requests for information using a Global Reference Desk digital system.  These digital requests are then processed by the librarian working the reference desk and the information will then be sent to the associate after it is all retrieved. 

   The IRC's mission is to: "Provide timely and effective access to information and build a comprehensive pool of resources and expertise to share."  There are many corporate libraries through out the world, but this is the most impressive one on such a grand scale. 

    Since no cameras were allowed inside the building, I was unable to get any exciting photos. But the group we met took plenty of photographs for our visit.  We are hoping they will share those pictures with us.  If so, I will post them for all to see.  As always, we were received as special dignitaries and treated to a wonderful South Indian lunch in one of  TSC's Executive Lunch Rooms. 

  After our lunch, we got together with "Sam" (Prof. S.D. Tyagara) from XIME to finish up our discussion on leadership.  He finished up the discussion of the film Twelve O'Clock High and how effective the leaders in the film were.  Demonstrating that good (and bad examples) of leadership can be found in many places & we can take what we learn and apply it to a business setting.

  Since there is not many pictures to share or exciting things to show, I thought I would pass along so info about Indian Food.  

  In India, food is meant to be eaten with your hands.  Luckily they also supply us novice Westerners with utensils to help.  But you can get used to it & it really is as simple as 1 2 3.  Check out this instructional video showing you how to eat.

  

I also found this on YouTube that can give you an idea about the cuisine.     http://youtu.be/Ly1j0KX6VTA
This Video was created by the CNN of India, NDTV and is in Hindi....but just looking at the food & the scenery will give you a good idea about the Bangalore food experience.  

I never get a chance to find out the name of most of the food I eat, but some of my favorites so far are:

Rasam 

 & Chaat.

Day 6 In India

Day 6-January 8, 2014

  Today we visited the research wing of one of the world's biggest companies, Microsoft.  Microsoft has five or six businesses in India and a location here in Bangalore.   We spent today visiting Microsoft's Research division.    Microsoft Research India is very active in "rigorous research and exploratory pilots rather than product, business, or partner development."  At Microsoft Research India, there are nine areas of concentration. Our hosts for the day, Ed Cutrell, Kalika Bali, & Indrani Medhi, are part of the Technology for Emerging Markets (TEM)group.  The mission of the TEMs group "is to study, design, build, and evaluate technologies and systems that are useful for people living in underserved rural and urban communities."
They "believe that computing is a profoundly important tool that can be used to improve the lives of people around the world."

  Microsoft Research India is much closer to a university setting than a corporate one.  This division of Microsoft is more concerned with production professional papers and their publication than it is with producing a product.   Their research can be classified in four categories.

•   Health, Health Organizations and Health   Education.  
•  Education
•  Human Computer Interaction
•  Context & Critique

 


    To illustrate some of the projects they work on Kalika Bali told about her project involving "code-mixing."  In India, the national language is Hindi, but in the Bangalore area, most speak and write in a language called Kannada.  Next, mix in the fact that most people in India speak English also.  When a person speaks in multiple languages at the same time, switching back and forth from one to the other, they can be using Hindi, Kannada and English all in the same conversation.  Social Media has had a huge impact on India also, especially with the younger generation.  On social media sites, people converse very informally.  Much like a casual conversation, a user may be switching back and forth between 1 or 2 or maybe even 3 languages.  Next you have to take in account online slang or abbreviations that are frequently used.  Combine all these factors and you have an example of code mixing.  In order to develop future technologies, these areas need to be studied.  For example, if you want to create a speech recognition program like Siri, you have to take into account that  many people use code mixing when speaking. Or the same can be said for normal type written searches.  Mixing so many different "codes"  or languages has to be taken into account.  Kalika is involved with a current project examining a Bollywood Forum on Facebook and examining the concept of code mixing in that particular forum.  Bollywood is a popular form of film in India & many different languages and abbreviations are used to discuss Bollywood online. 


     Another project that Microsoft Research India was involved with was called  VideoKheti.    VideoKheti is "a mobile system that uses speech, graphics, and touch interaction to help low-literate farmers in rural India find and watch agricultural extension videos in their own language and dialect."  There were some successes and some drawbacks to this project, but every project helps them examine how technology can positively impact these underdeveloped areas.  With nearly all of TEM's projects,the group may have less product impact, but the research could have a profound societal impact. 

       TEM projects hope to shed light on understanding existing and potential tech users in developing communities.  Another example of this is a project Indrani Medhi told us about.  The team created a project aimed at introducing and examining social networking among the farming community in Karnataka.  She described it as Facebook for Farmers. In Karnataka, farmers work closely with the local agricultural extension agencies.  TEMs provided 8 smart phones to representatives from the ag extensions, gave them instructions and encouraged them to aid the rural farmers in using social networking.  The program is only 3 weeks old & already has 160 farmers registered.  By examining how this demographic may use social networking could lead to future developments in how technology can serve those farmers.  

  It was quite a fascinating day spent in a gorgeous state of the art facility in a very "high rent" district in Bangalore.  As with all our hosts, Ed Cutrell joined us for another incredible lunch in the Canteen with all the other Microsoft employees.  Since the food in Southern, India is very well spiced...I hadn't noticed that I don't see salt & pepper shakers sitting on every table here like we do in the US.  I had to take a picture of it since it is such a rarity.  But of course that picture did not turn out for some reason.  Luckily, I noticed salt & pepper shakers on the table at Indian Coffee House.

  

 If I haven't mentioned it yet...Dinner in India is not traditionally served until 8pm.  So with plenty of time to kill after Microsoft, we went back down to Mahatma Gandhi Road to have the gentlemen get their belts re-sized just a little bit & then stop by Indian Coffee house for another great cup of coffee for less change than I can find under my car seat.  We also took the opportunity to visit a few side streets in the Commercial Street area to see what we missed the other day.  We are definitely contributing to the stimulation of the Indian economy.  

Also noticed a few other things that stood out to me:

It is not unusual to see little kids(or even infants) riding on the front of motorcycles.  I have seen as many as 5 family members on one bike & am hoping to get a picture of that soon too!

 

 

Back at the Belt Vendor for more belts & re-sizing some from the other day

 

Only second box of tissues I have seen in India in almost one week

Only the 2nd salt & pepper shaker I have seen too!

The traffic is crazy here.  I get fascinated and can watch it for hours.   Traffic comes at you from all directions at the same time....this video link only gives you a brief glimpse.

There are plenty of more pictures from today on Facebook.